The day to sell our wares finally arrived.

And most of it passed without us making any sales.

It was almost sunset, and no one had so much as glanced at our wares. Hruk stayed in the back, polishing and cleaning tools or tending to Booger. Meanwhile, I shot shoppers my best salesman smile and occasionally used banter in an attempt to lure them in. Unfortunately, I only got smiles and nods of acknowledgement in return. They instead gravitated towards other businesses. I couldn’t tell whether I sucked, or they had skills and abilities born of mercantile masteries.

I knew little about artificing, but the previous evening, Hruk and I had taken the time to scope out the competition. From what I could tell, his merchandise outmatched most of theirs in quality and functionality. His sleek designs appealed to the eyes and didn’t seem as unwieldy as the others. When the gnomes running the stores realised we weren’t going to buy anything, they shooed us away.

When passing shoppers spared us a glance, they saw Hruk and hastened their walk towards other stalls. Hruk kept his thoughts to himself. I had poured almost all of our coin into the endeavour. If things didn’t work out, I’d find myself starting from atom. In a couple of days, I’d have no money left for food.

“Hruk, take over the shop for a while,” I said.

“Where are you going?” Hruk asked, sounding irate.

“Nowhere. I just want to try something.” Instead of going for an efficient display, I rearranged our merchandise to look more dramatic. With darkness approaching, it felt like the perfect time for a more radical approach.

“Your ideas have cost us enough already, Perry, and could’ve ended our lives. I think it’s time we cut our losses. We can rent out the stall to someone else and maybe recover some coin. Tomorrow, I’ll go down to the Artificers Guild and sell my goods for whatever they'll give me.”

“My idea won’t cost us anything,” I told him, pulling every light sphere we had out of storage and activating them all. I threw them into the air above us, high enough so not even the tallest could steal one. Hruk had the means to retrieve them remotely, so we didn’t worry. “I promise. There isn’t enough flair in this market. Where I come from, attracting customers is all about flashiness and being loud; we need to grab their attention.” People were already stopping and looking at the display, oohing and ahhing as they pointed at the luminous spheres. “See, it’s working.”

“You’re making a spectacle, not sales.”

I ignored Hruk. Instead, I found an abandoned wooden crate and, after an embarrassing struggle with Hruk, climbed on top of it. Few people gathered around the stall, but quite a few people were now looking at me. I had their attention. Now I needed to keep it.

First, I summoned Sasha. A resonating gasp echoed through the crowd. Fortunately, there weren’t too many gnomes around. Such a spectacle would probably mean nothing to them. Most of the shoppers appeared to be lower to upper-middle-class folk. They had money in their pockets but didn’t think it beneath them to hunt for a bargain. Now, small groups of people peeked out of the mercenary guilds to peek at us, too.

None of my songs would fit the situation. However, I had an altered version of one from a favourite holiday film in mind. People wandered over when I started strumming the melody. Noticing the attention on us, Hruk used the control runes on his gauntlet to have the mana lamp drift up and down, making the blue light shift over us and down the street. Good. I needed him to play along for this work.

“What’s this~? What’s this~?

There are lights everywhere~!

What’s this~? These blue things in the air~!”

As much as I enjoyed Weird Al’s work, I’d never been a fan of parodying someone else’s intellectual property. For one, I didn’t want an army of lawyers coming after me. They’d strip my poor ass naked and then ask for more. Secondly, I took too much pride in my work. Now, Arena Disk has driven me to parody several songs in a life or death situation. Who has time for pride? I’d be lying if I didn’t admit, though, that changing the lyrics on the fly was a lot of fun.

I didn’t remember most of the song. We only put The Nightmare Before Christmas on once a year around the holidays. So, I stuck to the melody but changed the lyrics, only keeping the ‘What’s this?’ consistent.

“Oh, look! What’s this~?

They’re dancing in the air~!”

Hruk shook a refilling flash and little sparks danced off his fingers. When he opened it, the contents sprayed into the air. The droplets dazzled as they caught the glowing spheres’ light. It made the crowd jump, but they wandered closer, enjoying the cool spray. Seeing the audience laugh and gasp sent a shiver down my spine.

Our first customer approached us as soon as I finished my song. “How long does the charge last?” The half-elf asked.

Fortunately, Hruk had given me a brief explanation of all the merchandise we had for sale. “You’ll get up to forty-eight hours of continued use. It will recharge to full in twelve, but anyone with Mana Manipulation can fill it up in no time. My assistant can do a full demonstration for you.”

Brokering Mastery has progressed to Novice Rank 5!

Hruk and the half-elf glanced at one other nervously; I didn’t give either of them the chance to refuse. The hobgoblin started shakily, but found his confidence when showing off the unique elements of his designs. I didn’t wait around to listen. Instead, I played another song. This time, I weaved Life and Mind Mana into the music, hoping it would entice people and leave them feeling warm and comfortable.

Brokering Mastery has progressed to Novice Rank 7!

Once Hruk found his groove, he took every opportunity to show off his other creations. Travellers and sailors jumped on the self-refilling flask. It took a while to get people interested in the hot plate, but once they started selling, our stocks dropped rapidly. Before long, people were flooding out of the mercenary guilds to buy our goods.

Musician Mastery has progressed to Journeyman Rank 6!

More than a few complimented us on our prices. They claimed that gnome-run shops overcharged their customers. Doing so rendered artificer and tinker-made goods inaccessible to regular folk, but that didn’t matter to them, who instead focused on milking as much money out of people as possible.

When things got too busy, I stopped playing and helped Hruk sell. Having to explain the product and how to use it to every single person made the process slow but levelled my Masteries significantly. By day’s end, Hruk unlocked Vending Mastery.

By the time we ran out of merchandise, Brokering Mastery had reached the ninth novice rank. We ended up turning customers away, promising that we’d return once we’d set up a workshop. When customers asked how they’d find us, Hruk told them to look for the halfling singing odd songs.

I looked forward to calculating how much we had made and the size of my cut. Hruk left me to close up shop and took the money to the Banking Guild to make a deposit.

I couldn’t dispute the fact that keeping the amount we had just earned on our persons would be a bad idea.

“Excuse me?” A high-pitched voice called. It was a gnome. She stood with her arms crossed, surrounded by armoured individuals displaying the Seekers’ emblem. “Is this your stall?”

It took me a moment to realise that she was speaking to me. “Yes, it is,” I said. “I’m sorry, Miss, but we’re all out of stock. If everything goes well, we’ll be returning in a week.”

“I don’t want to buy your goods!” Her laugh had a cold and derisive tone; I didn’t care for it one bit. “We want to know what you’re thinking. You can’t sell artificer merchandise in Eldar’s Port without the Artificers or Merchants Guild’s permission.”

“What nonsense are you spouting, lady?” Tired after the rush of sales, I was in no mood for any bullshit. I didn’t know how long Hruk would be, and I hated waiting. Now, I hoped he’d take his sweet time. “I’ve looked at the bylaws. I can’t sell raw aetherite, aether crystals, empowered weapons or armour without the proper permits. Everything else can go from a class-two stall as long as I have the owner’s permission.”

“And do you?”

“I am the owner.'' I said. “This is a free city, is it not? A port and trade city at that. Do the Artificers’ and Merchants’ Guild regulate all the goods coming into the city and their sales.”

“No, but related goods must enter the market through approved stores and vendors—”

“Oh! So you’re saying you want to control what people sell.” I spoke with my voice raised, getting attention from late evening shoppers and the nearby vendors. “Because I’m not a gnome but a lowly halfling. I can’t sell my merchandise?”

“That’s not the case! The Merchants’ Guild has not approved you—”

“But, the structure I’m conducting business out of is legal.” Rifling through a box under the counter, I retrieved a sheaf of papers and held them in front of her face. Her guards stepped up, and even though their armour and glowing gadgets terrified me, I didn’t back down.

The female gnome waved a hand, making them lower their weapons. “You can look through the paperwork. I’m conducting business out of a guild approved installation; the guild’s legalese doesn’t dictate what I can and cannot sell. Just because I sold my products at a reasonable price instead of ripping the good people of the city off, doesn’t mean you can strong-arm me into shutting down my business!”

“You tell that stinking gnome!” a member of the crowd shouted. I still didn’t understand how exactly Facts Begin With Fiction worked, but after listening to me talk and enjoying close to a dozen songs, I imagined the crowd would want to side with me.

“Yeah. Gnomes rule, my ass,” another chimed in. “Your heads look like my wrinkly balls!”

The female gnomes had to calm down her guards as they looked at the crowds threateningly. Instead, she peeked at the cases. “Boys, search and confiscate.”

“You can’t do that!” The man running the stall next to mine cried. “The Seekers are trying to bully a little halfling lad.”

“That’s right, good people,” I said, raising my voice. “This crazy—”

“Don’t call me crazy,” she screeched.

“—gnome is trying to rob me because I don’t agree with her ways,” I continued. “They’re trying to commandeer and control the market. This is a free city, isn’t it? Are you going to let her get away with it?”

While I addressed the crowd, one of her guards had gotten past me. He checked the boxes and every nook and cranny within the stall.

“He wasn’t lying, ma’am,” the armoured gnome said. “He’s sold out.”

“What about his money-box? Confiscate his earnings for incurred losses to the guild.” the leader gritted her teeth as she spoke. Her guards closed in around her as the crowd shouted more insults.

“I just found the one silver.” The bald guard furrowed his purple eyebrows, holding up the coin. “I can’t check his person, ma’am. That’d be going too far.”

The leader’s face turned red. “Let’s go,” she barked, storming away.

“Keep the silver coin, lady,” I projected loud enough for everyone to hear. “It’s been entertaining for us all. You’ve cast a light on the workings of the Seekers and the organisations you and your people run.”

She looked back at me, mouth half-open as if she had something to say. Then the gnome shook her head and marched away.