The moon hung high, and every house was pitch-black, with no light coming from within.
As everyone slept, a group of ninjas gathered outside the borders of the Hosai clan, their carts filled with sealing scrolls. The group of ninjas were Toji and the rest of the merchant guild, with Taro, Mashiro, and some elders setting them off.
Elder Nori walked up to Toji and said, "Remember, send the money and resources in three months. We've already spent too much on building the guild."
Currently, the situation with Hosai's finances looks grim, as they only have 2 million ryōs left, not enough to feed everyone in the clan. Thankfully, because of Taro, the entire clan and the clans under them wouldn't have to worry.
However, if a war were to break out with neighboring clans because of the recent aggression of the Hosai clan, then it would take a massive toll on the entire clan as they wouldn't be able to buy any equipment for their men.
At least that's what everyone thinks except for Taro, who wasn't too worried as he could always just produce the equipment in Minecraft.
The only reason Taro hasn't given the clan armor from Minecraft is that it wouldn't be very useful. Armor in Minecraft is similar to medieval European armor—heavy and restrictive, limiting movement.
On the other hand, most ninjas prefer putting light plate armor around vital spots and keeping everything else simple for more flexible and light movements.
Toji nodded, "Don't worry too much. With this much goods, we'll make a ton of money. I'll send them as soon as I can."
Nori nodded in satisfaction. Next to him, Taro walked up and took three small pouches on his waist, "Take this, Toji."
Confused, Toji asked, "What are these?"
Taro smiled and whispered something in Toji's ears. Inside a single pouch contained 2 items that he was grinding inside of Minecraft. Although that item wasn't hard to obtain, it was monotonous as he couldn't find the place to get it from.
"Always keep it with you, and use it sparingly since I don't have many of them. And don't ever sell that or tell anyone of its existence, understood?" Taro said calmly.
With that, the merchant guild finally headed off towards the Southern Port of the Land of Wind.
Everything went smoothly during the journey, with some small-time bandits being taken care of by a single ninja in the merchant group.
Although everything went perfectly, it still took a week to arrive at the Southern port, even at full speed. After all, the Land of Wind is one of the biggest, if not the biggest nation in the entire world. And with the slow speed of the wagons, their movements were significantly reduced.
When the group arrived at the port, many people stared at them with a weird and cautious look, as all of them were wearing masks and had black cloaks resembling the Akatsuki from the anime.
Taro was the person that personally designed the cloaks, and surprisingly, Toji and the others found them appealing, even if it didn't match their culture.
"What do you think those people are here for?" A man whispered to his friend.
His friend quickly answered, "I don't know… From the looks of it, they're probably here to transfer ninjutsu or something."
"You think those scrolls are ninjutsus?"
"I don't know, but what else could it be?"
Hearing the people murmur, Toji looked at his people and ordered, "You, get us a small ship. Use the last bit of 2 million ryō we have to get a small private ship."
The ninja he ordered nodded and quickly left.
Toji looked around and continued, "Two of you here stay and guard the goods with me, while the rest gather information about the Land of Tea."
Within the Hosai clan, several elders had already been sent to the capital and the southern port to gather intelligence on the Land of Tea and the other locations where the merchant guilds would be stopping.
But Toji wanted to ensure that everything aligned with their information. Soon enough, everyone gathered back at the dock where the ninja assigned to rent the ship was waiting.
As the group boarded the ship with their goods, Toji asked the second in command of the merchant guild, Sakina, a question, "Did the information match what was given to us?"
In a gentle voice, Sakina answered, "Yes, everything matched." She paused and smiled. "But there is a new piece of information I've collected."
Toji raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"
"A rich nobleman's son is getting married near the port where we'll be docking. They say he spends lavishly, and anyone is allowed into the estate as long as they pay. Those who pay a substantial sum can enter the palace, where the main celebration will take place." Sakina explained.
Toji smiled, smelling the money entering his pockets, "When's the celebration?"
Seeing Toji smile, Sakina grinned in understanding. "Only people with invitations can enter the city, and the post-wedding celebration is when they'll allow anyone who pays to enter. The wedding will take place when we arrive at the port. Then, three days later, we can likely attend the post-wedding celebration."
Toji nodded, "Good, we'll have enough time to familiarize ourselves with the Land of Tea."
Toji looked at the endless ocean and felt proud that he would be a pillar in the Hosai clan. Thinking about the future of the clan made him more excited about the journey ahead.
Remembering something, Toji looked at Sakina beside him, who was also staring at the endless ocean, and asked, "What items do you think we should sell to the nobleman?"
Sakina pondered for a bit before answering, "Well, we can probably sell those diamonds." Sakina showed a glimpse of longing before continuing, "Those diamonds are the purest diamonds and most beautiful diamonds I have ever seen! I've only seen a few when I went to guard the daimyo, and he never had such beautiful diamonds before."
Toji nodded, "The Land of Wind doesn't really sell diamonds, they mostly just sell chakra conductive metals and gold."
"Hmm." Sakina agreed then remembered something, "Ah! We can also sell sugar, soap, beds, wools, lanterns, and emeralds. We don't really have that much emerald though. Taro said he'll give us more once we come back to the clan and restock."
The merchant guild lacked the emeralds because Taro forgot about the villagers. He only had a day to enslave villagers and force them to trade for emeralds.
Realizing something, Sakina asked, "Where do you think Taro gets everything from?"
Toji shook his head, "Remember, Sakina, don't ask too much. Just be thankful we have enough food to keep us fed."
Sakina giggled at Toji's serious face and sarcastically said, "Hehehe… Yeah, yeah, I get it, Dad~"
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Yo, I just wanted to add that I'll be added the "Merchant guild:" on every title for this arc, since most people would prob just want to skip this part or build up the chapter till next volume.
Once it's gone, that when you'll know the mc is back in the story. It's to make it easier for people who wanna skip or wait till he's back.