"Apprentice, aren’t you?" I asked Lysa with narrowed eyes.
Neither Lysa nor McNee had told her last na, but I didn’t even need to ask to know. Ever since I saw her running away from the police station, I knew. She was Lysa Mostana, a twenty-year-old girl born in Birsk who had been stealing since she was a child.
At eighteen, Lysa gained the Mimic Blessing. With this Blessing, she could change her body structure to look like anyone else. For a thief like her, this power was perfect.
The tension between Lysa and was palpable as we stared at each other. I didn’t like her for wanting to live an easy life stealing, and she obviously didn’t like for so reason.
"A-anyway, S, you said you ca today because you had so impressive items to show ," McNee said, obviously nervous about the bad atmosphere.
"Lysa is soone we trust, so why don’t you show us the items you brought?"
I took a deep breath and nodded in agreent. "As you wish."
The first of the items I took out of my inventory and placed on the counter was an oval gem that was as blue as a sapphire. In addition to already being cut, it emitted a small magical aura that was visible to the naked eye.
Soone experienced in magical artifacts like McNee imdiately recognized what this item was.
"An Observation Gem?" Surprised, he asked and delicately picked up the item. "It’s been months since I’ve seen one in person."
McNee held the gem up with two fingers and placed it in the light of a gas lamp that illuminated the counter area. The yellowish light from the lamp passed through the blue gem, and McNee’s face was illuminated by a green light.
"What do you think?" I asked with my arms crossed and a serious expression.
"It’s definitely very pure," Lysa replied, looking from a distance.
"Yes, you’re right, my dear apprentice," McNee said with a satisfied smile on his lips. "It’s not just the cut that’s perfect, but also the enchantnt and clarity of the gem. I believe that only great craftsn from the Capital could do such work."
Observation Gems were not produced naturally these days. These gems were created from a mineral called Astrofite, and it was said that only one pair of gems could be created from each dium-sized piece of Astrofite.
After that, the gem gained the magical property of observing through each other through a binding enchantnt.
Normally, only those blessed with the Magical Craftsman Blessing could create Observation Gems precisely because they were the only ones who could develop the magical skill .
"To think that only a few humans can make a pure Observation Gem like this reminds that the Dwarves of the Tower of Babel are truly impressive."
Legend had it that it was the Dwarves who built all those golems in the Tower of Giants as a gift of friendship and peace to the King of Giants, so the logical deduction was that the Observation Gems that were the eyes of those golems were also produced by Dwarves.
In fact, there were sentient races other than humans inside the Tower of Babel—dwarves, elves, fairies, and many others. However, they lived in their own communities and did not yet have much contact with humans.
"If I may ask, Mr. S, can you tell how—" McNee tried to ask, but I interrupted him.
"A good rchant never reveals his supplier," I replied with a confident expression.
Disappointed, Erich McNee sighed and placed the gem back on the counter.
"It’s a little sad not to know where you got such a beautiful observation gem, but I guess that’s the price you pay for being in this line of work. Well, I think I can offer you five silver coins for this specin. What do you think, S?"
Five silver coins are a lot of money, but I thought so because I was poor and valued things from the perspective of soone who was broke. I knew that with a single silver coin, a family of four could have enough bread and vegetables to eat for a week. It wasn’t enough money to pay rent or buy at, but at was also a luxury for most families these days.
To be honest, if I only had Brandon’s mories, I would have accepted the five silver coins right away for that gem. However, I also had mories as a reader and knew that it was still a low price.
"Are you kidding ?" I asked McNee indignantly. "Your mind gas won’t work on , Mr. McNee.
Raise your offer or I’ll walk out that door and never co back."
Ever since he saw , McNee had been looking at with his eyebrows lowered, but I knew it was all an act to make him look like a businessman cornered by the situation. That changed at that mont. He straightened his spine and the expression on his face beca serious, just like when we first t.
"If that’s how you want to settle this, I’ll negotiate seriously. The most I can offer is eight silver coins. It’s not just for my part, but also the percentages from the contacts I have that will get this gem clean into a high-end store."
"I understand that you need to make a good profit for the risk to be worth it," I thought aloud as I analyzed the situation.
McNee was a cautious and experienced man, which was why I had chosen him to do business with, and that ant I knew my profit margin would be smaller. On the other hand, I didn’t need to be cautious.
"Twenty silver coins seems reasonable to , would you increase it by one silver coin per unit if I told you I had many more gems identical to this one?"
Lysa and McNee frowned when they heard , apparently skeptical that what I was saying was true. As such, their only possible reaction was for their jaws to drop when I placed a bag containing three hundred Observation Gems on the counter.
McNee looked at with a smile and asked, "Seriously, S, what kind of demon are you?"
’Hehe! That’s not even half the loot I got from all 820 golems I killed’ I thought, scratching my cheek with a finger. "But he doesn’t need to know that yet."
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