Sword Art Online:Afterlife
By: The 483
Set after Episode 25 of the Anime.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Sword Art Online
Spoiler Alert: Some spoilers, Light to moderate, are contained herein.
Chapter 2: Business as usual.
I yawned heavily, usually unwilling to be up this early on the weekend. But, it had been an easy week at school, and I had wanted to get a early crack at mob farming. Besides, the store doesn't run at its best if me, Raven, or Snow aren't in. Sure, a stall with a NPC pops out front, but that isn't the same. I like interacting with the people that are trying to take advantage of my good nature even though I already offer some the of best prices in the game.
Of course, this assuming people are on to shop, of course. While Elyswir has grown to a respectable size of late, it's still considered a back water. It was a journey for anyone not based with the Gnome's, Leprechaun's, or Spriggans. But it was still better then being located in a more populated areas, because the land was cheaper, and if people had to work to get to you, the less serious ones didn't bother, which cut the amount of pointless BS I had to deal with.
OS, I had been behind the counter for around an hour, and had yet to see a single living player. So, I was poking through a digital magazine when someone did come in, and, apathetic and sleepy as I was a this point, I did not look up as I sent my greeting, and there was easily a 70% chance I would have been apathetic even had I looked.
"Welcome. Browse about, some prices negotiable, training schedule and pricing on the poster on the wall to the left. My right, rather. Any questions, and I may, by some gracious act of the divine, be able to assist you." Not my normal pitch, but I am not a morning person. ESPECIALLY a weekend morning person.
"Well, that certainly sounds promising. Thank you." It was a girls voice, so I decided I needed to look up.
She was cute, tall and slender, decked out in white light armor with red trim. I may be biased toward redheads, though, so I might not be one to fairly judge her looks. She had a light one hand sword, a rapier or maybe Epee hung from her hip, and had the frame of a fencer, and kindly hazel eyes.
Her equipment was fairly high grade as well, for its type, which was unsurprising once I saw her guild tag. She was a member of Radiance.
Radiance was the guild lead by one of the old SAO players, formed so they could easily stay in touch in game despite the chosen races, as, even though most, as with myself and this woman, used our SAO avatars, we still were separated by race. Radiance was of course, not solely SAO'ers, but admitted anyone who could pass some test and presented themselves with acceptable behavior. It's not that SAO people were snooty, but, living in a game world for two years, you ended up behaving like you really were, or with polite enough conduct so as not to get lynched. Such was not always the case with most casual MMO'ers.
But the main distinction was that the majority of the guild were also the Clearing group for the new castle of Aincrad, and some of the more skilled players in the game. So, there was about a 50% chance this woman was one of the highest ranked player there was. The calm, yet erect way she held herself certainly seemed to suggest that she was no slouch.
She browsed about, leaving me free to continue reading. It was an old magazine, but it was talking about the new Adaptive Code System. Basically, it was an organic program which would allow the code from one game world to be altered into compatible data within another, in a sense enabling all the players from all the different worlds travel from game to game. It was real high tech stuff, and fascinating. I jumped as the customer cleared her throat politely.
"I am sorry," she said, "but is this all of your stock?"
"Oh, not at all. On the displays on the main floor, I just put a decent representation of what I offer on the other floors. Did you have a specific item in mind, or did you just know the type of item?" She put a finger to her chin as she thought about it.
"Well, I am not sure exactly what it is I am looking for." She sighed, and looked tired.
"Well, ma'am, tell me your trouble and if I can't help you out, I'll recommend someone who might be able to." She sighed again.
"That's how I wound up all the way out here in the first place." She looked irritated briefly, and then her face cleared to an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I am surre it is bad form to insult the shop you are hoping will stock you." I shrugged, then shook my head.
"Nah, it's fine. I happen to know the owner of this place, and he's a jerk anyway." Both points true, even if I am the owner.
"Oh? Who's the owner?" Oh, well, so much for that.
"I am. What can I do for you?" She giggled slightly, and her smile took an odd turn.
"You wouldn't be flirting with me, would you?" I had to think about that for a second.
"Hmmm... good question. I guess you could say that I was, but no more so then I do anyone else." Suddenly I thought I recognized the look as one of a humoring a child. I gave a curt bow. "I apologize if I offend you, Ma'am!" She chuckled lightly, and waved it off.
"Oh, no offense taken. I just wanted to warn you before you wasted your charm that it would be futile." She held her left hand up, back facing me, and I saw the small, plain silver band around her ring finger.
"Oh ho, congratulations, Madam. It always warms my heart when I see people who managed to find happiness while trapped in Sword Art Online." She gave a genuine smile.
"Thanks. I did get very lucky in that regard." I returned the gesture whole heartedly. Anyone who could find Love in SAO, and still hold it now, got my support.
"I didn't manage anything as exciting as a spouse, but I managed to come away with some family myself. Now, Ma'am, what type of thing are you looking for?"
"Well, my guild is one of bigger groups working up on Aincrad, clearing the way through the floors. We spent two years in that world, and only cleared the 75th floor. A lot of us are still determined to do it right, and finish the whole damned thing. We often run full day, sometimes two day raiding operations, but all I and the other guild chefs have to work with is..." she made a disgusted face " the icky low quality ingredients we scavenge in the castle. We want to clear at least to the 75th floor again as soon as possible, just to get our non SAO members versed in it, and have a baseline for minimum gear requirements for recruiting more Progression parties who were not on the frontlines in SAO." She sighed, and looked tired again.
"Needless to say, this frantic pace hasn't left a lot of time for many of us to lay foundations outside of personal houses and other safe places to log off of. And We can't do much with the poor quality of supplies the NPC vendors carry." She faced me, looking irritated at the lack of available stuff. "Spend two years building up my recipe book, just to have everything change. Ugh." She shook it off, and brightened again.
"So I have been going around, to resident player shops, trying to find someone who can supply bulk orders of higher class ingredients, to help preserve the moral on the longer raids. It can get ugly up there when all you have to work with is basic bread and salted meat rations every time. Unfortunatly, the closest I have come, is alchemists, but their stocks are suited more for a spice rack then a kitchen proper. I kept asking every new shop where I could get decent food, and those that didn't point to NPC vendors seemed to indicate if anyone would have it, your shop would." I nodded, understanding her pain, and pushed myself up off my elbows on the counter.
"I know what you mean. With so many of the players living out of their capital or aligned cities, they either log or eat out of the restaurants, there, and take field rations if they plan to be out for long. Outside the alchemists or crystal crafters, there isn't a big demand for ingredients of high quality." Her face fell.
"So you don't have anything?"
"Well... I wouldn't say that... not exactly. Let me take you out back, show you the garden." I turned, pulled a ring of keys off a shelf, and moved to lift the partition between back area and store floor. She followed with no hesitation, which spoke either to her naivety, or more likely her surety in her combat prowess. In neutral town, you never know when some stranger might just attack. I unlocked the door to the back acre, and led her though the dense trees into my garden area. I had a modest selection, all the produce I could think of, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, onions, ecetera. Spread out in a line, with a dozen of each crop type. For each plant, each row had 8 grade C plants, 3 grade B plants, and one grade A plant. The max yield I could get was 10 items a day per plant, though I rarely harvested the low grades unless I had an order placed for specific amounts. I had the same set up further back for alchemical and medicinal herbs.
I always harvested A grades, and stowed at least 100 surplus of the B's in the shop, in our lowest basement storage. But, seeing as the A grade veggies and produce made reliably decent reagents for potions and spell work, I had a contract with a friendly alchemist by the week for my A grade products. There were still plenty of tiers I couldn't have, such as A+, AA, AA+, AAA, and S grades, but my cultivation skill level made those out of reach of my garden. I have been trying to get Snow interested in it, but she doesn't seem to want to.
The customer walked among the rows of plants, examining each until she figured out how I stacked the rows, and looked pleased.
"It's simply wonderful! How do I go about picking what I'd like?"
"Well, depends. You said "bulk" orders inside. What type of bulk are we talking about. She tapped her chin thoughtfully, then, with a wave of her hand, opened a series of windows, and made some motions which I couldn't judge.
"Hmmm... to do what I'd like to, I think I would need about 400 units a week of a number of your C grade crops, 100 units of the B grades, and 40 units of the A grades. That should give me and my other cooks enough material to keep the troops happy over the course of the week.
I think dollar signs might have shown in my eyes, the way they do in cartoons. Now, when I set prices, I usually gauge them on what the average open market price is. Sometimes I do a case by case sale. I give preferential treatment to friends and good customers. I don't care about customer loyalty. If someone has something better than me, or better priced, buy it from them. I am not going to hold it against a shop if they can provide a better deal than me. Most often, I do whatever the girls want in regard to price, unless I feel I should do better.
SAO mates, I felt, would get a reasonable price, or even bleed me a bit. Possibly still some residual guilt from my sloth in the game. But the more pressing concern was that of the 70 units a week of my grade A stuff, most of it was already going to various alchemists, potion makers, magic crafters, ect. I had semi permanent contracts with at least one who took almost all m best produce. She would be coming for her shipment today, in fact.
"So, then you want a onetime load?"
"Well, maybe at first. But if the effect are very good, I would want to look into something more long term. Maybe a weekly contract or the like."
"Well... I am certain I can handle the C and B grade load. But due to the maintenance the plants require being too much for me to raise more, I do not think I can manage your A grade demands. Right now, all the stock is going directly to a consumer by contract. I will talk to her, and can possible, depending on how much she uses, if she will cut her order." She looked apologetic.
"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to be trouble. The B grades will be fine."
"It's no problem. I will talk to her. She's an alchemist by trade, and if I remember correctly, most food type ingredients only provide a health restoration effect to potions." I pulled a clip board ou of my inventory, along with a stylus, and handed it to her. "Go ahead and list out what you'd like, in what quantities, even the A grade stuff, and we'll pull what we can today, and I'll start stocking the rest." She nodded, still looking off put, but 5 minutes later, she was roaming happily, humming to herself as she inspected what plants I had, and scribbling on her pad. For 15 minutes, she looked about, occasionally talking to herself, nodding, and making pleased looks. When she finished, she walked back over, smiling contentedly and hugging the clipboard to herself.
"I really must admit, your selection is amazing." I shrugged.
"When no one else really has a selection at all, it's not really hard to have a better selection."
"But I really am amazed at the sheer number of different crops you have growing here."
"Is nothing really difficult. Whenever I encounter a wild plant that could be harvested, I just attempted to make seeds from it. All it takes is one plant and some patience, and you can plant any number you have the land to grow on. Wander around this place enough, your bound to encounter almost anything, so I just started hoarding, because I am too lazy to remember where all this stuff grows." She got another strange look, but shook her head, smiling again.
"Well, regardless, if you could furnish me with even half of the stuff on the list, it would be more than suitable to give us a change of pace at HQ." She handed the board back to me, and I tucked it under an arm without looking. I would have to do some analysis before I could decide on a price. And since all but the A grade materials were zero maintenance and not being utilized, I was looking at a 100% profit. Maybe, if this paid off in the form a of long term set of weekly contracts, I could make enough to have another basement level added on to the shop.
The thing about storing consumable ingredients, was that unlike the original SAO food items, these items were loaded with a decay code, where the quality of the good would decrease in a set number of days until, at the end of day 7, the food would rot unless persevered. If I had the money,, I could get a new floor built, and add a number of freezer cabinets, which would allow me to store a certain amount of food indefinitely. All I had right now was a single unit, and to stock enough food just to fill this order, I would have to add another for just the weekly storage.
"Now, if we can head back inside, I'll get to work on this list, and get you a quote to bring back to your guild." I started back up the path toward the shop, and she dropped into place next to me.
"With veggies and stuff taken care of, I was wondering what you had available in terms of meat stock?" Damn, there was the rub. There was no real animal husbandry mechanic in ALO. The closest was the beast mount system in place for the Cait Sith. This meant that any meat type items were drops, or provided by NPC. I had... slightly less than none in stock.
"I have... slightly less than none in stock. What ... um... particular meat would you be looking for?"
"Anything other than frog." She shuddered. I roughly tried to puzzle out the scope of what she was trying to accomplish in my head, remembered I was terrible at such things, and gave up. I thought about all the drop locations I could think of, Plains Stork, Hell Cows, Dire Camels, Forrest boars... Ah, that one could work. The was a forest, a couple hops away, Grisnel, where groups of 12 level 42-47 Forest Warthogs could be hunted. They dropped good leather and tusk ivory, so I occasionally took the girls and hunted there when I had the creative fever struck. They were found other places, but not in the high number groupings. And the forest itself was not often hunted because there were no real cache's inside the forest, and the density of the high strength enemies mae it tedious work for even a fairly skilled party. But, they did have somwhere around a 15% chance to drop Grade A pork, and a slightly higher chance for lesser pork.
"How much time do you have?" I asked. If she had the time, I wouldn't mind making a hunting party out of it. Can never have enough materials, and the sheer number of hogs per pull would mean almost certain drops of pork each set. She looked surprised, then quizzical.
"I had no plans other then scouting shops all day. ... Why?"
"What's your challenge level?" A polite way of asking "are you any good in combat, and if so, what level of enemy." She looked thoughtful.
"Oh, I think about 65+." I blinked at her.
"No, I mean solo challenge level." In a lot of the upper tier guilds, players almost never fought solo. I would not expect otherwise in the top rated clearing guild.
"That is my solo challenge level." I stopped and stared openly at her.
"Really? Wow, what's your group challenge level?" She looked irked, and then thought about it.
"Well, with our normal progression party, I would say, 75-78 or so. Any higher than that, and we just don't have the skill scores for a good sweep. It just devolves into a tedious grind." She turned back to her irritation. "Why were you so surprised at my solo challenge level?"
"I would use the term impressed, more than surprised. Even with my girls in optimized gear, we could possibly pull a 65, but it would likely be messy." I returned to my trek. "Anyway, while I have no meat in stock, I do know a decent hunting ground where we can get some higher grade drops thanks to the mob density. It's a fairly high level, but if you can pull at a 60+, we should be able to clear, oh, 100-150 drops in 2 or 3 hours." I stopped, opened the door and held it for her. She hesitated.
"Oh, I wouldn't want to be a bother."
"It is not a problem, Ma'am. It's one of the services we offer here. All I had planned for today was to run the shop. And the only obligation I had was a pick up from one of the shops supply, but one of the Girls just cropped up, so she can sit in for that. I can have her total up and begin pulling stock for your list, have as much of it as can be managed by the time we'd get back." I smiled as she walked past into the store. "Besides, I could use some of the materials they drop to, so it's a win-win across the board." She examined me deeply for a moment.
"Well... if it wouldn't be too much trouble... it would be nice. How much would this extra work cost?"
"Time to work that out later. Need to see what the conditions are like, and all of that. Hunting parties aren't the same as straight dungeon escorts. I mean, what if we put in the work, but failed to achieve the desired results? That would look pretty bad if I gave a quote and collected prior. And, seeing as you are from one of the most respectable guilds in Alfhiem, that comes with a certain amount of credibility." I said all of this, while moving inside the shop, setting the keys back in their space, and following my guest to the center of the room.
Was I going out of my way? Not really. I had multiple motivations to do this. Chiefly, I was bored as hell, and not likely to pull any random raids or heavy work today anyway. Another point, I genuinely liked helping my fellow former SAO'ers, and, if what this woman said was true, I would be doing a good deed for a number of them. Yes, the fact she was kind of pretty, even though she was married, helped grease my engines, that is just a facet of being male. A core skill, if you will. Unavoidable. And, I was only a few points from hitting 750 with my on hand sword skill, and besides a liking for even numbers, I was expecting another skill slot upon reaching it. So, in short, I was a mite eager to get some work in, and the hogs I had in mind would push me there. Plus, grinding with company beats grinding alone, n the girls don't have the patience necessary for reaching goals more than a point or two away.
"Oi, Runt!" I called at the ceiling. There was a squeal of surprise, and the clunk of something falling over, and footsteps moving to the stair case. A door opened, and a high, girly voice called out crossly.
"Hey! Why did you have to startle me like that! How'd you even know I was in, anyway?"
"Cause, besides that I can check my friends roster, and house roster, to see who's here, you were clumping around up there loud enough to raise the dead."
"I was not!"
"Maybe not. Anyway, come down here, you're on counter duty today, I'm headed out."
"What? I don't want to sit in this hovel all day!" She came down the stairs and broke onto the floor, ignoring the fact, or maybe not noticing, that I had company. "Maybe I have plans already?"
"Don't be silly, Runt." She glared at me, her little bright green eyes flashing under her black bangs.
"Why do you still call me that, Big Brother!? I have been the same size as Snow for months now!"
"Scratch it, Runt, we have a guest." She still looked angry, but turned and gave a formal bow to the Woman with me.
"Greetings, Ma'am." She then turned her attention back to me, but I cut her off before she could continue her ranting.
"Now, Raven, I am taking her out to Grisnel Forest to do some hog farming, formal contract and all that noise." Her features instantly morphed into excitement.
"Oh? Can I go?" I sighed. I do not understand how females can cycle through emotions so fast.
"No, sweetie. I need you here in the shop. She clouded up again, but I held my hand up to stall her storm. "I need you here, because Eris is coming to pick up her shipment later, and someone needs to be here for her." She caught herself, and looked skeptical.
"Eris is really coming?" I walked past her, back around the counter, to a cabinet, opening the drawer where I kept the potions.
"Yeah. Think you can meet her and give her here stuff?" I pulled out enough potion to cap my stock, plus a few extra, and a handful of random teleport crystals of the nearest town, home town, guild hall varieties. I heard raven sigh.
"Yeah. I can. But you owe me."
"Whatever you say, Runt." I gathered the spare kit up returned to the customer, and offered it to her. She looked shocked.
"Oh, no, thanks, I am covered on such things. No need to worry."
"Please, I insist. It's part of the service I provide when I am... retained to do a job. Besides, it's always better to have too many potions and crystals, then too few. If you feel too uneasy with it, you can always give the excess back when we are done." She still looked hesitant, but accepted. Not uncommon. Those who were old hat in a MMO like this were often reluctant to accept anything for free. I did a quick personal inventory, decided everything was in order, and nodded to myself.
"Alright, then, Raven, I think I am ready. Do me a favor, and bundle up Eris's stuff, and then, if no one is in, gather up as many item as we have on the list I left on the counter. Anything interesting comes up, don't hesitate to call me." One of the new systems added after the SAO players consolidated in Alfhiem, was the guild chat system. While we didn't really think of ourselves as a guild, we still registered as one, called Epsilon, just me, Raven, and Snow, simply to take advantage of the grouped finance system and chat. It was like making a video call, and was helpful when we were separated in game.
"Now, friend," I turned to the woman, "what's your most comfortable role?" In all MMO's, there are 3 base roles. Tank, Damage, and support/healer. Tanks, or Vanguards as they were called in SAO, are high defensive skill players, who hold enemy attention and keep the healer focusing on only having to heal minimal targets. Damage do high damage, and healers keep everyone alive.
"Well, I specialize in damage, but I can heal or even tank if it is necessary."
"Ladies choice. I can do damage, but specialized as a tank when I picked up this baggage." True. When I first... adopted, Raven and Snow, they were level 4-5, and not skilled at all. But, as I worked with them in the low fields, Raven had a tendency toward damage, and Snow was a natural support player, so we had a full setup, just the three of us. It was funny, I didn't know it at the time, but I realized later, I really probably would have died to keep them safe, so tanking was my natural role.
I opened my inventory, found my tank gear, and did a full equip. Shiny, jointed metal boots built around my legs. Heavy metal gauntlets around my hands, my left having a built in knuckle and a flat piece or armor back of my forearm for deflection an blocking. Ring mail under light metal chest armor plate, and over that a base white leather duster with jagged black designs covering the entire surface to the point where it was hard to tell which color was more prominent. On my back, just over the hips, laying horizontally, the grip hanging right in the area my right hand would sit if I had my hands on my hips, popped my sword in it's sheath.
"Cool, then. Raven, give us a hug, then were are off." Raven did, then shuffled off behind the counter, grabbed a stool, and began poking through the Magazine I had left as I held the front door open, and followed my guest out. "The forest is not terrible far, we should be able to make it in 2 or three leaps."
(...)
Combat was slightly awkward at first, but then, working with a new person, and against mobs they have never faced before always is. But, she was smart, skilled, and was undoubtedly better then I was. The sheer size of each pull, being anywhere from 10 to 15 animals, and the very resilience of the hogs, made it difficult, but as long as no more than three attacked at a time, it was not a big issue. After our 3rd pull, we were moving in a synchronized fashion, and after maybe an hour, we had learned each other's style sufficiently to where we could near predict what we were each going to do.
Few things anywhere are as fun as the fluid dance that is a combat team that is skilled and coordinated.
Example: A hog would charge, and I would swing, catching it's tusks with my sword, and sending its front half into the air. I would call "switch" and in the same movement bring my sword vertically down, catching the next hog mid charge and halting it dead as she would slide beneath the first, slashing its underbelly, before digging in a heel and launching herself over the second, delivering half a dozen stabs to it while in the air.
Now, I prefer to hold my sword as a knife fighter holds their knife or dagger, horizontally, the blade parallel to my arm, the back of the blade running along the back of my forearm. My sword is a light sword, similar to a cutlass, but instead of a rounded finger guard, it was flat and triangular, with the outer edge sharpened as a continuation of the blade, which itself was wide and flat, and not as long as a standard long sword. This grip made it so I landed lighter overall force hits on a target, but was ideal for quick slashes and guards, as I could throw either a feather block, or my entire weight into it. And, it looked cool as hell.
For almost two hours we fought, pausing to heal and ret between pulls, until it was about one o'clock. She suggested we take a real world rest, and I agreed.
"You can go ahead and go first." She nodded, then, without a word, logged out. I opened some windows and looked at the drops accumulated. We'd killed somewhere around a150 in the 2-3 hours we'd been grinding, and, by my estimation, had recovered maybe 75-90 chunks of pork.
My guild chat called for my attention, and I pulled it open, Raven's irked looking face staring at me.
"Sorry to bother you, brother, but a player by the name of "Slyk" is here, and he says that you "promised" to make a titanium blade for him if he could get his hands on a Titanium bar." He manner, an the emphasis she put in the words told me all I needed to know about the situation. It did sound familiar.
"Alright, Snow's in? Good, have her bring it to me."
"Why Snow? I want to go!"
"Has Eris been in yet?" She looked down and to the side.
"No..." I had to suppress a smile.
"Then I still need you there. Have her bring me the parts, and then tell lord muckity muck that I will send the gear as soon as I reach a post box." She nodded, looked off put, and closed the channel. My guest was awake again, and smiling faintly.
"Howdy." He smile deepened.
"So, I am guessing you and your little sister joined SAO together?" I must have looked more surprised than I thought, as her face seemed to darken.
"What? Oh, oh, oh. I get you. But Raven isn't my sister." So, I outlined how me, Raven, and Snow got together. She listened patiently, and was smiling as I finished.
"That's nice. I remember seeing, on the streets of the starter city, that some soldiers were shaking down the children there. While it was sad to see people taking advantage of others, it was encouraging to see just how many people went out of their ways to help each other." I chuckled slightly, and leaned back against the tree, looking up.
"Yeah. Funny part of it is, I never would have thought I was the kind of guy who would do such a thing." She giggled.
"I understand that. I had never imagined I would find my husband until I did. I was pretty much convinced I was not ever going to be the marrying type." I nodded at this.
"It's crazy how you never really know who you are until your life is in the balance."
"It is nice to know, though." She let out a satisfied breath. "I know I am happier now than I ever was before SAO. Anyway, did you want to take your break now?"
"Nah, I got Snow coming. It's all good." I had opened the guild window again, and watched Snow's location click over into Grisnel. Half a minute later, she dropped lightly from the trees above to the ground.
"Good afternoon, Brother," She said to me, and then bowed to my guest, "and guest." Snow was as calm and friendly as Raven was loud and fiery. Well, Raven my have been a little louder, depending on how you measured. Save the fact that she had White hair and red eyes where Raven had Black and emerald green, and the radically different temperaments, the two could have passed as twins. She opened her inventory, and produced a bar of titanium, and handed it to me. "Raven told me to bring this to you." I stared stupidly at it.
"Alright... where are the rest of the materials?" She cocked her head to the side, questioningly.
"This was all I was given." I sighed, and turned, opening my guild window again, and calling to Raven.
"Oi, Runt. What's the deal, giving me just the bar? Where are the other materials?" She let an innocent look play about her face.
"I was given no other materials by the customer."
"Is this person still there?" She nodded. "Ask him why he did not give you the rest of the materials I quoted him on?" Her head turned, and she spoke to someone off screen. She had her end blocked, so I could not hear things not directed at me, an people on her side could no hear me. I left mine open, because I do not care who can hear me.
"He did not retrieve any of the other materials. He says, as they are all of a lower level, that it is a common service and courtesy for the merchant to provide them with the cost of the item being made." My jaw muscled jumped at the pure arrogance of this upstart.
"Well, you can tell him, that it is NOT one of the services I provided. The price I quoted, was the price for the item provided he supplied ALL of the materials, not just the ones he felt inclined to." I am fairly sure she quoted me in the telling, because I saw her flinch once, and she looked almost upset when she turned back.
"He asks how much it would be for you to supply the mats."
"Find out the price for each on the general market, and then tack on 40% per single item. If he starts to rage at you again, tell him that if he continues treating you in that fashion, I will return his bar, and he will get nothing. And get a look at his guild name, and remember it." She was busy for a minute or so, and I heard Snow and my guest talking.
"I apologize for his behavior." Snow said wearily to our friend. "He is very particular about the standard of customer he works for, and by telling him what he was supposed to do, and implying he was rude for not doing so, Brother becomes very stubborn." I missed the others reply as Raven came back into frame.
"He wants to haggle."
"No, take it or leave it." She turned back, talked for a second, nodded once, waited, the sighed.
"He said he'll still take it. And... he's gone."
"Good. Now, did you get his guild name?" She nodded. "Very good. Please consult the public listings, and find out who run that outfit. Then, address an official message to them, informing them of what occurred. Ugly it up as you see fit, and sign my tag to it. Then, near the end, add that if this warty little pimple EVER speaks to anyone in my employ on my property again, that their entire guild will be permanently banned from purchasing from me, and that all of the suppliers using my good will be warned, with penalty of embargo, from selling any of my goods to them."
"Alright. Oh, give me a second, Eris Just came in." She closed the feed, and I turned to Snow.
"And yes, Snow, rudeness like that does make me stubborn, as to ignore and leave such rudeness unpunished, simply promotes more of it." Snow sighed and shook her head.
"Don't you think that is a little hypocritical?" I shrugged.
"Maybe, but I do try not to be rude to someone who has not been rude to me or mine first." She shook her head again.
"Anyway, I figured you probably forgot to bring some food for yourself, so I made a few quick lunches for you and your customer, if you would like one, Ma'am." The woman smiled sweetly.
"That is awfully kind of you, Miss. Thank you." Snow beamed, blushing slightly, and handed over a small parcel, before walking over and handing me one. Raven opened the call again. She looked sheepish and expectant.
"Hey, Big Brother... Eris is going on a raid today somewhere on the floors in the 20's in Aincrad, and asked if I wwanted to go. Can I, please?" I worked hard not to smile.
"Yeah, sure. Just, you know, if you bite anyone, don't tell them where you live." She brightened, then looked offended as I finished.
"Hey! I don't bite! And I told you I didn't want to be picked up like that, anyway, so it was your own fault!" I waved a hand dismissively, turning my head away.
"Whatever, Runt. Just make sure to set the stall before you leave, have fun, and do some damage. Also, if you would, ask Miss Eris if she might lower herself from her lofty nobility to deign to slum it with one off my ill reputable birth to stat me a message so that I might join her for a cup of coffee soon? I need to talk to her." I watched her turn and covey my message. She smiled wickedly when she turned back.
"She says she owes you a slap, and that she'll message you when she gets a free moment. Alright, if I don't see you before log of, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!" I returned the parting, and closed my menus. Girls, especially in their early teens, are exhausting. I looked up, smiling.
"Thanks for the food, Snow. You two didn't have to wait for me, let's dig in."
End 2