by IronboundTales
Lance Alder has decided he’s going to become rich. There’s just one problem. He’s eight years old, born to a common family in a small village, physically weak, and possesses barely enough mana to be worth mentioning. What Lance does have is a strangely sharp mind—and fragments of knowledge he doesn’t entirely understand. It begins with little things. A better cookie cutter. A new way to move heavy logs. Simple ideas that nobody around him has thought to try. But every small improvement teaches Lance the same lesson: A good idea has value. And value can be turned into opportunity. With a baker for a mother, a logger for a father, a blacksmith for an uncle, and a traveling merchant willing to teach him the trade, Lance begins building something far greater than the few coins hidden in his savings box. New products become contracts.Contracts become businesses.Businesses open doors far beyond his quiet village. But wealth alone was never Lance’s real goal. He wants enough money, influence, and power that the people he loves will never have to be separated by poverty again. In a world of magic, monsters, nobles, merchants, and ancient races, a commoner’s son is beginning a very long climb. From commoner… to Merchant King.
