"My friend Maxwell consider her as a gift for saving us she is a slave I bought in my travels for quiet some gold coins, she is educated can cook and warm your bed in your travels".
max took a deep look at her considered for a bit and saw no reason in denying this gift before accepting.
"Alright Pedro your gift is well received and thank you for this gift of yours". max thanked Pedro whiles asking him to sit for a conversation.
"Aah max I wanted to discuss something with you myself"Pedro pondered for a bit before continuing.
"Those weapons you used during your fight that stick that blows people away can you sell it to me? I promise to buy it off you for a good price"
"Unfortunately Pedro I cannot sell you these weapons they are all I have, it's made using various precious metals and forged continuously for days before they are made".
Max lied about the guns, these were what he depended on for protection if he sold them wouldn't he be defenseless in this world ?besides he had observed and seen that this world was backwards in technology so he would take advantage of that, he didn't want them to start making guns if he sold them weapons.
"Oh that's a pity they would have fetched quiet the price if they were sold to the right people" Pedro was saddened by the answer he received.
As a merchant he knew the potential these guns had,if he was able to sell them to a high noble he would obtain the way to make them and earn a lot of coin.
"But I can sell you other useful thing take a look at some of my wares" max showed him some beers he had and let him sample some, he also showed him some sugar,spice and the crossbow he had.
Pedro was fascinated with all that max showed him, he had a sharp eye for business and knew that these things would be a hot commodity in the market. He almost went crazy when max promised that he can provide a steady supply of sugar and spice,the nobles used did not have access to sugar and had to rely on fruit juices for sweet and for the spices the local one's were no where near to this.He decided to stick to max and truthfully shared all his ideas with him.
Max decided to recruit Pedro's help with starting a business with this new world,but first he would observe him.
"my brother max your business is good and bound to make a lot of gold coins but you have to be careful about the nobles and royals,they are like gods in their territories and have large number of armies under them especially the dukes and kings. Duke Mildred whose territory we go to has about twenty thousand men under him including a Thier 3 Grand knight commander and countless Thier 1 and 2 knights".
"He himself is also a powerful mid stage Tier 3 knight .If you are able to win his support you would have a powerful backing in the land of Avalon.On this Redland continent your strength dictates everything but be careful not to cross the nobles." Pedro advised before quenching his parched throat with some Champagne max had gifted him with.
Max sat for a while digestion what he had been told,from his discussion with Pedro he further learnt that this continent was very large and there were four other known continents apart from this one.
There were also a lot of kingdoms according to Pedro he didn't know the exact number but they were more than two hundred kingdoms both big and small classified according to levels 1 to 5 with one being the lowest and five the highest.The Avalon kingdom is a level 3 kingdom.
There were also a few empires,an empire in born when a kingdom exceeds level five and has a Thier 7or above knight in their ranks.A catastrophe knight is what they are known by, they are so powerful that one alone is enough to destroy an entire kingdom and are strategic weapons against other humans and Demi species.
Yes,the were other species in this world, but most of them were on the other continents.There were mighty dragons which according to legends had their most weakest sub species at Thier 4 and elves who were gifted in sorcery and archery,orcs,fairies mermen,kobolds and annoying goblins. From what he had learnt knights were ranked from according to;
Tier 0 Apprentice knight
Tier 1 Knight
Tier 2 master knight
Tier. 3 grand knights
Tier 4 knight king
Tier 5 Knight emperor.
Tier 6 Knight Saint
Tier. 7 Catastrophe knight
Tier 8 Demi- god knight
Tier. 9 Divine Knight
They were further divided in early,mid,advanced and peak stages.
He himself was a Tier 2 early stage knight according to the classification of this world.
He asked about the snake he encountered to Pedro describing how it looked like and learnt it was a Tier 3 creature.
It was then that he understood how truely fortunate he was to encounter the vine python whiles it was severely injured otherwise with it's speed he wouldn't even know it by the time he died.
'Looks like I have to be careful from now onwards or I might lose my little life easily'max sat down and seriously pondered.
Soon it was time to sleep.Pedro excused himself and went to where he Kept his goods.
Max set up two tents one for himself and the other for the slave girl whose name was Grace.
The next day the packed up and began to move again.After three hours max could see a wall ahead of them there were soldiers carrying longbows and spears on these wall.
Most of them were in leather armor but some were also in metal ones.
They reached the gate and lined up to enter the city,there were thousands of people at the gate waiting in line to enter. The Tiberius carriage used another route to enter the city by whiles they passed a servant bought max token saying that her mistress had commanded max to come look for her when he entered the city.
From Pedro max had heard that the Tiberius family was headed by count Oliver Tiberius is was a large family in command of about three thousand troops and and had control of a large gold mine.He promised to visit and sent the servant on her way.
The guards at the gate took 10 copper coins before one was allowed to enter max did not have the amount luckily Pedro paid for him.
From Pedro he learnt that on the continent the currency from lowest to highest was;
100 copper coins- 1 silver coin
1 silver coin- 1 gold coin
100 gold coins -1 platinum coin
It was that simple and widely used around the continent regardless of nation or race.
Upon entering the city max was hit by the intensive smell of piss and horse dung.
The roads were wide enough for two carriages to pass side by side and most of the buildings around were built with wood and stones, they looked good enough.
There were people shouting around trying to sell their wares, beggars moving around trying find a soul kind enough to toss a free coin and soldiers who moved around in squadrons to maintain order.He also observed that the were a lot of mercenaries around carrying weapons on their back moving around.
He also learnt that because the city had a port a lot of people came around.The city itself had a population of about seventy thousand and sometimes could even host a hundred thousand.
"Pedro I need to make some coins I have some demonic beasts here, where should I sell them?" max belived it was the right time to sell the vine python and the other Tier one beast he had managed to kill on the way
"oh I happen to be heading in general market direction,come I'll introduce you to a good friend" Pedro enthusiastically called max over.
They walked for about an hour before reaching a large market.
The was spittle flying everywhere as people tried to sell their goods.
"Be careful max a lot of these goods are fake and be mindful of the pickpockets".
Max nodded and became secretly on guard but he had already put everything important in his storage space.
Soon they reached a large shop where two knight apprentices were standing guard they felt the Tier 2 aura on max and did not dare to
stop him.
Along the way Pedro told him that his friend sold beast parts including their meat which was said to enhance strength when ate and their bone marrow which contained their essence.
"Pedro my friend it has been months since I last saw you"
As soon as they entered a loud manly voice spoke, they turned around to see a large bearded man in a stylish robe wearing pieces of jewelry.
" Luigi it has truly been a while my friend" seeing the man Pedro had a wide smile on his face and gave the man a hug.
"Come, this is my friend max an honest merchant I meet on the way he wants to sell you some dead demonic beasts" Pedro pulled max forward and introduced him to Luigi.
"Oh nice to meet you" Luigi observed the young man before him.