Under Groob’s lead it didn’t take the group long to find their stall. Just as expected it wasn’t among the best, but its position was still alright. There was decent traffic in this part of the street.
A quick look would tell everyone that the stalls didn’t differ much from each other. All of them consisted of a simple wooden counter framed by three metallic walls and a thin roof. The only noteworthy differences were their location and size.
After the adventurers leaned their bags against the wall, they were finally free to do other things. With a few jokes they wished the siblings a lot of fun before everyone but Groob left. Lilly and Iain didn’t complain, however. Their presence at the stall wouldn’t boost their sales.
Only Forgoz might be handsome enough to attract some women or even men over, but the taciturn swordsman was unfortunately the most unqualified merchant.
Thus, the siblings were left alone with Groob. Following the latter’s directions, Lilly and Iain took out a velvet cloth from one of the bags. The EFM logo was prominently placed at its center.
After decorating the counter with their cloth, Groob helped the siblings to place all kinds of miscellaneous materials on display. Most of them were only small parts of beasts, which took up too much space. Their group still had a few weeks left in the base camp, where they would naturally gather more.
The only precious material Groob decided to sell was a single Bisera claw. From the adventurer’s earlier explanation, Lilly already knew that this was also a part of the empire’s customs.
It was normal to show some goodwill by selling some of your best loot. In exchange a customer would also show his goodwill by buying some miscellaneous materials together with it.
After all was done, a few interested buyers already gathered around their stall. They praised Groob for slaying a Bisera worker, but not many of them were willing to buy the hide.
Listening to different conversations the siblings understood that a rank 4 material was still rather expensive for most of the adventurers. The base camp didn’t have many master ranks after all, while experts were fine with rank 3 materials.
Consequently, those were selling the fastest. Especially since Groob advised the siblings to orient themselves on the other merchant’s prices while leaving a small room for hackling.
Naturally not every material was worth the same. Although Groob was prepared to laze around, he soon realized that he had to teach the siblings how do differentiate high quality wares.
Fortunately, it turned out that Iain’s (Ex) dismantling eye skill was of great assistance. Groob was astounded by the young man’s appraisal talent, and happily went to meditate after the first hour.
Receiving the adventurer’s undeserved praise left the young man slightly embarrassed. He was glad, though, that he found a good way to train this skill, which even his father held in high regard.
In a relaxed mood the siblings continued to lead their stall, not knowing that they had caught someone’s attention.
Narteik Pox-Worrim had arrived at the base camp a day ago. Just like other rich families the Pox-Worrim family also provided their children with a training plan prepared in advance. As soon as their talent was roughly determined they would be raised carefully with pills and save training before having to face the dangers of the Frozen Hell.
The same should have been true for Narteik. His talent was decent, and the family council was convinced he would be able to take on important tasks in the future. He even showed signs of rivalling the children of some council members or other families.
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Recognizing this, the family didn’t suppress this child of a weaker branch but supported him instead. They invested a lot of their political capital and managed to get him into the friend group of a child of the mighty Roj-Marrim family.
Narteik also didn’t disappoint their efforts as he easily managed to become the second person behind Hollios. Everyone was satisfied with those proceedings.
Everyone but Narteik.
The young man with good political education understood early on what his task would be. If he followed his family’s suggestions he would become Hollios’ right-hand man.
Hollios?! In Narteik’s opinion this spoiled child was a total idiot. He wasn’t even a mainline descendent of the Roj-Marrim family. He would never gain any important position.
Thus, Narteik realized that he had to find his own path. A path founded on his own strength.
He worked harder than all his peers. He entered the Frozen Hell earlier than all his peers. He learned more skills than all his peers.
With confidence stemming form his own achievements, Narteik approached other members of the Roj-Marrim family behind Hollios’ back. That idiot didn’t even realize that his right-hand man began working for others.
Soon Narteik was deeply involved in the Roj-Marrim family’s dirty business. Despite his young age he handled it with great sophistication. Until someone fumbled. The EFM made a serious mistake, endangering multiple operations.
Of course, Narteik couldn’t escape some blame. The higher-ups favorability decreased and his standing dropped. All his hard work got devalued. The young man was understandably seething. He had used multiple ways to get back at the EFM over the past few months.
Fortunately, Narteik’s meticulousness had proved its worth. The EFM had no substantial evidence about their employer. The only vaguely knew about the Roj-Marrim family. They never even realized that it was Narteik, who they were in contact with.
Thus, Narteik could work from the shadows as he did his best to get rid of potential loopholes. And in order to get rip of loopholes one had to get rid of people. Therefore, Narteik was pleasantly surprised when an opportunity presented itself out of nowhere.
Always working to improve himself the young man had reserved some time from his busy schedule. While his ‘friend’ group surrounding Hollios only thought about training in the training center’s safety, Narteik knew that only real combat could hone his skills. Thus, he brought two bodyguards and set off to the Frozen Hell.
Just as he wanted to relax his mind and stroll down the market street, his eyes spotted an interesting interaction.
A small crowd had formed around an inconspicuous stall. They were discussing the rank 4 material on display. Just now a high-spirited woman was bartering with the stall’s owner. Narteik knew this woman.
Rogki Molt was an adventurer who grew famous not because of her fighting skills, but because of her skills as a merchant. Many families had a profile of her, but this woman’s network was hard to grasp.
However, Narteik wasn’t interested in her right now. He was interested in the two newbies she was bartering with. Or rather in the bald man, who appeared behind the newbies right now.
Narteik’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he spotted Groob. Looking at the wares on display, an insidious plan instantly formed in his mind.
At this moment Groob seemed to have felt something. His eyes darted to the side, but the dense crowd obstructed his view. When he finally got a clear line, no one was there.
The seasoned adventurer trusted his instincts. If he felt danger, he wouldn’t neglect it. Thus, the seasoned veteran excused himself as he sat back down to mediate. Although he looked harmless, his perception was strained to the max, constantly observing his surroundings.
This left the helpless Iain and Lilly to deal with Rogki. If the professional merchant was offended by Groob’s behavior, she didn’t show it. With an enthusiastic smile she kept pestering the siblings:
“Look, why don’t we make 250.000 LC for this piece of Bisera claw, and I reluctantly take a few of your low rank materials, too. I’m doing you a favor here!”
The goodwilled Iain was slightly overwhelmed, so Lilly took over:
“Are you kidding me Molt? Look at the quality of this claw. When would be the next time you could find something like this? If you want it, you have to drop at least 350.000!
But because we hit it off so well, I will add some rank 1 materials as a gift.”
The two headstrong women discussed for quite a while. Lilly found some fun in putting their wits against each other, but unfortunately the seasoned merchant proved her superior stamina.
After an hour of bartering Lilly surrendered and sold the Bisera hide for 265.000. At least she managed to sell some of the rank one materials belonging to her and Iain as well, earning them a few thousand. It was only a drop in the ocean, but it felt like a great achievement.
Meanwhile Rogki left the stall. Despite gaining the materials, her face looked like she just lost her soul. Lilly could only admit that good businessmen were truly terrifying.
After the ordeal the young woman even noticed that she acquired a new trading skill, but Lilly wasn’t too interest. She would probably not invest time into it.