Roth had just been in the Union’s headquarters. However, the building felt completely different from a few moments ago. It wasn't simply just that after kissing Mel, the chandeliers seemed to shine brighter, the colors in the paintings looked more vivid, or all the works of art scattered throughout the Union building were prettier. The building was packed.
The previous quiet hallways were hustling and bustling with Union craftsmen. Every armchair, sofa, and even staircase was occupied by sitting artisans exchanging thoughts about techniques and discussing the day's issues.
“Just where were all these people hiding?” Roth asked, baffled.
Nathan and Andrew chuckled while exchanging amused looks. Nathan explained. “You should have seen us herding all these folks into the side rooms.”
“What about outside?” Roth asked.
“Mom and Susan were down the road, stopping traffic. Even Linda helped.”
He knew that this operation had been massive, but to the extent of putting his mom, sister-in-law, and niece acting as traffic police?! “Why didn’t you say you helped, too? Mel didn't even get to say hi to you guys. I have to tell her about this.”
Andrew burst out laughing. “Dude, if your girlfriend saw that all your family was involved in this date, she would have thought you were going to propose. Don’t scare the girl like that?”
“P-propose?” Roth changed colors from red to blue and then to red again.
Seeing his flustered look, Andrew laughed even harder. “Oh, Nate. Look at him. If he were on the road, he could stop cars. He looks like a traffic light.”
Nate, a little more serious, commented with a grave voice. “We're going to have to teach him the basics. He knows nothing about women! I bet Susy would be willing to teach him some lessons.”
Roth massaged his temples. Was being mocked the price to pay or love? He had to get his brothers talking about something else. “OK. OK, guys. That’s enough. Let's talk business.”
His brothers stood at attention as if a sergeant had appeared in their barracks for a surprise inspection. Seeing the shift, Roth smirked. At least with this, they would stop giving him a hard time.
Roth took out the broker ledger and started reviewing the balances and customers. Profits kept steadily increasing. Ratans had increased their orders of cheeses, and badgers were writing poetry like crazy. Lizards were spending top money on statboosters. Meanwhile, Lizardmen proved to be extraordinary suppliers of rare swamp herbs and good customers for metal and other crafting materials.
In addition, Roth had recently secured several key expansions to his trade agreements. The most notable new customer was the Moonlight Herd, suppliers of moonstones and horse hair and eager buyers of horseshoes. Other deals were extensions of existing partnerships. What had once been limited to trading with the dwarf exiles now included the entire dwarf race, renowned for their mining prowess and their abundant supply of trinkets. Likewise, his trade with the swamp alligators had expanded beyond Mario, giving him access to a much larger supply of valuable alligator teeth and tears. Most significantly, after successful negotiations with NPCs in Crownia, Roth had expanded his trade with the corvids—he no longer dealt only with those of Raven’s Nest but with all corvids in AstroTerra. This unlocked an unlimited supply of bijou and even some rare Dark Abyss specialties.
He was so glad that he now had his two brothers helping out. His business empire was becoming too large for just him to manage. After he brought in his brothers, his XP and income skyrocketed. Partly, it was due to having his two brothers working the routes around the clock. Hiring deliveries out to someone else paled in comparison to having two concerned associates handling customer orders and ensuring everything ran smoothly. The rate he negotiated with his two brothers was much more reasonable than Bucky’s. But the biggest reason for his success was his new [Broker] skill and titles.
After reaching level 30 in the broker profession, Roth broke through to the Journeyman rank and obtained a couple of nice surprises.
Journeyman (Uncommon)
Title description: Your reputation as a talented and hardworking professional earns you more benefits and rewards.
Title effects: Whenever you level up a profession, you're awarded 2% of the professional level gained as free professional experience.
Conditions to unlock [Journeyman]:
Reach level 30 in any profession. {complete}
The title was just an improved version of [Novice]. The increase from 1% to 2% was good, but Roth didn’t care much for the title. Then, there was the upgraded version of [Discount].
Bulk Discount (Uncommon)
Skill description: Your business sense and bargaining skills allow you to get better deals.
Skill effects: Passive skill. You can buy items from NPCs at a discount of 5%. Affected by wisdom, intelligence, charisma, and reputation. The more of something you buy, the cheaper it becomes.
Restrictions: Brokers, lvl. 30.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
[Discount] was a merchant’s most basic yet more critical skill. He had started his broker career with a measly 1% discount when purchasing merchandise. Even without factoring in his stats and reputation, [Bulk Discount] brought the discount up to 5%. With his behemoth-like stats, it went up to 20%!
Furthermore, thanks to his abundant cash flow, he could buy things in bulk, lowering the price even further. It wasn’t just him who could benefit from such a powerful skill, though. He had found a way to share it with Nate and Drew.
Mercantile Mentor (Rare)
Description: You are so talented that wherever you go, business flourishes. You’ve brought more hands on deck to help you.
Effects:
You can form professional parties with associates;
You can share one skill with your associates.
Requirements to unlock [Mercantile Mentor]:
To reach journeyman in the merchant or a merchant-like profession; {complete}
To have two disciples reach novice in the merchant or merchant-like profession. {complete}
When he introduced his brothers to Oscar and started them in the broker profession, Roth hadn’t imagined that it counted as mentoring. But it did.
With this title, they could form a party similar to hunting parties where XP and profit were shared. He could share [Bulk Discount] with them, elevating their profit margin. This skill alone allowed his brothers to buy stuff for less than half the price of the average merchant.
True, Roth had invested plenty in sending his brothers on the fast track to become full-fledged merchants. But it was paying off already. Nathan was a level 17 broker, while Andrew was level 16.
“Nathan, what have you got?” asked Roth.
“As you suggested, we've been working the races around the city to make the most of our traveling back and forth between Hilsford and Green Woods. I've made some progress with the beavers and got my eyes set on the owls next.”
Andrew stepped in. “I've been trying to work the wolves, but they are harder to deal with. I still haven't figured out what ticks them. They don't like to be handed out food.”
“We have to get the wolves into the trade agreement. That will go a long way toward making your commute safer,” Roth insisted.
“I'm out of ideas,” Andrew admitted.
Roth scratched his beard in thought. “From the little I’ve read about wolves in the Fox Canon, they prize hunting more than eating. They're all about the pack. Maybe that's the angle you need to explore.”
“Fox canon?” Nathan asked.
“What does that do? Shoot foxes?” Andrew joked.
“Canon, as in history. Do you know the bookshelves in the Fox Baroness’ secret chamber? She keeps the tomes there. If you ask, she might let you read them. It contains some insights into the lore of other races.” After some thought, Roth added. “Another thing you can do is ask the dogs about the wolves. They must have some sort of relationship. Have you tried that?”
“Argh. How did we miss that, Nate?!”
Nathan looked down, embarrassed.
Roth gave his brothers a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, guys. We’re just getting started. For now, just focus on maximizing profit on the route between Hilsford and Green Woods. I’ll handle the Rock Canyon, Crownia and the swamps for now.”
“Are you sure that’s no trouble for you?” Nathan asked, with a creased forehead.
“No. I can teleport there for free. Don’t worry. If you run into any trouble, reach out to me. I’m sorry, guys, but I need to see Drake. He’s expecting me.”
“Stay safe, Roth,” Nathan said, concerned.
Nathan and Andrew took turns hugging their little brother and left, talking about their next moves. Seeing his brothers so happy and feeling useful, Roth relaxed and walked up the stairs, past the many smiths discussing the best way to work steel, and headed toward Drake’s office. It was time to discover why Drake insisted on talking to him face-to-face. He just hoped he wasn’t in trouble.
*
“Haha, you dog.” Drake laughed as he slapped Roth’s back a few times.
Roth couldn’t be sure if Drake was intentionally using his metal hand to slap his back, but it still hurt! “Stop that, Drake! You're embarrassing me.”
“Ah, young love,” Drake exclaimed with a heavy sigh. His eyes became distant as if he could pierce through the past and see his younger self. The lines on his face grew longer, and his smile twisted into a scowl. A gloomy cloud darkened his mood.
Roth sighed. He was probably thinking of his failed marriage and his estranged son. Roth heard him talk about it many times at rageaholic meetings. It was hard to believe that Drake used to be violent with his family. Even though Drake had never said it, and Roth had never asked, he was pretty sure that was the foremost reason why he cut his arm off. It wasn’t just to pay for an honorable discharge from the mafia, but his way of apologizing to his family for raising his hand against them.
“How are things going with the Union?” Roth prompted, trying to steer the conversation away from his love life and Drake’s dark past.
Drake shook his head as if trying to get rid of the memory, holding on to Roth’s question and using it as a rope to climb out of the pit of his sad past. He forced a smile and looked at Roth again. “Never better. Our number count has just surpassed 60,000. Guilds have been coming to us for all sorts of stuff. We have more orders than we can manage. Right now, I'm considering opening a branch in the capital.”
“That sounds incredible!”
“You haven't been to the capital yet, have you?”
“I haven't,” Roth admitted.
Drake nodded, looking out the window. “Maybe it's for the best. Loki seems to have extraordinary influence there. I have to think things through before I take the Union there. After all, we’re untouchable here thanks to the city's protection. Over there, without proper planning, we’ll be sitting ducks.”
Shaking his head, he turned his back toward the window. “But that's not why I brought you here.” Drake walked over to his desk, opened the drawer, and set a black cylinder on the table. “This is why I wanted to see you, Roth.”
“What is that?”
“A gift for you.”
“A gift? From who?”
“Zin.”
Hearing the name of Loki's former foremost assassin, Roth frowned and clenched his fists. “What does he want?” Roth barked.
“He came to me a few days ago, asking you to add him to the VIP list of the union.”
“What? Why would I help him? You saw how he threw me under the bus and tried to provoke Loki into hunting me even further.” Roth asked in a voice louder than what he had intended.
His sponsor picked up on the underlying anger and smiled but said nothing. Drake tapped his fingers on the desk while using the other to cover his mouth, only showing his eyes and forehead. “I know Zin is bad news. However, you were just a tool to him. I don't think he has anything personal against you. And he's not asking us to be friends either. All he's asking is that you add his name to the VIP union list. Do you still have enough stats to add him?”
Roth opened his character’s sheet and compared his wisdom stat with the number of VIP union seats he could add. “I have to change into one of my forms to do it. But it should be okay,” Roth said, squirming in his chair uncomfortably.
“I know you don't like the idea of helping Zin out. But he's making us an offer that is hard to refuse. Inspect the item, Roth.”
Roth reached for the black cylinder on the desk. It was made of black slick metal. The moment he touched it, circuitry reminding him of the bioenergy on the tree bark of Antioch flashed, causing Roth to withdraw his hand. He picked up the item again and inspected it.