Chapter 13
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James had spent approximately a week in his new world and body preparing for this moment. He had collected all the swords made by the blacksmith, and after also buying 16 iron swords at half a Leone each from the blacksmith he hired a cart to transfer all of his wares to the marketplace.
When he got there, he set up a stall with a sign he had made previously reading 'Test your Strength'. Naturally, the sign wouldn't attract too many people as they would be unable to read it, but James was taking the gamble that anyone who was strong and influential enough would be tempted by the sign as they should be able to read at that level.
And James indeed was taking a gamble this time, he had a measly 4 Leones in his bank account. He had spent it all for today's show in the marketplace.
'Well no point postponing it I might as well get started.'
"Come one, Come all, test your strength against my Dominator sword and if you can cut through it you will get a free sword!" James was replaying those medieval marketplaces he had seen in movies when he was younger, thankfully after checking out the market the past few days, they seemed to be surprisingly faithful to the script.
This was James' attempt at making a small fortune, by utilising the material hardness of steel and making the edge sharp enough he should be able to prevent anyone from cutting through his sword, and any time he would see signs of the sword getting worn out he would switch it out with a new one.
A man walking with what seemed to be his girlfriend came up eager to prove himself to her. "How much is it boy? I want to try it!"
"No problem good sir, it is 3 Birr per try, and if you win you get a sword worth 5 Birr, although it is a small profit it should be enough to buy a present for your beautiful wife here no?" James had found his first victim, and with the beaming smile, the man's girlfriend gave him she wanted him to try and win.
Even though the profit was minimal in James' eyes for the people in the outer district, the profit was equivalent to another day they could feed their families.
After the man had been passed a sword by James, he swung it down with all his might. Only when his swing met the steel sword something unexpected to the crowd he had attracted happened, he merely rebounded with a deep notch left in the iron sword and a small chip on the steel one.
"How is that possible!?"
"There's no way he couldn't have at least left a deep notch in it but a chip, you've got to be kidding me! That's it let me through I'm having a go" A short but burly man came up passing his 3 Birr to James grabbed the iron sword from the man and slashed it down with all his might, now something even more unexpected happened; the sword the man swung was sliced through cleanly.
Now people started to suspect the game had been rigged by James, but they quieted down when he showed them the proof he had bought the swords from a reputable blacksmith in the area, and that the swords they were swinging onto were also made by the same blacksmith. James had asked him to leave a stamp of approval only owned by the blacksmith when he bought everything to avoid any accusations.
With their new belief that they were merely missing something they continued to swing until they had diced up 3 swords into small chunks and netted some return to James, while it was far less than he had spent he knew that he just needed a chance to make many times what he had paid in the first place. In the time it took another two swords to be shredded James finally heard what he was waiting for.
"Shayan, why not go show those peasants what true strength looks like?" A whiny voice that sounded like it came from a dying rat squeaked out.
"Great idea I've needed a new training sword to wreck at least this saves me a trip to the blacksmiths and saves me some money. Not that I need it." Said a handsome young man who appeared to be about 15 years old, assumedly Shayan.
He walked up to the crowd, and it naturally parted as the people from the outer district were used to being treated like this by the wealthy merchant's children.
Shayan approached James threw the money at him took a sword getting into a stance. After stabilising his breathing, he made a deep inhale and swung down with all his might on the exhale. It must be said he apparently had some experience with swords and had the most impressive swing of anyone so far. James felt a cold sweat run down his back as this young man swung the sword down. He felt his plan had failed, and this boy would be able to break his sword. Thankfully his panic was for nought as the sword had the same reaction as the rest and was sliced straight through with the end getting firmly embedded in the ground.
"What nonsense is this?! I demand a refund! There is no way I couldn't slice through this shitty sword. Look at it it doesn't even look pure; its such an ugly colour. How could it stand up to this sword!?" The young man had apparently been fully confident in his swing and was severely embarrassed when he failed to slice through the sword.
"Shayan, what are you doing over there?" A portly man who seemed to be in his mid to late 30s came waddling over holding his belly. There was some resemblance between the two, it wasn't too clear, but if you looked hard enough, you would see it.
"Father, come quick! This piece of shit peasant tried to scam me, look at this crappy sword I couldn't cut through it even with my full strength it just sliced this one right in half!"
The man who had been revealed as Shayan's father came over and looked at the sliced sword in his son's hand and the mounted sword with a small chip in it on the wooden posts and got a glint in his eye.
"Young man, this sword must be very expensive how could you let others swing at such a precious thing?" Shayan's father looked James straight in the eye as if trying to sense the truth in the next line James would say.
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James had spent approximately a week in his new world and body preparing for this moment. He had collected all the swords made by the blacksmith, and after also buying 16 iron swords at half a Leone each from the blacksmith he hired a cart to transfer all of his wares to the marketplace.
When he got there, he set up a stall with a sign he had made previously reading 'Test your Strength'. Naturally, the sign wouldn't attract too many people as they would be unable to read it, but James was taking the gamble that anyone who was strong and influential enough would be tempted by the sign as they should be able to read at that level.
And James indeed was taking a gamble this time, he had a measly 4 Leones in his bank account. He had spent it all for today's show in the marketplace.
'Well no point postponing it I might as well get started.'
"Come one, Come all, test your strength against my Dominator sword and if you can cut through it you will get a free sword!" James was replaying those medieval marketplaces he had seen in movies when he was younger, thankfully after checking out the market the past few days, they seemed to be surprisingly faithful to the script.
This was James' attempt at making a small fortune, by utilising the material hardness of steel and making the edge sharp enough he should be able to prevent anyone from cutting through his sword, and any time he would see signs of the sword getting worn out he would switch it out with a new one.
A man walking with what seemed to be his girlfriend came up eager to prove himself to her. "How much is it boy? I want to try it!"
"No problem good sir, it is 3 Birr per try, and if you win you get a sword worth 5 Birr, although it is a small profit it should be enough to buy a present for your beautiful wife here no?" James had found his first victim, and with the beaming smile, the man's girlfriend gave him she wanted him to try and win.
Even though the profit was minimal in James' eyes for the people in the outer district, the profit was equivalent to another day they could feed their families.
After the man had been passed a sword by James, he swung it down with all his might. Only when his swing met the steel sword something unexpected to the crowd he had attracted happened, he merely rebounded with a deep notch left in the iron sword and a small chip on the steel one.
"How is that possible!?"
"There's no way he couldn't have at least left a deep notch in it but a chip, you've got to be kidding me! That's it let me through I'm having a go" A short but burly man came up passing his 3 Birr to James grabbed the iron sword from the man and slashed it down with all his might, now something even more unexpected happened; the sword the man swung was sliced through cleanly.
Now people started to suspect the game had been rigged by James, but they quieted down when he showed them the proof he had bought the swords from a reputable blacksmith in the area, and that the swords they were swinging onto were also made by the same blacksmith. James had asked him to leave a stamp of approval only owned by the blacksmith when he bought everything to avoid any accusations.
With their new belief that they were merely missing something they continued to swing until they had diced up 3 swords into small chunks and netted some return to James, while it was far less than he had spent he knew that he just needed a chance to make many times what he had paid in the first place. In the time it took another two swords to be shredded James finally heard what he was waiting for.
"Shayan, why not go show those peasants what true strength looks like?" A whiny voice that sounded like it came from a dying rat squeaked out.
"Great idea I've needed a new training sword to wreck at least this saves me a trip to the blacksmiths and saves me some money. Not that I need it." Said a handsome young man who appeared to be about 15 years old, assumedly Shayan.
He walked up to the crowd, and it naturally parted as the people from the outer district were used to being treated like this by the wealthy merchant's children.
Shayan approached James threw the money at him took a sword getting into a stance. After stabilising his breathing, he made a deep inhale and swung down with all his might on the exhale. It must be said he apparently had some experience with swords and had the most impressive swing of anyone so far. James felt a cold sweat run down his back as this young man swung the sword down. He felt his plan had failed, and this boy would be able to break his sword. Thankfully his panic was for nought as the sword had the same reaction as the rest and was sliced straight through with the end getting firmly embedded in the ground.
"What nonsense is this?! I demand a refund! There is no way I couldn't slice through this shitty sword. Look at it it doesn't even look pure; its such an ugly colour. How could it stand up to this sword!?" The young man had apparently been fully confident in his swing and was severely embarrassed when he failed to slice through the sword.
"Shayan, what are you doing over there?" A portly man who seemed to be in his mid to late 30s came waddling over holding his belly. There was some resemblance between the two, it wasn't too clear, but if you looked hard enough, you would see it.
"Father, come quick! This piece of shit peasant tried to scam me, look at this crappy sword I couldn't cut through it even with my full strength it just sliced this one right in half!"
The man who had been revealed as Shayan's father came over and looked at the sliced sword in his son's hand and the mounted sword with a small chip in it on the wooden posts and got a glint in his eye.
"Young man, this sword must be very expensive how could you let others swing at such a precious thing?" Shayan's father looked James straight in the eye as if trying to sense the truth in the next line James would say.
James had spent approximately a week in his new world and body preparing for this moment. He had collected all the swords made by the blacksmith, and after also buying 16 iron swords at half a Leone each from the blacksmith he hired a cart to transfer all of his wares to the marketplace.When he got there, he set up a stall with a sign he had made previously reading 'Test your Strength'. Naturally, the sign wouldn't attract too many people as they would be unable to read it, but James was taking the gamble that anyone who was strong and influential enough would be tempted by the sign as they should be able to read at that level.And James indeed was taking a gamble this time, he had a measly 4 Leones in his bank account. He had spent it all for today's show in the marketplace.'Well no point postponing it I might as well get started.'"Come one, Come all, test your strength against my Dominator sword and if you can cut through it you will get a free sword!" James was replaying those medieval marketplaces he had seen in movies when he was younger, thankfully after checking out the market the past few days, they seemed to be surprisingly faithful to the script.This was James' attempt at making a small fortune, by utilising the material hardness of steel and making the edge sharp enough he should be able to prevent anyone from cutting through his sword, and any time he would see signs of the sword getting worn out he would switch it out with a new one.A man walking with what seemed to be his girlfriend came up eager to prove himself to her. "How much is it boy? I want to try it!""No problem good sir, it is 3 Birr per try, and if you win you get a sword worth 5 Birr, although it is a small profit it should be enough to buy a present for your beautiful wife here no?" James had found his first victim, and with the beaming smile, the man's girlfriend gave him she wanted him to try and win.Even though the profit was minimal in James' eyes for the people in the outer district, the profit was equivalent to another day they could feed their families.After the man had been passed a sword by James, he swung it down with all his might. Only when his swing met the steel sword something unexpected to the crowd he had attracted happened, he merely rebounded with a deep notch left in the iron sword and a small chip on the steel one."How is that possible!?""There's no way he couldn't have at least left a deep notch in it but a chip, you've got to be kidding me! That's it let me through I'm having a go" A short but burly man came up passing his 3 Birr to James grabbed the iron sword from the man and slashed it down with all his might, now something even more unexpected happened; the sword the man swung was sliced through cleanly.Now people started to suspect the game had been rigged by James, but they quieted down when he showed them the proof he had bought the swords from a reputable blacksmith in the area, and that the swords they were swinging onto were also made by the same blacksmith. James had asked him to leave a stamp of approval only owned by the blacksmith when he bought everything to avoid any accusations.With their new belief that they were merely missing something they continued to swing until they had diced up 3 swords into small chunks and netted some return to James, while it was far less than he had spent he knew that he just needed a chance to make many times what he had paid in the first place. In the time it took another two swords to be shredded James finally heard what he was waiting for."Shayan, why not go show those peasants what true strength looks like?" A whiny voice that sounded like it came from a dying rat squeaked out."Great idea I've needed a new training sword to wreck at least this saves me a trip to the blacksmiths and saves me some money. Not that I need it." Said a handsome young man who appeared to be about 15 years old, assumedly Shayan.He walked up to the crowd, and it naturally parted as the people from the outer district were used to being treated like this by the wealthy merchant's children.Shayan approached James threw the money at him took a sword getting into a stance. After stabilising his breathing, he made a deep inhale and swung down with all his might on the exhale. It must be said he apparently had some experience with swords and had the most impressive swing of anyone so far. James felt a cold sweat run down his back as this young man swung the sword down. He felt his plan had failed, and this boy would be able to break his sword. Thankfully his panic was for nought as the sword had the same reaction as the rest and was sliced straight through with the end getting firmly embedded in the ground."What nonsense is this?! I demand a refund! There is no way I couldn't slice through this shitty sword. Look at it it doesn't even look pure; its such an ugly colour. How could it stand up to this sword!?" The young man had apparently been fully confident in his swing and was severely embarrassed when he failed to slice through the sword."Shayan, what are you doing over there?" A portly man who seemed to be in his mid to late 30s came waddling over holding his belly. There was some resemblance between the two, it wasn't too clear, but if you looked hard enough, you would see it."Father, come quick! This piece of shit peasant tried to scam me, look at this crappy sword I couldn't cut through it even with my full strength it just sliced this one right in half!"The man who had been revealed as Shayan's father came over and looked at the sliced sword in his son's hand and the mounted sword with a small chip in it on the wooden posts and got a glint in his eye."Young man, this sword must be very expensive how could you let others swing at such a precious thing?" Shayan's father looked James straight in the eye as if trying to sense the truth in the next line James would say.
