CHAPTER 175: SHOPPING

"I’m cool with going to the tournament." Isara stated. "Frankly after the second temple I’m convinced there’s no such thing as being too prepared, the more time we get to train before the next one the better."

"You know my opinion." Cassian shrugged.

"I think I’ll stay with Sylara until the tournament and come with her to see just the event itself." Elira said. "If Damien really can transport us to Sage’s Summit then we save a week of traveling and use it to train – I’m not sure why you thought any of us would be against it to be honest."

"Just thought it would be prudent to ask." Calen shrugged. "As for Damien, I ran into him while I was coming back from the walk with Sylara, he said he’ll gladly help us."

"Did he say when we’ll be going back?" Cassian questioned.

"Well there will be a big public feast to celebrate Mountainfall’s connection with the Order in the evening but he’s fairly sure we can go back tomorrow – unless Alfred gets too drunk to travel at high speeds."

"...do we have a way to prevent that?"

"He said he’ll send Greg to keep an eye on Alfred, but I think that telling him that he’ll get to see Morgan sooner if he doesn’t get smashed will be enough."

"If this feast is public then we really need to find some more fitting clothes." Isara reminded them. "The problem is that I have no idea where to find something like that, and we don’t have the time to search the entire market."

"But we do know who would know..."

"You’re right." She nodded. "Let’s go find Maya."

***

The receptionist at Verdant Watch’s headquarters kindly told them Maya should be in the building and where to find her office.

Calen almost expected her to work in the same room as Alison, but no, apparently they had separate offices – even if they were next to each other.

When he opened the door to the office he saw more or less exactly what he expected; the blonde guard was bent over a surprisingly detailed origami figure, carefully bending and folding the paper. Once she realised she wasn’t alone her hands almost instinctively covered what she was doing, and her head snapped to where they were standing.

"I’m workin-" Once she realised who was standing in her door she let out a relived sigh and visibly relaxed. "It’s just you guys, I thought it was Alison."

"I’m almost afraid to ask how often it happens." Calen chuckled. "But we’re not here to report you to your boss, we need some of your expertise."

"Are you sure about that first part? That guy over there looks like he’s about run to Alison and tell her everything..."

Cassian indeed sported a rather unimpressed expression.

"I am simply not a fan of people slacking off at work." He grunted.

"I do everything I need to, it’s not my fault that 90% of my duties is completely superfluous – I told you no one reads my reports, and this is exactly what I’m supposed to be writing right now." Maya shrugged. " Anyway, what do you need from me? My expertise encompasses murder and fashion and I feel like you’re probably not looking to have someone killed."

"We need a place to buy something that at least resembles formal wear."

"Ah, so it’s about the feast tonight – sure, I can give you a few recommendations." Maya nodded. "How big is your budget?"

Calen retrieved the pouch with the coins they got as a gift from Sylara during the festival and handed it to Maya.

"Damn, that’s half of my yearly salary..." She muttered. "You should be able to buy the most extravagant stuff with this amount – I recommend going to Piff’s, his regular place to be clear, it the one in the Pit. He has pretty much everything and he already knows you so you might even get a discount."

"Sounds good, where can we find his shop?"

"Go to the main market and then north following the main street, it’s the most obnoxious looking building in the city, can’t miss it."

"Thanks."

"No problem, I look forward to seeing what clothes you choose."

***

’The most obnoxious looking building in the city’ was truly a fitting descriptor.

Piff’s shop was about four times as big as all the surrounding buildings, not to mention that it was painted in red, purple and gold with a giant glowing signpost above the door declaring: PIFF’S WONDROUS TROVE.

"How the hell did he even get a glowing signpost?" Isara frowned. "Even master didn’t want want to install one because of the ridiculous cost in magic crystals."

"I fully expect that he hooked it up to the city’s main array, or something else ridiculous like that." Calen shook his head. "Come on, let’s see what this guy has to offer."

If the outside seemed big, then the inside was enormous – it was immediately obvious that Puff used magic to make it bigger on the inside. Just another thing that shouldn’t really be possible for a post-apocaliptic merchant.

There weren’t that many people inside, but the shop definitely wasn’t dead; what probably helped was the fact that you could find literally everything in here – from weapons and enchanted items to cutlery.

"Toys and trinkets he said..." Cassian snorted. "With all of this Franky I have no clue why does he even keep up his other business."

"It’s because not everything I trade for can be sold through conventional means mister Cassian." A voice from behind them came.

When they turned around they saw him – this time Piff wasn’t dressed as ostentatiously as before, bit his sliver-trimmed deep blue robes were still of significantly better quality than anything they saw in the city.

"What brought you to my humble store?" He grinned.

"I would call this place many things by humble isn’t one of them – it’s almost as big as the fortress." Calen commented. "But we’re here to find some clothes for the feast tonight."

"Oh, how delightful!" Piff grinned. "I don’t get people who want clothes very often you see, I have a huge collection but I’m afraid most of it outside of regular people’s price range."

"But you do get people who buy them despite the price?"

"A few, but yes – miss Maya sometimes buys something for herself or miss Alison, and I even got Lady Sylara to buy a few pieces for herself. But enough about that, let me show you to our clothing section."

"Don’t you have to attend to the store?"

"That’s precisely what I’m doing, helping clients is a part of the job – besides I have quite a few employees, see?"

He pointed at a few people wearing robes very similar to his, all attending a client or restocking something.

Piff motioned to follow him and continued talking.

"I stopped doing everything myself decades ago, I don’t think it would be even possible with the expansion – I’m still looking for some help if any of you are interested...?"

"Thanks but I’ve worked in retail already, not my cup of tea." Calen said. "I must say though, some of the things about your shop shouldn’t be possible considering your circumstances..."

"What can I say, I have a great supplier." Piff winked at him.

"Is it the Merchant?" He unceremoniously asked.

Piff didn’t seem particularly shocked by the question in fact he grinned even wider.

"Oho, I see you’ve heard about my supplier – I must say most of the shops in this city lose out on a wonderful supplier by not trading with him. Mister Merchant is willing to exchange even completely mundane things for fabulous treasures as long as you provide a sufficient amount of them. I would have never made my fortune I hadn’t come in contact with him."

"You’re saying that as if contacting him is easy."

"Oh, but it is – exceptionally so even! You just need to know some words, symbols and make him an interesting offer."

"That’s a ritual, how would an average person learn about the steps?"

"The same way they learn about everything else." Piff laughed. "Just ask someone who knows."

"And you’d tell people just because they asked?"

"For the right price of course – there’s no information precious enough that it can’t be sold."

"Not scared of competition?" Isara raised an eyebrow.

"Please, I’ve been doing this for so long the Merchant knows me by name – no upstart will ever be a competition for me, no matter how hard they try."

"Are you planning to keep running this store even once the world is restored?" Elira asked.

"Up until I’m rich enough to not have to do anything."

"Aren’t you that already?" Cassian frowned.

"By this city’s standards, sure – but I have no way to ensure that my wealth will translate beyond it. If I play my cards right I can make enough during the rebuilding of the civilisation to not bother with working after the economy is properly established."

’Well, better to have a money-hungry tycoon who wants to retire than one who wants to own the world I suppose.’ Calen thought.

"Either way here we are, all the clothes we got."

Piff dramatically gestured at countless rows of various garments lining an entire section of the store.