Elias blinked, "Well, that seems to be an unfair place for your customers. You could sell me something useless…"
"Tsss…." the rat-faced merchant suddenly hissed like a snake, "None of my wares are useless, mortal hands do not make them, and I only collect the best, so are you willing to pay?"
Elias did not have his coin pouch with him, nor was he strictly sure that this strange being even accepted money.
"The price," he said.
The merchant's eyes glittered. "Double."
Elias's hand stopped. "Double what?"
"Double the price I would have asked the last time we met. You have grown stronger, friend, your pockets are deeper, and your hunger is greater. The price has grown with you."
"How much?"
"Your soul as coin. I can tell you how to forge it, and how much of it you can give me."
Elias scoffed, "My soul as coin? Even if that is possible, why would I want to do such a thing?"
"Because whatever I have is worth the price, and it is the only thing of equal worth."
