Interspecies Trader

Yet, she seemed to think about something after a while.

“But now we know about his secrets. Can’t we threaten to reveal them to gain an advantage over him?”

“Nonsense. You still didn’t think enough before speaking. Tell me, what are the affinities you fear the most?”

“Mind affinity.”

“Mind mages are indeed terrifying enemies, according to legend. In my opinion, all legendary affinities are extremely difficult to deal with. Mind, time, and space. When it comes to spatial mages, we know three of their spells. They can teleport, store items in spatial storage, and create gates. This means it’s almost impossible to win a head-on confrontation with one of them since they can just teleport away. And what would they do next? They’d simply plunder all of your possessions when you’re not looking and get away with it. In a way, they’re the worst possible pest. And that’s just based on the three little spells we know they have. Who knows what else they can do?”

“Why doesn’t he do that? Why is he playing around being a trader when he could just steal anything he wants?”

“As far as I could tell from our short discussion, he seems to enjoy negotiating with others. He might feel more fulfillment doing that than simply stealing.”

She paused for a second and continued.

“You’re still missing another important aspect of him. Remember I said he’s younger but stronger than you? He’s at least rank 4 and less than 29 years old.”

“Is that even possible? Isn’t that on the level of heroes of stories? Or is everyone inside the domes like that?”

“It’s hard to say. No matter what, his potential is immense. It might only be a matter of time before he crosses the wall, and perhaps even becomes a transcendent. He’s precisely the type of friend and ally I’d have given anything to have when I was younger. How many times have I been surrounded by stronger enemies without any hope of escaping? How many times did I get hopelessly captured? With him, I could have just teleported away, or he could have simply helped me to escape from jail. My life would have been completely different with someone like him by my side. I’d have avoided so much suffering. That’s why I think you should try to befriend him. There’s probably no one more reliable than a spatial mage as an ally. You two are close in age too.”

“I… I’ll try my best. I didn’t like how he was negotiating about saving lives, though.”

“Are you still saying that now? It’s probably just his personality. Well, you can do whatever you want but don’t come back crying later. And, no matter what, never antagonize him. It’d be easy for him to move to another continent and start a new life there. If he does that, we’ll have lost everything.”

“I got it.”

“One last thing. He was smart to hide his rank and affinity. A great part of his power comes from the surprise element. But that’d also apply to us if he becomes our ally. That’s why, try to avoid revealing anything about him. He’s someone who could potentially free a whole enslaved bunny village by himself as easily as going on a stroll. His value is simply infinite.”

“I’ll be careful.”

**********

My destination was the market, and more precisely, our stand in the market. Considering it was early afternoon, Suuru should still be working over there.

On the way, I considered what just happened. There was a very slight chance that they were desperate enough to hope I could find someone who knew a cure but realistically speaking, there was no relation whatsoever between selnic items and medicine. It was easy to conclude they had seen something more in me. To be exact, Angin Vejas, with her wealth of knowledge and experience, had done so.

In these cases, I was taught to think about the worst-case scenario, which was that they knew everything about me. They knew I was a human coming from inside the domes and they even found out I was a spatial mage. And then, their demand would make a lot more sense. It wasn’t even impossible that they somehow became aware I came from another planet.

Now, the fact that they didn’t confront me with it and even let me go on a “mission” meant that they didn’t have any animosity against me. At least for the time being. If Angin was as wise as I expected her to be, she might have wanted to establish a good relationship with me. Which was precisely what I wanted too. As someone without any roots in this world, their support would be an incredible step forward for me.

As soon as Suuru spotted me in the market, she welcomed me with a bright smile.

“Tila! Are you back for good now?”

“Sort of. Did anything happen since yesterday?”

“No, everything was quiet. What do you mean by sort of?”

I came closer to her to whisper in her ear, which she seemed to find ticklish.

“Well… The situation in Geola has become the worst possible. A pandemic really broke out over there and the rulers don’t have a cure for the disease.”

“That’s terrible!”

I put a finger in front of her mouth since this wasn’t something we wanted others to hear.

“Shh. Yes, it’s bad. I was summoned by Geola’s rulers as soon as I came back from Makji and they asked me to try and find a cure.”

“What? Why you?”

“I think they know I come from inside the domes because of the selnic items I sold.”

“Ah! Isn’t that very bad news?”

“It’s fine for now since they look like they want to establish a good relationship with me. More importantly, have you ever heard of a sickness with these symptoms?”

I gave her the list I received in the tent and she quickly read over it.

“Coughing… Come to think of it, wasn’t your merchant friend in Geola coughing a lot?”

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