Episode 22

We arrived at the central square where the market was held.

Right now, there were many people who seemed to be merchants. There still seemed to be few customers.

Everyone was preparing to set up their own shops.

The way to secure a selling space in the central square was simple.

“If you pay the person at the entrance, anyone can buy and sell in this space for just one day.”

Alicia, who had come with me, told me that.

By the way, Alicia was wearing a mask. As Lord Goral had said, they must not be thought to be connected to the duke’s family.

“Is this only for market days?”

“Yeah. You can’t sell here on other days. If you want to sell, you need to have a shop and apply properly.”

“…I see.”

Still, it feels like raising our name at a place like this would be better than suddenly opening a shop and going on sale.

Ultimately, I’d like to establish my own shop and conduct buying and selling of goods.

I also lined up to purchase a permit. Soon it was my turn.

I paid 10,000 gold at the entrance and received a permit valid only for today.

Characters were written on a wooden tag with mana, and apparently the writing would disappear when the day ended.

Perhaps because we arrived relatively early, it seemed we could somehow secure a space.

I set the cart down, then placed the flag.

A part of that flag bore a pattern I had made.

It was a pattern of a longsword and a spear crossing. Long ago, before I entered the court, I used this flag while smithing.

I prepared the flag thinking that if I left it as a sign for my shop, it might attract a little interest.

That was about all the preparation.

The surrounding merchants were arranging their goods in an easy-to-understand way so that they were enjoyable to look at, but I wasn’t prepared to that extent yet.

All I could do was line up a longsword on the table I had brought with the cart.

And that was just one of the five.

“Next time, we should probably think about the sales display as well.”

“Yeah, that’s true. There’s still a week until next time, so let’s think about it slowly.”

“That’s right.”

Although I need to achieve a certain level of results as a blacksmith, there’s no need to rush.

The number of ordinary customers at the market increased. The people who came to see the market were varied.

The most common, as expected, were adventurers. However, among them were people who looked like nobles. There were also people who seemed like tourists; it was really diverse.

However, people did not come to my stall easily.

The merchant next to me was getting quite a few customers, but at my place there were none at all.

“Ah, customer, an adventurer?”

I called out to him with as big a smile as I could muster.

The adventurer glanced briefly and then left.

…Hmm, it’s difficult. It was the same for Alicia, and customers didn’t come easily to her either.

At lunchtime, we took a short break. While picking at the packed lunches that had been prepared for us, I watched the market with Alicia.

“It’s tough, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Well, it’s probably like this at first.”

It was the same in the past. It’s rare for something to be bustling from the start.

But I have the awareness that I made something solid.

If D- or E-rank adventurers—the target buyers for the longswords made this time—purchase them, I have prepared longswords that will satisfy them.

After that, it’s just a matter of the first customer coming.

And so time passed.

It was then that a boy came over to us.

He looked several years younger than us.

“Um, excuse me… are you selling longswords?”

…For the first time, someone showed interest in a longsword, and I rose from my chair.