After a short while, we approached what seemed to be a workshop where many slaves were chained and rotating a large contraption while slavers were standing over them with whips and barbed ropes. Not too far from that, there was a completely different scene where I could see a Dwarf with the attire of a slave but in a way better condition than those slaves.
He was holding a smoking pipe, sitting above a cage that seemed to be his, and was even enjoying a cup of tea under the shade of a canopy on top of it all.
The scene would turn heads and Officer Benjamin noticed my interest quite swiftly.
"This right here is Vladimir the Master Smith. Now you want anything cast or forged, Vladimir is the man to go to." Benjamin introduced the Dwarf as we walked in his direction before turning to the Dwarf himself, "Enjoying the tea, Master Vladimir?"
The scene was absurd to me and I remained silent and listened to the exchange between the slave and the slaver.
"Officer Benjamin, how can I help you on such a fine morning?"
"We've got customers for you, ones you need to serve to the best of your ability."
Their short exchange ended up with them turning to me.
"So, how can I be of help, your Ladyship?" The Duergar spoke and I couldn't help but smile.
"When one comes to such a place, does the negotiation happen with the owned or with the owner?" I asked.
It seemed my question confused them and the two looked for each other until Officer Benjamin answered.
"Usually, the craftsman should meet with the client and discuss the work then the owner of Master Vladimir will determine the renting price." He said.
"That's how things go, my Lady." Jane came behind me and whispered.
I ignored all that and pressed my demands.
"It appears that a long-term commitment is necessary for the project I have in mind. I am here to engage the services of your finest craftsman and would prefer to pay the full amount upfront." I said without even considering what they offer.
As I said that, however, it seemed that the slave and the slaver weren't going to budge either.
"This is the policy of the Blackguards, Lady Vivian. Artisans who belong to the Blackguards don't get sold no matter what. Where else would the Blackguards get our supplies done?" Officer Benjamin seemed unwilling to even entertain me.
It seemed that I had to pull that card after all.
"Officer, may I speak to your Boss?" I said and displayed my displeasure in full.
"Lady, what I said is what the Leiutanent will say." Officer Benjamin insisted.
"You rowdy commoner, even when I am a guest at such an establishment, you are talking back to me like that? I don't want to meet your Boss then, I'll meet your Boss and his Boss too. The Overseer of this place is a nobleman after all, do you think this will pass?"
"M-My Lady. This is…"
"You have displeased me, Officer Benjamin. I am no longer responsible for what happens to you. I'm going to complain to my father for at least an hour."
"I'll… I'll go fetch the Lieutenant." Officer Benjamin was overwhelmed by my attitude and couldn't help but retreat for a moment to regain his mental power.
Seeing the man retreat, Logan turned to me with a nod.
"I was almost going to take his side. You were quite scary just now." Logan said.
"You're being too harsh, Sir Logan. I went too easy on him if you ask me."
That aside, now that Officer Benjamin has left us, it means we can look around the place freely but first, I needed to interrogate that Dwarf.
"Hey, Duergar." I called upon the Dwarf and he seemed displeased from getting talked down to.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"What is it you wish for, my Lady?" He replied patiently and politely.
"Since you are not someone with a price tag, I assume that any other Dwarf with less use than you to the Blackguards can be paid for in full?" I asked.
The Dwarf nodded reluctantly as if he figured out what I was after.
"Technically, that used to be the case. Things have changed recently but if your ladyship wants to browse…" He said and opened the way to the large tent behind him.
The Dwarf seemed to have understood what I wanted to do but even if he didn't like it, he couldn't do anything about me. My plan was that I would demand to pay the full price for a slave but when they wouldn't agree, I would threaten to make a fuss about them with the nobles. Of course that wouldn't have worked if my face was covered with a mask. And because my target of purchase was the most valuable slave in the pen, I could actually force them to get someone lesser in rank and pay in full for him.
"Can I see the other Duergars?" I asked.
"This way please." Vladimir said even though he seemed to dislike it.
Though the cage he sat in served as his resting space, the expansive tent seemed to hold secrets beyond what was immediately visible. Vladimir walked into that tent and we followed him inside. There, one could see that on the left and right of a large circular tent were three rows of cages on top of each other. While only a few were empty, each cage was the same size as Vladimir's cage outside and had a Duergar inside.
"Aside from the guys who are out on jobs, there are these guys here." Vladimir said.
"I see." I walked further into the tent and took a better look at what's in there.
With their distinctive horns that begin from their foreheads and cover the area with a hard dermal layer, the Duergar were a breed of Dwarves that hail from the mountains at northern Albion. And like the cliché Dwarves from every fiction, they were good at handcrafts but rather cowardly and greedy than what one would expect.
With my untrained eyes, I wouldn't even figure out which Dwarf is the best and which is the worst at their craft without the help of Vladimir, who seems to be unwilling for any of his kind to be out of this tent.
And so comes my next plan. If you can't solve it with skill, cover it with money. I summed up all the personal money I have, aside from the 1000 gold Father is giving to me and it sums up to 55,400 pounds, which is 55.4 gold. With some of that money, I have sent Oliver, my new errand boy, followed by a couple of knights in civilian outfits, to purchase a few magic crystals for me.
This cost me around 8500 pounds but I acquired 2000 SP using the crystals. This was almost the same amount as the ones I managed to swipe from Robert's room at home.
« SP: 3959 »
What remained was for me to buy Tarot cards from the System shop and use them on those Duergar in order to find out which is the best to pay for. But there is a slight problem…
The Tarot is a unique system to me as Vivian where I can uncover certain information of an individual if I use the Draw option from the system shop. The problem here is that the first card I drew was on Edith Black and it cost me 100 SP, the second card was drawn on her as well and it cost me 200 SP. I was skeptical about how this system worked but when I used it for the third time on Richard Marshall, it was a free draw but I could see the cost of the next draw rising by 100 SP still.
In other words, each Draw costs me 100 SP more than the one before it. This means that with my 3959 SP, I have only 6 draws before I deplete all my SP.
This means that I need to at least have some recommendations before I get to verify.
"Which one do you recommend for me to hire, Mr. Vladimir?" I asked with my fingers crossing behind my back.
"Hmmm…" The Duergar seemed pleased as he sensed I was helpless and so he turned and walked to a cage in the middle of the left row, "This here is old Radoslav, 79 years of experience, my lady. He is one of the favorites of our customers."
Vladimir led me to this Radoslav, whose cage seemed unlocked, and the elderly Duergar was just sitting inside and chilling with some small metal trinket that he seemed to disassemble.
I looked at the man and drew a card from the system. My other hand was under my coat so no one saw the card materialize until I took it out and when I did…
——————————
— Name: Radoslav "the Wrecker" Silvervein
— Race: Duergar (Dwarf)
— Age: 51
— Social: Artisan Slave (The Blackguards)
— Traits: Apprentice Metalsmith, Duergar Nature
— Emotions: Confused, Distracted
——————————
I call this bullshit, sir! Straight-out bullshit!
"You're using Tarot, my Lady? I mean it is not common to try and channel your fortune through luck but…"
"Enough! 78 years of experience, you said?"
"79, actually."
"That guy is 51 years old."
"Wha… it can't be!" Vladimir denied it immediately but those Tarot cards of mine are even better than the real deal.
"Wheel of Fortune! Reversed! Do I even need to explain?" I revealed the card which is famously known for its bad luck.
"I have never seen the Miss use tarot before. Is that how she gets lucky?" I heard Jane talking to Esmeralda.
"She ordered a book on them a few days back. It seems our lady has more hidden talents." Esmeralda replied.
A raise for you Esmeralda! Praise me more! Hahaha!
But now that things have come this way, I can't trust this Vladimir anymore as he seemed to have stood the farthest he could get from me while being glared at by Logan.
One card drawn, four more to go. In this tent, one Duergar will be the metalsmith who takes my vision from fiction to reality. Little did I know that on that day, I would meet a lifelong companion.