BXBX NOVEL Chapter 173 172: Bargaining
Elaborate runic inscriptions covered the wood, some decorative, others practical; the wooden structure was now nigh unbreakable by normal means, turning the Hall into a fortress, should it ever need to act as one.
Standing in the windows above us were a few guards, their dark steel armor and elegant wine red surcoat denoting their allegiance to not only the Empire, but also the Guild.
Walking behind Jahi, we entered the Hall, being greeted by an almost tavern like appearance inside.
Dozens of tables were occupied by various parties of adventurers, while waitress\' moved efficiently through the crowded hubbub of the room to deliver tankards of ale or plates laden with food.
At the back of the hall was a long desk, occupied by a dozen receptionists, who were all conversing with parties, haggling over the price of the materials placed before them or signing off on any requests the adventurers had brought forwards, wishing to complete.
We drew a lot of attention; not only because Jahi was seven and a half feet of muscular Demon flesh, but also because each of us were incredibly beautiful.
The countless gazes of greed, lust, curiosity, and wariness landed on us, making Jahi smirk.
However, Leone and I both found that the gazes landing on us were, of course, more on the side of lust, which, while unsurprising, made my skin crawl.
Keeping my expression neutral, I followed behind Jahi as she led us towards the crowded counter, her gaze sweeping over the bar, making many turn away as the tall Demoness met their eyes.
Stepping into the line, I heard Leone whisper "Still the same, distasteful place..."
Glancing over at her, I saw her sneering slightly as she glared at a group beside us, their \'hushed\' whispers carrying over to us.
Seeing the Vampire sneering at them, one of the women stepped forwards, a cocky grin on her lips as she raised her Gold Tag, saying "Why not join us, beautiful? I\'ll teach you ALL about adventuring..."
Rolling her eyes, Leone spat out "I likely know more than you, and do try and come up with a more original pick up line at the very least; this is probably why no one ever wishes to willingly lay with you."
The woman, a Bearkin, bristled in anger at that, about to lunge forwards when Jahi stepped in front of Leone, still smirking arrogantly.
While not as large as our Demoness, the Bearkin was still just under seven feet tall, and she was bulky; her arms alone were almost as wide as my waist. Pair that with the giant axe strapped to her back, and you have a rather intimidating, strong looking woman.
Looking down at the Bearkin, Jahi just raised a brow, making the Bearkin flinch slightly.
However, that seemed to only make the woman more upset, as she growled out "You\'re all just Silver Tags; the hell do you know? How to drink from your mothers tit?"
Sighing slightly, I watched on as Jahi backhanded the Bearkin, making the woman stumble back a few steps before collapsing, her body slack.
"I know how to knock you the fuck out... ah, wait... I already did, so you can\'t... hah..."
Letting out a remorseful sigh, Jahi just shrugged as she looked over the party beside us, each of the remaining members shuddering as the stared at the unconscious Bearkin.
Agains, the Bearkin was pretty bulky, and Gold Tags weren\'t common; so to be knocked out by a singular strike, even if it was unexpected, was rather telling on just what the Demoness was capable of.
And if she was capable of that, what about us..?
Leone chuckled darkly as she stared at the unconscious woman, whispering "You deserve it...", while Anput just rolled her eyes before returning to look at the line before us, wanting to get out of here.
The party scooped up their now knocked out Bearkin and retreated, making Jahi scratch her cheek in mild embarrassment before chuckling.
Our wait after that was rather short and uneventful, and when we approached the counter I laid out each pouch of material, saying "I want to sell in bulk..."
Staring at each bursting pouch, the woman sitting in front of us asked "May I..?"
Nodding, I watched as she opened and inspected each one, before asking "How many of each material is there?"
Handing her the list, I watched her nod as she read it, before turning to scribble something down on the notepad beside her.
"Alright... so the average price for a Ghoul Core is 2 Silvers and 25 Coppers. The Crystals are 2 Silvers and 35 Coppers, while the Goblin Fangs... here they are; 50 Coppers each."
Pursing my lips, I stared at the large bag of Cores and Crystals, before asking "How much is the Guild charging as a fee to bulk sell?"
The receptionist pursed her lips, saying "Depending on your tag... ah, you\'re all Silver Tags? The price the Guild charges for Silver Tags on selling materials is 3% per item, or in the case of large sales like this, 6% total. So, if you sell 10 gold, we\'ll be taking 60 Silvers. Understood?"
Nodding, I then asked "What about Gold Tags? Just curious."
Giving me a smile, she replied "Gold Tags are only charged 2% per item, or 4% on bulk. Platinum Tags are charged 2% on bulk only, and our Gem Tags aren\'t charged at all."
"Thanks. Does the Guild buy at fixed rates, or..?"
She leaned forwards, a grin on her face as she asked "Did you wish to attempt to bargain?"
I leaned forwards as well, tilting my head to the side as I replied "Am I allowed to?"
Seeing her nod, I grinned as well.
"You said it was 2.25 Silvers for the Cores, but considering their importance as an Alchemical Base, they should go for more. From what I have heard, they can go for as high as 3 Silvers, but on average..."
She narrowed her eyes, waiting.
"They sell for 2.75 Silvers. So, I\'ll sell them at 2.4 Silvers each, and the Crystals at 2.4 as well. I can always go find individual Alchemists and Smiths to sell to, after all."
Leone had filled me in on the very basic prices of each, so I wasn\'t completely going off the top of my head, but that\'s what bargaining is all about, isn\'t it?
Trying to hoodwink your \'opponent\' into giving you more money, and threatening to leave.
I couldn\'t do anything about the Goblin Fangs, since they have little value and necessity, but the Cores and Crystals were, again, common, but needed by A LOT of people; there was always a market for them.
The Guild would need them for their own private Adventurers and Guards to use, so they needed a supply; they also sold these, in bulk, to the larger organizations of Alchemists and Smiths.
Staring at me for a few more moments, the woman chuckled before nodding, writing down the prices.
"If you can make me pay this for them, I can imagine what prices you\'d get from the independents... alright, 2 Silvers and 40 Coppers for each Core and Crystal. However, the Goblin Fangs are non negotiable."
Giving her a nod, I said "That\'s fine. Now, what about the Scales, Bones, and Fangs of the Coal Serpents?"
Flipping through her notepad, the receptionist tapped a few pages with her pen before saying "The Scales... 9 Silvers and 75 Coppers. The Bones go for... 13 Silvers exact, and the Fangs... hmm..."
She was frowning as she stared at the pages, and I briefly glanced at Leone, who was nodding.
The Vampire leaned forwards and whispered into my ear "The fangs are the most valuable, and should be around-"
"41 Silvers and 50 Coppers."
The receptionist glanced up, and upon seeing Leone whispering something to me she tilted her head.
"More than that; they sell on average for 60 Silvers..."
Smiling at the woman, I said "55 Silvers."
Narrowing her eyes, she glanced briefly at Leone before pursuing her lips, saying "45."
"55"
"48.5?"
Shaking my head, I watched the receptionist bite her lip for a second before saying "50; that\'s as high as I\'m allowed to go..."
Smiling at her, I nodded, saying "I\'ll take base price for the Scales, but the Bones are rather needed for a rather expensive, yet incredibly potent potion, no? 15 Silvers."
Glaring at me slightly, the receptionist nodded tightly, managing to get out "15 Silvers for the Bones..."
Giving her a warm smile, I recounted the prices, watching as she wrote everything down.
"2.4 Silvers for the Ghoul Cores and Crystals, 50 Copper for the Goblin Fangs, 9.75 Silvers for the Scales, 15 Silvers for the Bones, and 50 Silvers for the Fangs. Which comes out to..."
Pursing my lips, I tried to do as much of the mental arithmitic as I could, coming up with approximately ~300 for the Cores, ~220 for the Crystals, 15.5 for the Goblin Fangs, ~450 for the Scales, 405 for the Bones, and 250 for the Fangs...
Should be around-
"Your total is 1,700.25 Silvers, or 17 Gold and 25 Coppers."
I nodded, having managed to somehow add all these numbers into roughly around the same amount, obviously not as exact...
Give me the damn pad and I could do that easy!
Seeing the receptionist smiling smugly at me, I was tempted to haggle a bit more to irritate her before nodding, saying "Sounds right to me. You\'ll be taking a Gold and a few Silvers as tax, right?"
She nodded, saying "Your actual takeaway will be 15 Gold, 98 Silvers, and 23 Coppers."
"Alright... and do you pay us, or..?"
The receptionist shook her head, instead pulling out a banknote, similar to the one that Vice-Headmaster Bijilo had used for the Draconas Scale, and scribbled down the amount before stamping it.
"Take this to any bank within the Capital, and they will pay you. Was that all?"
Rolling up the banknote and storing it away, I asked "How do we go from Silver to Gold?"
Gesturing to the large request board, she said "Take requests, and when you or your party complete enough of them, you\'ll eventually rank up. You can only take one request as a party or one request per person; depending on your route, it might be easier to rank up as a party rather then as a group. Anyways, if that was all..."
Nodding, we all moved out of the way, allowing the next group to approach the woman.
We had made almost 16 Gold, and I would walk away with 10% of it...
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Doesn\'t sound like a lot, but remember, one normal family makes 1 Gold a month, so in one days work, Kat made a normal families monthly salary.
Anyways, I never thought I\'d be crunching numbers for a novel lol...
What\'d you all think? Too much time spent here, or was it good enough?
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