Chapter 19
Title: Inside Alex's Mind… and the effects of the Intelligence stat…
….
-Alex POV-
I look at the golden-colored building in front of me. There could be many reasons as to why the Merchant Guild thought that using gold as a color would be a good idea. It pretty much screams 'Steal from me, it will be worth your while'. But in my opinion that is completely wrong.
Unlike most of the normal organizations, no petty thief even steals from the merchant guild. It's not because of law or anything like that, it's simply common knowledge. Nobody tries to assassinate the president. Why? Because that would be an impossible task… really though? I can think up of 134 different and effective ways to assassinate a political figure and not have it be related to me at all.
But I would never do something like that, it simply wouldn't have enough benefits for me. It's something dumb, also being a criminal isn't my thing. Crime doesn't pay as well as corruption. Though they might sound the same, they are completely different.
But that doesn't matter anyway, as I close to the guild entrance and push the light yellow colored door.
The door doesn't creak at all and it is opened quietly. As soon as I take a look inside I see two rows of guards. Judging by their magic items and the runes that they have in them, every one of these guards is a Rank 2 Warrior. In a fighting scenario at such close distances, I would be completely slaughtered. Thankfully, I would never fight a stupid battle like this. I would simply run away, better fight another day than dying.
I don't know what my luck stat is but it doesn't matter anyway. As the stat itself is unreliable, in my past life when the players like me slaughtered some of the heroes. Luck was as good as toilet paper then. Still, I plan to get that item and take a look at my Luck Stat.
Anyway, the guards don't stop me as I walk forward. I left the horn back to my dorm room, while Magic Academy personnel might not be dumb enough to offend a future magician and steal something from his room. The Merchant Guild is a whole different thing, they are as sculpts as they come. They will do anything to get their hands on the horn, though I doubt that merchants will learn its value at first look. Unless it's a Legend Rank Merchant, which would be able to appraise items like the horn. Merchants have instinctual appraising, so that might work on the horn and though they might not know what it is, they would know that it's valuable.
The dragon horn, as a legendary item, it cannot be quantified in gold at how much gold it is worth. But I would say that even at the lowest, it would be worth around 100,000 Gold Coins… at LEAST. That is quite a lot.
I walk past the guards and arrive at a reception desk. There I see a man wearing a neat suit and glasses. He also has black hair, blue eyes, and a small mustache.
"How can I help you, sir?" Asks the receptionist with an obviously fake smile on his face. Though he is good, I remember back in my first life I watched a TubeYou video about an FBI agent and how he explained one can tell when someone is lying.
While I analyze him I also reply to him. "Well, sir I would like to meet the branch manager. I heard that you have been having a rat problem."
He nods at me and opens a book.
"Let me see if this is in the registry sir." He answered politely, even though he heard my childish voice. To the Merchant Guild, it's not good underestimating children… they're good targets to scam. Especially rich children. Also, many magicians or monsters have the appearance of a child or the voice of one. Plus I am wearing a cloak, so for all that he could know, I could be a dwarf with a childish voice.
The first thing that sticks out is that I can see is his blinking, he is blinking perfectly in coordination. It's almost like he is counting seconds in his head before he blinks each time. I bet that by now it has become an instinct to him. He seems to be blinking every three seconds. Which is on the average side, but on the too many of the average side.
He probably got this instinct to blink so much when his vision started getting worse, he most likely thought that blinking and keeping his eyes moisturized would slow down the deterioration of his eyesight.
So I can't tell if he is lying or not from his blinking… or is this a trick of his? No, I doubt that he would go through the trouble.
I can also see that his breathing seems to be very normal. His hand movement as he goes through the pages too is very fluent. No sign that he is lying there. He hasn't touched or covered his mouth either, so no signs there too.
"Well, it seems like the manager will be busy today. He will be reading the morning reports, some fields have been attacked by goblins recently. But I can set you up to meet him at two in the afternoon." Says the receptionist. That is also when I understand that he is lying to me about something, I don't know what it is yet. But he is lying, he just gave me a little too much information about such a basic task.
"Thank you, sir. I will be back at two then." I say to him as I turn back and start walking away. I knew that I wouldn't be able to meet the branch manager immediately. Oh! I think I know what it is now, what the guy was lying about. It's probably a power play from the branch manager, having me wait for him will instinctively make me more susceptible to think of him as my better.
…..
-General POV-
While Alex's mind was working as usual at a terrifying capacity. He was analyzing everything around him, he was even able to tell that some of the Rank 2 Guards were not satisfied with their jobs. The whole meeting that he had with the receptionist took less than a minute.
In the end, he decides to do something else while he waits for two o'clock to arrive. He decides to start doing some other quests.
He goes back towards the craftsman street, the place where he killed the dwarf. He sees that some guards are at the place now, he just walks past it and goes to another Item Shop. Unlike the now dead dwarf's place, this building is two-story high and it has a very professional look to it.
He enters the shop and as he does so a doorbell rings out. Alex isn't bothered by it, as he predicted that this would already happen. The shop is fully cleaned and it has display cases all around, there is also a table in the middle with some enchanted items worth thousands of golds each.
Alex doesn't pay any more than a glance at the items. He goes to the bald muscular middle-aged man with a friendly smile on his face, while behind the receptionist's desk.
"Well hello there kiddo, how can I help ya?" Asks the muscular man, his friendly voice ringing through the shop.
Alex reciprocates the smile and answers the bald man with a question of his own. "I heard that you need a chore boy for the day, is that position still open?"
"Ah, a hard-working young man, coming so early. You deserve the work. I will pay you at least three copper after the job is done." Says the man, he has already had hundreds of children work for him by cleaning the shop. By doing this he technically has a daily employee, so the taxes he pays to the city are lessened. He is offering new job opportunities now… and he also with the daily thing he doesn't have to take responsibility for the employee's wellbeing.
This is a practice done by many shop owners in Gungai City, this is an intentional loophole in the law. It is the mayor's way of keeping children off the seedier parts of the town. This way they at least work for some pocket change and keep themselves occupied.
...
AUTHOR NOTE: (didn't fit in Author Noughts Box)
This will probably be the last time we will see from Alex's point of view (1st person). We can see just how much he overanalyzed everything. The Intelligence stat is a crazy one. While it doesn't raise mana like in some other stories, it literally raises one's intelligence. The MC currently has only 19 in intelligence. Imagine how crazy some characters who have intelligence and wisdom over 30 or something like that. They would be monsters in the thinking department, their brains and life experiences would make them almost have a form of future sight with the way they plan things (at least amongst normal people).
P.S: Yes, the MC will contend against those time of highly intelligent people.