The two-meter-tall Troll merchant, who was wide and had no facial expressions as if their face was a mask, took something out of their bag. The bag was weaved out of thin vines.
“Would you like to trade with this?”
The Troll had taken out a piece of iron. Pieces of iron were melted and used for agricultural tools or weapons, so they served as a rudimentary currency just like salt and silk at the time, which would later develop into actual metallic money.
‘There is always a shortage of iron.’
The Lizardman merchant thought iron was always worth trading for. Now that the objects to be traded had been decided on, it was time to determine the amounts.
“What you see here is all the silk I have. How many iron pieces can you offer?”
“Can you see them?” The Troll showed the inside of their bag. It was full of iron pieces. “I’ll give you all of this. Because the silk is of such good quality.”
“Oh wow.”
The Lizardman merchant nodded in admiration. Anyone could tell that the trade was ready to be made when all of a sudden, a Human merchant approached the Lizardman and poked the Lizardman’s side.
“Hey.”
“Hm?”
“I thought you agreed to trade the silk with me. Are you trying to make a deal with someone else now?”
“…Huh.?”
It seemed that the Lizardman merchant was confused.
Then the Human merchant said to the Troll Merchant, “I’m sorry, but I need to talk with this friend here.”
The Troll looked displeased by the sudden interruption to the trade, but nodded and said, “Okay. You do so. I would rather deal with the trouble before the trade than after.”
The human merchant looked at the Troll merchant for a moment. It seemed that the Troll merchant hadn’t recognized the Human; it must be true that the Troll merchant came from the west.
On the other hand, the Lizardman merchant from the Black-Scaled Lizardmen Tribe recognized the Human.
“Nice to meet you, lord of Automation…?” .
The Lizardman merchant trailed off. They had recognized Hwee-Kyung because of the pair of horns on her forehead, but the Lizardman merchant was a little thrown off by the unusual clothes Hwee-Kyung was wearing, which didn’t suit the head of a tribe.
“Who I am is not important. Were you about to trade this much silk for a basket of iron?”
“Yes. I was about to…”
“Do you think that calculation is correct?
“Umm…”
The Lizardman was a merchant, so being questioned about the calculation did hurt his pride a little.
“I came with Chief Lakrak and brought the silk in a wheelbarrow, so transporting it here wasn’t difficult. I’ve been trading this much with all the other tribes until now. That Troll put forward many more pieces of iron than I expected.”
Hwee-Kyung sighed and replied, “So? Does that Troll know all that too?”
“What?”
“That Troll said they had never seen silk like this before. I think that was a lie, but I do know this silk is of high value. That Troll doesn’t know where this silk is from. So that means, aside from the actual value of the silk, you should charge more for your hard work in bringing it here.”
“You mean…”
“If people don’t know much about the silk from the Black-Scaled Lizardmen Tribe, tell them you came from far away. That it was hard for you to bring it all the way here.”
It was still a period where it wasn’t mandatory to label products with their distribution channels and place of origin.
The Lizardman merchant nervously said, “But…wouldn’t that be lying?”
Hwee-Kyung furrowed his eyebrows.
‘Always being honest! How will you be fed without lying?’
Since Hwee-Kyung became the lord of Automation, she had had more interactions with the Black-Scaled Lizardmen Tribe and met a lot more Lizardmen other than Sairan and the Lizardmen that were already at Automation before. And as she met more Lizardmen, she noticed a particular characteristic of the species. Overall, they were honest.
‘It’s not that they don’t ever lie, but they always try their best to avoid lying unless it’s necessary.’
Hwee-Kyung felt that the characteristic was especially pronounced with the Black-Scaled Tribe, but she didn’t think it was necessarily bad as their honesty stemmed from confidence. The problem was the trades between the merchants.
‘They’re all frauds anyways!’
Hwee-Kyung thought that this tendency of theirs was why the Blue Insect God needed Humans.
“I heard that the silk of the Black-Scaled Tribe is made in the northeast of the peninsula. Even though you brought it here without much difficulty, it’s still true that you had to work and put effort into bringing it. Shouldn’t you get paid for that?”
“That is true, but…”
“And the most important thing is this.”
The Lizardman merchant was becoming interested in Hwee-Kyung’s merchant lesson.
“What is it?”
“The quality of iron.”
“Ah.”
“Iron pieces all look the same, but if there are a lot of impurities, they’ll be soft and weak.”
“But it’s hard to tell just by looking at the outside. For people who aren’t warriors like Mr. Sairan, though, it would be impossible to test its hardiness by bending it.”
“Use a scale. Take a high-quality iron piece that is about the same size and weigh them. If there’s a big difference in the weight between the two, the other piece isn’t pure iron. The Troll merchant must know the truth, so try to use this information to get more out of them.”
Thanks to Hwee-Kyung, the Lizardman merchant learned the names and uses of many interesting mechanical devices on sale throughout the market.
“Thank you, Hwee-Kyung.”
Hwee-Kyung smiled, sent the Lizardman merchant off, and thought to herself, ‘If you guys act like fools, I’ll be the one in a difficult position.’
***
Hwee-Kyung had a dream the night she became the lord of Automation. It was truly bizarre. She usually dreamed of getting chased by masked men, or eating rice with soup filled with as much vegetable and pork as she wanted, so this dream was particularly strange to her.
Hwee-Kyung was alone in an empty Automation. It wouldn’t have been strange if it had been nighttime, but the sun was in the middle of the sky, yet there was no one around, and the houses were empty as well.
‘This is strange. Where did everyone go?’
Hwee-Kyung thought she should go to the salt mine, palace, and fortress wall to check. As she climbed up onto the wall, she looked out and saw where all the castle citizens were. They were lining up outside the wall and glaring at Hwee-Kyung with angry expressions. Hwee-Kyung somehow knew the reason.
‘It’s because I, who is worthless, have become the lord.’
Hwee-Kyung then walked to the palace. It was where the lord and their family lived, as well as where the vassals of the four families worked. It was likewise empty. However, as she walked to the grand hall where the vassals or other citizens would gather to talk, surprisingly enough, there were people there. It was her father, Hwee-Seo, and her four siblings. Hwee-Seo and her four siblings were also glaring at Hwee-Kyung like the other citizens outside the castle wall.
‘But the lord’s seat is empty. That’s my spot.’
Hwee-Kyung then finally walked into the salt mine. It was dark and pitch black, so she couldn’t see anything. As soon as she thought she should go get a torch, though, fireflies appeared and glowed. Hwee-Kyung followed the fireflies to the very heart of the mine and discovered a man facing the wall. Hwee-Kyung had no idea who the man was.
“Who are you?”
With his face hidden from her, the man slightly raised his index finger as if he wasn’t aware of Hwee-Kyung standing behind him. A firefly then landed on his finger.
Then Hwee-Kyung was able to guess who the man was.
“You’re the Blue Insect God.”
Hwee-Kyung bowed in the most polite way she knew of.
“Please forgive me if I seem rude. I grew up very recklessly…”
The man continuously looked at the firefly curiously, like he didn’t care whether Hwee-Kyung was talking behind him.
“I have received a lot of help from those who believe in the Blue Insect God. But this is just the beginning. I am obstinately making things happen, but in the end, I might not be of much help to the Blue Insect God.”
The man then opened his hand, and the fireflies danced and began disappearing into his palm. Hwee-Kyung felt that there was a reason the Blue Insect God was ignoring her. She thought he was rejecting what Hwee-Kyung had said.
“Do you think that’s not true?”
All the fireflies disappeared. There was only darkness left.
“But I don’t have the power or abilities to be of any help.”
Bowing down in the darkness, Hwee-Kyung continued to say to the god, “…I have no help.”
After Hwee-Kyung said those words, the area around her became bright. She looked back to see someone holding a torch.
“What are you doing here?”
It was Sairan Muel.
“You should get up.”
Sairan took Hwee-Kyung’s wrist and helped her up. Sairan raised the torch and walked through the dark salt mine.
“I was looking for you. Why have you come so deep into the mine?”
“Well, I don’t know… I’m not sure why.”
“There are times like that in life.”
Hwee-Kyung nodded.
“Oh right, Sairan. Do you know who I saw?”
“Who did you see?”
“I saw…”
***
Then Hwee-Kyung woke up from her dream. She hadn’t slept on a proper bed, but had fallen asleep on the lord’s throne in the palace. At first, Hwee-Kyung thought it was a silly dream like any other ones, but she came to realize that wasn’t the case over time.
‘So…the Blue Insect God means I shouldn’t worry because I have Sairan…no, because I have the Black-Scaled Tribe Lizardmen?’
As Hwee-Kyung realized the dream’s intention, she felt the weight on her mind lifted. She wouldn’t have believed the dream so strongly if the Blue Insect God had said they would support her alone, but Lakrak and the tribe existed. The Black-Scaled Tribe had proven their power by chasing away the Ears Cut Tribe.
‘God, I have nothing without them anyways. Even if you didn’t give me a revelation…’
Hwee-Kyung suddenly nodded as she mused.
‘…Come to think of it, I think we should be able to benefit from this faith too.’
Automation was in a chaotic situation. Many people were hurt and killed in the succession fight. The lord changed, and the leaders of the families hadn’t fully approved of Hwee-Kyung yet. Merchants did come and go, but they weren’t as lively as they used to be. There was a need for the chaotic situation to settle down.
‘Believing in the Blue Insect God gives a sense of mental stability. Even if that stability truly comes from Lakrak and the Black-Scaled Tribe… What if we sell Sralak wooden statues and say God’s protection would be given?’
Hwee-Kyung got lost in her thoughts while seated.
***
Looking down at her from far away, Sung-Woon was a little flustered.
‘I only wanted her to become a little touched so that she would spread Faith…’
Sung-Woon nodded.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter since I’ve achieved my goal, does it?’
A system message popped up in front of Sung-Woon.
[You have received lots of attention from a tribe. Now this tribe belongs in your domain.]
[Domain: Humans]
[Lv. 1]
Now Sung-Woon was able to receive Faith points from both species and influence them.
“I can officially get on creating some synergy.’
*** 𝘪𝑎.𝒸𝘰
Hwee-Kyung, who was going around the market to prevent the Lizardmen from being fooled, discovered a unique species. They had a similar appearance to Humans, but they were shorter and had pointy ears. Their hair was generally bright and colorful, and they had big eyes. Therefore, even species other than Humans could tell the difference.
“…Aren’t those Elves?”
Trolls were a rare sight at Automation, but Elves were even rarer. There was a powerful Troll tribe on the continent side, so Automation did see Troll merchants coming and going. The Elf tribe she knew of, on the other hand, was located across the wilderness on the northeast coast of the continent relative to where Automation was. It seemed that a large group of merchants had crossed the wilderness as there were nearly fifteen Elves, and they were setting up a large stall in the market.
It just so happened that a Lizardman merchant was trading silk with one of the Elves, and Hwee-Kyung overheard their conversation.
“What fine silk! This is a top-grade product.”
“You said you would trade with iron, right? How much can you give me?”
The Elf merchant nodded at the Lizardman merchant’s words. The Elf then took a fist-sized pouch out of a large box.
“Hm, will this be enough?”
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