The Merchant

Pelvin and the children hauled the cart and showed it to a merchant nearby, right now it was filled with a pile of cleaned demon claws. They made sure to scrape and wash it well in its every corners, turning it glossy and clean.

Pelvin mustered a shrewd smile, he rubbed his palms, then motioned to the claws on the cart. "Sir, would you like to purchase some claws gathered from the mythical beasts found on the west."

The merchant rose his eyebrow. "What kind of beast?"

Pelvin smiled widely that reached his cheek. "The spirit ones, those creatures the mages used as familiars."

The merchant dubiously inspected the claws, he came forward and turned close to the cart. "For a spirit beast, you acquired this many?" He inquired skeptically.

"Well I found them dead when I gathered them."

The merchant stared at him, then back to the claw, he hoisted it up over his head. "Whether you're lying or not, these are quite quality material. Okay, I would like to get a quarter of what you have."

Pelvin nodded. "I would sell you half for a discount."

The merchant sighed, shaking his head. "I don't need that much, besides it would be a pain to sell that many."

Pelvin's smile fell flat. "I understand."

The money he collected was only about thirty silvers, it was fewer than what he had expected. Pelvin rose his eyebrow. "Sir, this seems to be lacking."

After the merchant transferred the claws to his shop, he motioned for them to turn away. "That was its actual price, you can now leave."

Pelvin's face was unsatisfied, he shot out his words unto the merchant. "One of those could fetch a price for about ten to fifteen silvers."

The merchant took about twenty seven or so claws from their cart, he then faced Pelvin with a stubborn expression. "Look man, that would be its standard price, but since the economy is falling you're even lucky someone bought it for you."

The boys stepped forward and growled unto the merchant. "Hey, that's unfair."

When the merchant recognized who they were, he scowled in contempt, "You damn pilferers, you don't get to tell me what's fair or not."

Pelvin sighed, he spun and was about to leave. "Let's go."

The boys smacked their lips. "But!" They grunted but they let it go and walked away.

They roved the streets as they targetted for their next merchants they wanted to sell.

The boy strutted beside him. "Hey Uncle, where's my share?"

"Calm down, our venture is not over yet."

Currently, they had eighty or so demon claws on their cart, however thus far, only one merchant across the city bought their claws, they were turned down by the rest, they tried every streets until finally they were down to the last merchant.

Pelvin gulped as he eyed the last merchant, he made sure to lubricate the claws for presentation purposes. He approached the last merchant with a friendly and bright smile. "Sir good morning."

The merchant replied with a snort. "Hmmph?"

"I would be selling these spirit beast claws. Of course, they used to cost fifteen silvers, but I'm willing to arrange its price to ten silvers." Pelvin said.

The merchant guffawed his heart out. "Nice joke, but during this calamity no one would spend their money on goods that are not necessity."

Pelvin chuckled as sweat frothed on his cheeks. "I mean come on, the demand for claw necklaces, festoons, designs is still high in the market."

The merchant grunted, emphasizing that he disagreed on his words. "If you're in a different country that is, look around you, the people's spirits are down."

Pelvin paused for a bit as his lips curled, it was true that the people were cowering in fear, the faces they held were masks to keep the morale of the city from falling. Especially, since their children were watching.

"Well everyone of us is suffering." Pelvin said with pain mixed in on his voice.

The mechant's eyes were fixated unto the claws on the cart. "If you're willing to drop it down to three silvers, I might consider it."

Pelvin crossed his arms with a sigh, calculating in his mind. His lips were burdened, but in the end he was forced to speak. "Fine."

The boys jogged to his front. "Hey Uncle, are you sure about this?"

Pelvin nodded, he was forced to trade. Afterwards, he gave up about half of the claws, he eyed the clinking pouch on his arm. Right now he collected about one hundred and sixty silvers, but there was one thing left to do. He glanced over to the remaining claws and figured he needed to exhaust them.

With no one to sell to, he thought he need to change strategy. When a thought struck his mind, he slowed down his pace, he got engrossed on his merchant life that he forgot his objective. That was to capture the girl, especially without that monster on sight it was tempting. But he felt, he needed more opening and preparation, without money after all, he wouldn't be able to deliver her safely to his city. Also as a merchant, knowing he still had resources to sell would leave a hole of unsatisfaction in his heart.

The boy approached his side. "Hey uncle, what do you plan to do now?"

He looked over to the cart. "We're gonna sell those."

The boy smiled broadly. "Then I know where we can set up a shop." He said with glee.

"Calm down, we can't set up without acquiring a permit. Because if we did, we might get charged or taken to the dungeon. I'm not sure how their laws work here though." Pelvin said.

The boy gave a confused noise. "What do you mean? What is the permit?"

Pelvin smiled he crouched to meet his eyes. "Before we can set up a shop, we need a permission from the Lords, and of course pay certain fees."

The boy bit his lip, suspicion were written all over his face. "I don't know about that, that sounds like cheating, why do we have to pay them?"

"Look here young one, if you're going to occupy a property you need to pay the owners. Because the lands are owned by individuals." Pelvin said.

The boy attempted to digest his words, but he seemed dense. "I don't get it, why are lands owned this sounds ridiculous."

Pelvin sighed, well what did he expect from children who never recieved a proper education. But he'd like to teach him step by step, or let them observe for a while how the business world works.

"Anyway just follow me."

As they traversed across the city, they were headed to Lord Sethan's office, he was said to be a brilliant mage according from the other merchants. Aside from being a mage soldier, he was also the director of finances who manages taxes, fees and processes permits towards merchants.

Right now, they were about to acquire a permit.

Pelvin entered the city hall, he inquired where Lord Sethan's office was found and he was quickly guided. He told the children to stay outside while he manages their paper works.

He was now in front the door of the office, when he opened the door, he saw the director of finances, treading lightly assorting documents on the shelves. He was tall and thin, a middle aged man around his forties, he had a monocle that sat on his cheek.

He cleared his throat and politely intruded. "Good morning, good sir."

Sethan gave a weak nod. "Good morning." He said calmly, he motioned towards the chair. "Have a seat."

Pelvin seated himself in comfort, the director, Sethan returned to his desk to attend to his demands.

"I need a permit." Pelvin said.

Sethan nodded as he jotted down on his paper. "We will issue you a permit good for one year, and the fee will depend on how your business operates."

Pelvin stroked his chin, he jerked his knee as he thought about it. "How about only for a few days?"

Sethan shook his head gently, he adjusted his monocle up. "I'm sorry but we don't issue short term permits, we will allow travelling merchants though. But we won't allow any merchants to take a permanent space without a permit."

Pelvin sighed, he straighted up and gave a smile, excusing himself. "Thank you for your time."

After he left, he was now strutting on the streets. Based on what he gathered from the director he was left with no choice but to set up his shop on the cart. If his shop was mobile he won't be charged by any renting fees.

One thing he needed to do was to create appealing products, he had enough money to invest but it would take a lot of effort. He scoured the market and purchased some leather straps. Then he directed the children to carefully hole the claw with their blades. They managed to create some necklaces of claws, they etched its tip to lessen its sharpness. It took about a lot of time, then he visited the smith shops and grinded the other claws, turning them into pure powder. He then encased the powdered ones inside a jar.

He laid out a board atop the cart and used it as table to display his products. Various designs of necklaces of claws win the middle and the jars of powdered claws were on the sides.

"To keep the spirits of negativity from dwelling inside your hearts, buy this necklace. Try it and you will be happy!" Pelvin hollored hoping it would be recieved by their ears.

One woman came forward. "What is this?" She eyed the necklace in confusion.

Pelvin held a steady smile. "Miss right now how do you feel?"

The woman sighed, her face weary. "Umm, scared."

Pelvin acted surprised, he gasped. "I can see the spirits of negativity on your shoulders."

The woman rose her eyebrows. "You're not fooling me?"

"No, no, you see I have unlocked my sixth sense, and I can see that you're having a hard time right now."

"How did you know?" The woman said.

"I told you did I, pretty woman." He gave a charming wink, then proceeded to lend her a necklace. "These things are called the Clawed Necklace of Light, they contained light energies. They were gathered from the claws of the creatures of light, named Hersivana, they were tamed by the Goddess named Melias. It is imbued with light magic that will dispel your sadness. My friends and even the Lord himself tried it, they told me it worked. So why don't you wear it?"

"Really?" The woman gave a smile of hope, she nodded after hearing his words, she placed it on her neck, and after breathing in a fresh air she was surprised.

Pelvin smiled. "How do you feel?"

The woman gasped pleasingly. "I feel light now."

Pelvin nodded as he rubbed his palms. "That will be fifteen silvers."

The woman flitted her eyebrows, somewhat reluctant to purchase it.

Pelvin smiled. "That was its actual price but for someone as pretty as you, I would drop it down to eight silvers."

The woman smiled satedly. "Fair enough." She dropped down her coins and walked away.

The boy jogged close to him. "Hey, is what you said true?"

Pelvin chuckled. "Of course not."

The boy mused him as his mouth turned to O. "How did you do that?"

Pelvin flipped the coin on the air using his thumb. "Some basic psychological tricks, the first one was using complicated words like magic, the other one was assuring her that it worked on other customers, especially to someone important like the Lord of the city, the last one was increasing the price to absurdity, then dropped it down on the last second." He chuckled as he toyed with the coins on his palms. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention giving it a convoluted name and history would give it a stronger impact."

The boy nodded. "But, did it have magical powers?"

Pelvin laughed lightly. "No, but sadness is also psychological, you can easily fool a person's well being if you play it right. That woman totally believed me, thus her belief fooled herself thinking she was now well."

"Woah, I never thought of that." The boy said ecstatically.

Pelvin stooped low and rubbed his hair. "Young boy, business is a matter of psychology, knowing how people think is just one of the essentials if you want to thrive in the market."

"But, isn't this cheating?" The boy said.

"In what sense? I cured the woman's state and she's happy with it, plus no one would bother to look it up on the history books." Pelvin said. "Well then, why don't we get to work?"

Knowing the city folks were sullen and scared from the external threats, he thought it was best to exploit their emotions.