All Chapters of THE VIRGIN MERCHANT: Buying Modern Warfare In Another World: Chapter 1
- Chapter 10
19 chapters
Chapter 1
I’m a man of honor. That’s a fancy way of saying I’ve never committed a crime, never lied on my taxes, and never, not once in seventy years, accidentally brushed a woman’s hand in a grocery store line.I’ve lived alone since God knows when. I was an orphan, you know the usual, a blank slate dropped into a world where life was harsh. To eat, I broke my back. To get through grade school to high school, I worked three part-time jobs simultaneously. I was the kid who smelled like deep-fryer grease and instant coffee, the favorite punching bag for every bully from the playground to the breakroom. It was tiring. But here’s the kicker, the cosmic joke of my existence: I was allergic to women.Literally. One touch and my skin would erupt in hives so violent you’d think I’d wrestled a jellyfish or a giant bee. A single brush of a shoulder could send me into anaphylactic shock. Not only that, my life was a perpetual game of "the floor is lava," except the lava wore flower scented perfume, mini
Chapter 2
I was looking back at my twenty-year-old disaster. I was skinny…not 'runway model' skinny, but ' haven't seen a carb since three months ago" skinny. My face was a battlefield of acne, and my hair looked like a nest for a bird with depression. I was wearing a tunic that had more holes than fabric, tied with a piece of literal rope, and shoes that had three distinct windows for my toes to wave at the neighbors.Then I stumbled to the window and looked out. This wasn't the sparkling marble paradise Venus lived in. This was a medieval slum. "I got scammed! Damn it! I'm too old for this!"Dirt roads caked in horse manure. Dying oil lamps flickering in the wind. Carriage wheels creaking like dying ghosts. And the people... everyone looked like they were participating in a "Who Can Look More Miserable" contest.I looked up at the sky, hoping for a sign, and found two moons staring back at me like two giant, mocking eyeballs."VENUS!" I bellowed, leaning out the window and shaking a bony fis
Chapter 3
Several minutes later.The inner city of Athens was a direct assault on my senses. If the village I woke up in was a grayscale photo of a landfill, this place was a high-definition, neon-lit fever dream. Everything screamed "Woman." The architecture had curves where Earth had corners; the mana lamps didn't just glow, they shimmered with a soft, rose-tinted light that made everyone look like they were filtered for Instagr*m.And the people? The women? My old soul was currently having a heart attack. I was seventy years old on the inside, but seeing women dressed in gowns that seemed held together by nothing but magic and sheer willpower was doing things to my blood pressure. Every noblewoman walking by looked like a supermodel with a PhD in Fireballs. They had this effortless grace, their chests puffed out with the pride of a gender that had never known the words "glass ceiling.""Stay close, boy," Mistress Helga grunted, snapping me out of my hormone-induced trance. "Don't go gawking
Chapter 4
I woke up, and for a glorious, terrifying second, I thought I’d finally achieved a personal record for "Fastest Double-Death in History." The white marble was back. The bright, shimmering light was back. And, of course, the naked statues were still there, staring at me with their judgmental marble eyes.I scrambled to my feet, my head spinning like a cheap top. My ribs didn't hurt anymore, but my dignity was in shambles. And there she was. Venus. Seated on her throne, looking as radiant as a supernova and twice as smug."WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED?" I roared, my voice echoing through the divine hall. "DID I DIE AGAIN? AND WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME? SENDING ME TO THAT SCARY PLACE!"I didn't care if she was a goddess. I didn't care if she could turn me into a localized thunderstorm. The frustration of the last month, the hunger, the acne, the horse manure, the Amazonian beating I just took, it all came boiling out. I didn't just cry; I ugly cried. The kind of crying where your nose run
Chapter 5
By 4:45 AM, the shop was already humming. Herbert started barking orders, rattling off the inventory of "Helga’s Weapon Shop.""Listen close, Arthur. Iron longswords are three silvers. Bronze daggers are eight coppers. Magic-infused maces are ten gold, and don't you dare touch 'em. We got twenty-two axes in the rack, fifteen bucklers in the cellar, and..."He went on for ten minutes, a dizzying list of prices and items. He stopped, looking at me with a smug grin. "Well? You going to write that down, or just stare at me with those big, empty eyes?""No need," I said, crossing my arms. I tapped my temple. "Longswords: 3 silver. Daggers: 8 copper. Maces: 10 gold. You’ve got fifteen bucklers, but three of them have rusted rivets in the back-left corner of the cellar. Anything else?"Herbert’s jaw didn't just drop; it practically hit the anvil. He blinked at me, his eyes flickering with a reluctant spark of admiration. In a world where men were mostly used for heavy lifting, a guy who coul
Chapter 6
I woke up to the sensation of someone slapping my cheek with the gentleness of a tenderizing mallet. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!" Herbert’s voice boomed, vibrating through my skull. "The Lady left, the gold is in the till, and you’ve spent the last thirty minutes hugging the floorboards like they were your long-lost mother."I groaned, my head swimming. I felt, weirdly clear-headed, though. There was a lingering taste of mint and ozone on my tongue."She gave a Low-Grade Restoration,'" Barnaby grunted, leaning over me with a look of pure disgust. "A waste of good mana if you ask me. Could’ve healed a broken leg with that, but she used it to stop a twig from heart-failure because she felt 'guilty' for scaring the life out of a peasant."I sat up, rubbing my shoulder where she’d touched me. I checked my skin. No hives. No swelling. My heart was still hammering, but I wasn't dead. Venus was right, I thought, a manic grin spreading across my face. The allergy is gone. It's just my b
Chapter 7
"Where did you get this?" Helga demanded, her voice low and dangerous. She stepped toward me, her massive "assets" practically vibrating with suspicion. "A beggar boy from the slums does not carry a tool that makes the Royal Smiths look like toddlers."I put on my best "innocent orphan" face, though my heart was doing 120 beats per minute. "I... I made it, Mistress. Back in the slums. I found some strange scrap metal in a meteor crater and spent weeks filing it down with a stone. I didn't know it was a 'relic.' It’s just how I fix things.""You made this?" Varis breathed, looking at me like I was a reincarnated god of the forge. "Young man, do you have any idea what this is worth? A tool that can manipulate the smallest mechanisms of enchanted weaponry without breaking?""I'd imagine... a few silver?" I guessed, playing dumb."Silver?!" Varis laughed manically. "I would give you a hundred gold pieces right now just for the right to borrow it for a week!"My brain short-circuited. A hu
Chapter 8
Waking up from my second faint of the day felt like rebooting a computer that had been kicked down a flight of stairs. My head was ringing with the scent of Mistress Helga’s aggressive perfume, and my chest felt tight, probably from the trauma of being crushed against the yellow silk of her "merchant’s pride."But when I opened my eyes, I wasn't in the hay-filled closet. I was on a bed. A real, actual bed with a mattress that didn't poke back. I was in the upstairs apartment. It was close to dust. The two moons were obscured by clouds, leaving the room in a heavy, velvet shadow. I sat up, clutching my head. My stomach was actually full for once, but my mind was screaming. Barnaby’s words from earlier were looping in my ears: "Don't think you're safe just because you've got a roof, Skinny Boy. Men have been gutted for a silver spoon in this district. You’ve got a 'Divine Relic' in your pocket. You're not a clerk anymore; you're a walking target."He was right. I’m a twenty-year-old twi
Chapter 9
I squared my shoulders, put on my best 'innocent peasant' face, and opened the door to the kitchen.When I walked into the kitchen, my jaw hit the floor. This wasn't a meal; it was a feast. Sizzling sausages, poached eggs, creamy oatmeal, and a steaming pot of herbal tea. But sitting at the head of the table was the real shocker.She was an Elf. But not just any elf. Her hair was a cascading waterfall of rainbow hues that shifted as she moved, and her eyes were a green so vibrant they looked like polished emeralds. She smelled like a forest right after a rainstorm—damp earth, lemon, and pine."I am Elsa," she said, her voice like wind chimes. "Mistress Helga sent me to escort you to the Great Smithy for supplies. But before we break bread... may I see it?"I knew what she meant. I pulled out the Leatherman. She didn't just look at it; she studied it with a terrifying intensity. Her fingers hovered over the steel, her elven mana reacting to the industrial purity of the metal. "It has n
Chapter 10
"This," I said, tearing the bag open with a flourish. The smell of artificial cheese and MSG exploded into the room. "Is a Divine Vitality Extract. Very rare. Very dangerous." I smirked and reached in and pulled out a single, jagged, neon-orange Cheeto. I held it out to him. "Just one, Rufus. Your mortal frame might not be able to handle more."The dwarf took it with trembling fingers. He sniffed it. He licked a tiny bit of the orange dust. His eyes widened. Then, he popped the whole thing into his mouth.Crunch. For a second, nothing happened. Then, the world went crazy. Literal, blinding white light began to pour out of Rufus’s nose. Then his ears. Then his mouth. It was like he’d swallowed a miniature sun. His dwarf-mana, which was usually a steady gold, turned a violent, vibrating green."MY BLOOD IS FIRE!" Rufus roared, his voice booming like a mountain collapsing. "THE KNOWLEDGE! THE SPEED! I CAN SEE THE MOLECULES IN THE IRON! I CAN FORGE A HUNDRED BLADES BEFORE THE SUN SETS! I