It was an intuitive and clear message and I could immediately understand what this advice was about.
One of the biggest problems I was facing was:
Money.
When I saw the word Magic Tool Shop, I couldnât help but get this idea right away. I didnât have anything other than the clothes on my body and my labour to offer.
And the scrolls remaining in the Scroll book.
If I were to sell the scrolls to a magic tool shop, Iâd, of course, make lots of money. Scrolls were expensive after all.
The intentions I read out of this were to first put out the big fire by selling these to get money.
However, I wasnât that reassured. The Writerâs Advice would have good but also bad effects simultaneously in most cases.
It advised me to sell the scrolls to raise money.
A bad outcome I could think of would be the possibility of getting ripped off, of course. I didnât know the market price, so the store owner would probably try to rip me off. I didnât know the exact value of magic scrolls.
But I clearly remember Dyrus saying something like:
âThe Demon Kingâs Castle sure is amazing, even lower level scrolls are often more expensive than my salary.â
A lower level scroll was worth more or less the salary of a Lieutenant of the Imperial Armyâs Cavalry.
So how much did a Cavalry Lieutenant earn?
As a (Self-proclaimed) Medieval Fantasy Specialist, I knew a thing or two about this.
There were always descriptions of how many gold coins one needed to feed a family of four, as well as, how much a regular person with an ordinary job would earn in a month.
Of course, I also wrote about those things.
In the case of this novel here, I had written that a gold coin was equivalent to a monthâs food expenses for a family of four. And a regular person with an ordinary job earned about 2 gold coins a month.
So.
I thought 1 gold coin = 1 million won. (T/N: ca 730 Euro)
It was easier to work with if I converted it like that.
How could a family of four live on just a million won a month? Wouldnât they want to eat out at some point? Our house spends about 400 on food, you know?
I got these kinds of comments, but theyâll get by somehow.
These werenât living expenses, they were just food expenses. There were no such things as comprehensive insurance, health insurance or telecommunication costs in this world after all!
I, as a (self-proclaimed) Medieval Fantasy Expert say:
One who seriously researches about the historical background is but a rookie!
There are just some things one wouldnât be able to see if one didnât empty their minds.
I felt sorry for those who werenât able to enjoy this beautiful medieval fantasy world of magic, knights and social infrastructure that has virtually no science.
I have lived by the following ideals:
The focus of Medieval Fantasy isnât on the Medieval part, but on the Fantasy part!
Itâs not a âMedievalâ Fantasy, but a medieval Fantasy!
Most of them didnât even have anything to do with the Middle Ages! It was kind of like a buzzword!
Anyway, How about we do OO with the setting of XX, lol?
The genre Medieval Fantasy was created by such shallow thoughts, however what unfolded in front of our eyes is a fantastical world that had nothing to do with the Middle Ages!
âŚThis was fantastical in a different sense.
Letâs sell the scrolls and live on to see another day.
I was neither a wizard nor was I a knight, although I do have the ability to rule over demons, however as I was a Demon Prince who had fallen to the Imperial Capital, Gardium, there wasnât even a single demon around here.
ââŚ.âŚExcuse me. Could you give me some directions?â
ââŚHuh? directions?â
I tried to ask a passerby, who felt some silent embarrassment for the way I spoke, for the most important thing right now.
âOh! Are you lost?â
No, well, a little.
* * *
The ones who mainly used magic tool shops were adventurers and wizards. Of course, This wasnât an adventure novel, so while there were people who were adventurers, that didnât really describe what they did. They did have a job, but Iâve never really thought about that.
âŚCome to think of it, how did adventurers make a living in this world? Did they get by with quests from the Adventurerâs Guild and monster subjugations? Was there even something like an Adventurerâs Guild?
There were adventurers, but I hadnât set up what they earn or through what means.
If one thought about it, that was seriously weird.
When I tried thinking of ways adventurerâs earned their money, I could only think of dungeon explorations and monster subjugations.
However, if thatâs how adventurers earned their money, that would also be a problem.
There was a regular army, so why did freelancers like adventurers do things like monster subjugations? If the country outsourced personnel to get rid of security issues, such as monster dens and raids, why did that country even exist? What did the citizens pay taxes for?
Although the Warrior Artorius actually killed the Demon King, but the Empire and its Principalities, that had enough military power to take on the Demon Army, solved their monster problems through the Adventurerâs Guild? What were the soldiers good for then?
So, if the regular army took care of monster subjugations and there were no such quests coming from the Adventurerâs Guild, then how did the adventurers earn their keep?
Well, if the whole world was filled with dungeons for adventurers to plunder wouldnât that be weird as well? Why were rare magical items just rolling around in a dungeon and no country went to claim them for themselves? Wouldnât they usually do something like nationalizing the dungeons so that adventurers wouldnât monopolize them?
Wasnât the existence of adventurers in and of itself a setting error judging by this worldâs common sense?
ââŚâŚâ
If one started to pay attention to historical accuracy, one would lose, but I started to worry a little.
It really bothered me.
Since I started to think that this was the world I had to live in, I seriously tried to move on from that topic.
Letâs not think about this anymore. Itâs not like hungry adventurers would just rush up to people asking for a penny. If adventurers didnât have jobs, theyâd just be robbers or even bandits.
There was just one thing I really had to care about.
To not get ripped off in the Magic Tool Store. I had to get at least 1 gold piece for each scroll. I was planning on keeping constant eye contact, to appear strong. I didnât think it was too much to ask for a regular price. However, if they were to whine about the quality being not up to par or something, Iâd never sell it to them.
I planned to go eat somewhere after I got some money.
I was so hungry.
Afterwards, I should find an inn and take some time to organize my thoughts.
There were positive points about the Writerâs advice in that it clearly determined what I should do, regardless of whether the advice was right or not.
If the advice was unconditionally good, Iâd just empty my brain and follow what it told me.
Oh, is that why there were traps in there? They wanted me to stay on my toes?
Did they want to see me struggle or something?
* * *
As the main stage of the story, I had to describe the Capital Gardium in quite detail.
No, well, I didnât go quite as far as describing every single brick. It was just specific areas.
However, setting up an imaginary place was quite cumbersome. It was pretty difficult, because there was a strong possibility that I might make mistakes and if it wasnât properly set up, one would just get confused later on.
That said, the Capital Gardium was pretty similar to Seoul.
Was it just similar?
Well, I must confess, it was just Seoul with a different name.
This was my description of the Imperial Capital.
âA great Irene river runs through the Imperial Capital Gardium, splitting it in the northern part where the imperial palace was located and the southern part where the temple was located. The riverâs huge tributaries serve as its borders.â
Could you see it?
Gangnam and Gangbuk.
âIn the center of the northern part of Gardium lies the Imperial Palace Emperatos.â
In other words, the Imperial palace in Jongno. Of course, it wasnât as big as Gyeongbokgung Palace, the entire Jongno District was the imperial palace after all.
âIn the southern Eredian district, one of the Capitalâs two greatest landmarks, the Temple, the other one being the Imperial Palace, was located. It was also a gigantic educational facility and the cradle of many talented young people.â
In other words, the Temple was in the Gwanak District.
So Eredian District = Gwanak District.
So I ended up setting up the Capital Gardium as a space so similar to Seoul that the only thing different about it was the name. The districts also had medieval sounding names.
This was an actual sentence out of the novel.
[The main characterâs party sprinted all the way from the Gehenna district to the Eredian district. The effect of their physical training was showing.]
How the scene actually appeared in my mind:
âThe main characterâs party ran from the Dongjak District to the Gwanak District.â
It was kind of like that. I wouldnât even need to create a different map. I could just imagine Seoulâs map and change the district names. It was convenient and I felt good about myself. If one just drew up an imaginary map, the readers wouldnât even be interested in it. I did that when I was in middle school, but there was no one who was even remotely interested in it. That was when it hit me.
These maps of imaginary worlds were for the writer and not the readers. The reason Gardium seemed like Seoul was entirely because of my needs.
The Temple was in Gwanak and the Imperial Palace in Jongno.
The place I got teleported to was the Al Ligar District. Later it would be changed to Artorius District in honor of the hero. They would build a huge statue of him as well.
Where was this Al Ligar District and later Artorius District located, you ask?
This was Yongsan.
Of course, it was just the topography and division that were similar, the buildings were completely different, so this was just like a neighborhood I never went to before.
I arrived in Yongsan, so I headed towards the shopping district, which was about where the Yongsan Electronics Market was.
Even though this was an imaginary place, maybe because it was that kind of region.
âWhat kind of crappy scrolls are these? Dude, where did you get this stuff?â
As if proving that this was Yongsan, I encountered a gangster like bastard in my first try.
* * *
At the shop ownerâs first words, I went back out to the streets thinking that I wouldnât be able to do some immediate business with that owner, which I had already engraved as a gangster in my memory. He muttered something, but I didnât even listen to what he was saying.
Every building around this area was a shop. Thousands of people were passing by, looking at things. Were all these people adventurers?
How was being an adventurer lucrative? Was there some kind of way to earn money that I wasnât aware of? Actually, it had to be like thatt, otherwise there wouldnât be so many of them.
It felt strange. As if someone filled my plot holes for me.
Noise came from every corner of this place.
âOh, young adventurer! I just opened up! Hey, since itâs this storeâs opening, Iâll sell to you at half the price, how about it?â
âOh, so ya looked and touched all these things, but youâre not gonna buy anythin? Ya not gonna buy even one thing? Ha, youâre makin me laugh. Hey, follow me for a sec. Oh, come on, huh, ya wonât come? No! Letâs just talk for a sec. Whoâs harassing ya? Huh? Makin a thug outta me now, are ya? Iâm hurt. Ya want me to show ya what a real thug is? Huh? Want me to rough you up?!â
âRefund? Look at that bastard. Didja shit in ya lil panties and come crawling here for a refund? What kinda bitch are you, huh? Get your ass outta here!â
âHey, bro, ya put a scratch on it! How can I sell it now, huh? Imma just cut it half, so take it! Iâm selling at a loss here, ya know? Still not gonna buy it? Really now? Should I call the guards, huh? Letâs see whoâs right, huh? Ya sure bout this? Really sure? Where ya from? Argand? Ya know big bro Rand then? Never heard of âim? Hah. What a son of a bitch! Hey, take it while Iâm still bein nice here. Donât make me angry.â
.
.
.
No.
Whatâs with this?
Why did it really turn into Yongsan?
What unfolded before me was the medieval version of Yongsan.
âWas everyone like this?â
I felt like prey.
âOh, well, erm. Iâll⌠Iâll just look for some other placeâŚ.â
I tried my best not to get devoured.
â Hey, donât make eye contact. Donât meet their eyes. There are some crazy bastards who wonât even buy stuff and just unpack it and take it.
â Theyâre all retired adventurers, so theyâre good at fighting. If you pick a fight, youâll get one of your arms or legs broken.
Even the people who knew what this place was, came in groups.
Just when I was imagining Yongsan, what spread out in front of me was really the Yongsan I had in my mind.
And here I was, a 17-year-old push over that tried to sell magic scrolls from the Demon Realm to people who were even worse.
Yongsan.
Just that one word made me feel like it was an impossible endeavour.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!