“So what are you planning to do now? I imagine you still need a bit of time before we go straight back to delving.” Ark asked, stealing a french fry from Rexen’s plate at the same time.

“I-I’m good to delve whenever! You don’t need to worry about me.” Vorn tries, and fails, to reassure his party. His nervousness was clearly apparent in his voice.

“Nice try, but I need to restock my supplies anyway. You go ahead and get some too, since I know you only have magic bullshit in that pack of yours.” She said, poking her fork into the table. There should have been a salad there.

A quick glance later, she realized that her salad was precariously balanced on top of the candle-lit chandelier above their table.

Lesson learned, you didn’t steal from the stealth specialist.

“I need armor anyway, and probably a better weapon. My current ones were created from low level creatures.” Rowan said, eying Rexen with a little more respect. He did all that while still being perceptible to both of them, and he got a clear view of his stealth skills. They were Impressive.

“Isn’t everywhere sold out right now? I’ve heard people complaining all over the Guild.” Ark pointed out, carefully balancing on her chair. With a leap, she retrieved her food and sat back down. The waitress across from them didn’t seem too pleased but looked too resigned to actually do anything about it. Dealing with Delvers every day must get tiring.

“Don’t worry about that, I have a plan.”

— — —

In the dark of night, in the single most skeevy part of town, Rowan walked. His shoulders were high, his posture upright but relaxed, and his face was marred with a perpetual scowl. Rowan looked every bit the picture of an arrogant gangster.

His bright orange eyes which seemed to glow with predatory light certainly helped paint the picture as well. One could almost forget his small stature with how his presence billowed out of him. Just being near him felt like a knife was pressed to your throat.

“Eh? Who are you?” A random thug asked aggressively.

Rowan whipped his head in the thug's direction and seemed to almost glare through him. “I’m your next paycheck. Tell me where I can find some weapons – quality, no bullshit – and I’ll make it worth your while.” He flashed a Blinding mana core, an unbelievable amount of wealth that literally blinded the man with greed.

The thug was almost tempted to try to take it from him, but the wild grin Rowan threw at him the moment he had the thought thoroughly convinced him that was a bad idea. The thug didn’t have an identify skill, but he could recognize when someone was drenched in violence, and the stranger he just met had violent energy almost physically dripping from every pore.

His heart froze in his chest and he timidly nodded. There would be no tricks against this monster.

— — —

“I forgot you could be intimidating. How’d you learn this? Military?” Vorn asked.

“Nah, I grew up a street rat before I was sent to the orphanage. I was not intimidating back then, but I learned from the men that beat us for our food. First, I had to learn how to beat their asses, though. Good times.” Rowan reminisced with a smile on his face, and the thug that was guiding them through the complex web of back alleys sped up slightly. Vorn couldn’t blame the guy. It was not a pleasant smile.

— — —

After half an hour of following the thug, he brought them to a small crack in the alleyway. Literally a crack in the wall, only a few inches wide. He knocked on it three times, then waited, and knocked seven more times. Like that, an illusion that fooled both Vorn and Rowan disappeared like it was never there.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Y-you’ll wanna talk to the Dark Merchant. He’s got a stranglehold on all the black market weapons and armor. The guy’s the only one that can actually keep ‘em hidden from the guard.” The thug explained quickly before attempting to rush away.

Rowan grabbed his shoulder and forcefully stopped him. The thug slowly turned around, fearing for his life, but Rowan just pushed a Bright into his hand. Not nearly as much as a Blind, the equivalent to ten thousand old-world dollars, but still, it was not a small amount for just walking a guy through the city for half an hour.

He nodded and took it thankfully, and then rushed out.

It was always a good idea to build respect and trust, even among the lowest of the low. Every bit helps, especially in a place like this. Respect was everything.

Rowan walked through the lavishly decorated hidden base slowly, showing that he wasn’t intimidated by the gaudy displays of wealth. Seriously, who even needed a golden champagne fountain? It wasn’t even very large. He had seen bigger at the General's house in his old world. Now there was a man who could truly be called gaudy. No one outdid him.

Finally, they stood in front of a silver and gold plated door. Rowan didn’t even bother to stop before pushing the doors open with little fanfare.

“I see you're a man who likes to get directly to business.” A Lunarian man with long black hair and silver eyes said to them. He looked to be in his early fifties and had a dark goatee that was finely trimmed. He wore a sharp doublet that was black with gold flourishes. He clearly cared about his appearance a lot.

“That I am. You have quality weapons, or so I’m told. How much.” Rowan said directly.

“My my, it’s not every day a Unique Being comes into my hideout demanding my services. What’s in it for me?” He said, feigning offense in his voice.

“Money.”

“My, you're absolutely no fun at all. Sure, you can offer me money, but I have all the money I could ever need.” He said, gesturing to his office which was almost offensively richly decorated. Marble and gold were ubiquitous, and numerous trinkets lined his shelves. Vorn was gasping like a fish internally, but Rowan couldn’t care less. He had been in the office of a man that owned a third of the world, this was absolutely pathetic in comparison.

“What do you want?” Rowan sighed, why couldn’t people just get to the point?

“A favor-”

“Sure.” Rowan cut him off.

“Wh- Really? You don’t even know what I’m offering!” The Dark Merchant shouted in disbelief.

“You're offering quality weapons and armor or I’m leaving. Since you don’t want me to leave, I know exactly what you’re offering.”

“My, you’re confident. Fine, we have a deal. I’ll lead you to my personal vault and allow you to take any set of weapons and armor you want. Only one set of armor and weapons though!” He finished frantically, already getting a good enough read on Rowan to know that he would have just cleared out the man following the letter of his offer.

“Nice save.” Was all Rowan said.

The Dark Merchant led them to a secret compartment which he knocked on in code. The knocks were obscured to their ears, though, and his hand seemed to blur while knocking, preventing them from memorizing the code.

What was revealed to them was an actual vault, and not a gaudily decorated golden lockbox like Rowan expected. The vault, while small, looked secure. It was a steel square vault that had multiple runes running across it's surface. The merchant fussed with it for a moment and pulled up a screen that displayed the quality and quantity of each item, and even allowed you to sort them.

Rowan, of course, sorted by the best and then picked the first set of light armor and daggers he could see. They appeared in front of him in all their glory. The daggers shimmered with dark light, each appearing similar to a tanto from an ancient forgotten civilization back on Earth. The blades were a gleaming silver with a black edge that appeared vantablack. It was so dark that light almost seemed to curve around the edge.

“What do these do?” Rowan asked.

“They are enchanted-” The words looked like they physically pained the merchant, “to be near unbreakable. They also have a dark edge enchanted with gravity magic that applies crushing and cutting force to whatever they touch. Only directly, though, it doesn’t go beyond the location of the cut. It's positively fantastic for armored enemies.”

“Cool. What about the armor?”

The armor in question was a simple-looking piece, but the fine shimmer upon close examination revealed the fine mythril thread that was laced throughout the set. It had metal pauldrons that rested on top of thick black fabric that functioned as something like an armored tunic. Besides the shoulders, the chest was also plated in armor. The flowing fabric that ended at his upper thigh was studded with metal as well, though it offered less protection.

Finally, the armor offered a set of lightly plated greaves that protected his feet, shins, and thighs. Besides that, it was unarmored besides fabric. The final piece was a silver drawstring that tied around the waist to keep the fabric in place.

In Rowan’s opinion, the best part of the armor was that it was light and understated. Sure, if you looked closely, you would realize the expense, but not many people got that close to him in the first place.

The Dark Merchant looked like he had eaten a lemon with how much his face had screwed up, “That is a masterpiece created by Vincent Grava, an outworlder that visited for a short period of time before leaving to adventures unknown. It offers excellent protection and comfort, and is enchanted to be self repairing. The fact that such an enchantment requires fine mythril thread makes such an enchantment not only impossible for most, but prohibitively expensive too.”

“Cool, thanks.” Rowan moved to leave.

“Oh no, you’re not leaving until I hear you consent to our agreement. You owe me a favor, Unique Being.” The Dark Merchant blocked his path.

“Wait a sec-”

“Sure.”

Rowan felt a weight settle over his shoulders.

The Dark Merchant began to cackle.

Great, what did he do this time?