WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior: Volume 1

by Brandon Varnell

  “Have you ever sold one of these tubs before?” I asked suddenly. The man winced, telling me everything I needed to know. It was hard to hide my grin. “How about you bring it down to 9,000 valis?”

  The merchant frowned at me. “If I did that, my store wouldn’t make any money.”

  I shrugged. “If no one buys this, you will lose the money it cost to make in the first place.”

  I could almost see the merchant’s thought process as he tried to figure out a counter argument to my haggling. He didn’t want to sell this at such a low price. However, it was also true that he hadn’t sold a single tub in this style before. If I didn’t buy it, chances were no one would buy it.

  “I could always go somewhere else,” I added. “I’m sure there are other shops willing to give me a better deal.”

  At those words, the merchant finally capitulated with a resigned smile. “Young sir would make a fine merchant. You have a deal.”

  “Many thanks.” We shook hands to signify the deal was made, and I smiled as an idea suddenly came to me. “If you have people who can help me get this into my home, I would be willing to pay you an extra 3,000 valis.”

  Which would bring it up to exactly what he wanted, but in exchange, I would also be getting help to get this tub inside of my room.

  “A very good merchant indeed,” the man muttered with a chuckle.

  Money exchanged hands, and the merchant had several large men help me carry the tub back to my room. One of those men hit on me. I’ll never forget the look on his face when I informed him that I wasn’t interested in him because I had a dick. I had this feeling his friends weren’t going to let him live it down either.

  They managed to get the tub inside of my room. I had already paid the merchant for their services, so after thanking them, we all went our separate ways.

  I still had a lot of shopping to do.

  Since the biggest item I needed had been bought, I decided to buy a map next. It was the easiest item to get on my list.

  The map store I entered was small. Covering the walls were numerous maps that varied in size, detail, and type. There were geographic maps, orientation maps, non-geographical spatial maps, topological maps, and general purpose maps. Map making was considered a fine art. There weren’t many people who could make them, but every map maker made great money for that very reason.

  An old man stood over a square table, not paying attention to anything around him as he used a quill to scratch at the surface of a large sheet of parchment. It looked like he was in the process of making a new map.

  I ignored the man and looked over the maps currently displayed on the walls. What I needed was a map that would show me the locations of various natural features located in and around Nevaria. That meant a general purpose map.

  Each map spread across the wall was done so at a height of about one meter above the ground. Below the map was a shelf that contained rolled up scrolls of varying sizes. My assumption was that they were different sizes of the same map. Following that theory, I searched out the map that contained the most details, grabbed a scroll that was small enough, read while I walked, and went over to the old man.

  He still hadn’t noticed me.

  “I would like to buy this map,” I said.

  The man finally stopped moving his quill, looked up at me, and then tilted his head to look at the map in my hand. He wore a pair of large spectacles that looked like magnifying glasses, causing his large brown eyes to appear bigger than they were. They were specially crafted objects used by mapmakers to help magnify what they were seeing so they could add details onto their maps.

  “That map costs 500 valis,” he said in a tone that told me he wasn’t willing to negotiate.

  I handed him the 500 valis. The man took it, then went back to what he was doing. With a shake of my head, I left the shop.

  What a crotchety old coot.

  Since I was already in the Merchant’s District, I went to a clothing store next. The shop I entered looked like a combination of clothing shop and a seamstress’s paradise. While there were many premade clothes, they also had a lot of different fabrics. Leathers of various colors and hardness hung from the walls. Numerous types of silk sat folded on shelves. There was cotton, wool, and several other thick fabrics that were well known for their durability. All of them were either hanging on displays or sitting in shelves and on top of tables.

  Since what I wanted was to have custom-made training clothes, I didn’t look at the premade clothing, and instead walked over to an older woman in her mid-thirties. She was currently taking the measurements of a woman who looked like she had just reached adulthood. The woman, more of a girl really, was standing topless as her measurements were taken. She wore nothing but loose-fitting panties tied together by strings.

  “I’ll be with you in just a moment,” the woman said without turning around.

  This lady must have some really good hearing to notice my presence without looking. Seeing that she was busy, I began looking at the fabrics around the store. I knew nothing of creating clothes, so I didn’t know what fabrics were good to use. Most of what I had worn before was dorogon hide, acromantula silk, and mythril armor.

  Around five minutes after the woman had spoken to me, she finished taking the young girl’s measurements. They spoke for a while before the younger woman got dressed and left. Then the older woman turned to me.

  Large green eyes stared at my clothes as though they were an atrocity. I mean, they were, but it was still kind of rude. This woman’s russet-colored hair was tinted with streaks of gray. While she didn’t have many wrinkles, there were some crow’s feet around her eyes.

  “I am going to take a guess and say you need new clothes,” the woman said, once more eyeing my outfit.

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Yes, but what I’m looking for are custom-made clothes with a very specific design.”

  “Oh?” The woman narrowed her eyes to peer at me. “Why don’t you tell me more about these clothes you want while I take your measurements? Come on, strip down.”

  I removed my shirt, then slid my pants down. Unlike the girl, my undergarments were a pair of britches. Most men and some women wore underwear like this. However, I’d heard it was more popular among women to wear the string underwear... well, Kari had once told me it was what a woman wore when a man was courting her.

  As I revealed my body to the woman, a startled squawk emitted from her mouth. I frowned when I saw her wide, round eyes. My frown deepened when I noticed her slight blush.

  “Is there a problem?” I asked.

  “No. There’s no problem.” The woman shook her head and recovered her wits. “Stand right here. I’ll take your measurements now.”

  I walked to the spot she indicated and allowed her to use a knotted string to take measurements. She measured from my hips to my ankles, the circumference of my torso, the length of my arms, from shoulder to shoulder, the size of my chest, and so on. As she did all this, she conversed with me.

  “Tell me about this clothing you want.”

  Nodding, I described what I was looking for. “I want a vest, pants, and vambraces that are covered in pockets that are five by ten centimeters. The pockets should be as densely packed together as you can make them. This clothing also needs to be sturdy. The pockets should be capable of withstanding a lot of weight without tearing. I would also like the vambraces to have the same pocket setup.”

  The woman was in front of me as I spoke, and the befuddled expression on her face amused me. She obviously had no idea why I was asking for this type of clothing. I guess no one had come to her with such an unusual request before.

  “Well, I could certainly do that,” she admitted after a few moments. “It will take a while for me to make clothing like that, though.”

  “How long is a while?”

  The woman pondered my question for a moment. “Give me about… thirty days to make these. I have several other customers I need to make clothes for, a
nd these will take time due to how unusual your request is.”

  Thirty days was one and a half days short of half a month. While I was a bit depressed to know it would take so long for the clothes to be made, I also knew there were other, more important aspects of training that I needed to focus on before strengthening my body.

  “That is fine.”

  “I will also need you to make a half payment up front.”

  I hesitated before answering. “How much will this half payment be?”

  “Given the nature of what you want, I’ll have to use more fabric than normal. I’ll also need to work with a sturdier fabric to make it more durable. This is going to increase the cost.” The woman finally finished taking my measurements and stepped back. She stared at me for a moment before speaking again. “I’d say the grand total will be around 5,000 valis.”

  “So I’ll need to pay 2,500 valis up front,” I said.

  “Yes.”

  “That’s fine,” I agreed.

  Once I gave the woman her half payment, I left the clothing store and traveled to the apothecary, which was located on the opposite side of the Merchant’s District. After entering, I glanced left, then right. Tables, stands, and displays containing various alchemy ingredients sat around, waiting to be bought. Because of all these ingredients, this place had a strong and rotten scent that made my nose wrinkle. It made me think of sulfur.

  A man sat behind a counter. He looked up when I walked in. A frown marred his face when he saw my appearance. I guess my lack of alchemist robes made him assume I was just some random idiot wandering into his shop.

  I ignored the look as I walked up to the counter, pulled a scroll from my tunic, and set it on the wooden surface. The man eyed the scroll like he didn’t know what to make of it.

  “I would like to buy the ingredients on this list,” I said in a tone that I hoped conveyed my seriousness.

  The man’s frown grew wider, but he took the scroll anyway. It was only after he unfurled it and began reading the contents that his eyes slowly widened. He looked back at me, and then at the scroll. His eyes finally settled on me.

  “You’re an alchemist?” he said slowly, as though he couldn’t believe his own words.

  “I only know how to make a few things,” I admitted.

  “We do have these ingredients,” the man told me after glancing at the scroll again. “Hold on while I get them all together for you.”

  The man stood up from his seat and wandered into the back of the shop through a door. The storefront was basically just a display. It showed you what they possessed but wasn’t for sale. The ingredients were all locked safely within the backroom, which was more suited toward containing ingredients that could spoil if left out for too long.

  He came back with several bags, all of which he set on the table. Then he took out a scale and weights and used them to weigh each bag.

  “So let’s see,” he mumbled to himself. “That’s 2,000 grams of purple grass, 1,000 grams of nirnroot shavings, another 2,000 grams of kalt root, and a jar of spirit essence.” After he finished measuring each ingredient, he placed them into their own bag, and set them in front of me. “I’m guessing you plan on creating some beauty products with these? I hear stuff like that is popular among noble women. Anyway, your total will come to 6,000 valis.”

  Confusion permeated my mind as I paid the man and left the store with the bags of ingredients. As I wandered home, I thought about what that man had said.

  The ingredients I had bought could indeed be used to create some beauty products, but that was not their only use. When mixed together and refined, they would create the alchemy pill I needed to increase my training speed. These pills were decently common and easy to make. However, that man didn’t seem to even realize that these ingredients could be used in that manner.

  I felt like something was off, but I shook these disconcerting thoughts away. After I dropped these ingredients off at my room, I would have one more stop to make.

  The Alchemist Association.

  I stood in an empty courtyard that contained several large buildings. Very few people were present. In fact, I only counted around forty-five in total, and only about five of those people were alchemists. The other forty were women who appeared to be between the ages of thirty-five and sixty.

  The buildings looked like they had once been majestic. I could see the remnants of several dragon motifs etched into the stonework; the gabled roof was decorated with ceramic tiles, a sign of influence; what’s more, there were two large dragon statues located by the entrance to what I assumed was the main hall. Even the doors, large contraptions painted red and studded with gold, spoke of the majesty this place had.

  Or rather, it spoke of the majesty this place used to have.

  The walls surrounding the Alchemist Association had long since faded, there were cracks running along the buildings themselves, the ceramic tiles looked old and worn, the dragon statues were similarly unkept, and the doors looked like they were in great need of repair. Derelict was the word I would have used to describe this place. It looked like this place had fallen on hard times.

  As I looked at the alchemists standing behind their stalls as they tried to sell what were not medicinal pills but creams of some sort, I could not help but notice the hopeless expressions they wore. The desperation hanging over this entire area was so dense I could almost see it manifesting as a physical cloud of gloom.

  Wearing a confused frown, I walked up to one of the stall owners. The man perked up as I approached. He looked as befuddled as I felt.

  “Are you here… to buy something?” he asked.

  “I was wondering if I could get a basic alchemy set,” I said. My confusion mounted as I saw what he was selling: Basic beauty products. He didn’t have a single alchemy pill at his stall, just standard creams, powders, and lotions.

  “An alchemy set? Are you an alchemist?” The man looked at my threadbare clothing. Judging a person by their clothing was quite natural since a person’s status could often be determined by the clothes they wore. I didn’t let it bother me.

  “I know a little about refining, but nothing too extravagant,” I said.

  “We do sell alchemy sets,” the man admitted with a sigh. “You’ll need to head into that shop over there to buy one.”

  The man pointed toward one of the smaller buildings. It was one story, square, and didn’t look larger than maybe fifty square meters. It was made mostly of wood. However, its foundation was made of stone.

  “Thank you.”

  I bowed to the man before turning around and heading toward the building, but I didn’t miss the destitute expression he wore when I did. This made me frown even more.

  The inside of this shop didn’t have much. Several displays showcased a number of ingredients just like the apothecary had, and there were a number of tables showing off the different alchemy sets. However, outside of that and the table near the back, this place was very barren.

  A young man who looked a few years older than me stood beside the table, his shoulder-length red hair containing hints of orange. He had brown eyes and a pale face. His clothing wasn’t as bad off as mine. The silk pants and red wool tunic were nice enough that he could have passed for someone from a decently successful merchant family, but even from this distance, I could tell that his clothing was in rough shape. He’d probably been wearing those clothes for a long time without getting them repaired.

  “I’d like to buy a basic alchemy set,” I said.

  “An alchemy set, huh? Well, you’ve come to the right place. That’s about all we have to sell these days.” The man wore a wry smile as he turned around. There were a number of cubby holes built into the wall behind him. Each one contained a box that had latches on the side. He went to one, pulled it out, and came back to set the box on the table. After undoing the latches, he opened it and revealed the alchemy set. “This what you want?”

  I glanced at the alchemy set. Sitting inside were two 150 mL b
eakers, two 250 mL beakers, one 500 mL beaker, three 100 mL flasks, two 250 mL flasks, one 500 mL flask, a 500 mL measuring cylinder, two evaporating dishes, two stirring rods, a 250 mL wash bottle, a mortar and pestle, and a cauldron. Each object was set inside of its own indentation so it wouldn’t get jostled, and the items were all in good condition.

  “This looks good.” I nodded and looked at the man. “How much?”

  “24,000 valis,” he replied.

  That was a fairly steep price. A basic set like this would only cost 12,000 valis in Midgard, but I had already begun to suspect that something was wrong from what that man at the apothecary had said and how gloomy the people of the Alchemist Association seemed.

  Given what I had seen so far, I didn’t argue and just handed him 24,000 valis, though I did frown when the young man stared at the platinum coins I was using with wide, shocked eyes. I guess seeing someone with such threadbare clothing using platinum coins was a surprise.

  “Do you mind if I ask why the Alchemist Association is so empty?” I asked as the young man counted each coin.

  “What do you mean? Isn’t it obviously because alchemy has fallen on hard times?” The young man’s words contained both dispiritedness and sarcasm. “Ever since the great conflagration over a hundred years ago, nearly all of our alchemy formulas were lost.” He sighed and shook his head. “Now all we can do is create basic beauty products and a few minor healing creams for burns and cuts. No one needs alchemy anymore. After all, why use a healing salve to heal yourself when there are Spiritual Water Techniques that work even better?”

  “I suppose,” I said, not letting this young man know how shocked I was.

  “It looks like this is the correct amount,” he said after counting all of it. “Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of a basic alchemy set… for all the good that will do you.”

  While his sarcasm was a little annoying, I didn’t think he was trying to be rude. Like the man outside, this young man seemed to have given up hope.

  I thanked him, picked up the alchemy set, and began walking away. As I walked down the stairs just outside the Alchemist Association entrance, doing so slowly so I wouldn’t fall and break anything, I thought about what I had just learned.