Having explained everything, and elaborating my reason as to why I wanted a monster as a wife, which was to gain a connection to the penta-region for making profit as a merchant, my mother who listened quietly and patiently seemed much more calmer then at the beginning as she seemed to be thinking very hard about what I just said.
I could already see that it was very difficult for mother to make sense of everything I just explained as she wasn’t usually a great thinker of any kind being a mercenary.
Furthermore having delegated and left every single technical jargon to her wise husband, my father, there was no way my mother would be able to understand things like import and export or supply and demand which was elementary to most people who are building a business.
It was for this reason that I made a very big effort to explain my reasoning with as much simplicity as possible, even though mother wasn’t great at the head department it didn’t mean she was stupid, she had a bit of a temper admittedly, but when she was calm she at least tried to understand as much as she could which was one of the good points about mother that father constantly told me about.
-My son, I generally understand what you are trying to do, I won’t lie and say I understand everything since you know that your mother isn’t very good in these types of things as your father or yourself, and to be honest I have faith in your intellect as you always were a very bright child just like your father which gives me peace at mind, but still, I can’t help but worry about you taking in a monster as a wife of all things, even if you want a connection to the penta region why would you sacrifice yourself like that just for a mere connection, don’t you remember the time I told you about your father being kidnapped by those fiends ? It was only by a stroke of luck that we were able to get your father back at the time if we weren’t fast enough who knows what those demons would have done to…
-Mother please…
Not being able to bear listening to her anymore I uncharacteristically stopped her in her tracks, I knew that doing so was sort of rude and would likely earn me a hard which it did, but I endured and quickly opened a drawer from fathers desk, using my memory I navigated through the vast amount of documents stored inside, all of which looked like where haphazardly placed without a order but in reality having their own unique order father made to make it hard for other people, other then himself, to find the correct document if they were looking for it.
Why he would do that was something I never really understood as it wasn’t very likely that anyone would come to steal documents from our house and even if they did there weren’t many valuable documents here either as all those documents were stored somewhere else far safer then his room.
Anyways, in the end what I ended up pulling out was a huge folded piece of parchment that was really durable and somewhat heavy for a paper.
This item was something very special father had commissioned from a cartographer before he died, in fact it was an item he was originally going to give to me on my 15th birthday when I came of age, his will stated that it would help me become a successful merchant but if I could use it correctly that is.
Holding it up to myself, I momentarily looked at it slightly sad that father couldn’t give it to me personally, having had no father figure in my previous life I was quite elated to have had one in this life as the person who was my father Luther Ravenguard, was quite a respectable man who knew much about the world and taught me a lot.
Much like I had come to love him, I also admired him which is why this item was especially significant to me.
For my beloved son, Kyro Ravenguard, may fortune be with you, from your proud father and mentor, Luther Ravenguard.
Is what the folded piece of parchment read as I held it in my hand.
Mother noticed this as well and curiously looked at what I was holding, very much recognizing her husband elegant hand writing before I opened the parchment and laid it out onto the desk, the size being quite big for a deceptively small parchment folded together as it almost covered the entire desk.
And rightfully so as the parchment contained a map of the entire star continent showing every known location from big to small, of every kingdom and even some bits of the penta region, the amount of detail on this map was incredibly fine to the point it was microscopic, from this alone I knew it was made by someone who had a extremely high level blessing, what kind of blessing I didn’t know but if there was a blessing for a cartographer then this likely would be the work of such person.
Even mother recognized how much of a master piece this map was and she probably also knew it was likely worth quite a bit as knowledge like this was something usually guarded quite heavily by each kingdom within the deepest part of their archives.
How father was able to get his hands on such a item was beyond me, but at the same time I wasn’t too surprised, father was always someone who made the impossible possible, a paranoid man with a incredible brooding mind, saying that he wouldn’t be able to get something like this was insulting to his name.
-A map ? Why are you showing this to me ?
-I have my reasons but for now I want you to listen to me for a moment and look over here…
Not missing a beat I pointed towards a little corner of the map connecting my kingdom and the penta region which was basically the border.
Mother looked at that place and thought for a second before saying.
-Thats one of the past war grounds no ? If I remember correctly our kingdom lost in this area quite terribly because of the rocky terrain that the monsters used for their advantage, we later made up for the loss on the next fight in a different terrain, so what about it ?
She asked, not seeming to understand what I was trying to get at, which was understandable but at least I didn’t need to explain the history of that place which made the transition easier if mother knew what it was.
-Yes, you’re right being a past war ground and one in which we lost as well it is currently held by the demi-humans, more specifically held by a tribe called the Crimson Rabbits, who are demi-humans that have rabbit like traits, like long ears, red eyes and tails, this tribe is especially known for their fast and quick maneuverability, strong legs that can be used to jump to far distances and keen sense of hearing that some say reaches a kilometer, they are often used as scouts or messengers by the demi-human army, but never as soldiers like infantry as they are by nature not very strong physically compared to everyone else.
-So they are useless in fights ?
She interjected coldly, saying those words not in a insulting way but rather in a matter of fact, which I am not sure is worse then actually insulting them, in either case I wasn’t going to comment on that and simply continued my explanation.
-In general yes, for the past few hundred years the Crimson Rabbit tribe or any other close relative of their species have so far not seen much battle because of their lack luster abilities, other then speed and stamina they aren’t the most durable of fighters making it quite difficult for them to find their place and because of their weak muscle structure it is difficult for them to do heavy lifting, which is why they are limited to being scouts and messengers for the past hundred years.
-Why are you telling me all of this ? I’d like for you to get to the point already ?
She said, starting to get a bit impatient as she didn’t seem to want to listen anymore of my history lesson, I also complied quickly getting to the point like she wanted before she completely cut me off.
-You see mother, because of their lack luster abilities within the standards of the demi-human society, they are slowly starting to go extinct, and right now, while it isn’t very noticeable, the amount of males that had been provided to these demi-humans isn’t a lot as reports show, some sources I had gathered even said that they are starting to panic because of their lack of males which is why they are starting to go out and attempt procuring their own somehow even if it means to go against the law of their land with minimal success. Since demi-human culture is extremely meritocratic it means that the weak, lazy or dumb will start to die off to only leave strong, hard working and wise individuals, this Crimson Rabbit clan is one of the many victims of their ruling order, even the place they currently reside in shows they are one of the lowest of the low when it comes to social standing as the only way they could have been placed so closely next to the border of the kingdom is through having no other choice but to be there, I don’t know if you know this, but demi-humans usually get stronger and stronger the further you travel into the center of the penta-region, its like this because only the strong, wise or accomplished can stay in those areas, if any one of those start to become weak they will go down further and further in status, get bullied by their neighbors until they have no other choice but to leave and go somewhere more bearable, for the Crimson Rabbits that border with rocky terrain is the only place they can stay as it won’t have anyone harassing them for their weakness even if it means being close to the humans they are warring with who could potentially exterminate them or worse capture them all for slavery.
I took in a breath, feeling my throat drying up as I had said far too much in a single instance, mother on the other hand only pondered some more before looking back at me.
-Again…why are you telling me this ? Are you perhaps saying that we should pity these monsters ? Who cares this isn’t our problem, I thought you understood this Kyro ?
Her words sharp as ever struck me right through my chest as she said them with a cold judging look in her eyes, of course I quickly tried to explain that I wasn’t pitying anyone which lead me to my next point.
-Mother, males aren’t the only thing these demi-humans are lacking, the next urgent problem they seem to have is food, and as I said before they reside in a rocky terrain growing things there is said to be close to impossible and since these demi-humans aren’t the most proficient farmers or hunters either, they had been suffering quite a bit of famine for the past couple of years, not enough to make them starve to death, but enough to make them desperate, what I am thinking is to use this to my advantage and I will begin here.
I once again pointed at the map, but this time it was slightly to the west of the Crimson Rabbit tribe, a area with 2 huge mountains both of which were covered in trees entirely, the amount of time it would take to walk from the tribe to those trees for a average human would be 3 or 4 days at foot, but for the Crimson Rabbits a day was enough as they could traverse almost any terrain as long as they had solid footing.
Using the connections my father possessed, I had long since asked around and hired a few people to gather information for me, I knew for certain that because of the famine the Crimson Rabbits are facing, they are all mostly foraging for food in these mountains and since crossing these mountains with troops was a impossible task not many people actually went there as they served as a natural barrier that separated the kingdom from the penta-region.
But unbeknownst to many there was actually a path that went between those mountains, the path was small only allowing for a single carriage to pass through, but that is all I needed.
Listening to me and how I had described everything mother seemed to be starting to understand what I was trying to do as she looked at me slightly surprised.
-You want to sell food to these monsters in exchange of wares ? I am not sure if I should call you a genius or a reckless idiot, even your father wouldn’t attempt something as risky as that, but then again your father being immensely paranoid was just as much a daredevil so maybe you just inherited his traits, okay, I am following what you are planning, but in the end why would you voluntarily make one of these hideous monsters your bride, if they are this desperate why not just try to exchange with them normally ? And most importantly what do you want from them that is worth dealing with them in the first place ? Huh ?
I hugged my mother, Feeling extremely happy that she actually heard me out I hugged her as tight as I could while cuddling into her neck.
Father used to say that out of all his brides mother was the most understanding even if she was a bit cold, she detested the demi-humans calling them monsters no matter what, but she still somewhat considered them as people just herself, the fact that she didn’t immediately admonish me when I said I wanted to take a monster as a bride and let me explain myself proves this fact.
My mother was not prepared for my sudden hug but she didn’t complain and tried to hug me back before I quickly detached myself, much to her ire.
Returning to the map I looked at it in deep thought before saying.
-You see the whole bride thing is for me to earn their trust, if I take one of them as a bride willingly while showing sincerity continued trade may become possible for constant income, furthermore since I am just a up and coming merchant there is not much I can do in this land that hasn’t already been done by someone else, and even if I do something significant that will net me a good amount of coin, I am sure that already established business’s will approach me to exchange my methods with them for a small amount of gold, there is nothing much I can do to refuse them if so since they have so much more influence then I do, making an enemy in this industry as a rookie without connections is akin to suicide which is why I am not going to do it if I want to continue being a merchant, this is where I use the advantage of me being a male, becoming a middleman between the demi-humans and the humans as merchant, the only thing is males are rarely ever merchants as they can’t own property, for this I will need a actual human wife who will hold that property for me while I do everything at the side, the Crimson Rabbits are also the most perfect targets since they are far away from the next closest demi-human tribe/town and because their social standing is already so low they are not going to even try exchange food and make themselves look even weaker worsening their situation, which leads me to the most important aspect which are the 2 mountain where this grows !
I shuffled through my pockets pulling out a weed like looking herb and a small metal box which had a green powder like substance inside of it that I carried at all times for my sisters who frequently injured themselves while playing outside.
Looking at the things I pulled out all of a sudden, mother was momentarily confused, it took her a few moments to realize what I was holding up before she understood and said.
-Blood clotting powder ? So you want to do all of this just for some herbs that make blood clotting powder ?
At that moment I almost wanted to shout at her, but knowing how strong and full of temper my mother was I receded, only my father would dare to shout at my mother and be able to get away with it everytime, I wasn’t my father and I needed mother to understand.
-Mother, did you know that blood clotting powder is the most sold medicine in this continent ? It is so commonly sold that almost everyone uses it, but do you know from where it comes from ?
Hearing my composed question, mother momentarily thought once again, this time clearly not knowing the answer as she quickly gave up and looked back at me.
I took the signs immediately and opened my mouth again.
-Blood clotting powder, comes from the weed like looking herb I am holding right now which is called the mountain weed, the mountain weed cannot be domestically grown as it requires a certain environment that is just right to grow, so far almost every mountain weed found has grown on mountains which is why its called the mountain weed, the mountains next to the Crimson Rabbit tribe are prime spots for that as some people have said they do indeed grow there, and to correct you’re previous statement, this is not just blood clotting powder, this is what saved the lives of millions of people, ever since the discovery of blood clotting powder, that has shown to disinfect wounds, deaths from infections had been reduce by almost 60% all over the 5 kingdoms, 25 grams of this powder costs 1 silver and since 1 weed at average can produce between 50 to 80 grams of this stuff, we’re looking at 2 to 3 silvers of profit just through 1 weed.
As I continued to get towards the actual profits of the matter, my mother started to look at the weed quite differently then before, being a mercenary she knew very well how difficult it was to earn money and even though her work usually pays her gold coins instead of silver on the regular basis, silver coins were still nothing to cough at especially if they can be earned through such a small weed.
On another note there were a few things that I still didn’t mention to her that I didn’t think were worth mentioning, one of those things were why I aimed at the Crimson Rabbits in particular and why I decided to use blood clotting powder to generate profit.
I already made all of my research before hand in preparation of starting my business once I left, there was not one day where I didn’t check up on the market price of things and see what was abundant and what was not, Blood clotting powder was considered abundant as it grew on almost every mountain making it easy to gather, but because the gathering rights were held by land owners who gathered this particular herb like farmers, they already had exclusive contracts with other companies who processed the raw material giving me no chance to even get the raw thing to begin with without finding a gather who wasn’t affiliated with anyone.
Overall almost every household had blood clotting powder in their medicine supply because of how useful it was in disinfecting wounds, and because it wasn’t too expensive nor too cheap it was the perfect item to make a profit out of as almost virtually everyone could afford it and needed to have, especially since war was still going on where this stuff was used on a regular basis.
Now concerning the Crimson Rabbits, taking advantage of their food situation and because they are close to the mountains were the main couple reasons as to why I targeted them, but there was also another hidden reason why I specifically wanted them to be my customers and first line of connections in the penta-region.
They were weak, and coupled with my similar weakness of having close to no connections we were about equal when it came to social standing, I didn’t need to fear their influence when we would start negotiations, even if they do capture me, its not going to solve their dire situation of not having food, and if I make a honest advance first they won’t feel too suspicious either, adding the marriage it was the fastest way to build trust in my opinion.
After all marriage was the fastest way to build a tight bond, no matter the culture it was the same.
I looked back at mother trying to gauge her reaction, she looked calm over all, but I could see that she still wasn’t completely satisfied as she stared back at me.
-I understand what you want to do, I also realize that you thought this through very well, but I still think that you are putting yourself in far too much unnecessary risk, your faith in these monsters and their capability to keep their end of the bargain is something I cannot understand, after all we are still at war, but most importantly…what is it that you need my help for ? Why tell me all of this in the first place ?
She said, a faint pressure emitting out of her body as I felt myself getting squeezed into a tight space, but I wasn’t perturbed, it only made sense after all that I wanted something from her which is why I was even telling her this.
If I didn’t need help, I wouldn’t even need to be here, after all once I leave the house there is nothing my mother can do to virtually to stop me, only now she could stop everything by forcefully detaining me or telling the authorities about what I was planning on doing.
But knowing mother, she was never going to involve strangers into our domestic dispute, what I was doing was illegal in the eyes of the law, but it was just as easy to get away with since I wasn’t smuggling some illegal or rare goods with questionable origins, what I was selling here were common mountain herbs, no one is going to bother questioning that even if they did come from the outside.
I thought, pointing at the last location on the map as my mother followed to where my finger was pointing, she momentarily was surprised the moment she saw what it was, but before she could even say anything I began on my own.
-Lossandra estate, the noble house from where you hail from mother, this is the place closest to the border and those mountains, since its naturally covered by all sides its also the most naturally defended place there is which is why throughout history, the Lossandra estate had rarely ever been attacked, their population is close to 80,000 people making it a large town, their main source of income is the production of wool and grain, but because they are so isolated and difficult to get to merchants rarely go there, they also lack a few key industries like pharmacies that make blood clotting powder making it perfect for me to trade as I can easily buy grains to trade with the Crimson Rabbits and return to make blood clotting powder which I am going to sell for profit in that town and then buy more food to trade with the demi-humans, again repeating the cycle, this is the place where I want my base of operation to start, but for me to start and set up shop, I will need a permit from the noble house that resides there, paying taxes is going to be another thing, but not a problem entirely, the main thing here is, mother I need your help.
I got up standing next to her straight I bowed my head towards her, not wanting to look into my mothers eyes as I quietly waited for her reply, it had all come down to this, it could all virtually end here if my mother said no which she should be heavily inclined towards, but I still wanted and needed her help, for the sake of becoming a rich business man this was the fastest way I thought I could establish myself to build my foundation, any other method took either way too long or needed too much investment, time was also a resource after all that I wanted to spare, while money was something I didn’t have too much of right now to make use of.
Seeing me bow my head, my mother could only sigh as she seemed to be going into deep thought, I could still hear her get up from her side and walk towards the direction of the window, time seemed to stop within this suffocating silence until finally mother turned back to me and said with much difficulty.
-Fine, I will help you, I will write a letter to my former house and ask them to allow you to do business in their area permanently, but…
-THANK YOU MOTHER !
Feeling overjoyed I couldn’t hold my excitement as I shouted in glee about to hug my mother again, only to be stopped as she held my head down with a look of irritation.
-Hey ! I am not done yet ! I will help you yes, but there is still a condition I have for you before I agree, and that condition is, you will marry a woman from the Lossandra house.
-What ?
Hearing her words my eyes momentarily went wide as I didn’t expect her to pull a move like this.
A Place Of Legends 