“It’s a pleasure to meet both of you,” Gibbus said. “While I wait for this to run, could I interest either of you in an exclusivity card?”

Elijah’s eyes narrowed. “Is that one of those things where we have to pay you money to shop at your store?”

“Of course not, Mr. Joe,” Gibbus replied, pulling a slip of paper with a flourish. “Every time you come by Daniel’s Delights, I’ll make a special little mark in this card. When you purchase ten items, you’ll be entitled to a free gift.”

Elijah plucked the card from Gibbus’s hand and squinted at it. It depicted a fairly unsettling drawing of the same man that the statue had been made of - presumably, Daniel Delights.

The desire to rip the card into tiny pieces was almost irresistible, but Elijah forced himself to slide the card into his pocket. “Thank you. Does selling you things count for this?”

“I’m afraid not,” Gibbus replied with an apologetic smile. “But I could get you signed up for our rewards program as well. This would count toward that.”

“Oh, no,” Avery said. “We’ll pass on that. The last rewards program I signed up for hounded me for eight years after I canceled my membership.”

Elijah snorted. “I still can’t believe you signed up for Cute Dog Pictures in the mail.”

Avery spun. “How did you know about that?”

“I hired someone to hack your email and keep signing you back up for it whenever you canceled.”

Avery’s eye twitched again. “You’re kidding. How? When?”

“Bygones, bygones,” Elijah replied, waving his hand. “So, Mr. Grubbins, how much can you give us for that rock?”

As if waiting for his question, the box popped open with a ding. A tiny puff of orange mist floated out of it and Gibbus plucked the core from within it, studying something in the box for a moment.

“I can give you seven gold for this level six core,” Gibbus said. “If you’ve got level seven ones, I can give you eight for those. For level fives, the best I can do right now is five.”

Elijah and Avery exchanged a glance.

“Let’s see how much of each type we have first,” Avery suggested. “We can figure things out after.”

Gibbus nodded amiably and collected the rest of their cores. It took a few minutes to test all of them, which the clerk spent telling them about all the perks of about half a dozen completely useless programs the store had running.

When the final core was graded, it turned out that they’d collected six level six cores, four level five cores, and two level sevens.

“Seventy gold for the lot of them,” Gibbus offered.

Elijah gave Avery a half-shrug.

“Seventy five,” Avery said.

Gibbus rubbed his chin. “Gee, I’m not sure if I’m allowed to go that much higher up. That’s a whole extra level five core.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“We all know you’ll probably sell them for twice whatever you buy them for,” Elijah said. “You’ll still make more profit this way than the alternative.”

“Seventy-two,” Gibbus offered.

“Seventy-four,” Avery replied.

“Seventy-three.”

“Seventy-five.”

“Fine. Seventy-four,” Gibbus said, raising his hands in surrender.

“Deal,” Avery said. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Likewise,” Gibbus said, digging out a small pouch and filling it with coins. He passed it to Avery, who promptly opened it and started counting the money. “Is there anything else I can do for you two fine adventurers? Are you interested in purchasing any supplies or weapons from us?”

“What price ranges are we running at?” Elijah asked. “We aren’t looking to become paupers right now.”

“Well, that depends on what you want,” Gibbus replied. “All of our goods are top end and handpicked by Mr. Delights himself. We guarantee quality and satisfaction no matter what you purchase.”

Avery finished counting the gold and tucked the pouch into her bag.

“That told me absolutely nothing,” Elijah said. “What’s the cheapest thing you’ve got?”

“Those would probably be our potions,” Gibbus said, rubbing his chin. “We’ve got minor injury potions for ten gold a piece.”

“Are those the cranberry juice ones?” Elijah asked.

“Huh?” Gibbus tilted his head to the side.

“I can’t imagine they’d be anything else,” Avery said. “How much does a nice dagger go, for reference?”

“Around five hundred gold for anything in our shop,” Gibbus replied.

“Ten seems pretty fair, then,” Avery mused. “Should we just buy four?”

“Works for me. Two each,” Elijah said with a nod.

Avery handed Gibbus forty gold back, and he pulled four glimmering red glass vials out from beneath his counter. He placed them on the counter and Elijah took two, sliding the others over to Avery.

“Is there anything else I could help you with?”

“Yeah. You know where we can get some good money in the area?” Elijah asked. “Maybe some more cores? No monkeys, please. I don’t like them.”

Gibbus rubbed his chin. “I’ve heard that Goldwing is recruiting pretty heavily in the area. I’m not sure what they’re doing it for, but they usually do dungeons and the like, and those pay very handsomely.”

“Why not just do the dungeon ourselves? Why would we need a guild?” Avery asked.

“Well, this is a pretty unique opportunity from what I’ve heard,” Gibbus said. “I was thinking about checking it out myself, but I’m not much of a fighter. The guilds really don’t do much near Volville, so the chance to join one is pretty rare. They pay their members great and you get access to a lot of rare resources and dungeons that the guilds own.”

“You can own a dungeon?” Elijah asked. “Aren’t those just like… places where monsters are?”

“You can own the land the dungeon is on, and the guilds are strong enough to defend their property,” Gibbus said. “They help new members safely clear dungeons as well, so the risk is really low. That’s what I’ve heard Farlander does, at least. They’re the guild that my big brother went to.”

“Fascinating,” Elijah said. “Thanks for the information, Gorbachev. We might have to check them out.”

“Of course,” Gibbus said, not perturbed by Elijah’s butchering of his name in the slightest. “It was a pleasure to serve you. Oh - since you bought something, I can mark your card.”

Elijah pulled the card out. “Could you do it right on the guy's face?”

“No,” Gibbus replied with a chuckle. He grabbed a metal stick and poked it through the card before returning it to Elijah. “I’ve got to do it on the corner.”

The stick had left a star shaped cutout on the edge of the card. Elijah stuck it back into a pocket. “Thanks. Appreciate your help.”

“It was my honor. Please come back and shop again with us soon,” Gibbus said with a wide grin. He gave them directions to Guild Alley, a street where many of the guilds recruited for new members, and then bid them farewell.

Avery and Elijah headed back out of the shop, then quickly made a beeline toward the exit of the market to avoid getting caught in the teeming masses of people surrounding them.

“That was… interesting,” Avery said as they exited the market.

“I think you mean insufferable.” Elijah said. “I want to execute that statue for crimes against humanity.”