The next day within the busy streets of Calico’s business area the hooded Yu was walking around with wooden barrels over his shoulder, having just completed his purchase from the woodworker he was transporting all the barrels he got into the old hotel room

“These things are empty and my shoulders are already stiff, once they are filled with water getting them to the next area is gonna be a drag”

He said as he set down the last barrel and got changed he then headed out toward the grandest hotel in the city

“Welcome Sir, to the Calico Hotel, how may I help you”

As soon as he walked in he was greeted warmly by the receptionist, it was an expected reaction though as he had worn the hunter outfit he took from Mous which was made out of high quality fabric, while it looked plain to the normal eye it was spotted quickly by the receptionist, after all she wouldn’t be working here if she didn’t know how to spot the little things

“Give me he biggest suite you have”

“Y-yes sir, that would be one gold and twenty silver a night”

“One night is enough keep the rest as a tip”

The hooded Yu casually threw two gold pieces at the receptionist before going out, on the way he stopped for a second and informed her that a worker will come bring some stuff to the room then he left

‘Ugh that’s gonna hurt my finances but I had to look rich’ This was going against all the actions he had taken so far but he need to take a risk if he wanted to maximize his benefit this time

‘Now let’s hurry’

Back at the old hotel he changed into a shabby outfit and covered it with his mercenary coat, then he carried two barrels in big bags and headed into the farm

Into the cave he went filling up the barrel with two different waters, one from the jars at the side that the fish had been jumping in from time to time and the other directly from the lake which was already purified into elemental water

“Ooof this stuffs indeed heavy” his back bent a bit from the weight of the water barrels at his bag, if not for the pulley he had installed yesterday he wouldn’t have been able to get these out without wasting a few hours

Once he was out with the newly filled barrels he made his way toward the hotel, dropping off the mercenary coat and the bags in a corner on the way before entering the hotel with the two barrels on his back while wearing shabby cloths

“What are you doing here! This is no place for people like you, get out or I’ll throw you out” He didn’t even manage to step foot in the hotel this before a sword was pointed his way while the guard shouted at him threating

“I was instructed to bring this stuff here by the young master, he rented the largest suite for a night”

“Lil beggar you seem like you don’t want to keep your life, who would hire dirt like you if they could rent the largest suite in Calico Hotel?? Il take your dog life for lying”

The guard raised his sword high for a beheading strike, and Yu panicked on the inside, he never expected his thought out plan would meet its end in the preparations steps, what was this crazy dude doing?

“Halt” The sudden shout that came from the hotel froze the guards swing, he turned around to see one of the managers of the hotel at the gate “Let that servant in”

The manager didn’t stick any longer and headed inside, leaving a slightly surprised guard at the gate

“Humph you heard the manager, get your ass going” instead of apologizing the guard instead waved at Yu like he was some bug and turned back to his station

“???” Confusion took over Yu instead of anger or indigestion, he already expected that he wouldn’t be treated well but to try to behead him just like that? Have they no regard for human life?

Shaking off the feelings from his head he continues into the hotel, there a worker led him to the suite and told him to drop the stuff outside for inspection

“The young master said they shouldn’t be opened, if they are the young master would be furious”

Yu claimed, he didn’t want to expose his hands early and he sure didn’t want anyone snooping about and ruining his trick

“Humph do you think that you can bring whatever you want inside? This could be explosives for all we know”

“Well, I guess I can tell exactly what you said to the young master, I’m sure he would understand” Yu didn’t want anyone to snoop around and expose his trick so he had to make sure the barrels were off limits until he started

The workers face paled at the blatant threat, he was just a worker and if he inconvenienced the person who rented the largest suite he would be made into fertilizer

“A-are you crazy do you want us both to d-die? Just let me inspect the barrel and we will be done with it”

“Hmm, well I don’t want to get on his bad side either, check the content quickly and let me drop them inside, just make sure he doesn’t hear about it”

“Don’t worry don’t worry, he won’t know a thing”

The worker opened the lid of the barrel exposing the deep colored water inside, he was surprised by the content and wanted to scoop out some to test it

“What are you doing! Do you want to your head to role for thievery!?” Yu shouted from behind him startling the worker

“No no I just wanted to check if it was a poisons liquid”

“It’s clearly water now just close it back fast and let me get the other barrels”

“There are other?”

“Yah a bunch of them now let’s get it done with”

The worker hurriedly nodded and closed the lid then he let Yu carry them into the suite and showed him out

‘What the hell is wrong with these people, I haven’t started doing anything suspicious and they are already making things this hard for me, is my plan really going to work’

The series of events slightly dampened Yu’s confidence, still he had to carry on or he wouldn’t be able to make much profit

He went and grabbed the bags and coat from the corner of some alley then he went to the old hotel and repeated his earlier actions, it took him a little while to get all the barrels filled and delivered into the hotel suite, but he minimized the time as much as he could so he would have a little more time for his next step

“Okay, the real deal starts now”

He grabbed Mous’s cloths and donned them, he made nothing was visible from his face but his eyes, then he went into the heart of the city

“Halt, what is your business here”

“I come to visit the baron in hopes of conducting important business with him, it’s quite urgent so I hope to meet him immediately”

“The baron doesn’t expect random visits, go back”

“I’m sure he will accept if you show him this”

Pulling a flask out Yu points at the water inside, he then hands it over to the guard and asks him to give it to Baron

Ten minutes go by and Yu starts getting impatient, he had already hurried the guard several times but he got the same blunt response over and over, to wait

‘What the hell are they doing? Did they really not recognize the water yet? Is the knowledge in here that bad?’

As Yu thought about the unexpected delay he saw a man coming out, he was wearing a butler’s cloth while he took slow strides toward Yu

“Are you the man who presented this water to the guard”

The butler asked Yu while lifting the flask

“No, I’m the man that’s about to leave because of your inhospitable attitude”

Yu’s harsh words stunned the butler, even the guard was left speechless, brother what happened to conducting business? This is butler Harma your talking to here, by being so harsh don’t you fear your entire business would be shut down

“We apologies for the long delay but we had to make sure this item is real”

‘More like trying to figure out what it is’ Yu withheld his comment to himself and asked the butler to lead him in, thus the two made their way into the baron’s hall, there Yu saw an old man with a round belly sitting with a few older man standing by the side

“Mund Secor?”

“Insolent! How dare you speak to the baron in such a manner, who do you think you are! Just because you have a valuable item in- “

“Quite Madu. Erm, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit my friend of the Southern Paradise”

This single line silenced the entire room, the old men were shocked to silence, the butler was surprised, but out of all of them it was actually Yu who was surprised the most! They knew of the Southern Paradise

Thought of all forms and manner started to swirl in Yu’s head, many fears he had faded out while other worries started to pop in their place, but all this was soon shoved to the side as Yu focused his mind on the current situation, he had to answer even more carefully now than before

‘I don’t know if the relationship of the Southern Paradise is amiable with these parts but since my identity was already exposed I’ll roll with it; they know where I am from now so I don’t have to be all too vague like I had planned’

“Sure enough a baron isn’t as blind as the rest of these fool, I come from the Southern Paradise, as for why I came here it’s to trade off the material you just saw”

“You want to trade Elixir Water? I’m afraid I’m not up to your high standers as I lack the capital to make such a trade”

“Humph of course I know that, how could you hold something that can be traded for six barrels of Elixir Water? Still I’m willing to trade them none the less”

“S-s-s-six barrels!?!?!?”

It was the old man called Madu who yelled by the side, shock plastered all over his face, such an exaggerated amount was enough to buy half of Calico city

The baron gulped audibly and then asked with as much of a steady tone as he could

“You are trading six barrels of Elixir Water? May I ask why you would come to this little city to conduct such business?”

Yu smirked, it wasn’t known if it was that he liked the barons tone or because he was laughing at the barons insult to his own city

“I won’t beat around the bush, about a week ago we got into a fight with an old man as we were transporting our supplies, he got the jump on us and forced us to split, I was left with more baggage than I could hold and I have to trade it off for something lighter, lest that old monster catches up”

Yu gave his prefabricated story that sounded much more convincing now that they thought he was from the Southern Paradise, now he just needed to deal with any questions that might pop up, it will be hard bu-

“Alright then, we shall bring our treasures out at once, Harma go bring out the special treasures we have”

“Yes my lord”

The butler went to bring the treasures while the barons invited Yu to sit for some tea and sweats, even the old men at the side quieted down and didn’t make a single peep

‘What the hell?’ Seeing them so readily believing in him he got suspicious that they were trying something to fool him, maybe they are calling for reinforcements to kill him? If the Southern Paradise was on hostile relation with them then his story might have triggered them to take action instead of helping him

Seeing Yu refuse his invitation the baron felt slightly pressured, if even one of those snobby nobles from the south didn’t dare rest a bit then it truly must be that old man that was following them, he knew something was wrong when he heard the infamous Old Beggar had dropped by to drink with Ulv, followed by Ulv leaving the city

‘Those southerners are causing trouble? It’s very unlike them to go out but since they did they must be transporting something very valuable, these are probably the scraps of the real treasure, I might as well be the profitable third party’ The baron laughed within his own mind, he stands to lose nothing and only profits could be made from this deal, after all trade with the south was forbidden or anything

Soon the butler came with various treasures in hand, five items in total, Yu managed to make out four of them while the last one puzzled him slightly, he seemed to recall it but couldn’t precisely point it out

“These are the treasures my family had gathered these past few decades, the first one here is something you might be very familiar with, this is a storage ring, it can house three cubic meters inside, I’m sure it would help you a lot with your travel, the second one is a plant that helps a beast absorbs a fire crystal directly, it can give quite the large boost to any fire beast, and we so happen to have this fire crystal from a Silver Ranked beast, thought it has lost some of its energy over the years it still has enough to help with a breakthrough if you have any fire beasts”

The baron paused a bit and looked at Yu as if trying to infer something out of him

“The crystal is too dull; it won’t help a Bronze Rank much less a Silver”

Yu replied with a sneer, while it was true that the “crystal” which he couldn’t identify before held power equal to a Silver Ran beast he still didn’t say it, instead he belittled it proving the assumption that the baron had

‘Indeed it’s as I thought, these cloths that he’s wearing are only given to esteemed hunters in the south, he must have hunted a silver beast on his own to earn them, I’m glad I probed him else I would be dead if I tried to steal the water from him’ The baron thought to himself

“Well if these didn’t interest you then this will, this is a book that teaches Runes, while we don’t know which set it belongs to or what rank they teach about I am sure it would be of value to you”

Yu just nodded for the baron to continue without commenting

“This last item is a Cloud Nettle, it has been personally acquired by me in last year’s Kings Feast, getting my hands on it was quite the hard work and I’m sure it’s worth its weight in gold”

“Everything you had shown me still can’t even begin to compare to six barrels of Elixir Water, it would be hard pressed to trade for just one even when someone is in my circumstances, but I’ll be generous enough and give you three barrels if you can provide me with something good in addition to these extra rewards”

“My friend these are my family’s treasures; I had already told you earlier that I do not possess much capital to begin with”

“Stop fooling around and take out your treasure, I have no time to bicker with you!”

The baron grits his teeth at the intolerable attitude of this man who’s not even half his age, but he had to endure both to avoid a fight he probably couldn’t win and to make profit

“Harma bring that out”

“Yes my lord”

The butler once again went ahead to bring out another item, this time it was a crossbow with etched Runes that seemed to shine in the night

“This is my family’s heritage item, Dead Silence, it is powerful enough to blow a hole in any unsuspecting Silver Rank beast, my family has owned it for many ages but had been unable to use it due to unknown reasons, I’m sure you would find a way to use this powerful weapon in the Southern Paradise”

“Fair enough, come with me to the Calico Hotel”

Yu unhesitantly led them to the hotel where he put the barrels, showing any secrecy when he was already thought to be the strong side would just make them suspicious so he opted to show his arrogance and give them a false impression of strength

The baron and the butler hesitated for a bit before they followed, Madu seemed like he couldn’t decide between following them to do his job or staying far away from this dangerous fellow but the old man beside him, who happened to be the captain of guards, made the choice for him as he pulled Madu along to the hotel

Once they arrived at the hotel they passed by a guard shivering in his boots, this was the same guard that had yelled at Yu earlier but his arrogance was nowhere to be found as he didn’t dare to meet any of the comer’s eyes

The group continued on without minding the small ant, even Yu didn’t spare him a glance as he didn’t take a fools err to his heart, if he tried to payback every tit for tat he’d be a mad fool

“These are the six barrels”

Yu pointed at the six barrels in the suite, he waited by the side for them to examine it so he could take his stuff

“Madu please check them”

Surprisingly it was Madu who specialized in discerning the treasures genuinely, the old man came before the now open barrels and used a dropper to take some of the water, he then proceeded to pull out three different stones and tested the waters reaction when he put it on each one of them

“This is indeed Elixir Water, a barrel of it, I can’t believe there is so much of this, may I ask how you found such a huge amount of this valuable treasure? If we find clues that would lead us to more the world would be able to enjoy a great burst of power!”

“Of course, get a normal looking fish, as normal as it can get, feed it some extinct treasure herb and viola, you have your great water source”

Madu’s turned black at Yu’s words, who would believe him?! Normal fish? Feed it extinct treasure herb? Feed your mother! If I had such a herb I would eat it myself and never feed it to a god damn fish

Seeing the old man seething on the inside Yu shrugged helplessly, he was really telling the truth this time, it’s the other parties problem if they didn’t believe him

“Since were done hand me over the treasures”

“Please wait, three barrels is very cheap for all these treasures I offered you, especially my family’s heritage, I really find it very hard to let go of it”

“Ok give that storage ring and I’ll give you one barrel, I’ll store the other”

“On second thought I sensed the Dead Silence suite you the moment I saw you, it would be very cruel of me to selfishly keep it away from its rightful owner’s hands, I believe it belongs to you just as much as those three barrels belonged to me”

“Whatever hand me the treasures”

The butler gave Yu the six items while the captain of the guards moved the three barrels to the side, he was ready to fight back at a moment’s notice if Yu tried to stow away all the barrels

Yu wore the ring and stored all the other items except the two plants which he bagged instead, then he went ahead and stowed away three barrels before he made his way out, he didn’t say a word through the whole process and just left

“Haaah, that man was very dangerous” These words were the first words the captin had said since he had met Yu, it was because he was on his toes the entire time, as a man who survived countless battel on his adventures when he was young he knew what it was like to stare death in the eye, meeting this young man brought him back to those moments all those years ago

“Indeed, I’m afraid the both of us can’t kill him even if we put our lives on the line, plus he probably has summons” Butler Harma replied

“Humph it doesn’t matter how strong he is in the end he is the one that’s being chased like a dog right now” It was the indigent Madu who chipped in

The baron on the other hand remained silent as he gazed at the doors of the suite, he somehow felt like he had been duped in this transaction, the young man could have tried to get two barrels or even two and a half if he really wanted, after all he had both the strength and the goods, did he really lack so much time that he couldn’t argue? Or did he believe it just wasn’t worth it?

In the end he just shrugged, why should he concern himself with all that nonsense, he had three barrels full of Elixir Water which all his treasures couldn’t buy one of, he really lucked out this time

“Prepare a feast tonight, we will celebrate this windfall, tomorrow we head out to Begaria, both to inform the viscount of the Southern Paradise’s trip and then travel to Halferg to sell these barrels”

The men nodded at the baron’s words and carried the barrel off, they would enjoy the forutune of today, not knowing tomorrows misery