Chapter 167: Undercover

"I'm applying to be a merchant. Can I get the platinum tier?" I told the front desk of the merchant's guild.

"You can only apply for a platinum tier if you donate 50 Xend materials, 300 Diamond and 1000 Gold to our merchant's guild." The man on the front desk replied. "If you're a new merchant, I recommend getting the bronze tier plate which just costs five gold but you will be limited on what cities you can go in. But if you go buy the silver tier, it'll be for 50 gold but you will unlock most of the nearby kingdoms. Gold tier will unlock your access to the merchant's marketplaces and high end stores. But it'll cost you 500 gold and a contribution of 100 Diamonds."

"No, I'll donate the required materials for the platinum rank. Inventory." I opened up the spacial inventory and pulled out the required materials for the platinum rank. "50 Xend materials, 300 Diamonds and 1000 gold. Here's all of them."

"I have received the required materials for the required rank. Congratulations Sir Zeta Reysh, you have gained the platinum badge for merchants. You can now join auctions and enter the merchant's secret shops and the benefits from below the platinum rank."

"Thanks. I've got some food to sell. Do you know any place here at this kingdom for where I can sell it?"

"I apologies Sir Zeta, but I'm merely a front desk worker for the merchant's guild. I do know some places but the information I have came from other merchants and if I disclose this information this'll bring the merchant guild's reputation down. You may ask other merchants if you truly want to know."

"Thanks for the information and I'm sorry for asking."

"No, no. Don't worry about it Sir Zeta."

"That so? Well then, I'll be going now. Thanks for signing me up." I then left the merchant's guild and went on to search for shops to sell the things I have.

It has been exactly 12 hours since I left Izgoy. I was given this task by Zieglind to lure out the Serpent union. I got the gist of what they're doing based on his explanation but I don't know how dangerous they are as of now.

I spent the last four hours acting like a merchant and was hoping for people to rob me to draw some of them to me but it seems to be useless effort and a waste of time since not even normal bandits came at me.

I remembered that I had to buy a badge that's why Lam told me the requirements for the badge and gave me the required materials.

Gold wasn't a problem but the Xend materials are. Getting these 50 Xend materials weren't easy since our mine are incredibly slow at producing them. Diamonds are easy to find so we got that immediately.

But getting the platinum badge is extremely expensive so I'm pretty worried that the upgrading of our place is going to take a while.

But this is worth it. If no people don't target mewith my platinum badge, I don't know what to do. This is just basically boasting my wealth. Now, people should be locking their eyes on me.

But after two more hours of walking around, I still don't have anyone locking their eyes on me or targeting me.

Like... come on! I've been walking around this kingdom from inside and outside for gathering materials with the platinum badge hanging on my chest.

I still have around 3,500 gold so I guess that's also one way I could try.

Expensive clothes.

I went back in the kingdom and tried to find a decent clothing shop. With a single raise of my platinum badge, the workers of the clothing shops brought me to a room with a wine surrounded with expensive clothes.

These clothes are something you find from incredibly rich people or royalty that sits on the throne. I couldn't help but be feeling overwhelmed by this.

"Welcome dear platinum badged merchant. May I ask for your name?" The shop owner asked.

"Zeta Reysh." I replied.

"What an amazing name. It sounds like royalty itself. Well then, I'll be your personal clothes designer for the day. What kind of clothes do you like?"

"Uhh..." I don't know how to answer this at all. "Make me look rich I guess."

"I see. It really suits such an individual like you of things like that. Then may I ask what's your budget range?"

"Around 3,000 gold. That should be enough... right?"

"That is more than enough! You seem to be a big spender mister. Now for the final question, how many clothes would you like?"

"Hmm..." I began to think of how many should I buy. Since this would take over a week or so... I better be careful. "Around 20 clothes. That should be enough. Just divide them so that there's one for casual clothing and another for formal clothing. I'll leave it up to you."

"Alright, I'll get to it immediately."

I spent the next three hours enduring the hellish shopping with this old man for my clothes. I didn't know what to do other than just sit there and look pretty.

The clothes he bought are also top quality and obviously... Eh... Over the top. I just couldn't believe it.

These clothes that would look like something a jester would wear is apparently a high quality clothes that merchants wear? An orange colored suit with a flower like appearance and in the middle is where you put your head and the buttons are made from rare gems that I can't comprehend how rare they are.

As I wore the clothes, I could see the old man smiling and grinning happily as he said in his own words, "You're shining brightly mister! The gemstones on your clothes as buttons show how noble and rich you are. These formal clothes which are tuxedos and such are also laced with diamonds and such so I'm sure you'll enjoy them too. But these clothes are basically what you need to flaunt your richness as you told me."

I couldn't help but be overwhelmed since most of the clothes I wore are made by me using magic. Those were simple clothes that I saw from other people and just copied and laced with magic. Even though it's thin, its light and absolute defence can outrank everything that I see from shops.

But these... these clothes are just another level.

As I bid farewell and gave the shop owner 530 gold for all the clothes, I went outside with my head high trying to bear the embarrassment that I feel. But for these clothes, 530 gold is cheap not going to lie.

It seems that it's already night so this is the time where they're most active. This is my last resort to lure them all out. If this doesn't work, I'll change my whole appearance and run around the whole kingdom naked and shout Serpent union to lure them out... I really hope that doesn't happen. But I'm willing to do that since the ones in danger are my fellow original people in this world.

I resolved myself and held up my head high and wore the rings I bought from the clothing shop to boast my wealth.

As I walked around I activated, "Mana Search!" Even though my sight gets a little bit weird while I'm using this, I need to be cautious of any ambush or such.

As I used this, I could already feel about 10 people following me. This is going to be incredibly interesting. Well then, I'll be going deep in the forest where no one can see us.

I ran to the forest and waited for them there. I baited myself by gathering herbs and killing the monsters there. And after ten minutes, they went in and surrounded me.

"Hey. It seems that you're pretty wealthy. We were following you since you got that platinum badge and you were walking around the town. We were waiting for you to get out to the woods or leave the kingdom but you bought some expensive clothes too. No hard feelings, your gold is needed for the serpent union. If you leave everything you have in your inventory then you'll be allowed to leave here with your life intact."

"Gotcha. I got finally got ahold of you, Serpent union. Message. Do it Neco."

"What are you-"

In that single second, tens of things were suddenly heard dropping to the ground one by one. As the man who threatened me looked back, he only saw the headless men and comrades he once had. Fear overtook him.

"Sorry about this. You brought this onto yourselves. Leading a stupid goal such as that and taking over the world with your desires... Don't underestimate the original people that live here."

"No... no! Please, don't!"

"Fireball." His whole body was incinerated to nothingness. "Well then. Thanks for the backup Neco. We've got a lot on our plate. Let's keep this up."