Touch of Fate

Chapter 168: The Broker (One)

Turning in his requests to the Adventurer's Guild was easier than he anticipated. With as big of a scene as he'd made during the request itself, he'd expected to have at least a few people waiting for him to show up. However, the paperwork was processed normally, and he was ready to go within minutes.

Mike walked out of the Guild while idly playing with the handful of silver that was his reward. Once, this would have seemed like a large amount of money, but now it felt like pocket change.

So it didn't cause him any discomfort to spend some of it at various street vendors, providing lunch for himself and his hungry familiar, who was roused by the smell of the cooked food. After devouring several skewers of grilled meat, she returned to his pocket.

This behavior concerned him slightly, and he wondered if she needed a larger dose of mana. Taking a moment to examine his mana supply, he noticed that the amount Red was receiving had reduced about 30%. He figured the conjured dragon must be getting closer to become a creature in fact, and therefore required less energy from him. He redirected his new surplus to his familiar, noticing that she was once again acting like a mana sponge.

[Why is she needing so much? Is it normal? I really should have looked for a book on dragon biology while I was at the library.]

Resolving himself to get to the bottom of this at his next opportunity, Mike left the area in front of the guild and headed into the commerce district. He debated stopping by to see Gail, but he hadn't even touched any of the alchemical supplies she'd given him, and he felt slightly guilty about showing up with nothing.

For now, he was on a mission to find The Nook. His advisor has given him a letter of introduction after the unsurprising revelation that the old mage was one of the secretive store's best customers. According to the directions he'd gotten, the place was located at the back of a dead end alley.

After some wandering, he eventually found himself in the dirty, semi-abandoned street he was told to look for. Garbage was heap into piles throughout it the, and a handful of beggars seemed to be making their home amongst it. He could feel a low grade hostility from them as he made his way up to the rusty metal door, which nearly abutted against the back wall.

Not seeing any clear way of opening the door, he shrugged and tried knocking. After a few minutes, a deep, masculine voice called from the other side. "We're not open."

Recognizing the start of the passcode, Mike answered in the manner his advisor told him to. "That's a shame, I have a wealth of coin to spend on rare finds."

As soon as he spoke the words the hostile intent he'd been feeling from the nearby beggars vanished, causing the hairs of his neck to stand on end.

The door opened and a massive man dressed in leather armor motioned for him to come in. He was led through a number of twisting hallways until he arrived in an elaborate sitting room. Under the urging of the man, he sat on one of the comfortable couches, and was, surprisingly, left to his own devices.

Looking around, he didn't see anything that resembled a bookstore, but he supposed that this kind of enterprise was likely operating outside of the law. The standard procedure would be to keep the inventory separate from the storefront to avoid compromising both in the event of discovery.

That said, considering the kind of clientele this kind of place used, he was surprised that they had to worry about laws at all. Surely, some of their customers could lend a hand in having the guard look the other way. So, maybe it was just an added level of anti-theft protection?

After a few minutes, a gaunt, elderly man dressed in fine noble garb walked in and sat down across from him. His face appeared to be carved from stone, for all the emotion he displayed. In fact, with his high, sunken cheekbones, prominent hooked nose, and steel gray hair, the man reminded him bit of a gargoyle.

A quick Appraise yielded interesting results.

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(Hidden)

Age: (Hidden)

Race: Human

Class: (Hidden)

Title: Lorekeeper

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[So it looks like there are some methods of hiding from Appraise. Ones that are probably available to individuals with the right connections and resources.]

The man spoke in a dry, humorless tone. "Good afternoon. I am the Broker. By virtue of your arrival here, I take it you understand the nature of our business, so let's dispense with the pleasantries. Do you have a letter of invitation?"

Mike handed it over silently, and after a few minutes of examination, the Broker spoke again. "Very well. What are your literary needs?"

Not for the first time, Mike was struck by the oddity of a black market bookstore. It was taking a significant amount of effort to keep a straight face throughout the proceedings.

"I'm am interested in a number of topics, but the specifics will depend greatly on what you have in stock. Is there a catalog or list I can see?"

The Broker gave him a disdainful glance before replying, "Unfortunately, due to the circumspect nature of our business, such a thing is only available to the most trusted of our customers. As a first time buyer, I cannot provide you with it, no matter who recommended you."

"I see." Mike said while thinking deeply.

[I should be careful about what I ask for. Even though they have a good reputation amongst the underworld, I shouldn't trust them with any information that might be used against me in the future.]

"Then, I would like to see what you have available in terms of crafting guides for Alchemy, Artifice, and Smithing of any variety. Additionally, I would like reference books on monsters, with an emphasis on their characteristics, valuable components, and typical behaviors. Finally, I would like look at any collections of chants for Elemental Magic of Tier 2 or 3, Healing Magic of any Tier, and Summoning Magic of Tier 1 or 2. Would any of that be a problem?"

Snapping his fingers, the Broker summoned a ledger out of thin air, in a manner that left Mike guessing on how he accomplished it, and why he was bothering to make use of such a skill.

[Is he trying to impress me?]

After consulting the ledger, the old man spoke, "Please keep in mind, our current inventory is limited, so fulfilling all of those needs is currently impossible. We do provide retrieval services on request, but keep in mind that there is a substantial fee associated with it. As for what's currently in stock, we have a few tomes on Alchemy, a beginner's guide to Artifice, and a plethora of guides on the finer arts of Smithing. In terms of reference books on monsters, we do have a few hunter's guides that might be what you are looking for. Finally, spellbooks of any type are considered part of our restricted stock, and are therefore limited to three per customer per month."

"Why is it limited?" Mike asked, feeling genuinely frustrated by the continued difficulty of getting information in this world.

"In the past, we had issues with certain customers monopolizing our inventory of spellbooks. After a large number of complaints, the Proprietor instituted the policy on restricted stock to better serve the needs of our clientele as a whole."

"Alright then, I would like to see the advanced Alchemy tome, the Artifice guide, an entry level guide for every form of Smithing you have available, the hunter's guides, and any Healing Magic spellbooks to start with." Mike replied.

The Broker nodded, and rang a small bell. After a few moments a man who resembled a librarian came in, carrying a stack of books. He carefully placed them on the coffee table, laying them out so that Mike could see the titles of each. Mike began looking through them after receiving permission from the Broker.

'The Formulaic Mystery' covered advanced alchemical theory, and contained a wealth of new recipes, including suggestions for how to push forward in terms of researching new ones. He set this one aside as a definite buy along with 'Artifice for Beginner's.'

After perusing the books on smithing, he selected one that covered the basics of Blacksmithing, Armorsmithing, and Weaponsmithing which was entitled, 'The Art of the Hammer.' The others seemed either redundant or too advanced for his current level of skill.

He also set aside a massive volume called 'The Compendium of Monsters,' which detailed over a hundred different kinds of commonly encountered beasts, and the ways their corpses could be put to use. It was a little barbaric, contents-wise, but he felt the information was well worth the investment.

The only book of Healing chants they were able to provide was an ancient research journal written by a long forgotten medical specialist. The chants themselves seemed to be the product of his experimentation, which proved horrifying when Mike learned that the author frequently made use of living test subjects for his new spells. Ones that were apparently unwilling, judging from the author's dispassionate description of an attempted escape.

Despite his qualms about the source, the information was still valuable, so he added it to the pile. "As I still have two more spellbooks to choose from, I would like to see what you have in terms of Light or Dark Magic, and anything related to Space Magic."

"You are in luck, we recently acquired a volume written by a famed academic who devoted his life to the study of the dichotomy of Light and Dark. While its focus is primarily on the theory of how mana interacts with those high elements, it contains a number of chants that he used during his research. As to your other request, I'm afraid Space Magic will be a problem, since books containing information on that particular branch of magic are rare in the extreme. I would recommend approaching your patron on the matter, though. There are few mages in Almir who could rival his collection when it comes to that particular field."

Mike realized that it had never occurred to him to simply borrow books from the powerful people that owed him favors. Now that he thought about it, which might be the easiest way to accumulate knowledge, since many of the instructors at the University likely had access to volumes on precisely the subjects he was interested in.

Feeling slightly embarrassed by his lack of forethought, he nevertheless decided to continue. There was something about owning his own books that appealed to him, and since money wasn't an object for him, he figured he could afford to satisfy that urge. Besides, he was really wanted to own some decent books.

Figuring that he might as well finish strong, he nodded, "Very well, I will take the one you mentioned, and as to my last choice, bring me your highest tier elemental spellbook."