Once there was a king who scoured the land for a mysterious food called "chocolate". The king’s obsession with chocolate came about when he was gifted a box of this mysterious food by a merchant who once visited his kingdom. After tasting the chocolate once, the king became infatuated with it and kept it for himself, refusing to share it even with the queen and prince.
But alas, the box of chocolate soon ran out, and the king had no way of getting his hands on another batch as the merchant never visited again. Desperate, the king ordered his soldiers to look for the mysterious food. However, although the soldiers searched high and low, they couldn’t find a shadow of this elusive chocolate.
"How come there’s still no news?" King Powell asked in a booming voice. Although the king was trying to look calm, it was obvious from his voice that he was running out of patience after seeing that the search bore no fruit.
"Please calm your anger, Your Majesty." Minister Morgan tried to calm the king, seeing that he was getting really angry and impatient. "It’s possible that we won’t find this chocolate inside the kingdom; after all, the merchant who gifted the item to Your Majesty seemed to be someone of foreign origin."
The king became more agitated after hearing his minister’s reasoning. If the merchant was not from his kingdom, was he supposed to give up and leave it be?
But before the king could start scolding, the minister continued. "How about we send people to look at other places, Your Majesty?" the minister suggested.
"Indeed!" the king agreed without thinking after hearing his minister’s suggestion. "Alright, I hereby order that we send our soldiers to neighboring kingdoms to look for chocolates!"
Everyone, especially the minister, was horrified after hearing their king’s order. The king totally misunderstood what he had said.
"Please recede the order, Your Majesty!" The minister quickly pleaded, "If you send soldiers to other kingdoms, it would be seen as an act of aggression and could start a war!"
"But didn’t you say we should send people to other kingdoms?" The king asked, seemingly confused.
Hearing the king’s reply, the minister almost cursed at the king but was able to stop himself and attempt to clarify what he had said: "I mean, we should send people but not our soldiers. For example, we could ask the guild to send adventurers to look for chocolates."
"Oh, so that’s what you meant," the king finally said in understanding, but his next words almost choked the minister. "You should have made it clear from the start," he retorted.
The king used to be an incredibly intelligent and insightful man, but for some reason, he seemed to have lost his mind in his desperate search for this "chocolate." The minister quickly told the king that he would take care of speaking with the guild and asked the king to be patient.
Soon news spread that the king was searching for a mysterious food called "chocolate" and had commissioned the guild of adventurers to look for it in other kingdoms.
Inside a tavern, two men are currently eating lunch, and while they ate, they were discussing the strange quest from the king. The two men in question were adventurers.
"Where do you plan to look for this chocolate?" Lucas, one of the adventurers, asked the young-looking adventurer named Carlos.
Carlos thought for a while before responding, "I plan on going to Fel. How about you? Where do you plan to look for the item?" He asked back.
Lucas answered that he planned to visit the largest port city in Locse and start investigating from there.
"Sounds good; lots of foreign merchants use the port, so it might be the best place to start." Carlos admitted that Lucas’ idea was a good one.
"That so? Why don’t you join me then? Lucas offered.
"Thanks, but there’s something I need to do at Fel first." Carlos rejected the offer apologetically. "Besides, the guild said it’s better to spread out so that they can cover more ground."
"If you say so..."
After finishing their meal, the two men went on their separate ways and started to travel to their designated destination.
Five days later, Lucas finally arrived at the largest port city in Locse. After booking a room at the inn, Lucas wasted no time and started his investigation by asking around. He first visited the local merchant guild and asked for information on chocolates, but came out empty-handed. After that, he went to the port and asked some of the foreign merchants about the item, but also came out empty.
The next day, Lucas re-started his investigation but didn’t get any results. On the third day, the result was the same. Then on the fourth, fifth, and sixth days...
On the ninth day, Lucas was about to give up and look elsewhere when he heard news that a foreign ship had arrived at the port. Apparently, this ship encountered a storm at sea and was in bad shape. Fortunately, no lives were lost to the storm, but they were forced to throw away some of their precious cargo at sea to avoid sinking.
Lucas did not have any expectation that the merchant ship would carry any chocolate considering that they had just experienced disaster, but he was curious all the same. As such, he visited the port out of curiosity.
On the port, he saw a foreign merchant in strange attire arguing with some of the local merchants. Although the merchant was a foreigner, he conversed in their language quite fluently, which impressed Lucas.
Out of curiosity, Lucas went closer and was able to hear their discussion. Apparently, the foreign merchant was asking the local merchants for saltpeter as he needed it for one of his goods that were luckily not lost at sea. But since he had lost most of his belongings in the storm, he didn’t have money on hand right now. Instead, he promised to pay them once he sold his merchandise. Being merchants themselves, the local merchants understood his situation but could not just lend him saltpeter without any assurance that he could pay them back, especially considering that he is a foreigner.
Lucas felt sorry for the foreign merchant but decided that it was none of his business and was about to leave. But once he heard the name of the good that the foreign merchant needed the saltpeter for, he was stopped in his tracks and quickly approached the merchants.
"Excuse me!" Lucas called out to the foreign merchant excitedly. "Did I hear right? You needed saltpeter because the chocolates were starting to melt?" he asked.
"Yeah..." The sudden appearance of a bulky-looking man startled the foreign merchant, but he still gave an affirmative response.
Lucas was delighted that he finally found what he was looking for and quickly approached the local merchants that the foreign merchant was in dispute with. He stated his name and his adventurer rank and told him that he could vouch for the trustworthiness of the foreign merchant. The local merchants were surprised that a high-ranking adventurer was willing to vouch for a foreigner. But seeing that Lucas looks serious, they reluctantly agree to lend the foreign merchant some salt.
Knowing that he would get what he needed, the foreign merchant was happy. At the same time, he was confused as to why an adventurer, a high-ranking one at that, would be willing to risk his reputation for him.
Seeing the man's confusion, Lucas laughed and invited the foreign merchant somewhere more private so that they could talk.
At a restaurant, Lucas explained why he helped him. When he heard Lucas explanation, he was astounded and delighted to know that a king really liked his product and wanted to visit the kingdom quickly. He didn’t expect that a box of chocolate he gave to the king as a gift when he visited the kingdom for the first time would produce such a result. He knew that he had a big business opportunity in front of him.
Having said that, he questioned why Lucas told him the truth when he could have simply bought the chocolates from him and received payment from the king. Lucas told the foreign merchant that he’s not a merchant and doesn’t think of himself as one. Besides, he would still be handsomely rewarded for giving information and would get a bigger reward when he was escorted safely to the castle. More importantly, the king’s obsession with chocolate caused a lot of trouble for his kingdom, as he was not able to perform his duties as king properly. So if the king has a steady supply of chocolate, he will be motivated and cause less trouble for everyone.
Lucas' foresight won the foreign merchant over, and he agreed to accompany him to the kingdom. The very next day, Lucas escorted the foreign merchant back to the kingdom. Since they joined a caravan, the journey took much longer. But considering that traveling with a caravan was much safer, Lucas didn’t complain.
Not long after, the caravan finally arrived at the kingdom’s capital. Once there, Lucas escorted the foreign merchant to the guild and reported the success of the quest that the king had commissioned.
Soon, the news that Lucas had successfully found chocolate and even bought it from the merchant who gifted him that box of chocolate reached the king’s ears, who quickly ordered that Lucas and the foreign merchant be brought to him. And with that, the king finally had the chocolate he so desired, which made him very happy.
The queen, the prince, the minister, and the nobles are also happy that their ordeal is finally over since the king should return to normal soon. The minister was especially happy that Lucas had found and brought the foreign merchant with him because it meant that they would have a steady supply of chocolate, and even if the batch they have right now ran out, they could expect more in the future. With a steady supply of chocolate, the king would not cause similar trouble in the future, which is a huge relief for everyone. As for Lucas, the happy king and minister gave him a very generous reward, more generous than what was initially promised. The end.