In the m, when Rid pced a big bowl of scrambled eggs with meat in front of Rue, Rue sighed, shook his head, and said, “Rue too tired eat.” But he stored it for ter. Rid jerked in surprise when the bowl disappeared, but didn’t ask. Smart butler. I handed him another silver . This time, he slipped it into his pocket without a word, bowed, and thanked me.

  I looked at Rue’s belly, which was still bloated, but five months pregnant, not nine.

  Tired, riiight.

  After Rid left, I told Rue, “I’m going to return to the bazaar. I want to level my mert css. You stay a.”

  He nodded aled on the couch.

  I flew down to the lobby to pay for another week. When I reached the ground-floor nding, people were again moving bad forth between the lobby and back doors. Based on their clothes, they didn’t look like hotel employees, but more like guests.

  I approached a woman. “Excuse me, ma’am. Could you tell me where the other door leads?” I asked.

  She looked at me with a wrinkled nose, like she’d just smelled something foul—and no, I didn’t stink. I cast on myself three times a day. In a desding tone, she replied, “Bathhouse.”

  “Thank you,” I said, heading to the lobby. I uood what Lis meant when he said all nobles are shitheads.

  After paying for another week, I flew up the stairs back to our suite. From the baly, I headed towards the bazaar. Passing above Adi’s store, I decided to check if he had any more money. I nded behind the store, stood in an alcove that hid me, became visible, and walked in.

  When Adi saw me, his eyes widened, and a broad smile spread. “Hello, dear John. I am so gd to see you. I hope you’ve e to sell me more things?”

  “Of course,” I replied with a grin.

  He rubbed his hands together. “Excellent, excellent!”

  I showed him more clothes from Vegas—not bck, of course. He moved them all to the left side. So far, so good. I showed him more makeup, which also went to the left, and more perfume, which followed suit. After he selected even more than the day before, he raised his hand in a ‘stop’ gesture, saying, “That’s enough for today. If you visit tomorrow, I might have more money.”

  After a quiegotiation, he paid me fifty-two gold, and I left the store.

  I love good ers.

  I visited the same alcove and flew to the bazaar. When I arrived, I flew into the trees, made sure no one saw me, became visible, and walked out.

  As I strolled down the bazaar, a call reached my ears. “Trader John!”

  Looking around, I spotted a mert behind one of the fruit carts, waving for me to approach. “Yes?” I asked, stepping closer.

  “Are you the mert who sells the gsses that protect from the sun?” he asked eagerly.

  “Yes,” I firmed.

  “Please sell me one. Yesterday, you had already left when I finished, and I didn’t have a ce to catch you.”

  I sold him a pair a going. I noticed many people whispering and pointing at me. Gng back, I saw that quite a few were followihe same se with the first mert repeated itself many more times, taking me almost four hours to reach the end of the bazaar. On the bright side, I earned 117 gold, so I wasn’t pining. The group trailing me had swelled to several hundred people by then.

  When I set up my stand and started ying out suhey swarmed me like locusts on a grain field. I had to shout, “Patience, patience! I have enough for everyone. One by one.”

  Because of the popurity of my booth, I used the opportunity to sell something else. I had boxes of luxury handbags, so I put some on dispy. At first, no one seemed ied in the bags, only the sungsses. About half an hour ter, five noble dandies approached. Four were already wearing sungsses, while the fifth came to buy a pair. He picked up a turquoise bag with tassels, eyeing it curiously.

  “What’s this?” he asked.

  “It’s a bag for carrying things,” I expined.

  “Why do I ?”

  I slung the bag over my shoulder and said, “You wear it like this so your hands are free.” I opehe zippers, showing him the partments. “You put all kinds of things in here—your money pouch, a water bottle, a handkerchief for a dy, a self-defense dagger, a b, anything you want.”

  He looked at the bag with suspi. “Yes, but why do I ?”

  With a grin, I slung it over my shoulder again. “This isn’t just a venieem. It’s a fashion statement. The color and design show you have exquisite taste and appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. And the fort? It says you’re a smart gentleman, prepared for any situation. This bag speaks volumes about your refined qualities.”

  I’m killing this A Nose for Busihing.

  He still looked unsure, but his four friends nodded vigorously and immediately bought bags. When he saw that, he relutly bought one as well. I was smarter with the prig for the bags, selling them at the Appraisal value—three gold each.

  By noon, I had run out of suhough ers kept asking for them. I still had oversized y sungsses, but I wasn’t sure if ers would like them. I shrugged; if you don’t try, you won’t know. Of course, they loved them even more than the regur sungsses. By this point, I must’ve developed an immunity to surprises—I just accepted it arading. By the end of the day, I’d sold all the oversized sungsses and more than half of the bags, earning 623 gold.

  But still no level in the Mert Profession.

  Bad system!

  I flew towards the bazaar again the following day, but Rue joined me, swooping from above. Of course, I stopped by Adi’s on the way. When we reached the ba, Adi looked excited as he asked, “Do you have any other iing things besides what you showed me so far?”

  “Yes, a lot,” I replied, shrugging casually.

  “Show me, please,” he said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

  I started pulling out designer bags aee Lauder etics—day creams, night creams, eye creams, peelings, masks, and all kinds of serums for the face, hair, body, and various other etics. I also showed him the perfumes, though he’d already bought a fair amount, along with designer shoes, belts, and accessories. As a joke, I pulled out the Vegas showgirls’ outfits with feathers, smirking as I id them out. Naturally, his eyes lit up, and he grinned. He liked those the most.

  By the time I finished, Adi looked like the embodiment of greed, practically shaking with excitement. His voice wavered as he asked, “How much do you have of everything?”

  “A lot.”

  “How much is ‘a lot’?” he pressed, leaning forward. “I want to k quantities and prices.”

  It took us hours to gh everything, ting, calg, and tallying it all up. I watched him scribble furiously, his face teh tration. This time, I offered him prices with a 20% dist for being a preferred er, not half-price. By the end of the marathon, the total came to over 3,000 gold.

  Adi rubbed his thoughtfully. “This shop isn’t mine,” he said with a sigh. “I have a supporter. The problem is that he takes half the profits daily, leavih a limited amount to buy stock. We subtract the stock cost from the profits, but it still limits me when buying more.” He paused, then brightened up. “Let’s do this: leave me one of everything as a sample. I’ll meet with my supporter tonight or tomorrow, show him the samples, and ask him to fihe stock.”

  I nodded and handed him one of each item, raising an eyebrow. “So, should I e ba two days?”

  “Yes,” he said, nodding eagerly. “Two days should be enough.”

  When I returo the front of the store, I found Rue fast asleep under one of the clothing dispys, his enormous body curled up like a pile of fur. He probably still hadn’t finished digesting all the food from two days ago.

  After the long hours with Adi, I didn’t feel like trading in the bazaar anymore, so Rue and I headed back to the hotel. We spent the rest of the day in the suite—me with a book and Rue dozing peacefully with his head on my p and occasionally demanding ear scratches.

  The day, I didn’t feel like returning to the bazaar. I preferred to wait for Adi and the decision of his supporter. Instead, Rue and I went for a walk around the city. We visited several food pzas, and my furry panion, having finally finished digesting the crazy meal from three days ago, was back to his usual self, begging for food with those adorable big eyes and twitg ears.

  I couldn’t resist and bought him treats while I grabbed various spices, fruits, aables to experiment with ter.

  Besides the food pzas, we also visited pzas with live shows. One performance by a daroupe stood out, featuring twenty dancers who told the story of five advehrough daheir exaggerated movements and acrobatic feats brought their battle against moo life—it was mesmerizing.

  They had five musis, four with string instruments and oh drums resembling bongo drums but bigger, hanging on his waist. Some dancers portrayed the side of the monsters, using exaggerated movements to mimic the monsters’ fear. That gave me an idea. It was lucky I’d retly gohrough the Vegas iory list, or I might not have remembered it.

  After they finished perf and colleg their s, I approached the man who seemed in charge, judging by how loudly he shouted at the dao prepare for the show.

  “Excuse me, sir,” I called out, catg his attention. “I’m a mert and have some items that might i your dancers. Would you like to take a look?”

  He narrowed his eyes, curious. “What things?”

  I pulled out a medieval knight armor replid a dinosaur e from my ste. One dancer, who had been watg, shrieked when he saw the dinosaur e.

  “Do such monsters exist?! Where?!” He asked, face pale with fear.

  I waved my hands quickly. “No, no, rex. It’s just a e, an iion by the person who made it.”

  He and the other dancers breathed a sigh of relief, some visibly sagging as if they were about to pass out from the shock.

  After a brief iation, I sold them three armor replicas and all the dinosaur es—46 mold in my pocket and a bit more Ste space.

  Life is good!

  We also caught several performances by bards, some singing songs and others reg stories in rhythmic poetry. Jugglers and acrobats showed off their skills, tossing wild objects into the air or building five-people-high human towers. I was sure they’d be a sensation if these acts came to Vegas. No circus oh could pull off sutense, high-flying stunts.

  We returo the suite in the evening, and I finally checked out the bathhouse. The bathhouse was behind the hotel’s spire, inside a low square structure divided into two wings—one for women, one for men. Inside were stations to soap up and rinse off, followed by soaking pools with various temperatures. I found oh medium heat and y down to rex. The spell was great, but nothing pared to the soothing feel of water.

  After two hours ihhouse, I returo the room to find Rue and Rid in the middle of a game of checkers. Smiling, I petted Rue, handed Rid another —he ear, he was doing a fantastic job—ao bed, feeling utterly rexed.

  When I arrived at Adi’s the day, an elderly man stood there. Despite wearing rather pin clothes pared to the nobles I’d seen, I was sure he was one of them. One look into his eyes told me all I o know—he was Adi’s supporter, and this iation would be tough. His eyes gleamed with the sharpness of a ing, experienced fox who had seen and heard everything.

  He studied me for a few seds before asking, “Are you the mert who sells special goods to Adi?”

  “Yes?”

  “He told me you’re also a wizard. How did you mahat?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, frowning slightly.

  “In all my years, I’ve met no more thay people with a sed css, and they were all quite profit and much older before they achieved it. You look too young. How did you mao get a sed css?”

  I shrugged, trying to keep my tone casual. “I’m a wizard, and I wao travel the world and learn about magid mana. Before I set off, I sold my house. Knowing the money would run out eventually, instead of spending it all on living expenses, I bought iing goods from my hometown and sold them elsewhere. That’s how I tio buy and sell, finang my journey. Surprisingly, the Guidance offered me the Mert’s css a few years ter.”

  He looked thoughtful for a moment, then asked, “I’ve also heard you have a giant bck wolf as a familiar. How did that e about?”

  “I’m from a wizard family,” I expined. “My familiar es from the forests of my home ti. My father helped me prime and bind him before I left on my journey so he would protect me.”

  “You primed and bound it yourself?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “In the old way, not with a scroll? How did you even know the old way? I thought that knowledge was lost.”

  Oops.

  “Like I said, I’m from a wizard family,” I replied quickly. “My family mao preserve some a knowledge and pass it down through the geions.”

  “e with me, please,” he said, leadio a ba I hadn’t visited before.

  The room was smaller than the oh the enormous table, but it had fortable sofas and armchairs around two low tables. Adi entered and pced a pot of tea and a pte of cookies oable. He exged a look with my new host, and I got the distinct feeling they were unig without words.

  In the meantime, I used Identify. Yey, me!

  Marquess Alistor Varence Damarion Fusil of Crystalspireptroller of Estates Level 26

  Adi left the room, and Alistor turned bae. “I have a proposition for you,” he said, his tone serious.

  “Yes?”

  “Draw me the magic cireeded to bind a familiar, with a expnation of the priming and binding process and any other reted details. Iurn, Adi will buy all the goods you offer at your asking price without argument, and I will personally pay you ohousand gold.”

  “Three thousand,” I tered immediately, surprising even myself. The words slipped out automatically, like instinct.

  He regarded me, scratg his cheek. “Is it true that, in the old way, the familiar gains a mirror power ter like its master, not just the ability to level?”

  “Yes.”

  He houghtfully. “Three thousand. But,” he lifted a fio stop me and began ting on his fingers, “You will swear to a Truth Mage the following:

  The familiar will gain a power ter like its master.The information is plete and not missing anything.The magic circle is plete and works.”“Of course,” I nodded, keeping my expressioral.

  “Do you have more iing things that you didn’t show Adi?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

  “Yes.”

  “Such as?” he prompted.

  “I have silver jewelry with sapphires, jewelry that looks expe is made with simple metals and polished gss, hair accessories, brushes, and other tools for applying face paint, unique soaps for body and hair with pleasant sts, and a few other items.”

  “Show me examples,” he ordered.

  I showed him examples of everything.

  “Adi told me you give him a 20% dist,” he remarked.

  I nodded.

  He gestured to a guard standing nearby. “This is Osun. He will stay here and pay you when Adi chooses everything he wants. When you arrive at my estate to deliver the information about familiars, you will swear to the Truth Mage that you gave Adi a 20% dist.”

  “No problem,” I agreed.

  “How long do you o prepare the information?”

  “A day,” I replied fidently.

  He handed me a page with an address and a seal. “Show this to the guards at the entrao the new noble quarter. Without it, you won’t be able to get in. e to my spire tomorrow evening.”

  He stood up, murmured to Osun, and gave him something. Then turned bae. “Our business is plete. I expect to see you tomorrow evening after su.”

  After Alistor left, I moved into the other ba with Adi. First, I pulled out all the boxes and crates of the items I had already shown him, along with the exact list of prices repared earlier. Then, I moved on to showing him the oods; holy, he was hirious. He started vibratiedly, and his shaking only worsened as we progressed.

  When we reached the e jewelry, he began boung on his feet, practically uo tain himself. When I showed him the hair accessories, shampoo, body soap, and lotion, he added appuse to the mix, g his hahusiastically.

  I g Osun, and he ressing his fist to his mouth. I thought he might be biting it. By this point, Adi looked like a cartoon character—vibrating, boung, g, and occasionally squealing, adding his own bizarre sound effects to the se.

  It took most of the day to gh all the items that caught Adi’s i. He also bought some colorful fabrics I had picked up in a and some from Vegas. The final bill reached 6,739 gold. Osun gulped, but with a quick hand motion, two wooden boxes filled with gold s appeared oable.

  “Each box has three thousand gold. You trust Lord Damarion Fusil, but you t if you want,” he said. He made another motion, and seven rge pouches appeared oable. “Each of these has a hundred gold,” he added, then another 39 s appeared oable. “If you want to t, I’ll wait.”

  “No, it’s fine,” I replied. “I trust the Lord.”

  And my Sense Hoy, I added silently to myself.

  As soon as the money appeared oable, my red light started fshing.

  Yes!

  I held back, resisting the urge to check the message right away.

  I thanked Osun again and chatted a little more with Adi. After I stepped outside, I finally checked the red light, even though I already knew what it would say.

  Level up+3 Wisdom, +3 Perception, +2 Luck, +3 Free PointsProfession: Mert Level 9

  In one more level, I’d finally discover the iory Lis was talking about.

  I added the free points to Agility—it was my lowest stat—aed the urge to vibrate, bounce, and cp like Adi. But after a gnce around to make sure I was alone, I did a little butt wiggle—a celebration was in order.