The Skill Collector

The village I stopped in the middle of a business trip was terrible.

There has been very little rain lately in this area and I have heard that crops are not growing well...... I didn't know it was this far.

The villagers are so skinny that they want to suspect that there really is meat between the bones and the skin.

Instead of wasting fat, the flesh, which was spicy and snaggy, was like a bone with a skin, and his face was fractured, and his muffled eyes looked unusually large.

There is no power in the shaking down of the villagers who are plowing the fields, and there is no discomfort whatsoever in doing everything in this place right now.

Is the stick of the tree lined up in the corner of the village a grave mark?

There are several brand-new ones lined up with old objects. That gave me a clearer picture of the villagers' painful current situation.

"Are you a businessman..."

Speaking to me observing at the entrance to the village was an old man who looked as good as I would say if I had already called him a skeleton.

"Yes, it is"

With that said, the old man sighs loudly without rejoicing.

That's odd. Merchants visiting small villages are commonly welcomed, and this may be the first experience they have had of sighing at villagers.

Especially if you're suffering from hunger, it's something you'll be happy to welcome.

"As you can see, this is the situation with the drought and the demonic raids. I can't afford to buy anything from a merchant at the moment I have trouble eating."

"So what should I buy?"

"I've sold everything I can."

The old man responds to my suggestion without putting his hair in.

There is no more worthless being than a merchant who came without being able to shop.

Is it the same as eating before a treat won't come true? That makes me want to throw up one of my sighs.

"Unless you're a slave trader, you don't have a business partner. No one wants to live forever until they sell their children."

Old man laughing in a self-derision.

It is splendid that we have not abandoned our pride in this situation either.

A last resort where death is imminent before your eyes and you get your hands on a phrase that has suffered from hunger.

That's... human trafficking.

There's a reason the old man said it was a child.

They are chosen to sell them to slave traders because they have many children. As a village, it does not divide its precious workforce, and children are in demand as slaves, so they can sell at high prices.

In the worst possible way, I would say that it is the only means of saving the situation in the village on the verge of doom. But will this village not choose it?

I felt a gaze from around me talking to the old man.

Soon the inhabitants of this village will try to surround me and look at me.

You were working. Everyone is holding farm tools and tools in their hands. There are a lot of noisy things such as shovels and sickles and knives.

The children can be seen slightly, but they are all hidden behind their parents.

"Oh."

Kids are not thinner than adults. In other words, it would prove that they were giving food priority to their children.

You take care of your kids. There seems to be no lie or falsehood in what the old man said earlier.

Well, what do we do? Though it is humane to pity their current situation and provide food.

"Merchants must be cynical to gold"

I remember those words here, told me many times by my magnificent senior sour mouth when I started a pedestrian.

'I don't mind if the charity eventually leads to money making. But there is no need for love or salvation for people who are worthless. If you want to be a hypocrite, be a priest.'

- You were. By that guy's standards, the villagers here are going to be judged worthless.

But I'm not on my own with other pedestrians. Because I'm a collector.

Skills are worth more to me than money.

"You know..."

"Merchant, I've got some deafening information."

It was one of the villagers who was looking at me on a faraway roll that blocked my words.

Tight eyes on lean cheeks. I have a flattering grin on my face like that.

Are you willing to sell information and things? Then let's just talk a little before we explain the skill buying.

"What is that information?

"Whoa, business talks before that. Why don't you buy this information? I wouldn't ask for such an expensive sum. If you don't have any money, you just have to share a little food with us."

Not a bad suggestion. If you make a generous and positive impression here, you can make an advantage of later buying assessments.

"Depending on the content of the information, what about food rather than gold…"

"Whoa, that doesn't matter! Actually, a little further up the mountain from here, there's a swamp. There's a cave nearby. So, I witnessed the bandit-like people in and out of the village."

I stare at the man who talks in a big gesture.

The villagers around me also have a serious eye, but the subject was the man who talks, not me.

"Are you a bandit? Keep going."

"Make a scene as a village. There was a demonic raid in the middle of worrying about how to handle it, and it was gone. I recently remembered that."

Is there a cave that the bandits seem to be rooting for?

If this is a true story, there might be some money or goods they've saved up.

"The demons came from that direction, so the bandits are probably dead. Don't you think it's worth looking into?"

Everyone nods, yeah, as if they measured the timing, taking their gaze off the man waving the hot valve and looking at the villagers around them.

"That's an interesting story. If you're a bandit with a name, you can get a prize in the city if you find an item of evidence, and it's possible you're saving something. Well, sometimes you try to extend your legs."

Pretending to think about it and whining changed the color of the villagers eyes.

I can also assume that I am purely happy because the information is going to sell...... Women, children and the elderly are concerned that they have gone out of sight.

"It's that information fee, do you mind if it's sun-dried or bottled that I was planning to sell in another village?

When I took the groceries out of my backpack, I had a full grin and asked for a handshake.

That night, I act like I cook myself because I don't taste like just handing over the goods.

It is forbidden to weigh too heavily where my stomach is weakened, so I put a large amount of water magically produced in the pan, and I returned the dried food and cooked it with the rice, but even the old man tears and rejoices in favor of his thoughts.

A meal with 'cooking' skills where I was starving seemed more valuable than a noble treat.

Gives children candy balls and baked confectionery, and also behaves like alcohol to adults.

Doing so improved the slippery mouth of the villagers considerably.

"How long has the pedestrian been in this business?

A bearded villager intoxicated by a good condition is entangled with a red face.

I chose to have a low alcohol content because the liquor is not good for my body neatly, but did the liquor still turn quickly?

"Well, I've been doing it for quite some time."

"You look young. How old are you?

"I stopped counting from around twenty years old, so I wonder how old you are"

I actually grasped it up to ten times that, but it seemed silly to count along the way, so I only know the approximate age.

"I don't know ~. Higo, uh-huh. Are you confident that the merchants are doing this alone?

Whoa, for a moment, but my eyes sharpened.

You also swayed a little about the signs of the villagers standing around listening.

"Well, quite. Because when you're a pedestrian, you get along with trouble."

"I see. Oh, yeah. There's one thing I need you to tell me. This village is nothing. I was thinking of opening a grocery store someday. Let me know if you have any business tricks."

I can't tell if it's drunk bullshit or if it's serious, but this is also on the edge of something. Let's teach you the secrets of business.

"It's about not lying and not fooling the other person. It's simple, but very important."

Early morning when all the villagers calmed down after eating and drinking scattered. It's still covered in darkness around here, but I'm on the move.

We will exit the private house, which is no longer inhabited, given as an inn, and head to the cave of purpose, which was heard out within yesterday.

"Well, hit or come off"

Put it in your mouth without expectations.

I gathered information from other villagers last night, but I'm pretty sure there was a bandit.

It was also true that many villagers also saw a bandit-like figure, who was actually working out measures in the village.

I concluded that there was no contradiction in that villager's explanation and that it was not a lie in 'psychology' either. I'm not entirely convinced that it is.

The reason is simple and clear, in the first place.

"Money-making stories are things you don't tell people and keep secret."

If this situation in the village, you should go find out for yourself in the cave. It is possible that the bandits are leaving behind gold and food.

Seducing people by saying, "I have a lucrative story," is a constant saying of fraud.

In the villagers' opinion, it would be dangerous in case there were any bandits left.

Then let's sell the information to irrelevant merchants to find out.

If this doesn't bring the merchant back, he won't lean over there.

... but he seems to think.

"Is it about half a day's walk from the village?"

Through the beast path there is a swamp and a cave can be seen nearby.

Up to this point, it was the right information.

If you're dealing with a bandit, you don't have to be alert because you don't take the back, but you can't be alert, so watch the area carefully.

The entrance to the cave is littered with pieces of wood. There are also burnt marks, so it could be a burning mark.

I don't see any footprints of people or demons. There are no signs of recent use, and I can't feel any signs.

Without the bandits, the possibility of demons living there instead disappeared.

"Is this a flow that just lost a whole lot of money on information?"

Gaze into the front of the cave.

When I activated "Dark Vision" and looked into the darkness, the ahead was split into two strands.

I don't need to be any more vigilant, so I move on unconstitutionally. I plugged into the divide, so I'll check the left and right.

On the left, a little further ahead is blindfolded with a cloth. Do you intend to replace the door?

The right is making a big left turn along the way and I can't see ahead.

Exploring the sound in "Listening Ears" makes it slight that something rubs from the left. I couldn't pick up the sound on the right.

It's fine from either side, but somehow I'll explore the right first.

It was only about as wide as whether the two adults could walk side by side, and the walls and ceilings had no machined signs, but only the ground was flat.

At the end of the curved right road there is about a private room in the inn, with four crude beds. I also have a handmade desk and chair in the corner, but that seems to be all.

I returned my heel because I didn't have enough to even look for it.

Go back to the branch and pick the left that you haven't checked.

I grabbed the cloth blocking my sight and when I pulled it hard, the cloth fell to the ground unexpectedly.

It was a spacious hemispherical space. There appears to be a gap in the ceiling area and the interior is quite bright with the sunlight inserting from the top.

This is enough without 'dark vision'.

I'm concerned that only one thing is placed, even though a few times the size of the bunk I just peeked at is huge.

No, not that I care. I don't like it because it is placed in the middle with dignity, but I notice it.

It was reinforced with metal on the edges with wooden lidded boxes.

"This is a treasure chest, as they say."

The ideal chest, imagined by many as an illustration of an adventure novel or a prop for theatre, sits here.

It's suspicious, frigid, no matter where you look from. It's too blatant to trap.

"Captain, if you do this in the Dungeon of the Demon King, they're going to preach for about an hour"

With that said, I approach the box and hang my hand on the lid.

I don't have a key either, so I opened it as it was.

Smoke erupts from inside when there is a chilling noise while it is open.

I bathe in it, and fall asleep beside it with a curl.

After doing so for a while, the footsteps and signs for the three of us approached.

Whoever was peering inside through the gap above must have come with my people to make sure I fell.

"Oh, hey, merchant, are you okay?

Are you sure you're asleep?

"If you take the sleeping powder that makes demons faint, there's not a single pile of humans."

He began to expose his inner feelings himself as he pierced the unresponsiveness.

It'll save you a lot of trouble, so let's just ignore it.

"Now you get all the money and belongings of this pedestrian. It seems to have worked for the first time."

"But isn't it too harsh? You're gonna take everything away from me."

"What are you talking about now! If we don't do anything, we're just waiting for death! Now the villagers have children! My wife will save you!

At the end of the day, no one can return a word to the voice of a whimpering man.

The people who attacked me were the men from that village who spent the night with me.

I'm not surprised you were following me, or knowing I was watching you at night.

I wondered if they were proud people who didn't sacrifice their children, were they just kind people within them?

"So, but hey. Taking it to life..."

"Don't be silly! I'm not gonna do that. Leave clothes, change and three days' worth of preserved food. Other than that, I'll take it."

The relief breath leaked from several people.

Don't be too popular with bandits.

The fact that the poor villagers' side business is bandits is quite a story to hear. He has also experienced several developments such as murders and dispositions in villages while welcoming travellers.

Murder is a felony, but the law is not universal just because it works only in cities and some villages.

A world where the customs and determinations of each village are more important than such things.

It's a mistake to expect conscience from a cornered villager.

For the first time in my life, I can afford to keep the law. I know which way to lean if I put my life and method on the scale.

"Don't feel bad about it. There's plenty of them."

The moment the villager's hand touched his body as he said so and approached him, he screamed as he arose his upper body in momentum.

"Hiiiiiii! Oh, I'm awake!?"

"You're not bad. Not bad!

"I pretended to sleep and cheated on you! You said the merchant wouldn't lie!

Villagers who lose their hips, villagers who apologize as they worship, … some beards got drunk and tangled yesterday.

It's as if we're doing something wrong.

Honestly, if you're not angry or angry, you're not disappointed. If you were going to kill me with this, there would have been another response.

"Unfortunately, I have both 'abnormal state resistance' and 'poison resistance'. Well, what do we do?

I deliberately tilted my neck and asked.

The villagers are shaking in clumps.

If you look at it objectively, this one looks like a bandit.

"Looks like this is my first offense, and I can miss it..."

Smell kindness changes the complexion of the villagers as funny as it is. You said you were shivering because you lost your blood earlier.

It's just that if this one thing was successful, they'd be repeating the crime.

This is close to certainty, not anticipation. That's all you get when you say it was a life that didn't pay off no matter how hard you struggled.

At that moment their values are reversed.

Some would go into a stop, though. But in the end, it gets flushed.

I've seen it with this eye so much that I can't count those who dye their hands in evil that they can't turn back.

"Right...... Actually, it's possible for me to buy people's skills. I was going to reveal it after the cave exploration, but I'm sorry this happened."

"Buy Skills? Is there such a stupid story? You're trying to fool me because I'm retarded."

Try the usual method of persuasion because it is a classic exchange.

Preceding that I could freely manipulate the skills I bought, he gave me a light admission that I would practice more than thirty skills.

"I'm so sorry! It was I who planned this and made it run. Let's accept that sin, too. Instead, could you buy out all your Washi skills and give the money to the villagers!

I said, "Oh, no! That's what all the grown-ups in the village decided!

"Hmm. Nothing's wrong with the village chief!

The village chief seems to be going to suffer all the sins, but the villagers won't allow it.

It is certain that poverty is the culprit. That's why the fact that you committed a criminal act for a reason doesn't go away.

"I hate sin and I don't hate people, though. Well, then let me buy out your skills. However, I'll subtract the share of sin and buy it a little cheaper, okay?

"As for this one, I have no objection or dissatisfaction. But can you really forgive me for that?

The villagers are looking at us with a look interspersed with security and anxiety.

I can understand how confused you are by being offered favorable conditions by the person who attacked you.

It's inefficient to make it too vigilant, but I want to encourage reflection.

"It's more profit-oriented than the law. I'm a merchant, so I'll keep my word."

So I turn my gaze to the bearded villagers.

"Yes, yes. We talked about business tricks last night, didn't we? Actually, I didn't explain it a bit enough. The truth is, you don't fool people who don't lie... you don't spit lies that you find out."

Smile meaningfully when you say that.

"Well, that was about pretending to sleep earlier, wasn't it? I'm not talking about this promise... right?

Smile at the fearful asking villagers.

"Come on, what do you think"