I actually didn’t expect to find the rchant as quickly as I did, but here I was, standing in front of a robed woman who looked very suspicious and creepy when compared to everyone else in the market square.
The rchants were all situated around the edge of the square as well as in the center, creating a large ring for those of us looking to buy things to ander through as we browsed everyone’s available wares.
Situated in a ’corner’ of the square and standing behind her table silently, the robed woman looked so out of place compared to everyone else, and even as I approached her she just... barely tilted her head back to look at .
The mask was what gave it away completely, that smooth, blank white ’face’ staring at and sending a shiver down my spine, but knowing that this was the rchant and that she would be the one supplying all sorts of goodies and information going forwards was... relieving, kind of.
Her small table was covered in various items, ranging from a basket of fruit to a small velvet bag that was opened enough to reveal so kind of silvery powder inside that glittered kind of crazily.
She didn’t say anything as I approached, nor did she stop from hesitantly reaching for the ring as I soon as I saw it; if I wanted to steal it from her I theoretically could, but knowing that she was rather strong - and obviously not being that idiotic - kept from doing so.
It was another beautiful piece that looked incredible to but to the people that lived here it was just another ring; this unique looking bluish silver tal that thickened out to create space for the giant opal situated at its top was sothing that would have cost months of my life to acquire before, but now...
"How much for this ring? It’s very... pretty; I’ve never seen sothing like this before!"
Giving the rchant a smile and testing the size of the ring, I admired it on my right index finger before looking back up at the white mask, feeling like it had gotten closer despite there still being a table between us.
"15 Crowns."
The voice behind the mask was wispy and low, barely able to be heard amongst the bustle of the marketplace, but that price imdiately had grimacing as I slowly slid the ring off of my finger.
"I don’t think its 15 Crowns pretty... maybe 10?"
Tentatively putting the ring back down and peeking at the rchant, I checked my purse and noticed that I had roughly 25 Crowns, which should be equivalent to like... 50 dollars or so from my old life; not a lot but still a decent amount for just so light shopping.
In a place where tals were only valuable if they had magical properties and gemstones were rely pretty rocks that served little purpose, a ring that would have cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars was now so cheap...
And I knew a lot about being cheap, so I waited for the masked woman to say "13 Crowns." before pursing my lips again and showing so restraint; bargaining was fun when you knew you were buying no matter what, so seeing how far I could get her to concede was really amusing.
"I... I don’t know... would you do 11 Crowns and 5 Diadems? Again, it is pretty but... there was this one jeweler who had sothing similar for 10 Crowns, but it wasn’t this nice..."
Showing so hesitation and ntioning a competitor made the rchant lean forwards and stare at for a few seconds, weighing their own decisions before relenting and saying "12 Crowns, take it or leave it."
"I can do 12 Crowns! Thank you very~ much~!"
Fishing out the coins and counting them out on the table, I grinned at the woman and took the ring for myself, sliding it back onto my finger and preparing to leave, only to pause as she asked "Would you be interested in sothing else, Miss Student?"
I was ready to decline and just walk away, but when I turned back to her I saw her slowly pushing a matching necklace across the table, one I was entirely unfamiliar with; bluish silver chain with a large spherical opal dangling off of it, the rchant showed sothing that looked gorgeous... but was it actually related to the ring I had been looking for or had she made this as a way to scam soone..?
She shouldn’t have known that the ring had anything special about it since it was dormant, so... surely this was a scam..?
But with the introductions of those item sets could I risk it, especially if it was sothing that I would never be able to get again if soone else bought it?
"20 Crowns."
Instantly she started with sothing so very outrageous, so I frowned and shook my head, countering her with "14 Crowns; more tal, sure, but it isn’t anything special design wise. Just a nice opal on a chain.", which made her shake her head slowly.
"Miss Student... It is an identical opal to the one you just bought. A matching pair. 18 Crowns is more than fair."
"15 Crowns."
We stared at one another for a few monts before she beckoned for to lean forwards, unclasping the necklace and indicating that she wanted to put it on ; when I did so she got even closer and murmured "I can sell it for 15 Crowns, sure... but Miss Student, are you able to explain how you knew about ?"
I frowned at that, staring at her in confusion before blinking a few tis as she added "There shouldn’t be any single way you saw this afternoon. All the magic in this corner ant to keep hidden from those who don’t know ... and yet here you are. I don’t know you... so how do you know about ?"
With her hands resting just behind my neck I was ’trapped’, and this revelation had shivering a little as a bit of fear set in; did I ss up already, and was this new life of mine about to hit a speed bump..?
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