The streets were crowded, mostly with merchants coming and going. A few civilian Adventurers in leather armor mingled among them, while city guards patrolled the roadside from time to time. In the distance, the castle's spires rose high above the city, and the Temple of the Church of the Goddess of Agriculture stood as grand as the lord's castle.
After getting down from the carriage and paying the shop steward his fare, Donald looked at the familiar scene and sighed with feeling. Then he headed on foot toward Giant Stone City's busiest commercial district, following the route he remembered.
The "commercial district" was simply what Donald called the area out of habit from his previous life. In reality, it was just a bustling street lined almost entirely with shops, situated beyond Giant Stone City's lord's castle and the mansions of nobles great and small, between them and the neighborhoods where wealthy merchants lived.
This street certainly lived up to its reputation as Giant Stone City's richest and most prosperous district. Not only were there lavish shops selling luxury goods to nobles, but shops selling all sorts of other merchandise lined both sides of the street.
It was undoubtedly centuries behind the bustling commercial streets of his previous life, but it was still the liveliest place Donald had seen in this world.
Perhaps because Colin and the other two were following behind Donald, they encountered no trouble along the way. The scenes of nobles oppressing commoners that he remembered never occurred, either. They had changed out of their steel armor and put away their shields, but Colin and his companions were tall, strong, and carried fine swords at their waists that were clearly more than decoration. Their imposing presence was beyond that of ordinary warriors. They had the battle instincts of men who had fought on the battlefield and killed plenty of enemies. Ordinary people gave them a wide berth when they saw them in their full fighting form, to avoid inviting trouble.
Donald ignored the bustling shops crowded with people and headed straight for a store at the end of the street, closest to the noble district.
The shop's entrance was deserted. Not a single customer came or went for long stretches, making it an oddity on such a lively street. Yet passersby showed no surprise as they went by. This was, after all, the most mysterious Goblin magic shop in Giant Stone City.
The magic shop was said to sell all kinds of wondrous magical items and materials used by Mages. Only Mages, nobles, and powerful Professionals were qualified to enter. Anyone else was unwelcome and would suffer the punishment of mysterious magic.
Of course, Donald knew these were just rumors spread among ordinary people who feared Mages and mysterious magical items. In reality, this Goblin Shop, which sold only low-level alchemical goods and spell materials, wasn't nearly as heavily guarded as people imagined.
Donald looked at the run-down storefront. A line of crooked Goblin script, which he couldn't read, was scrawled across the dark gray wooden sign. Without hesitation, he pushed the door open and strode inside.
Once inside the mysterious shop of legend, Donald found it was nothing like the rumors suggested. It was just like an ordinary country general store. Wooden counters stood on all sides except the front, leaving only a gap in the middle barely wide enough for a child under ten to squeeze through. Rows of wooden shelves were fixed to the walls behind the counters, packed with assorted goods bearing labels.
Of course, unlike an ordinary general store, this place carried all sorts of strange items. Feathers that looked like they belonged to birds, bat wings, and toad skins were already odd enough. Some crystal bottles held unidentifiable substances, and a few were so unsettling that most ordinary people would have shuddered at the sight of them.
But Donald had seen plenty in his previous life and watched every kind of horror movie. These things struck him as a little strange, but he wasn't particularly afraid of them.
As Donald looked around the shop, a shrill voice sounded from behind him.
"Where'd you come from, brat? Old Deli's general store isn't a place for brats like you to wander into! Don't bother the great Goblin merchant Old Deli just to satisfy your curiosity. If you aren't buying anything, get out!"
Donald looked down and noticed a green head topped with yellowish, withered hair poking up from behind the counter at the back of the shop.
Apparently feeling that Donald's height was a blow to his pride, the green-skinned creature climbed angrily onto a wooden stool. Once standing, he reached Donald's chest. He impatiently waved his thin, claw-like hands to shoo him away.
"If you're not buying anything, get out of Old Deli's shop! Wasting Old Deli's time is wasting money, unless you can pay enough Gold Sol!"
Judging by the look of it, if the Goblin shopkeeper weren't wary of the three tall men behind Donald, he would have thrown him out himself.
Donald wasn't angry. Instead, he watched the shopkeeper, who called himself Old Deli the Goblin merchant, with interest.
It was Donald's first time seeing a Goblin, and his first impression was that they were short, scrawny, and ugly.
But these green-skinned little people were indeed a humanoid race with intelligence. Their physical constitutions were poor, but unlike their close relatives, the Wild Goblins and Troggs, they were clever. Wild Goblins had only rudimentary intelligence and lived like animals, while the timid, cowardly Troggs underground had no virtues beyond their ability to farm. Goblins, by contrast, had used their intelligence to develop mechanical engineering and alchemy unlike anything practiced by other races. In ancient times, they had even created a mighty technological civilization.
But their civilization had violated the laws of this world and brought about a worldwide disaster, causing the mighty Goblin Empire to fall. Goblins, who believed in their own intelligence rather than the gods, had no divine protection. They lost most of their population in the disaster, and only a small number of Goblins living in underground cities survived.
It was said that the surviving Goblins were punished by the gods for causing the disaster. Most became unintelligent Wild Goblins, while only a few retained their intelligence and passed down some of their civilization's creations and techniques.
After that, aside from those who lived in secluded tribes, Goblins generally became vassals of more powerful races to ensure their survival. All the major powers, including the Dwarves, Orcs, and humans, had Goblin groups in their service, except for the proud Elves. The Goblins provided them with alchemical goods and wondrous Goblin inventions.
It was worth noting that in the past few centuries, a unique profession had emerged among the Goblins: the Goblin merchant.
As the most widespread commercial power in the world, Goblin merchants operated as individuals and maintained ties through their tribes. Together, they had formed the Goblin Commercial Federation, opening shops in nearly every settlement of every intelligent race and creating the beginnings of a vast commercial network. Some Goblin merchants in human lands even specialized in doing business with Mages and nobles.
Goblin shops brought considerable convenience to the various intelligent races. The Goblins themselves were weak and posed no threat to anyone, so the powerful races allowed Goblin merchants to operate. Protected by the Goblin Commercial Federation, the green-skinned little people were rarely targeted by other powers. Anyone who offended them would never again be able to buy a single item from a Goblin.
Donald knew a little about Goblin merchants' shrewdness, mercenary nature, and love of money. He didn't show the slightest weakness, speaking calmly, but with confidence and force.
"Goblin merchants are supposed to be the shrewdest merchants around. Can't you even tell a real customer from a troublemaker? If so, this Goblin Shop is a huge disappointment. Maybe you're just a Wild Goblin dressed up as a merchant!"
Old Deli, the Goblin shopkeeper, angrily shouted something in a language Donald couldn't understand.
Then he turned to Donald and spoke loudly in his distinctive shrill voice, using Common.
"Human! You've insulted the great Goblin merchant Old Deli! Old Deli has run a shop in Giant Stone City for fifty years, several times longer than you've been alive. Any magical item found in the Kingdom of Selt can be found here!"
That was exactly what Donald had been waiting for. The simple provocation he had learned from his previous life worked just as well in this world. It was especially effective on a race like the Goblins, who were clever and dexterous but had only a crafty, petty sort of cunning when dealing with others.
"Then, great Goblin merchant, do you have any books for beginning Mages?"
Donald's slightly doubtful tone felt like an insult to the Goblin merchant. To prove the greatness of Goblin merchants, Old Deli let out a shrill laugh.
"Hahahaha! So you're an Apprentice Mage! The great Goblin merchant has books for beginning Mages, of course. You can have one for thirty Gold Sol!"
As he spoke, he brought out a thick leather-bound book. To get back at the hateful human boy for mocking him, the greedy Old Deli had raised the price by five Gold Sol.
Donald didn't know this, and even if he had, he wouldn't have cared. He readily paid thirty Gold Sol and bought the thick book, bound in leather. He declined the Goblin merchant's other offers and only took a quick look at some of the spell items and tools he recommended. Their effects and power were inferior to those of the items in the Book of Truth, and their prices were generally much higher.
For Donald, who had been poor for more than a decade, the fifty-odd Gold Sol he had was already a huge fortune. But it wasn't enough to buy the valuable magical items here. He would probably use it all on two of the cheapest spell tools, each capable of casting only two Cantrips, and still wouldn't have enough to spend freely.
If he used those fifty Gold Sol to buy Elemental Crystals and exchanged them for similar items through the Book of Truth, he could summon at least five Lesser Magical Items. Those would be far more powerful than the Apprentice-level spell tools on the shelves.
According to the item levels in the game, the Book of Truth divided summoned items into three tiers. Levels zero through three were ordinary magical items, level four and above were Legendary Creations, and level seven and above were on the level of Lesser Artifacts.
Ordinary magical items were divided into four tiers: Lesser, Minor, Medium, and Greater. They corresponded only to level zero through three items in the game, and their classification was similar, but not identical, to this world's equipment tiers. Donald couldn't yet reach items of an even higher level.
So Donald had no desire to buy anything else. Those items were useless to him. The four of them soon left the Goblin merchant's magic shop. Instead of hiring another carriage, they went straight to a secluded spot outside the city, where Donald used four Level 1 Magic Beast Cores to summon four warhorses.
Human knights were powerful level-four units, but without armor, their horses were only level-one monsters. Level 1 Magic Cores were no longer a luxury for Donald. He didn't mind using one up for the journey!
Though he was a noble, Donald had been trained in horsemanship as a child, even if his family had fallen on hard times. He wasn't particularly skilled, but riding a horse for a journey was easy enough.
The only drawback was that the warhorses summoned by the Magic Cores had no saddles. After just half an hour, when they reached the outskirts of Red Maple Town, Donald's thighs were burning, and he couldn't help cursing the horseback scenes in the movies and television shows of his previous life for being a lie. Riding was more than twice as fast as traveling by carriage, but his backside couldn't endure the misery.
Colin and the other two clearly weren't good riders, but they were calm, almost wooden men. They endured their discomfort without showing any sign of Donald's pained grimacing.
"Looks like buying a good carriage needs to be added to the agenda soon. Otherwise, if I don't hire someone else's carriage, I'll have to suffer through this again!"
He led the warhorses into the secluded Red Maple Forest outside the town and silently willed them back into the Book of Truth.
The Book of Truth had conveyed this information to him through their mental connection. After using it these past few days, Donald had become increasingly adept at wielding the artifact.
Ordinarily, summoned creatures could be recalled by the Book of Truth before their summoning time ran out. Of course, the energy and residual soul power left after recalling them couldn't be used for another summon. They could only be absorbed by the artifact itself, gradually increasing its power and repairing the damage the Book of Truth had sustained in the spatial storm.
As a high-level artifact, the Book of Truth should have been powerful in its own right, beyond its ability to summon. Once it was repaired to a certain extent and regained the power of a Lesser Artifact, its laws and divine power would allow its host and contracted owner to virtually ignore ordinary attacks from anyone below demigod level.
Of course, restoring it this way would require an immense amount of energy. Even an entire Kingdom might not be able to bear the cost!
So whenever his summoned creatures were no longer useful but still had time left, Donald tried to recall them and recover some energy, helping the Book of Truth restore itself faster.
Before you continue