The return trip to Sha-Laial was rushed, but thankfully, without issues. Naya and Echo had managed to keep the group safely out of sight of any kobolds or wild animals as they traveled back the way they came through the valley. Once back onto the main roads, there weren't any real threats. Bandits and the like were not all that common in the Empire since Ageneon ascended to the throne. They'd never encountered a proper bandit gang in all their travels. The worst they'd encountered was a group of armed thugs on a bridge it was clear they didn't own, but their usage fee was very minimal. A fee low enough that most people wouldn't even think twice about just paying it. It made sense to keep it quiet, stay a few days, collect enough coin, live comfortably for a few months, fade away before authorities came to investigate and strike again somewhere else a few months later. It's more grift than robbery.
Upon hitting the city gates, the team split up as discussed. Mavec, Illaria, and Echo broke off and headed for the Academy. The sun was about midday in the sky when they snaked their way over to the magical shop the academy ran. A centaur, a rarity in the Empire, stood behind the booth today. He had a big, bushy beard that practically looked like a lion's mane in color and fluffiness. His black shirt boldly bore his bronze badge with the symbol of evocation on it. Illaria took the lead. She confidently strode up to the desk and brushed her long red hair away from her face. "Excuse me, good sir, we're here to sell some items to the Academy. We've recovered some enchanted clothing and parts for clockwork contraptions that might be of some interest to the Academy." She swept her arm to Echo, who carried the bulk of the products.
"Well, certainly, we'd be most interested in looking at these items and seeing if we can make some sort of deal," the man said, giving a soft huff.
"Excellent, here's what we've got," Mavec said as he placed examples of each part they had, with a detailed note on the exact quantity as well as the grade and quality of each piece attached. "For the clockwork, I was thinking somewhere in the ballpark of 10,000 gold. You're welcome to check my appraisal, and afterward, you'll see that I've given quite a lowball number."
"I'll need to call someone from the Artificy department down here to verify," he said.
"Understandably, good sir, though before you make any calls on that, we also have these," Illaria said as she placed a set of clothing on the tabletop. “Our enchanter assures us they are enchanted with protection from fire, a reasonably expensive enchantment. We have about a dozen pairs of them. He's suggested a price of 30,000 for these pieces. He estimates their real value to be much higher. Still, we understand that there would be little demand for this product outside of the Academy itself. We thus are willing to accept a much lower price for it."
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
"Sounds like I need to call for an enchanter, too, to verify the authenticity of the items." The centaur cast a spell, and he spoke a message out loud. About ten minutes later, they were joined by a gnome and a dwarf. The gnome was in pristine, crisp-pressed clothing, while the dwarf was covered in soot; his clothing bore multiple scorch marks. They conferred behind the counter, and each appraised the items brought before them.
"The best we can do is 20,000 for the entire haul," the centaur stated confidently.
Illaria laughed. "Our asking prices were already quite generous. If you won't be treating fairly with us, then we'll take everything and try to source it ourselves. We'd be able to charge full price that way and only have to sell about half to make our target goal. I'm sure some noble houses could be convinced to buy a suit or two of fire resistance. It wouldn't be hard to make the case to them that having at least one suit around would mean they survived a fire where others might have died. I'm quite certain I could sell all twelve of these by nightfall if you don't take the deal."
"Now, isn't that a bit hasty? Perhaps we can do a little better. 25,000 for the lot."
Mavec picked Piquora up and placed her heavily on the table. He grabbed back the piece of parchment he'd written his estimates on, methodically crossed off every price, and wrote in a new, much higher price, then did the same with the list for enchanted items. "This is what the parts would retail for on the general market. We intentionally lowballed because we'd like to offload them all right now. We figured we'd take a hit for convenience, but not if you won't meet us halfway. You buy these, and you either get to use them for the Academy itself or resell them for double and churn a profit. This is a good deal, and we won't be swindled out of a single copper. Forty thousand for the set, or else we walk. Illaria is right; we don't need to offload all of it today, just enough at full price to get us that forty thousand. So what's it going to be? A fair deal for the Academy or nothing?"
The centaur glanced over the numbers again and asked his colleagues for advice. They whispered their words so that Illaria and Mavec couldn't hear them. "After discussing it further, we agree to the price of 40,000."
"Alright, then we should be signing for it and getting this process started," Illaria said. Several minutes went by as the paperwork and currency were prepared.
"Can you believe they tried to scam us?" Mavec said, annoyance ringing through his voice.
"Yes, it's the job of a business to make money, Mavec; they aren't in it for altruism," Illaria replied.
"Yeah, but we already cut them an excellent deal."
"Considering we paid nothing for it, I see why they wanted to go even lower. Too bad for them we had a set amount we needed to get, else that tactic might have worked in their favor."
"Still, a dick move," Mavec said as he lit a cigarette. About another half hour later, they were approached with several large sacks of platinum coins. Mavec let out a sigh of relief. Bait and Naya hopefully did a fine job holding their place for the tournament.