All Chapters of THE MERCHANT'S SECRET: My Unexpted Isekai Life: Chapter 91
- Chapter 100
131 chapters
Chapter 12
Each day, I walked around the town. Snow blanketed the roofs now, but the streets were busy again. Kids used boards strapped with old leather and skated across the flat plazas. Tinkerers had replicated mana-powered snowmobiles—some more like sleds strapped to combustion runes than actual vehicles, but they worked.At the centre of the plaza, the massive hearthstone still glowed, feeding warmth into nearby structures. Around it, benches and tables had been set, and people dined even in winter—hot stew, bread fresh from underground ovens, grilled hotdogs, cup noodles, coffee, warm cider and laughter.And in the evenings, I would find myself with Silvarya.Sometimes, she sat close as I stirred soup. Other times, she taught little kids how to braid spell-thread for winter charms. Her eyes were softer these days. The pain in them didn’t vanish, but it dimmed. She smiled more now. Even laughed.One night, as the sky above turned violet with the northern lights, I found us both sitting by th
Chapter 13
It was barely dawn when the encoded message came. Three sharp pulses on the communication crystal beside my bed. I was up before the fourth.I exhaled a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Karl and Kael were alive. Still acting. Still invisible. It meant the cult hadn’t sniffed them out—yet.But it also meant they’d found something. Something big. I couldn’t afford to draw attention to myself, not now. Not with the spy incident fresh in the minds of those still loyal to the shadows. So I did what any smart lord would do when death and ancient evil loomed just beyond the trees. I buried myself in boring paperwork.I signed off on the spring seed budget. Balanced livestock allocation between the western pastures and the recently settled farm terraces. Authorized minor grants to rebuild homes damaged during the last hailstorm. Visited three carpenter guilds to inspect their log inventory and "argue" over roof tile supply.It was a dance.One I had to play perfectly. If they were stil
Chapter 14
I was just finishing a report with Miss Agnes when the sentries at the north gate blew the horn—three long blasts. Not an attack. Not a threat. A return.My heart skipped a beat.I didn’t run. Lords don’t run. But gods, I wanted to. Instead, I made my way to the gate with long strides, coat flapping, boots slamming against stone.When I saw them, I froze.Kael and Karl. But they weren’t the same.Gone were the broad-shouldered, confident men who’d once sparred with my best warriors and joked with cooks over meals. The two figures that limped through the open gate wore tattered cloaks, had raw armour, gaunt faces and sunken eyes.Aged. What the hell happened to them?That was the only word for it. Their skin had dulled; streaks of grey cut through their hair. Kael’s hand trembled slightly as he gave me a salute, and Karl—always the grinning rogue—was silent. Still. Haunted.“They aged,” Agnes whispered beside me. “That’s… impossible.”No. It wasn’t.Not with cursed fog, dark mana, and
Chapter 15
While Kael and Karl recovered under Raymond’s ruthless culinary programme, I shifted our work dynamic again.I pulled Felix and Igor from the weapons yard and stationed them full-time on the road construction. Felix with his sharp eye for sabotage and Igor’s talent for yelling people into efficiency—they made a terrifying pair. The kind of duo who could turn a forest path into a fortress in three weeks.“I want progress reports every two days,” I told them. “You miss a deadline, you walk home barefoot.”Felix gave me a wink. “We’ll have roads smoother than your wine cellar, my lord.”Training Grounds – Robinson Town Barracks.After a month of rest and supervised feeding, I gave Karl and Kael a new assignment—training the new recruits. Not on the front lines, but in town. Controlled conditions. Rebuilding their strength, brick by brick. The morning air was crisp, carrying the scent of dew-soaked earth and the faint aroma of cinnamon from the main kitchen. Birds chirped somewhere in the
Chapter 16
It began during the third night after Silvarya’s breakthrough. The last snow of winter still clung to the shadows, even as spring pushed through with green shoots and bird songs. I was in the middle of approving new blueprints for our road bridge when the watchtower bell rang. Voice from the two-way radio echoed.The wind shifted before the first scream reached the walls. A sudden chill, like fingers crawling down my spine. Then another bell. Then two.“What the heck is that?” I was halfway through a supply meeting with Agnes and the road engineers when the third alarm rang.Five chimes. Emergency.I shoved the plans aside and bolted from the hall, sword already buckled, backpack on my shoulder. instincts howling. From atop the east tower, I saw it—the world shifting.The farmlands beyond our walls were in chaos.Chickens and goats stampeded across muddy fields. Horses screamed, throwing off their riders. A dozen farmers ran for the gates, some carrying children, others dragging the w
Chapter 17
That night, under the storm-split sky… we burned the fallen.The rain came in waves—fat, heavy drops that soaked through cloaks and armor, hissing as they struck the kindling stacked beneath the pyres. Thunder growled above like an angry god, but the townsfolk didn’t flinch. No one moved.We stood there… all of us. Silent.The pyres burned anyway, despite the storm. Magic flames, conjured and guarded by our mages, danced orange and blue beneath the downpour. Their glow reflected in every glassy eye. The scent of ash, soaked earth, and scorched wood filled the air. Somewhere, a baby cried—and a mother hushed it with broken sobs.Seven warriors. Seven names etched now in memory.Jeral the new recruit—Gods, three of them were young—barely more than boys. The one that struck me most was Jalin, a sixteen-year-old who once told me he dreamed of being a baker. He’d only picked up a blade because he wanted to protect his sisters. They watched now, their small hands clutched around their mothe
Chapter 18
Deep within the heart of the cursed woods—where even sunlight feared to tread—a pulse of foul magic stirred the earth. The trees here were not trees anymore, but twisted bones wrapped in bark, roots feeding on sorrow, not soil. The air tasted of blood and rusted iron. Animals long since fled, and even the crows that once circled high now avoided the skies above.And in the eye of that storm of mist and madness... he waited. The mage who should have been dead. The mage whose power predated even the First Kingdoms.Ferdinand. Once a prince of men. Once a scholar. Once a son.Now—only a husk wrapped in hatred. His skin was pale as ash, stretched thin over his gaunt frame like parchment. His eyes—once a soft gray—now glowed with void-fire. Ancient runes were carved into his flesh, burned there in agony by the cruel hand of his father, sealed to keep him chained to the shadows.But those chains had begun to weaken. He stood in the glade, mist swirling at his feet, his long fingers twitchin
Chapter 19
The sky was turning orange with heat haze and smoke as Flare roared across the sky, wings rippling like a banner of war. The desert wind stung my eyes, but the moment I saw the distant black swarm of undead near the rocky construction line, I knew we were late—but not too late.“Drop me near the barricade!” I ordered.Flare obeyed, and I leapt mid-flight, landing hard with a shockwave that sent sand exploding in every direction.Mana surged through me. I drew my blade and fire kissed its edge. The magic within flared like lava, the anger was like fire inside me and my face darkened with fury, but I didn’t care. My power surged through me, wild and unrestrained.“DIRK!” Felix yelled, waving with bloodied gloves. “They’re breaching the southern trench!”I gave a nod, then turned to Silvarya, who floated down beside me with the grace of an archmage.“Unleash,” I said. I gritted my teeth, fury bubbling up at Ferdinand’s taunt. If only he knew the power I was holding back. If I wanted to,
Chapter 20
SILVARYA'S POVFew hours ago, while Dirk stepped into the black heart of the forest, I sat deep within a cave outside town, surrounded by glowing runes and quiet wind. I was meditating—or trying to.The air was thick. Something pulled at me.I went deeper.Images flooded my mind—Fire. Chains. A city burning.My own voice screaming spells in a tongue I didn’t remember learning.And then— Dirk.He was kneeling. Covered in blood. Not his enemies'. His own.His left eye was gone. His armor cracked. He held something—a jewel? A heart? And he whispered, "Silvarya... run."I gasped and awoke, my body drenched in sweat. My magic flickered out of control, wind swirling around me violently. Flare growled nearby, sensing my distress.Was it a vision? A memory?Or a warning? I held my trembling hand to my heart. The dangerous thought coiled in the back of my mind. I felt an ancient magic in the air, like a honey…and I was a mere bee. The magic pulse and I didn’t want to stop. It was intoxicating
Chapter 21
We left before dawn.Silvarya, Kael, Karl, and I rode east—beyond the forests, past the broken lands where the soil still bore scars of wars long forgotten. Our destination lay within a long-lost canyon marked on a scroll unearthed in the ruined chamber beneath the first seal. It was scrawled in runes so ancient not even the royal historians could decipher them—but Silvarya could read it.She always could.The System had translated the message for me:“When the flame and storm awaken in tandem, the lock shall break. The one who bears the mark of blood and wind must stand before the Pillar of Time.”At first, I thought it was just cryptic prophecy fluff. But after Silvarya's last vision—after we both felt the pulse of ancient mana humming between us—I wasn’t so sure anymore.We arrived at the canyon after a hard ride. The cliffs rose like jagged teeth, the wind howling with a voice older than language. We moved on foot, weapons drawn. The terrain was treacherous, every shadow felt like