Sitting on a cart with his two children, Edmund looked at the town's upcoming skyline. Pulling his cart was a beast that looked similar to a dog the size of a horse. It had a black horn in its' forehead and walked with calm steps as it pulled the heavy cart filled with produce.
The produce was covered by a fabric sheet to cover how much he had actually brought. After all in this time of famine, it is dangerous to have so much stock. Still, he had to sell or worry about wasting the harvest altogether.
After entering the town he wasn't allowed to ride atop the cart and instead had his children walk with him on the ground.
"This is your first time seeing a town, so what do you think?" Edmund spoke while hoisting his daughter above his shoulders.
"It looks terrible." Lily spoke softly as she saw a place with no plants besides the few crops being sold. Not to mention the lack of hygiene in the area.
Ambrose supported his sister saying, "I agree, not only does it smell terrible, but it is all made of rocks with no greenery."
The twins were nodding to each other as they spoke about everything they saw as bad,
"Too many people."
"Feces all around."
"No food."
"The only wood is the few houses made of it."
"You said it is a magical place, but I don't see any magic."
"ALRIGHT! I get it you two. *sigh* I know they usually have a mage come and clean the town once a month so the smell and filth is removed. Also, there is a mage living here so it is a magical place."
"Dad you don't have to lie to us, just sell your produce and we will pretend it is the magical place you claimed."
Edmund could only look to his children with a helpless smile. This was their first time in a place that wasn't all wood and dirt, but they simply viewed it as an inferior place. They were barely three years old and still babies in his eyes and shouldn't know how good this place was comparatively. Yet seeing them act disdainfully to the town he wondered what they would be like if he kept his old soldier job and had them live in a city instead of a forest.
Shaking his head he paid a fine and began to set up a small stall in a designated area at the edge of the market district.
"Alright, I will need to stay here for the day to sell everything. Are you ready to stay with me? After all there is no forest for you to hide in here."
"The whole da~y?! Why is it going to take so long!" x2
"Well, it takes time to sell such things. I might not even be able to do much by sunset if I am unlucky. We will only stay eight hours, then everything else is going to be sold to a merchant."
"Huh?? Why can't you just sell everything to a merchant now?"
"Yeah, Yeah! Why not sell everything to a merchant?"
"Well, if I sell to them it would be convenient, but in return for convenience, I will lose a lot of money... Hmmm... I think this is a good time to explain money to you kids. Come and sit here. Wait for me to spread my wares and I will get to explaining."
Edmund quickly set up his small stall, which was really just his cart behind him against a wall and a sheet of fabric demonstrating what he had stocked. The produce varied from a type of root that had the shape of a carrot, to a purple mushroom that looked like it could poison you, to various grass grains (like Wheat), to various nuts.
**
*Hey this section is just about how money works so you can skip it if you want. Just look for the next two stars to skip this explanation.
"Alright so look here." Sitting down Edmund took out his wallet, which was really just a bag, and dumped out several coins. "This here is a copper coin. It comes in three varieties. One is a small copper like this one here." The coin was around the size of his pinkie nail and had a small hole at the center with an elevated bump around the edge of the hole.
"This is the smallest variety of coin and can buy the absolute cheapest things. For example, this carrot root is priced at five small coppers. Now the next denomination is a large copper like this one." This time he held a large coin that looked exactly the same as the small copper, just bigger. The coin was around the size of his palm and the hole was big enough to fit his pinkie finger in comfortably.
"The last denomination is something I don't have. It is a copper ingot. It usually has a large 50 printed on the top to symbolize the weight, also it has slanted edges... Now, ten small coppers one large copper, and ten large copper is equivalent to a copper ingot.
The copper ingot is usually just used in banks and isn't really taken by vendors unless they are buying or selling in large quantities. This purple ointment mushroom costs around five large copper and nothing here is worth an entire ingot.
The next denomination is silver which is the next most valuable. One small silver is worth five large copper. One large silver is worth ten small silver. And as you can guess one ingot is worth ten large silver. Although I don't have any silver they look just like these copper coins.
Lastly, there is gold coins that follow the same pattern with one small gold equaling five big silver. Ten small gold for one big gold and ten big gold equal to one ingot.
But there is one type of currency that is even greater!" Edmund paused for dramatic effect as he moved his head close to his children's head as he whispered, "Supposedly some nobles are so rich that they commissioned the greatest currency to exist on the continent! It is made of condensed Mana and one coin is equal to a thousand gold bars!"
**
After talking to his children for a while his first customer appeared.
"How much for these dado nuts?" The woman was skinny and pale. She looked like she hadn't eaten in days.
"Good eye mam! These dado nuts are only two small coppers for five!!"
The woman nodded before thinking for a while, "Not a terrible price... and what are these plants for?"
"Oh these? HAHA! I am glad you asked, they are a specialty of my farm! We call them carrot root! It not only invigorates the body but is extremely nutritious!" Edmund spoke like a true scammer while rubbing his hands together. "It only costs five small copper per root!"
The woman looked in slight wariness as she spoke, "No thanks I will just take five dado nuts."
"Are you sure?" Edmunds's enthusiasm died down just as quickly as it rose.
"Yes please."
Seeing he couldn't get the customer to buy he simply handed her five nuts and got his copper in return.
"Dad you are terrible at this." Lily looked at her father with a weird look in her eyes.
"I agree." Ambrose also looked at his father in confusion wondering if he was stupid.
"Argg!" Edmund grabbed his chest acting as if he just got hit in his heart. "How could you say such a thing about your great father? Look here. She didn't even try to barter a different price. This shows how good your father is at selling things."
Lily shook her head and spoke back, "Why don't I try to sell to the next person instead?"
"Well... Alright, it isn't like people would buy anyway... *sigh* We have such good produce, yet because of how different it is nobody really buys..." Edmund looked into space for a bit before explaining all the prices of the produce to his daughter.