What was a swan? It was, well, a swan. But what made the swan into a swan? Was it the white feathers, or was it the long neck that gave it the swan-like image? Why was it called a swan? Who looked at these birds and thought that the title of swan fit them? Whoever it was, they were right. Those were swans. Norman had many such mind-numbing thoughts as he watched the children play by the fenced-off pond. He had promised to let them see the swans, but he didn’t expect there to be hundreds of them. He had seen so many swan related things that swan didn’t even sound like a word anymore.

  [YOU LOOK EXSWANSTED.]

  “I wish I could walk away from you,” Norman thought as calmly as possible. He was a stoic and calm man, but there was a limit. The parasite attached to his brain learning how to make puns was certainly pushing him closer to that limit.

  [SWANRRY]

  Savant wasn’t very good at puns, and that made everything worse. Norman had the opinion that men like him and Savant shouldn’t go anywhere near a joke. They simply didn’t have the funny bone to pull it off. Team exercises where you had to introduce yourself and make a joke were his worst enemy. The awkward silence after his mangled attempt at a joke in front of the entire department still haunted him.

  Despite the awkward memory of the uncomfortable gazes of his coworkers, Norman still missed his job. An adventure in a fantasy world would excite anyone. Anyone other than Norman. He craved the feeling of sitting down at a desk full of paperwork and crunching numbers all day. His hands itched for the feeling of holding a pencil again. Norman was experiencing work withdrawal. He had lasted three months, but this was the limit.

  Norman needed a job.

  “Are there any professions that would go well with my personality that I don’t need any additional education for, and would let me provide for myself, the children, and pay Rowboat?” Norman asked Savant. He hadn’t asked Savant anything in ages, especially not something about this world, and he felt a bit guilty when he sensed the wave of excitement flow through their mental link.

  [THERE IS ONLY ONE. MERCHANTRY.]

  [THE BUSINESS INDUSTRY IS VERY UNDERDEVELOPED IN SILVAE. I BELIEVE YOU WOULD ENJOY RUNNING A COMPANY THE MOST, AS THERE ARE MANY THINGS TO IMPROVE UPON.]

  Savant was probably right. Something Norman didn’t want to admit after the whole pun thing. Still, he did glance at the merchants guild building more than once, and he had even planned to go check it out. Running a trading company wasn’t the same as accounting, but it was as close as he would probably get in this world. If he found an untapped market and used his Earth knowledge to get a solid footing in the industry, then he would be set for life.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Yeah. That’s what he would do. That would be his quest in this world. To get a mid-sized company with a solid reputation in whatever market he chose.

  The kids had been dropped off with Rowboat, and Norman was deep in his calculations, counting every single market stall and shop in Swaan and making a mental spreadsheet about which products were popular, oversaturated, or a waste of time. He needed to have a solid starting product with widespread appeal, but not such a popular product that it could be bought at already established stores.

  He instantly ruled out hygiene and beauty products from the list, closing the door on that isekai trope. Soap was common and he saw a store selling face creams and perfumes in the nobles district. Food was also out, he wasn’t japanese so he didn’t know how to make miso soup and curry that would net him a harem of monster waifus he didn’t want. Any product from Earth was also out. Sure, it would be a guaranteed success if he started selling penicillin or light bulbs, but he was just a random accountant without any super convenient field of study or hobby, he had no idea how to make any of those things.

  In the end, he came up with two viable products for his future merchant empire. Dyes were one of them, as they seemed rare and hard to come by yet obtainable with basic Earth knowledge. Only embroidery threads were dyed in different colors, while the fabric was mostly left alone. Blue from monster fibers, brown from burlap, and white from wool and cotton seemed to be what a majority of people wore.

  He had paid a lot for Primrose’s red dress; it was the only one in her size, and he wouldn’t let her walk around without clothes on, so he had to shell out quite a bit. The dress was a premium product that was in high demand, at least if he was judging by the jealous stares Primrose got from other little girls, almost all of them wearing blue dresses. If he could find similar plants to the ones on Earth and make dyes out of them, he could write supply contracts with tailor shops, or he could dye fabric and sell that.

  The other was candles. Light stones were expensive and only seen in reputable stores or high class inns. Almost everyone else used candles. The monster fat candles that were currently in use smelled bad, left soot stains, had a short burn time, and were expensive. Beeswax candles would be of much better quality and would be an item exclusive to his company. One of the market stalls sold honey, so this world undoubtedly had bees.

  When he inquired about if they sold beeswax, he was laughed at. It turned out that to get honey, you had to collect it from wild hives, and the gatherer wouldn’t even bother with the wax. To get beeswax he would have to find a wild hive, piss off a bunch of bees or pay someone to piss off the bees, and get about a teaspoons worth of beeswax for his effort. In conclusion, it was a massive waste of time.

  Well. It would have been if he didn’t have a really convenient skill that let him exchange whatever he was holding for anything in this world of the same value. Beeswax wasn’t a traded product, so some could say it was priceless. Norman, however, would say that it was free. With just a bit of mana and a couple of worthless rocks or sticks, he could get an unlimited amount of this very valuable resource that nobody had discovered the usefulness of yet.

  It wouldn’t be free forever. The market value would go up as soon as he started selling products made from the stuff, but he would just have to stock up until then. He could get a whole warehouse as a starting amount, and when the value went up, he would have enough money to do money exchanges. When he thought about it, weren’t the dye products also free with his exchange skill? If he used dyeing techniques from Earth using similar plants, and nobody had discovered it before, he could get as many materials as he wanted for nothing.

  Norman’s mind raced with possibilities as he walked towards the merchant guilds office with a single minded purpose. To make money using unfair techniques and market manipulation.