I could suddenly see a faint glow on the weapon, which explained why the old man called it his lucky bow. He also gave me a quiver with fifteen iron-head arrows. The old lady also passed me a bag with some food and water for the trip. They were truly great people.
"Thank you very much. One day, I will do my best to repay the favor."
I bowed deeply and then smiled before leaving, but the old man still stopped me and then passed me a bag with some golden coins.
"Use this to go around for a while; it is enough to hire a teacher to teach you how to fight, but if you truly want to learn how to protect yourself, then look for a guild. The more underground ones won't ask questions, but they could be up to no good and could be targeted by the new empire."
"Thanks, I will be aware of it."
After that, I left the village, but then I took a roundabout way to get the gear that I had hidden earlier… I was pretty tired, so doing that had been quite gruelling. I had to find a shelter fast. The old man told me that there was a village half a day away north of their current location, but arriving there in the middle of the night would only make me look suspicious.
Short Sword (Common)
Damage: 10
Chainmail (Common)
Armor: 10
Wooden Shield (Common)
Armor: 05
Only now could I see the parameters of my gear. That world was starting to look more and more game-like. I wondered if something had happened to me on my real body, and now I was being tested in some crazy VR game, but Earth wasn't still that technologically advanced.
I could only assume that I was really in another world for whatever reason, with the worst starting luck. Usually, I would be reborn as a baby and have time to become overpowering to one-shot anything, but maybe I pressed the skip tutorial button somewhere.
"Ah. Let's get this over with."
In the end, I walked until I could see the next village, but fortunately, a few hundred meters away from the village, I found an old destroyed house. It seemed that a fire had consumed it. While it didn't have a ceiling, it could protect me from the wind, and it was good enough for me. Right now, just keeping my eyes open was already a grueling task.
Thanks to my sleeping position, I felt my whole body aching when I woke up. Considering the sun's position, it should be around seven in the morning. I had a bit of the food the old lady packed for me and then counted the coins the old man gave me. I had to use two hundred gold coins well since I didn't know when I could find another job.
"This village looks pretty normal… I got lucky the last time, but I will have to be careful. Should I come up with a new backstory?"
Having a different backstory in each village makes it incredibly hard for my pursuers to track me down. When they ask around, they'll get many and conflicting accounts of who I am and what I'm doing. Some might say I'm a traveling merchant, while others might think I'm a wandering scholar or a simple farmer looking for work. This much misinformation makes it nearly impossible for anyone to piece together a clear trail of my movements. It's like trying to solve a puzzle with pieces from different pictures.
This strategy is perfect for causing confusion among my pursuers. They won't be able to follow a straightforward path or rely on a consistent description. Each village offers a new layer of complexity, forcing them to question every lead they get. This constant doubt and second-guessing will slow them down, giving me more time to stay ahead.
Having a good reputation is usually a good thing, but not when my face is plastered on wanted posters. Even if those posters aren't widely circulated, the imperial guards will have a clear idea of what I look like. This recognition puts me at constant risk. By constantly changing my story, I blend into the background, making it much harder for anyone to recognize me. I become just another face in the crowd, unremarkable and easily forgotten.
Ultimately, I walked toward the village, trying to look as unconscious as possible. I had hidden my sword and the chainmail in the bag the old lady gave me, so I looked like an ordinary hunter. Still, I got some stares from the villages while I was approaching. They soon relaxed when they saw me… perhaps a bit too much.
I looked around for a bit until I found a middle-aged woman tanning some leather; when she heard my footsteps approaching, she soon turned around with her knife in her hands. She was a bit skinned, and she already had some marks on her face from her age. Since she looked grumpy, it looked even more obvious that the years hadn't been nice to her.
"Excuse me, ma'am. Is there a shop nearby where I can find some clothes?"
"... The building over there is the inn. You can buy drinks and food there as well. The other in front is the trader, where you can find pretty much everything."
"Thank you, ma'am. Have a nice day."
It was a bit early in the morning, but it would be normal for a place like an inn to have a guard. It should be more certain at night when people go to eat and drink. It was better to avoid that kind of place for a while.
I expected to see the trader dealing with clients from a window, but his home was closed. When I knocked, I was told to enter.
"... Yes?"
The trader studied me from up to down before asking that. I looked a bit shabby, but at least he didn't chase me out. He seemed fairly young, with black hair and a sharp beard. He probably inherited the business from a parent, but he looked like he knew what he was doing.
"I would like to buy a cloak and a hood, and nights are getting colder and colder."
I looked around and found some shelves. They had clothes, white glowing stones, weapons, and even plants. Since he was a trader, he would buy and sell anything for profit. The village had around one hundred houses, so places like that needed that kind of guy.
"I take it that you don't want anything too flashy, sturdy, or enchanted as well."
"As long as it can protect me from the cold, it will be more than enough."
"... These are a bit old, but they won't get wet easily. You can have them for thirty and fifteen gold coins, respectively."
The trader took a cloak and a hood from a shelf and showed them to me. Even from a distance, I could sense the smell of sweat, smoke, and oil. Someone used that recently and decided to sell it. No way was something like that brand new and deserved that price.
"They aren't that clean, nor new… can't you give me a better price for it?"
(You have unlocked a new skill tree.)
Haggling: Improves your skill in negotiating better prices and business deals.
Novice Haggler
Learn basic haggling techniques to negotiate better prices and deals. (Requires Haggling skill tree at Level 01)
I wasn't surprised that I unlocked that kind of skill tree, but I was curious about how much it could affect the others. Unlike combat skill trees, it affected others more psychologically, after all.
"... I can sell them for forty gold coins both, nothing less. Don't try to haggle any further."
"Come on, we both know that both of them are worth only twenty gold coins at best."
I actually didn't know that, but to convince others to do things, you had to be pretty sure of the stuff that you want them to do. That was a good chance for me to learn how that kind of skill could level up, too, so I decided to try my best.