The door knocker knocked loudly twice and then fell silent. Hartung, the oldest working member of the Guild of Canal Workers, heaved himself up from his chair with difficulty and went to the front door. When he opened it, he saw a young man standing there. He had a large sack next to him on the floor. "Good morning, master..."

"Hartung. Just Hartung. What do you want, boy? We won't be recruiting journeymen again for another month."

"I already have a master. Master merchant Radek. He sent me because he's only in town for a short time and can't do everything himself." He looked around briefly as if expecting to see his master appear behind him and then continued: "I can do it!"

"Well, what do you want with us? We have fixed trading partners for most of our needs."

"Oh, I have something to offer that I'm sure you don't have yet. May I come in?"

Hartung nodded kindly and waved him in. The young man accepted the invitation and carefully set down his sack: "On our last trading trip, we met an adventurer who collects exotic plants. We bought some alchemical ingredients from him cheaply and gave him a very good price for the equipment he needed. Good climbing hooks and ropes are hard to come by on the edge of the desert."

"You’ve been in the desert?" Hartung pointed through the open door into the lounge. "Would you like some tea? You can tell me about your trip."

"Thank you, but unfortunately I don't have enough time for the interesting stories. My master is currently selling the alchemically useful herbs and minerals at the mage academy. But there's something else that might be more interesting for your guild. Could I perhaps speak to someone who can make a deal for the guild?"

"Guildmaster Runtar is upstairs in his office. He's busy with the accounts at the moment. He's always happy to be disturbed. He hates doing the math."

A little later, all three were sitting in the guild master's office. The young journeyman merchant took a small box from his carrier bag and placed it on the table. "Could we close the shutters? What I want to sell to the guild is easier to see in the dark.”

Hartung nodded, opened the glass windows and pulled the wooden shutters closed. The room went dark. Only a little light came in through fine cracks and around the wooden shutters. Hartung returned carefully and sat back down on a chair. The journeyman reached for the box, paused dramatically and then opened it. A soft golden-green light illuminated the room. Then he reached in and took out a fist-sized piece of moss. The guild master took it and looked at it with interest: "Reminds me of the moss on the walls of the Meklar Dungeon. That's where I earned the XP for my seventh level."

"Exactly! Except that this also grows outside dungeons. An adventurer found it in a cave deep under the desert. It only grows at a certain depth, but I can imagine that it could be very interesting for your guild."

Runtar averted his eyes, visibly reluctant. Then he lowered his hand with the moss to the table, sighed and looked at the journeyman: "We get along very well with our magical helmet lamps. But this might be a nice addition. If it's not too expensive."

The journeyman trader took the moss from him and carefully put it back in the box:

"My master knows about the magical glowstones you got from the mage academy. They must cost 200 gold pieces per stone."

"That may be, but we already have four of them. A generous donation from the academy."

"But what if one of them gets lost? Or you have a problem where you need more light?"

"Then there are still oil lanterns." The Guild Master waved his hand in disinterest, but his gaze kept flickering to the still open box.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The journeyman merchant noticed this very well and continued: "So far, there is only one occurrence of this new type of moss and it is in the desert. Behind the current war front. No one will be able to get to it for years to come. You also need a special alchemical elixir to plant it. After that, however, it multiplies on its own."

"Well, what does your master want for a few bales of moss?"

"He told me not to give her away for less than two thousand gold pieces."

Guildmaster Runtar didn't have to pretend to break into a dry coughing fit: "Two thousand? That's the canal workers' guild. Not the gold miners' guild."

The journeyman shrank into himself. He said meekly: "I should have known. My master wanted to sell the moss to the alchemists in the capital. I convinced him that we could get a better price where it could really be put to good use. In the dark, dangerous tunnels under the city. Full of rats and surely even more terrifying monsters that sneak up through the darkness unseen. Honest workers who disappear and are never seen again..."

The guild master looked at him suspiciously: "What makes you think that?"

"Just a rumor I overheard at the inn. They said your guild was looking for new staff. Because a few men have gone missing. Come to think of it, didn't they have their glowstones with them?"

"Well, that's just baseless talk, of course. Our workers are all doing very well." He thought for a moment: "I could hardly forgive myself if you were to lose your apprenticeship just because you believed the false rumors. I will buy the moss from you for a generous price. Shall we say... two hundred gold pieces?"

"Even here in the city, we could get 1800 gold pieces for it at the academy. More if we take it to the capital. If I don’t make a trade, my master will just laugh at me. If I give away his goods, he'll whip me and chase me away!"

The two haggled for a while longer before agreeing on 350 gold pieces. The guild master counted out the sum in neat stacks on the table, almost in tears, whereupon the journeyman carelessly shoved it into a bag of holding with a disappointed face. Scowling, he explained how best to attach the moss. He took a large bottle of greenish liquid out of the bag: "The mixture is mixed with a durability elixir and a growth spell. Paint it on the ceilings in all corridors from the second highest level upwards. The canal level directly below the street is unlikely to work. It doesn't grow that high up in its caves. The best place to put it is at intersections. In a few months, you won't need to take any more light down there."

The journeyman merchant stepped out of the guild building with his head down. With his head down, he shuffled dejectedly along the street and turned into a side alley. A raven fluttered from the roof and landed on his shoulder: "Well, Weylan? Did it work?"

He looked around carefully and then straightened up when he couldn't find any witnesses. A broad grin curved up the corners of his mouth and his eyes flashed: "Excellent! Peituwin's blessing was undoubtedly doubly upon me today. I negotiated a hundred gold pieces more than we had planned. The guild will be down there distributing glowing moss and will be pleased with how quickly it spreads. If anyone finds it unusual, they'll blame it on the fertility spell. They'll also find it when they have the mixture examined by a mage."

The raven's beak twisted into a mischievous grin, although it appeared to be made of solid horn. "Malvorik will be pleased."

"You're already got used to your self transformation spell?"

"The wings have a strange arrangement on the fuselage and unusually long feathers. The air currents and the flapping of the wings take some getting used to, but I can manage. As long as I don't have to do any aerobatic maneuvers, it's enough."

"Good, so we continue as planned? You go on a round trip and look for a suitable place for a hidden exit and I'll keep shopping until then?"

"We'll meet right here as soon as the sun disappears behind the mountains. At the end of the alley is a manhole cover to the sewers. Nobody will see us going down here. By then, the duskgnomes will be waiting at the bottom to take your purchases."

Weylan nodded: "Good, then I'll make it back to my master in time. The shopping will take up the rest of my day off, but I think it will be worth it. I hope Malvorik gets around to brewing something soon."

"It's hard to say. He's still very busy with the city at the moment. He has already overhauled the water supply and sewage system three times. He has also gone completely overboard with the playground for the children. A miniature castle with a drawbridge, climbing ropes, swings, seesaws and a large recessed area with fine sand. A meadow would certainly have been enough for them."

"Sounds interesting. I'll have a look next week on my day off. Say hello to Trulda when you see her."

The crow rolled his eyes: "As if you wouldn't meet them yourself almost every day. Your free time is obviously still enough for that."

"A lunch break together, if we can manage it. In the evening, we're both usually busy until late at night."

Mockingly crowing, Selvara flew off while Weylan pulled a long shopping list out of his pocket: "So let's see: Mandrakes, bloodroot..."