At some point, they passed by a stall selling dairy products, and his feet stopped. He was reminded of another thing he needed to buy.

Milk sources and egg sources. For the former, there were no beasts that could provide this. For the latter, it was not sustainable as they still had to hunt for avians like gugu birds, and they might not necessarily have eggs.

The best case for him, a foodie who needed these ingredients, was to secure another, more stable source.

The equivalent for cows here were creatures called Woccs, one of the domesticated animals of this world. They were actually endemic here, but a lot of species died out during the Great Cataclysm, and these were some of those that remained.

In appearance, the cows, er, the woccs, were similar to cows but less fat, and had similar appearances to goats that had curved horns.

Their faces were also closer to goats, while their coats varied from brown, or white or a combination of them, though their milk was about the same. The variance in quality depended on diet and how the farmer took care of them.

The domestic chickens were called Chens, which were larger than the chickens from Earth, but much smaller and docile (and had two legs) than Gugu birds.

He had also tasted their meat from the previous party, and it wasn't bad. The chances of creating essence food with it were much smaller than if he used gugu birds, but it was fine.

That said, he'd mostly buy them for the eggs rather than anything else.

He bought 5 hens and 2 woccs in the end, for a few tens of gold. He did not buy them for their meat, but for their produce.

They were all female, too. It wasn't that he didn't want a harem to form by not buying a male. He simply didn't have enough space in his small inn (yet) to get so many.

Anyway, he had a rough estimate of the animals' productivity, so he'd just adjust the menu accordingly.

The trip continued, and they passed a few more markets. He memorized the standard prices of things as well.

For example, the standard food of commoners cost around 10 to 30 danas for the most basic meals, and this already comprised a good portion of a peasant's daily wage.

The standard clothing cost about ten times that, though most only had two to three pairs of clothing for all occasions, anyway.

Finn also heard that most people pay for bed spaces rather than houses in towns. The average cost of living for towns was around 100 danas, which meant commoners wouldn't have savings, while peasants wouldn't be able to live there at all.

The standard for adventurers was different. They naturally had a much higher standard of living. People who earned a lot tended to do this, especially when they risked their lives to earn it.

What was the use of earning money if they didn't enjoy it?

Those people were his market, so he memorized the prices of items relevant to them. He also found out more about the prices of mid to upper-tier restaurants and how much they sold essence food.

He found out that even Class E essence food cost several gold pieces here! So…his food was actually quite affordable

Of course, this high cost was also because of the materials, most of which had to be from the danger zone, which were very expensive when they arrived here.

Not to mention, there was also a low success rate. This meant they also had to consider a lot of 'wastage' in their costs. This was not to say that the 'failed' product wasn't edible, but it wouldn't be essence food which was the point in using expensive ingredients in the first place.

To recoup costs, they also sold the 'failed-but-edible' non-essence food as 'pseudo-essence food', though he reckoned the pseudo-food he made with horned rabbit meat back then was still better.

They marketed it as still having effect, but much less than actual food, but there was no way to test the accuracy of this.

He also saw how those who didn't go out to fight over the slots in these restaurants.

Not only was consuming essence food a status symbol, but it also gave permanent improvements to one's body as well. Even if the changes were minimal and negligible if not eaten often enough, the idea that the body permanently improved in some way or form was attractive to anyone, especially if they had money to spare.

Moving on to other shops, the equipment stores in town also predominantly sold class E equipment, and their costs were about a few gold, about three to five gold. There was also Class D equipment, but it was expensive.

He looked regretfully at his hearth market items, but they were bound to him, so he couldn't sell them at all. He couldn't give them to his staff either, which was why he bought them some.

That said, Class D wasn't much for Durgan, let alone Gideon. They had equipment, but he'd like for them to have spares, especially since they were the inn's main defenders.

He looked at the side. "What about Class C equipment and above?"

"They're easily available in cities, but for border towns like ours, they can be a bit more difficult to find."

Most blacksmiths and other artisans/specialists preferred settling deeper into the safe zones. They could also charge more from people in border towns, because they were not local.

Of course, there were also border towns with more options, but those had a blacksmithing culture, like having huge amounts of dwarves in their population.

Leez, a tall woman, gave Finn a brotherly one-armed hug.

"There is a place in our town where we can buy things like those," she said. "Wanna see?"

…

The place she was talking about was none other than the Merchant Guild.

They deposited his items at the adventurer's guild since they couldn't exactly enter there with their cartful of items. As for the livestock, he could pick them up in the store (Finn just paid and reserved them) before leaving the town.

The Merchant Hall was, unsurprisingly, the liveliest of the guild hall. After all, even normal people could be here. He could also see a mix of adventurers and mercenaries there.

The merchant guild was neutral ground between adventurers and mercenaries, especially when both job types had something to offer it.

For example, it was the adventurers who'd have more to offer in terms of items and materials, but the mercenaries were the main market due to their numbers.

Anyway, the hall was large, and it had huge open spaces designed for exhibitions and heavy foot traffic.

There were also stalls along the hallways heading to different exhibition halls, and it reminded him a bit of co-ops or small malls.

It was quite lively and boisterous and a bit overwhelming, but it made him smile a bit.

In his mind's eye, a similar bustle would appear outside his Inn. In his front gates, there would be stalls, tents, and the like to welcome newcomers. It would never lose customers, and there would always be people there, perhaps staying long-term.

But then he'd remember it was in the middle of the danger zone and sighed. He still had some ways to go.

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