HUDSON EMPIRE BUILDING SYSTEM

SUSPCIOUS TRADE

Wow, ten lighters—this is great; I am glad I brought more than enough lighters with me, Hudson thought.

Hudson removed his backpack and placed it on the counter as he brought out ten lighters from inside the bag. As he brought them out, Atticus saw that he had multiple lighters in his bag.

"Wow, it seems like you have enough lighters," Atticus said.

"Yeah, I am a businessman, and selling lighters is part of the products I sell," Hudson replied as he counted out ten lighters and dropped them on the counter as he closed his backpack and wore it on his back.

"That’s cool, these lighters are revolutionary to us here in this town," Atticus said as he carried a huge brown bag from behind the counter and dropped it on the table in front of Hudson.

From the sound the bag made, Hudson could tell that the bag contained gold coins. Atticus carried an empty bag and placed it near the bag as he opened the bag containing the gold coins.

"You sold the last lighter to me for 100 gold coins, but now that I am purchasing ten lighters, why don’t you give me a discount?" Atticus asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hearing that Hudson was a bit furious inside, as he thought that Atticus must have lost his mind for asking for a discount, but he realized that Atticus was his first customer and concluded that he should give him a discount.

"Alright, I will give you a discount. I will sell each of the lighters for 90 gold coins. How does that sound?"

A smile curled across Hudson’s lips. "That will be 900 gold coins in total. Sounds good," Atticus replied. He started counting the gold coins one at a time as he put them in the empty bag.

***

When Atticus was done counting the gold coins into the second bag, he shifted the bag over to Hudson. "There you go, all 900 gold coins are complete," Atticus said with a smirk.

"Thanks a lot; it was nice doing business with you, but can I introduce another product to you? It is something that can serve as a light." Hudson replied with a smile. He wanted to advertise the candle to Atticus and see whether he would be interested in purchasing it from him.

"I can’t promise I will purchase it, but go ahead," Atticus said bluntly as he folded his arms together.

"Alright," Hudson removed his backpack and took one candle from inside and placed it on the counter.

He also took out a lighter. "This thing in front of you is called a candle; I invented it myself; it can be used as a source of light in darkness; let me demonstrate," Hudson said as he lit the candle with the lighter.

Atticus mouth opened wide; he couldn’t believe what he was seeing—the only sources of light they have in the darkness are large central fireplaces and flaming torches. They haven’t discovered candles or any other source of light in the darkness.

"Holy Magnitoz! What type of magic is this?" Atticus asked in a rumbling tone.

"This is no magic; I invented it myself, but I can’t tell you how I did it, but this can last up to 7 hours," Hudson answered. His reaction to the candle is priceless. I never thought I would ever meet a human that would be this surprised to see a candle in my life, Hudson thought.

Atticus started to become suspicious of Hudson because he had never seen a candle or a lighter in his life, and Hudson conveniently had them and claimed he invented them.

"What part of Magnitoz are you from, and are you sure you are not some type of level 100 magician?" Atticus inquired, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"No, I am not a magician, I promise; these are all items I created by myself with the use of nature," Hudson answered.

"So, how much do you want to sell the candle for? I’m interested,"

"I will sell it for 50 gold coins," Hudson answered without hesitation; he didn’t want to put a huge price on the candle.

“I will buy it and use it and see how it is," Atticus replied as he counted out 50 gold coins from a drawer that was behind the counter and gave them to Hudson.

"It was nice doing business with you, Atticus," Hudson said with a smile as he stood up.

"Same here," Atticus replied as he shook Hudson’s hand.

"See you some other time," Hudson said as he turned around and left the shop.

****

Hudson kept all the gold coins he had gotten from Atticus inside his backpack as he walked down the street with a smile.

This is great; I never would have thought that the guy I sold the first lighter to would be the one to buy ten more lighters from me. 950 gold coins would be worth around 76,000 dollars back in my world; that is insane; I can’t believe I made that much money within just an hour of being here. If I continue at this pace, I might just be a millionaire in no time, Hudson thought.

He still wanted to make sales of the remaining lighters and, if possible, sell the candles and the cigarettes he bought, although he still had going to the magical academy at the back of his mind.

****

Meanwhile, in Atticus shop,

"Balthasar!" Atticus screamed. He was sitting behind the counter at the end of the shop.

Suddenly, a huge man that was wearing a long red robe entered the store through the back door that was behind the counter.

"Yes, my lord," Balthasar said in a deep, raspy voice. Balthasar had dark hair and looked like he was in his late 20s. He is one of Atticus slaves and a level 10 magician.

Atticus turned to look at Balthasar. "The fellow that sold that lighter to me the other time just left my shop a few moments ago; I bought ten lighters from him and a new product he showed me. These lighters are going to be good for business; with these lighters, I don’t think anyone in this town would need to buy the magical match. I don’t think the guy knows what type of product that lighter is. So, I want you to go and attack him and steal the bag he is carrying behind his back," Atticus stated boldly, staring into Balthasar's dark green eyes.