The next morning, Eisen, Bree and Caria went to eat breakfast in a nearby restaurant, before seeing if they could meet back up with Komer somewhere near the merchant's guild. He was already out and about quite early to start that quest that Antonio the High Merchant gave him yesterday, so they couldn't see each other once more before then. But Eisen was sure it would work out in the end.
After all, Komer did seem quite intelligent once Eisen talked to him some more, and he definitely wouldn't have any problems talking to, or luring in, potential customers.
And it didn't actually take long for Eisen to find the young man, as he was currently the one selling items at a stall where a huge crowd ended up gathering. Luckily, it wasn't really all that hard for him to see what was going on, since he was at the very least a whole head taller than the majority of people standing in front of him.
It seemed like Komer was currently selling different smaller items, most of them apparently being items that made day to day life easier like some small enchanted crystals. But those weren't the only items that people took interest in, as Komer was also selling quite a large amount of jewelry that one wouldn't expect people living in such a small village to be wearing. But they were selling incredibly well anyway. And that was when Eisen saw why. This jewelry was being sold in the high copper to low silver range, although they should have been sold in the high silver to low gold range at the very least.
Eisen took a look to see if he found anything weird about this jewelry that might be a good reason for Komer to sell them this cheaply, and then saw that these didn't actually seem to be that high quality, and actually rather poorly made. There were scratches all over the surface of any type of gem or crystal inbedded in them, and part of the base were absolutely misshapen. It didn't seem like you could actually put on some of the rings that were being sold.
"I guess it does make sense if they're being sold so cheaply then…" Eisen muttered out. Most of these things seemed to actually be made of non-metal materials that couldn't be easily reused, so despite them being made of high-quality base materials, such as bones or claws of monsters, they weren't items that you could usually sell at a high price.
And behind Komer, Antonio was getting all of these different items out of different small wooden boxes, so these were probably items that Antonio himself couldn't sell, but somehow still needed to get rid of.
And when the seemingly skilled merchant took his eyes off of his student, he saw Eisen and began to smirk lightly before walking around the crowd to talk to the old man. "Good morning. You here to check up on the kid?" Antonio asked while extending his hand for a greeting, which Eisen quickly returned.
"Yes, actually. That's exactly why we're here." Eisen chuckled lowly and began scratching his beard with a light smile on his face. After looking over at Bree and Caria, Antonio once more turned to Eisen and jerked his chin to a spot on the other side of the marketplace that was currently completely empty.
"Would you mind if we talked about something without these two ladies?" He asked and Eisen nodded, although he was slightly surprised at this sudden request.
"Hm, sure. We're not really in a hurry anyway." Eisen said and followed Antonion to the open spot by the side of the road. The Elf was silent for a few seconds, simply staring at Eisen.
The old craftsman was quite confused at what Antonio was planning, when he suddenly felt shivers all over his body. They were a lot weaker than usual, but they were still there, and Eisen knew what just happened. It seemed like Antonio used Appraisal on Eisen.
"As I thought. You're also not a regular person, are you? I've never heard of the 'Original of the Mechanical Arts'. And your 'Limitbreaker' Title reached quite a high stage as well, hasn't it? But compared to that, your skills are incredibly low ranked. Someone of your age should have at least a few Rank 7 skills, if not Rank 8." Antonio said quite clearly, not beating around the bush or trying to hide that he appraised Eisen.
But Eisen simply began to laugh. After all, he already had a story prepared for him by the game itself. "Ah, I can't actually tell you anything about all of that. My Experience was stolen, so I don't remember my past. As such, I don't know where that 'Original' title came from. But it seems that I have kept some of my skill from before my experience was stolen, even if it's not reflected in my skills' rank, so it was quite easy to gian the Limitbreaker title." Eisen explained. He didn't want to tell Antonio at first, but now he basically had to. He probably wouldn't have believed any other explanation in the first place. However, Antonio's reaction was different than Eisen expected, or could have ever anticipated.
Eisen would have thought that the Elf would be surprised and maybe in disbelief while trying to find out some other truth, but instead, a wicked grin grew on his face. "Oh~? So you're him after all, then~! The first person that ever peaked!"
"Huh..?" Eisen muttered out in surprise, while Antonio simply kept on talking, his expression slowly turning toward ecstacy.
"I'm so glad to finally be able to meet you! I was quite sad when they went through the procedure without me… I'm a long-time fan of yours, after all!" Antonio exclaimed, moving closer toward Eisen than he was comfortable with. But Eisen didn't know what was going on in the slightest. The 'procedure'? What was Antonio talking about? Did he have anything to do with Eisen's backstory?
"What do you mean? What are you even talking about?" Eisen asked, backing away slightly with a deep frown on his face, and Antonio simply began smiling brightly.
"Oh? Isn't it quite obvious? I'm a High Merchant! I sell everything. So, I sold my services to those that need my help! One of my clients coincidentally wanted to acquire the experience of five people that peaked. And I always deliver. Always. But I wasn't really able to personally go for it this time around, so I was pretty sad." With pure glee in his voice, Antonio's personality basically did a complete 180, going from quite cynical and broodish all the way to a happy bundle of joy that was hiding quite a dark person. And Eisen had no idea which Antonio was the real one.
But Eisen didn't know why Antonio suddenly revealed all of this. "Why are you telling me about that? You know that this will not end good for you, right?" Eisen looked Antonio deep into his sky blue eyes, while the Elf simply chuckled while starting to walk back toward Komer, turning around one last time before being close enough to be heard by anyone in the crowd, revealing his teeth in a diabolical smile.
"The way you are now, you can't do anything against me. So why should I be scared?"
Like that, Antonio Hastings, the Elven High Merchant that was in part responsible for stealing the experience of the five originals, revealed himself.
---
"Wow, having an occupation is really cool! And I was able to immediately become a regular Merchant as well! Mister Hastings told me that usually people become Apprentices first, but since I was doing so well today he allowed me to skip that!" Komer explained smugly, placing his fists on his hips as he basked in his own glory.
However, Eisen wasn't as happy about all of this as Komer was. Of course he was glad that Komer was able to both get an occupation as well as actually learn what it was like to earnestly sell items without scamming others for a whole day.
Of course he did somewhat exaggerate to get people's attention, but it was all still technically true, albeit heavily glorified.
But still, what Eisen was more worried about was Antonio. After all, he seemed to be a person that was constnatly scheming, and as such Eisen couldn't imagine that he really did all of this out of pure kindness.
Eisen already explained the whole situation to Bree in private before, but didn't get the chance to tell Komer yet. Or rather, Eisen didn't really know if he should tell Komer too much right now. There was still something that he needed to know before then, and especially now that he got to know Komer's personality a bit better, Eisen knew that this would be worth a try.
"I'm really happy for you, Komer. But now that you are officially a Merchant, what are you planning to do next?" The old man asked, and Komer sat down on one of the beds in Eisen, Bree and Caria's room at the Inn while they did the same.
"Huh, I'm not too sure. At least I know that selling actual items for the right price is easier and will make me a lot more money than trying to do why I tried yesterday with you. So I'm not sure. You said you would let me sell items for you, right? If so, and you're staying here for a while, we could just make money for a while like that. Sounds good, right?" Komer suggested, but Eisen immediately shut him down.
"Sorry, but I don't think we'll do that. We spent today mainly just buying different food and ingredients that last for a while, since we're going all the way to the capital of Litgern, Ornier." Eisen explained, leaving Komer to frown sadly in response.
"Oh, I see. Erm, how are we going to do the thing with Items then? Are you going to make some other Automaton to deliver them to me, or something?"
"Haha, I certainly could, but I have a better Idea." Eisen chuckled and began scratching his beard while looking over to Bree to confirm once more she was really alright with this as well, and then looked back at the slightly nervous Komer. "Why don't you join us, Komer? That way, I can keep practicing and ranking up my skill ranks by making items, which you can sell at each town we stop at."
Surprised, Komer opened his eyes widely while starting to think about this more closely, playing around with a strain of his hair that he pulled down onto his face. After a few seconds, it seemed like he made up his mind and moved his fingers through his hair with a smile, before extending his hand in a business-style handshake.
"You've got a deal! Let's travel together, then!" Komer exclaimed, and Eisen laughed loudly before shaking his hand in return.
After this, the group continued talking for a while in a little celebration for their newest member, and then everyone went to sleep.
The very next morning, they all met up back at the Carriage that was already loaded up with a few different foods, such as pickled vegetables, dried fruits, and preserved meats, as well as larger quantities of things like vinegar, salt, pepper or different herbs than they had before.
It became a slight bit more crowded in the back of the carriage now, but it was still large enough for everyone in the group to gather with a bit to spare, so it was fine in the end.
Eisen hooked Cabarum back up to the carriage and had him pull out the carriage out of the stable, before driving it all the way to the next gate they had to leave through to continue their journey toward Ornier.
During all of this, Eisen felt cold stares in the back of his neck, as if he was being watched from the shadows.