Chapter 30: Masked merchant
More than a week after that ghost town incident.
Alira goes to work as usual and I am just at my shop and doing business as usual.
Nothing much special, just weapon selling and nothing much more than a few gold coins.
I think I need to check for tomorrow's resupplying or scouting for raw materials.
Few thosagaf of Saryn and a load of Jilkan.
Finding raw materials on my own saves me a lot of money and some troubles but the pain is that there is no merchant of raw metal coming here or a consistent group of miners that I can escort and get some cuts.
Although there are many merchants dealing with metal, all of them are processed and mostly rendered to be a slag-filled mess of metal bars. If Galthoral ever sees me bringing one bar like that, he would literally throw a hammer at my face if I was ever a dwarf.
I can't blame them for a slag-filled mess like that since their weapon standard and processing are way too different for dwarven furnaces and vice versa.
But still, human's weapons are known for enchantment rather than runes carving. If you attempt to carve runes on those things, chances are you may ruin the weapons. If you attempt to enchant dwarven weapons, you may kill the metal completely.
Those disagreements are just making it difficult in terms of weapons and tools dealing here.
Many people come to my shop for weapons dealing and maintenance. Most buy weapons and tools made by dwarven hands admire how durable they are but lack utility like enchanted ones. I also deal with elven weapons that have way better enchantments than human's. But if those things ever overwork for a certain amount of time, they will break.
Urgh! It is so much to think about.
I want to go for a drink to forget all of these problems in my head.
****
"What is the matter, Jehidas?"
"For longest time, I really need someone to trade me ores"
"I thought you would be fine with finding ores or buying bars from those merchants."
"The issues here is that I need raw ores for the dwarves who are making weapons for me to sell in this village and some good food for their endless drinking party at night"
"So that means you are just buying dried food for drinking snacks?"
"Yes" I slam the counter depressingly
"I recently saw a merchant coming here. He is a ores dealer and he is quite shady"
"His name?"
"I don't know. He won't tell"
"When will he come here?"
"I think once every three to five days periodly. But lucky for you, he will come tomorrow. Meet him at the gate"
"Thanks for the information. But why is he selling raw ores here?"
"He thinks that there will be someone who would buy these materials in this town. When I asked him why, he told me that his prediction"
"Here, for the information and the drink" I put three silver coins on the counter
"See you next time" He waves
****
Morning.
As he predicted, the merchant is at the gate.
I thought he looked shady but it seems that merchant looks bright and trustworthy
When I get close, his wagon is filled with rocks not ores
I am disappointed
But then there is another approach. On the front, the driver seems to be a middle age man and the wagon seems heavy. I think this is the merchant.
"Hey, boss. We are here now. Pay us" A male's voice around twenty
"Thanks for your service. Here, these are your payment and a few silver for drinks" A disoriented male voice
"How generous. Let's go for a round or two. Drink til you drop for the night, lads" That youngster again hops out of the wagon with a bag of money
"Yay, more drinks" a female voice sounds familiar
She is just another swordswoman, thank god, it is not that drunkard again
And here comes the merchant out in the light.
He is quite a tall figure. A cape around his shoulder, a dagger and hand on a walking crane. Stepping out straight with a mask on his face.
His mask is white with a black X mark.
I think I should call him X
"So you there! Are you the one who deals with ores?"
"Yes! At least let me pass the gate and then we talk"
"I will!"
****
"So you are telling me that you are..."
"Don't say the nickname"
"No, I am about to say that you are the merchant who has been dealing with dwarves right?"
"Yes"
"Also, what is with the nickname?"
"Nothing?"
"Bad news for you, I now have only iron ores and few bit of Mawek"
"That explosive thing?"
"Yes"
Mawek is one of the main ingredients for gunpowder and also dwarven beast's food.
But here is the problem, dwarven beasts can take more Mawek than human's.
"Where is your shop? So I can contact you if you are here"
"I haven't thought that I would need one if I can just go back and forth from the recently mountain town to here"
"Ae?"
"It is just few hundred thousamases here"
"Does that belong to dwarves?"
"No, not that one. The hill that is near Narwek"
"Into the capital route?"
"Yes"
"That route has a lot of highwaymen and loads of beasts"
"Highwaymen? I haven't seen any on the way here"
"That is because you were escorted by those people like that."
"I see. How much would you pay for all of the batch?"
"Fifty thousand Quinks?"
"Overpaid. Please be a bit lower"
"But I don't have any other beside these gold coins"
"Fine. I will give you free next batch then. Since the next one should be arrived next week"
"What are in there?"
"Merfolk discovered some strange ore vein and they can't process it. I just happened to buy some and found out that those ores are some strange alloys with very little amount of slags"
"Maybe it is a deal then"
X just leaves from my sight and gets his wagon to the carpenter's shop.
I hire some porters to carry all the goods from the ground and I pay them handsomely with five silver coins after they put all of the goods inside the shop.
****
When the night falls, I go to the bar as usual. The bartender waves
"Thanks for your valuable information" I hand him a smoking pipe that I got from the trade sometimes ago
"This is a fine item for my collection"
"Yes, and your information is a fine item for my collection too"
Both of us laugh
"Another thing, the merchant guy is over there, he is collecting information without ordering a drink. I asked if he would buy something and he just wanted to have some dried tea leaves. Is he an elf or something?"
"I am blind as you are"
"Well then, maybe some burning tide?"
"Perhaps"
He serves me a red fainting drink with some peppermint on top.
"Yo hey, masked man. You haven't given me your name yet"
"My name is not important that much so you may call me Mask or X"
"Why is that?"
"Business comes from trust right?"
"Yes"
"I don't like to show off my name so I rather be called the mask or X or mask than having heard of my real name once."
"How so?"
"My name is tainted. If you call that once, you will be forever cursed"
"Is that some kind of spell or a joke?"
"Why do you say so?"
"I am Jehidas."
"So that is the name whispered among people here. Stop hanging heads at the gallows for display please. It is kind of disturbing than the ones are getting eaten by crows"
"About that part, can't promise you that"
"I am going to leave and go to a port. It may take days. I am going to need a place to rest, any recommendations?"
"Five Bears is the cheapest one. Or perhaps if you like some enjoyment, you should go to Black Dogs. There are some good
"I rather stay away from those sins"
"What floats your boat"
"May Lamento bless your coins and goods"
"May your road is clean and smooth"
We depart and go on our ways
There is something I need to know about this man. What is he hiding beneath the mask?