Trade

"Sir, once day breaks, we'll enter the viscountcy. We should reach Nafu City by tomorrow afternoon." A butler with a graying beard and slightly refined attire poked his head into the carriage from outside.

Claire Griffin nodded. "I understand, Regan."

"Then please get some rest." With that, Regan withdrew.

Claire had arrived in this world nearly half a month ago. Like the clichéd stories of so many others, she had transmigrated here.

After several days, she had been prepared to accept fate's arrangements. After all, the original owner's status had been fairly good: her father had been a viscount, and she had been his sole heir.

But only a few days later, that cheap father of hers had kicked the bucket. He had left her no inheritance at all. Creditors holding promissory notes had come knocking over the estate in the royal capital, forcing her to sell off some real estate to repay the debts.

Fortunately, her father had not been insane enough to sell off his territory, so he had left Claire a city—Nafu City.

The Griffin Family's glory had begun with this city. It was not because some great figure had emerged among their ancestors, but because during the era of the previous previous Viscount Griffin—the original owner's grandfather—a Magic Ore mine had been discovered within their territory. Noble Law stipulated that everything within a noble's territory belonged to that lord.

Thus, from that generation onward, the Griffin Family had grown wealthy. In the end, they had moved directly to the royal capital, leaving only a few subordinates behind to manage their territory.

But mines would eventually be exhausted. That Magic Ore mine had only supported roughly fifty years of excavation before being emptied during the original owner's father's generation. It was easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury back to frugality.

That was why, after the original owner's father died, so many creditors had come demanding payment.

Still, after the royal capital estate had been sold off, Griffin was finally no longer in debt.

Claire was still somewhat looking forward to the Nafu City she was about to reach. The Griffin Family's viscountcy was the kingdom's most remote border viscountcy, so its land area was even larger than some count territories.

"Nafu City, Nafu City..." Claire murmured. "A city with a very auspicious meaning."

Claire closed her eyes and dozed for an hour or two. When midnight came, she suddenly snapped her eyes open.

"It's time," she muttered.

With a thought, a transparent panel appeared before her. It was a data panel only she could see—in other words, her cheat.

The data panel was pitifully bare. It had only one simple button: "Start Trade." Aside from that, it had no other functions.

Claire then shifted her gaze to the upper-right corner of the panel.

"Available trades: 1"

"Mm, just as I thought. Interdimensional trades refresh once a week," Claire thought.

Claire silently said, "Start Trade."

A swirling ripple immediately appeared on the previously bare panel. Faintly, Claire could sense an extraordinary aura emanating from it.

Claire glanced again at the upper-right corner of the panel. Sure enough, that one Trade Point had been deducted.

The vortex continued spinning, but Claire was in no hurry. This was already her second time starting a trade, and she knew it was searching for someone in another world.

Several dozen seconds later, the vortex suddenly stopped. Then, as though muddy water had been stirred apart, a person's face appeared on the panel.

Claire's eyes narrowed at once as she studied the matched trader before her. He was a middle-aged man with a face covered in dust, a sweat-stained cowboy hat, and a loose wool shirt.

Western cowboy?

Her eyes swept carefully over his body again. There were dark reddish-black bloodstains on his leather coat. Clearly, he had killed before.

The other man raised a hand first in greeting. "Hello! My name is Monroe. What should I call you?"

"Antonio." Claire gave a false name, then adopted the cold tone of an experienced trader. "We only have five minutes to trade. Let's make it quick. What does your world have that might interest me?"

Monroe gave an awkward smile. "Since neither of us is trading for the first time, let's be honest."

Then, as though presenting a treasure, he took a yellowish glass cup from his clothes and displayed it before Claire, beginning to boast, "This is a glass cup brought all the way from the distant East. It's priceless! What do you think?"

Claire's eye twitched. Damn it, was he treating me like an idiot?

Not to mention that she had transmigrated here—even in this world of swords and magic, the glass containers apprentice mages used for experiments were purer and more transparent than what he had brought out. If she traded for this piece of junk, her once-a-week trade opportunity would be wasted!

Seeing that Claire said nothing, Monroe's expression became somewhat awkward. He had fooled quite a few other traders with these glass cups before. It seemed he had encountered someone knowledgeable this time.

Still unwilling to give up, he continued trying to fool her. "Look at such crystal-clear crystal. Are you sure you won't reconsider?"

Claire checked the time. Nearly a minute had already passed, and she finally could not stand it anymore.

"Take out the thing at your waist and let me see it."

Monroe froze, then drew a revolver from his waist and displayed it before Claire. "You're interested in this? This is a weapon I paid a great deal for. One shot can kill someone..."

Claire raised a hand to stop his sales pitch. "Enough. Don't say any more. A Colt Revolver, a one-handed firearm, usually with five to six chambers, capable of firing one round at a time..."

After giving a brief introduction, Claire looked at him. "Do you still need me to explain it?"

Monroe's expression became even more awkward. "Most of what you said is right, but who is Colt? This gun is called a Devon Revolver."

Claire's pupils contracted. It seemed this world was not the world she had lived in before. Otherwise, he should not have failed to recognize the Colt Revolver.

"I met a trader before. He was an arms dealer. I didn't buy it then, but now that I've come across it again, I doubt your world has anything else that would interest me besides this. So, do you want to trade?" Claire lied without hesitation.

"Trade, of course!" Monroe's face filled with smiles. "But what treasure can you offer in exchange?"

Claire's eyes flickered. She reached into her clothes and took out three transparent test tubes filled with blue liquid.

Monroe's smile visibly stiffened. So the other side had glass already, yet he had just been trying to fool her. Still, he had thick skin and quickly cast aside that trace of embarrassment.

"What is this?" Monroe asked.

Claire said nothing. She drew a dagger from her waist. It was one of the few possessions that had not been mortgaged, with gemstones embedded in its hilt.

Then Claire directly used the dagger to cut a deep bloody gash across her forearm. Blood immediately flowed from it, drawn by gravity toward her elbow before slowly dripping down.

Monroe's eyes widened. What was this person doing? Was she mutilating herself just because they disagreed?

But Claire soon poured one-tenth of the blue liquid from a test tube and applied it to the wound she had just made.

It stung a little, but Claire's expression remained impassive. After about five seconds, when she removed her hand, the wound she had just created had already healed, leaving not even a scar behind.

Claire put the wooden stopper back into the test tube and said calmly, "You should need something like this, right?"

Monroe's eyes were wide open. Their world had no such thing as magic. What Claire had demonstrated before him was practically a miracle. He even began to feel heartache over the one-tenth of blue liquid that had just been wasted.

But this was merely a Basic Healing Potion that Claire could casually brew. Any ordinary apprentice mage could make it, and the cost did not even exceed three Silver Coins.

"You're sure you want to trade such a treasure to me?" Monroe's thoughts were in disarray. In a trade, one should not say something like that.

Still, it was not really his fault. In their world, this was a life-saving treasure. If someone was shot during a duel, in the past they could only pray that God would favor them and not let the wound worsen and take their life. But now, even if they were shot, as long as they applied this potion, they could fire two shots back at their enemy.

Even if he did not use it himself, selling a vial of this potion would bring him at least tens of thousands of Gold Coins. He would no longer need to scrape by out here and could directly become a wealthy man.

"Of course, but not just for that handgun of yours."

"Please, go ahead!" Monroe even began using honorifics.

"How many bullets do you have on you?"

"I'm at home right now. I have more than three hundred," Monroe hurriedly answered.

"Good. One vial for one handgun. The remaining partially used vial for three hundred bullets." Claire spoke calmly.

"Deal!" Monroe was so excited he nearly slapped the table. These things were practically all his possessions, but as long as he had the potion, everything he had lost would return a hundredfold. Perhaps after becoming wealthy, he would not even need to fire a gun again.

As he imagined it, Monroe's face broke into a delighted smile. He hurriedly searched through his room and brought over the handguns and bullets.

Claire did not remain idle either. She placed the test tubes in her trade space, then waited until the other side had also placed everything inside.

Several lines of information about the revolvers and bullets appeared on the previously bare panel.

"This is a weapon from the Albert World: a revolver. Its power is considerable..."

After giving it a quick scan, Claire looked up at the other side. Monroe had also finished reviewing it and nodded at Claire.

They simultaneously selected the trade items. Then, the three vials of potion that had been in her trade space became two revolvers and a large bag filled with gleaming bullets.

This is a fictional world. The content is purely fictional. Please do not take it too seriously.