Chapter 1 - Section 2 - Merchants Guild
҉ 2 ҉ Merchants Guild
___________________________
And so passed my first two days in the capital, i took on a handful of small time requests asking for odd jobs, or teaming up with rookie parties to jointly hunt horned rabbits, and other small monsters in the forest just outside the walls.
During all that time, i had started to gain a bit of a reputation since i had revealed the use of an item box, or rather my inventory function of my gamer skill, from my talks with the
Two days of light question only netted me a handful of copper coins though so my purse strings were dangerously light, and thanks to being the porter i didn't get to engage in any combat at all, being kept well back from any action so my level hadn't risen at all either.
Deciding that enough was enough, since the rumors about the country continued to be sour, and most if not all the talk in the bars at night were about peoples plans to run away and where they'd go once they'd left.
Leaving the adventurers guild for the day i headed through the streets.
[I want to turn the guild card off so badly since i don't like the idea of being tracked but well if I do that then I won't hear the response from the wolves until much much later… even if they do check in at the guild. oh well the merchants guild comes first now that i'm a bit more established in the city, got to see if I can sell the game goods that I bought from my skill for any reasonable profit]
Leaving the craftsman's district and entering the merchants quarter was like going to yet another world, the craftsman's district looked like a bustling town centre full of warriors, blacksmiths and carpenters and the like but here only a few people are walking around all wearing very nice clothes and robes, carriages, and carts travelled the streets filled with all manner of goods, and people.
The heart of this section of the city is the Merchants Guild center of all commerce, and commercial transactions.
Compared to the Adventurers Guild the Merchants Guild looks like a hotel, a 7 floor building with many windows, the main floor has a series of doors for people to pass through and gates on either side for carts and carriages to pass through.
Entering through the main doors the interior looked like that of a bank to me, benches lined the far wall with people queuing up to approach the teller windows which were behind bar windows.
[Job security against those attempting theft not much one can do in this room without winding up effectively in jail, unless you're strong enough to break through the door to the back room.]
Joining up with the queue, I waited my turn in line.
[Man I miss my cell phone, queuing is boring without being able to play games… huh games]
As I thought that I pulled up my MMO menu, taking a glance both ways no one around me seemed to react.
[Hmm perhaps it's only something that I can see, well if that's the case I'll need to experiment further to see if I can manipulate the menu without using my hands sure would look strange if I just started waving my hands around in the air to everyone else if they can't see my menu]
Time passed slowly, and a couple times the guy behind me had to poke me to advance as I got too engrossed in the menu to realize the line had advanced, but thankfully my training bore fruit, It wasn't graceful but I managed to manipulate the menu slowly just by thinking it, not well enough to do it say while in combat or whilst walking but at least I can manage it covertly.
This should help me with storage as I can move funds from inventory to my coin purse whenever I need now, or add things to my bag.
"Next!"
[Huh oh that's me]
Walking up to the teller, and closing the game menu.
"Welcome to the merchant's guild sir, my name is Amalie pleasure to make your acquaintance, how might we at the guild serve you today"
"Uh I'm looking to sell something I've gathered on my journey, but I'm not sure if I need to be a member in order to do that"
"Oh I see new to the guild, we get that all the time, you don't need to be a member to sell or buy from the guild but if you want a shop or cart to operate a business yourself you'll need to be a member, membership of course comes with its own perks as well, but I digress can I inquire how much you have to sell and what category of good they belong to?"
"Well let's see they would fall under Food I suppose"
"Ah food goods are there a lot?"
"No not really I have them here in my bag"
"I see alright please enter the door on your right I will take you to one of our meeting rooms where we can have a specialist appraise your goods and give you a quote"
"Thank you Amalie"
Leaving the teller window as instructed I headed to the door, a guard stood there opening the door for me and escorting me to a meeting room on the 3rd floor, inside Amalie was already seated with a series of documents and writing implements in front of her.
"Welcome Mr. Kaeso is on his way so please take a seat, can I offer you some tea?"
"No thank you, I am fine"
Walking over I almost felt bad sitting on such a nice looking couch in my plainly obvious commoner clothes, sure they weren't the worst or even dirty but even still this looks like a couch fit for a noble.
Only a moment passed since I sat down before a series of knocks rang through the room from another door other than the one I entered. A second passed then the door opened and a middle aged man with balding blonde hair and a monocle entered, taking a seat next to Amalie.
"Thank you for coming to the guild today Sir my name is Kaeso, Amalie here tells me you have some Food goods you'd like to sell to the guild from your travels?"
"Nice to meet you, my name is Kokei and yes that is correct I don't have much I would like to sell but I'd be grateful for you to take look at my wares"
Kaeso nodded his head, so I took a final gulp before deciding to take out my three Yggdrasill goods from my pack, and placing them on the table in front of me.
"I see, and might I inquire what these good you've brought out are?"
Upon hearing that Amalie prepared herself to catalog what I replied with on her paperwork.
[Should be safe to just use their actual names, though that could be an error since they might not exist here in this world, but I'm not good at naming things and I know too little about this world to use something that already exists screw it I'm going to roll the dice and see where they land]
"This 'gesturing towards the wooden box' is a collection of several spices, from what I've been told it contains; black pepper, ginger powder, garlic powder, chili pepper, curry powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon"
"Black pepper!... and Powdered Garlike you say, I'm not familiar with the others you named do you mind if I appraise them?"
"Not at all sir"
The next moments passed with Kaeso taking a pinch of each spice from their boxes examining them under a magnifying lens, and casting some sort of spell on them, after each analysis he's write his own notes on Amalie's papers.
'Hgggmph'
Clearing his throat rather loudly
"My word Sir Kokei I've never seen such a wondrous collection of spices before in all my life, you had different names for them but that's not to common each country has its own culinary culture after all but even still all seven of these are rare if not extremely rare here in Mire, the guild would be extremely pleased to purchase them all from you"
"Ah that is good to hear; now next up I have a bag of Fairy Sugar"
Upon the end of my statement both Kaeso, and Amalie's eyes widened to the point I thought their eyes might pop out of their heads.
"Sugar and… Fairy Sugar at that you say?"
Responding in a very shaky voice.
"Yes"
Kaeso didn't hesitate nor even ask before he opened the bag and took a about a teaspoon of the sugar out giving it just as many checks as the spices before, even going to the point of taking a taste test by consuming a couple grains of sugar that struck to his prodding finger.
As soon as his finger touched his tongue tears began streaming down his face.
[Wow I mean I guess I never bothered to taste it myself but is Fairy sugar really that good?]
Amalie on the other hand started to panic, looking from me to the bag to Kaeso's face.
[Oh god does she think I poisoned him…]
Finally collecting himself after having a pretty lengthy weep from my perspective.
"My apologizes Sir Kokei, Mrs. Amalie I have disgraced myself severely"
"No worries Kaeso it's all good"
"No no no I cannot accept that, for me to have doubted your words and then without permission choose to test your product itself is beyond reproach but to think that in my lifetime I would actually get to see Fairy Sugar and then go further more to be able to taste it, one of my station should never have gotten a chance for this to happen"
Dropping to his knees and bowing his head till it touched the floor from the couch as he said this.
I franticly started waving my hands in front of me.
"Sir! Please I swear I do not mind, actually I less than mind as I hardly even knew what it was that I had in my possession nor what it's even worth"
[This in itself would be a merchants death sentence, I've pretty much declared they would be well within their rights to rip me off by quoting a much lower price and I'd be non the wiser]
Hearing my reply Kaeso returned to his seat on the couch still not looking me in the eye with a look of shame written on his face, Amalie on the other hand was endlessly staring at the bag of Sugar on the table.
"Mrs. Amalie you're welcome to try a taste for yourself if you'd like"
As soon as I said this she too averted her gaze looking down at her feet with a similar look of shame on her face, her cheeks blushing profusely.
"N… No.. Thank you very much for the offer but I could never hope to repay you even for a spoonful of that sugar Sir Kokei"
[huh really is it worth that much, that's potentially scary considering what I actually paid for it…]
'Hgggmph'
Kaeso cleared his throat again.
"And dare I ask what it is that's within those three bottles you have there Sir Kokei? Given the spices and this sugar it must also be something of such high-quality"
"Ha ha hah I don't know about that these only contain alcohol and I'm not sure how highly rated alcohol is in this country"
"I see I see, do you mind if I examine one of the bottles to see what kind and vintage it is, no need to worry we won't need to open the bottles to confirm the contents"
"Sure I don't mind"
Kaeso reached out picking up one bottle and pulling it up to his eyes, His eyes moved across the carving quickly until once again his eyes shot open and his entire body froze, the bottle in his hands slipped from his grasp and began to fall.
Next to him Amalie didn't hesitate having chosen to watch over Kaeso instead of focus on her paperwork, catching the bottle just as It was about to hit the floor.
"Kaeso just what do you think you're doing!"
Yelling out in shocked anger towards the man
"To attempt destruction of another's property as a guild representative how could you do such a shameful thing?"
Kaeso meanwhile remained petrified in place.
'Slap'
Amalie brought down an almighty slap across Kaeso's face half his face was now flushed red, while I cringed in my own chair wondering what the hell was going on.
Finally snapping out of his stupor.
"Oh dear, oh my, Sir Kokei, to have disgraced myself not once but now twice, if you wish it of me I would pledge myself to become your slave till the end of time to make of for my shame!"
Once again genuflecting before me as he said this.
Amalie this time wore the look of shock on her face before casting her eyes to the bottle she now was hugging to her chest.
"Sir… Sir Kokei just where did you get these bottles from?"
Her voice now on the edge of frantic panic as well.
Tilting my head at the pair in confusion.
"Kaeso please sit back down the bottle is fine so again I still don't mind, and as for the bottles I found them in a hoard I came across in a collection of small nations"
"A hoard? Ah yes I see"
Her response still full of shock casting only a small glace of doubt in my direction, while her grip on the bottle she held only tightened further.
[Sure it was a lie but I can't tell the truth here so obscurity here is best]
"To think you'd be so lucky to find not one but three bottles of dwarven wine in a hoard, excuse me for asking and doubting you again Sir Kokei but are you did you really find these in a hoard?"
Jerking back in my chair this time I was the one to wear the look of shock.
"Uh no… Honestly I've never even met a dwarf before"
Responding as calmly as I could
"But I have to ask why would you ask me that, is there something special about these bottles?"
"I see. I see so you really don't know what you hold in your possession"
"Sir Kokei that wine you have there is some of the rarest in the world, dwarven wine its purity and quality rivals and even surpasses Dragonspring Wine, and is much harder to come across now that the dwarves are thought to be an extinct race, or near enough to it nowadays"
"But I don't see what that has to do with you questioning where i found these bottles"
"Hah!"
Letting out a loud laugh
"Dwarves were lovers of Wealth and Alcohol as I'm sure you know so such high quality wine of this age would be the pinnacle of alcohol and is treasured as if it was a sacred treasure handed down from the gods themselves, the only ones who ever get to drink the nectar of the gods, are those of Royalty and those they are trying to show off to, but even then only a single bottle is ever produced per year so to see that you have 3 years worth of the wine here is a shock to us all."
"I see, that is most illuminating"
[$^&* this isn't good I didn't want to stand out and instead now I'm walking around with national treasures in my pocket]
"Is it still your desire to sell these goods to us, we can't stop you if you choose to keep them for yourself knowing their rarity of course, but on the other hand you'd stand to make a very good profit allowing the guild to purchase your good from you"
Amalie had left the conversation furiously documenting her paperwork as Kaeso looked back at me.
"Yes but of course for one such as me is hardly worthy of being in possession of such treasures as these, others are far more deserving of them, so I shall sell them all to the guild except for 2 small flasks of the sugar if that is alright with you Kaeso"
Nodding furiously, a flame was lit in his eyes.
"But of course sir Kokei, keep whatever you'd like, then I shall weigh the remaining"
Kaeso handed me a pair of flasks with cork stoppers filling them to the brim their contents combined would only equal about ½ a cup afterwards Kaeso weighed the remainder told the amount to Amalie before heading out of the room stating he was going to gather my payment for the goods.
As we waited I asked Amalie for a cup of tea since Kaeso seemed to be taking his time.
[Sure hope he's just counting coins and not summoning guards or the king or whatever to arrest me]
'clink'
A tray with a teapot and a pair of tea cups was placed on the table, each cup filled with tea, Amalie was skilled and placed a saucer before me, and one before he seat at the couch before retaking her seat.
She reached out her hand heading towards a bowl of white sugar that was also on the tray.
"Mrs. Amalie if you take sugar with your tea this time I must insist you join me in trying this Fairy sugar for the first time, and I won't take no for an answer"
Worry filled her eyes as I said this.
[Perhaps I should roleplay the bad guy a little]
"If you refuse my offer of generosity I might just have to take all my goods to another branch that's more hospitable"
[I want to die from embarrassment I'm blackmailing her into tasting sugar]
Her eyes widened again in shock but slowly her hand dropped and her head nodded, taking one of the flasks corks out I used the tea spoon to place one scoop of fairy sugar into each of our tea cups stirring it in.
The blue tea started to cloud with what looked like green smoke inside the cup, it looked like magic the tea itself now looked like crystal blue water with an aura like glow emanating from the cups.
"Shall we drink?"
Amalie managed to pickup her cup but her hand shook so violently I thought she might spill the cups entire contents due to extreme nervousness, her eyes not even bothering to look at the cup remaining on my person watching my every move.
'Sluuuuurrrrpppp'
I closed my eyes and took a long slow sip of the tea, I've never really liked tea it's always weak and it never properly goes with anything, and coffee is a real drink.
But.
[Oh my god! This is the best thing ever!]
My eyes remained closed but it was as if the world stopped, the flavor in my mouth was like nothing I'd ever tasted before.
[Is this world's tea just on a complete other level from earth's or wait no, Kaeso cried like a grown man actually cried from tasting the sugar, could this taste really have come from that?]
Opening my eyes I looked across at Amalie who was staring down at the cup in her hands he eyes were shining as if they were made of gold.
"Thank you for the tea, it's super tasty!"
"But Sir Kokei, this isn't the tea, those were only Blue Orchid leaves, they a grade 2 tea on their best day, something of this taste is only possible thanks to your Sugar, going by what I've just experienced I would hazard to say it's been elevated to at least grade 6 or 7 now, but to think you'd waste such a fine product on me of all people?"
She blushed quite hard as she spoke her final line.
"Oh please don't worry about it, I just figured it was unfair if of the three of us only Kaeso got to experience fairy sugar, besides to drink alone is bad enough but to make another watch as one enjoys life's bounty while denying another is a mortal sin in my eyes, besides the cost it took to acquire the sugar I'm sure will be paltry in comparison to what It'll sell for judging by yours and Kaeso's reactions thus far"
The flushing of her cheeks spread now her entire face went red.
[Oh dear I was trying to sound cool but I must've embarrassed her profusely by bringing up how they reacted to the sugars taste]
We sat in silence after this drinking our tea until finally a knock resounded, and Kaeso returned to the room, with a cart. On it was a large brown sack, and a pair of metal slabs that looked like the guild card press from the Adventurers guild.
"Sorry for the trouble of making you wait Sir Kokei it took quite a while to gather the materials required for such a transaction"
"No don't worry Mrs. Amalie was quite hospitable in taking care of me during your absence"
She turned her face now refusing to look at either of us.
[Oh boy now I've done it I've got to think about what I say before I say it, she's sure to die of embarrassment at this rate, I swear I didn't mean it to be taken that way!]
"I am most pleased the guild and its employee's were able to satisfy your noble personage Sir Kokei"
"Oh no need for that, I'm not a noble just a simple traveller"
"Ah yes I see, well alright lets finish up your transaction here with us, though I must ask a question if I may, the value of your goods is quite the sizeable amount" indicating to the large sack still sitting on the cart "Since it would potentially be inconvenient to carry around such an amount on your person, I took the liberty of bring in a registration plate to make you a member of the merchants guild."
"How would that help my struggle to carry a bag of cash?"
"Oh my yes of course the merchants guild acts like a bank of sorts you can deposit money at any branch and your account value is recorded on your Guild card you can then pay or withdraw money anytime you need at another branch"
[Hmmm feels like there's another reason why they want me to join… seems suspicious to force this option on someone who hasn't indicated any desire to join so far]
"I see that does sound advantageous however I'm already a member of the adventurer's guild and I possess the skill Item box, so carrying such an amount around won't be a problem for me"
Kaeso's face drooped dramatically with my response.
[Yeah he's got ulterior motives, if their cards are like the Adventurers they might hope to track me back to 'where I found my goods']
"Oh yes of course such a skill would help, but it would be a great asset for a merchant as well their nothing but perks to joining the guild so won't you reconsider?"
"I will keep it in mind but at this time I haven't any desire for being a merchant other than to sell the goods I find in my travels I feel are better suited to be sold to this guild, and who knows if I'll ever find something so incredibly rare like this ever again"
[Hopefully I can get him to lower his guard, and drop it the more ties I create in the capital the more likely my skill will be found out, and then the King will be after me for sure]
"I see we'll I do hope with my heart that day comes since we always are on the lookout for promising young merchants, now as for your payment"
'Ugh'
Straining to lift the sack and place it before me.
"The value of your good breaks down as such; the spice box will be bought for 5 white gold coins, The Fairy Sugar 45 small gold coins, and each bottle of Wine for 5 large gold coins per bottle, so the grand total comes to 1,955,000 Dokc, do you agree to the sale of your good for this price?"
[1… 1.9… almost two million Dokc, Holy!!! I feel so happy but also so ashamed, I spent so little to buy those goods, and there worth this much, now I'm really afraid of being caught and turned into someone's personal Gacha machine]
"Ugh yeah… that's fine but isn't the amount to much?"
"Not at all Sir Kokei these are extremely rare goods so the price matches their rarity, I don't mean to prevent their sale but if you sold the wine at auction you could probably even get more per bottle"
"I see well no need to worry about that, as stated I plan to sell them here today, they wouldn't be safe on my person any longer"
"Then our deal is set"
Reaching out his hand, I also likewise reached out and accepted his handshake. Meanwhile Amalie had sprung to her feet to collect the guilds new goods and place them onto the cart.
After returning to the cart himself Kaeso led it out of the room.
"We thank you for your business here today Mr Kokei… and Hope to see you again in the future"
Amalie extended pleasantries before doing a light bow and following after him.
[I might be reading into this but I think she likes me…]
Well business concluded and alone in the room now I grabbed the sack of gold and placed it into my inventory, the display screen showing the total count of coins within the sack.
[Well that took longer than I expected but at this rate I'll have to find a room for the night unless I head out on my own]
Leaving the merchants guild I walked the street stopping by a couple stalls on my stroll to collect some skewers and a bag of crackers for my lunch, the sun having long since starting its descent ushering in the night.
[Well better head back to the inn I guess, if I haven't heard back from the Wolves by tomorrow I'll set out on my own, and just hope for the best i guess, or see if i can find a last minute escort party in the morning.]