The Strongest Gun Magus: I Cast Bullet!-Chapter 53: Doing Business

"Hmph. How typical of you rogues—blinded by your own greed! The place you are looking for is right there!"

The guard pointed somewhere behind Reynard. When he turned to look, he saw a mansion on a street with a signboard saying "Snow Trade Emissary". People were coming in and out, many of them magi.

"Oh, I see. Thank you, Mister Guard. I really didn’t notice it..." Reynard bowed a little. "Have a good day!"

As he left, he heard the grumbling of the guards behind him.

"These outsiders... Every day there are more of them..."

***

The Snow Trade Emissary looked almost like the adventure guilds in anime that Reynard watched sometimes in his past life. There were a few tables and seats where people waited, two large notice boards on a wall, and a long counter where several clerks—none of whom, to Reynard’s disappointment, were attractive women—worked with visitors. Nobody was serving food or drinks, either.

Reynard saw items being brought to the clerks and clerks giving out other items, paperwork, or gold.

’Some trade is certainly happening, although this place looks nothing like a shop.’

Reynard went to read the notices on the boards. He joined several other people who were doing the same.

The first notice board was what he expected—quests.

[Requisition order: 30 logs of Frozen Birch. Payment: 500 gold pieces. At the counter.]

[The Order of Snow will hire magi to patrol the streets. At least Final Cycle Nigredo. Ask at the counter for details.]

[Wanted: Kaspar Morshell, last seen as Third Cycle Albedo. Crimes: murder, robbery. Bring proof of death. Reward: 1500 gold pieces.]

[Will buy potions! Any potions! For details, ask Perenelle.]

The notices continued on and on, often overlapping each other or spreading to the nearby wall. Although there were some bounties, most of the notices were various item requests. The notices offering mercenary jobs looked like they were hanging on the board for a long while, but somebody made sure they stayed in the most visible places.

The other notice board was what Reynard was looking for.

It had a long list of items currently cold by the Trade Emissary, which included crafting ingredients, magical items, and spells, too.

Reynard’s eyes went over familiar and unfamiliar names and prices in gold next to them. Some items were listed as sold only in bulk, others marked as "limited stock".

But none of the listed items were anything not sold on common markets. They weren’t even priced better than over there.

Reynard would’ve been disappointed if not for a message at the bottom of the list:

"For special stock, magi of good standing should ask Master Stephen Backhouse. Everybody else, don’t bother."

Reynard nodded to himself and went to look at the quest board again. He searched it until he found what he wanted.

[Black Steel needed, 30 ingots. Will pay 30 gold pieces per ingot. Sell at the counter.]

He carefully remembered the notice and left the Snow Trade Emissary.

***

The next day, Reynard placed an extremely heavy bag on the counter. The clerk on the other side—an old man with a face like a raisin—squinted at him and the bag.

"Someone was buying Black Steel. I have thirty ingots here. You can weigh them, if you want... But they are standard size for this city."

Reynard grinned at the wide-eyed clerk.

Black Steel wasn’t very difficult to make—it was just steel tempered with Black Salt. But Reynard was still proud of himself for tempering so much of it in a single day.

By his calculations, he would get 5 gold of pure profit per ingot, since he had to buy all the base materials on the market. Not much, but it was reputation that counted most.

"I see... Let me look at them, sir..."

The clerk called a helper from the back room, and together they processed Reynard’s ingots. Soon, several stacks of coins were placed in front of him, together.

"Thank you for your contribution, sir," the clerk said. "Give us your name, please, so we can track your inputs."

"Johan Faust," Reynard said. "Say, does it take a lot to become ’a man of good standing’?"

The clerk eyed him with such a narrow squint that his eyes almost disappeared.

"It takes hard work and dedication, which you seem to have, sir. Our Order must grow to know you as someone trustworthy..."

Reynard nodded with an understanding expression and went to look for another requisition order he might fill.

Marien was happy to patrol streets and get into brawls, but Reynard would prefer earning money and reputation without a risk of injury.

’I should also buy things from them. Hmm... Oh, a request for life-strengthening potions. I wonder if the Order of Snow sells something I can brew them from. The recipe for these is quite flexible... Either way, I should use the opportunity to buy spell manuals if I find anything interesting on the public list.’

***

From then on, Reynard’s routine in the workshop changed.

He was still finding a way to improve the Boom Powder recipe and the construction of his revolvers. Remembering how effective improvised Boom Powder grenades were, Reynard designed and made several proper grenades from the powder and clay.

But he was also fulfilling item requests for the Order of Snow. All of them were simple things, which reminded Reynard of his work in the Blue Bismuth School, gathering bugs from ivies and smelting Blue Bismuth.

This routine continued peacefully for almost a month, until one day, Reynard heard a knock on the door of his workshop.

Expecting either Marien or his landlord, Reynard set aside the plants he was preparing for potions, took off his work gloves, and went to open the door—only to pause.

He sensed the auras of people outside. There were two of them, and both of them were Albedo-stage magi. Some early cycles.

One of them could have been Marien—she had advanced to Albedo just recently—but then who would the second one be?

Reynard took a Boom Powder grenade and held it behind his back. And only then did he open the door.

On the other side were two magi with symbols of the Order of Winter on their clothing. They grinned down at Reynard like typical thugs.

"Ah. The smith is here. Good! Explain to us, why would you choose to deal with the snow bastards instead of our good order!"