The Realm Between: A LitRPG Saga (Books 7 - 10), page 83
Mirroring Azure’s thoughts, Rerdam continued, “It would not be difficult to find someone to carry out the same task if a bit of coin was involved.”
“But Emperor Reko would not believe them without a Token of Godly Flesh,” Jin reminded them.
“That’s why it has to be Uden.” Azure reclaimed his plan. “He’s the only one we can trust.”
The elf shook his head. “Not in The Deathlands.”
Azure deflated a bit, knowing that Jin would stand firm beyond reason.
The old knight looked distant for a moment before reanimating. “This is still not a bad idea, and we should not take it off the table.”
“I refuse to bring Uden here.” The elf’s voice rose slightly to display final authority.
“No. You are right. Using Uden should be a last resort. But we are in The Deathlands.” He held out his arms again. “This is black market central. If we look hard enough, we might be able to find a Cloak of Concealment similar to your own that we can use to trick Emperor Reko into thinking that one of us is someone else.”
Jin turned his head slightly downward and to the side before nodding. “Yes. Even better if it’s not a cloak at all, but a different item. I would not want to send someone to Emperor Reko until a few days have passed anyway. Sending someone right away would look too suspicious.”
“Or just coincidence,” Azure argued in a mumble, though his words were ignored.
“It’s as good a plan as any,” the elf decided. “We will divide and sweep the city. Stop at every merchant you come across. Bribe them to see their secret wares, if you must. And if you find an item that can change one’s physical identity, buy it.
“Let us backtrack to Sunaway Inn and procure some maps. Then we will split the city between us, do what we can with the rest of this day, and return to the inn at night.”
All in agreement of the plan, the men did just that. While about half of the day had been wasted seeking an audience with Emperor Reko, there was still enough daylight left to peruse the nearby merchants. After spending 6 silver each on a map of Hadel that marked all the merchant areas, they divided the city as equally as possible, then parted ways to begin scouting their territories.
Azure was assigned the western part of Hadel. Not wasting any time, he stopped at the first merchant he came across, a middle-aged woman wearing a modest red and black dress. Her cart was parked on the side of a street a few blocks away from Sunaway Inn. To start their transactional relationship, Azure offloaded everything he wanted to sell, earning 18 gold, 4 silver, and 9 copper.
Then he checked her wares, an assortment of random items mainly consisting of lengths of various types of wood. Azure wasn’t surprised to find they could be used for crafting. Briefly, he marinated on how to best approach her about her secret inventory, picking up each piece of wood and slowly running his fingers over it with interest.
I could buy some of this and see what I might be able to craft. Whatever the case, it would be a good way to build rapport.
“Does anything catch your interest?” the woman asked in a voice much younger than her years, trying to promote the sale.
Azure quickly scanned over his options one more time.
Length of Red Oak
Quantity: 92
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 2.9 kg
Uses: Crafting
Length of Osage Orange
Quantity: 93
Item Class: Uncommon
Quality: Average
Weight: 3.2 kg
Uses: Crafting
Length of Yew
Quantity: 57
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 3.0 kg
Uses: Crafting
Length of Ash
Quantity: 25
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 2.4 kg
Uses: Crafting Component
Length of Black Locust
Quantity: 7
Item Class: Uncommon
Quality: Average
Weight: 2.7 kg
Uses: Crafting
“Could you tell me how much these are?” he asked politely.
“An aspiring bowyer?” She smiled at him, giving a clue as to what the pieces were typically purchased for.
“It is an interest of mine,” Azure half-lied.
Dropping the pleasantries, the woman immediately launched into the prices. “The Red Oak is 3 silver, 5 copper each. The Osage Orange is 2 gold, 1 silver. The Yew is 4 silver, 4 copper. The Ash is 2 silver, 6 copper. And the Black Locust is 1 gold, 8 silver, 5 copper each.”
My God, that’s expensive. Maybe he wouldn’t buy anything after all.
Azure clicked his tongue. “Though the interest is there, I, unfortunately, don’t know how to craft anything above a primitive bow. It seems this fine wood would be wasted on me.”
The woman hummed for a moment before pulling something from the satchel at her side. “Perhaps I can interest you in a recipe worthy of such wood.”
She held a rolled-up scroll in her hand but did not offer it to him. “This would teach you how to make an Osage Orange Bow.”
Of course, she had picked the recipe that required the most expensive piece of wood.
“And how much would that cost me?” Azure eyed the paper.
“Only 9 silver. An Osage Orange Bow of Average Quality would sell for around 4 gold and 5 silver at most merchants. It’s a real steal. And if you’re interested in buying back that rune you just sold me, I could, for a small fee, teach you how to infuse it into the bow, which would greatly increase its value.” Her smile turned feline, her brown eyes growing bright as she continued to upsell.
9 silver for the recipe was, indeed, a steal. However, he had a feeling that the lesson would not come as cheap.
“I didn’t know you could do that with runes,” Azure confessed.
“You have a lot to learn as a bowyer, then,” she said.
“And how much would this lesson cost me?” He raised an eyebrow.
“50 gold,” the merchant replied.
Azure hissed, trying not to get caught up in the sale. He still had a little over a dozen merchants to visit. If Azure was going to use bribery to gain access to their secret inventory, he needed to be careful with his coin now. That aside, he doubted she would trust him enough to let him see more unless he bought at least something from her.
“I’ll take the recipe and a Length of Osage Orange. Unfortunately, I don’t have time for the lessons right now.” Azure began digging in his Worn Leather Backpack for the coin.
“What’s your level in Woodworking?” She stared at his hands while he searched for the coin.
“10. Why?”
When Azure offered her the money, the merchant gave pause. “Might I recommend you purchase multiple pieces of wood? At that level, you will have a difficult time producing something other than junk without practice.”
He sighed inwardly. “How many pieces do you recommend I purchase?”
“For a beginner, such as yourself, I would recommend no less than 5. Preferably 10.”
His eyes widened. “Do you really think I’ll mess up that much?”
She gave him an apologetic look. “It’s the price of practicing with such a difficult recipe.”
The sigh Azure had been holding in escaped his lips as he considered how much he was really willing to spend with this first vendor.
“Perhaps I’d be better off just buying an Osage Orange Bow,” he half-joked, debating on segueing into why he was really there.
The merchant had already proven she had things for sale that were not on display. Still, it was probably better to seal the deal before pressing for more. Doing a bit of mental math, Azure figured that he could not afford to spend more than 4 gold at each vendor.
“Do you have any recipes for making bows out of the other types of wood?” He tried for the obviously cheaper option.
“No.” Her expression was deadpan.
Without missing a beat, Azure said, “Then let me get the recipe you do have and one Length of Osage Orange. Hopefully, it’s not too complicated. If I don’t screw it up too badly, I’ll come back later and buy more wood.” He took the original coins he had fished out and offered them over.
Though the merchant’s smile faltered somewhat, she still made the sale.
Azure looked at her satchel as she placed the coin inside. “Do you happen to have anything else for sale? I noticed that recipe wasn’t on the table. Aside from my budding interest in bow making, I’m also always on the lookout for rare items.” He made eye contact with her, enunciating the ‘rare items’ part.
“What type of rare items?” She returned his gaze in kind.
“Oh, anything that might catch my interest.” Azure made sure to cast a wide net. “Perhaps an extra gold could open up a broader array of inventory to me.” He held up another gold coin to her.
A large smile once more alighted on her face as she quickly pocketed the coin. “Well, I may have something of interest for a discerning customer such as yourself.”
Azure’s heartbeat accelerated as the merchant urged him behind her cart, wanting to show him the item in secret.
Glancing from left to right for prying eyes, she dug what appeared to be a bundle of brown silk from her bag before handing it over. “Most of my secret inventory goes quick, so if you want these, I’d recommend buying them now. Someone just sold them to me a few hours ago. Found them on a dead Adventurer a few miles outside the city,” the merchant explained quickly while Azure examined the item.
Mage’s Silk Pants of Spell Reduction
Defense: +18
Vitality: +30
Intelligence: +7
Strength: +7
Agility: +7
Dexterity: +7
Charisma: +30
Type: Light Armor
Durability: 36/40
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.1 kg
Requirements: Level 40
Traits: +5% resistance to Cold, +5% resistance to Poison, +5 resistance to Magic Damage
Uses: Automatically casts Spell Reduction III anytime the wearer casts a spell. Spell Reduction III reduces the Cooldown time of any spell cast by 15 minutes. Consumes 1 Durability per use
My God, Azure thought, but he wouldn’t let the words come to his lips and give away how much he wanted the pants. He didn’t even possess a spell with that long of a Cooldown time. It seemed it would be a waste to wear the pants if he was casting spells with a shorter Cooldown duration, but being able to cast back-to-back would definitely be a boon in any dangerous situation.
“How much?” were the words that left Azure’s mouth instead. He silently chastised himself for the way they came out—with a twinge of need.
“110 gold.” She kept her gaze on his face, appraising if he would be willing to part with the coin.
Azure hissed in pain. Even if the merchant lowered the price to half of that, he couldn’t risk spending so much.
With a pang of bitterness, Azure wondered how many times he’d feel this sting between now and when he finally found an item of concealment—if he even did.
Closing his eyes and with an inward sigh, he handed the pants back to her. “It’s a marvelous item, but I’m afraid it’s not what I’m looking for.”
“What exactly are you looking for?” the merchant pressed for details.
“An item of concealment,” Azure confessed finally, hoping that his journey might end there so that he wouldn’t have to suffer losing out on other great equipment.
The woman promptly stuffed the pants back in her satchel. “Then I’m afraid our business here is done.”
“I’m afraid so.” He nodded curtly. “Thank you for your time.”
Azure excused himself and kept walking toward the next merchant marked on his map. Uneasiness swirled in the pit of his stomach as he left the Mage’s Silk Pants of Spell Reduction behind. Part of him knew that the merchant’s scarcity tactic was designed to make him impulsively purchase the pants. That marketing tactic was used back on Earth as well. But this wasn’t Earth, and there was a good chance that if Azure came back later, the pants would be gone.
The thought of losing them made him sick, but he knew that even if he bought the pants now, they likely would only sell for half the coin if he needed to recoup the money to purchase the item of concealment. It was best to just let them go and put them out of his mind.
A few blocks further, Azure came upon another merchant cart. This one was loaded with various sets of armor, many of which looked impressive. Upon questioning the merchant, an older man in finer dress than most around them, he quickly discovered that not a single item was affordable, considering what he needed to save back. Feigning a lack of interest in the merchant’s current wares, Azure boldly asked about other, more unique items that he might have in stock. When the man gave him a look of suspicion, Azure offered him a gold coin.
This seemed to be the sweet price in gaining the trust of the merchants, and soon, the man was telling him of the spell scrolls he had in his possession.
It was another temptation that made Azure ache as he listened to the merchant list off the scrolls he had for sale, but at 23 gold each, Azure had to hold himself back.
He thanked the merchant and, once more, moved on.
The sun was starting to fade over the horizon, so Azure had to make haste, knowing that he only had time to visit one more merchant before he would need to head back to Sunaway Inn. Quickly, he stepped into an apothecary on one of the street corners. Vials and tinctures filled the shelves of the small building. Surely, Azure could afford something here.
Not wanting to waste time, he randomly grabbed a few ampules from a set of fishbowls on one of the shelves and brought them up to the young woman manning the counter to ask how much they cost.
Drop of Black Mamba Venom
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.0 kg
Uses: Causes Paralysis for 10 minutes if drunk
Drop of Taipan Venom
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.0 kg
Uses: Causes Paralysis for 10 minutes if drunk
Crushed Choresine
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.0 kg
Uses: Kills birds if ingested
The Black Mamba Venom was 1 gold, 5 silver. Only a hair cheaper, the Taipan Venom was 1 gold. And the Crushed Choresine was 1 gold, 4 silver.
Azure found those prices outrageous, and he couldn’t wrap his head around why anyone would want the Crushed Choresine when arrows were so much cheaper.
“How many birds will this kill?” He held the vial up to the woman, looking at the orange and black flecks inside.
“At least a dozen,” she told him. “Crushed up like this, the flakes mimic seeds. The birds know no better when they gobble them up.” A strangely sadistic smile took over her youthful face.
Azure found the merchant attractive but also a bit creepy. Her pale skin was offset by large brown eyes and chestnut hair pulled back into a high ponytail. The tan apron she wore left her arms and the sides of her breasts exposed. There was something exotic about her, but he couldn’t quite place it, and he got a sense that he should think of her like a poisonous flower—pretty on the outside but best left alone.
She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the counter, her breasts pressing together to create cleavage that went almost all the way up to her neck. “I’m guessing you’re not used to all the crows and ravens we have around here.”
As soon as she said it, Azure found value in the item. “I don’t think I need these two after all.” He pushed the snake venom aside, then dug into his Worn Leather Backpack for the coin to pay the merchant as he continued speaking. “You wouldn’t happen to have something that can change a person’s identity?”
“Why? Do you have some dastardly deed that needs to be done?” She wiggled her backside behind the counter.
When Azure glanced up, their eyes locked. Knowing better than to look away, he tried to remain confident in his words. “Maybe. Should you have such an item, I could make it worth your time to sell it to me.” Reflexively, he scooped another gold coin into his palm before slapping it down on top of the counter with the rest of his payment.
The woman’s eyes went to the coin, and her smile faltered. “Exactly how much do you think my time is worth?”
Clearly, she wants more money.
Another gold was added to the rest, creating a small stack.
She looked up at him and pouted. “You must think I’m cheap.”
Sighing inwardly, Azure dug in his bag for a final gold coin. “Do you have something like that or not?”
“I may.” The merchant’s eyes shot up to the ceiling, and she wiggled again. “But it’s going to cost you more than a few gold coins.”
“Name your price.” He stood with his hand poised to dig out more coin from his bag.
Finally, the woman straightened, her voice serious. “Bare your soul to me first.”
Unexpectedly, a notification popped up.
Tannas Stuv is requesting to join your party. Will you accept?
Azure hesitated for but a moment before accepting.
Once he did, they both stood there for several silent moments Analyzing each other.
Name: Tannas Stuv
Race: Human
Level: 44
Health: 1170
Mana: 550
Stamina: 1160
Languages: Common Tongue, Sprite, Goblin-Tongue, Elvish, Animalkin, Ogre, Orc, Giant, Trollish, Common Gnome, Bugbear, Centaur, Knoll, Kobold, Minotaur, Faun
He was surprised that they were the same level. Seeing her stats, even without boosts from gear, reminded him of how much he’d lost when he’d died during the fight with the chaoscrackle and Jin had made a deal with Finborh to resurrect him—reminded him of how weak he was compared to others of the same level.
