"Halt! Are you registered citizens? If not, you must pay a fee, unless you have a certificate card of a guild." Said one of the many soldiers guarding the large gates, a man covered entirely by a fancy-looking armor made of steel and holding into a spear, I guess this is the classic medieval attire for all soldiers. However unlike the Rank 1 Soldiers from the Village most of the guys in here were all Ran 2, and this one wasn't an exception, interesting. I suppose that the closer to the capital they are the stronger they get? It does makes sense if they sent rookie soldiers to the villages as their training, if they die… well, they die, and if they survive, they just get stronger and then come back here, I guess.
"Yeah, we got this, a merchant card, I am a freshly registered merchant. I registered in the Orange Village." I said, as I showed the man my card made of silver. The soldier looked at it and raised his eyebrows.
"It is indeed authentic… You come with these people, Sir Drake?" Asked the soldier. His hostile personality quickly changed, and he became very nice out of nowhere, with a gentle and forced smile. I see, authority really changes how people act in the big cities, of course, that's the case everywhere I guess, but in the other sects it is all about strength. However, in here a merchant can be a weak bastard but as long as he is a merchant, he's suddenly treated way better.
"Yes, I came with these people, they're all my family, this is my wife and my daughter." I said, showing Benladann and Benladra.
"W-What a lovely lady and child, you may pass, sir Drake, have a good day." Said the young Mountain Giant soldier, as he let us pass without having to pay any fee at all either, being a merchant gives you more privileges than being an adventurer, I guess being an approved merchant by the guild is something hard because you gotta have a lot of money to begin with, which is not something everyone has at their disposal, I would guess.
So anyone that shows up saying they're from a merchant guild are probably seen as rich people that must be treated with special benefits and with more delicacy, after all money rules everywhere. With money you can even buy strength, just pay a strong group of mercenaries to become your bodyguards or buy potions and weapons and become powerful with your own cultivation, buy spell books to learn spells very fast, and more… money is everything in any world, even a fantasy world.
"Well that was quite easy. I am pretty sure we were all suppressing our auras, so we didn't exuded any mana, how come he was so scared of us?" Wondered Benladann. "Drake did you use some skill to intimidate him?" My wife couldn't believe that a simple silver card made people intimidated… she doesn't know the power of money yet… Well, she lived an awful first life without any experience, so it is to be expected that she hasn't experienced the power of money at full detail, but now that we are strong and rich merchants, she should slowly begin to realize the power of money.
"No, dear, it is the power of money." I said. "A merchant is someone respected here and even feared due to their money and connections with aristocrats. Even though we haven't showed money at all, nor we have any connections yet, just because of the fact that most merchants are like this, he attributed such fears to me and immediately realized I wasn't someone that he could mess with."
It is all about the power of money, dear Benladann! We are filthy rich people, even though we have not even showed some money yet! Resources, money, connections! All of this makes someone stand out in society, especially one built upon the constant usage of money such as these big cities.
"O-Oh, the money then?! Just because they think we are rich?" She wondered. "Well, that's a bit… Wouldn't they be more respectful if they knew we were strong?"
"Well yeah, kind of, they would be more scared than anything." I said. "But a poor person with power is very unlikely, there are weak people with money and strong people with money, if you're strong you can easily gain money in many ways, so there's no point in being poor unless you're a very humble hermit or something, at that point why are you even in a big city to be honest?"
"Ohhhh… I see! Perhaps he assumed we were strong or that we had strong bodyguards?" She wondered. "Well, whatever, I guess that's how it is in non-sect-centric societies, I still got a lot to learn about." Benladann had indeed a lot more to learn about, but I also wanted to learn more, what the merchant guild master told me about wasn't near as enough, so we'll have to investigate and research a lot around the big city.
"That's how big cities are, missy." Said Rakasha. "Most of the other continents are like this too, they got giant empires and kingdoms that all obey and benefit the ones with the most money, often called Nobles, they're the people that rule the land and even the strong have to kneel before them because they know that it is thanks to their money that the entire country is maintained and even the lives of their families."
"Yeah, but usually those guys are also strong, they just use their resources to gain an awful advantage over the other commoners, well, there are also the sects which in this Kingdom are probably used as special troops and protectors of the Nobles." Said Pekora.
"So rich people can be strong? I guess that's the case… It is just as you said then…" Said Miranda.
"That's right… Now, oh, would you look at this beautiful city?" I sighed in awe.
