Chapter 40 | Farming Them Points

This fucking idiot. Why was it that easy? Theo couldn’t help but wonder as he pulled the cart along. He had expected a clash of minds, word plays, gauging each other. But this Aiden guy had just crumbled, giving away that he had probably been possessed by someone else. A transmigrator just like Theo.

If Theo were a person with malicious intentions, he could point some bandits in his general direction, and they would come running for the sweet sweet abnormal slave.

On the other hand, why the hell was this guy not getting tagged by the system? How could a whole-ass transmigrator not be a main character target? For Kai, Theo had just assumed he was yet to bloom. But Aiden had practically evolved from a normal person to… An egomaniac?

Shaking his head with a small chuckle, Theo picked up the pace. For now, he couldn’t think of a solution to his conundrum, and it was better to focus on the quests at hand.

Right at the Eastern exit of the village, leaning against the stone fence was Satou. He had crossed his arms, tapping his biceps with his eyes closed.

“Hey!”

“You finally came? What took you so long?”

“Not much. This weirdo stopped me halfway and asked me stupid questions.” Theo smiled apologetically.

“That sounds like quite the story. But we have to get a move on if we want to arrive at the knight’s outpost before nightfall. You can tell me on the way.”

Theo nodded and adjusted the cart’s handles in his hands before settling into a comfortable pace following Satou. He briefly explained what Aiden had told him. Satou didn’t have a particular thought and disregarded it as a simple, awkward interaction.

Theo didn’t correct him or explain more. There was no need to. That would necessitate him going into detail about the whole main character side of his system.

So, he let it be. He was busy enough thinking about the knight outpost anyway. On the carriage he was pulling along were five barrels. There was one barrel of the good old healing potion, but the other four were different ones.

The first barrel had a dexterity-enhancing potion that granted temporary speed and muscle coordination. It could elevate a 3rd-rate peak warrior to the level of a 2nd-rate newbie warrior in speed.

The second barrel was the same, but worked for strength instead. The toxicity of these two enhancement potions was quite high. It would be fine if someone took them every other day or so, but any more and it would start causing sickness.

The third barrel was a sustained-release stamina potion that lasted for an entire day. The downside was that it couldn’t be used alongside other potions, lest it cause toxic shock. It would also cause immense exhaustion after running out, which could only be fixed by actually resting.

The fourth barrel was very special, in that it could provide the person who took it an hour of night vision, even in complete darkness. Theo had tested it, and although it was a bit fuzzy, it was much better than not seeing at all. Although it might seem a bit too conditional, it would make night assaults against the bandits not only feasible but advantageous.

These were most of the potions Theo could now produce en masse. Even these were quite hard to achieve, as Satou had to take one of those sustained-release stamina potions and run for an entire day to get some of the ingredients from nearby mid-sized towns.

If Theo wanted to take further advantage of his potion-making skills, he would need to head for the capital city Vandreth and resupply there. And that meant a journey of hundreds of kilometers both ways. By the time he returned, the entire south would be in the hands of the bandits.

After about six hours of walking, they spotted the palisade of the settlement, with watch towers erected hastily but carefully. Many knights were patrolling the area, and it didn’t take them too long to notice their existence. As they were previously known to the knights, two soldiers came to escort them to the gate. Although his robes did attract quite a bit of attention, they kept their questions to themselves.

“Mr. Theo, Mr. Satou, please leave your weapons here.” One of the knights came, his plate armor clanking. He held out a tray and took their weapons, placing them aside.

Then three knights came along to check the insides of the barrels and under the cart. They then patted them down and stepped back. The fear those newbie soldiers back at the tower had was nowhere to be seen.

“I assume you have brought more potions for trade. The Lieutenant will be pleased,” one of the knights said. His visor hid his expression, making him look a bit more intimidating than normal.

“Yes,” Theo said with a cordial smile. They quickly ushered the duo in and led them to the command center, which was actually just a big tent. Theo parked the cart right outside the tent, nodded at the two knights with halberds standing guard at the entrance of the tent, then stepped inside with Satou in tow.

The Lieutenant was busy looking at a massive map on his table, drawn on parchment paper. His helmet was on his head, but the visor was lifted for ease of sight. On the table was displayed what Theo assumed to be the map of the Southern part of the human realm.

“Oh, it’s you two,” The Lieutenant noticed them quickly. He stepped around the table and held out a hand toward Theo, but then noticed his gray robes. “Hm?”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it’s taken without the author’s consent. Report it.

“The last time we met, I had lost my robes because of a certain situation; I could only replace them now,” Theo said with a wry smile.

“I see. Then I assume you won’t hesitate to show me your ID card and mage tower certification?”

Theo nodded and reached into his sleeve pockets, taking out the said ID card and the mage certificate that had come along with his new identity. He could understand why Satou was penniless. He had to be paying unimaginable amounts of money for this service.

After inspecting both documents, the knight handed them back and held his hand out once more.

“We were in a hurry last time, so I couldn’t introduce myself. I’m Lieutenant Gerard Karlstein. I hail from the Karlstein family, as the third son of the Patriarch’s cousin,” the man introduced himself. Unfortunately, Theo had no idea who those people were supposed to be. “Mr. First Robe Theo, your potions have been quite the life-saver. Although the front lines of the bandit forces haven’t reached here yet, there have been many skirmishes. Several of my soldiers were wounded and would have probably died if not for your potions.”

“It’s that bad?” Theo asked with a slight frown. He hadn’t expected it to have reached that point yet. That meant the bandits were quite vicious and were already seeping through the cracks.

Though now that he considered it, this was to be expected. There was no one true “frontline”, to say. It was more like a series of guerrilla skirmishes against a disorganized force, which made it really hard to completely hold off the Bandittide. Thus, the “tide”.

“It is. Though I cannot talk about these matters any further, Mr. First Robe. Please show me your wares. Are they the same potions? We have quite a bit of stock left, but we will buy them still, just in case.”

“I have one barrel of that, and four barrels of different potions. I would like to negotiate each one differently,” Theo said with a smile. The actual reason behind his coming here was to test his theory about the potions providing different amounts of quest points depending on their usefulness in the Bandittide.

“Understood. Then please lead me to it.”

Leaving the tent, the trio stopped in front of the cart. First, Theo took down the barrel full of health-stamina potion and opened its lid with Satou’s help. The Lieutenant tested it like before and nodded.