Webcomic / Merchant Band

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Merchant Band is a fantasy-adventure webcomic by Mahyuddin Zin a.k.a. Mayu Zane revolving around a magical artifacts merchant named Boss and his friends, who are going on a journey east to help an amnesiac girl left inside a cursed cabin.

Their journey becomes more complicated when a tyrant declares war on Boss's merchant guild, and now they've all become involved in a Civil War between a princess and a Self-Made Orphan king.

The webcomic is free to read over on Webtoon and gets updated every Monday.

Merchant Band has a paid version which includes bonus pages, available only to patrons at Mayu Zane's Patreon page.

Merchant Band contains examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Lord Junk, Mazri and Ozeron all had to contend with pretty bad families:
  • Junk's bandit family sent him to beg on the streets because he was the runt, and later sent mercs after his town... and he was the lucky one.
  • Mazri's family framed her husband for murder and disowned her for loving him.
  • Ozeron's family disowned him for failing his Deadly Graduation by refusing to murder Amira.
• Amnesiac Hero: Amira, who was found by Boss locked up inside a house surrounded by cursed scarecrows.
• Battle Couple: Bridget and Leif, Boss's two bodyguards who are also married to each other. It was a package deal.
• Benevolent Boss: Boss himself, who makes a genuine effort to keep his workers paid and treated well.
• Bewildering Punishment: Invoked. "King" Sekh's slow death sentence on Amira (for rescuing his political rival from him at the start of the civil war) involved wiping her memory first, so she'd have no idea why she woke up marooned in a barn besieged by golems.
• Big Bad: 'King' Sekh, who murdered his father and brother to get the throne and keeps sending assassins to hunt down members of the Guild of Ethical Merchants. The series is heading towards a Big Bad Duumvirate with Junk's mother, now at the top echelons of Madrada, having sent Sekh a formal proposal.
• Bloodless Carnage: Fresh corpses will have blades and arrows sticking out of them, but little to no blood.
• Carry a Big Stick: Bridget's weapon of choice is a steel mace.
• Cat Folk: Feralyn people, like Bridget and Leif.
• Civil War: Ah-Seba, the country where Boss and his group are initially going, is embroiled in civil war. Said war is still raging after the Time Skip, leading to Boss being sent in a diplomatic mission to get an edge.
• Companion Cube: To cope with the solitude of spying on the band for six years, Nix built three dolls so she'd have someone to talk to.
• Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Bridget and Leif meet The Visitor in issue 5, a being from another world who grants gifts to those who meet them.
• Dream Land: The Nightmare Edge, accessible only by sleeping in a dark cave, is a physical location made up of nightmares.
• Fantastic Racism: Jungle Clanners like Mazri are often assumed to be liars and cheaters by other races.
• Fictional Currency: Oneros and Meras, two different currencies used by merchants.
• Fingerless Hands: Boss, whose hands are completely round. Seems to be a trait of his species, like absence of hair.
• Fun Size: Boss, which is a common trait among his species.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Inverted with Bridget and Leif, as Leif is an archer-mage who prefers fighting long distance, and Bridget prefers to fight up close with her mace.
• Happily Married: The two bodyguards Bridget and Leif are in a very happy and stable marriage. Mazri and her husband Riva were this too, until Riva was executed.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Plentiful, since Interspecies Romance is fairly common.
• Intrepid Merchant: Boss's occupation. He buys and sells magical artifacts, which function as useful tools/home appliances. He also explores ruins to find more artifacts to sell.
• Love Letter: How Bridget and Leif first met; she wrote a love letter to him after watching him dance at a royal feast.
• Mage Marksman: Leif, who is trained in using a bow and fire magic.
• Magical Eye: Amira's orb-eye allows her to control her Orb Stallion though she can't see out of it.
• Magitek: There are mechanical vehicles and automatons powered by magic, such as Amira's Orb Stallion.
• Mechanical Horse: Amira's Orb Stallion, which pulls her wagon.
• Non-Action Guy: Boss is almost useless in a fight, which is why he hired two bodyguards.
• Non-Idle Rich: Lord Junk, governor of Junkton is very rich and lives in a castle. He is also the very active protector of his town, training others to fight well like him.
• Not What I Signed on For: Ozeron joined the assassins on the promise of glory and killing tyrants, not killing ex-slaves for a tyrant's grudge.
• One Head Taller: Bridget is about one head taller than her husband.
• Playing with Fire: Leif, a fire mage who can imbue his arrows with flames.
• Revenge Before Reason: "King" Sekh is a vindictive man. Not only did he sentence Amira to memory wipe and a slow death for costing him a quick victory at the start of the civil war, he keeps sending assassins after her once she's rescued. In addition, since it's never stated why he declared war on the Guild of Ethical Merchants, it could very well be because Amira was rescued by one of them.
• Scary Scarecrows: The cabin Amira was trapped in was surrounded by scarecrows covered in curses, all of them facing towards the cabin.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil:
  • Lord Junk's mother is a Complete Monster worse than Big Bad Sekh, as she not only rules a slaving criminal empire, but enslaved her own kin.
  • Initially little case was made of Amira being a slave to Ah-Seba's royal family when the civil war started, but this was addressed in Issue 23: Once a windfall in spoils of war allowed her to afford it, Queen Shajar freed all slaves she has jurisdiction on and reaffirmed her will that Ah-Seba shall be a free nation.
• Stealing from the Hotel: Mazri argues that it's okay to take plates and cups from restaurants.
• Suffer the Slings: Amira uses a simple sling as a weapon, complete with a purse full of rocks.
• The Evil Prince: Sekh, who murdered his father and brother in an attempt to take control of Ah-Seba, which kick-starts the civil war.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl:
  • Leif and Bridget. Though Leif isn't that much shorter than his wife, she has much more muscle.
  • Boss and his pen-pal, the Lonely Giant.
• Tsukumogami: Namio is a set of stage clothes that came to life after a century.