“Young master, the black market is on the other end of this shopping street. There are a few shops affiliated with our Duchy that would be safer than the rest. If you intend on going to the other shops, we would need more guards.”, she whispers to me.

She’s quite sharp for a servant. Inferring that I may attempt to ditch them if I didn’t receive a positive answer, she makes a concession and establishes a limit. Or is this because the previous owner tended to do this?

I heard that the previous owner of the body was introverted and preferred to be alone. Perhaps he sneaked out often. Wouldn’t be too far-fetched. This trip may arouse some suspicion but the potential payoffs are worth that risk to me.

I nod my head in agreement, “Mm, we’ll just visit those affiliated with the House for now then.”

She proceeds to inform the guards of our destination. The guards tense up upon hearing where we’re going, they relax after knowing that we’re only visiting those with connections with the Duchy. It’ll take us some time to get there on foot, so I hire a carriage for 2 silvers.

We swiftly arrive. There’s people of every kind in the area, most of them are cloaked.There are very few groups as conspicuous as ours, while I could have went disguised and alone, but weighing the dangers in each option, going normally may even be safer than going incognito. No one will thoughtlessly provoke a noble family without prior knowledge, and even fewer would be willing to provoke one of the two leaders of the military in the Kingdom. Appearing without concealment deters most small fries, which is really all I have to worry about.

The guards start to get more cautious on arrival, I simply motion for the maid to lead the way. She leads us to a medium sized shop, the store isn’t too fancily adorned, but I notice that the signboard is made with purple heart wood.

As we enter, a plump little shopkeeper comes over to greet us, “Ah, welcome to my humble shop, I’m the owner, Yuan Zheng.” His shifty eyes noticed my entourage which followed behind me quickly. “What brings young master to my shop?”, he asks.

“I need a meditation manual.”, I ask directly.

“I’m afraid I don’t have that for sale, and I doubt any of the others have any. Even if they do, it’ll be low grade at best.” He answers after a thought.

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Am I that lucky?

I whisper to the maid to standby outside with the guards. They comply readily.

“So what will it take for you to have it for sale then?” He made sure to say that it wasn’t on sale, not that he didn’t have it, while implying that the one he holds is middle grade at least. I doubt any young master’s savings can afford such a prized item, he wants something with my status.

“If I’m not wrong, you’re the only son of the Duke’s first wife, Qiu Xue, right? The rumours say you’re untalented and airheaded, but rumours can be exaggerated…”

“Get to the point.”

“I merely want to request a cooperation, I will bet on the fact that you can become the successor of the family, and when that happens, I need a small favour from you. I’ll offer this middle grade meditation technique scroll, it was found in an ancient ruin outside the city, no complications.”

Scrolls are what mages use to inscribe spells and techniques on, unfortunately, they’re all single-use items, so a meditation technique scroll like this, once read, disappears. If it is from a ruin as well, there’s almost no chance it turns out to be the technique of an influential family, or worse, the royal family.

“What’s the favour, I don’t believe that you’ll stake an item like this on just a chance.”

“You worry excessively, young master, but it is as you say. I also want to borrow one of your guards for a fews days, as for the favour, It can be rejected if you deem it unsuitable when the time comes.”

I see, he wants to leverage on my current status as the eldest son. The favour is just the cherry on top, if I place one of my guards there, it’s implying that I have an intimate relationship with the store, or worse yet, the Duke House has deeper relations with it. If he does anything unsavoury, it could lead to a lot of complications for the Duke House, and me. Even if I were to declare that I have nothing to do with the store, no one would believe me at the time.

I do need the manual, but the risk here is high.

“I accept on the condition that the clerk behind you be transferred over to work for me permanently. I believe it’s a fair deal nonetheless.” The clerk with a lack of presence shakes slightly from being called by me. I guess he’s surprised from being noticed, I almost didn’t notice him if I didn’t focus on the surroundings.

It’s not much, but this way, if he’s caught doing any underhanded dealings, I have his previous clerk to prove my lack of connection to the owner. I believe the Duke House has ways of making people tell the truth in the case it happens. Truthfully, I’m still at risk for this, but that manual is something required if I were to continue living peacefully here.

The owner has a glint in his eye for a moment, before breaking into a soft smile.

“I accept your conditions. Putting aside my previous statements, I do have faith in your succeeding of the Duke and I shall express some goodwill here. I’ll gift young master 3 apprentice spell books, and a Class 1 Defensive Artifact. I believe that’s enough to show my sincerity in the matter.”

“I’m honoured and will keep your well wishes close to heart.”, he’s really being overly generous here, I doubt a normal store owner will give away a Defensive Artifact casually, even to a Duke’s son. A Class 1 Defensive Artifact is as the name states, it’s imbued with a Class 1 defensive magic, able to defend, absorb or deflect the attacks of a Class 1 Mage for some time. It’s an item many small noble families don’t even own.

The Duke House should have some, but I don’t have any in my possession as the eldest son. This is abnormal, It is one of the things I was hoping to find out from my entourage on this trip.