A New Job

Levi starred at his father baffled, he still couldn't comprehend what had just happened. "How could you turn down an offer like that!?" 

"I know it may seem like a dumb move but I'm also a business man, and in business nothing is ever just as it seems," Sir Owain explained as he returned to his workshop.

"But this was an opportunity-" Levi sobbed, joining him in the backroom.

"An opportunity for who, me or them? Think about it" Sir Owain interrupted.

Levi gave it a thought, definitely it was an opportunity for his father to rise but in truth who had the most to profit?

"Look at it this way", Sir Owain began "I make items and sell them as much as they are worth, without any additional cost. That is going to definitely disrupt their market flow. They'd either have to lower their cost or increase their quality, both of which they can easily achieve by luring me with bread crumbs, but if I don't I could auction it directly to-"

"Directly to the warriors" Levi's eyes widened as he came to the realization.

"I'm glad you finally see the bigger picture" Sir Owain chuckled.

"But then how would you create awareness, the biggest advantage of working with them would be that you wouldn't have to find buyers for your items but now customers have to come directly to you to buy items" Levi pondered.

"That's where you come in," his father pointed out

"Me?" Levi wondered

"yes, why don't we become partners," Sir Owain proposed.

Levi was startled by his offer "Are you serious?"

"Of course, I still feel indebted to you so let's see this as settling the scores," Sir Owain added.

Levi thought about it for a short moment, 'if I get to work for him, with his current skill in crafting his high quality items would be flying off the shelves, and if I get ten percent of that money, in a matter of months I'll be filthy rich both in the real world and here in Aetheria' 

His eyes opened to all the possibilities that awaited him.

"So what do you say?" Sir Owain asked offering Levi a hand shake.

Levi unhesitatingly grabbed his hand with both hands, shaking it with enthusiasm.

"Don't worry sir, I won't let you down" Levi excitedly pledged.

"You'd better, because I'm not giving you thirty percent for nothing" Sir Owain casually stated, he then mistook the shock on Levi's face as displeasure.

"Okay I can go up to forty percent and that's it" he added.

Levi was at the verge of loosing his mind. This was like landing the jackpot. He wasn't too familiar with the Aetheria gold to real world dollar exchange rate but he was certain that forty percent of a High-grade weapon could cover more than half of his house rent, imagine the possibilities.

"thank you very much sir, I'll have this place filled with customers in no time" Levi passionately assured him.

"Infact, what I'm I doing lazying around for, I'll get right to work" Levi sped out of the the workshop determined to earn his pay.

"You don't have to feel too pressured," Sir Owain called out but he was already far gone.

'the plan is to attract warriors to the craft shop, it would be easier if I could find a few here in Lowdan' Levi reasoned

So he took his time going around the small village looking for any warrior but after he had searched everywhere he couldn't find a single warrior anywhere in the village. Lowdan didn't have anything interesting to offer so warriors hardly ever visited. 

[Not as easy as you thought right?]

"its just because it's Lowdan, they wouldn't have any reason to be in such a place, my best chance would be at Ladiel, at least I remember seeing a few warriors there since it's a major village"

He began his journey to Ladiel, at first on foot until he caught up to a wagon rider that drove him the rest of the way.

After arriving at Ladiel the village was vibrant with life, mostly residents but there were also a few players. Since the end of the drought, Ladiel being one of the four major villages in the Lowlands, had began to see an influx of villagers from other recovering villages like Lowdan.

The increase in residents resulted in the increase in services available to the warriors, attracting quite a few of them.

Levi wore a large grin as he got off the wagon, "this is perfect, with this much warriors around how difficult would it be to convince a few of them to visit the shop," 

He first of all approached a small group of two male warriors.

[I feel you are underestimating the difficulty of this task, but I think it's best you find out for yourself]

Levi scoffed at Blue's words, "all I have to do is explain to them that there's a village not so far from here, where they could get good items from"

[Let's see how that goes]

"Excuse me" Levi called out to get their attention, the two warriors stopped talking and shifted their gaze to Levi.

'What next?' he wondered nervously. Now that they had given him their full attention he didn't know what else to say. All this while he hadn't thought about the exact things to say, but why would he even need to think too much about it when he was the one bringing them the opportunity. 

'Maybe I shouldn't let what Blue say get to my head' he decided, pulling himself out of his thoughts.

Levi wore a friendly smile as he spoke, "there's a craft shop not so far from here in a village called Lowdan, where you can get high quality weapons and gear for a very reasonable price"

The two warriors were visibly confused by the character before them. A random stranger walks up to them and starts talking about a craft shop in a village they've never heard of, everything seemed suspicious and out of place. The only conclusion is that it was an ambush planned by Anti-players.

Anti-players always had a bounty on their heads so they were wanted in every major villages and cities, the only way they could attack players was by luring them out of the watchful eyes of the village guards and bounty hunters, where they could safely take them out. Its no surprise the warriors were weary of Levi.

After sharing a quick glance one of the warriors replied, "Sorry but we would have to pass"