"Welcome!"

I greeted the giant in heavy armor as he came in. The giant made a slight groaning sound and waved his hand at me as he slowly made his way towards the back of my shop.

I watched as he carried crate after crate outside to an ominous looking carriage. The crates were filled with supplies that one would find useful during a war: speed potions, strength potions, magic scrolls, enchantment stones, and so on.

Aside from a few customers who would swing by for a while to buy some minor healing or stamina potions every now and then, I was usually alone in the shop, so it didn't bother me how the giant took his time carrying all those crates outside. Even though he didn't talk, just having someone else in the shop made me feel a lot less lonely.

After loading the last crate onto his carriage, he left a large rucksack on the counter inside before taking off. I was expecting to hear the clinking sound of coinage, but the sack was filled with only paper money.

"Thank you for your patronage!"

I felt too lazy to count the amount of money inside the rucksack, but a quick glance at the contents tells me that he definitely overpaid. In fact, he could probably purchase more than twice as many supply crates with that amount.

The giant never inquired about item prices here, nor did he make any motions that indicated he expected me to give him change, so I don't think I was obliged to do so. I know where he lives and works, but strangely, I've never found him when I went there, so I can't give him the change anyways.

Nevertheless, I'm a merchant. I think it's a wonderful thing if someone overpays for my items.

It was already around noon, so I closed my alchemy shop and headed out for lunch.

I could splurge a little because of all that extra money I received, so I picked a random fancy diner in town and asked for the special of the day. Every dish was named in a foreign language which I could read but not understand, so I had no idea what was in them.

No matter what dishes I ate at the diners in town, I could never tell what went into them, since they all used some rare ingredients I had never seen or studied before. They all had a unique and pleasant taste though, so I didn't really mind.

After enjoying my mystery meats, I went around town buying materials used for creating the supplies I sold in the morning. Most residents in town were surprisingly strong, so there was always an abundance of rare monster drops and high quality crafting materials in the marketplace. As a result, I was able to buy just about everything I needed at less than half the price one would normally need to pay elsewhere.

"Could you deliver these items to the alchemist shop on X street? I'll pay an extra fee."

"Certainly!"

The armored giant bought a dozen crates of supplies earlier, so I needed just as many crates of crafting materials in order to restock. There was no way I could bother myself with hauling that much back to the shop, so I asked for a delivery service.

After making my rounds through the marketplace, I went back to the shop to receive my deliveries. It took the entire afternoon and part of the evening to unload, craft, and restock all the purchased goods.

I went to a nearby pub for a late meal and drank throughout the evening with the patrons there. They were out on the battlefield fighting every day, so there was no shortage of stories about their battles and of landmarks in other towns.

Having heard these kinds of stories every day, I wasn't very interested in hearing what the others had to say. The only thing I liked about being here at night was that I could have some interaction with others, since I spent most of the day inside my chronically empty shop.

Of course, there was also the fact that I got free drinks. Most of the patrons at the pub were thankful that I supplied them with enough tools and potions for their battles, so they generously treated me to some drinks as thanks for indirectly increasing their chances of survival for the battles of that day. Seeing how they were so enthusiastic about it, it would be rude to decline their offers, so how could I not stay and drink with them?

I walked back to the shop that doubled as my home shortly after midnight and placed supplies for the giant to pick up in the morning inside various crates, then headed to bed.

This has been my daily routine for the past half year. I considered getting an apprentice at one point, but unfortunately there wasn't anyone skilled enough in this town full of militants to help me with item crafting. I figured it was fine, though, since creating items was only time-consuming and not a difficult job. If I worked like this for another year or two, I should be able to save up enough money to retire and live comfortably for the rest of my life. Maybe I could find a significant other too, once I have free time in the future.

I was satisfied with what I currently had: a high-paying simple job, a home in a nice town, and friendly townsfolk that respected me. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, as I had to cast away my identity and escape from town a few days later.

Before I get to that part, I suppose it would be best to go back half a year and introduce myself first.

My name is Blaze, an archmage who mastered magic that controls fire and heat. It's quite a fitting name, isn't it?

I used to be an adventurer who took on quests for a living, but was forced to retire early. Given the destructive nature of the magic I used, it was nearly impossible to ever recover any monster parts to use as evidence of subjugation or to sell to alchemists and item crafters. Consequently, most adventurers avoided recruiting me unless it was for a quest that involved defeating a large dangerous monster whose body couldn't completely burn up.

It didn't help that news about me spread throughout the kingdom just as fast as the fires I created, so most parties already knew what I was capable of doing even if I only came to a town for the first time ever. Apparently, people who were proficient at using fire magic were extremely rare. In fact, I think I was the only known person in the whole kingdom to have mastered it. After all, one only needed to learn the basics of fire magic for work at a waste dump or a crematory; anything beyond the basic level was too impractical for daily usage and certainly undesirable for questing.

Regardless of where I traveled to, the population was nowhere near dwindling, so it's safe to assume that the quests where I would ever be needed in were extremely rare. In the odd occasion that one large and powerful monster did show up, the subjugation party was more so a large expedition, so the payment for a successful hunt was divided into relatively small splits.

Needless to say, my income was meager back then. I think I struggled with securing food for the day more often than with monster fights.

As a mage, I was already very familiar with the theories and applications of magic. Consequently, it didn't take too long for me to self study magic crafting and item creation. Since my prospect at becoming a successful adventurer was nonexistent, I decided to retire from being an adventurer at the ripe old age of twenty to become an alchemist and magic item crafter.

Since I had almost no money, I had to start by selling minor healing potions and basic magic scrolls on the streetside. Thankfully, they were useful and popular enough that by the end of the month, I was able to rent a proper shop and expand my inventory. I was quite surprised at this result, as I earned more profits from a week of running an alchemy shop than the amount of money I made from a month of questing.

Well, it's not like I was able to do quests that often in the first place, so anything that guaranteed that I would have food to eat every day would have come as a surprise to me.

And so, rumors started spreading among the adventurers in the kingdom about a weird fire mage who gave up on incinerating everything in order to run a simple alchemy shop. Thank goodness nobody spread word of what I looked like, or I probably would have been ridiculed every day...