Hero of Darkness

Chapter 20: Gearing Up

The gust of morning wind flew by, accompanied by the pleasant chirping of birds. A man opened his eyes and finally left the land of dreams to return back to reality.

Kahn opened his eyes and yawned, "Nothing can beat a real bed no matter which world." said Kahn as he finally looked outside the window.

It was around 8 AM based on the position of the sun. Kahn let another yawn as he tried to stretch his body. He slept like a baby for the first time since he got reincarnated.

As he freshened up and took a warm bath first, he quickly left to meet Elanev.

After searching through some rooms, he finally found the office and saw the young Merchant busy tallying the ledgers and reports.

"Do you have a moment?" Kahn asked as knocked on the door side.

"Ah, you're awake. How was the night?" asked Elanev as he chuckled a bit.

"Best sleep I had in this life." Kahn smiled and laughed.

"So what are you doing?" he asked.

"Nothing much. Just doing some run-ins on the profits and future consignments. Damn, it's not easy at all. Segregating everything based on their type and dates is a pain. No wonder my old man left it all to me and assumed the command of shipping the materials." Elanev let out a sigh as he looked at the files and documents on his desk. This was just the beginning; there'd be piles of these things later during the day.

"Need any help?" asked Kahn.

"Do you even know how to read?" asked Elanve.

"Yeah, I have formal education. My uncle always made sure that I had enough knowledge about everything that can save me from being conned. Haha" Kahn chucked.

"Good. I on the other hand had to learn it all because I had to inherit the family business. Otherwise I'd be a scholar roaming the world now, seeking and learning different places, their knowledge and culture. Only if things were different." Elanev said regrettably as he started imagining the different life.

"Well, we gotta make do with what we have." Kahn said as he started helping out in sorting the ledgers.

He was an Accountant in his previous life so knew how to organize the records with their uses and priority. This surprised Elanev as he was still finding it hard to do it all efficiently. It had barely been a month since he started working in the merchant enterprise his father created.

Till now, all his youth went into studying and lazing around so he yet had to grasp the things related to the profession.

"By the way Kahn, have you thought about what you are going to do? If you'd like, you can work for us as a bodyguard. You certainly have enough combat experience and fighting skills." said Elanev as if this was something he had planned to ask a long while ago.

"I appreciate the gesture but I'm not the kind to follow orders. Besides, I need your help." Kahn said.

"I see. What can I help you with?" Elanev got curious. He wasn't going to pester Kahn since he was his own person. At most, Elanev could offer him a job.

"I need to borrow some money to buy clothes, some weapons and some light armor." Kahn replied.

"For what? Oh, I forgot that you were a mercenary." Elanev replied as sudden realization hit him.

"Those days are behind me. Now I'm going to be an Adventurer." replied Kahn as he sat on the chair.

"Don't! Didn't you see what happened to us that day? Even though you're strong, you won't always make out alive. Think about it, carefully." Elanev said sternly as he didn't want to see his savior hugging the goddess of death.

"Don't worry. I have my reasons. Besides, I don't know anything else to do anyway. Here, I can at least run away when my life is in danger and I won't have to protect someone other than me." Kahn said, his reasoning sounding logical.

"Fine." said Elanev and started writing something on a yellow paper and then put on their enterprise's seal on it.

"Take this to our merchant shop situated at the 3rd street on the left. Show this to the manager. He'll get you enough supplies." said Elanev as he looked at Kahn helplessly.

"Thanks. I'll pay you back soon." said Kahn and left the office.

Following the directions, found the merchant shop and its manager.

The manager looked like some kind of Demon race type of Demi-human. He had red stone-ish type of skin and two sharp and dark red Horns protruding from his head. Kahn could even see a small tail coming out from the manger's waist.

Kahn didn't ogle or look surprised at all. After absorbing the Legendary Somir's core, Kahn was always in control of his emotions and his demeanor was that of a tyrant. You wouldn't see him acting surprised unless he wanted you to see him like that.

After he handed the letter, the manager looked at him with surprised eyes. But didn't ask how Kahn got the letter. He signaled Kahn to follow him and showed him their decent collection.

The manager then showed Kahn many types of weapons, armors and various accessories cased on highly protected shelves.

Kahn wasn't some noob so he chose the most useful set first.

He chose a black trench coat which had small intrinsic gold pattern in the middle and on sleeves.

Why black?

Because Badass Protagonist Rule no. 3 : All badass main characters wore black clothes.

He then chose a gray jacket which was made from a material similar to leather, just more sturdy and even lighter. The black pant Kahn chose were very comfortable and sturdy at the same time. It wouldn't hinder his movements when he ran fastly at all. Then he chose hand gloves where fingers were exposed but the grip was strong, like how people who went to the gym used. Next, he decided upon brown boots which were made of some kind of monster skin but also had a fully tactical design that prevented unnecessary sound while walking.

After the clothes, Kahn chose a fantasy-style double-edged longsword which looked very big and heavy but Kahn lifted it with just one hand as if it was a small knife.

Author : It's not a Chinese longsword, but a medieval knight era type one, just like Dante's Rebellion sword for example.

Kahn then took two daggers, a belt & a holster made for Adventurers which had many useful pockets and places to put small weapons in.

Kahn then moved to the Potions and accessories section. He chose Medium Health Recovery Potions and Poison Antidote Potions. Kahn who had read plenty of Mangas where Protagonists chose Adventurer profession and do their shopping so he wasn't wandering around like an amateur and picked what he needed the most.

The Antidote Potions weren't for him but to help others or use it on himself to appear as someone who'd need it after getting poisoned.

Then Kahn's finally found the most important thing of them all.

A small space ring. Used for storing up various things.

Kahn asked about the price and his ears almost bled after hearing it.

The space ring could only have 7 square feet of inner space in it. But the cost was already 5000 Gold Dramus (Currency of Rakos Empire).

Kahn knew that the letter Elanev had something like 'Let him choose what he wants' but Kahn wasn't going to be that shameless. In the end, these guys had to make a living.

So he chose the cheapest one with only 3 Square Foot of inner space. It still cost 2000 Gold Dramus as shown on the price tag.

Based on his Combat skills and personal skills he got from absorbing from his killings and his survival blessings as well; Kahn chose to skip on enchanted ornaments and protection amulets.

The manager stood beside him, showing no expressions on his face.

Kahn changed into his new clothes and equipped all the new gear, hung the huge long sword on his back and finally left the merchant shop heading towards the Adventurer Association.

As soon as Kahn left, the manager grabbed his head and started pulling his horns.

[What the hell was this guy's problem? Even though the letter said he should be allowed to buy whatever he wanted for free, this guy shopped for merchandise worth more than 20,000 Gold Dramus. He wasn't being modest at all.]

Everything Kahn chose was one of their best line of products. Even the small daggers were high-cost Weapons because of their elemental attacks and runes engraved on them.

The sword itself was made up of Mythril, one of the strongest metals in the world. It could even withstand the weight of an entire house, made by their best Grandmaster rank Blacksmith.

The long trench coat had a magical defensive barrier that could save you from a fatal attack. It will stay stainless regardless of how much dirt you play in. And won't wither in different weather and seasons for at least a decade. That was part of rare magical clothing bought only by high-ranking military officers and rich nobles.

On top of that, he chose the gray jacket which was made from one of the most costly materials and had very high defensive strength. It could easily stand against a direct thrust from a sword or a dagger.

The boots were made up from Wyvern hide. They could even withstand extremely high temperatures and would even help a person walk on lava for few minutes. A truly great work of craftsmanship.

The low grade Recovery Potions were very hard to make even by expert Alchemists, let alone a Medium Recovery Potion.

Let's not even mention the Space ring Kahn bought. That was hard to come even in a prestigious merchant enterprise as theirs as Space Magic Artifact refiners were very rare and these rings rarely appeared on the market.

This guy robbed them of half a month's profits. But to make matters worst, he appeared as if it was him being considerate and not buying too much.

This wasn't some modest shopping.. This was daylight robbery!

And in their case, the manager was showing their most valuable products with a smile on his face to the robber himself.

Oblivious to all these facts, Kahn looked like he was very humble and hadn't taken advantage of Elanev's kindness.

He finally reached the hall of Adventurers Association. Kahn let out a small sigh and said,

"Time to make some money."