Tondemo Fanfiction – 001 – Barty, Michaela and Alstair

As promised! I shall now put up little fanfictions for your reading pleasure!

 

Barty – Soap Trader

Hello, I’m Barty.

People call me Barty the Soap Trader, because that’s what I trade in most of the time. Of course, I would sometimes pick up a bit of salt or spices now and then, especially if I managed to get a bargain from one of my trusty suppliers.

But on the whole, I trade in soaps because they are easy to transport and easy to sell at a good price. You’d be surprised to know that my expensive soaps are the ones that get sold out first, especially with the right clients. The problem was not selling soaps, but getting my hands on the really good ones.

But enough about that, one of the reasons why I like being a travelling merchant is because I like is meeting new and fascinating people on the road and chatting with them. Sure, it could get difficult at times. Like that one time when I had to skedaddle out of Reijseger quickly due to rumours of unrest.

Speaking of Reijseger, I recall meeting that one inquisitive fellow. He asked me if I had an [Item Box], goodness me! If only~

He even asked me if I had access to an [Appraisal] tool! Ah, I could only dream of being blessed with such skills. Still, as a senior in the field, i felt obligated to tell him a thing or two. Must be a foreigner out to make his fortune, fufu. Good luck, young man!

I hope he managed to get out of Rejseger safely…

“Hullo, Barty~ here’s your order of soaps,” said Michaela, one of the lovely ladies working the counter at Feenan. I always like dealing with her best. “By the way, I managed to snag a box of those fancy soaps for you. Hohoho.”

“Goodness me, I could never have done this without you, my dear, hohoho.”

She once mentioned that I looked a lot like her grandfather. Well, well, I don’t mind being a grandfather to such a sweet little lady.

“And here’s a little souvenir for you,” I said as I passed a little cloth bag to her.

“Is this…” her eyes lit up.

“Just a little something,” I said with a kindly smile. It was actually a small bottle of ‘face cream’ that I managed to get my hands on, and the real reason why Michaela is so willing to help me.

“Oh my, you shouldn’t~”

“Oh no, I insist~”

“Fufufu,”

“Hohoho,”

 

Michaela – Merchant Guild Counter

It’s always lovely to see Barty.

He had been frequenting this Merchant’s Guild since before I started working here and had been turning up every month or so, regardless of the season. Sure, there were times when he would be a little late, on account of weather, bandit or monster attacks, but he always turned up.

I always look forward to seeing him.

Not because of the little gifts he insisted on giving me, mind you, although the other girls would give me flack about having such a nice client, I like to think that we exchange fairly equal favours. I’m always on the lookout for good or unusual soaps that would sell well and keep some for Barty. He can’t carry a lot of goods in his little backpack, so the best way for him to make money is to sell things with a good profit margin.

Naturally, this means luxury goods.

Soaps are some of the easiest things to move. Although they could be pretty heavy. Naturally, things like salt and pepper have higher value, but they also carry too much of a risk since it would be like carrying gold or jewellery around.

Recently, we received a crate of excellent rose-scented soaps from Carelina. The cost price was a little shocking, but nobles and the rich would pay a lot for these, so I tried to keep some for Barty to increase his profit per trip.

There were bottles of shampoo and hair treatment, but these were too fragile to be transported in a backpack. Just breaking one of these bottles would set poor Barty back by a few weeks’ worth of profit, so soap it is.

In return, Barty would gift me little things like face cream and oils, or even small amounts of rare spices he came across during one of his little trips. This time, he brought face cream for me. I did not have the heart to tell him that I had access to better quality creams and pretended to be delighted by the gift.

Well, to be honest, I really am delighted.

Maybe I’ll use these on my hands later.

“Hello Miss, we’re here to sell our goods,”

“Oh, excuse me,” I said, a little flustered to be caught daydreaming at work. Fortunately, it was a party I am familiar with. I can’t remember their name, but all three were very young. I believe the two women were married to the young man speaking to me. All three wore matching rings. “You wish to sell your loot?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind, we have some jewels we gathered from the dungeons.”

“Of course, of course, do come this way~”

 

Alstair – Gem Appraiser

“Hmm… these are not bad, dungeon gems always do have excellent clarity. This emerald especially, I must say that it is one of the better ones I have seen. The box too, you say this is from a Mimic?”

“Yeah! It was a pain to defeat that one!” said one of the women in the party. It was the more cheerful one.

I have always been bad with names, but I could always attach names to gems, although I could never, for the life of me, recall who brought them in.

“How much for everything?” said the young man.

“Hmm,” I considered the gems, then the age and the eyes of the youths before me. For youths they were. The three of them all wore rings on the fourth finger of their left hands, the workmanship was simple but someone had imbued magic into those rings, crude though it was.

More crucially, the quiet one, the female in the back was watching him with wary eyes. I smiled, “129 gold for the lot.”

“Woah, that’s-”

“No,” the quiet woman immediately cut off her mate’s crowing.

As expected, she was the one to watch out for.

“Rio~” the cheerful female said.

“No,” said the gloomy one again. “And unless you spit out a good number, we will take our business elsewhere.”

“Hmm, hmm, fair enough, how about 60 gold for the box? As for the emerald…”

The negotiation went on for a little while, it was one of the more interesting ones that I had participated in.

Finally, we settled at 180 gold for everything.

I sighed happily, “You drive a hard bargain, Madam.”

“Humph, you’re the one who’s too good at bargaining,” she smirked

“Hohoho, isn’t that the basics of being a merchant? I understand that you are all Adventurers as well? I do hope to see you again~”

“We’ll definitely see you again!”

I hope so. It is always great to purchase jewels directly from Adventurers rather than going through the Adventurer’s Guild. That way, we get to cut out the middle man and both sides profit a little more.

“Do see them out, Cartier. Oh and may I ask if you are staying in town? I have some connections here and could swing a free night at an inn for you.”

“This-”

“Sure, we’ll take it!”

“Kanon,”

“Why not? I want to sleep in a proper bed tonight.”

“Yeah, let’s go for it!” the male slung his arms around his mates, grinning from ear to ear.

I made a mental note to have my cousin prepare the room with the extra large bed for them. It is rare for people to travel in a party of three and be so successful in their Adventuring. Especially for relative beginners. It would not hurt to build a good relationship with them now.

I smiled, “The address is the Dancing Horseshoe Inn, I do hope you enjoy your stay.”