"Sign here, here, here and here."
"Uhuh, umm, there! Is that it?"
"We also need to copy your I.D. information to keep it in the records!"
"Here!"
"One moment please, we will copy it right away."

A very bright and luxurious looking building. Comfortable chairs that invite you to sit and relax. Welcoming staff that make you feel like family. The bright face of any money lending establishment almost always looks like this. However, knives have always done their best work hidden behind the back. As soon as you can't pay the money, this majestic looking building would look like hell for you.

"Thank you for the wait. Here is your I.D. and this is the amount you requested."
"Thank you. I'm going to be moving all over the place as a merchant but I shouldn't be leaving this region for the time being. Would that be ok?"
"That is alright, sir. We have branches in almost every town and city. Information about your debt will be known to other branches, so if you paid at a branch, the information will be updated to other branches right away."
"That is handy. Ok, bye."
"Thank you very much. We look forward to hearing from you again."

I felt a chill crawl down my spine from that. I'm not going to run from this debt but it would be good to remember the deadline. A late fee might cost me more than extra interest, especially with the survival rule in place.

*Chop* *Chop* *Chop*

"Load it up, load it up! Hurry up, turtle boss! We are going to be late."
"I'm doing this as fast as I can! There are too many trees! Stop cutting them down! We are almost out of room!"
"Almost means that there is still some room! Move those hands!"
"Don't rush me! I need to make sure that they are secured properly!"

I am going as fast as I can. I feel like I'm going to get a rope burn with how fast I am tying these ropes.

*Chop* *Chop* *Chop*

"Stop, stop! We don't have any more space! Clear off the branches and help me secure the logs!"
"Too slow! Throw off the branches! We don't need them!"
"Don't throw off the branches. We need them as well. They pay better for the leaves and branches!"

The town of the beaverkin we are going to sell these logs to, is a giant waterway. They can't make their favourite dams but there are multiple waterfalls near the beaverkin territory. That is the main job of the people that live in their territory.

Their houses are on water but they are much more modernised because of the hero. They don't look like the cluster of wood that was their norm back then. I kind of like the old style house like that. They didn't have second floors but it was a cosy looking house.

However, the outside might have changed, there are still some things retained from that time. Their chairs, couches and beds are still made of soft wooden branches and leaves. It apparently makes them more comfortable than a regular bed.

It also counts as a meal, so it is killing two birds with one stone.

"If we don't hurry, the others will beat us to it!"
"Don't worry about that. There is a reason that we can still sell the beaverkin logs even after they have a better deal with the bigger merchant groups. They go through wood very fast."
"They are that hungry?"
"No, they don't eat the wood. They strip the bark and use the wood for houses. They live in a water flooded town, and they don't like the waterproofing agent because it makes the wood smell weird. The wood is always wet, that is why they always need to replace parts and repair them. The beaverkin have always been good builders, they love to build things. That is why they continually need logs to not only repair and maintain their towns but the walkways across their town. They have a limit of how many logs they can take but it is usually in winter that they stop buying them. It's early spring right now, this is the time where their inventory is almost out. We won't have to worry about competitors right now."
"No matter how much they need logs, they should have a limit on how much money they can take out in a day to buy them!"
"Ah, that should be true."
"If you understand then start moving, turtle boss!!"
"Yes, ma'am!"

I guess that is true too. However, it is still the second week of the month. They shouldn't have filled out their allowance for the purchase of wood, right?

"Hurry up, hops! We can't let them beat us to it!!"
"I am! I already finished securing the logs! Hurry up with those branches!"
"Done!"
"Good! Take the other wagon and let's head straight to the beaverkin town!"
"Wait! Don't rush the horses! They won't be able to last if they rush at full speed! We have enough time to reach there before most of the people still chopping arrive before us."
"I know! Hurry up and head on! I'll follow behind you and match your speed!"

The others are still chopping here. The profit to be made from selling to the beaverkin is not a lot, so only bottom dwellers like us will fight for this sale. The bigger merchant groups also sell them wood but only as an appetiser.

"Let's go! Haaah!"

"Good morning sir! Like you asked, I prioritised maple like you wanted. 30 silver coins for the whole load."
"Hmmm, hmm, I guess it's-
"Wait, wait, wait! We can sell you the same amount for 25 silver coins! We also have a lot more here that can be bought for the same price."

25? That is too low! Wait, they have a huge group of wagons! They could afford to sell it at that price. Are they a group? An alliance?

This is bad, I will lose money if this keeps up, and I don't have any way to counter them. They gain profit just because they have the quantity. However, to offset the cost of hiring people, they would need to have a very large number of logs.

This must be why they decided to form an alliance. I refuse to believe that this is a large merchant guild that specialises in selling wood.

"Ok, I'll take them all. Go to that side while we count the amount and calculate the price."
"Thank you."

*Grin*

Tsk, Don't act so smug, you are selling wood in the forest. This is the lowest tier of product that can be sold in this continent!

"I'll also sell mine for 25 silver coins."
"Oh, good! I like decisive people like you. Don't worry about it, sometimes things happen. As long as you keep at it, you will eventually progress."
"Ah, yes, thank you."

This won't work for me. It would take too long if I keep at this. The chances that I would meet this group again is high, and I don't want to go into a battle to see who can sell the lowest price with them because I would lose.

I could abandon this town and just head straight to the molekin. Ore and metal are not as abundant in this continent as it is on the dwarf continent, so the price would be high. I wanted to take all of the discounts I could take but I won't be able to pay the first instalment if I keep doing this.

"Hops, we are moving north."
"Ohh, it looks like those merchants pissed you off. Finally stopping the logging business?"
"Yeah, we can't earn much here if we have that much competition."
"Hehehe, Do you want to ambush them outside?"
"I told you that we won't be doing those!"
"Tch, spoilsport. Fine, when are we leaving this area?"
"We leave tomorrow. We need to load up some furniture from here and leave straight away. We will then go to the sheepkin territory to buy some textiles. After that, we will head straight to the molekin's territory."
"Finally! Ok, let's go back to the inn. I'm hungry."
"You go ahead, I'll start shopping for some good furniture, so we just load up in the morning. Take the wagons back to the inn."
"Cool! See you!"

The wagon can be hitched together and we have a harness that can be used for two horses. This usually comes with the wagon for a little added price but I made this myself to save cost.

I'm not that good with wood but my crafting skills are good, so a little thing like this is easy.

However skilled I may be, I don't know the style of crafting in this continent yet. Even if I know, I won't be able to copy it to the same level the makers here made it.

I also need to file in information about my cargo, so having a store name of where my items are procured is always better than writing down that I made it myself. I don't want them to be suspicious that I made the same furniture with the same design. They would likely just think I stole it.

The survival rule is in place but I don't want to be known as a merchant that only sells stolen goods!