Book 3: Chapter 45: Masking Devices and Haggling

Book 3: Chapter 45: Masking Devices and Haggling

Tayson nodded, much more professionalism in his decorum than a moment ago. He then stood up, pulled a plate out from his ring which Lone now knew was a storage device, and he then pressed that plate up against the magical door at the back left of the room.

"I'll be right back, Lord Immortus. I can't imagine I'll take any longer than ten minutes. Would you like some refreshments while you wait?" he asked.

Lone shook his head. "Nah, we're good. Thank you though."

Tayson smiled. "Of course."

He then pushed some of his aura into the plate and it activated the door, making it melt out of existence with a red portal quickly replacing it.

'Burn everything you're seeing magically-speaking into your mind right now, Soph. I absolutely want to learn how to make that door and plate,' Lone ordered.

Soph replied, 'I already am. You do the same with Enhanced Vision.'

Lone grinned. With eyes held open wide, the two of them watched the man step through the arched portal. It then vanished, being replaced by a normal door once more.

Lone immediately stood up and walked around the desk. He grabbed the door's handle and opened it, revealing just another part of the room's wall. He began inspecting every nook and cranny of the door as if his life depended on it. He then moved onto the other two doors in the room.

"M-Master Lone... Should you really be doing that? Um, won't it... uh, upset them?" Breena hesitantly questioned.

Without looking at her, he replied, "They didn't say I couldn't do this, so it's on them if they get hot and bothered. I'm not going to damage it. Hell, for all we know, the door could be pointless and is just for visuals while the plate is everything. I bet there's some sort of observation item or magic or something in here anyway. If they want to stop my snooping, they are welcome to. You think they'd just not keep an eye on us at all times in their business? I would if I was as big and successful as Mason and Sons and I catered to potentially super power individuals."

"I-I see," Breena replied a bit more thoughtfully.

Eight minutes passed with Lone not finding anything particularly incredibly about the three doors. Even Item Examination claimed they were ordinary, only used as a medium for the magic he had seen, but that was only the extent of his own knowledge so he couldn't fully trust that to be all there was to this.

Still, he eventually sat back down and waited patiently alongside Soph and Breena.

Three minutes later, Lone's entire attention was centred on the door and doorframe that had once more disappeared only to be replaced by a magical red portal.

Tayson stepped out of it, strange plate in hand. As soon as he was through, he turned on his heels and used the plate to close the portal, returning it to the appearance of a normal door.

"That is something special," Lone commented. "I played around with the doors a bit when you left and couldn't find anything amiss. Never heard of magic like that. Can you tell me about it?"

Tayson laughed politely as he sat back down behind the desk. "I can tell you the basics. It's a mixture of many magics and was prohibitively expensive to set up, though my brothers and father along with me all agreed it was needed for security reasons. Our vaults are quite extensive, after all. And thank you for your honestly. We don't mind people prying, but trying to hide it is terrible rude."

"I like to be honest when possible. Shame you can't tell me more, but I understand. To business then?" Lone asked.

Tayson nodded. He sucked the magical plate into his storage ring and then from that very same ring did many wooden and metal boxes appear, covering the table in no time.

"We have the trio of items to disguise your physical appearance while making it obvious you are doing so, and we have 47 items that allow masking of one's MP, of different varieties. This may take a while to go over each individual item's value so I will sadly have to charge you a consultation fee of five silver. Nothing in the face of how large this deal will be, but rules are rules. My time is valuable, I'm sure you understand," Tayson stated.

Lone nodded. "Please, go ahead."

Tayson's eyes began glowing as he muttered, "Item Examination."

Not a moment later, his eyes returned to normal. "... 10 ruby-gold and that monarch sapphire."

"9 ruby-gold and 50 white-gold coins, and the gem," Lone countered.

Tayson smiled and reached his hand over the counter. As soon as Lone grabbed it, the man with a lumberjack's beard said, "It's a deal."

Lone felt some sort of force coming over him, compelling him rather strongly to honour the deal and have no lingering thoughts to steal back his money or the gem. It was a powerful compulsion but not something that couldn't be resisted given Lone's experience with scripture magic.

Just as he was wondering if the thing used to apply such an effect was an active skill being used on him or not, a couple of notifications popped up, obscuring his vision.

He put them aside for the moment and smiled. "Indeed it is. It was a pleasure doing business with you."

Lone let go of Tayson's hand and swept his palm across the desk, sucking up all of the boxes containing mana masking tools as well as the box with the three brooches to disguise oneself. Of course, all of it went into his Dimensional Storage.

"Likewise. You are a surprisingly talented haggler for one who does not possess the skill," Tayson remarked.

Lone raised an eyebrow. "How would you know that?"

"Ah, well, Haggling Mastery has an effect at intermediate rank that allows you to know if you are dealing with another user of the skill. I'll also tell you that at advanced rank that that very effect tells you what rank your opponent has the skill at. According to my father Mason, at expert rank, it tells you their exact level. And, according to The Adventurer's Guild, at master rank it will even let you know the rough limits of what your opponent is willing to haggle to," Tayson explained. "I gained a level for our back and forth despite you not owning the skill, so I'm rather appreciative."

'He could tell me info from the credit slate without being stopped by contract magic? Must have learned about that from his father or someone else who has the skill at master rank,' Lone remarked internally. "I'm happy to have helped. We'll be on our way now. I actually spent more time here than I intended and we have some chores to do."

"Of course. The payment, however?" Tayson asked.

Lone nodded, clicking his fingers, making the 9 ruby-gold coins appear on the desk in a pile with a heavy pouch of fifty white-gold coins alongside it. 'Yeah, that's a cooler way to withdraw from Dimensional Storage. Bit weirded out by clicking but the rule of cool demands I get over it.'

"A man of your word. It's always a pleasure to do business with the honourable sorts. Until next time, Lord Immortus, Lady Vladimirovich, Miss Redtail," Tayson said with a bow.

'Lady, huh? So he knows Sophie killed that X-ranker perv,' Soph commented via telepathy.

Lone left the room with his companions and replied, 'Not too surprising. Anyone with enough money, power, or connections, would know about the C-rank turned B-rank beauty who effortlessly ended the life of someone so conventionally powerful.'

As they left the building of Mason and Sons, Soph giggled. 'It wasn't effortless. It took her a lot of MP, even if she'll never admit to that. So... the guild now? Gonna fight Guildmaster... what was his name... Brush?'

'Brux, and yes, but first, I have some notifications to check,'Lone replied.