Delayed Transfer

Night came and the circus caravan encampment became livelier due to the colorful lights that appeared. When Mark studied one of the lights, he saw that those were just lamps enclosed in colorful papers just like a Japanese lantern. Not all of them though since some of the most colorful and brighter ones were the results of a spell courtesy of the elven sisters.

Mark bought a lot of the snacks that the caravan people prepared. Some were familiar and some were exotic. The familiar ones were just called something else. There was the Takoyaki that they were calling stuffed flour balls and the stuffing inside was different, from vegetables to different types of meat and cheese.  There were Burritos that they were calling Wrappers. He also bought some noodles like snacks and some sweets.  He enjoyed the brand-new culinary experience.

The time for the adult-only theater show started, and Mark couldn’t wait to see what the story was all about. It was a racy play about a farmer’s daughter turned prostitute in the city, but the most scandalous part was only a kiss. It did shock the villagers especially the women, but Mark saw that the show made the men horny based on the red on their faces. Mark wondered what would happen if he showed the caravan people one of the action films from Japan that he had on his hard drive and he laughed at the thought.

Mark was surprised that even Ned and his friends were not allowed to watch the show even though they were already 18 years old and above. After the show, when he asked Ned, the young man said that it would be based on the adults of the family if they would be allowed to watch the show but unfortunately, most families in the village were conservative. Mark told Ned and his friends that they were not missing out since the story was simple, just a farmer girl turned prostitute and there were only kisses. Ned and his friends were actually shocked and that told Mark that maybe the countryside of this world was still very conservative.

The next day, the caravan entertainment started in the afternoon and Hamil informed him that usually their hours started after lunch up until well into the night. Mark wanted to join in the fun, so he borrowed another stall but this time, he sold something like pencils, notebooks, erasers, small pencil cases, pencil sharpeners, pencil holders, and other student paraphernalia. The amount and diversity of things that he managed to store in his Inventory, especially during the months before transmigration, were uncountable.

Mark made sure that the product that he was selling was low-tech enough to avoid questions and Hamil helped him in pricing the items. He only replicated about 300 of each item and there were only about 12 different items in total.  

When he opened his mini school supply store in another world, people immediately flocked, including the caravan people. They were actually amazed at the items and since he told Hamil that he would like the prices to be low, everyone could afford to buy one. The girls were especially enamored of the colorful notebooks and they each bought one saying that they would use it to write important happenings in their lives.

Mark enjoyed showing off his products and teaching people how to use some of them like the pencil sharpeners and erasers. They were amazed at the colorful paper and the ingenuity of just shoving a pencil into a very small device to sharpen it. They were grateful to him for making sure that the prices for his items were very low and since he made sure that there were no items similar to what he was selling, the caravan people also bought items from his stall and were grateful that he was not a competitor.

After about an hour, all of his products were sold out and he gave his earnings to Hamil saying that it would be his budget for food during travel. Hamil grinned and said that he would keep the money for safekeeping and during mealtimes when they travel, join his caravan for food.

Mark went to the dwarves to check his caravan and he saw that the framework had already been started. He saw the two dwarves and a bunch of halflings working on it. Nilfur saw him and went to him to explain the process and what design they were planning to include. Mark asked where they got the wood and they said that they got the treated wood from the village woodworker. Mark told Nilfur to include an enclosed attachment to the caravan. He was planning to put one of his noiseless electric generators there.  After their talk, Nilfur went back to join the others in working on his caravan.  Mark had no intention to help since he paid for it.

Mark then went to circulate the circus to meet the rest of the caravan people. He met Lorendo the magician and his three apprentices on his caravan. The caravan was colorful and looked like a caravan for a magician. Lorendo talked about what type of shows he produced. He asked the magician tactfully if he knew real spells and the magician just harumph and said what kind of magician doesn’t know spells, which really didn’t answer his question.

Mark then saw a gloomy-looking caravan and when he went near it, he saw an old woman and a girl in front of an actual cauldron. When the woman saw him, she greeted Mark and said that she was Norunta the caravan witch and the girl was her apprentice named, Sunetta. The old witch said that she was in charge of potions and medicines. The witch said that she was able to cure different types of sickness, from mild fever to diarrhea and more. Mark was expecting that the cauldron would contain some foul-smelling potion brew, but it was just a stew that the witch was preparing for their dinner, and it smelled delicious.

Mark also saw three handsome men wearing skin-tight clothes and their wives and children and said that they were acrobats. They said that they had a show later and he told them that he was looking forward to their show.

Mark also noticed a couple of red caravans and when he went near it, he saw a flamboyantly dressed madam four beautiful girls, and three handsome boys with different hair colors. He was surprised to learn that the madam was the caravan pimp, and the gorgeous ladies and handsome boys were prostitutes. According to the madam, the ladies and the boys catered to all types of customers, be it men or women and that told Mark that the world was not so conservative after all.