Crassus smiled as Mary hugged him, then began babbling about how she was going to get cured with salads. The merchant looked at Marinus, wondering what the boy had told his daughter to make her eat salads.

Mary was notorious for eating salads only once per week, as it was the minimum Theanore required of her. She preferred to eat fish and even then, it had to be caught by her.

Marinus approached Crassus and whispered in his ear.

“Roddy Mathews told her that she was going to die because her skin was dry. She preferred not to eat grass, so I talked her into eating salads, since they are a type of grass.” Said Marinus with a wink.

Crassus had to admit that for such a young boy, Marinus really knew how to handle children. He was showing that he had what it took to be a father, and Crassus was happy about it.

“Good thinking. Now, if you only can talk her to eating broccoli too.” Said Crassus, and he chuckled when Marinus made a face. The merman too didn’t like that vegetable.

Archibald ran to Crassus and handed him a card. It had stick figures on it holding hands. Or, at least, Crassus thought that they were holding hands.

“Why, thank you, Archie.” Said Crassus as he picked up the card and took a better look at it. There were two big stick figures and four smaller ones. The card was framed with glued dried-up flowers, and it was painted with pencils.

“Did you vanquish the evil witch, daddy?” Asked Archie. It warmed Crassus’ heart to be referred to as such.

“I did. I was captured by leprechauns on the way, then made friends with a siren named Ann and finally was bitten by a snake, but Clotilde is no more.” Said Crassus, and a chorus of cheering spread in the grotto.

Crassus saw Nick at the back of the crowd, looking hesitant to approach. So, the merchant stood up and went to him.

“She won’t trouble you anymore, Nick. What will you do now?” Asked Crassus, and Nick looked down to the ground. He then mumbled.

“I will become a pathfinder like old man Torgog the Ogre. He taught me how.” Said Nick and then looked up at Crassus. “Thank you for saving me!”

Crassus nodded and then pulled out a compass he had bought on a whim in Val island. It was brand new and enchanted with toughness, so it won’t break easily.

“Well, then you will need to keep on track. Have this with you. I promise that on my next trip to Mirstone, I will buy you a manual to go with it. Nick the pathfinder sounds very promising. You will need to know your geography and topography to a tee. Not to mention the various languages of the planet.” Said Crassus.

“But, Mister Crassus, everyone can speak the common tongue.” Said Nick, confused. Why learn the different archaic languages and their dialects, when the language grandpa Thinker brought from Earth was so easy to learn? This English of his.

“It is a show of respect to learn the language of the land.” Said Crassus, and then he remembered that he himself knew ten languages.

Ogreish, High Pixie, Low, and High elven, for the worker elves and the elves respectively. Not only that, but he also knew the nearly forgotten language of Eomis, the Eomiski.

To add to that, he had learned a bit of the fairy tongue, Gulnir, just in case he was ever captured by a tribe and survived more than five minutes. He knew the gnome language, Germicus, and the goblin, Gob.

But the two hardest languages he had learned had been the two dead languages, old Alerionski. Which the yetis of mount Schnee stubbornly still spoke. And the native language of the Badlands of No Man’s Land, which had no one to speak it anymore, Galenian.

“I can teach you the ten languages I do know, just after my lessons on commerce.” Said Crassus. He saw a raised hand, and he nodded at Harry Karheim to speak.

“Can you teach me too, Mister Crassus? I want to be able to translate texts for a living when I grow up.” Said Harry. Now, while he was more robust than he used to be before, when he was sick, Harry found he still liked indoor pursuits more.

Perhaps if he had spent his childhood chasing after balls and playing conventual games, he would have turned up different. But for the better part of his life, books were his only companions. He found he rather preferred them to playing outdoors.

“And me too! As a doctor, I will need to look after different patients from across the world.” Said Roddy Mathews jumping up and down.

“And me! This will boost my merchant career.” Said a girl who looked to be almost sixteen.

“Me too!”

“Also, me!”

“Ok, ok. Make a list and I will write you manuals with all you need to know.” Said Crassus to the children, and one of them took out a rolled-up parchment and the children began filling it up.

“I will need to find them native speakers for most of the languages.” Said Crassus to himself. Sure, he had learned the languages without such a boon, but he was a proud alumnus of the trading house of North Burrowtown. The best trading school in the whole of Eomis.

Now that he thought about it, the older children wouldn’t be accepted there. But the younger ones could still take the test and go to the boarding school. He cleared his throat and spoke.

“All children who want to become merchants aged five to ten steps forward.”

About fifty children stepped forward, looking at him expectantly.

“How would you like to go study at the trading house of North Burrowtown? I won’t lie to you, the entrance exam will be hard, but you all are in the right age group.”

A chorus of cheers sounded. Everyone in the grotto has heard of the trading house. The older children who wanted to become merchants bowed their heads at the missed opportunity. But they made peace with the fact that they were getting taught by Crassus. A successful merchant who had fed himself with his trade since leaving school.