Harwin readied himself as soon as the man got up whilst Farelen just stood there without even a hint of distrust; surprisingly his intuition was right. The captain of the guards brought forward his hand towards the giant Farelen and said:

  "Give my regards to the sword-saint as well."

  "I do not know your name." Farelen said with a smile

  "The name's Reynold."

  After shaking hands, Reynold made his way to another room which was connected with the current one — from there-in he brought out two pouches filled with silver coins.

  "These are two hundred silver empyreans. The country of Evelwisk, and every-other country in the region is grateful to you."

  Farelen, and Reynold shook hands one more time before he made his way out. Harwin was dumbfounded by all that had occurred and lagged behind the battle-commander — baffled.

  Sensing his companion's confusion, Farelen finally spoke up:

  "Evelwisk, and many other smaller countries were part of the empire of Silfordan. In the great elfin-human war, these countries saw the opportunity and rebelled whilst the empire was busy dealing with us, and by the end of the war. The empire was not in a position to reclaim the rebellious states thus these small countries indirectly gained independence by the help of the elves — remaining forever grateful to us. They have never directly helped the great-forests, but they have also never applied any restrictions on us. It is their way to repay the favor so the sword-saint is considered a hero in this region even by some humans."

  This finally cleared the confusion of Harwin but he further asked:

  "Then why did the great-forest not trade with these countries."

  "You are wise enough to connect the dots, so let us not discuss the matter anymore."

  It was the late after-noon now, and they were asking around for the shop mentioned by Raemon. After much inquiry they found out that it was at the edge of the city — far from the rest of the shops — in a dignified space where the streets were wide and neatly paved even lamp-posts were present.

  The air was filled with the smell of polished wood, and perfume, unlike the rest of the city which was smoky to say the least.

  They crossed few buildings to finally come across the shop. Its walls were made up of expensive wood, and polished stone. It had a large sign-board as well stating 'Ashen Royalty'; the sheer size of the building matched that of the guard-station which was rare for a shop.

  Harwin’s party made their way inside, and they felt out of place. The store was filled with extravagant items, and the fragrance in the air was totally different than what was in the rest of the street. It was furnished and decorated lavishly. It felt as if a place for the gathering of the wealthy, but none the less they made their way to what appeared to be a reception.

  “My name is Rasal. May I ask what you are looking for?” The receptionist asked humbly.

  “I am Gor, we are here to have some items appraised. These are crafted masterfully so after much asking around, we were led here.” Harwin tried to flatter the receptionist.

  “Of-course, kindly show me the items, and I will appraise them to the best of my abilities.” Rasal said calmly.

  He took out few of the best crafts and handed them over. These crafts were of different shapes, sizes and nature:

  ○ One was a beautiful sculpture of an elfin warrior — it resembled Graftel.

  ○ The other was a sort of a crown. It glowed bright lime even without any light around it. Also, it was incredibly detailed — something worthy to be worn by a king.

  ○ Then there was another sculpture. This time, it was of an empyrean, “Reidathern the Mighty”, an empyrean worshiped by few in this continent. He was especially famous amongst warriors, and those who aspired to be strong. He was said to be strong enough to destroy a mountain by the sheer force of his punch.

  ○ The last two crafts looked similar to each other: these were shields, extremely light-weight — it could even be carried by a child of ten, but the durability was out of the world. The shield that Farelen carried to battle at the bandit hideout was able to stop dozens of arrows, but still was pale in comparison. These were not enchanted, but simply were made with extremely rare materials, and with the hands of a genius.

  Rasal took them, and began a thorough inspection; he checked every inch and corner of the items. The appraiser, also dropped some kind of liquid which changed color a few times before evaporating in the air completely.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “I am done with the appraisal,” Rasal announced.

  “Thank you, what do you think?” Harwin asked curiously.

  “These are spectacular, marvelous crafts. I have not seen such fine work of arts in a long time. Do you intend to sell these at our shop; I am sure the owner will be thrilled to buy it off you.” Rasal offered.

  “I suppose if the price is right we might consider selling it.” Harwin begun his haggling tactics.

  “Very well, let me call my master. Kindly wait for a few moments.” Rasal went to a room located far-back in the store.

  The party members walked around the shop a bit. There were about five employees in there as well.

  On display were not only luxury decor, but also rare items such as magika infused weapons, armory and scrolls which contained advanced level spells.

  They inquired the prices, and none of the item there costed less than fifty silvers — the cheapest one being an armament which gave more precision to the user when worn.

  Harwin was most fascinated by the the scrolls. These were crafted by mages, not singular, but by the consecutive efforts of talented ones. It involved inscribing an ancient language on a special paper, and once made, these needed to be filled with magika.

  What made these scrolls special was the fact that the magika did not need to come from one user — it could be filled by different users, and the scroll could even absorb magika from its surroundings under specific conditions.

  Alisa guided him through the collections on display via the knowledge she had gained from reading all sorts of books.

  No ordinary man could learn to make something such as this with only handwork, but these held the keys to the future of Harwin and he was aware of it. None the less, they could not afford to purchase such items for now, as whatever they had was the property of the whole village.

  Rasal came back swiftly with a man —middle-aged, neither too tall nor too short, he had an average appearance. Now even though, he was the owner, his clothing was of ordinary quality, but he was dressed properly and neatly. The way he carried himself was also totally different than that of a commoner.

  “I welcome you to my humble shop. My name is Romanus. May I offer you any refreshments before we conduct negotiations for the marvelous craft that you have brought to us?” He asked warmly whilst eye-balling the crafts.

  “I am grateful for your offer, but I must decline it for the moment as we have somewhere to be. Kindly give us your offer.” Harwin affirmed.

  “Of course, a merchant needs to be wary of time. Are these all the crafts that you intend to sell?”

  Harwin nodded.

  “These certainly are spectacular, and a great work of art — worthy to be placed in the Royal estate. I can offer you one gold empyrean for each of these, but before that I must ask who is the craftsmen, or how did you come in possession of these?”

  He asked with curiosity. It was a test of-course, as he could not buy stolen goods.

  “I am,” the master-craftsman of wood-elf proclaimed.

  “I see. Can you kindly describe what sort of materials did you use to craft it, and where did you obtain them?”

  These felt like unnecessary questions by a novice, but the craftsmen were aware of the importance. Any good artisan, rather craftsman would know that to create a high quality item one needs matching materials. Now to come across such materials, required to craft such extraordinary items, was perilous task on its own which made it more recognizable in the eye of a professional. It was the second test by Romanus to confirm whether the man spoke the truth or not.

  “We used the crystal red-wood core for these. All of the items were created by a single crystal each. We are from the great-forest so have come across such trees a few times, yet not every crystal red-wood can be used for creating the craft of such quality. These are works of a decade because of the complexity involved. It was not only created by myself, but also with the help of my apprentices.”

  He answered truthfully, and with great pride — even forgetting for a few moments that he answering a question.

  “Magnificent! I would have asked you to work with us, but to hold someone of your talent in my humble station is not worthy of your ability. I could never expect to reimburse you for your services. I change my mind, I will give you one empyrean and twenty-five silver each.” The man spoke with great passion — even could have been mistaken for a fanatic.

  Harwin was shocked, but did not show it on face. He knew it was necessary to speak in such moments:

  “Two empyrean for each of these is what our demand is. You heard the master, such material come around after a decade thus these are invaluable. Most importantly, not every person who comes across the crystal can turn it into something marvelous, rather magnificent as stated by yourself.” Harwin haggled.

  “You drive a hard bargain. I know, the price I offer is lower than what these are actually worth...." Romunous thought for a while, and then restated his offer:

  "The most I can offer will be one empyrean and thirty silver. I also will need to sell it so I need some leverage in the deal. I would have kept them for myself, but I simply am not of the status to keep such a masterful art in my humble shop. These in the royal courts. I would be sure to mention your good name if you tell it to me master, no, grand-master.”

  'The man certainly is a fanatic' concluded by Harwin.

  There was no-other shop that would have bought these at such a price, so Harwin did not over-play his hand and made the deal. The craftsmen, and the shop owner spoke for a while. Rasal arranged the payment by then.

  'This certainly is a shop that supplies the Lords and kings around the continent considering that they have such vast amounts stored.' Harwin thought.

  There was sadness in the eyes of the craftsmen when the deal almost concluded. If it was in the hands of Harwin, he certainly would have not separated them, but it was their own decision — a sacrifice for the prosperity of the village; it was something they held more important.

  If someone were to suggest that they should keep the crafts, it would be an insult to their resolve.

  The main cocern right now was that they were carrying too much money around. Of-course, no-one they had encountered yet could even meet the eyes of Farelen, but still a thief does not need to win the battle to cause a great loss, so Harwin was a bit worried of what to do.

  After bidding farewell to Romanus and Rasal who turned out to be brothers, they began to make their way to the merchant-guild. It was the late evening now — almost time for sun-set, which further increased the chances of having their valuables stolen.