"Don't worry sir, this isn't a scam. You let me use your trading tab, and get 2 emeralds."
"What's the point of it? What do you get out of it?"
"That's for me to worry sir."
"Fine, but you'll be paying first."
I didn't pay him directly, instead, I put 2 emeralds on the counter closer the him.
He saw the money, nodded his head, and gave me his trading tab where I quickly sold all the sticks I had in my inventory.
I thanked the man and he left without saying anything, satisfied with what he got.
Since he was last in the line, I could relax and wait for my next customer.
"I have to ask, why do you do this?"
My guard seemed to get bored as she came closer to me to talk.
"Let's say this is gathering intelligence for my higher-ups."
I said that with a fake low voice.
"What do you mean, we all have the same trading tabs with little variation, what are you looking for?"
"Yes, most of us have the same trading tab, but not everyone has the same price. I'm looking specifically for one trade, that's why you see me moving to the next person so fast."
"But wouldn't be enough for them to come one at a time? You're just wasting emeralds on the regulars."
Oy! You're one of those regulars as well, so why are you complaining?
But it's true.
I have to think of a better cover-up story than this.
"It's to get the public trust, and for my name to get further away."
"Ahh, I see. Interesting."
"Do you know a lot of shops around here?"
"I do know a few."
Perfect, I don't need your protection for now, let's get you to do some real work.
"Could you please go to an alchemy shop and buy me everything on this list?"
I gave her a piece of paper with all the items I needed.
"3 pieces of Nether wart, 1 piece of sugar..... Are you an alchemist as well?"
"Can you get me those items?"
I didn't want to reveal too much for now.
"Sure, I don't think that would be a problem."
I nodded my head and gave her enough emeralds to buy everything I requested.
She took them and left at a quick pace.
But as I was looking at my inventory, I saw an interesting item that I hadn't used because of my armor.
The Monocle of Truth.
While I had the pillowcase over my head, it didn't register as a helmet in my inventory, so I could easily equip the monocle.
Once it was on my eye, everything turned gray around me, seeing all the people on the streets surrounded by green smoke.
If I looked closer to one person, I could see their inventory and skills.
Most of them were level 3 in their Crafting skill, and even 4 were here and there.
But the secondary skill was always at level one, not having access to the necessary materials or enough money to level them up.
I looked around some more and saw a thick black smoke on top of the building scaring me a little.
Then I remembered how Solomon described me and Violet, and concluded that she was the one on the roof.
I wonder what's she doing most of the time.
Is she like a reader, watching everything that is happening from afar, or she has fun in her own way through pranking other poor souls
Suddenly my observation was interrupted by one man with two guards.
"Sorry, are you Trader by any chance?"
I was startled as I looked at the man speaking with me.
He had long, blue hair tied behind, with green eyes, and expensive-looking clothing.
The two guards wore iron armor, but after looking more closely I recognized them.
On the second day I was at my stand, a few guards came to me since my wierd business made a commotion.
It was still at the beginning, where people were pointing and laughing at me, but I tried to ignore them.
They came to me asking what I was doing and why I was doing it.
I could't tell them the real reason, so I made a fake story explaining that I was a master in the Crafting skill, and my teacher gave me a mission to fulfill before I became a grandmaster.
But since people would recognize me, from my looks or my name, I had to wear a disguise.
They didn't believe me at first, but after I showed them my ID, they left me alone and didn't bothered me ever since.
Now they were back with someone else knowing my identity which didn't sit right with me.
"Depends who's asking."
"Sorry, where are my manners? My name is Carol Simpson, I work for the Sun company and I'm here to recruit you."
He has two names which means he's a noble at least, his name sounds pretty normal which means he is part of the high part of the nobles.
I was intrigued, to say the least.
He must be here because of my high Crafting skills, so they don't intend on offending me just by sending anyone.
I looked through my monocle and saw that his skills were pretty good.
Crafting level 5
Enchanting level 4
His inventory wasn't ordinary either, as it had a set of enchanted diamond armor, golden food, lots of diamonds and emeralds, and even a pearl.
He was ready for anything.
"Sorry, I'm not from this kingdom so I don't know about this company you're speaking of. Could you speak more about it please?"
He smiled like he heard exactly what he wanted.
"Certainly sir, the Sun Company has a lot of items under its name, some of them maybe you've heard like the commun and nobble chair while others are more obscure like the Enderchest."
Their company is dealing with all the chairs I've seen in every office?
That's a pretty big deal then.
And I'm not even talking about the Enderchest which is a commodity only the royal family could afford.
"That's sounds very impressive. What can the little old me do for you?"
"Oh, sir you're so humble for a grandmaster. We just want to hire you for a few high-end items you could help us with. If you sign a contract with us, where you only have to keep the recipes a secret, you could have a salary of 10 blocks of diamond per month."
Sheesh, that's pretty impressive for such little restrictions.
Unfortunately, I don't think they can give me any valuable information even if I work for them.
Let's not talk about the possibility of me being more rich than them in general.
"That's a pretty impressive salary, to say the least. And looks like you know more about me than I do about you, but let me question you this. Do you know about the Stone Kingdome that has been attacked by the Zombie Lord?"
The man looked confused for a moment before getting nervous.
"I heard about it, but from what I know the disaster has been dealt with."
"Yes, luckily there were two people there to save the day. The hero, and her unknown teacher."
"Where are you going with this?"
"That teacher that defeated the Zombie Lord is also my teacher. So what can you give me that my teacher didn't already gave me? He knows how to make the Enderchest and much more. He is so rich that no offer given by the royal family appealed to him. What can you show me more than that?"
The man froze on the spot not knowing what to say, which resulted in a few moments of awkwardness.
"I'm sorry I think I'll have to review the contract with my superiors and I'll come back."
The man turned away leaving the guards confused about what just happened.
This was a good outcome, if they had something good they would offer it to me, and since I'm just a 'student' they wouldn't be afraid to approach me like the 'teacher'.
Unless they dug deeper and found the truth, either way, it's good for me.
The guards left soon after, leaving me alone once again.
I got back to watching all the people walking along the street.
It was a fun activity to pass the time as people came to my stall from time to time.
Finally, my employee got back with the items I requested her.
"Hey boss, I got the items you need, and here's the change."
She gave me everything on the list and a few emeralds back.
I didn't know if what she said was the truth since she still had a few emeralds in her inventory.
Maybe those were hers from the beginning, or maybe she snagged a few for herself, I was just happy that she didn't run with the money in the first place.
Otherwise next time I would've met her, would've not been pleasant.
"Thank you Siren, I'll be done in an hour then you can leave."
She froze on the spot before looking around us with panicked look?
Alerted, I quickly turned and looked around to see any threats, but nothing caught my eye or the monocle.
"What happened?"
"N-nothing sir, I must've seen things. Oh and I must've forgotten to give you those emeralds as well."
She gave me 2 more emeralds which confused me more.
"Thank you? Is everything alright?"
"Y-yes sir, I'll go back to my post."
With that she got further away which only made me more confused.
Shrugging my shoulders I got back to my stall and waited one more hour until I broke everything down, put a sign down telling that ill be back in two days and left.
Back at my hotel room, I placed down a brewing stand that I took from my Enderchest.
"Maybe I should dig myself a room somewhere around here since I'll be staying for a few weeks. There's no reason to waste emeralds on this place."
The only problem was my horse, that I didn't have a place let him live his life.
Should I sell him?
Maybe even set him free?
I'll think of a solution later, for now let's make some potions.
First I placed a bucket of water down and filled all the empty bottles before taking the water back.
Then made a set of night vision potions with golden carrots, a set of speed potions with a rabbits foot and a set of water breathing potions with a Puperfish.
Everything was done after I checked for the last time.
I put the dark armor on me, and left the hotel without anyone seeing me.
I walked alone on the streets illuminated by the lanterns light, until I arrived at the port with the ships dancing on the waves.
Here, most of the ships were covered by darkness, but monster didn't tend to spawn here because of their constants movements.
I looked once more at the city that I was leaving behind, drank a night vision potion and hopped on a small boat peddling away.
With the potion effects on me, I could see through water like it wasn't there to begin with.
And the only thing I felt, was dread.
I felt so small and insignificant in the face of nature, I was just one small ant trying to conquer a mountain.
I saw schools of fishes of all kinds, some I knew while I others I didn't.
I also saw a few Zombies here and there, but they didn't seem to see me.
It was a beautiful but scary sight to see, and I kept on going.
After an hour of paddling away I finally stopped at the first sight of a crack in the bed of the sea.
I drank the last two potion and broke the flimsy boat underneath me.
Cold water surrounded me, making my clothes and armor wet.
Because of the armor, I was sinking much faster then normal, but with a motion from my legs all the momentum was gone leaving me floating in one place.
The movements weren't as smooth as on the surface, but with the enchantments on my armor and with the speed potion, everything was fine.
Seeing that I didn't have any problems with my movements, I dove deeper towards the underwater revine.
Time to do some mining.