Author's Note: Chapters will be shorter as I've decided to split the events that happen to each character up a bit. Point of View can still change depending on the situation though.

Rose was now in a rush after sensing an opportunity to make some money. She had to determine the quality of the equipment being sold in the shops and if possible, find out how much they were being sold for. If she played things right, it might be possible to find some work and learn how things worked in this world.

As she was running towards the weapon shop, she noticed her appearance on the window of the apothecary. She stopped and looked at her reflection in the glass window. 'Something feels off about how I look,' she thought. Her instincts were telling her that the plan she had in mind wouldn't work as she was. She looked too clean.

As her mind unravelled the details of the plan that had come to her when she sensed the money making opportunity, she noticed that the alleyways between the shops were not as clean as the streets. She wasted no time and ducked in after checking to make sure no one was paying any attention to her. She dropped to the floor and started rolling around to cover herself with dirt and make herself appear dirty and dishevelled.

She stepped back out and examined herself again in the apothecary window and nodded at how she looked now. She looked a bit like the homeless beggars that she had remembered seeing in reality now.

With the preparations all in order, she continued towards the weapon shop. She went up to the door of the weapon shop before slowly opening it. She tried her best to give an impression that she was weak and was having trouble opening the door so allow anyone inside to lower their guard. Being an adventurer, she had enough strength to open the door normally but that would only make it difficult to achieve her current goal.

********************

The merchant inside the weapon shop was having a slow day as usual. Even though he knew that it was the ordained day where people from another world would come to their world, he wasn't all that excited. It would be quite a while before any of them would stop by his shop to buy any of the weapons. They were all similar to a child that would barely know how to swing a stick properly without injuring themselves. He accepted it as reality and continued to clean and polish a crate of weapons that had gotten dusty.

It was at this time that he noticed the door open slowly. When he looked towards the door, he noticed a little girl struggling to open the door to enter his shop. Considering how much she was struggling just to open the door, he didn't feel threatened in any way by the child. But he still kept an eye on her as he was curious as to why a child would come to his shop.

He noticed as she went from weapon to weapon while carefully examining them. Sometimes, he would see her shake her head slightly, usually at weapons that he knew was made only well enough to pass as usable, and nodding her head at others. He didn't become a merchant he is while being an idiot. He immediately knew that the child was able to tell the different in quality of each of the equipment she was looking at.

'Amazing, ' he thought. 'This child, who barely looked to be 12 years old, seems to have the ability to identify equipment well enough to tell their level of quality. Now I truly wonder why she came here.'

He smiled politely and said, "Greetings little miss. I'm glad that you like what you see but is there anything I can help you with?"

She let out a yelp as turned around with a look of surprise on her face. She looked rather nervous as she said, "Ah, uncle, I did not mean to disturb you. I was just looking at your weapons."

"Oh? Is that so? And why would you be looking at my weapons for little lady?" he asked her.

"Oh, because I want to become a merchant like my father. He taught me many things." she replied.

"Oh ho? And where is your father now?" he asked again. He was always suspicious of things that didn't make sense to him. Like why a child that looked like she had been living in the orphanage for a while, was here looking at his weapons.

Her face changed to reflect sadness in her eyes. She even started to make sniffling sounds as she said, "He...he was killed."

Shocked at her reply but still a bit suspicious, but in a kinder voice now, he asked, "He was killed? Can you tell me the details little one?"

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When she noticed the change in the voice of the merchant, Rose knew that her plan was working. She ignored most of the boxes that had kept popping up ever since she had started examining the weapons in the story. She didn't want to reveal that she was an adventurer to him if possible and couldn't afford any distractions.

"Ah, zio, mio padre, *sniff* was killed by bandits. *sniff*Both my parents hid me away *sniff* when the bandits attacked my village." Rose answered his questions as she started to let the tears flow. She was remembering what had happened to her own parents in reality when the tears simply came out. She was crying now and even she herself was unable to stop.

The merchant put the weapon he was cleaning and approached her. He went down on one knee and hugged the girl while saying, "there, there. It's ok. You're safe now."

She cried for a few minutes before she was finally able to control her crying. She had felt the worry the merchant felt towards her and was a bit shocked at how real they felt. She was so shocked that she had ended up crying longer than she had intended.

After she had calmed down, she regained her senses and decided to continue the plan. Although at this point, it had pulled a part of her reality into it. She changed parts of it to fit this world though as she explained to the merchant that her family had been killed in a raid and how she had been found by guards who had arrived too late. She told him that her father had been a weapons dealer but she didn't specify what kind of weapons he had sold. She told him that she had come here because she had wanted to become a merchant like her father had been.

The merchant nodded in understanding after she had told him everything. He then asked, "So bambina, how much did you learn from your padre?"

She pretended to think for a bit before examining one of the Halberds that was nearby. She then said, "I know enough to know that this weapon is a pretty good one. From what I know, it should be worth about 2 silver. How much are you selling it for zio?"

There was a flash of surprise on the face of the merchant as he remarked, "Hooo, so you can not only tell the difference in quality but you can tell their value as well? That is quite amazing. As for what I am selling it for, I sell them for 4 to 6 silver each."

A smile went on Rose's face as she heard the price. She then asked, "Zio, if I can help you sell many of them, can I work here?"

The merchant became interested as it looked like the winds of fortune were blowing his way. He seemed to have understood from the smile on her face that she had an idea that would allow him to make a small fortune today. He pointed at the crate filled with polearms and said, "Bambina, if you can sell all of these weapons for more than 4 silver each by the end of this week, you can keep the difference as payment. Not only that but I'll even write a recommendation to allow you to take the Merchant's license test taking place later this week. I'm called Maury by the way."

Rose noticed a window pop up in front of her view this time. She pretended to think as she read the contents.

Quest Received: Weapon Shop Assistant

Intrigued by your request, the Weapon Shop owner Maury, has agreed to your request to hire you should you sell many of his polearms. He has also offered additional rewards if you are able to sell them all before the end of the week.

Reward: Varies

Accept?

She then nods her head and says, "Ok! Rose will try her best! Zio, when will you be closing the shop today?"

"Well, the time right now is still not even noon yet. The shop will stay open until the sun has set in the evening."

Rose nodded again and went to the crate of polearms to examine them as well as check the boxes that had popped up.

Examining many weapons with a keen eye has allowed you to understand their quality as well as their value. Appraisal Skill has been unlocked.

Appraisal has reached Beginner rank 2.

Being able to talk your way into getting what you want has unlocked the Negotiation skill. Negotiation skill has been unlocked.

There were also various boxes showing details of the weapons that she had looked at that she dismissed. She also noticed that she had gained a point to her Charisma stat. She thought to look at the details of the two skills and windows popped up with their details.

Appraisal (passive):

A skill that allows the person to tell the quality level as well as value of objects. Higher ranks will reveal more details about objects.

Current level is Beginner rank 2.

Negotiation (active):

A skill that allows a person to use speech to achieve their desired results. Charisma +2

Current level is Beginner rank 1.

She then took a better look at the crate of polearms. She noticed that there were a total of 20 polearms with about of them being of good quality while the others were of normal quality. An idea popped into her mind as she slowly organized the polearms to only show 5 at a time with 4 of them being normal quality and one being good quality. The rest, she hid away in the back of the shop. Maury looked on with interest clearly written on his face.

Satisfied with the presentation of the weapons, she went outside and looked around. She spotted some Spearmen on patrol and headed towards them. "Signore!" she called out to them.

The two Spearmen stopped and looked at the girl that was calling to them. A flash of grimace passed on one of their faces as they asked her what she wanted.

"Ah, signore. Did you know that the weapon shop is having a sale on their polearms today? I can tell just by looking that the weapons you have are of poor quality and low in durability from so much use. Why not take advantage of the discount you can get and get a better one?"

The guard that had treated her normally said, "Oh? A sale you say? It must be a special event. Never heard of this sale event but you say there is a discount on polearms because of it? I have been meaning to replace my current one...ok, I'll take a look. Come on Drake, lets see what this sale is all about."

Rose realized that this world didn't have anything like a sales event based on what the guard had said. Looks like she might be able to make use of it nicely to turn a fair profit. She quietly led them inside the weapon shop and to the polearms she had left on display. The weapon shop owner greeted them politely and observed while polishing some weapons.

She pointed to the normal quality ones and said, "These are of normal quality but my zio takes good care of them so their durability is still intact. This other one is actually very well made and is of good quality. It receives a small boost to its damage potential and is also more durable than those of normal quality. The normal quality ones are usually sold for 6 silvers each but for today, it has been discounted to only 5 silver. The good quality ones usually go for 9 silver though as the extra durability can mean the difference between life and death in tough battles but has been discounted to 7 silver."

The guard looked rather pensive as he said, "So the good quality is stronger overall huh...but I wonder if I should..."

"May I see your hands signore?" she asked.

"My hands? What for ragazzina?" the guard asked, confusion showing clearly on his face.

"Well signore, I can tell that you are having trouble deciding which to get. Seeing your hands will give me a good idea of your skill level with the polearm and will make it easier for me to recommend which would be the better buy for you." Rose replied.

"Oh," he remarks and shows his hands to her. Rose noticed that although he had started forming some calluses just below his fingers, they didn't look all that hardened.

"Hmph, this is just a ploy to make you sell you the good quality one I bet," the other guard remarked in disapproval.

Rose had a feeling he might but decided to give her honest opinion regardless while ignoring him. "I don't think that would be too good of an idea to use a good quality one. If my guess is right, you are still fairly new to using a polearm. It would be better to buy a normal quality one for now and continue to practice with the poor quality one you already have until it breaks. That will allow you to use the normal quality ones we have much better and allow you to become more skilled. I think it is better to be more proficient before using a good quality weapon. Using a weapon improperly will only make it lose durability quicker and won't make much of a difference in saving your life."

The guard with the disapproved look had his look change to that of surprise at such a detailed analysis. He stretches his hand out and asks, "You can tell that he's new just by looking at his hand? Look at mine and tell me how long I have been a guard for."

Rose looks at his hand and is surprised at how hard the calluses on his hands look. She looks up and asks, "Signore, you look rather young and as such, I cannot say how long you have been a guard for. But it seems that you have been using a polearm for a long time. The impression I get from your hands is that they have been using the polearm for more than 10 years. Am I wrong?"

He shakes his head and replies, "No, you're right. While I'm new to the guards in this city, my family are all Spearmen. As such, I have been learning to use the Spear since I was young. I think I will take your advice and buy the good quality one ragazzina. It seems you are more than meets the eye."

The remark causes Rose to blush in embarrassment as she realized why he had been looking down on her. She had actually forgotten that her clothes were still rather dirty and that she looked more like a street urchin or beggar than someone that works at a weapon shop. Rose noticed two boxes pop up informing her of gaining another point of Charisma as well as a rank up for Negotiation.

The other guard also decided to take her advice and buy a normal quality polearm. As they were headed out, the one called Drake calls out, "Thank you for the recommendations ragazzina. I'll let the other guards know about the sale event and send them over."

After they left, Maury looked at her and tosses a silver piece her way as he says, "I really want to know what this sale event he was talking about is. But I think you might need to head to the bathhouse and maybe buy some better clothes. You look like a beggar in your adventurer clothes."

A gasp of surprise comes from Rose as she asks, "You knew?"

"That you're an adventurer? Yes. Not enough despair and hopelessness in your eyes to be an urchin from around here. Also haven't heard of any villages being destroyed by bandits in the surrounding area for the past 50 years or so. I think that it was true that your parents were indeed killed but I also know that you are not from our world. Either way, get going quickly to the bathhouse. I think you might get more customers later today." he responds with a chuckle.

Another blush started to rise to her face but she bowed in thanks and ran off to find the bathhouse. She didn't hesitate to ask the residents for directions and found it easily enough. Using the bathhouse turned out to be free. Towels were free but it would be a copper for soap though. And before she could take a bath, she realized that she would need different clothes to change into that she had forgotten to buy in the rush.

She didn't have too much time to pick out something that looked nice. So she went to the nearest clothing merchant and picked up a cheap dress worth 40 coppers. The dress was a one piece with short sleeves and going half down to her shins. Its colouring was a faded black with green trims at the end of the sleeves and the neck line. Nothing fancy and offered little to no defence but she wasn't planning to fight any way. Folding it neatly and making sure not to get any dirt on it, she went back to the bathhouse.

She took only a quick bath as she wanted to get back to the store and only cleaned the dirt that had gotten on her before drying herself and putting the new dress on. Wasting no time, she went back to the weapon shop. She heard a sigh escape from Maury as he saw her enter the shop. Looking at her, he could only remark, "A bambina will still be a bambina regardless of how smart they seem I guess."

Rose looked at him a bit confused as he called to her. But she complied anyway not sure what he wanted. As she reached him, he turned her around and took out a comb to start combing her hair.

"Really...you can sell weapons so easily but you still can't comb your hair properly?" Maury kept complaining as he combed her hair. He had just finished as two more guards had entered the store.

"Welcome. Are you here for the sale?" Rose greeted them with a polite bow.

"That and Captain Drake told us to show you our hands to get a recommendation as well," replies one of the guards.

"Of course signore. This way please."

The day went by fairly quickly as many of the guards kept coming in. The two that had given her the idea to try this had also stopped by to replace their weapons. The weapons that Maury had been expecting to take a week to sell had been sold in a day. Some other weapons had also been sold to some travellers that had stopped by and seen Rose giving recommendations and had asked in curiousity.

At the end of the day, not only had she sold enough weapons to make a profit of 30 silver just for herself. And even more so for Maury as she had not offered any discounts for any weapons other than polearms. She had also gained another 9 points to her charisma and Negotiation skill had reached Beginner rank 4. She noticed some new boxes indicating some gain to her fame. She decided to check her status window.

Name: RoseGender: FemaleRace: HumanClass: NoviceTitle: NoneFame: 5Health100Health regen0.1/sMana100Mana regen0.1/sStamina100Stamina regen1.0/sStrength10Dexterity10Agility10Vitality10Intelligence10Wisdom10Luck10Charisma21Equipment:

Plain Dress (black)

"Now," Maury said aloud, "will you tell me what the meaning behind the word 'sale' is?"

"Oh, a sale means that products that are on sale are going for a cheaper price than they would on a normal day. So since you told me that you usually sell the polearms for 4 to 6 silver, I decided to make the higher number the regular price. And then used a lower number to indicate that it's being sold cheaper than normal. With a little bit of advertisement, people will just flock to us." she replies with a grin on her face.

"Advertisement? Another new word for me today."

"Yes, it's a way to let people know that there are discounted items being sold today. My way of advertisement today was to go to the guards and tell them of the sales event. That's direct advertisement. Other ways to advertise is by putting a special sign outside that says what products are being offered at a discount. If any rare goods are available, those can also be advertised without really giving a discount on them. You can also have friends tell other friends and let them know of any sales or rare goods either and that's an advertisement form called 'word of mouth.' As far as I know, those are the only ways to advertise here. It's also not too good an idea to put too many things on sale or have too many sales event. Maybe once a week or once a month or so. Doing it too often will make the feeling that it's a special thing go away."

"Bambina, it seems that I have underestimated you. You're more of a merchant than anyone I have ever met. I think from today on, I will have to call you 'Little Merchant' instead." he laughed as he praised her abilities. Rose could only blush in response.

He then takes out a sealed envelope and hands it to her, along with 32 silver pieces. "A merchant that goes back on their word should not be considered a merchant."

Rose bowed in thanks as some boxes popped up.

Quest Completed: Weapon Shop Assistant

Rewards gained:

32 silver pieces

Letter of Recommendation from Weapon Shop merchant, Maury

You have received the title, "Little Merchant."

When she requested more details on the title, another box popped up.

Title: Little Merchant

People are more likely to listen to your recommendations when buying products from you.

"The licensing test will be at the end of this week. Until then, you are free to work here as you please. But don't let it stop you from exploring other options. Not only are you an adventurer, but you're still young." Maury told her.

"Thank you zio. I will be back tomorrow then." Rose replied with a bright smile on her face. She bowed once more and headed out to look for an inn. She found the inn near the entrance to the city easily enough. The innkeeper was a homely looking lady that looked to be in her late 40s. The cost for it was also fairly cheap at 50 coppers for a night and 20 coppers if they needed room for a mount. The innkeeper was a little surprised when she gave her a silver piece and looked at her before saying, "Ah, you must be the Little Merchant that my son was talking about. He's a part of the guard and was showing me how accurate the recommendations from the girl at the weapon shop was about his training. Anyway, we can talk more tomorrow ragazzina. As for now, you look tired so I will just say, welcome to our little inn, ragazzina."

She thanked the innkeeper politely and pocketed the 50 copper change she received. She had to admit that even though this was a game, she did feel rather tired from having spoken to so many people today. She needed to plan out a way to get a hold of her own goods to sell tomorrow though. But that's for tomorrow and today, she was very tired. She made sure the door and the single window in the room was securely closed before lying down on the bed to sleep.

**End note: Please feel free to point out mistakes. Also let me know whether I should continue to use a different language for relations such as brother, sister, etc.

Side note: I'm starting to understand better about how some people say that the story went in that direction without them wanting to. I was originally planning for only around 2000 words but it ended up more than double. Enjoy.