He didn't mind the possibility that the maid had ratted him out. The real mastermind was probably the Duke. John figured the Duke had let him go free with some supervision to catch a potential heretic. If he were a real heretic, he likely would have been caught.
Luckily, he was not.
Even luckier was the fact that he didn't have to pay for his meal. Meeting Plutus had been a blessing in disguise. Wasting money on a meal that cost about 1-2 stac seemed insane to him, especially since John thought the taste wasn't worth even half the price.
Still, he learned a lot about their cuisine. The meals they prepared consisted mostly of land animals. He had no idea what half of those animals were, but it didn't matter. The restaurant did not serve much seafood, which could be a market he could explore.
Lememore was quite far from the ocean. The Ramos River flowed into the open sea, but it took days for any boat or ship to reach open water. Most of the food was likely preserved before reaching here.
This could be a potential avenue for him to generate income, and he needed every coin he could get his hands on. A hundred stac might be a fortune for a commoner, but if John wanted to keep up with the main character, 100 stac was nowhere near enough.
John then asked the maid to lead him to the nearest marketplace. After walking for half an hour, John and the maid arrived at a wide-open area filled with carts and people. Vendors had pitched their stalls, selling a variety of goods. This place was the center of foreign goods trading.
He strolled in and looked around. Most of the items on offer were things that could be moved easily—dry food like rice and preserved food like salted meat—or a collection of fancy swords produced in the East.
What John was really looking for was the meat and the methods they used to preserve it. The vast majority of vendors in this import market used the salt method, followed closely by smoking and brining.
After browsing for a bit, he had some ideas for his business venture.
"Hey kid, looking for some charms?"
While perusing the local goods, John heard a voice calling to him. He turned to see an old man slouching in a chair. The man had a table set up with a red tablecloth and a variety of odd-looking charms.
Some looked like clamshells with strings attached, while others resembled carved wooden statues. Some even bore the symbols of other deities—a tree with books growing on it, for instance, symbolized the god of knowledge.
"Isn't this illegal to sell?" John asked, pointing at the charms. The man glanced over and chuckled lightly.
"This must be your first time here." He then picked up a charm. "The sun god is generous as long as we don't openly disrespect him. Selling charms of minor gods won't bring his wrath down upon us."
The hooded man spoke with confidence, evidently having done this for a while.
"Are you interested? This charm, I've heard, is from the god of books. It's said to be worshiped by Eastern cultures. Having one of these would bring you good luck and good opportunities."
"....."
The guy didn't even know what he was selling. That "minor" god was actually very significant in the story of this world—but that was far into the future.
Since he wasn't interested, John left the salesman without making a purchase. Having a potentially illegal item while he was under surveillance wasn't a great plan.
"Hilda, where can I find a carriage for rent?"
"Lememore Travel Agency is the best choice. But because of your name change, none of your identity documents are currently valid."
"Is there any place that doesn't require me to have papers?"
"That would be illegal," the maid said seriously. "I would advise you to wait a few days for the Lord to issue you a new ID."
"Sure..." John replied, realizing there was nothing he could do about it. The world wouldn't let him travel, so he ought to find something else to focus on. Next on his agenda was tracking down the real MC of the story—Klad.
In the story, Klad is a reincarnated high-circle mystic who was betrayed by his family and reborn as a young commoner boy in the countryside. With his past knowledge, he was able to awaken his mystic power and enter Lememore Royal Academy.
After beating up Reeva, there wasn't much world-altering plot in the near future. The MC and his party would go on to do some quests, like catching a ghost or solving people's back pain with mystic power.
Perhaps John would run into the main character while on a quest assigned by the academy. But John wasn't that stupid, if he met Klad, the latter would simply beat him up without question.
If he wanted to keep track of Klad, John needed an indirect method.
The first thing that came to his mind was paying some students to keep an eye on Klad. But having kids track a former high-circle mystic was likely to fail. If caught, they would immediately rat him out, and Klad would become highly suspicious of John.
If paying students wouldn't work, what about the teachers? This plan seemed more feasible. But Lememore Academy was the cream of the crop, so the teachers were thoroughly vetted by the Royal family.
And who in their right mind would be willing to sell out their students? Getting caught would spell doom. John had some ideas about a potential desperate teacher, but he needed direct contact with the academy first.
The last option was to pay around for rumors. Most of it would be just tall tales someone cooked up, but some might be real. And Klad was the kind of guy who would attract rumors.
However, the majority of the information he gathered would be almost useless.
After walking for a while, John ran into someone.