Mermaid's Bag
They were finally hitting the high seas to return back to Morata after their adventures in the Jigolaths!
Dolphins, symbolizing good luck, as well as thousands of birds and a group of Mermaids were following the ship Weed was riding. Bellot was playing a soothing tune, and
Hwaryeong was dancing sexily to the tune. She was certainly doing a good job to attract gazes from the Mermaids. The marine animals were gathered behind the ship because of that.
"Wow, how pretty."
"I can see straight through the sea water. Oh my god, look at the turtle swimming down there."
Romuna and Surka exclaimed, when they saw the beautiful sparkling sea that they were sailing through, made one want to dive right in.
Small and pretty schools of fish roamed below, and they could see crayfish, shrimps and other crustacean organisms crawling through the water.
An indescribable, colorful beauty lay below them, consisting of seaweed growing on the boulders, clams, and hundreds of other organisms!
The party members were all clinging to the edge of the deck, and were busy marveling at the sea.
"Look at it jump. Wow!"
As if showing off, the dolphins jumped into the air, and the Mermaids were swimming with fluid motions.
Weed smacked his lips.
"They look so delicious!"
Every time he looked at the marine animals, he was constantly reminded of endless seafood dishes.
Isn't a hot pot with every single ingredient down there broiled altogether the greatest seafood dish ever!
But Weed wanted to believe that he had some decency.
Mermaids were an oceanic race that was similar to Humans. They possessed high intelligence and communication was possible thanks to their linguistic skills.
But most importantly, they all had the appearance of beautiful women.
A pure and peaceful race.
"And how could they slaughter these Mermaids ruthlessly? That's just simply unacceptable."
So Weed decided to do some business.
"Now, now! A day like today won't come again. Take your pick, everyone. Window shopping's free! There are many new and beautiful clothes here."
The Mermaids were suspicious of the Humans and were on high alert around them.
"Something smells dirty."
"A foul smell. Just like an Undead."
It was indeed true that Weed gave off a strange smell after playing as a Lich.
However, Weed was able to lessen the Mermaids' suspicions, as his Fame stat, which he gained through countless sculptures and requests, was very high.
The Mermaids boarded the ship, being unable to trust any other Human apart from Weed!
Weed displayed the clothes that were made from the leather of Tairbeths and Bollards in the Jigolaths.
He also displayed bags, shell earrings and sea-stone rings, that he started selling to the Mermaids.
"Mermaids are still women. And clothes can definitely be sold to women."
When he bought some sleepwear for his grandmother while she was hospitalized, she complimented him for bringing a pink one with floral patterns, rather than a dull gray one.
"These bags are even useful at sea! You might fall out of times compared to others if you don't own at least one or two bags. Having a good bag will make your trips more enjoyable."
Meanwhile, Mapan was blaming himself for his short-sighted thinking.
"Ah, as expected!"
One could say that Mermaids were a race that lived in the sea. They could definitely be customers.
It was Weed's ideology to split people into either prey or guests in a monochrome fashion!
"I still have so much to work on to catch up with Weed's business skills."
The Mermaids' hair swayed like damp seaweed, while they browsed Weed selection.
- I like this one.
The Mermaids' voices had a serene ring to them that echoed in his head.
The voices were as vibrant and clear as a chime of bells.
Hearing the voices was like a sign of them warming up towards him, and Weed quickly crunched the figures in his head like a top of the line computer.
"That will be 1520 Gold. But since it suits you so well, I'll give you two pieces of clothing for the price of one. Why don't you try on this hat as well? It would be a great pity if you don't try it on, when it suits you so much. Believe me, I'm not trying to rip off such a beautiful Mermaid like yourself, but I just want to help bring out the best in you."
A great selling technique of praise, inflation and quantity!
The Mermaid tilted her head left and right, as if she couldn't comprehend what he just said.
-Gold? Is such a thing necessary to have these clothes?
Mermaids were an innocent race that didn't often ask questions. They held great interest in the human world, but they were not well-informed because of their reserved nature.
"Gold is necessary to trade between humans."
Producing an old Niflheim Empire's gold coin from his chest pocket, Weed showed it to her.
"Do you have any gold currency like these? If not, I'm more than happy to barter with jewelry, antiques or any other equipments."
If the Mermaids had no money, then establishing a deal would be impossible.
However, Weed was not bothered at all when he couldn't sell objects due to the race barrier.
There should be at least one or two legends floating around out in the sea.
There must have been numerous shipwrecks in this area after a fierce storm, and these
Mermaids should have witnessed those ships many times.
Even picture books tell of such things!
The story of a Mermaid who needlessly saved a prince from a sinking ship.
-Please wait for a moment.
Mermaids who had already decided on their choices jumped into the sea, and after a long time, they resurfaced carrying bags of gold.
Some Mermaids came back with very old antiques.
There were specially made potteries, gold, weapons and armors, old maps and even magical pendants!
"Hmm, I'm not sure if I'll be able to re-sell these because of the rusting. I'll be actually making a loss by bartering with these… but since those clothes suit you all so well, I'll agree to it."
-Thank you.
Weed was able to rip them off by a satisfactory amount.
These Mermaids in the far sea certainly were not creatures of low intelligence.
Not only did they have control over the marine animals, all shipwrecks were theirs for taking.
There were no other better customers than them.
-I don't think this one fits me.
Some of the Mermaids shook their heads, and placed the clothes back down after trying them on.
This type of occurrence was quite common, where the texture or the shape of the clothes didn't suit the buyers, as the clothes in Weed's possession were made for humans.
Every time something like this happened, he wore a concerned expression and took the clothes back.
"These clothes now have the lingering traces of your beauty rubbed off on them… so it would be great if you purchase them anyway."
His flattering words flew out like he was reciting times tables!
And so, Weed was able to sell the clothes from Jigolaths without a hitch.
There was always the option of taking them back to Morata and selling them there, but selling armor-type items was unprofitable because of the set standards there. So he was able to reap greater profit by selling to the Mermaids.
of course, There were some poor Mermaids too.
"Don't you have any money?"
-No, we have nothing.
The young Mermaids, who appeared to be no more than little girls, were pacing up and down in regret.
Weed liked these young Mermaids, they were great customers.
A good merchant must be able to sell while understanding their customers' urgency.
The last thing Weed wanted to do while selling these items was to force the weak to buy anything from him.
The soft spot that he had for these customers made him want to give them discounts or special deals.
You already bought this item!
This is the unique item that was specially made just for you in this entire continent!
Forget about your life until now. You will be reborn as soon as you hold this bag.
Let's see how well you'll be off without buying this bag!
This motivation that will drive my sweet talk!
Weed's thoughts were reflected by his actions and words, so the Mermaids had no choice but to grab the bags.
Addressing the young Mermaids, he spoke as sweetly as he could.
"Hey, you girls can cry, right?"
-Well, we don't cry often, but only sometimes.
"Collect some of your tears for me. Then I'll let you have the bags."
-We understand.
Mermaid's Tears was a rare item.
Letting them Crystallize will transform them into pearls and after craftsmanship, there won't be anything that could be compared with it.
They were truly the treasures of the sea that would yield high Fame and Trade stats when sold on the mainland!
He even told the young Mermaids some tales, like a friendly uncle.
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A third-rate story that he made up on the spot!
The young Mermaids that reached the peak of their emotions started to weep.
-Whaaaaa.
-Sniff.
Weed diligently gathered the tears that fell onto the deck in a bottle.
In exchange for the tears, Weed's clothes, bags and accessories sold like pancakes.
Excluding the things he could sell normally, he was able to rip off a profit of at least over 35000 Gold!
The antiques received from the Mermaids could only be truly valued on the mainland.
The rusty swords that couldn't even be drawn were worthless, but they could be melted down to create other weapons.
Mermaids' handiwork or their accessories could fetch a high price on the mainland.
The 35000 Gold was the lowest estimated profit, so his profit for the day was an astronomical one.
-Thank you. I'll use it well.
"Come back whenever you want."
-I'll be back tomorrow.
"I'll have a lot of new products waiting for you then."
Dressed in leather clothes, hats and holding bags, they jumped into the sea.
Players often envied rich Mermaids, but were unable to attack them.
According to the legends on the Versailles Continent, Mermaids were the children of the God of the Sea, and friends of Sea Dragons. So hunting them would bring divine retribution on the hunters. Also, as they had authority over marine animals, angering them would bring headaches.
But on the contrary, Weed received their thanks.
This was because Weed stayed true to his principles of ripping off the customers while satisfying them at the same time.
"Mermaids are also women, so they should like shoes, but what a shame. I could have sold new heels for a really expensive price…. I know, I'll make some webbed feet and sell that!"
Weed was busy trying to corrupt these innocent Mermaids.
Whether on land or at sea, people were victimized wherever Weed passed by!
* * *
Navigating back to the Northern part of the continent, where Morata was placed, was faster than the trip to the Jigolaths, with the help from the winds and the sea current.
The mysterious sunrise and sunset of the sea, and a distant singing voice that could be heard.
A sea journey is great for creating those special memories and romance.
Hwaryeong and the other members were enjoying the rare ship cruise by sunbathing or looking at the view.
Yellowy was also resting on the warm deck, lying down on its stomach.
Mooooooo!
They were taking a break while eating some hot octopus chowder.
The bull normally wasn't able to eat such delicacy, but all of that would be deducted from his pay!
Yellowy closed his eyes and rested comfortably.
He had worked hard in Jigolaths, so it was now time for him to rest.
On their trip back to Morata, Weed's party and the Living Sculptures had boarded on three different ships.
But then, there was a large island-like fish that was continuously following behind them.
It was a palm-sized Living Sculpture when they left the Jigolaths, but after diving into the sea, it suddenly grew in size as it consumed coral reefs and other fish.
Its scales sparkled along with the sunlight and the seawater.
Judging by appearance alone, it seemed to possess gigantic strength!
Due to the Wyverns' weight, they were perched on top of the Living Sculpture and followed behind them.
The Wyvern with stretched out eyes, Wy-Seven, slipped off the scales and fell into the sea with a splash. It then resurfaced.
Even Surka, who loved water, jumped on top of the fish to enjoy the sea, despite being acrophobic.
"What's your name?"
The fish sank slightly below the surface, then resurfaced saying this.
"Turtle."
"Your name is Turtle? But you don't have a shell and you don't look like a turtle."
"Turtle, Turtle."
The turtle Living Sculpture named itself to be Turtle.
This was one of the few existing masterpieces in the Jigolaths by Latcherry, who had only sculptured extinct creatures all his life.
This creature's original name was Maleins Airnoto Turtle!
It was a Gigantic turtle that lived in the deep sea, and when matured, a shell would form in areas apart from its head and tail.
There were a lot of extinct and rare lifeforms that were given life in the Jigolaths, as well as handsome and artistic-looking ones.
* * *
Weed was sewing buttons on the clothes of the dolls. He was attaching doll eyes and this job was a very sensitive task to do!
He was sick and tired of doing it, but he couldn't make a single mistake when sewing buttons or eyes onto the doll.
"I should grind down shells for the buttons. The product value should rise if I sew different colored shells on it. There obviously won't be any material fee, and they'll sell well as they'll have some uniqueness to them."
Weed believed business was all about cutting down the production fee and ripping off customers!
He also checked some old maps that he received from the Mermaids.
"Identify!"
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"A treasure map, huh?"
There was a good chance of it leading to the hidden treasures of Pirates' or a shipwreck.
Or, it might contain information about a valuable marine animal.
It was a pity that the map had bits and pieces of it rubbed out from aging.
"I reckon Yurin should be able to restore this."
Map Restore was a skill that only Adventurers or Painters possessed. Weed obviously did not possess it.
His Painting skill was low, and he was only capable of mixing paint with his skills.
That was because he needed the paint to dye the clothes that were created, unlike armors, which could be colored by mixing different colored metals.
"A normal D ranked map wouldn't bring enough profit to even cover the effort that's needed to complete it."
Weed knew that there were numerous variety of adventures out at the sea.
There was a pile of maps that he collected from the Mermaids.
There were maps that pointed to locations with marine animals, whirlpools and underwater caves!
There were a lot of things to be done out in the sea, just as there were on land.
However, adventuring out in the sea with Weed's current level of navigation would take far too long.
Getting his head wrapped around the information regarding the sea, underwater landscape and rocks, as well as the sea winds, would take at least 1~2 years.
He did travel to Jigolaths because he ended up receiving the map and the request, but sea adventures were a whole different story.
"I should just use these maps to make clothes instead."
Clothes that motivated people to long for adventures. He was making clothes that actually pointed towards real treasures.
Using the leather and cloths of the old maps, Weed fashioned some clothes and bags.
"Some lucky people should find them somehow."
Weed was going to sell the clothes with a tag line of 'Leading Towards Treasures', so he wasn't making a loss.
There wasn't much to do on the ride, so he made all of the oceanic maps into clothes.
Zephyr immersed himself in some proper sea fishing, while Pale and Maylon hid themselves away from everyone else's sight, and sheepishly fed each other some raw fish (hoe).
Hwaryeong and Bellot were sunbathing first along with Surka and Romuna, but were now performing in front of the marine animals.
Seo Yoon had been standing on the deck, watching Weed work, but was now gazing at the sea while seated on the mast.
Her face wasn't seen during the fights because of the Warrior's Helm of Courage that she was wearing, but the current sight of her hair swaying in the wind was like something out of a painting.
She couldn't talk to anyone apart from Weed, and didn't even let anyone hear her voice.
She was still uncomfortable and had a lot of awkwardness remaining.
Weed couldn't approach and talk to her, even though he could see her being alone.
"I'm really indebted to her for what happened in Jigolaths…. I was able to do the request and fight the Hermes Guild thanks to her as well."
He was obviously very grateful to her, but he couldn't treat Seo Yoon like before, because he was constantly reminded of her father each time he looked at her.
The only form of communication between them was the occasional glances when he passed some food to her.
"I should just make a sculpture or something."
Weed gathered some sea water and floated some clouds up into the clear sky.
White clouds and dark clouds.
The sea was the optimum place to familiarize himself with Cloud Sculpting.
It was such a beautiful and mystifying sight, so it would become quite a hot topic when they return back to the Versailles Continent.
Seo Yoon was looking up at the sky.
Weed was sculpting a sculpture very seriously, with the aim of increasing his
Artistic skills, but he ended up creating a surprising sculpture.
He ended up sculpting the scene when they ate some grilled meat at the instructor's log house.
Considering it was a cloud sculpture, it had to be sculpted fast to include the details, but Weed's Handiwork skill was good enough to sculpt something where people were recognizable.
But of course, it was worthless as a sculpture!
Seo Yoon was wearing a mask, so it was hard to tell what kind of an expression she wore, but Weed thought that she was happy, looking at the cloud sculpture.
"The clouds are really floating across the sea well. And the sea products in this area should fetch a high price. I wonder how much I'll make if I catch loads of giant crabs and sell them on the mainland. If I fish up some fresh red sea-breams and dig up some cockle on the beach…"
The sea was a storehouse for natural resources. Catching and selling off sea products would all be turned into money.
"If only I could speculate at sea like I would on land."
So, they cut across the sea like that and headed to the Northern part of the continent.
* * *
In Morata were some users, feebly dressed in leather armor, were busily walking around.
"Mr Blacksmith, when will the longsword that I ordered be ready?"
"Could you tell me your name?"
"It's Anchovy Stew."
"You're 23rd on the list. I'm afraid you'll have to wait for around 2 days."
"Aww, can't it come out any sooner?"
"Look at all those people who're waiting."
The line of customers who were lining up to make a request to the Blacksmith!
This wasn't the only place. Blacksmiths and Craftsmen were almost crying at the overflowing number of requests.
"Selling Purple Arrows. They're arrows made with the poisonous plants from the hill near
Morata. You better hurry, because there are only 2000 of these."
"I'm a skilled Magician and I'm looking for a party to join. Please invite me if you're willing to hunt seriously for around two days. I can grant some magic as well, guaranteed to last for three days."
"We're 3 Warriors that will run straight at monsters upon seeing them. If there is anyone who wants to heal us, we can head to the dungeons right away."
"Selling 80 Swords of Flios. I'll be selling them at a fixed, clean price of 150 Gold.
Users who want to hunt together are welcomed as well."
"Need a guide to lead you to the dungeons?"
The vibrancy that was present all over Morata!
People weren't hesitant in advertising themselves for finding trips, adventures and hunts, or showing their happiness.
After buying and selling some items from the plaza, users formed parties and departed for dungeon crawling or hunting.
"This way."
Mooooo.
A unique trait around this place would be that it was common to see users dragging along at least 1 calf, even if they were not merchants.
Riding a cow had a greater movement speed than walking, and there was also the convenience of being able to have it carry the luggage.
There were a lot of cases where families played Royal Road together.
"I need to buy my brother a longsword… I suppose I should sell a cow."
As cows could be sold to secure equipment, it was a necessary commodity for new users.
Some users even posted a thread in forums, titled "How to Grow in Morata".
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It was a post made by a high-leveled ranker who was living inside Morata.
Tens of users who were ranked in the highest percentage of Royal Road were adventuring in Morata.
Dellbell was one of them, and his post had attracted over 7000 comments.
Iche and Eira were Priestess of Morata.
They were part of the Church of Freya, yet they also went on adventures.
Although difficult, even Priests could go on Party Huntings. It was the best profession to be when fighting alongside Holy Knights.
The old Priestess of the Church spoke.
"They say that the Sculptor Weed is a trustworthy person. Word has it that no request is impossible for him."
The Public Order Forces voiced their opinion.
"The Church of Freya will never cease to thank Weed. He was the one who recovered the lost Holy Treasures of the Church of Freya."
"You should know that the Sculptor Weed completed another respectful adventure. I'd like to take part in an adventure like that. Or even hearing about his adventure would be nice."
Civilians who gossiped about Weed were quite common in Morata.
That was because he was the lord, and the requests he completed had a great impact on Morata.
"How special must this Weed be?"
"A fearless, smart man who will never back down."
The passion for Weed was shared not only by Iche and Eira, but by all female users of Morata.
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