When I reached the Maelstrom, I found an old woman selling scented flower pouches at the gate to the docks. I asked, “Marigold was it?”
She looked at and frowned, “What gave it away?”
I smiled, “You are selling scented flowers. But I couldn’t sll anything.”
“Ah, if you got within the range of the illusion, you would have!” she laughed as well. “Jasper joined them on the ship. Lorae seems to like you. So that you know, I will report to her father where she has been today.”
“Lorae is one of the few people I know in the city, and I trust her evening if she is young,” I responded conversationally.
“There are guilds of guides, you know,” she cocked her eyebrows at my ignorance.
“Nope, I didn’t know. How do I find them?” I asked, interested.
She started laughing, “If I told you, then Lorae would be upset with for a month. No. It is best we continue as is.”
“Join on board?” I asked, and she shook her head no. She moved inside the shadow if the city gate, and I assud she was changing her illusion.
I walked up the ramp to find Remy in the cargo hold, chipping off a corner of the marble block. He looked up, “Stor might have found soone to buy the marble. Not just these two, but ALL the blocks. I think we can make a huge margin on them.”
“Great. And the investigation to aether crystal pricing?” I asked, helping him knock a corner off.
“Four hundred thousand gold on the low end, but probably about ten thousand higher. It will depend on the market at the ti. A lot of the crystals get purchased by traders coming from the Outer Sphere periodically,” Remy inford scholastically.
“Okay, they don’t have anything for our needs here, so we will have to save the coin and travel to Hakeam in the Callisto Federation. I am going to get so rest, and then play rchant. If you have the blood marble covered, I will take the towels and frost ad when I wake up,” I said while walking up the stairs.
Bleiz, Jasper, and Lorae were on the bridge. The cats were sprinting around chasing a feather on a stick and string Lorae was controlling. Kiara stopped running when she saw and walked over to say hello and welco back. She did not rush; just pranced and rubbed into . Jasper looked at and said, “Never seen a white one before. Has to be rare.”
“She is. Smart, too,” I said as Adrial crashed into the chairs in a desperate attempt to capture the elusive feather. Adrial was so focused on her hunt, and I do not think she even realized I was back. Lorae let her catch the prize, which she promptly shredded in victory.
“Lorae, I wanted to ask you to bring around to rchants tomorrow. I am looking to sell so towels, frost ad, and artificed blades,” I inford the young dark elf.
It was Jasper who responded, “What is frost ad?”
“A mixture between a spirit and potion.” I produced a bottle from my space into my hand and handed it to him. I explained, “It works like a magical temperature regulator for the body. You can drink that one; consider it a gift. You need to drink at least half that bottle for an effective dose that lasts about two hours.”
Jasper uncorked it, sniffed it, and then took a long pull, emptying the contents. “Wow, it is cold. It’s very sweet and has a decent alcohol kick as well. I can feel the effect of the potion, and it does not feel as humid or hot! Not bad.” he looked at seriously, “How much do you have?”
“Just twenty gallons, about eighty bottles of what you just drank. The effect of the full bottle should last for four hours,” I said with a humorous smile.
Jasper licked his lips, “One hundred gold. I will give you one hundred gold for the cask,” he said as I could see the alcohol kick in by the dark elf’s eyes.
Lorae intervened, “Do not do it. If Jasper is willing to spend one hundred gold, then it has to be worth three tis as much.”
Jasper scoffed, swatting Lorae playfully, “You brat. I have been watching you since you were a babe, and you betrayed at the drop of a hat!” He did not sound overly serious, though.
Lorae sounded wounded, “No, just for a chance to play with the cats again! If he found out he had been duped, then he might never let on board again!” I didn’t plan to tell her I was not planning to visit Lloth very often.
“How about two hundred and fifty gold? My guess is that is close to wholesale for you,” Jasper pleaded. The truth was the frost ad cask was worth about four gold in Skyhol. At least that is what we sold it for when you added up the drinks sold from a cask.
“Okay, two hundred and fifty gold it is, but I need paynt in gold coins for so enchanting work I have to do,” and we shook on it. He dragged Lorae ho to get his coin. Lorae would et in the morning at the Adventurer’s Guild bazaar to bring to various rchants for linen towels and small blades.
Forty minutes later, Jasper returned with the coins and took his cask with him. I don’t think he was a drunkard, but he liked novel spirits. Rich delvers needed sothing to spend their coin on. Well, two hundred and fifty gold was a start toward four hundred thousand. I fed the cats and talked with Bleiz for a while. Sammie, Cilia, and Leda returned to the ship while we talked and went right to sleep.
Bleiz was actually considering an offer to train with Jasper. Jasper was definitely an apex stealth specialist. He was the lead scout on Relik’s delve team, which apparently made him quite remarkable. Relik, Lorae’s father, led one of the top delve teams in the city. The dungeon was an hour’s walk outside the city, but it was massive and went deep. It was one of the reasons the city thrived. That one dungeon provided more resources than all of Skyhol’s dungeons combined.
After dinner in my cabin, the cats went into a food coma, and I lay on my bunk. I pulled out two spell books, comprehend languages, and arcane web. I was excited to learn these spells and the two new spells I purchased today. I was still slightly concerned about the mage who had wanted the lightning elental spell book. Would she be spiteful even though I paid her so much for it? I set more alarms than normal around the ship before we all went to rest in our cabins. I decided to work on the arcane web spell next and put the comprehend language spell book back.
I studied the evolutions instead of working on imprinting the spell. There were a lot of options for this spell. Increasing the web’s size, strength, and structure and you could also prevent the web from affecting the caster. You could even add effects like poison to the webbing. It was really a versatile spell and very useful in dungeons with narrow passages. I fell asleep in a weird dream. I was dressed in a blue and red suit, casting arcane webs on walls and using the webbing to crawl up the walls.
The cats set off my alarms by jumping on to request breakfast. I cleaned the cabin with my cleanliness spell and then served them from the food stores in my dinsional space. After they ate, I left them in the care of Sammie as Bleiz, and I left to play rchant. Remy had already left, and Leda said we had seven hours before the crystals were fully charged and could return to Skyhol. Cilia and Leda would stay with the Maelstrom as they were all shopped out after one day.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I moved all the crates of linen towels into my dinsional space as Bleiz, and I returned to the city. We found Lorae waiting for us at the entrance to the bazaar. I scanned the crowds with Bleiz but did not see signs of Jasper or Marigold. “Here is a sample,” I gave Lorae one of the linen towels to inspect. Lorae turned the fabric in her hands and considered it.
“Is it dungeon fabric?” she asked.
“I believe so. It is sourced from a dungeon in Skyhol. It is just more durable and a little softer than most towels. It has no lingering aetheric properties. We have 700 pieces,” I explained what little I knew.
Lorae considered and looked lost in thought before saying, “We should pass it off as a luxury item. Maybe ten sliver each?” She was asking a question, so I just nodded. Remy had paid a silver coin each, so that would be a fifty-six gold profit. Lorlae led us to rchant after rchant in the upper city. She did all the talking and ended up storming out after not getting the price she wanted.
Bleiz asked, “Are you a rchant, Lorae? You certainly seem like it and are having fun.”
She huffed, “No, just using so of the lessons from my apprenticeships. My father has had work in a lot of businesses in Lloth, so I have a good handle on what things are worth and have been on both sides of transactions. I could leverage my connection to my father’s delve team, but I want to make this happen on my own.”
It took her five hours and twelve shops before she finally sold the seven hundred towels for 10 silver and 50 copper each. I learned a lot watching her and was impressed with her skill and holding to her desired price. Most of the offers had been around four silver per towel, and she had finally found an older human woman who was a tailor to purchase them. She was going to take the towels and turn them into bathrobes.
I emptied the crates of towels from my storage space, and the woman ticulously counted every towel before paying us the coin. I gave Lorae seven gold commission for negotiating and finding the buyer. She happily took the coin, excited to continue, “So what is next?”
“Small blades. I have two dozen daggers and throwing knives to sell. All enchanted and of high quality,” I stated. She nodded and was already moving out of the shop.
Bleiz and I walked together, and he said, “Are you thinking what I am thinking?”
“That I should contract Lorae to sell for us in Llorth?” I said without pause.
“That and we just passed Marigold disguised as a young beggar boy,” I whipped my head around to locate the boy who waved at when I focused on him.
“How did you spot her?” I asked, amazed.
“When we walked by her, I slled her perfu. The boy was the only one close enough that was out of place,” Bleiz said as we walked. “I think I want to take Jasper up on his offer to train here. Is that acceptable?”
“Bleiz, you are free to do as you will,” I said after a slight pause. I would need to find soone else to watch Freya during the day and another sparring partner at night. Losing my invisible bodyguard might also help stay alert as I was getting lax. “How long do you want to stay here?”
Bleiz was a little stunned at my willingness to let him stay but answered eventually after mulling it over, “Four weeks.”
That was a long ti. I almost tried to ask him to reduce it but instead pulled out a stack of forty wrapped small gold coins, “Take this for expenses. When I return, I will contact you with a communication stone.” I patted him on the back and chuckled, “Freya will be upset that her lessons will be on hold. Maybe Mia will take over while you are gone.”
Bleiz seed to reconsider his decision because of Freya but took the coins, “Hopefully, she will not pick up too many bad habits while I am away.” Mia was a good teacher, so I think Bleiz was probably hinting at missing my sister more than talking down on Mia’s skills.
Lorae took us to a bladed weapon specialist in the upper city. In this part of the upper city, the buildings were opulent stone and wood, and dark elves in guard uniforms were ticulously manicured with slick back hair and perfect-looking uniforms. This was where the elite and wealthy lived. Just before entering, Lorae said, “This is Tallot’s shop. I worked briefly for him as a courier. He has the finest blades in all of Llorth.”
The shop interior slled of fresh-cut wood and oil, and the weapons racks were carefully placed to shine as much natural and artificial light as possible on the blades. The oldest elf I had ever seen was walking the racks with two custors, talking about the blades he offered. When he finished his tour of the racks, they purchased a short sword and dagger from him for so platinum and gold. I did not stare and count how much had just been spent, but it was substantial.
The couple left, and the old elf smiled, “Lorae! What brings you back? You seed quite happy to finish your service with .”
“I brought you, rchants, you old goat.” Her tone was playful, and he just laughed.
“Fine, show what you have. My inventory is pretty saturated, but I am always interested in seeing what foreign rchants can offer,” he said, leading us to a polished wood table in the private back room.
I started placing twenty-seven daggers on the table and seven throwing knives. Tallot clucked his tongue, pulled out an eyepiece, and put it on. I could tell the eyepiece was artificed. He examined the first few and spoke, “I am not familiar with the maker’s mark, the Hydra?” he questioned.
I replied emotionlessly, “It is from a new artificer in Skyhol.”
“The floating islands? Huh, well, these are not forged. They are all damn fine spellwork, but the sweat of a smith did not craft these. The enchantnts are the true value. Well done, tight runes and crisp lines. So type of high-ranked tal mage made them?” he questioned.
“I believe so,” I responded with a note of uncertainty.
“I will take the entire lot for eight thousand. Mostly to establish relations with the tal mage who made them. If my inventory was not bursting at the seams, I would offer more, but the truth is I do not have the space,” he looked at for an answer.
“Agreed,” I said after pretending to give it so thought. “Can you pay in just gold? It will save a trip to the exchange as my next stop requires just gold and no platinum.” I hesitated and asked, “Do you have any adamantine? Just a small sample. The mage in question has requested a sliver of the material to study.”
Tallot grinned, “Making a special blade, is he? I may have so commission work for him in the future, especially if he can work with the adamantine.” He went to the back of the shop and returned with a tray of large gold coins and a tiny wire of black tal. There were seventy large gold coins, so I guessed the toothpick adamantine was costing a thousand gold. A small coin of adamantine was valued at one hundred thousand gold. I moved the coins and adamantine to my dinsional storage.
We talked for an hour about what type of blades sold well in the city. Tallot dealt mostly with small blades and one-handed swords. The favored weapon was a long sword in the city, but the market was tight since there had not been a war in ages. I purchased a non-magical long sword from him for 140 gold, returning fourteen large coins. This was the dark elves’ standard size, weight, and length. Next ti I co, I will also have a few of these blades prepared for sale.
We left when my comm stone buzzed. Leda said the aether stones were charged. On the way back, we stopped at a bookstore that advertised as a copier. We waited while he made a copy of Neelan’s anatomy book on monsters. I borrowed the book because it had excellent pictures of phantom beast cats. The rushed copy cost an entire gold. Now I could return this book for another in his library.
While the copy was being made, I went to exchange my remaining platinum for gold. I had slightly miscalculated and spent too much on the spells. I would be short on the gold I needed to do Loriel’s enchanting work. It should not take more than a day to make the gold, or I could obtain it from the money changers in Skyhol.
We dropped Lorae off at the bazaar, and I gave her my last two platinum coins for her services. She was shocked, but I explained she had made ten tis that amount today and probably saved a lot of ti wandering the city. She also gave a fair amount of insight into the rcantile skill. On an impulse, I handed her my last comm stone from the set. Stone number seven.
This action was for a few reasons. It would allow her and Beliz to communicate, and it would hopefully be a step in convincing her to be my rchant in the city when we visited.
Back on the ship, Remy was bouncing around in excitent. He had sold the marble for 30 gold each, a 28 gold profit. The buyer was also willing to take another six hundred stones at 25 gold each. The blood marble stones were unique and were going to be used in a temple.
Bleiz remained behind, and it stunned everyone until I explained he was studying with a master scout. Cilia and Leda had us in the sky, and I went to feed the cats, who were excited to see . Adrial was in her cage for scratching Sammie. She would remain there for the trip ho, no matter how pitiful her ws were. With the cabin cleaned and the cats satiated, I sat on the bed and took out my expensive black toothpick.
I sent my tal senses into the adamantine. It was far different from any other tal. Manipulating the wire was extrely slow as it resisted my efforts. I could work the tal, but it took a lot longer than mithril. Mithril had gotten easier to work with ti, so I expected the sa with the adamantine. Adamantine was an aetheric insulator, aning it did not allow aether to pass through it. The fact that I could even manipulate it all with my tier 4 ability was saying sothing.
I tried to create the tal with my tal creation ability. I initially got so negative feedback, resisting the effort to replicate the tal in my hand. Eventually, a small black pea ford in my hand after draining the majority of my aether. My first adamantine.
Reviews
All reviews (0)