VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne-Chapter 88: Making an Investment

The wanna-be merchant boy took the antler in his hands, turning it over a few times as he inspected it thoroughly, biting it a few times to test the legitimacy of the material before closing his eyes and concentrating.

A strange type of mana eminated from him, as he used not a spell but a bloodline ability, which was surprising to Belladonna. Although she had not interacted with many players so far, she had observed plenty and she had yet to see any show signs of having such a thing.

For this merchant boy to be the first, other than herself, that had such an ability was strange, but not entirely unexpected. She was bound to run into one eventually, but it was simply odd that it belonged to someone so... unique. Or perhaps, that was why it belonged to such a person.

The bloodline magic swept over the antler, digging into the core of its existence as it analysed it on level so deep it could rival most modern techniques, and it did so in a fraction of the time.

"Hmm... Not actually silver. It’s similar, but not quite. It’s a material that had a lot of use in magic, I suspect a few of my mage contacts would make good use of it. If I had to low ball it, I’d say roughly 20 Regil just for this. Although just because that’s the low ball, doesn’t mean it’s the final price.

Even if that was what they would pay you, You can trust me to get you an even better price than that, even after I take my fees."

He finally explained with a wily and confident smirk that suited his scruffy appearance. She wasn’t sure if a merchant or a charming thief was his true calling, but it definitely had to do with money.

It was, after all, in his blood as it seemed.

"20 huh? That’s not a bad price... for the lowest possible. Tell you what, how about you take these three too and sell them for me. I’ll come around tomorrow for my money.

I’m going to trust you with this one, call it an investment in a future, thriving partnership, and I hope that you will trust me when I say that if you rob me, then I’ll hunt you down and rip your throat out myself."

She dug out another three antlers, holding them out to him with a slightly threatening, shark-toothed smile. Making sure that he understood the truth behind her threat.

However, he simply laughed and bobbed his head, taking the extra and placing it into his bag and gave her a perfectly practiced professional smile as he shook her hand.

"Don’t you worry, I will take good care of them and you will see your coffers overflowing with gold by this time tomorrow. You have my word as a merchant." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

A moment later, a friend request popped up for Belladonna, drawing her attention to the screen in front of her.

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Midas has sent you a friend request? Would you like to accept? Y/N

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She didn’t hesitate to accept it. It was a show of faith, after all. There were a few questions she wanted to ask, especially about these mage contacts of his, but for the moment she would wait for confirmation of his skills.

It wasn’t as if she was giving him everything either. She had only given her own half of the loot, and even then it was only the antlers. If it turned out to be a scam, then it would be her loss alone and she would get a free stress relief out of it.

If it turned out to be legit, however, then it paid to be an early adopter of this merchant boy, especially if he planned to live up to his name and learn the golden touch, so to speak. It really was an investment, packaged with the risk involved, but she was already thinking about how it could pay off in the future in more ways than one.

Besides, his actions had given her quiet a bit of confidence. He didn’t seem nervous about handling a lot of money, nor did he seem overwhelmed about it. He held himself confidently, which meant he was used to large transactions, and knew how to deal with him.

The fact he was dressed in starter gear and was dressed up to look like a beggar was also an intentional choice on his part, she concluded. At the moment he was defenceless, without money to hire muscle to protect him.

So who was more likely to be robbed? The helpless merchant in the fancy clothes flaunting his wealth? Or the useless, weak beggar who looked like he could barely afford the dirt that covered his face?

Who would even bother checking a beggar for something so valuable in the first place?

"Oh, before I go," Belladonna said with a snap of her fingers, "Do you know where we can get quests? Like obviously we can ask around. But is there a sort of guild place or a job board or something?"

"Heh, you must have just run straight from the spawn to the forests to not know that, huh?" Midas teased with a smirk, causing Belladonna to rub her head and laugh nervously.

"There isn’t a guild, as far as I have learned. It seems people in this world don’t really fight the monsters much. Although there are still mercenaries, which is what they consider us. You can find boards hanging all over the city with mercenary jobs on them.

I recommend taking the poster when you accept the job, so no one takes the same quest as you."

Belladonna nodded softly, sifting through her memories of her time in the city before realising she had indeed seen some of these notice boards around. there was even one in the Inn that was packed to the brim with notices, which she had ignored in her pursuit of finding a merchant.

She quickly thanked Midas, and subtly chastised herself for her inattention - which was definitely an uncommon trait - before turning on her heels and leaving the ’beggar’ to his work.

It didn’t take long for her to retrace her steps and find one of the many job boards that she had passed by, however her eyes barely had enough time to focus on the words in front of her, when she heard muffled screams coming from an alley nearby.