Severin was very pleased with Xander’s speechlessness.

The guy had been a bit too obnoxious for his taste, and he was now ready to pay him back.

Severin anticipated a reaction of delighted disbelieve, of amazement even, that would get rid of Xander’s conceited attitude. Then he could make some snarky comment himself.

After having obviously been looked down upon, this would’ve been the opportunity to strike back and wipe off Xander’s stupid grin.

From Samuel’s reaction towards the potions and the information he gleaned from subsequent conversations and stories, he had grown very confident in his products and the System’s capabilities overall.

It should have easily been possible to awe some basket-riding punk.

He put a lot of trust in the old man in that regard. He wouldn’t dare make a judgment on his character yet, even though he had a good opinion of him so far. But concerning his experience as an adventurer, he had no doubt at all. He was sure that the [Berserker] knew what he was talking about. And him taking on two mentees and having that huge flying ship only confirmed to Severin that the old man was quite capable and someone who had come around and seen the world. An experienced oldtimer. If someone like that had such a strong reaction to his wares, then that spoke for itself.

But the next moment Xander deviated from the script.

Having overcome his initial shock, his latest customer instead narrowed his eyes and, with an upset expression, turned towards Severin.

“I better hope that is not a fake tooltip!

You should be aware of the consequences. If you dare try to scam me like this, I’ll make sure the Adventurer’s Society will come for your head.” Xander all but poked a finger into Severin’s face while he talked down to him in an accusatory tone.

Severin’s expression, still joyous in anticipation of getting one over on this guy, turned ice-cold, realization dawning on him.

He was indeed aware that the Adventurer’s Society had taken it upon themself to harshly punish everyone who knowingly sold faulty or fake adventurer supplies of any kind.

It made sense, and the conduct was widely accepted.

Expected even, since those matters were closely related to the survival of the customer. Those things were their lifeline. If adventurers couldn’t trust their equipment, it could easily have fatal consequences.

A healing potion that didn’t heal as much as it should.

A supposedly lifesaving scroll that fizzled.

A piece of armor whose defensive stats didn’t add up.

The implications were obvious.

The Society took those matters very seriously, tracking offenders for several years and chasing after them across multiple borders if necessary. Until the perpetrator would have been dealt with.

In one of his stories, Samuel had talked about a case in which a group of criminals sold a handful of somewhat rare class orbs. Claiming they had come across a treasure in a faraway country. While no one actually believed their story of how they supposedly acquired the orbs, their authenticity was never questioned. The forging of orbs was just unheard of at the time.

So, in the end, the orbs were auctioned off, achieving enormous prices.

The ones who would bid these huge sums, mostly nobles, would normally not use the orbs themselves.

They either had an orb chosen for them as a child, or they had gained their class as an inherited trait.

So it took a while until the fraud was exposed.

Only when one of the nobles offered up the orb he had won as a gift did the whole thing blow up.

By then, the group was already gone.

Years later, according to Samuel, the headhunters in service of the Adventurer’s Society had taken down the leader of the group in a coordinated, intercontinental operation.

They not only managed to track down his whereabouts but also the location of the Soul Binding Chamber he had used. So, when the Society finally killed him, there was already another group awaiting him at his respawn location, finishing him off for good.

That in return drew the ire of several churches, as these were usually the ones in control of the Chambers. The Soul Binding service was probably one of their most lucrative sources of income, even with only a few people being able to afford it.

Only now, after being accused like that, did Severin realize that for such things to happen, there must indeed exist a way to forge the tooltips of magic items.

It should have been obvious at the time he heard the story but being around, and thinking about tooltips as something real, was still new to Severin.

Now that he thought about it, he could see the concern and suspicion someone might harbor if they came across a merchant that sold items that were either too good or had completely unheard-of effects.

Especially when the discrepancy between prices and promised effects seemed too large.

Now, if no one even knew that merchant in question, and if he seemed to be hiding in the middle of nowhere on some desolate mountaintop…

‘I guess, in a way, it’s more of a compliment than anything else.

He’s basically saying that the stuff is too good to be real!’

While Severin couldn’t really appreciate Xander’s tone, he had nothing to be afraid of. If anything, the Adventurer’s Society confirming how awesome his products are, sounded like great advertisement to him.

“Guess you’ll have to find out. Are you buying or not? 20 Gold each.

Take it or leave it.”

Severin halted for an instant, thinking back to the shaky basket he had just seen.

“No discounts!”

Xander nearly spat blood.

“Do I look like a beggar to you? Do you think I can’t afford such an amount?”

Severin slightly cocked his head and widened his eyes, giving him the ‘You tell me’ look.

“Fine! Gimme two.” Xander threw over 40 gold coins.

The price tag combined with the low purchase limit somewhat convinced him that it’s unlikely to be a scam. Even if it seemed very suspicious, the profit margins were too low.

Why limit it to 5 at a time?

At this point, he was more annoyed by the shopkeeper than actually being suspicious, even if he still held some doubts. Good things never come easy. Everyone knew this, and adventurers doubly so.

“Do you have a target dummy to test the effect?” If possible, Xander would try to clear things up right here and now.

Magic target dummies to test one’s new skills or items weren’t unheard of. In fact, the demand was rather high since familiarizing oneself with their skills and gear before face a deadly enemy was considered the smart thing to do.

The problem was the supply. Either the things would turn out too fragile to take a good beating so that they were useless for everyone but adventurers, with the lowest levels, or they would cost a small fortune. After all, the materials required to build something that sturdy might as be used to craft some high-level piece of armor.

Therefore, mostly bigger organizations, like high-ranking guilds, or prestigious magic schools, would deploy them.

Or some of the more high-end shops that dealt with gear and scrolls and the like.

Xander thought that the ‘Emporium’ might turn out to fall into this category.

Severin just shook his head, reminding himself to check with the system store in the future.

“Hmm.” The [Duelist] came up with another idea.

“What about monsters? I have seen the destruction outside. There must be something to hunt around here. Looks like two ferocious beasts had a go at each other. Must’ve been quite the fight.” Then he added with a gleam in his eyes, “Or why don’t we have a quick spar, so I can confirm the effects!”

“No monsters here,” a deep voice sounded from behind, putting Xander instantly on edge.

“But if it’s a spar you want, I’d be happy to oblige.”