14 days after the explosion - ???
The prince suddenly woke up, but didn't understand what was going on since he didn't even notice when he fall asleep. He started to think and the last thing he remembers was getting out of the brothel and then all went black
Still, he could guess what happen after checking his situation. He knew someone use his powder to knock him out since he tasted it himself quite often(sometimes to gate away from responsibility's and others by mistake while making it) and knew the side effects. He also knew it wasn't just a robbery, since not only was in his trousers, he found himself tied up and with two bracelets, one in each hand.
Why could also guess why did he had the bracelets, even if he consider it overkill. One probably disrupt inner mana and the other outer mana. The prince didn't know how they worked, he only knew that to make them, you needed expensive materials and a magician and a blacksmith skills.This makes them quite expensive, probably 5 gold coins each or maybe more.
Finally, seeing 3 guys going through his stuff and taking out everything they found told him he wasn't in a good situation.
"So, can someone explain me whats going on please?"(prince) talked to the 3 guys
"Oh! Is the sleeping beauty awake? and we thought you would only wake up by a true love's kiss"(guy a) and the 3 started laughing
The prince waited for the 3 guys to stop laughing since there was no point in talking until he knew what was going on. Still, it was starting to get really annoying for the prince before they stopped after a while.
"We are going to sell you to slavery boy"(Slaver b?)
"why?"(prince)almost went pale since that would be one of the worst things that could happen to him
"Besides the nice profit of selling a mage? revenge of course"(Thief a)
And that's when it hit him, these 3 idiots were the fu-king thief he has been dealing since he met them at the old man place
"Seriously? It wasn't enough that you tried to steal my stuff 3 times, you are also selling me to slavery?"(prince) Regretting going easy with this a-s holes
"DO YOU KNOW WHAT WE WENT THOUGH THANKS TO YOU!!"( thief b)got up while shouting at the prince
"Calm down, we finally are getting our revenge and more money than we hoped for"(Thief a)
"fine"(thief b) sit down
"Be thankful that we aren't beating the crap out of you since your value would drop"(Thief c)
"Great, not only are you stealing everything I got and selling me to slavery, I should be thankful that it is only that much?"(prince) expressed his dissatisfaction with the situation
"Shut up or we make you shut up"(Thief b)
Prince didn't say another word and glared at them but let them keep searching his stuff. He needed to find a way out of this since it would get really dangerous otherwise.
He knew trying to convince them to let him go wouldn't work since they hate his guts and telling them he was the prince was a no no since it would make this kidnapping into a worse situation probably. Instead, he chose to appeal to their greed
"You know, if you sold me to a slaver it would be your loss, you know?"(prince)
"What do you mean?"(Thief c)
"Think about it, it's true that you can probably get 50 gold coins for me since I can use magic, but you can get at least 10 times that if you use my skills instead of selling them"(Prince)
"Skills? even if you are a great mage, it would be better to just sell you instead of sending you on missions or something since a 100 things could go wrong"(Thief a)
"Not that, I am talking about my alchemy skills, you can get a lot of money from selling the stuff only I can make, like the sleeping powder you throw at me"(Prince)
"You are the one that makes that stuff?"(Thief c)
"Of course, why did you think I used so much in the fights? It is cheaper for me since I make it"(Prince)
Thief a and c had been surprised at the revelation and were considering the offer but thief b...
"Are you guys serious? after everything he put us through, you are considering his offer? we should sell him to a big fat guy so he can become his sex slave so he can get the punishment he deserves!"(Thief b)
"If you use me instead of sell me, you can also punch me, you know?"(prince) sweeten the deal
That make thief b starting to consider the offer but made thief c a little suspicious
"Why are you offering this? what do you get out of it?"(Thief c)
"simple, it is better than slavery and I can probably negotiate a better deal than with a slaver"( prince) lied
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"I don't know guys, maybe it's better to just sell the guy and be done with it"(thief a)
sh-t! think think(prince)
"Why don't I show you how much you can profit and then you can decided"(prince)
"What do you mean?"(Thief c)
"Simple, I have a stash of sleeping powder in my laboratory, you can send a guy to sell it for you and see how much he gets. Since I can make more later, you will be able to see if keeping me is worth it"(prince) started to think he should become a merchant for how well he was selling himself
"What do you guys think?"(thief a)
"Well, at least we will get more money this way even if we sell him later"(thief c)
"Fine, let's go"(thief b)
The prince could see their personalities after interacting with them. Thief a was the defacto leader of the group, thief b was the violent type with a serious grudge and thief c was simply greedy. As long as he offer money and make it look as he was miserable, they should be easy to manipulate
The place the prince planned to take them was the laboratory he builds in the city to make stuff when he couldn't do it in the palace. What he brought wasn't as good as the stuff in the palace and it wasn't a complete set yet, but it was enough to make the powder and some stuff else.
He also stored large quantities of the powder there and in the palace. The reason he didn't sell the stuff was simple, he was the only supplier, so if he sold a little at the time, he got a better price than if he sold in large quantities (supply and demand)
There were other sleeping drugs in the marked, but one the prince made was one of the best and the price was reasonable in comparison with the best ones. Basically, it had a great price/quality value
How the prince got such a good recipe was a mix of luck, practice and interest. He found a recipe in the palace, but since some materials weren't easy to find, the prince had to experiment with different ingredients to try the effects. And the reason he was so interested in finding a cost/efficient balance, was because it helped him to escape his obligations if he perfected the recipe and after a lot of trials an error, he succeeded.
Since the powder was really useful, most people on the shady side of the business knew of it, including the 3 thieves, and they knew the value of it. Since the prince was practically giving the revenues of it on a silver plate, the thieves couldn't waste the opportunity to get huge profits from it, and the prince took opportunity in that
They gave the prince some cloth, and with a knife in his back, they ask him where the laboratory was and he went there with 2 of them while the other one watched the prince stuff.
The room with the laboratory that the prince rented was in the main street since it had less chance that someone would come inside and steal his stuff. It had a guard in the front door and a reinforced door in the back that could only be open with a key, so the prince found the place convenient, well at least until he was forced to use the back door at knife point
"It's in the second floor"(prince) told them when they got inside
"lead the way"(thief b)
There were other residents there but no one was outside their doors at the moments so they got to prince room with out anyone seeing them.
The room had a bed, some books and notes, the alchemy equipment and a safe. Of course, he kept the powder inside the safe and some other stuff
"Well, here we are"(prince)
"Yeah, I can see that, where is the stuff you promise"(thief b)
"It is over there in the safe. Give me second and I will open it for you guys"(prince)
"And let you touch the powder?nice try kid"(thief b)
"Give me the combination"(thief c)
"Fine, its 72 52 72"(prince)
The thief went to the thief and started to move the dial in the safe. As soon as he put the last number, a click could be heard from the safe so the thief put his hand on the handle and open the safe.
A Small explosion was heard and the sleeping powder filled the room
Note: started using the program gramamaly, I think it should be more readable now
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