It was early in the evening once the two had finished their crude meal. Mammon had taken the opportunity to poke his head outside their rented basement to once again marvel at the outside world. The outside streets were still bustling with activity, more so now that the majority of laborers were off work and making their way back to their homes or to a local establishment. The long winter nights didn’t seem to dissuade the citizens of this town. The pleasant sound of coin jingled as street vendors and merchants exchanged goods, and even the dirtiest workers seemed to have enough money to spare, all great signs of a healthy economy.
This bustling economy served Mammon well enough, it did mean that he had ample opportunities to establish his initial funds before he could properly work on fixing Wren up, but it came with its own problems. The people here, as a whole, seemed rather content with their lot in life and what they had. That meant that while money was easy to come by, Greed was not. But that’s a problem for another day, Mammon was down to his last handful of coins, and that needed to be fixed immediately.
“What do you plan to do now, Mona?” Wren asked as he joined the demon by the roadside.
Mammon smiled. “We need to make money first, of course.”
The demon picked up a small stone on the ground and with the tiny amount of infernal magic left to him, placed a minor glamour over the stone. It immediately transformed into a crude diamond. The boy looked at the jewel with shock.
“From your reaction, little lordling,” Mammon said, “These objects hold value in your society as well, correct?”
Wren nodded quickly. “Yeah! They’re worth a lot! I’ve only seen the lords have those. How did you manage to make one of those from a rock? Doesn’t that mean we’ll be rich?”
Mammon chuckled. If only it were that easy, but to actually transmute one object to another was out of the capabilities of even Hell’s CEO at the height of his power.
“It’s a simple trick,” the demon explained as he undid the enchantment, “Just an illusion, but it’ll do for now.”
Wren frowned. “Do you plan to sell that? I hear that the jewelers have special ways to make sure that they don’t get tricked though…”
Well, that was good information to know, but somehow Mammon wasn’t too afraid of being found out. In the worst case, he’d just kill the people who found out, but more likely than not, the methods that the natives here wouldn’t work against Hell’s enchantments. Why would it work when the actual concept of Hell doesn’t exist here? Plus, he didn’t intend to sell too many glamored baubles; the demon was bound to be found out if he flooded the market with fake gems, but he should be able to get enough money for the immediate future this way.
“Leave that issue to me, my little friend,” Mammon assured, “I’ll make sure that we’re not found out.” The demon handed the boy the remainder of the money. “Now take that and get us something nice to eat while I secure our future funds. Do you remember what I said earlier?”
Wren nodded. “Yes, Mona. I have to spend more now so that I can be strong enough later.” He blushed. “And I want to let you have some good food as well, since you didn’t have any before.”
Mammon smiled. “That’s a good lad, get us something nice. Call for me in your mind if you run into trouble and I’ll come right to you, okay? We’ll work on getting you better clothes when I’m done. You’re a handsome lad, you’ll need to look the part soon. You’d be surprised what a fresh change of wardrobe will do for your confidence, which is something else we’ll have to fix!”
Another blush, the boy was too easy to manipulate. “Um, thank you, ma’am, I’ll make sure to get something nice for us!.”
“Get going now, just meet me back at the basement when you’re done. I’ll be right back.”
A nod. “Yes, ma’am.”
And off Wren scurried, clutching the tiny pouch of coins as if it was the most important thing in the world. Perhaps, in the boy’s limited point of view, it was. Oh how deliciously naive he was.
Once Mammon was certain that the boy wouldn’t accidentally trip and kill himself in his rush to procure food, the demon followed his nose and joined the throngs of people making their own way toward the market. But first, Mammon dipped into a nearby alley to change to a more comfortable form.
His androgynous form shifted to a more mature body, perhaps what the body would have looked like had it been allowed to grow to maturity. It was a lot easier to do that than to create an entirely new form from scratch, given his limited abilities at the moment. His crimson mane of hair grew to touch his feet, but the uncomfortable weight of it made him cut it short. Now it didn’t even reach his shoulders.
Mammon’s robe still covered most of his body, although allowing his form to naturally grown instead of choosing a new one did mean that the subtle feminine features that he made became more pronounced. Well, from Mammon’s albeit brief interactions with the locals, there didn’t seem to be the gender divide he had seen in medieval Earth here, but even if there was one, it shouldn’t take too much extra effort to shift his form to a masculine one.
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Happy with his current appearance, Mammon stepped out of the alleyway and rejoined the crowd, disappearing with the sea of people. No one paid him any attention, which was something that he would have originally found to be annoying, as flaunting his Greed for all to see was what he was used to, but this anonymity was useful for now.
On and on the demon went into the various street stalls; he trusted his senses to find the right store for what he needed, the same senses that he had honed over his long eons of existence. Eventually, after ducking into increasingly shadier side streets, he found an unassuming wooden door that had the perfect amount of Sin for his needs. Mammon approached the door and knocked.
A little slit opened up and a pair of eyes peered down at Mammon. The demon greeted the judging eyes with a smile before stepping back and showing them a handful of gems. Whatever distrust the owner of this shady establishment had before all but vanished at the prospect of making money, and Mammon heard the tell-tale sound of unlocking bolts.
“Get in,” a gruff man said from behind the door. Mammon could almost taste the tobacco in this voice.
Mammon did as instructed. Inside was a dimly lit pawn shop crudely decorated with cheap knockoff products and worthless fake antiques. The place was small, with barely enough room for the two of them to stand comfortably, and the only thing to note in the shop was a grimy counter stained with ale and other unknown liquids that was stationed in the back. A smaller door was almost hidden between clutters of junk.
“Back room,” the man - a hunched, slightly obese individual who smelled of mold and alcohol - said.
Mammon nodded politely and followed behind the balding individual, careful not to knock anything over. The demon was led into an even smaller room with a small desk that took up the majority of the space. The owner took the far chair and gestured for Mammon to sit on the stool by the door.
“Where’d you get those?” the man said.
Mammon answered the question with a knowing grin. “Does it matter?”
The pawn shop owner laughed, spittle flying across the room as he did so. Mammon did his best to avoid the worst of the splatter. “It does if you’re looking for a good price for them, assuming they’re real. So where’d you get those?”
Another innocent smile from the demon. “I found them.”
“Alright,” he answered, “if that’s the reason you’re sticking with. For… ‘found’ gems, you’ll have to get a lower rate, is that understood?”
Mammon slid his small pile of jewels over and nodded. “Completely. Please make sure that these are authentic. Please note that this is just a small sample from the other gems that I’ve found.”
Now that got the old man interested, and a small tendril of Greed leeched into Mammon’s soul. It was minuscule, barely perceptible, but he felt that tiny core of power grow. Good, the demon was hoping that there were other ways of nourishing his soul-seed, but seeing it actually happen brightened up his mood considerably.
The pawn shop owner reached into one of the drawers and pulled out a strange-looking magnifying glass. More rummaging and the man produced a small crystal dish, which he tossed each jewel into. He muttered something under his breath and Mammon could feel a faint energy, almost like the build-up of static electricity, building up between the container and the magnifying glass.
Mammon squinted harder, trying to discern the nature of this strange power coursing through the devices as the shop owner inspected each gem in great detail. But no matter how hard the demon tried, he wasn’t able to make any sense out of the energy powering those devices. It was a type of arcane magic that he’d never seen before; it was just something else to investigate later on.
A few minutes later and the man put his tools away before greedily scooping up the jewels. Happy that everything was in place, he reluctantly gave them back to Mammon before regarding the demon seriously for the first time.
“Alright, missy,” he grunted, “The gems are good. They’re also not distinctive, some of ‘em are flawed, which is good. Not easy to trace back, in case the people you ‘found’ them on need ‘em back. I’ll give you 100 gold for all of them, but I can do 120 if you promise to come back with more.”
Now Mammon knew absolutely nothing about the currency of this world, other than the vague notion that gold coins were more valuable than silver ones, which in turn was better than iron. As for the cost of things aside from street food? He didn’t have a clue. But the Archdemon of Greed could hardly be considered the ruler of Hell’s greatest enterprises if he couldn’t understand the nature of a good old-fashioned haggle.
Mammon laughed at the shop owner’s face. “You’re joking, right? Do I look like an idiot?”
The other man muttered something under his breath before relenting. “Fine, 150 now, or 180 with a promise of more. I can’t do better than that.”
The demon shook his head and gave an exasperated sigh. “Look, you’ve just checked out the jewels yourself, so I’ll spare us all the details about their purity and make, but even an idiot would know that you can make 5 times what you told me without even trying. If you were to find the right buyers? Give me a deal that’s not an insult to my intelligence.”
The owner stared at the jewels again before looking up to gaze at Mammon. He knew that pushing back any more against the demon would likely only result in the loss of a lot of money.
“Fine,” he sighed, “But you and I both know it’ll take a lot of time making that these gems can’t be traced. I’ll need to get someone to recut them, and they won’t be ready for resale until I can make sure that they ain’t enchanted or warded. All that takes time and, most importantly, money. I’ll give you 250 for the lot of ‘em.”
“255.”
“250,” he said again, “I ain’t going lower than that. It’ll be hard to sell ‘em by the end of the year as is. I’ll be operating at a loss til then. 250 gold, take it or leave it.”
Mammon smiled and pushed the worthless rocks closer to the pawnshop owner’s side. “Then we have a deal. I’ll be sure to come your way should I procure more in the future.”
Another swirl of Greed entered the demon’s body as the prospect of more enticed the man. “That would be most appreciated, missy.”
Mammon grabbed the offered sack of coins and did a quick count to ensure that he wasn’t shortchanged. The pawnshop owner didn’t make the mistake of trying to cheat the demon.
With a final playful smile, before exiting the store, Mammon stashed away his coins and nodded to the other man. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again, take care.”
A grunt of acknowledgment and the creaking of the old wooden door solidified the first true bit of money that the CEO of Hell obtained. It would be the first of a mountain of wealth.