The receptionist looks through a stack of papers as she greets the next customer.

[Good eve-ning, are you looking for a specific associate to help you or would you prefer to work with the first one available.]

Despite the customers abnormal appearance giving her an unexpected shock upon lifting her head, she continues on unfazed. Seeing her catch herself and maintain a perfect business smile Jellal gives a stamp of approval to merchant association. If the receptionist couldn’t act normal under these unusual circumstances he’d be forced to question whether their reputation was natural or if they had been influencing things from behind the scenes.

[I’ll go with the first one available. I was wondering what the requirements are to join the merchant association and if it’s possible for non-merchants to join.]

[There are several requirements to meet if you want to join as a merchant. We have a reputation to uphold after all. As far as non-merchants, they only need to pay a yearly membership fee to enjoy the benefits membership entails. If you wish to learn more I would suggest making a stop by the far left window. They’ll answer any questions you may have.]

‘I don’t know how often I’ll be stopping by this place so it’s hard to say if it’ll be worth investing. Then again I still have a ton of items left in the treasure room so I’ll definitely stop by a few more times. After that I probably won’t put it to much use though. The only reason I’d have to visit is if I collect too much junk that isn’t useful to me, which is unlikely to occur for a long time if I don’t run into more bandits.’

After a few short minutes of waiting he was ushered through a door leading beyond the counters. An assistant was assigned to lead him to a private room. Walking through the long corridor he paid attention to the intermittently spaced doors on either side of the hallway. He found it safe to assume they’re mostly offices private rooms like the one he’s heading to.

Passing by twenty doors in total he finally reaches his destination near the end of the hall. With a hallway for each front counter and over twenty rooms in each hallway the building seems to be made for dealing with as many customers as possible. The size of the building makes it obvious there are at least two floors, showing the scope of their organization.

The specs of the association leaves Jellal impressed. To have a line despite being set up for large scale business shows how many people pass through here on a daily basis, lending credence to their reputation.

The small private room Jellal’s taken to is furnished with a single table and a pair of chairs. The lack of decorum and small size screams “make it quick, time is money”. The no nonsense approach to the private rooms shows their nature as businessmen causing Jellal to nod in approval.

He plops down in a chair as the assistant backs out of the room, closing the door behind her. He taps his fingers on the desk while waiting for his new business partner to arrive. He doesn’t have to wait long as a tall man with gray hair and a beard reaching his bellybutton stiffly walks through the door while holding his hands behind his back. Jellal immediately disregards the man’s refined entrance and appearance as he’s distracted with his own thoughts.

‘This old man’s really going out of his way to look dignified. Did he bring an assistant with him just to open the door so he can walk in like that? Well played! He’s definitely a man who knows the importance of style. Looks like I got a good draw in the associate lottery.’

Setting his eyes on the mask wearing anomaly sitting at the table the old man pulled up the chair opposite. Judging the customer by their clothes, he tries to urge things to finish as quickly as possible.

[We’re very busy today so I hope you won’t beat around the bush and state your business clearly and upfront so we can finish this as quickly as possible.]

[Good, just the way I like it. First off I have a bunch of junk to sell. Next I’d like you to help me find some nice new clothes. Due to various circumstances the ones I’m wearing are the only suitable ones I have at the moment. Lastly I’d like to discuss potentially becoming a member.]

[If you want to make a large scale delivery we have warehouses in the back. What items we’ll buy and for how much will be determined after we carefully inspect the products.

With regards to membership, the cost is twenty gold annually. You’ll get fast tracked so you don’t have to wait in line and we also give our members first crack at the mismatched items that come in. Affiliated merchant have first dibs on sets and batches, but you can also bid for any leftovers. Other than that you can ask us to keep our eyes out for specific items, and reserve them in advance.

As for your clothes, I would need a bit more information before I can give any suggestions. What kind of price range you’re working with. Do you have any specific requirements for fabrics or properties? Do you want custom or ready-made?]

[For clothes the most important thing is that they look good and are comfortable. My price range isn’t as important as the value of the clothes. Even if I had a million gold I wouldn’t allow myself to be blatantly ripped off. That being said, if it’s worth the price then I’ll pay it, be it one gold or a thousand.

Now that I think about it I also need to find someone to custom make a belt and scabbard for me. I would also ask you to find someone suitable to finish the task quickly. The same goes with the clothes, if they can make it custom in a short amount of time while retaining the quality I’d prefer custom made. If they can’t, I’d prefer not to waste time and will have to ask for premade instead.

When it comes to the membership fee we can figure it out after I sell my items.]

[Then shall we set up an appointment for you at one of the warehouses. You’ll need a permit to allow a carriage to pass through the gates out back. We can fill out the forms now if you’d wish.]

[If possible I’d like to sell right now. There’s no need to bring any carriages through either. As long as you can get someone to inspect the products I can bring them over at any time. The items used to be part of a bandits’ stash so they’re varied if that information helps in any way.]

[We should have some people free to inspect items at the moment if you can really do it right now.]

[Lead the way.]

Standing up Jellal waited for the old man to stop stroking his beard. Walking over to the door the old man gave it a knock with his knuckles before placing his hands behind his back in a dignified manner. The assistant opened the door allowing them to leave before closing the door behind them. Walking through the hall they continued their discussion where they left off.

[I have a few tailors in mind that could make your clothes overnight if that suits you. Of course the rush job will cost a little extra and you’ll still need to buy something to wear in the meantime. I also have an old acquaintance who works leather for a living that can make the other things you wanted; if you can convince him to do it that is. His shop is next to one of the tailors so I would give that one the first look if I was you. They’re just down the street so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding them. Just look for the first building with a sign shaped like a t-shirt. That’s the tailor and the leather worker is the next building past it if you keep going.]

[Since we’ve been too busy doing business you haven’t introduced yourself yet. There’s still more useless stuff from the bandits’ hideout I can’t use so I’ll ask for you when I come back with it.]

[The name’s Isaac. There’s another guy with the same name here so be sure to ask for old Isaac if you’re looking for me.]

Exiting through the back door walked over to the closest of the five warehouses. To keep out intruders the entire property is fenced in with guards constantly patrolling. The warehouses are also kept locked by double locks, requiring two people to unlock them.

Jellal waits at the door under the watchful eyes of the guards while Isaac and the assistant run back inside to get the keys and inspector. While they’re away at least one guard team always hovers around his location as the others continue their rounds.

It doesn’t take long for Isaac to return with extra hands in tow. Seeing Jellal stand there without any carriages they look at him suspiciously but keep their mouths closed. Isaac and another elderly man stand in front of the locks and insert their respective keys at the same time. They turn them at almost the exact same time before giving the large double doors a solid tug.

When the doors don’t budge they’re left scratching their heads in embarrassment as they take out their keys to try again. Three failed attempts later and Jellal gives up on them getting him through the doors. Walking over to the old man with the key he sticks his hand out, palm up. Waving his fingers he gestures for the elderly man to hand over the key.

The old man frowns before glaring at Isaac, only to get a nonchalant shrug in return. Snorting in displeasure he begrudgingly hands over the key while mocking Jellal inwardly. To open the lock both keys have to be turned in a specific way or the door won’t open. Even the tiniest mistake will cause it to stay locked leading to seasoned workers that’ve done this job for years taking multiple tries to get in, much less so random schmuck off the street. Naturally, it’s impossible for him to know Jellal’s able to see the inside of the lock with his mana, revealing all its secrets.

Jellal stands in front of the lock and waits for Isaac to start unlocking the door. He starts doing the same a fraction of a second after Isaac. The speed he turns the key is slightly faster as well leading to him finish fully turning the key an instant before Isaac.

Knowing the door’s been unlocked he pulls it so it’s cracked open and then hands the key back to the old man. Clenching his teeth the elderly man unhappily accepts with a red face. Letting the others open the door for him, Jellal waits for them to tell him where to dump his items.

They walk over to the empty front right corner. With his spot picked out he begins unloading the useless junk he’s collected. He piles up boxes of merchandise, swords, armor, clothes, and just about anything a merchant might take on the road. Of course the things he thought might have even the tiniest use were left in the cave for his personal use.

The people from the association are slightly surprised to come across someone with an item bag at first. That soon turned into shock as the items seemed to never end, going beyond what any single bag should be able to hold.

When he finishes unloading, Jellal takes a step back and nods. Taking the cue, the staff gets to work inspecting the small mountain of items. Not one to stand around, Jellal pulls up a chair and snacks on a type of paralysis inducing berry. The taste of the berry may be average, but the tingling sensation it causes on his tongue puts it near the top of his most interesting berries to eat list.

Occasionally the group would come together while staring at particular items while glancing back at Jellal casually sitting nearby. Although unintentional, Jellal listened in on their conversation and was able to understand the main points.

Apparently they were able to find items that had been robbed from merchants they know. This naturally cast a shadow of suspicion over the masked person who brought them in. unsure what to do they had an assistant run to get the current leader of this city’s branch the association.

With how busy things get they can’t be sure how long it’ll take for the leader to make it over, so in the meantime they continue their inspection of the items. By the time they finished the leader had yet to make it over, leaving them in an awkward position.

[Is it okay if we notify the original owners of their products reappearances? If you really took down the bandits that robbed them I’m sure they’d love to meet you.]

[I don’t care what you do with them after you buy them. Just don’t forget about customer confidentiality. If you do, the best case scenario is losing a customer and whoever has the loose tongue. Worst case, we’ll see how fast I can make a loose tongued individual, a building, and five warehouses disappear along with anyone that has the gall to stand in the way. I’d put my money on under a minute personally, kekeke.]

All the staff present made a mental note to watch what they say around questionable people in the future. The less than accommodating response also stoked many of their suspicions about his identity. Most of them believed he was involved with the bandits responsible for robbing merchants in the area, if not having direct involvement himself.

His temperament also left them in a dilemma. They would usually pay a small fraction of the cost for any items under suspicion of being stolen. With the customer claiming to have gotten all of the present items from a bandits’ den they can either take it as him rightfully taking possession of the items from the bandits or as potentially stolen items.

It’s already well known they don’t pay full price for items since they buy and resell constantly. They have to make money and the merchants that buy from them have to make money so the price is effectively cut enough for the two parties to profit. It’s already questionable how it’ll be taken if they pay their regular prices much less what they’d pay if they considered the items potentially stolen.

Just as their brains were frying from worry three figures walked into the warehouse. At the front of the group was a pair of black haired women with extremely similar features, with the main difference between the two being which eye their beauty mark is under. The assistant that went to get the association leader trailed behind meekly as the final member of the group.

The woman with the beauty mark under her right eye walked slightly ahead of the other as they approach the staff members. The staff keep their voices as quiet as possible as they explain the situation to the women. The front most woman steps in front of Jellal and extends her right hand.

[Nice to meet you, I’m Violet, current leader of the merchant association. From what I hear you claim to have gotten these goods from a bandits’ den, is that correct?]

Jellal lightly shakes the hand, while Violet intensely squeezes his as if trying to ascertain something. Releasing her hand he immediately cut the pleasantries and got to business.

[Do you enjoy asking questions you already know the answer to? I have other things to do while I’m in the city so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t waste my time beating around the bush.]

[Since the items were last known to be in the possession of bandits we can’t pay our normal price for them. If we did that it would be the same as encouraging people to commit crimes. Of course, if you can prove you killed the bandits that won’t be an issue.]

[And how exactly would I do that? Should I start carrying around human heads as evidence of the people I’ve killed? I know, you must have a list of every bandits clothing and weapons so people can bring you that instead.]

[As long as you have a reputable source check the bodies it should be fine. Alternatively if you’re someone well known with an exemplary reputation it wouldn’t be a problem to give you the benefit of the doubt.]

[Unfortunately I’ve already incinerated the bodies. Also, since this is my first time visiting Pavise I’m unable to rely on my reputation.]

[That truly is unfortunate. If you wish to sell we can give you a tenth the normal price at most, otherwise you’ll have to look elsewhere.]

[I may consider the things I brought as junk, but it’s my junk and I won’t allow myself to be cheated just to get rid of it. Since we won’t be doing business I guess I’ll have to look for another business partner.]

Shaking his head he starts packing the pile of items back into his bag. Some of the staff looked as if they wanted to say something but remained silent after getting a stern look from their leader.

After everything in the pile is put away he walks slowly over to one of the staff members. Reaching his hand out, palm facing up, he gestures for the young man to hand something over. The rest of the staff stares on in confusion, unable to make heads or tails of the situation.

[You’ve got three seconds. Three, two …]

[I have no idea what you’re talking about.]

[One …]

The young man takes a step back while feigning ignorance, before making a run for it.

[Zero!]