After a few minutes of family time, we parted and her face took on a serious expression as she held me by my shoulders and asked, "Where did you get that expensive medicine? I refuse to believe that those bastards lent it to you. So tell me."
When I heard that, I averted my eyes from my mom's threatening gaze and stuttered "I… I went to the forest."
When she heard the word 'forest' her face flushed red with anger as it always did when she was about to give me an earful. Fearing the inevitable, I continued my explanation in a hurry. This time with confidence as I refused to look away.
"I didn't go too far! I saw a heavily injured tri-color-snake on the outskirts and I just went in long enough to remove its tusks and pluck some herbs on my way back!"
As my explanation went on, Eloise's anger subsided bit by bit but it didn't disappear. On realising this, I was about to excuse myself when I found my hand held by my mother.
"You don't need to go anywhere, my son. We haven't stopped talking just yet." Although she was smiling, the atmosphere said otherwise.
After an hour of our 'extra special' family time, mom calmed down.
There was silence between us for a couple of moments, but mom broke it with her sigh. Eyeing the 20L bucket full of pinkish liquid, she asked, "So what are we gonna do with all of this?"
"What else? We're gonna use it to renovate the Eatery!" I announced with a grin plastered on my face. After saying so, I stood up and ran to the floor below.
The ground floor was dedicated to the Eatery. The Silver Moon Eatery. The stairs led to the kitchen, and the Eatery's kitchen was twice as big as the one upstairs. After all, it was for official use.
The kitchen had two doors, one leading to the backyard, while the other one led to the main hall. The hall had tables and chairs stacked in one of the corners.
There was an L-shaped desk opposite the main door, with the shorter part of the 'L' being connected to the wooden wall separating the kitchen and the hall.
I walked around the place, looking for something. As the Eatery hadn't been open for months, everything had at least a millimetre thick blanket of dust on them.
Between the chairs, there were two identical trolleys. The trolleys were used to serve the orders. They were a meter high and had two small drawers below the surface that were used to store cutlery and other stuff.
I approached the trolleys and put my hands on the handle of both of them and tried to move them.
—Khinch —Tinch
They made some noise due to the dust that had settled on the wheels' axle.
'Put some grease on those axles and they will be good to go,' I mused.
Soon enough, I heard the sound of Mom's footsteps coming down the stairs. I turned around and approached her.
"Mom, can I get some money?" I asked.
For a second, she looked startled due to the sudden question, but then her face softened into a gentle expression.
"For what?" she asked.
Now it was my turn to be startled, but then I told her that I was planning to sell the bucket full of pinkish potion that had relieved her of her fever.
"So? How much do you need?" she asked after careful consideration.
"Um… 50 Bronze Vels sounds nice." I didn't have any plans to take more than that.
"Anything for you, my son." She said, smiling sweetly, before she made her way back upstairs. I followed close behind her.
*
As it was evening time, the adventurers, traders, travellers and all sorts of merchants flooded the streets.
Before leaving home, I changed my clothes so I wouldn't look like a beggar in the streets. Currently, I had a cloth pouch hanging on my waist that contained 50 Bronze Vels.
Vels in this world was just another term for coins, in respect for the name of the world, Velpia.
Currency in this world was pretty simple. There were Bronze Vels, then Silver Vels, then Gold Vels and lastly Platinum Vels. With bronze being the smallest unit and Platinum being the biggest.
Where Gold Vels and Platinum Vels are further divided into two parts, Small and large. With the coin conversion being as follows:
100 Bronze Vels = 1 Silver Vel
100 Silver Vels = 1 Small Gold Vel
100 Small Gold Vels = 1 Large Gold Vel
100 Large Gold Vels = 1 Small Platinum Vel
100 Small Platinum Vels = 1 Large Platinum Vel
With a smile, I stepped into the bustling streets where adventurers were exchanging mana pearls, and other beast materials, for money. Which they would probably spend on booze.
I took a walk around the market, taking in the sights of stalls and shops selling mana pearls, various potions, meat, Armaments, etc.
From all the novels I had read during my 'stay' on earth, I understood one thing: "Always rely on yourself."
Since it was already late in the evening, and the sun had started to set, my only choice was to scout possible locations to set up my stall tomorrow since almost all of the other places were already booked.
After taking a mental note of three places. I nodded to myself and turned to check out another district.
The continually darkening sky gave me an indication for how much time I had before I needed to be back. Although there wouldn't be much to eat for dinner, I was eagerly looking forward to it.
On my way around the district, I did some math.
'I have 20 Liters of potion… and one bottle will hold 200 millilitres…. That would make a 100 bottles of low grade healing potion,' I calculated with my chin resting on my fingers.
Although I could make a decent profit even after negating the cost of the bottles, the problem was, it wouldn't be enough considering the bigger picture.
"Haaa…," I sighed and sprinted into the market-section where the wares made by artisans were sold. I soon found the one that sold potion bottles and approached in time to see that the man was alone and packing up his wares.
Seeing the pottery wheel at the back of the stall, I assumed that the man was also the manufacturer of the wares, which included bottles and pots of all shapes and sizes.
***
"Sir, what is the price of the Zeroth Circle Bottle?"
The stall owner, who had been sorting through the boxes filled with utensils branded with magic circles, glanced toward the source of the voice.
The man was in his mid-20s, he had black hair, brown eyes, and a short beard. He wore a basic cloth tunic and leather shorts. Although looks-wise he could be considered average, his eyes on the other hand, exuded great experience.
When he found the source of the voice, he raised an eyebrow. The source was a kid who seemed to be around 14-15.
"Why would you ask that, Kid?"
Hearing this, the boy's smile grew larger.
"Can I buy them? I want a few hundred of the ones branded with the Zeroth Circle for potion storage."
This time the man's other eyebrow flew up to join the other one. "Though you can buy them, how are you gonna pay? You see, I don't run a charity."
"With money of course. How much are they?" the boy asked, touching the pouch on his waist.
"4 Bronze Vels for one, 40 Bronze Vels for 12. How many do you want?" the black haired artisan asked.
"I only have enough for 12 bottles. Can I get a discount?"
"Oy kid, take it or leave it. I don't have time for your banter." He dismissed the boy by waving a hand to shoo him away.
However, he was truly curious about what the kid would do with the bottles he was asking to buy…. Then again, as long as someone managed to pay the appropriate price for his wares he doesn't give sh*t about who it was that bought his wares.
The man then turned away from the boy to resume the packing of his wares.
"Okay then. I'll have 12 Zeroth Circle Bottles, please," the boy said.
"That's more like it," the stall owner said. "That'll be 40 Bronze Vels." He fetched a crate to put the glass bottles in.
"Also, can I have a Zeroth Circle Seal? That for potions too."
The Seal was something that kept things from deteriorating. The potion seal would prevent the healing potion from losing its potency.
—Thud
"Sure," he said as he put down a small wooden crate filled with 12 glass vials, each with a cork. Then he brought out a white coloured slip and put it inside the crate.
"Thank you, Sir!"
The boy happily picked up the crate then tottered off into the ever growing darkness.
**
I roamed the streets for a couple more minutes before I decided to go back home.
I knew I could only use the single Seal for about a day. As for how I knew that? Well, I had to say thanks to the previous owner of this body.
My thoughts paused when I saw the Eatery.
Home... Sounded so nice when I knew someone was waiting for me.