Roland found himself face to face with a member of the Ratfolk race. This race of sentient rat people was known for living underground and shying away from the sun. There weren’t that many of them around but whenever the black market was involved they were there.

They were a race of mostly stealthy merchants. Most of their people were poised at hiding which allowed them to sneak through the night unnoticed. While their bodies didn’t allow them to be the best warriors they were good at subterfuge and espionage.

Many of the information guilds had a good relationship with them as they were quite good at spying. Their enhanced hearing skills allowed them to listen in on various conversations while being unnoticed during the night. It wasn’t surprising that Roland managed to find one of them here, if he would get a good price was still up to debate though.

“Yes, that deepsilver ingot and that durium… how much?”

“The ‘uman has an eye for quality! Skeek will give him a good price!”

Through the years of living in this world, Roland had also gone through a few stores. Even though this was the black market the bartering was not much different.

After going back and forth he managed to get the ingot’s price down that was only about 10% over its regular market value. While normally he would not take any materials over the market price he didn’t really have a choice.

What he could do now, was either shake on it and pay or look around some more to see if other merchants gave him a better price. This could bite him in the behind though, if there were no other merchants selling metal ingots, this rat here could increase the price further.

This was a basic tactic from all merchants. Watching the potential customers to see how much they were willing to pay was something they did. This market here wasn’t that large so it wouldn’t be hard to figure out that he was here for the crafting materials.

“This as far as Skeez will go, you buyin?”

“Fine, you got a deal.”

This time around Roland decided to take a small hit to his purse. While getting some of the resources he also started asking some questions. He was only getting a couple of ingots and some ores but this would not be enough for him and Bernir to produce much. What he needed was a constant supply of these metals, not just a random ingot here and there.

It was a bit too early to strike a long-lasting deal with the first person that he was doing business with. It would be better for him to stake this place out and see how the prices fluctuate. With what he got today he would be able to make a few items that could fetch a good price.

While the dwarven union was trying to keep him from selling, he wasn’t sure if they would be able to bribe or blackmail everyone.

It wouldn’t be odd if he could find a proper merchant that would be fine with taking some of his stock and selling it in a different city. The other options that he had were doing it here on the black market and then using his own shop where he could earn the most.

The only thing required to create a shop was owning or renting the land that it was on. From what he could tell the union did their business in a legit way. They did use tactics that were considered legal by pricing out their opposition.

This was something that Bernir confirmed as well. The dwarves were somewhat prideful and would not use force to get rid of the competition. Thus he should not see any hired ruffians visiting his store to mess it up. At most, they would try to smear his image by trying to discredit his craft.

Luckily for him, that would not be that easy as his runic weapons were already spread through Albrook. Some of the weapons and armor that was given to him for repairs was made by him.

After getting some of the materials that he needed Roland spent the rest time looking around the black market. This was a good time for his analyzing and mathematical skills to shine. With their help, he started identifying the wares that were being sold along with their prices.

Thanks to his high intelligence stat he was able to easily remember the current market prices and compare them to these wares. He expected to find that everything was somewhat over the normal price but he was surprised that there were a lot of items below it.

There were probably various reasons for these prices, one of them being if they were stolen or not. A stolen good could be sold for a lot less and the merchant could still make a profit. The thieves mostly dumped their items to these merchants here at a low price and depending on the deal it reflected what they cost here.

Besides the rat person, Roland did manage to spot a few other merchants that could provide him with crafting materials. The prices didn’t vary that much as the people here were probably aware of what they could get away with.

The biggest issue was to get himself a steady stream of materials. Going between three merchants that would probably constantly barter the prices up would be a headache. If he could actually get a proper steady supplier was still up to debate.

‘I guess I should head home.”

After going through all the vendors and their wares Roland now had a good idea about this black market. There was a clear focus on shady weapons as daggers and poison was even sold as a bundle. If he managed to figure out a poison rune of some kind he would probably be able to sell assassination tools like hotcakes here.

For now, he was eyeing one of the archer stalls which possessed arrows dipped in paralyzing liquid. Making runic arrows required special mana conductive wood but it would actually be possible for him to get it.

Down in the dungeon, there were some special trees that were able to survive the blistering hot environment. Arrows that could be given magical effects could be made from it.

Previously he ignored them as he was easily able to use the guild connections to fashion runic swords instead that sold for more. Now on the other hand he could use that as a side job if he ever decided to push his item onto this market.

He still had to think this through as he wasn’t sure if he wanted one of his creations being used to kill innocent people. Normally his weapons and armor were made with the intent of fighting monsters.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

But he did not fool himself into believing that the people using them would only use them for the intended purpose. He would be surprised if some of his runic scrolls were already used to kill some innocent people instead.

While thinking about what he should do he started looking at the people here. It was somewhat loud as the merchants and customers were furiously bartering with each other.

‘It’s a lot more peaceful than I expected.’

Roland was still a bit on edge but after going through this ‘marketplace’ a few times he realized that it wasn’t much different than the one on the surface. There were surprisingly fewer thieves here than above ground. It seemed that these people at least didn’t steal from each other.

He also used his identification skill on the people here. While most of them were wearing similar trinkets to him that blocked him from seeing their names, some didn’t. Was this just the barrier between the ones that had more money or did they trust that the people here would not give them away.

From what he knew there was some honor between thieves but he only knew what other adventurers told him. Apparently, the thieves would not steal from each other at least when being down here nor would they report each other to the city guards. If there was an issue between them they would clear it up in their own way.

It seemed that they didn’t trust the powers that run their kingdom and had their own version of the king as well. There were many guilds spread through this kingdom and the others. On the very top existed someone called the shadow king that no one actually knew the identity.

It was apparently the strongest thief guild member and he was apparently comparable to the top class holders in the land. If it was true or just a tale to keep the rowdy thieves in check was anyone's guess. Maybe if he stayed here longer he would be given the answers.

He soon ended up with the map that showed him the places that he could exit through. It wasn’t drawn too well but it was very easy to read. It was clear that it was made with simplicity in mind as the exits were drawn in with red circles while the dead ends with red exes.

While this was only the black market portion of the underground there still was the thieves guild down here. Roland could see a tunnel leading in one direction and it was guarded by several thuggish-looking people. Sometimes they let people in but he never saw anyone go out and they always gave off an aura of hostility when they were approached.

‘Could be where the thieve’s guild is being constructed… or maybe it's the place where they store the stolen goods?’

It would be nice to know what was past that corridor he was not in a hurry to get himself killed. Now came the time to leave so he followed the map to the closest exit spot. It took a moment for him to register the exit route as even though the map was easy to read there were a lot of winding tunnels that could confuse someone that was here for the first time.

After entering the tunnel he started walking. With a slow pace, he continued towards his destination. After five minutes of walking, he noticed something that he had been worried about.

‘Someone is following me…’

This was what he was afraid would happen after he descended into the black market. It was the first time for him and he didn’t have any real connections. The guild master gave him a warning that something like this could happen if he stood out too much.

Probably spending a prolonged time looking over all of the black market merchants put a nice sign on his back. It wasn’t hard to pick out someone that was out of their element. Even more when the people around were trained thieves whose job was robbing people.

Roland increased his pace as he realized that someone was trailing behind. While underground he would be forced to fight if he managed to get to the exit the people following him would be unable to do anything. It also could have been someone that was heading towards the same exit.

He was wearing a set of runic half-plate armor under this black robe. On his side, he had a sword that could also produce magical effects that he had made. The only thing that he was missing was a shield that was a bit too bulky to take along down here.

Then when going past a corner he came to a halt. Before him stood a robed figure with their mouth covered. The light was quite dim here as nothing else than one torch on the wall was illuminating this corridor.

“What do we have here? Fresh blood?”

The person started talking and the voice was not something that he recognized. Almost instantly he tried retreating but the path behind him became blocked by two other people.

“Where do you think you are going?”

It was another male voice but from the tone, he noticed that it probably belonged to someone younger. Next to this person stood someone a bit shorter and with a bow in hand. From the robed figure, he could tell that it was probably a woman.

“What do you want?”

He asked while using the item that masked his voice. Due to going down into the den of the thieves he was sure to make it sound somewhat menacing. Even then the person in front of him didn’t seem convinced and continued.

“What do we want he asks.”

The person that was behind him started laughing along with the one that was talking. The girl with the bow continued to point it without moving a muscle. That is until he laid his eyes on her and he could see her twitch slightly. It felt that she was not used to this kind of thing.

Even though he was surrounded he wasn’t scared that much as he could somewhat tell that all these three people were below his own level. Their names were masked by something but he could see that the highest level person here was the archer, and she was just a tier 2 class holder.

“Give us your purse and you can pass, if not then we’ll have to take it by force.”

The hooded person proclaimed while also pulling out a nice-looking dagger. Now Roland had a decision to make, would he fight or give these people his items. He was not someone that shied away from conflict and he was also wearing a set of his own crafted armor.

“How about I give you a proposition instead?”

He replied while looking at the person that was probably the leader.

“Oh?”

“We’ll forget that this ever happened and you get to keep your lives.”

“Hah, we got a tough guy here!”

The person in front of him didn’t seem to be taken back by his reply as he just laughed. Roland knew that they wouldn’t be backing away without him showing his hand. Thus while the person was still talking he raised his hand in his direction.

While his palm was going up a green glow burst forth from under his robe. The thief in front saw this and tried to quickly move to the side but the spell that Roland was using wouldn’t allow for such a thing.

The spell that was used caused a burst of green wind energy to fly towards the person brandishing the dagger. Due to the lack of space in this corridor, the thief had no place to dodge and he was sent flying in the opposite direction.

“S-shit…”

While the man in front of him was blown away the other male behind him started shouting.

“Fuck, get him!”

The archer woman stalled for a moment but then quickly released the arrow from her bow. It was a good shot that went straight for his thigh. Before the arrowhead connected with his leg though a burst of fiery energy incinerated it on the spot.

It was a simple tier 2 fire shield spell that was engraved on his chest plate. With his runic skills working he was able to shift through spells with no casting required. A normal mage would quickly be piled on by these three thieves here but Roland was not a simple mage.

With another burst of green energy, the two people behind him were sent flying and collided with the wall behind them. There was enough power in this tier 2 wind blast spell to knock the wind out of the two.

This gave him enough time to gather mana for a more lethal spell. In front of his hand, an orb of red light started forming which expanded to a large ball of fire. While he did not intend to kill anyone here, sending a message to the thieves guild that they should not attack him would be in order.

It was clear to him that these people would only take him seriously if they knew that he could not be trifled with. But, before shooting the ball of flames at the two people he noticed something.

Due to the windblast that he produced the hood was blown off the woman’s head. It revealed her face and somewhat elongated ears. Roland had to stop himself from blowing this ball of fire into this girl that he knew. This didn’t mean that he canceled the spell altogether as she would need to explain herself before he would let her off the hook.

“Lobelia? What do you think you are doing?”