Ashes of the Fallen

"Right, hear me out," I replied calmly. "You run the stall, after I've paid for all of the items, and sell them at fifteen copper, I'll give you a cut of one copper per. Try it for a day or two, if it doesn't do anything, I'll pay you ten copper per day for the hassle."

It was a reasonable offer, seeing as most NPCs could get by on a couple copper a day. A single rabbit was plenty of meat for one person to feed themselves, so ten copper was quite a sizeable daily-wage. I figured the bandana I purchased for ten was at least eight copper in manufacturing costs, so that left two copper profit for the man selling it. After sitting on them for who knows how long, the profit wasn't that great.

"Wait, so you're going to buy all of my items, then ask me to resell it?" he asked, slightly angry. "Do you realize what you're asking of me?"

"I do, but it's because you don't trust my marketing sense," I said plainly. "I'll buy all of those items, and instead of sitting behind the door inside the store, you can move and sit in front of the door, outside. You're making profit on what… at least a hundred items? And you're free to get customers to come inside to buy other goods, and I'll also pay you for every item sold. I'm trusting you with the coin purse at the end of the day."

"This is insane, you're insane," he stated, bewildered.

Pulling out my coin pouch, I eyed the seven silver plus some loose copper coins that were inside. I could afford at least seventy of his items, but if I needed more money I could sell some of the loot from the dungeon. Nodding my head after I had convinced myself to take the gamble, I placed the open pouch in the man's hands.

"I'll take as many items as that pouch can satisfy," I followed up. "And if you've still got more items left over, I'll come back with more coin."

The man greedily eyed the silver and copper as he hesitated to turn me away.

He didn't believe in my idea, nor did he trust me to come through with my plan but money meant more than words. Hard money moved men while words simply swayed them. That was something every business man or woman knew, as fact.

"Do we have a deal?" I asked succinctly.

"Uh-h, yeah, sure, why not?" he replied with uncertainty. "You'll pay me ten copper when this fails, right? No returns on these goods either, got it?"

"Yeah, that's fine," I said while nodding.

I was positive I would turn a profit here, and if I didn’t… well, the residents of Dragon's Breach were all going to receive a nice new gift for the upcoming winter.

I didn't believe in a losing situation.

Chapter 45: Pugs

(Saturday, May 29th Game Day / Friday, February 19th Real Day)

I found myself standing in front of the dungeon entrance once more, checking out the groups of players assembled just a few feet from the portal. They wore gear similar to mine, leather and furs with some light cloth here and there, with an assortment of weapons from spears, bows, to staves. It was just another typical scene of mismatched riffraff standing around waiting for something to happen.

Well, I wasn't much better.

Two of the three groups were already full going by body count, so I made my way towards the only one left that appeared to have four members lined up. There was a good chance I could fill whatever void they were missing, so long as they didn't need a healer. The only thing really bothering me was if they were experienced enough to get through the first and second floors. A first time group grinding out the first floor at a slow plod would be hard to bear… but, everyone had a first time, at some point.

There was little reason to be elitist this early in the game, anyways.

"Hey are you guys looking for a fifth?" I asked the group, directing my question at no one in particular. All four of the males turned their heads to eye my gear as I approached, while I returned the same gaze. They weren't equipped with anything special, though the archer did appear to have a decent bow slightly better than my own.

Otherwise, it was a standard group.

"Can you tank?" asked the archer bluntly.

"Yeah, I can tank."

As I said that, I pulled out my one-handed axe and rotated the shield off my back. Raising it in front of the man so he could see it clearly, I nodded at him as he turned around and started to walk away. "What floor are you guys on?" I followed up, hoping to gain some sort of information before committing.

"Let's go, I'm tired of waiting," said the archer as he looked at the healer. "Invite him, lets hurry this up. We're running out of time."

Without bothering to answer my question, the archer walked through the portal and disappeared as he was transported into the dungeon. Not more than a second later, I received an invite from the healer of the group as the other two mages continued to talk amongst themselves. I looked at the healer to see if he would respond to my query, but he simply turned around and entered the dungeon as well and then, so too did the two casters.