Cain shivered as he walked to class, the cold winter weather making him grit his teeth. He already wished he was back in the beautiful forests of Terra, the name he gave to the other world. On Earth it was in the beginning stages of winter, while over there it was early summer, not to mention that the area Dolor village was located in is hot year round.
He sighed, watching his breath fog in the morning air, ‘Why am I even going to class at this point?’ He thought. He had super powers now, and he figured he could make a lot of money selling things in the other world. All throughout his life he has just drifted by, only taking a passive interest in some subjects.
He did not want to spend the rest of his life cooped up at some desk for days at a time, and since he was currently a computer science major in his second year of college he would most likely make from 50k to 100k a year, and while that's a good salary, it was not something he found himself passionate about.
However now he had a new opportunity, he could spend his time traveling a whole new world! How interesting was that?! He could pass from village to village, selling food and making good money. Then he could turn that money into gold or some other valuable material and sell it on earth, making potentially millions if he was able to create a business.
Speaking of making money, he still needed to have that conversation with the Chief about the food trade they would be making. ‘You know what’ He thought, stopping in the middle of the path, ‘Fuck class, im going to go meet with Chief Tian’ he thought, turning around and heading back to his dorm, debating on whether he should just drop out now.
-.-.-
Appearing in the middle of one of the main tree platforms Cain smiled at the warm weather. He also noticed several people flinch at his sudden appearance, but none of them did anything besides stare.
He walked up to one of the guards and asked them to lead him to the Chief, after a short conversation they brought him to Tian’s personal room. With a knock on the door Cain was allowed in and saw the Chief eating some large grubs on a plate, suppressing a grimace to be polite.
Turning his way the Chief nodded at him, “Cain.” He greeted, “Welcome, I assume you're here to continue our trade discussion.” He asked.
Cain nodded, “Yes, I was hoping to see what you have to trade.” he said.
The Chief nodded, “Very well” He said, before standing and beckoning the human to follow him.
As they walked Cain looked around, slightly surprised at how informal all of this was. “So, may I ask what the ceremony of life is?”
The Chief looked at him from the corner of his eye, “Indeed, the ceremony of life is held once a year by the local beastkin clans, with the host being switched every year. This year we are lucky to be the ones hosting, which is why I am interested in purchasing your food.” He said, “At the beginning of the festival we worship the spirit of life in the temple located in our sacred land, and after the offerings and prayers are completed we will return here to celebrate another year of good fortune.” he said.
Cain nodded, “I see.”
Tian stared at him for a moment before sighing, “You are free to come of course, however I would not recommend it, especially when we are worshiping the spirit of life. Our clan has not been at war for centuries, mainly due to the natural defense provided by the landscape, but also because we avoid it as much as we can. That is why most people here don't mind your presence, as they have not been affected by the war.” He said heavily, “However the other clans are different, with many having actively participated in the war between humans and beastkin fifty years ago, so they will not be as accepting of a human participating in the celebrations.”
Cain frowned, deep in thought, he made sure to make a note in the back of his mind to find out more about this human-beastkin war. “Would it… help if I brought gifts? After all, the land I am from was not at war with the beastkin so I hold no animosity.” he asked.
The Chief nodded hesitantly, “It depends on what you bring, any gifts you give will be met with suspicion” he said.
Cain nodded, he wanted to go to the celebration really bad. He was interested to meet all the different kinds of beastkin, so he knew he needed to bring a good gift. Maybe some weed? After all he has seen people that hate each other become best friends after just a little bit of green.
He was broken out of his thoughts as the Chief stopped and turned to Cain, “We are at our community storage, which holds a lot of the accumulated wealth our tribe has” He said, before his eyes turned hard, “Even though we do not have much, It is a great honor for a stranger to be let in here, so if you steal anything you will make enemies of everyone here. Do you understand” He asked frostily.
Cain, honestly pretty intimidated by the man's hulking frame, nodded. The Chief relaxed, “Good.” he said, before leading him over to a large, well guarded hut. To his surprise these guards actually had metal tipped spears instead of the stone ones he had seen by all the other guards.
They nodded at the Chief and stood aside, however some were eyeing Cain suspiciously. Ignoring their looks he walked through the door and was somewhat surprised at what he saw, the most obvious bit of wealth was a chest in the corner with gold and silver coins as well as a couple jewels. On the walls were some cold weapons that looked a bit dingy and there was what looked like a couple sets of knight armor. All in all, it wasn't much.
The Chief sighed somewhat, “As you can see, we are not wealthy. However we are willing to pay appropriately in gold and silver coins for the food. We can also discuss… other arrangements.” he said with a strange look.
Cain raised a brow, “Other arrangements”
The Chief nodded, “Me and Kanuk talked, and we noticed you and Tali were getting really close. We are willing to offer her hand in marriage,” he said.
Cain was honestly floored at this, “You're willing to sell one of your people… for food?” he asked, his opinion of the man lowering slightly.
Chief Tian’s eyes hardened, “This will not be a sale, you will be married. We, of course, expect you to treat her well. As we know you can provide comfort and food better than we can, and we expect that she will live a better life with you than she would with us.” he said with a brief pause, “Cain, your food tastes heavenly, and I honestly don't think you understand how much that is worth during a celebration like this. We will be offering a large portion of the food served to the spirit of life, and it is said that the better the food offered, the better our harvests and fortune will be. The other Beastkin clans will also be judging us based on this.”
Cain sighed, he figured he should have expected something like this with the time period and all, “As much as I like Tali, I must decline.”
The large man nodded, not perturbed at all.
Cain raised a brow, “You don't seem surprised.” he stated.
The Chief nodded, “Indeed, while I know you don’t discriminate by race, other humans do, especially nobles like you. So I know you would become a social outcast wherever you're from if you marry a beastkin.” He said.
The human shook his head, “Nah, I just don’t like the idea of arranged marriages.” he said.
Tian’s eyes widened slightly before he huffed in slight amusement. Turning around he changed subjects, “So, what would you like to trade for your food?”
Cain walked up to the box of coins and picked up a gold one. Flipping it around he guessed it was probably worth around $2500, and around 30,000 people are coming for the festival, however he was only expected to get food for about 1000.
Getting out his phone he opened his calculator, he guessed it cost about twenty five dollars to get food for one person so he did some quick math and realized it would take about 10 gold coins to break even, with maybe a bit of profit due to bulk discounts. “20 gold coins,” He said, honestly he probably could have got more but this was enough for him, as the total profit he made would be around $25,000.
Tian nodded, “Very well” He said, before throwing Cain a sack, “Put 21 gold coins in there” he said.
Cain grinned and started filling the bag, “Pleasure doing business with you.” He said, standing up after getting all the coins. “I probably won't be around much for the next few days because it's not exactly easy to get enough food for one thousand people.” he said, shaking the man's hand.
