Science provides numerous advantages that are seen on Earth, so why are there so many civilizations that remain technologically behind despite the transmigration between planes? Even some of the technologically advanced civilizations that can perform space travel have technology that is less advanced than what we have on Earth today.

  The reason is threefold. The first is that magic provides a path of least resistance. Why spend days building tools to mine ore when an earth mage can pull the ore out seconds after arriving? The second is that magic favors an artisan economy. Earth’s industrial revolution made artisans largely obsolete in several ways. Magic often varies from individual to individual, which is antithetical to the cornerstone of the Industrial Revolution. The third and final reason is the immense knowledge and societal resources required to bootstrap a civilization up to Earth’s technology.

  Understanding the basic concepts of chemistry and physics does not make it possible to recreate a cellphone. It has happened where some professors have reincarnated and been able to recreate large pieces of Earth’s technology, but the upkeep and artisan technology often erase it in a few decades.

  -Lecture on technological drift while traveling

  The next morning, I’m awoken to Alyssa shaking me. I get up and ask, “What’s the matter?”

  “There’s a knight from the Heartbran estate to see you.” I’m a bit excited to meet the potential first knight I will be working with, but sadly, it’s not to be.

  Outside in leather armor is a man standing in front of the gate.

  “Hello, my name is Jason Kelly, nice to meet you.”

  “Lord Kelly, I am here on behalf of your liege to let you know you are given a pardon of your duties for the next month while you settle in.”

  “That’s great, so you are saying I don’t need to go to court for the next week?” Not having to deal with the court politics will give me time to take care of a few items.

  I can feel the guard strain not to roll his eyes. “I’m also told by lord Heartbran that you should focus your time learning court etiquette, so you don’t embarrass yourself.”

  This time it’s my turn to resist rolling my eyes. Instead, I say, “Thank you for your message.”

  Not wanting to deal with the knight anymore, I head back into the house, still groggy, and sit at the kitchen table. I stare at the table, lost in thought, until a bowl of hot porridge manifests in front of me. I blink, realizing I didn’t notice when George entered to cook breakfast. Alyssa enters the kitchen as I am halfway through my bowl, and I wave.

  “Hey Alyssa, how did you sleep?”

  The normally well put-together woman is in disarray. Without only three beds, Alyssa had to share a bed with Amanda. I will give her more money to buy another bed. In the morning light, I see there is a small, detached house I had not seen yet, but it’s supposed to have several rooms for the staff to stay in. Unfortunately, Alyssa let me know the furniture sale extended there as well.

  “The woman takes up the whole bed and can sleep through anything.”

  Once I finish my bowl, I step into the bare living room to meditate while Alyssa finishes her breakfast. I close my eyes, concentrating on summoning the constitution weave from memory. I’m able to draw mana into the shape five times before Alyssa is ready.

  The spell form is frankly awful, but looking at it with my mind’s eye. I can see what it’s supposed to be. What should have been clean lines of mana are instead shaky, like when I first learned to write my letters in elementary school. The spell form is very poorly done and has considerable room for improvement. A little more practice with the training stone, and I’m confident I can make the spell form better. Unfortunately, that will need to wait for later.

  “Are you ready to go to the merchant?” She asks.

  The walk to the merchant is about half an hour. We start our trek down the dirt road. I take in the early morning air, breathing deep the fresh air of the countryside. Alyssa mumbles under her breath about a lord not having a carriage, but I couldn’t be happier.

  “Who is the merchant that the furniture was sold to?” I ask Alyssa as we start our trek.

  “Richard Evergreen is the estate’s merchant.” When she sees the blank look on my face, she continues.

  “The same way you can invest, most houses acquire a set of traders and artisans to provide work for them. One example is the estate’s blacksmith. They work on retainer for the Heartbran estate but will take commissions from others.”

  “The main estate hires the workers and traders to work for them. This merchant is on retainer for the main estate.”

  “What will he do with the furniture if we do not buy it?”

  She shrugs, “I’m not sure, I’m not a merchant. He could sell it on the estate. Traders and merchants on retainers are supposed to stay on the estate, but no more so than nobles. If there is a business reason, they may leave.”

  “Like, for instance, selling furniture. Let me guess, if he were to go to the city, he would issue an escort quest?”

  “Most likely.”

  With how I need money, I have a feeling I would be the one to escort the furniture from my estate to the city to sell it. The idea of working to make back a little of the money on the promised reward taken from me puts a little fire in my stomach.

  “So, is there any advantage to the other houses using him as a merchant?”

  “Technically, all the merchants and crafters of the main estate are supposed to be at the disposal of the branch houses. In theory, having a merchant on the estate will make the services cheaper and faster, but in practice, those on the estate make a killing. The branch houses tolerate them as part of doing business. Normally, the services of those on retainer are small enough and not lucrative enough for branch houses to do anything.”

  Excited at the prospect of finding an answer to my problem, I ask, “So I could simply threaten to push them out of the estate by growing my estate with merchants?”

  “Merchants are a little more difficult; you would need to grow your house significantly to keep up with your noble duties. A larger branch like the Sandridge or Ashmore could make a credible threat, but merchant Evergreen is wise to stay on their good side.” She informs me.

  “So how has he treated the small branches?”

  “Officially, everything is above board, but it’s well known they avoid him unless necessary.”

  I quietly contemplate her words. It sounds to me like a less-than-optimal situation. The merchant only helps with a piece of the estate. Though it does make sense in a way. If the merchant really does work with all the branches, he would probably need a small group of merchants, and that would put him in the crosshairs of the bigger branches. Despite the dilemma, it’s hard to empathize with him.

  “Tell me about the branch houses,” I ask her.

  “There are four branch houses, including your house. There are the Ashmore who are the largest sub-branch and share a family connection with the Heartbrans. The Sandridge are the second largest and have many earth affinity magi. The Razorleafs are the smallest aside from your own house. They have a fire and water magi. They just had a child, and their child’s affinity has not been tested yet. Their house used to be a group of wind and earth magi, but over the years, they made several marriages to different affinities.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “There seems to be a significant lack of fire users,” I say, curious as to why a house with so many fire users would not have branches of fire users.

  “Well, the Ashmore are primarily fire users, but that has problems of its own. They are positioned to become the main branch should the Heartbrans fall. Aside from the inability to choose which affinity their children inherit, a variety of affinities in the branch houses helps support the main estate. As frustrating as you might find it, having earth magi take over a mine will improve production.”

  As much as it makes sense, it’s hard to admire the move considering it put me in a precarious position. Having a merchant to sell alcohol, or some of the other ideas I have, will be useful, but it will also be hard to negotiate without any product. Only promises.

  The road leads up to the walls of the inner estate, where the guards watch but don’t stop us from entering. Once inside, Alyssa leads me to a house that looks about as nice as mine. A man meets us at the door. “You are here to see merchant Evergreen?”

  “Lord Kelly is here to see the merchant.” The man looks over at me, eying me up and down.

  “I see.” He says before leading us inside. We are guided into an upstairs room where two couches flank a table. I sit down next to Alyssa. A lanky man with a foppish hat and frilly clothes plops down on the couch.

  “I assume you are here for the rest of your furniture.” He says, sighing and putting his hands on his knees. “Since lord Kelly is here, I assume you don’t have the gold.”

  I focus on my empathy to look for any insights. I gently increase my focus, trying not to create any feedback like I did when I scared the guard before.

  I can’t hear his thoughts, but I get a general feel for what he’s thinking. He knows we don’t have the gold but is looking to fleece us. He doesn’t want to go to the city to sell the furniture, but if I don’t bite, he will make money in the end.

  “No, we are here to seek an alternative solution,” Alyssa answers. Before the conversation continues, I decide to cut to the quick.

  “Merchant Evergreen, we know the Heartbrans sold you the furniture, and the Heartbrans gave me the gold from the transaction as part of my reward. The branch estate never received any funds from the transaction. How much did you pay?”

  The answer is 100, I could read it from his mind, but that isn’t what he says.

  “A little blunt, but I guess that is to be expected from a wilder. Lord Kelly, we are not here to discuss how much I paid for the furniture. We are here to discuss how much you will pay for the furniture I fairly paid for. I would also remind you that if you have any issues with the business dealings, you are welcome to report them to your liege, the Heartbrans.”

  I ignore his comment about the Heartbrans being my only legal recourse and ask him, “So how much do you want?”

  “The original offer is 300 for the whole set. Alyssa had me take pity on you and give you the beds for just 30 gold, but the rest will need to be purchased in bulk for 270 gold.”

  It’s difficult to resist blowing up at him, flexing the empathetic bond to make him pee himself. Instead, I look him over and feel carefully at the bond.

  “You know we don’t have that gold.”

  He shrugs his shoulders, “Ah, such a shame, but you are a lord. I am sure we can come to another deal. I hear you are a healer. Maybe you could offer me free healing services for the next three years.”

  I like the deal. A chance to practice my skill, a way to clear the way of an issue that is taking up too much of my time, and would likely earn me some goodwill. Unfortunately, through the bond, I can feel that my idea of the deal is not what he wanted. He would use our agreement as a technicality to refer anyone to me with an injury. I might be able to undercut him by healing for free, but considering it’s my fallback to make any money, I’m not going to take that deal.

  “No deal,” I say, cutting off any more discussion on it. I take a breath. I’m getting emotionally caught up in their underhanded dealings. At the end of the day, I can live without the furniture. I need to make that clear.

  “I see, that is unfortunate. However, you seem resourceful. I am sure we can come to an agreement.” He says as he leans forward, and I feel a predator desire come across the bond.

  “I think that you are overplaying your hand here. I may be low on funds, but if you were to go to the city to sell the furniture, I would get paid to walk you there.”

  He shrugs, “Or I could just make a contract with one of the other houses. An escort quest might be a bit boring for them, but I would be a poor merchant if I didn’t have the connections to make this happen.”

  I lean forward across the table and pull on the bond, feeding fear across to him. “Everyone calls me the wilder. I don’t understand the politics of your country, I don't particularly well liked by the heads of the house, and I barely have any money to my name-”

  He smiles, smug as he hears me make my poor position clear.

  “Despite everything I said, I have overcome every political adversary I have faced. I’m awarded a lordship by the same house that despises me. I now hold an estate, gold, and enough artifacts so I can solo the dungeon on the estate. I will overcome this, too, and I will remember your part in it.”

  I sense when a shiver runs down his spine, but it’s not quite enough to overcome his practical composure as a merchant. He’s a bit weary, but he still feels secure in his position and that I’m an easy mark. I want to push harder, not give up, but I’m spending too much time on this already. I have to know when to cut my losses.

  I had plans to grow, and I’m not willing to trade my future growth for some furniture. I feel bad for my staff who will be without some furniture for a time.

  “Let’s go,” I say to Alyssa.

  “Wait lord Kelly, I think we can come to an arrang-” Alyssa begins.

  “No, we are leaving now,” I say, cutting her off as we walk back to the house.

  The walk back is quiet, and I can feel her stewing.

  “What has you so angry?” I ask.

  “So, I have your permission to talk now?” She says, uncharacteristically terse.

  “I appreciate your role as a steward, and you should always know you can speak your mind to me.”

  “Except when you feel like it.” She pauses, “I could have worked out a deal if you had given me time.”

  I nod. “Have you ever heard of the sunk cost fallacy?”

  She shakes her head, still fuming.

  “The basic idea is that if a person puts money into a deal, and it doesn’t go well for them, putting more money into the deal will not make their money back. Sometimes it’s a loss. You did a great job haggling for the beds, but merchant Evergreen is not going to make a fair deal. He’s going to try to trick us into some agreement, and for that reason, I don’t want to do business with him.”

  “You cannot avoid everyone you do not want to do business with; sometimes you need to be willing to deal with people you do not like.”

  “True, but also being willing to walk away is key in negotiation. If we had stayed, he would have set the price, but now he must negotiate.”

  I’m not happy I had to walk away. I feel a real hero in a book would have come out of that meeting, either winning over the merchant or striking some kind of lucrative deal. I comfort myself by thinking about what I have gained. I know more about who I’m dealing with and the political waters my house shares. I haven’t failed until I give up.

  By the time we are back at the house, I’m already thinking of a few ways I can change the merchant’s tune. I can get Morgana to capture a few rats and have them sneak into the merchant’s house. I’m planning to have her capture some rats to create spies, but with the merchant, I might have my raised minions be a little more hands-on.

  “Alyssa, I trust you as my steward; you need to trust me.” I don’t mention that I only trust her because I had no other choice. Still, I need allies, and I need to start building trust.

  Alyssa doesn’t respond, just quietly walking for a time.

  Once we arrive back at the house, I ask Alyssa to put some feelers out about quests and let others know I would be happy to do healing if anyone requires it. While Alyssa walks off to the main estate to follow up on my requests, I check in with the rest of the staff. George is outside sipping on a hot mug of tea, taking a break. I leave him alone and find Amanda in the guest house, cleaning the place up.

  Next, I reach out to Morgana, who has kept herself hidden from the other residents. I ask her to find me a few rats I can use to put my spy plan into action. I’m tired of reacting to everything; a few eyes and ears will be the first step to being more proactive.

  With that done, I decide to train my ability to control raising animals. I want to continue mastering my stack of training stones, but a greater level of control over raising minions will be better in the short term.

  Of all my affinities, the mind dual affinities are my least exercised. I still have not yet seen a use for the mind and water dual affinity. Maybe one day I could talk to fish like a certain superhero, but for now, I want to explore my mind and darkness dual affinity: delve.

  Ironically, blood affinity is easy to isolate; you just need to try to use blood. Ice is a little more complicated, pulling darkness through the water, causing it to freeze. With that knowledge, I have an idea. Maybe I can weave more mind through the raising process or weave mind through the level-up process to make them more intelligent. Controlling them from afar is great, but if they can give simple reports, that would be a game-changer.

  I take my spot under a tree. Morgana gives me a rat before she shuffles back off into the woods to do more hunting. I start by feeling out with my mind magic. With nothing to connect to, I expect the mind magic to fizzle away. Like how shadow magic would slowly fade in direct light, but instead I can feel the mind magic remain.

  There’s no mind for it to connect to, so it doesn’t do anything, but neither does it dissipate. Curious, I continue to sweep the mind magic over the rat. It felt like sweeping a cloud, and then I realize that I can do something else with mind magic I’m unable to do with water or darkness.

  I focus on concentrating the mana, and it pulls together into a solid bar of mana. It’s almost effortless how it moves at my command. I continue to concentrate on the mana until it takes on an almost physical attribute. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the rat’s paw move and lose my concentration. I begin the process again while trying to connect the mana to the dead rat’s brain. As the bar of compressed mind mana touches the rat’s skull, it moves its head incrementally.

  I grin, thinking of all the ways I can use this. Telekinetic armor, weapons, or reinforcement of other spells. I feel that if I want to move the same amount of mana, aside from the difficulty of moving water, it would take more mana to move the same mass. It would not be the most efficient use of mana, but the flexibility would more than pay off.

  As much as I want to practice my new telekinesis ability, I let it go and resume my experiments raising intelligent undead.