Merchants' Guild
Masha chased after me, I could tell that the beast woman hijacked our connection, no one knew what was said between us, probably. I took a deep breath and faced the worried Masha and Viviane and tried to do some damage control, I honestly have no idea exactly what happened and why I suddenly became enraged by her, all I can say is that I felt violated.
Claudio: I know what you are about to say Masha, don't state the obvious. And Viviane, I had a really long day so excuse my attitude, I'm sorry about that, the slave who called me a folsy really pissed me off and the beast woman was not any better.
Folsys', another name for the practice known as eromenos in ancient Spartan, young boys no older than 13 who were used for sexual proposes. Except the folsy system is different, instead of a mentor and a mentee relationship, folsys' are usually slaves who were neutered midway through puberty so that they could help soldiers in combat and in bed. Every second I spend in this world makes me question whether I'm on the right path or not.
Viviane: Are you sure you're okay Claudio? You look worse than before we entered the building you know?
Masha: Yeah, you look bad Claudi.
Claudio: I am fine, just a little tired; let's go the Merchants' guild so that we could be done for today.
I turned around quickly and made my way through city, after 5 minutes of awkward silence; I decided to ask Viviane about her time as an adventurer.
Claudio: Viviane I wanted to ask, since there are groups in the adventurers guild, are you apart of one?
Viviane: Mhm, I used to be in one.
Viviane sounded pretty annoyed at the question.
Claudio: Used to? What happened exactly?
Viviane: Our group leader was an asshole; do I need to elaborate anymore?
Claudio: I am afraid you do.
Viviane: He was a noble, he thought that he could win me and my friends over by buying us fancy dinners and clothing. When we refused his sexual advanced he assigned us to a suicide mission at the borders.
Claudio: Oh…
Viviane: Mhmm.
I feel like I would get punched in the face any moment now, but sorry Viviane I have more questions.
Claudio: Sooo… about the mission, couldn't you refuse it?
Viviane: Claudio… how ignorant can you be, once a mission is assigned, there is no refusing, if we refused we could've gotten some heavy penalties that can go as far as imprisonment.
Claudio: Sorry to hear that, so I am assuming you pulled off the mission successfully, At the cost of your health that is.
Viviane: That's right, and he kicked us out of the party before we can get any rewards, I'm supposed to be a golden badge owner you know.
Claudio: You are one in my eyes if that counts, sorry for bringing back those memories.
Viviane laughed at my consultation and said:
Viviane: You sound just like dad.
***
After an unknown amount of walking, we finally arrived at the Merchants' guild; it was fancy, glass windows everywhere, badass looking symbols on the walls and ceilings. The place smelt like lavender and disinfectant, everyone was dressed professionally, I honestly felt out of place, poor Masha was dressed in a potato sack for God's sake; I really need to upgrade the orphanage's fashion sense. Everyone stared daggers at me as I made my way to the counter and a woman dressed in a grey trousers and a blue long sleeved shirt came to greet us, I could tell immediately that she hated my guts.
Woman: Greetings customer, how can I be of service for you today?
Claudio: Hello my name is Claudio; I came here to trade some valuables, and possibly look for a job as a physician.
Woman: Understandable, please follow me to the back.
That went better than I had expected, Viviane was told to stay outside since she wasn't needed, and I had to plead with her to bring Masha alone with me. I didn't want to get scammed because of the language barrier. We entered the room and she told me to drop my valuables on the table so that she could appraise it. I wanted to trade my 2 pounds of .9999 fine silver and a pound of white sugar since I had a lot of honey in my armored truck.
Knowing that we currently live in a medieval like era, I made a heavy gamble and decided to trade some expensive items so that I could get on the good side of the merchants' guild since the other bastards hated me with a passion. And I was proved to be right once again, her poker face dropped for 5 seconds before returning back to normal when she saw my valuables, she excused herself and went on to bring someone of a higher position than her.
3 minutes later, I heard a knock on the door before a tall tanned women with a curled hair and a visible scar on her neck entered the room, she was maybe 6 foot 3, And she was pretty muscular as well, maybe she used to be an adventurer. Her eyes were wide open along with her mouth when she saw me, after 8 seconds of silence she said:
Woman: You... Are you the boy from the slave market earlier?
Claudio: Yes
Woman: What are you doing here exactly?
Claudio: Uh… trading?
Woman: Oh… I will be back in a moment excuse me.
She quickly left the room with the plate filled with valuables and shut down the door behind her, what the hell was that interaction?! She came back after a few minutes with what I assume her usual professional personality.
Isolde: Sorry about that, Mr. Claudio. The new employee failed provide me with key information about the client and she will be punished accordingly, my name is Isolde and I will be your trader for today.
Claudio: All is good; I assume you already appraised the items that I handed to you?
Isolde: You are correct, let us discuss the price. Would you be satisfied to part with 16k groshen?
Claudio: For the silver bars that is. Sure, that is a pretty good price.
It was obvious, she tried to low ball me and was caught in the act, she thought I didn't know the price of sugar, it was a lot, way too much, good thing I only brought a pound of sugar on me and left the rest in the orphanage and the truck. She cleared her throat and adjusted her posture.
Isolde: I am glad you are satisfied Mr. Claudio, regarding the sugar, would 25k groshen suffice?
Claudio: Miss Isolde, I know that is the price of a quarter of the sugar so let's cut the bullshit, I want to be a member of this guild alongside some benefits that include protection and housing. Do we have a deal?
Isolde never felt so confused in her life, one a random Tuesday a cripple comes out of nowhere to save some slaves through his skills alone, and later that night that same cripple comes to her guild with some life changing fortune? Who in the hells is he? How did he acquire such valuables? Is he a spy? She had to ask him just to be sure.
Isolde: That would be difficult Mr. Claudio, you know since you are not a citizen it is hard for you to be treated the same as normal folk. I really have to pull some strings and if I want to take that risk, I want you to answer me this. Did you steal those items?
Claudio: No, I earned everything through my hard work.
Isolde was left even more confused, she could tell based on his soul that he was not lying at all; in fact, he was offended that she asked him such question, was he an unknown alchemist? No, alchemists' need Mageia for the potions.
It would be unprofessional of her if she kept on asking him questions about his life, which will lead to them losing the deal that they were going to make. At first, she thought, "Who cares? He is a cripple for fucks sake, I could take everything from him right now and no one would bat an eye. I could torture him into giving me all of his valuables".
However, after talking to him for a minute she thought, "But wait… what if he had some secret backing? Someone unknown to the kingdom of Volquis, how else could a cripple get such items? I can't be too greedy and risk my life for some groshen" her instincts were right, if she tried anything funny she would've been shot between her eyes before she could realize what had happened.
Isolde: Understandable. You will receive 51 thousand groshen, just as we agreed, alongside a 24-hour security and four months of housing at the best hostel in the city, King's sanctuary. If you want the contract to be renewed, you have to give us a pound of sugar, preferably of the same quality as the one that was appraised do we have a deal?
Claudio: I would like to discuss some of the points. I want to be hired as a physician as a part of the contract, you saw my skills first hands I assume?
Isolde: Correct… Healing mages are expensive and skilled physicians as yourself are highly sought after in the market, we could work with that without a problem.
Claudio: Good, final point, I want an extra 1000 groshen for the lack of professionalism that you showed me earlier.
Isolde: lack of professionalism? Care to elaborate.
Claudio: You referred to me as a boy earlier, which I found to be quite disrespectful for a client.
She was not happy at all, I had to squeeze in every possible groshen out of this deal, I feel sorry for the woman who called in Isolde on behalf of her.
Isolde: Oh, understandable, I see no problem with that, give me a minute, I will be back with the contract.
I turned to Masha, his eyes were wide open, he was covered in sweat, he kept muttering '52 thousand' '52 thousand' '52 thousand' '52 thousand', he kept shaking the whole time. The silence was interrupted by a loud smack, which startled us for a moment, considering the strong soundproofing of the room.
Isolde came back with the contract shortly after and she had a huge vein on her forehead, she proceeded to slide the contract toward us, which had a slight yellow tint, some complex wording, and numerous boxes to fill out.
I read the contract repeatedly, I wanted to make sure that I wasn't selling myself to slavery or some other bullshit, there was only one problem, a long word that I wasn't familiar. I nudged Masha so that he could tell me what it meant; he spent 3 minutes staring at it and said:
Masha: Hmm… I don't know Claudi sorry.
Claudio: Masha you stupid motherfucker!
Masha: Oh I am stupid? You are the one who can't read at your big age.
Claudio: Oh ok, looks like someone is not hungry tonight.
Masha kept apologizing on his knees and Isolde was tired of our shenanigans and decided to help me out, she sat right beside me and began helping me with the contract.
Isolde: Here let me see… that box says is the contractee married?
Claudio: that word is marriage?! Why does it have so many letters!
Isolde watched Claudio silently and thought to herself "did I really get intimidated by this dumbass?"
Claudio: Thank you for your patience; I will finish everything quickly.
I finished everything quickly and gave the contract back to Isolde, she began reviewing the contract and kept asking me if I had everything marked correctly.
Isolde: Your name is Claudio, you are 22 years old, single, physician, no children?
Claudio: Correct.
Isolde: Your place of birth is called Juhmaica?
Claudio: Correct
My mom was doing a photo shoot in Jamaica when she was eight months pregnant with me. I was born a month early, which is why I was born there, hilarious.
Isolde: Where exactly is this place? Never heard of it before.
Claudio: dunno.
Isolde: …
Isolde: understandable, please prick your finger and stamp the blood against the contract.
The contract disappeared right before my eyes and I felt something in my soul, during the slave contract I felt a weird small lump, this time I felt a hand writing in my back, it felt ticklish.
Isolde: Would you like someone to accompany you to your apartment?
Claudio: That won't be necessary, I have somewhere to stay tonight.
Isolde: about your employment, we can discuss it tomorrow after you collect your groshen in the afternoon.
We got up and left the room and before we went out of the building, I saw the earlier receptionist with a huge red slap mark across her left cheek, she had tears in her eyes. Since we were going to be seeing each other a lot I will be saving a cookie for her as an indirect apology.
Viviane was waiting for us outside looking grumpy, Masha was awfully gloomy as well, and I knew the reason for that, I was waiting for him to ask the question.
Viviane: So, did everything worked out?
Claudio: indeed, everything went too well for my liking, I would like you to protect me until the next day if that is okay with you Viviane?
Viviane: I have nothing to do anyways so sure thing!
Claudio: I will make it up for you, thank you Viviane.
We walked back to the orphanage and took a detour to the market, we needed some eggs and milk, and I wanted to stock up on some supplies for the next day at the orphanage. Masha was silent all the time as well so I asked him:
Claudio: What's wrong Masha? You know I was joking earlier.
Masha turned to me with teary eyes and asked
Masha: Are you gonna leave us Claudi? Will we ever see you again?
I used my sleeves to dry his tears and patted him on the head before saying:
Claudio: Of course not Masha, just because I moved to another home doesn't mean I will never see you guys again, you can visit me anytime you want. And if I have free time I will be visiting you as well.
Masha: You promise?
Claudio: I promise
Viviane: Moving? What exactly happened in there Claudio?
Claudio: A little privacy here Mary Jane.
Viviane: Who is Mary Jane???
Claudio: I will explain everything later Viviane, right now I want you to look forward to what I'm about to bake.
I didn't want to tell Viviane about the amount of groshen that I would receive, I can't afford to be too trusting, money changes people into monsters and I am not about to take a risk.
One time I gave a loving homeless couple 5k dollars and told them, whoever wins in a fight can take it, the man proceeded to beat the hell out of his poor wife and before leaving her on the streets bloody. When I came back to my senses years later I gave the woman 40k dollars as an apology and she actually turned her life around, unlike the husband who became single and homeless again.
Viviane: ooooo what are you making? Is it the same as the delicious medicine?
Claudio: something much better.
***
After a while, we finally arrived at the orphanage, everyone was excited and gathered around us to help with the grocery. I went to check on Julian one last time before I started baking some cookies; Sasha whistled at me and said "Wow Claudio, already bringing women home?" Viviane was embarrassed and I told her not to worry about the remarks of the red goblin. I asked Nola to light up the stove on medium heat before I started preparing the cookie dough.
Hm… I want everything to be perfect, but I am missing some heavy cream… let's make that first! I added 3 quarters of whole milk and approximately half a cup of butter, I stirred it together over medium heat and after everything homogenized I asked Sasha to stir the mix with her super strength as I went to the back to bring some ice from the storage. I placed the ice under the bowl and after a while of mixing, we acquired heavy cream.
I added a lot of butter to the cast iron and started browning it before adding a shit ton of sugar that I didn't plan on selling, and mixed everything thoroughly together until it clumped. After that, I added a lot of eggs, I am planning to make a Lot of cookies for everyone in the orphanage and also for rom, the smacked receptionist, and Brenda.
After mixing everything, I added some high quality vanilla bean paste that caused everyone to salivate at the scent. Since Sasha was being a dick headso I jokingly fed her a tablespoon and her reaction was hilarious, she said, "eughhh! It smells better than it tastes!" I added a lot of all-purpose flour and a tablespoon of baking soda and powder, and a pinch of salt.
After that, I pulled 10 chocolate bars and chopped it all up before adding it to the mixture. No one had any idea about what I am about to make, the texture that I was aiming at was crunchy on the edges and soft and chewy at the middle, my personal favorite.
After mixing everything I asked Nola to try to pull the heat from the cookies so that I could start baking right away and not wait a whole day, it's not like we even had a fridge so…
Nola tried her hardest and the cookies became somewhat cold and firm, I buttered down the bottom of the long baking tray since I didn't have any baking sheets on me and placed down a LOT of cookies, easily past a hundred, and I started baking them at what I felt was 375 degrees Fahrenheit heat for 15 minutes. Everything worked out too well and the cookies came out as good as I expected.
Everyone's face was hilarious, they never smelt or saw anything like this before and they were in for a rude awakening. We gathered around the middle of the kitchen and I poured out a cup of milk for everyone present. Everyone was scared to take a bite and was silent. Viviane was the first to break the silence, "Are these biscuits? I never seen them in this shape".
I replied, "Something like that, this is way better, everyone please enjoy before they get cold" as if everyone was waiting for my approval, all of them took a bite simultaneously. After that, everything was a blur. Literally, some were laughing, some were crying, some were carefully eating the cookies; it really was a long day for everyone.
I gave my portion to the new kids since I couldn't taste anything and it would be a waste on me. I could immediately that Julian was evolving by the glow around him, I can't wait to see him in the morning, this world is really strange.