There are not many things common across the continent. One of them is the annoyance of haggling with formation merchants. Every formation merchant that I talked to makes me wish that I could strangle them. They might be from different backgrounds, but they are all untrustworthy. It is especially annoying when you are a formation mage.
As for with whom am I bargaining, it is naturally a formation merchant. He is trying to escape the fort through the organization. The only reason that I want to work with the bastard is the fact that I need cells immediately.
I guess I should explain what a formation cell is. Formation cells are miniature propulsion formations that have been simplified for easy use. (You can't even power them using an external power source.) Such formations are not very strong. It is just enough to replace the propulsion formation for a day or so. I don't know if it will work in my case, but better to have it, I say. It is not like I have anything else to keep me busy anyway.
Anyway, talking to him, I finally understand the state of the castle. The Mayfire castle has been acting as something of a market to the people of this region. That is why I started the log. Recording this bit of info would be pretty useful.
Most of the people here are grain traders. They come here to buy grain from the Mayfires. With the disappearance of the Mayfires, most of the merchants were thrown for a loop. Thankfully, the organization seems to have taken in most of these merchants. They are slowly smuggling them out of the city into a safer position. The weird thing is that so many people managed to make their way down here. The Bloodfire gang seems to be distracted. They are spending their time looking for something or somebody.
And that brings me back to the man in front of me. He had been talking so much that my thoughts had begun to wander. I don't think the man has noticed, though.
He is a middle-aged man, with his age beginning to show. His hair has begun to grey recently, and. he has a potbelly that I think I have only seen with formation merchants. It is a hard trade, though. Formation merchants are mainly needed in outposts and settlements. These are, frankly put, not the best places to live. He has been very careful in making sure that I do not know his name. That makes me wonder if he has a bounty on him or something. Merchants are the folks who can most likely end up with a bounty after pirates in these plains.
"...hiring guards has also become so costly nowadays. We used to hire them from the farmers, though even that has become very hard due to the grain merchants. The bastards charge such low rates for everything that most farmers end up starving. Starving farmers don't make for good guards.", he speaks on.
"Well, all of that is fine, but you have yet to answer my question. Do you have a cell?" I interrupt the man.
"I do have cells, my friend. Though I can't give it to you for free now, can I? That would cause me quite a bit of loss." He replies, being concise for once.
"Well, I have three class seven mana stones.", I reply. "I refuse to believe that you won't be able to sell it to me. There is nobody else to buy it here unless you want to deal with the Bloodfire gang."
"The cheapest cell costs 5 class seven mana stones.", the man says. "And my formation cells are of very good quality. There is no way that I will be able to sell it for that cheap."
"I am a formation mage and I will be able to repair any damaged goods that you have.", I reply.
I didn't want to do this, but I can't just keep haggling with the man, either. Let's just say merchants like this have a habit of exploiting people.
"I do not need a formation mage messing with my goods. I already sell products of the highest quality. If people got to know what do you think would happen to my reputation?", he speaks. His reaction is so dramatic that I am left wondering why he didn't become an actor. Well, they would have kicked him out of the Bards guild for overacting. "If you were to cause any damage to my formation, it would just increase my work."
"They would rather respect the fact that the man sells his products at the highest quality. Even if it is not as good, he works to maintain his quality.", I reply.
Well, the chances of what the man is saying are more likely to happen, but there is no need to tell the man that. They tend to be a pretty selfish bunch. That finally seems to shut up the man, though he has shut up like that at least four times by now.
"If you want to trade with the grain merchants, isn't now the best time?" I speak, cutting him off. "Most of their carts must have environmental formations. Otherwise I cannot imagine why they would dare to bring in wares into the sewer. Rotting food would be bad for business."
That is the reason that the place is so crowded. All the grain merchants have brought their produce here in massive carts. (Which makes me wonder how wide these tunnels are.)
"Well, that is true. I made quite a bit of killing on that, but they already have the formations.", he replied. "It is not like they want to buy a new one, especially if their previous formation is not as effective as they hoped it to be."
"Well, the formations must be running at full force for the last few weeks. I have to assume then that some of the formations must already be showing some issues.", I ask him.
"Well, that is the truth. It has been causing quite the damage to my reputation, too. Almost every other day, they come and start another argument about how I scammed them.", he replies. "I was clear about the capabilities of the formation from the beginning. They can't expect it to work forever after bringing it into a hellhole like this."
"Then you have a person who can repair your formations for you. You just point me at the people who need their formations repaired, and I will repair them for you. You can charge a small fee for this service that you are giving. All you need to give me in payment is a cell per day of work. They are useless to you anyway.", I speak. "It is quite a bargain, don't you think. You are lucky that I need a cell urgently or I wouldn't have worked so cheaply for you."
"Well, you talk big, but how can I tell that you will be able to repair the formations? If you were to mess anything up, it is my reputation that would be dragged in the mud.", the man in front of me replies. "They already seem ready to stone me to death."
"Well, test me then. If I don't work out, business isn't exactly lining up for you anyway.", I reply.
(After a couple of days.)
"Well, I am surprised at your skill. Those formations are as good as new. Here are your cells. You have repaired ten different carts in the last couple of days. As we agreed, you earn two cells." He speaks. "If you were willing to keep working with me, I would be able to provide you with more things that you need. You would certainly make quite a bit of money."
"You old man, three of those formations I had to rebuild from scratch again. Do you think that an ordinary formation mage would have been able to pull that off? Give a little something extra", I reply, getting a bit annoyed.
Those three formations were actually pretty hard to fix. He actually was selling shoddy environmental formations.
"I do know that your work is more valuable than that, but you have caught me at a point when I am quite low on my wares. I had to leave most of my formations in the shop. The bloodfire gang came after my shop almost immediately after the barrier broke. Most of what I have is related to the preservation of grains. You are lucky that I brought the cells with me. I don't have much use with them.", he says, throwing what looks like a couple of rocks at me. With a touch, I can tell that these are cells of pretty high quality. I don't want to admit it, but I might just have lucked out in this deal.
"Well, there must be something that you can give. I don't mind trading in formation designs", I ask. Well, there is no problem in asking just a little more. You never know what you might end up getting. "I am sure that you have something squirreled away for the day you were inevitably kicked out of the place."
"Well, I would have to assume that you have a ship stranded somewhere outside, since you want cells.", he says. "If that is the case, I might have something for you."
"Well, something like that.", I reply. Better to be noncommittal. You never know what might happen with merchants. This man is likely to sell me out to the Bloodfire gang if the situation calls for it.
"When I had to leave the shop, I had to leave behind a grimoire of mine. It contains all of the formations that I have ever managed to discover contained in it.", he speaks. "When I had to leave the shop, I had to leave it behind. I need to get my hands on it. If you do so, I will provide you with the schematics of a class nine camouflage formation and one more cell. How does that sound?"
"A camouflage formation, of which element?" I ask. The best element for such a task is light, followed by water and wind.
"It is of the light element. I was quite lucky to get it. I had to trade a class eight preservation formation to even get it. You know how rare it is for preservation formations to have a class.", he begins to speak.
"All that is fine, what is the catch to this?" I ask. Nobody gives a camouflage formation for simple tasks. "You certainly do not have a giving spirit."
"Well, the person who raided my shop was somebody high up in the Bloodfire gang. He is a bloody bastard called "heart burner Steve". He continues.
"So I have to get the book to you, and I will get the formation. I don't need to do anything like fighting this Steve or killing him.", I ask. Better to always make sure I say. However, I am sure my final plan might just involve fighting this Steve.
"Yes, I have no desire to be chased by the bloodfire gang.", he replies. "Just get me my grimoire back and that will be enough for me."
"Okay, I will try to get your grimoire. I want a proper explanation of the formation you are about to give me.", I speak. "No giving me half-finished work."
As I confirm this, the merchant finally becomes jubilant. Seeing this, I wondered for a second if I had been scammed somehow. Somehow, I get the feeling that I have been played.
Seeing that the other side is a formation merchant, that is most likely what is happening here. Well, that is the nature of our work.
While I have been doing all of this, Trevor has essentially disappeared. He is presently in the castle working to prepare for the heist. Until he comes back, I have to figure out how to get stronger.
I have a feeling that I do not want to stay here for more time than necessary. The situation down in the sewers is quite stable, but I can't let go of this sense of unease that I feel.