It's a busy day for the Devil away. Customers kept pouring in to check out magic items that barely any of them could afford. But the counter was more fruitful for the business as plenty of folks had diseases and illnesses that required special potions, as well as special requests were filed for all manner of needs, ranging from love mending potions to household needs and other unique items not found anywhere else.
Okio was rushed with the request, and even though she had no idea if her master could fulfil every request, she kept marking them down and accepted payment for consultation. The list would later be passed to Zephyr, who would then check which one of them could be fulfilled. But of course, he had to reject some of them lest he wished to garner too much unwanted attention.
In the meantime, Rudy and the devils sat in a room behind the reception desk. Discussing what the hero's party had seen and what they could expect. At first, the hero was more curious about his mother's location, but upon learning that she'd gone to the market to pick up some items for the shop, he decided to talk about what to do next instead.
"Our equipment is all new," moving his hands down the front of his chestplate, he brought Zephyr's attention to his equipment. "Steel armor, steel shield, and my sword is still only iron, but it gets the job done. The others have had their equipment redone as well, but we still don't want to rush inside that dungeon."
"So you came here looking for advice…again?" Resting her head on the back of her hand, Aura leaned sideways. "Hmm, if you ignore how you treated my master like some slave abuser, it almost sounds like you're asking for our help."
"About that…" Having learned what he had, Rudy scratched the back of his head, feeling both embarrassed and a little uncomfortable for having overstepped. "I'm sorry, I was just making sure."
Knocking on the table, Zephyr brought everyone's attention back to him.
"Forget it," once the two were focused on him again, he continued. "We will help, but of course, we can't do that for free. Other adventurers will expect the same treatment, and if we don't offer the same service, our shop might fall out of favor, not to mention we had to sign a letter from the Lakran sage assembly to do fair business, and any preferential treatment towards you alone might breach some of their guidelines."
Squinting his eyes, Rudy leaned back in his chair.
"You had to sign a letter from the assembly? I didn't know that they kept a close eye on our city to even send one here in our little hamlet."
"There's a magic knight called Glyea who helped us reach out first. Apparently, if you don't register your business with the kingdom, they can just seize everything," Aura explained.
"No way," leaning forward again, Rudy was almost offended on the merchant's stead. "They can just take everything?! And what if this knight hadn't told you? Would they have taken everything without warning?"
Nodding back, Zephyr confirmed Rudy's suspicion.
"That's…robbery."
"Of course it is," rolling her eyes, Aura huffed. "The only difference between the bandits and a government is that one robs you with a knife, the other with legislation."
"That's enough talk about politics. We should get back on topic." Dragging everyone's attention back to the dungeon, Zephyr reached inside his pocket and placed a ring on the table. "I can help you slowly clear the dungeon floors, but we're gonna need to set up some rules first. A contract of sorts to make this a fair transaction."
His eyes set on the ring, Rudy wondered what Custer had in mind. Shrugging his shoulders, he motioned him to continue on.
"First and foremost, you will pay for our services one way or the other. Gold, items you've found in the dungeon or through other agreed-upon means. Secondly, I will provide you with information and items required to clear the dungeon. But at the same time, I will sometimes accompany you to study those monsters, no better way to find their weakness than conducting research on site."
Nodding to the terms, Rudy waited for more.
"The first of those items is this ring," sliding the ring towards Rudy, Zephyr gestured for him to take it. "If the ring suspects that a lethal blow is about to land on your body or on your companions, it will teleport all of you back to town. You might lose consciousness and remember that only your body will be teleported, so your equipment, you can say goodbye to it."
"That…" Picking up the ring, Rudy stared at its intricate design. "How do you have such an amazing item, and I suppose losing our equipment would be better than dying, so the downside isn't really that important."
"True, but that also means that you'd be naked and unconscious after the teleportation. Best for you to decide on the locations where the party might want to teleport. Oh, and not everyone can be teleported close together; there has to be some distance, or else you guys might fuse together or get your souls to change bodies."
Blinking in disbelief, Rudy looked up with an awkward smile.
"Y-you're kidding, right?"
"Wanna find out?"
"I think I will pass…"
Returning his mind to the ring, Rudy was in awe of its ability. But at the same time, the mystery of how these merchants ended up with such an item confused him. He wanted to know more of its origin, but as he'd been told again and again by his mother, never share business secrets, or you'll lose your grip on the market.
'Doubt these guys will spill anything either.' Looking up, he decided to let it go.
"Sounds good, I'll sign that contract if it helps you avoid trouble with the sages." Following his words, Aura prepared a sheet of paper and a quill for Zephyr to write down the terms of their contract. Of course, not everything made sense to Rudy, but after the help he'd been given for a whole month and the reveal that the slave woman–at least one of them actually seemed to like Zephyr, he was more trusting of the devil than he perhaps should've been.
The contract was signed, and with it begins the climb on the ladder of chaos.