To be a merchant, you've gotta procure some goods to be ready for sale.

One would normally need startup capital to do that, but I didn't exactly have any given my whole new-to-the-world thing.

I did have spatial magic on my side, though. And fortunately, I was surrounded by a forest—a forest full of trees.

With spatial magic, I could cut, store, and transport wood easy peasy.

"Then all I'll have to do is sell the wood and make money."

Thanks to the Goddess's thorough tutorial, I knew how to use magic.

It was much easier than cutting through an entire country.

"[Spatial Severance]."

When I cast the spell, the trees around me were completely cut through.

It was possible for me to do it without saying anything at all, but saying it out loud made it both easier to picture in my mind as well as reduce the amount of MP it consumed. I had no clue how many points I actually had, though.

I had an endless supply during the Goddess's tutorial, but I now had a limit.

It would recover if I slept though. I was being stingy, but it didn't feel like I needed to be.

"Guess I should remove the branches? [Spatial Severance]."

The trees' branches were cut off and I turned them into logs. In no time at all, I had five logs.

"[Storage]."

With that, all five logs were stored in my storage space.

My storage capacity? I could probably fit everything on the surface of the planet in there. I could basically call it infinite.

Ah.

It's probably a bit late to mention it, but I wonder if this body is okay for my social status?

Family registers and the like were apparently kept in decent order for taxation purposes, though not to the extent of Japan.

… Hmm, well, the Alchemy Kingdom that was ruled by the self-proclaimed Chaos God was a state of absolute mayhem, so I should be able to get away with it… maybe?

I'll have conveniently forgotten my family name in the whole mess of things.

"Never thought I'd have to name myself… ah, I should've thought of one while the Goddess was giving me the tutorial."

My previous life's name… no, even my body's gender is different, having the same name would make it hard to get out of my male mindset forever.

Let's think of a temporary name for now. I can always change it later if I think of a better one. Karino, Kamei, no, Karina?

Ordinary commoners wouldn't have family names, but merchants use their shop names as family names, so I should consider that too… I'll go with Karina ShouninMerchant for now.

"Karina Shounin. Yeah, that'll work for now… why does that feel so natural though?"

I wonder… did the Goddess have something to do with it? Well, whatever.

At any rate, I, Karina Shounin, decided to head back to civilization.

I easily found a human settlement from the sky.

In fact, I could just follow the road that stretched out from the Alchemy Kingdom. I found a walled city surrounded by a plain, a so-called fortress city.

According to Basic Knowledge, the name of the town was Solasidor. It was a city of the Paverkant Kingdom, a neighboring country to the Alchemy Kingdom.

"Let's make that the first town!"

Here's my set up.

I fled in panic as the Alchemy Kingdom was destroyed by the Goddess's wrath.

Until just recently, I had been a merchant in the Alchemy Kingdom.

I needed some work. I'd even be willing to work as a peddler…

"… Well, I can read and do math, so I should be able to find some sort of work."

With that, I teleported to Solasidor's gates.

Fortunately, there weren't many people around.

Its walls were astonishingly tall. It had a magnificent gate.

There were soldiers guarding the gate. I peeked out and a soldier called out to me.

"Papers, please."

Right. Identification. I don't have any…!

"Um, sorry. I lost it…"

"Move along, then."

"Ah, no, I-I was attacked!"

I was being sent away, so I said the first thing that came to mind.

The soldier's expression changed.

"What? Tell me what happened! Where and what did you get attacked by?"

"Oh, umm. The Alchemy Kingdom, um, the Goddess, and, um, I, um, I lost my stuff and ran away…"

"Huh? Wait, the Alchemy Kingdom…?

When I spoke a little bit of the truth, the soldier thought for a moment.

The soldier, having gone quiet for a few moments, nodded and opened his mouth again.

"Are you from the Alchemy Kingdom?"

"Ah, yes. I'm Karina."

"I see. Come this way, I'll hear what you have to say."

Urged on by the soldier, I followed him into the guardroom.

Clang.

I heard the sound of a lock being turned. Huh?

"Now. You said your name was Karina? Who the hell are you?"

… Wait, is this an interrogation?