132: Lessons

I had Crisplet in the brazier, who reached out to me using mana, expressing excitement and curiosity.

As we walked through the streets, we passed the bookstore that I wanted to visit. Heading towards the building without thinking, Micca locked her arm with mine, guiding me away.

“Nope, you can go there after you’ve had your lessons today!” she said happily.

I looked back longingly at the storefront with its beautifully carved wooden entryway.

Soon!

Micca didn’t let me go until we got to the market. It was already bustling with activity and, like the first day, everywhere I looked I saw monster hides, the glinting metal of weapons, and the rainbow array of potions. Some stalls even had a cauldron set up, with cloth banners fluttering in the smoky breeze showing symbols I had to assume were guild and merchant associations.

The streets were scattered unevenly with stalls. Only the main road through the middle was clear in the organised chaos, and the heavy smell of roasted meat and herbal mixtures hung in the air.

Micca stood there looking around. I wasn’t entirely sure what she was searching for, but she seemed to have found it.

“We’re heading to the alchemy supplies over there.” She pointed to a stall that had bunches of dried herbs hanging off hooks, with the booth table covered in various monster body parts—from eyes, to horns, to teeth—and a wide array of different powders in vials.

Behind the counter stood a shrewd-looking older woman. I attempted to turn on my Arcane Foraging, but was bombarded with bright blue light all around me.

As we approached, I heard Micca whisper to me, “Keep it small for now, a couple of vials at most, and regardless of what her first price is, we won’t accept anything unless it’s half the starting cost—or I’ll tell you otherwise if it’s a blatant scam. Okay?”

I nodded. I could do this. I wasn’t completely useless at buying things!

The lady rose to attention. “Hello, young ones. Come for some supplies, have you? Want to try your hand at the fine art of potion-making? You won’t find better in all of Farnox!” she said, waving her arm across the table.

Nodding, I spoke up. “Hello! I was hoping to get some ingredients to create some basic stamina potions.”

The only thing I really knew was the Quickroot Powder I had bought back at the adventurers’ guild. That day I purchased a lot, including the powder, for a total of one gold.

“Absolutely, I have several here. We have Quickroot Powder, Tamsin Leaves, Vesset, Solmar Powder and Ulric Tail,” she said, pointing to each in turn.

I closely examined each of them. The Ulric Tail was the strangest because it looked like a coiled rat’s tail that had been dried. The Tamsin Leaf looked fresh—vivid green with white veins running through it. Vesset was another powder with almost a pink hue in the jar. Lastly, was the Solmar Powder, and despite being called a powder, it looked more like orange sand, closer to the size of fine sugar.

As she pointed them out, Micca was closely inspecting the items. I still didn’t know how her class worked outside of being merchant-based, but to buy her some time, I decided to ask some questions.

“I apologise. I’m still very new to this. Do any of these have toxins I’d need to be concerned about—or perhaps a strong flavour?” I asked, feeling a little silly.

The raised eyebrow confirmed that—but she remained professional. “You’re making potions, not soup, lad. But the Tamsin is quite bitter, if I’m being honest. The rest are pretty neutral. None have toxins that would survive the brewing process, so there’s no need to worry yourself. Is this your first time brewing a stamina potion?”

Deciding it would be more believable, I nodded.

“Then I’d suggest the Tamsin and Vesset to start,” she said, pushing the vial of Vesset forward. “These are the easiest to extract from. The Vesset is one gold per vial, and the Tamsin Leaves are twenty silver each.”

I felt a small kick from Micca at the mention of the leaves, so I assumed that was a no-go.

“No thanks on the leaves. Would you take fifty silver for the vial?” I asked.

Before the lady could respond, Micca wrapped her arm around mine, pointing into the distance. “Oh, it’s George! Quickly—we need to go see him; we’ll come back!”

I was dragged away before I knew what was happening. I didn’t understand why she was so excited to see George—we’d see him back at the inn tonight.

I got my answer once we were out of earshot.

“What was that?” she said.

I was honestly confused. “Um… what did I do?”

I heard Liane chuckle, but she stayed quiet. Micca looked at me furiously.

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“Trevor, what is our goal here today?”

“Uh, to shop? And learn how to haggle?” I responded.

Micca continued, “And what was our goal at that store?”

I shrugged. “You said half of whatever she said?”

I felt a piece of coal hit me—Crisplet had thrown it. I wasn’t sure if he understood more than I did or was just siding with Micca for fun.

Micca sighed. “I said half, you’re right. So then why did you start at half? The whole point of haggling is to go back and forth—not just say your final price and get stuck. What would you have said if she had offered eighty silver after that?”

Now I really felt stupid. I’d been distracted by the new ingredients.

Micca shook her head. “Right. Next time, if you want to reach half, you need to start even lower. Try a quarter or a third of what they ask and go from there. If you go back and forth more than three times, you stop and say you’ll shop elsewhere. Got it?”

I nodded before asking, “What was wrong with the leaf?”

Micca smirked. “I don’t like bitter stuff. Right! Let’s go!”