The rookie merchant wiped the grime from his forehead and turned the corner near the central square. The border town of Kaldorath was a chaotic intersection of different cultures, and heavily armed guards patrolled the wide avenues to maintain strict order among the travelers.
The sharp smell of roasted meats, burnt firewood, and horse manure filled the humid air. He scanned the crowded sidewalk as he dodged stray dogs and loud fruit vendors selling apples from wooden carts.
The constant noise of haggling buyers and clinking coins gave him a headache, but his tired eyes finally landed on a small, cheap wooden table sitting near a dark alleyway.
The merchant stopped walking, and his jaw dropped slightly.
He looked at the famous sage, but the mysterious oracle was just a child hiding under a dark cloak. The kid sat lazily on a stool, so he did not look like a powerful wizard or an old, wise hermit at all.
Did I travel for days just to reach this place? the rookie merchant thought with a bitter taste in his mouth. I heard there's a sage here who gives accurate advice, but he is literally a kid. Is this a joke?
He strongly doubted the young boy. He was fully prepared to turn around and walk away to save his remaining copper coins for a stale loaf of bread.
But before he could leave, he noticed something strange. A tight, orderly line of people had formed along the edge of the street, and they were all waiting patiently for their turn to sit at that small wooden stool.
The merchant frowned. He was very hesitant to trust a child, though he had already come a long way. He let out a long sigh and decided to line up anyway. He counted the heads in front of him, and he realized he was the tenth person in the queue.
The afternoon sun beat down on the town to make the air feel sticky and hot. The merchant crossed his arms to wait. He tried to ignore the pain in his calves, so he simply listened to the conversations of the townsfolk standing directly in front of him.
Two middle-aged women whispered to each other just a few steps ahead.
"Are you really going to ask him about your husband?" the taller woman asked nervously.
"I have to," her friend replied as she twisted a wet handkerchief in her hands. "He comes home late every single night. He says he is working at the lumber mill, but he smells like cheap perfume and alcohol. I need the sage to tell me the truth."
A burly blacksmith stood right behind the women. He leaned over and joined the chatter. "You're lucky you only have marriage problems. I'm going to ask the sage if the iron shipments from the North will arrive next month. If the roads are blocked by snow again, my forge will go bankrupt. I heard this kid told the baker exactly when to buy cheap flour last week."
"I just want to know if my daughter will have a safe delivery," an old man with a wooden cane murmured. "The local Healers say she is very weak. I need to know if the heavens will spare her life."
The rookie merchant listened to their desperate pleas. These people were not fools, yet they fully trusted the young boy with their livelihoods and families.
Footsteps crunched on the gravel behind him. A group of five traveling Adventurers joined the queue, and their swords clanked loudly against their armor. A wealthy-looking man lined up right after them, fanning himself with a silk cloth to beat the heat.
Seeing so many people lining up to speak to the young fortune teller gave the merchant a sudden wave of confidence. If wealthy men and tough Adventurers believed in the kid, then the fortune teller was somehow credible.
The line slowly moved forward. One by one, the customers sat on the stool, spoke in hushed tones, and left with either bright smiles or tears of relief.
The young merchant stared at the ground. He needed to prepare his question.
I have to know what product I should bet my last savings on, he told himself fiercely.
His hands shook slightly as he remembered the massive disaster from three months ago. He had opened a small trading shop in a busy northern province. He poured every single gold coin he inherited into a huge shipment of rare spices and fine silk. He thought he would become very rich, but he chose the wrong product at the wrong place.
A local merchant guild flooded the exact same market with cheaper spices just two days later. Nobody bought his expensive goods. A heavy storm hit the town the following week, so the roof leaked and the silk rotted in a damp warehouse.
He suffered a huge loss in his previous shop, and the angry debt collectors had chased him out of the province in the middle of the night. The memory of his failure gnawed at his pride. The loan sharks had banged on his front door for weeks to demand their gold back. He was forced to sell his own furniture and his warm winter coat just to buy enough time to escape.
He only had a tiny pouch of coins left hidden inside his left boot. The coins felt heavy and uncomfortable against his heel as he stood in the line.
It was his absolute last chance to survive in the trading world. If he failed again, he would have no choice but to work in the dangerous coal mines up South until his lungs gave out.
He looked up and watched the young sage. Kian was currently talking to a young woman customer. She wore a simple peasant dress and wrung her hands nervously on the table.
The young boy whispered a few words to her, pointing a finger at the scratched glass ball. The woman gasped loudly, and a huge wave of relief washed over her face. She wiped thick tears from her eyes, placed a shiny silver coin on the table, and bowed deeply to the boy before running off happily down the street.
The merchant clenched his fist. His palms were incredibly sweaty, but he felt a fierce determination burning in his chest.
A few moments later, the person in front of him finished their session. The wooden stool was finally empty.
It was his turn.
His heart beat fast. The loud, erratic thumping echoed loudly in his ears. He walked forward with stiff legs, and he sat down heavily on the wobbly stool.
The young man was about to open his mouth to introduce his name, but the mysterious boy across the table spoke first.
"I've been waiting for you," Kian said flatly.
The merchant was completely shocked. His jaw snapped shut, and a cold shiver ran down his back.
He expected my arrival? the young man panicked internally. That can't be right, because I didn't tell a single soul about my journey to this specific town.
Kian looked at him directly in the eyes. The boy's gaze was incredibly calm and empty, and it made the merchant feel totally exposed. He felt an intense, suffocating nervousness grip his throat.
He could not form a single word.
The young sage casually rested his hands near the scratched glass ball.
"You traveled far," Kian said, "because you want to know how to gain wealth."
Those words made the young merchant freeze entirely.
With a cold sweat on his neck, the rookie merchant opened his mouth to voice his shock.
"How... How did you..."
But before he could finish the question, the young sage cut him off with a single word.
"Land."
The merchant blinked, and his head tilted in utter confusion.
"What?"
Kian kept his blank posture under the dark hood and spoke with a flat tone. "Buy land in the west. Invest everything you have in there."
After a heartbeat of silence, a sudden wave of anger broke the merchant's paralysis. He slammed his bare palm flat onto the small wooden table, so the cheap glass ball rattled against the wood.
"Are you crazy?" He yelled. A few people in the long queue behind him turned their heads to stare. "Lands in the west are garbage! It's a literal wasteland. No plants or trees grow there!"
He gripped the edge of the wood tightly, and his knuckles grew pale from the strain. He spent his entire life studying trade manifests, so he knew for a fact that the western region was just a dead zone of cracked mud.
Under the shadow of the canvas roof, Kian leaned closer across the split wood. He lowered his voice to a whisper, but his flat words carried a strange weight.
"I don't really care if you don't believe me, but this is my advice. It's up to you if you'll do it or not."
He pulled back and picked up a sweet piece of dried fruit from a small bowl. The rookie merchant sat frozen on the wobbly stool, and his mind spun in chaotic loops.
"Is this kid really legit? He is telling me to put my remaining money into a piece of deserted land. Am I supposed to believe this nonsense?"