Chapter 155 – Black market hospitality.

Roland found himself face to face with a member of the Ratfolk race. This race of sentient rat people was known for living underground and shying away from the sun. There weren’t that many of them around but whenever the black market was involved they were there.

They were a race of mostly stealthy merchants. Most of their people were poised at hiding which allowed them to sneak through the night unnoticed. While their bodies didn’t allow them to be the best warriors they were good at subterfuge and espionage.

Many of the information guilds had a good relationship with them as they were quite good at spying. Their enhanced hearing skills allowed them to listen in on various conversations while being unnoticed during the night. It wasn’t surprising that Roland managed to find one of them here, if he would get a good price was still up to debate though.

“Yes, that deepsilver ingot and that durium… how much?”

“The ‘uman has an eye for quality! Skeek will give him a good price!”

Through the years of living in this world, Roland had also gone through a few stores. Even though this was the black market the bartering was not much different.

After going back and forth he managed to get the ingot’s price down that was only about 10% over its regular market value. While normally he would not take any materials over the market price he didn’t really have a choice.

What he could do now, was either shake on it and pay or look around some more to see if other merchants gave him a better price. This could bite him in the behind though, if there were no other merchants selling metal ingots, this rat here could increase the price further.

This was a basic tactic from all merchants. Watching the potential customers to see how much they were willing to pay was something they did. This market here wasn’t that large so it wouldn’t be hard to figure out that he was here for the crafting materials.

“This as far as Skeez will go, you buyin?”

“Fine, you got a deal.”

This time around Roland decided to take a small hit to his purse. While getting some of the resources he also started asking some questions. He was only getting a couple of ingots and some ores but this would not be enough for him and Bernir to produce much. What he needed was a constant supply of these metals, not just a random ingot here and there.

It was a bit too early to strike a long-lasting deal with the first person that he was doing business with. It would be better for him to stake this place out and see how the prices fluctuate. With what he got today he would be able to make a few items that could fetch a good price.

While the dwarven union was trying to keep him from selling, he wasn’t sure if they would be able to bribe or blackmail everyone.

It wouldn’t be odd if he could find a proper merchant that would be fine with taking some of his stock and selling it in a different city. The other options that he had were doing it here on the black market and then using his own shop where he could earn the most.

The only thing required to create a shop was owning or renting the land that it was on. From what he could tell the union did their business in a legit way. They did use tactics that were considered legal by pricing out their opposition.

This was something that Bernir confirmed as well. The dwarves were somewhat prideful and would not use force to get rid of the competition. Thus he should not see any hired ruffians visiting his store to mess it up. At most, they would try to smear his image by trying to discredit his craft.

Luckily for him, that would not be that easy as his runic weapons were already spread through Albrook. Some of the weapons and armor that was given to him for repairs was made by him.

After getting some of the materials that he needed Roland spent the rest time looking around the black market. This was a good time for his analyzing and mathematical skills to shine. With their help, he started identifying the wares that were being sold along with their prices.

Thanks to his high intelligence stat he was able to easily remember the current market prices and compare them to these wares. He expected to find that everything was somewhat over the normal price but he was surprised that there were a lot of items below it.

There were probably various reasons for these prices, one of them being if they were stolen or not. A stolen good could be sold for a lot less and the merchant could still make a profit. The thieves mostly dumped their items to these merchants here at a low price and depending on the deal it reflected what they cost here.

Besides the rat person, Roland did manage to spot a few other merchants that could provide him with crafting materials. The prices didn’t vary that much as the people here were probably aware of what they could get away with.

The biggest issue was to get himself a steady stream of materials. Going between three merchants that would probably constantly barter the prices up would be a headache. If he could actually get a proper steady supplier was still up to debate.

‘I guess I should head home.”

After going through all the vendors and their wares Roland now had a good idea about this black market. There was a clear focus on shady weapons as daggers and poison was even sold as a bundle. If he managed to figure out a poison rune of some kind he would probably be able to sell assassination tools like hotcakes here.

For now, he was eyeing one of the archer stalls which possessed arrows dipped in paralyzing liquid. Making runic arrows required special mana conductive wood but it would actually be possible for him to get it.

Down in the dungeon, there were some special trees that were able to survive the blistering hot environment. Arrows that could be given magical effects could be made from it.

Previously he ignored them as he was easily able to use the guild connections to fashion runic swords instead that sold for more. Now on the other hand he could use that as a side job if he ever decided to push his item onto this market.

He still had to think this through as he wasn’t sure if he wanted one of his creations being used to kill innocent people. Normally his weapons and armor were made with the intent of fighting monsters.

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But he did not fool himself into believing that the people using them would only use them for the intended purpose. He would be surprised if some of his runic scrolls were already used to kill some innocent people instead.

While thinking about what he should do he started looking at the people here. It was somewhat loud as the merchants and customers were furiously bartering with each other.

‘It’s a lot more peaceful than I expected.’

Roland was still a bit on edge but after going through this ‘marketplace’ a few times he realized that it wasn’t much different than the one on the surface. There were surprisingly fewer thieves here than above ground. It seemed that these people at least didn’t steal from each other.

He also used his identification skill on the people here. While most of them were wearing similar trinkets to him that blocked him from seeing their names, some didn’t. Was this just the barrier between the ones that had more money or did they trust that the people here would not give them away.

From what he knew there was some honor between thieves but he only knew what other adventurers told him. Apparently, the thieves would not steal from each other at least when being down here nor would they report each other to the city guards. If there was an issue between them they would clear it up in their own way.

It seemed that they didn’t trust the powers that run their kingdom and had their own version of the king as well. There were many guilds spread through this kingdom and the others. On the very top existed someone called the shadow king that no one actually knew the identity.

It was apparently the strongest thief guild member and he was apparently comparable to the top class holders in the land. If it was true or just a tale to keep the rowdy thieves in check was anyone’s guess. Maybe if he stayed here longer he would be given the answers.

He soon ended up with the map that showed him the places that he could exit through. It wasn’t drawn too well but it was very easy to read. It was clear that it was made with simplicity in mind as the exits were drawn in with red circles while the dead ends with red exes.