The merchant and the bearded man laid out the wares on top of a cloth spread out at the side of the road. Allen imitated their movements, keeping his hands constantly busy, but of course he didn’t know what he was doing.
There was just too much to take in. Still, Allen recognized each and every one of the wares that they were setting out right now. Lacey had made them, and whatever she couldn’t complete, the villagers had helped out with. Some of them were ones that his father and mother had sewn while already busy with other work.
That was why Allen set them out quickly, but carefully. All of these had been made in the hopes that someone would use them well.
Since he knew the feelings that had gone into making these, he contemplated them as he placed each one. The merchant glanced over at Allen with narrowed eyes, but he was so preoccupied that he didn’t notice.
It’s hard to believe that these are going to be sold here... It was his first time in the capital, and there was a frightening amount of people. Allen was still wearing the robe that the merchant had handed him with the hood hanging over his face. He was dressed very suspiciously. In spite of this, the people walking along the capital’s streets passed by without paying him any attention. Perhaps there were just so many people around that they’d become indifferent.
Are they even going to look our way? Allen thought with a shudder. After all the time big sis put into inventing these, and all the work everyone put into making them...
There had to be a better way to sell these. What would he do? Allen thought about it and bit his lip in frustration. Just then...
“Wait, are those Aster...?”
There came a woman’s voice.
They were on a large avenue lined with shops. She was probably on her way back from shopping. Allen turned around and noticed the young woman, who was holding a large bag, murmuring out loud. Someone else who heard her repeated what she’d said. Allen heard the word “Aster” multiple times over, along with, “aromatic artifacts,” “insulated thermal bags,” and “could there be new items...?”
“H-Hey, mister, are these Aster artifacts? They are, right?”
“Huh, what? Um, ack...” Allen was caught by surprise and couldn’t form a proper response.
“Indeed, of course they are.” The merchant grabbed Allen’s shoulder, pulled him backward, and answered in his stead. “New products, even!”
That very moment, shrieks sounded from all sides. The sound was so startling that Allen covered his ears. People streamed toward their wares, one after another. It was like a battlefield. Products were flying off the shelves.
“I’m so happy! I’ve wanted one of these since forever! It smells so good...”
“Insulated thermal bags! The flower embroidery on this one is so cute! I’ll buy it!”
“Th-Thank you for your purchase...! Thank you, th-tha...”
“Are you okay, Allen?!”
“I-I’ve never been in such a big crowd before. I’m honestly freaked out! Wahhh! Thank you for your purchase!”
He wanted to shout for help, but the situation didn’t allow for it. The bearded man, the merchant, and Allen were all shouting out, taking money, handing over items, and dealing with the next customer.
“Out of the way, all of you! Move!”
A man was forcing his way through the mob of people. He seemed to be a soldier in some noble’s employ, and was yelling furiously despite the shrieks coming from all around. “You merchants! Come with me!”
When he heard this, the merchant smiled. His eyes squeezed even narrower than usual. He snatched off the shawl wrapped around his shoulders and twisted it around the soldier’s face. “Oops, my hand slipped!”
The soldier gagged as it smothered him, but the shawl wasn’t that thick. Allen thought that it wouldn’t have any effect, but then the soldier started to violently sneeze.
“Wha—kshoo, bweh, hetchoo!”
It looked like he was having a very bad time. After forcefully pulling off the shawl, the soldier’s face was dripping with tears and snot.
“Ahh! I’m so sorry, it seems that when I ate lunch just earlier, I got lots of pepper all over my shawl!”
This was an infantile excuse. Even Allen’s little sister ate tidier than that.
“You snide little—kshoo, achoo!”
“Oh, you can take the shawl. It was an unlucky accident. I hope the noble you serve won’t be slighted by this little mishap. And as it so happens, it’s time to close up shop!”
Now Allen understood why the merchant hadn’t removed his shawl earlier. He looked around and saw that more than half of the items were sold out already. The bearded man had already bunched and tied up the cloth that had been set on the ground, ready to hightail it.
“S-Stop!”
“Please do come again~!”
They beat a hasty retreat. The soldier frantically chased after them, and this time, the bearded man threw a cloth at him.
“Bwuh-hweh!”
Allen was feeling increasingly sorry for the soldier.
He was just as nimble as the merchant. He slipped through the waves of people, and once he bounded outside the city walls, there was the carriage that had been snatched from them.
“Okay, okay, let’s get moving!”
The two of them jumped onto the driver’s seat. By the time the merchant grabbed the reins and got the horses moving, the bearded man was nowhere to be seen.
It had all happened in a flash.
“Um, what was that all about...?”
“Extreme popularity comes with problems of its own, you could say.” The merchant grinned, then explained.
Lacey’s magic artifacts had garnered a massive following.
Now that their cargo load had lightened, the horses seemed to be moving a little faster than they had been during the first leg. Even so, Allen kept looking behind them as they moved into the woods.
“The first time I saw her artifacts, I knew they would sell. I hardly imagined that I would have to sell them like this, though!”
The profile of the merchant, whom Allen had thought to be shifty, now appeared rather trustworthy when lit by the rays of the setting sun. The merchant’s eyes narrowed in the light as they clip-clopped down the road.
“Having such incredible goods on the market is a wonderful thing. However, it’s inevitable that counterfeits and rip-offs will emerge. The trade guild protects us, so there’s little need to worry. Therefore, the greatest danger is actually the customers. There are some people we can’t say no to—I’m not saying who, but I’m sure you can guess.”
The man whom he had agitated with a dash of pepper to the face had a sword buckled at his hip and an ornate coat of arms on his breastplate. He was definitely connected to some noble. If one of them gave an order, none of them would be able to disobey.
“That’s why I’m exercising caution where I can. Changing out carriages and associates so that nobody knows who the seller is or where they’re from.”
“And you change your name too?”
“Yes. My name is Lanze. All the other names are phony. Usually I don’t sell so obviously out in the open like that, but I thought you might like to see. It’s a good idea to occasionally switch up strategies.”
“Yeah. It was kind of...really...”
I want this! Can I get one of these? There had been girls, women, and men as well. Allen recalled their happy exclamations of My wife will love this! and the glittering eyes of the young women.
“Really...hard to describe.”
“Isn’t it? That’s what makes it so irresistible,” Lanze said, breaking into a smile. Seeing this, Allen felt ashamed of himself for having thought that there must be other, better ways to sell the items. Lanze was much more experienced than Allen and was being very prudent about how he was selling the artifacts that Lacey and the villagers had entrusted to him.