Diana Pov:
I’m surprised by the friend Mari told me to be the deputy master of the Guild of Commerce, after reading the letter he looks at me as if he’s sizing me up before putting a serious smile on his face.
“Good afternoon Miss Diana.” (Wilson)
“Good afternoon, just call me Diana, as I told the receptionist just now, I’m not Nobility.” (I)
“You may be being very humble Diana.” (Wilson)
“You may not be from a noble family, but there are few who have such a noble character to save others in a difficult situation.” (Wilson)
“…” (I)
sigh
“Mari mentioned the mission in the letter?” (I)
“Looks like I’m going to have to talk to her about divulging information.” (I)
“The letter doesn’t say anything about that, all it says is that you are a great friend of hers and Carlos, it also says that you are a great adventurer.” (Wilson)
“You may not have lost it yet, but you’ve already become a celebrity in this town, especially among other adventurers.” (Wilson)
“As a merchant, I hear a lot of rumors, since yesterday I’ve been hearing how a single adventurer saved dozens of adventurers in the middle of an unfavorable battle against the Undead.” (Wilson)
“I wasn’t the only one helping others there.” (I)
“But it’s the one that contributed the most, have you heard what they’re calling you?” (Wilson)
“Yes.” (I)
“Being known as the “Guardian Wolf” shows a lot of her character and personal nobility.” (Wilson)
“(How far have these rumors gone?)” (I)
“(Why did this have to happen? The master warned me not to draw too much attention and now the whole town knows who I am.)” (I)
“Don’t feel bad Miss Diana, this title will open many doors for you.” (Wilson)
“Please sit down.” (Wilson)
He asks me to sit in one of the visiting chairs in front of his desk, I go over to one and start talking to him.
“Mari commented in the letter why I came here?” (I)
“Yes, you are interested in buying the Trigan mansion, right?” (Wilson)
“Is that the name of the mansion that is full of miasma?” (I)
“Looks like you don’t know much about the mansion.” (Wilson)
“A friend told me about the rumors.” (I)
“So she knows about how everyone who had been in the mansion for twenty years died in an unknown way and about the miasma?” (Wilson)
“Yes, I’m not worried about the miasma, the story from twenty years ago won’t scare me either, I have someone with a contract with a Spirit in my group anyway, so if there are ghosts in the mansion there won’t be any problems.” (I)
“Mrs. Mari said in the letter that you intend to live with your group at the mansion.” (Wilson)
“Yes.” (I)
“If you already know so much and still want to buy then I’m happy to talk about it, I’ve been trying to sell this mansion for over ten years.” (Wilson)
“Normally a mansion like this, with such a large plot of land would be worth twelve crystal pieces.” (Wilson)
“But as the place has been abandoned for twenty years, it will need maintenance which brings the price down to ten crystal pieces.” (Wilson)
“Due to the property’s bloody history and perpetual miasma on the property, the price drops to below half to four crystal pieces.” (Wilson)
“Since you have a letter of recommendation from the Adventurers’ Guild I will give a special discount just for you, the final value will be three crystal pieces or thirty thousand gold pieces.” (Wilson)
“I’m willing to pay.” (I)
“Won’t you want to look at the property first before we close the deal?” (Wilson)
“If Mari trusts you, then so do I.” (I)
“I’ll need your help with the maintenance of the house, I’ll also want your help with some renovations.” (I)
“This can be expensive, given the conditions you already know of the property, most construction companies will not take this job.” (Wilson)
“But you said most not all, so you have someone in mind.” (I)
“There is a dwarf construction company in the city, they are the best but their price is a little expensive compared to other companies, they are the only ones that would not be much affected by the miasma.” (Wilson)
“I’ll leave it to you then.” (I)
“I’ll need to know what types of renovations you have in mind so I can budget them before I give them to you.” (Wilson)
“You have to keep in mind that you’re going to pay the cost of materials and labor.” (Wilson)
“I already have all the paperwork here where it is described what my group and I will want, here is also the money for the purchase of the house.” (I)
I take out the papers where the master wrote down and drew what he wanted from the renovations, I also took a small leather bag that only contains three crystal coins, I put everything on the table.
I pay the house upfront knowing that someone like the deputy master of the Guild of Commerce wouldn’t try to cheat me, especially knowing that I have friends like the master of the Adventurers’ Guild.
“You can come here in two days and I’ll have the budget ready.” (Wilson)
“Thanks.” (I)
“I should be grateful, for the last few months the Duke has been pressuring me to sell the Trigan mansion, now I’ll have good news to give him.” (Wilson)
“In two days I will have all the documentation and deed of ownership ready for you.” (Wilson)
“Will the deed be in your name or someone else’s name?” (Wilson)
“It will be in my name.” (I)
“(The master doesn’t have Kingdom documentation, doesn’t have a Guild card either after we discussed it Erica said I should buy it in my name.)” (I)
“Then I think we’re done here Diana, it’s a pleasure doing business with you.” (Wilson)
“Then I think I’m leaving, bye Mr. Wilson.” (I)
I say goodbye to him and head towards the door which is opened by the same receptionist who brought me here.
“Allow me to escort you to the exit, Diana?” (receptionist)
“Thanks.” (Diana)
The receptionist leads me through the corridors we passed earlier, he escorts me downstairs to the main door of the Guild of Commerce where he bows politely.
“The Trade Guild appreciates your sponsorship, come back whenever you need it.” (receptionist)
“Thank you for joining me, see you later.” (I)
I decide to go back to my room at the inn and wait for Kira there, I’m still tired.
————
Pov Kira:
After we leave the restaurant Diana and I split up, she goes to the Trade Guild and I go to the Black Market.
On the way, I took off my disguise and put on my mask.
I have two reasons to go there this time, the first is to get the demonic magic that Erica needs to be able to transform into a human, it would also be good to get some items that can hide someone’s status from being seen by items or people who have the skills of the Evaluation type.
The second reason was Diana’s idea to find out more information about the annual Black Market auction, I have to find out the exact date and if possible see the catalog of items or at least know if what we’re looking for is going to be there.
I hope I won’t belong there, I wanted to go home with Diana, but I think I’ll have to go back alone as she still wants to buy a mansion for the master.
“(If I finish before mid-afternoon I may have time to go back today.)” (I)
I followed the same paths as before and went straight to the commercial area of the city, in a dark and hidden alley there is a gun shop that sells only poor quality guns, I go into this shop that is in the same horrible condition as before and I go straight to the counter where the bald middle-aged man is.
“I would like to buy fruit, how much does it cost?” (I)
“He doesn’t sell fruit here, get out!” (bald man)
“Give me eleven then.” (I)
“…” (bald man)
The middle-aged bald man gets up from his chair behind the counter and goes to a door behind him, I follow him silently and enter the same secret passage in a closet as before, where I go through the realtor to a stark black door.
The passwords are different depending on the day of the week, normally no one goes to the Black Market just important people, usually an intermediary is used when someone wants to contact the Black Market, but I like to sort things out myself.
knock knock knock
I knock three times and the door opens, I walk in and the door closes behind me.
I look around and see the same luxurious room as before, sitting on the sofa is the same beautiful Black Market receptionist looking at me with her perpetual friendly smile on her face.
“Please have a seat, my name is Nira and I will be her receptionist today.” (Nira)
I walk over to the sofa opposite and sit across from the receptionist named Nira.
“It’s good to see you again Nira.” (I)
“I’m here for two reasons today, let’s start with the first one.” (I)
“I want to buy a book that has human transformation demonic magic and some items to block its status from being seen by items or people with Rating-type abilities.” (I)
“Wait a moment please, I’ll check our in-stock items and their values.” (Nira)
Nira takes out a read crystal and an information crystal that she inserts into the read crystal, she spends a few minutes looking at it and then hands me over for me to see.
“We have a book that has ten basic demonic spells that contain the spell you want, it’s costing a hundred gold coins.” (Nira)
“And this is the list of the status hide items you want, it has a picture of the item and the item’s level next to it.” (Nira)
“The list is organized from the highest level to the lowest level, prices are also described on the side.” (Nira)
I scroll through the list and see necklaces, rings, bracelets, anklets, earrings, brooches, etc.
I decided to buy twenty items of the highest level, I choose to do this to have for our future companions, and I choose the higher-level ones because they are more effective against more powerful assessment skills.
After choosing I return the reading and information crystals to Nira, I point out the items I want for her.
“I’ll want the book and these twenty status concealment items.” (I)
She closes her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again with a twinkle in her eyes, all this without ever leaving her friendly smile.
“The total is fourteen thousand gold coins.” (Nira)
I reiterate a bag containing two crystal coins and leave it on the table, I knew these hiding items would be expensive so I came prepared, these items will be very important to our group from now on.
Nira picks it up and checks inside her bag, then she sets the bag down on the table again as she looks at me.
“What more do you want?” (Nira)
“Last time you talked about the annual auction, I would like to know more information such as the exact date and if possible the catalog of items that will be in the auction.” (I)
“I’ll write the date on a piece of paper, you can come to this same room on the date I’ll give you.” (Nira)
“I can let you see the catalog, but you won’t be able to see the best items, they won’t be reported until auction day.” (Nira)
Nira takes another information crystal from her storage item and swaps it with the one in the read crystal, then hands it to me for me to see.
“This is the catalog.” (Nira)
“Thanks.” (I)
I see many items for sale, half of them are not prohibited but must be stolen items, the other half are prohibited items such as rare poisons, books with prohibited knowledge, illegal slaves, etc.
I step-item by item seeing its photo and description as well as its starting price, I pay more attention when I get to the slaves’ part.
As I imagined, there are four Alchemists and two Blacksmiths, unfortunately, I don’t see any tailors.
As someone who has always worked with espionage, murder, and robbery, I always had a good memory, just reading and looking at the photos I have already recorded everything in my memory and I can pass it all on to the master.
It only took me ten to fifteen minutes to go through the catalog, once I’m done I pass the reading and information crystals back to Nira.
“Do you want anything else?” (Nira)
“No, that was all.” (I)
“Please wait here, I’ll get the goods you bought.” (Nira)
Nira packs the crystals and the bag with the two coins before getting up and walking out the door behind her, after a few minutes she comes back and sits on the couch across from me.
“Here are all the items you requested and the change for your money.” (Nira)
Nira hands me a white leather bag which I pick up and check, this is a storage item with space for thirty items, I check and see that all the items are inside.
“The storage item is a bonus for your sponsorship by purchasing so many quality items with us.” (Nira)
“Appreciate.” (I)
“I hope we meet again.” (Nira)
“Until the Nira auction.” (I)
I get up and walk out the way I came in, as soon as I leave the store I walk from alley to alley before finding a good place to hide, then take off my mask and activate my Illusion Spirit Ring to put on my White Elf disguise before I go to the inn where Diana is staying.