This is a story from before the establishment of Crown.
On the road to Ryusen.
Up to this point, there had been no major problems, and we had arrived without being attacked by monsters.
We would arrive in Ryusen in about half a day.
However, from my long experience as a traveling merchant, it’s usually just before entering a town that something happens.
Of course, I didn’t let my guard down and paid attention to my surroundings.
Even so, the guards protecting my wagon would notice anything unusual much faster than I, a merchant, would.
What I pay attention to are not the monsters, but the goods in the cargo wagon.
They are packed in a way that they won’t collapse from minor vibrations, but if the wagon itself overturned, it would be meaningless.
In my long experience, such things have happened several times.
Therefore, I can never neglect to check the places where the cargo wagon passes, just in case of unforeseen circumstances.
Rick Krypton.
He jumped into this world when he was twelve years old.
That sounds cool, but I was an orphan who was picked up by my master.
At that time, I couldn’t do any calculations at all.
I don’t know why my master picked me up, whether it was because he liked something about me or just out of whim, but I never got to ask him the reason until the end.
At the age of twelve, I started working under my master as an apprentice, and by seventeen, he recognized me as a skilled craftsman.
I was separated from my master by death before I turned twenty.
It was an accident during my travels as a peddler.
I was attacked by monsters, which are common on this continent.
At that time, Rick happened to be waiting in another town.
He couldn’t get the goods he intended to buy, so his master went to the intended town first.
After obtaining the goods, Rick chased after his master, but upon arriving at the town, he heard that his master’s wagon had been attacked.
The cargo his master was transporting was almost completely destroyed, and there was nothing that could be salvaged as goods.
In reality, I haven’t confirmed this.
If you find an attacked cargo wagon, you are given some rights to the cargo.
However, you don’t get everything.
Most traveling merchants make arrangements to entrust the rights to their cargo to others in case something happens to them during an attack.
What the person who finds the attacked cargo wagon receives is only a small part of the cargo.
It’s not uncommon for some to think, “Why not just take all of it?”
Although Rick lost his master, his master had made arrangements to entrust all of his sales channels and rights to Rick.
At that time, the feeling of sadness at losing his master was greater than the joy of being recognized so much.
And he found himself surprised by this emotion.
Rick had almost no memory of being praised by his master for his business dealings.
Most of the memories he had of his master’s face were angry ones.
Living like that, he had always thought that one day he would become independent and part ways with his master.
He still doesn’t know why his master made such arrangements.
Nevertheless, he worked tirelessly, believing that he couldn’t lose the sales channels his master had built.
About fifteen years have passed since his master’s death.
Rick is still continuing his work as a traveling merchant.
There were times when accidents happened and he lost most of his cargo, but fortunately, he always managed to keep his life.
He believes that he has been able to continue as a traveling merchant without losing his credibility, even when losing cargo, thanks to the sales channels his master had developed.
Each time something like that happened, Rick was reminded that for a traveling merchant, not just money, but also trust is important.
In the end, there were no monster attacks on the way to Ryusen, and we arrived safely.
Some traveling merchants might say that if there are no attacks, they shouldn’t have hired guards.
But Rick doesn’t think so.
He believes that hiring guards is also a form of trust.
Now that we have arrived safely, Rick paid the remaining wages to the adventurer guards, and they disbanded for this time.
For a traveling merchant, arriving at the town is just the beginning of the real challenge.
Because they have to sell the goods they transported to the town.
However, most of the cargo they transported was already ordered.
Other goods were those that Rick had purchased in other towns in an attempt to develop new sales channels.
He would take these to stores and test whether they would sell.
It’s not easy to find new sales channels.
While Rick was trying to sell new products, he overheard a rumor.
He heard that an organization that was deploying a teleport gate connecting Ryusen and the Tower had created a gate connecting to a new city.
Upon hearing this, Rick couldn’t believe his ears.
Of course, he had heard about the existence of the teleport gate connecting the Tower and Ryusen.
He also knew that various materials were being brought from inside the Tower through that teleport gate.
However, fortunately, such materials were not his specialty, so he had always assumed they had nothing to do with him.
But this time, it was completely different.
The creation of a gate connecting the Tower to another city would mean that one could travel quickly from town to town via the Tower.
Rick thought that no traveling merchant would be uninterested in this news.
Naturally, Rick headed to various places to confirm the truth of the rumor.
In the end, he couldn’t get any reliable information in the town, so he decided to head directly to the Tower.
Beyond the teleport gate, a new sky and land unfolded.
It felt very strange, but this was apparently inside the Tower.
Regarding the new teleport gate, he was told that he could inquire at the merchant counter of the Temple, so Rick immediately headed there.
As expected, there were people gathered there, likely fellow merchants.
Since there wasn’t time to explain to each person individually, they said they would explain it all at once.
They asked him to kill time until the explanation began.
Since he had some free time, he decided to browse the shops in the village.
The shops were stocked with items mainly for adventurers.
This was to be expected, as the people gathered in this village were adventurers who operated inside the Tower.
Moreover, the counter for purchasing materials seemed to have more staff.
As Rick watched, adventurers were continuously bringing in materials, and he could tell that a considerable amount of business was being done throughout the day.
He killed time by doing so, and finally, it was time for the explanation to begin.
However, the content was, unfortunately, disappointing for Rick.
He was told that an organization called Crown would be established, and merchants not belonging to Crown would only be able to use one gate.
For example, a merchant coming from Ryusen would only be able to return to Ryusen.
Additionally, those passing through the gate as adventurers would no longer be able to carry large amounts of luggage in and out of the Tower.
Therefore, it was understood that it would also be impossible to handle goods through adventurers.
Rick had no choice but to accept the Tower’s response, which was, in a way, understandable.
From the Tower’s perspective, it was understandable that they intended to prevent this village from becoming just a transit point.
It was also explained that if any illicit activities were discovered, the perpetrators would be banned from entering the Tower altogether in the future.
The teleport gates identify individuals’ magic power and holy power, so once an entry ban is registered, the gate itself will no longer react, making it unusable.
It was unlikely that shrewd merchants would take such a risk.
At least, Rick had no intention of doing so.
It was more beneficial to be able to use the teleport gate at any time than to do something like that.
Even if goods couldn’t be moved, being able to move oneself was a significant advantage.
After the discussion about the gates, there was a presentation on what the merchant division of Crown would look like.
In fact, this part of the story was more fruitful for Rick.
Normally, joining a guild would mean fewer opportunities for merchants to act freely compared to traveling merchants.
However, the restrictions here were fewer than those of general guilds.
And most importantly, merchants belonging to Crown could use the gates freely.
This was also understandable.
If merchants belonging to the organization were restricted from moving, there would be no point in installing the gates in the first place.
Finally, the presenter concluded by saying that those who wish to join Crown are always welcome.
Returning to Ryusen from the Tower, Rick seriously began to consider whether or not to join the organization at the Tower.
However, due to his past transactions, he couldn’t immediately join the organization at the Tower, so he would likely continue to work as a traveling merchant for a while.
During that time, he decided to figure out his future course of action.
In the end, Rick would join Crown around the time he officially began operating as Liralamamiya.
I wanted to properly explain the business-related aspects here, so I wrote it from the perspective of a third-party merchant.
For merchants, the Guild Card at the time was not particularly important, so I have omitted it.
June 14, 2014 – Typo correction
