There was plush furniture all around and at the end of it was a window that stretched from the floor to the ceiling that looked out to the outside.

In front of said window was a desk and a high backed chair that was currently turned away from us.

I already knew what would happen even before it happened.

The moment the door shut behind us, the chair turned around to reveal a rather attractive older woman dressed in furs with a pipe held in between her fingers that was still smoking at the end.

“Come in, my dears. I have been expecting you.”

Called it.

She gestured to the two chairs in front of her with a small smile, “Please, do take a seat. What kind of host would I be if my guests were made to stand?”

Amber nodded at her, “Are you M?”

The woman smiled at her, “My, my. Don’t you know that you should introduce yourself first before asking for the other’s name?

Amber stayed silent and took a seat instead, prompting me to join her.

The woman maintained her smile despite her silence, “Fufu~ Very well, I suppose you’re here for business and not to make friends. You are here to sell the White Powder that the two of you… Obtained… From those poor, murdered fellows. Yes?”

I raised an eyebrow at her as my only response since that literally happened only a few hours ago.

I mean… I wouldn’t be surprised that people like her would know but I’m surprised that the news travelled so fast and they knew it was us.

Then again, I suppose the fact that we literally just gave away an entire box of it in the middle of the street might have contributed to it.

My raised eyebrow made her smile a little bit more, “Word gets around fast here, Miss Tera~ Especially when it involves someone like the Merc that has the fastest record of reaching Gold rank by taking on a pirate lord and capturing them by herself.”

“Been keeping tabs on me?” I asked.

“Oh not at all. You’re not that important, I’m afraid. Just got a little interested since you caused such a scene on your first day here. People are wondering if you would make more trouble since you might be the hero type and whether it would be a good idea to get rid of you~”

Amber leaned forward slightly, “Was that a threat?”

The woman raised her hands, “Oh no, no~ I was just saying what some people around here are thinking. But after what you did with those poor saps, we know you're not the hero type at all~ So how about we do business now?”

Amber narrowed her eyes, “You haven’t answered my first question though?”

“Mmm… I suppose I haven’t. People around here do call me M, nice to meet the both of you, Miss Tera and Miss Amber.”

She placed her pipe in her mouth and took a drag from it before continuing, “Now… I heard you wish to sell some White Powder?”

I nodded, “We are.”

“I assume you have them stored somewhere else since I don’t see you carrying any boxes. Unless you only intend to sell one or two of the bags then I’m afraid I won’t be interested. We’re only dealing with wholesales you see.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“We have five hundred bags for sale,” I told her.

Her smile got a little wider, “I see. Do you happen to have one bag of it with you right now?”

Amber reached into her jacket and pulled out one of the bags in question to place it on the table.

M reached out and pulled it over to her before gesturing at the top of the bag, “May I?”

Amber shrugged, “If you’re buying it, sure.”

The woman opened the bag and dipped her finger in it before pulling it out and tasting it with her tongue.

She contemplated for a moment before sealing the bag and smiled at us, “This is really good stuff. I’m more disappointed with myself that I didn’t find out about this shipment sooner. How did you know these were being transported?”

“Secret.”

“Fair enough. Very well. I’ll buy your entire stock for ten million Credits. Deal?”

Ten million?! That would more than double the money I currently have! I know black market trading is lucrative but damn, that’s a lot of money! I could easily get myself a C Class ship with that money!

Surprisingly, Amber crossed her arms and scoffed, “No deal. Don’t even try to lowball us like we’re new here. That’s less than half the market price and we’re bringing you the quality stuff. At least double your offer.”

Double?! Twenty million?! That would mean… Forty thousand Credits per bag?

Oh… Right… She did say that each bag was worth around fifty thousand Credits each so that checks out. I was just too surprised by the huge amount of money that I forgot.

Feels like I’m losing my touch… Got to get myself back in the game.

If M felt offended, she did not show it, “Twenty million Credits, Miss Amber? You can’t be serious. I have to remind you that these products are quite hot with how you obtained them and buying them off of you would mean we take on the risks for possessing them too. Twelve million.”

Amber gave me a look as a silent plea for help and I jumped in.

“Uh-huh, but there’s already one box of it that has circulated around, and no doubt some of them would be sold around within the station. You’re not taking all the risks. Eighteen million.”

M tilted her head at me, “Hmm… That also means that the value of this product would have dropped because there’s so much of it circulating around now. Fourteen million.”

I shook my head, “You can keep this and sell them off slowly to get the highest value out of them. And with that event, it also served as a form of free advertisement for you. Seventeen million.”

“That would also mean that we will need to store the products and maintain them as well. Fifteen million. That’s the highest I will go.”

I paused for a moment and did a mental calculation.

Thirty thousand Credits for a bag of it… I think that isn’t too bad.

It’s not like we’re trying to be actual drug traffickers and we technically did obtain this stuff at practically no cost so we would be profiting either way.

And it’s true that we are unloading this stuff on her and they do have quite a bit of problems with the fact that it’s tied to some traitors in the military so it’s best that we sell them off as soon as possible.

I don’t know if she even knows about that fact and I have a feeling that she did not. Otherwise, I doubt she would be willing to buy it from us so easily.

But still… This was quite a big step down from fifty thousand Credits per bag so I’m thinking if there was another way I could leverage this.

My silence must have worried her a little because she spoke up of her own accord, “If you’re interested. We have a special market for specific clientele of ours below this building. Normally we are very restrictive on who is allowed there but I am willing to grant you access to it as a bonus.”

Amber immediately added, “Does that include access to the party in the club downstairs?”

The woman blinked at her before her smile returned, “Of course. I’ll make sure you are on the members’ list from now on.”

“What is sold in this special market of yours?”

She grinned, “Why, everything~ If you’re in the market for more drugs, we have other types available there too. Or if you’re looking for information to blackmail someone, I’m sure there are some being traded there. If you want the more direct approach, we do have our stock of weapons and equipment that the USC has outlawed its production amongst other things too.”

The information part caught my attention, “Do you have information that the USC has deemed illegal?”

Yes, I was thinking about hydroponics.

M turned to me, “That would depend on what you are looking for but I would say there’s a high chance that we do. So do we have a deal?”

Hmm… I don’t exactly want to tell her about my hydroponics plan but well… Even if there wasn’t any information of that down there, I could at least take a look around and see what’s there.

If they are goods that you can’t even find in the open market of a place like this where everything is technically legal to trade, I want to see what they might have.

Plus, as I said, we’re getting the full profit from the sale since our overhead cost was practically zero anyway.

I nodded before standing up and sticking out my hand, “You have a deal.”

Deal secured. We’re now fifteen million Credits richer.