"You know, Era is my dearest friend, obviously, I've been asking about everything that was happening in the village and I thank you very much for saving her but I'll get straight to the point, who are you?”

“My name is Ran and unfortunately I don't remember r....”

She stood up abruptly and hit the desk with both hands, her face tensed and her eyes hardened:

“ BULLSHIT ! The merchants have one of the best information networks but no one found anything about you before you arrived in Coza, you appeared out of nowhere at the right time to save the villagers, quite a coincidence, right? But even if the others believed it, I don't buy your amnesia story for a single moment, so I'll ask you again... Who are you, and what do you want?!"

Ran didn't expect this outburst, this woman was sharp and obviously cared, he knew in advance that lying wouldn't help.

He took a deep breath and launched himself:

"I love Era and I love this village, it's as simple as that. I do have my own circumstances but it has nothing to do with them”.

“Is that so?” Illa still looked suspicious.

“But even if I say that, you will always have doubts, right? I admit that given the situation I am more than suspicious, but rather than judge who I am or where I come from, judge my actions, doubt, observe me as much as you want and make up your own mind.”

She didn't seem totally convinced, but her muscles relaxed and her face softened a bit.

“All right, I won't look any further into your origins, but make no mistake, I'll keep an eye on you, Mr. Hero.”

Ran nodded. Then a shiver ran down his spine.

Illa was now wearing a cold smile, and she concluded with an almost frightening calm:

"Ah, just one more thing, Era seems to like you so you have my blessing but if you hurt her… Well, unknown origin often means unknown end, is that clear?"

Ran swallowed and nodded again. Were all women in this damn city scary like that ?

"Good ! Well now let's get down to business, what do you want to sell?"

The tension in the room faded as a her tone took a more professional tone.

Ran took out a small wooden box from his inventory, it contained a fine white powder, Illa seemed intrigued but nothing more for the moment.

“Try it and you'll see.”

Illa approached and dipped her index finger in the powder before bringing it to her lips.

“Just a warning, we don’t deal in illicit goods, will that be a problem here ?”

Ran shook his head, while this may very well become addictive it wasn’t like it was banned or anything.

After a bit more hesitation Illa licked her finger.

“Sugar?!” She quickly grabbed the box to examine it closer, rolling the grains between her fingers. “The color and fineness of the grains are superb and there is no trace of impurities! “

She was finally acting like a true merchant, it was refreshing to see her surprised expression.

Illa recovered quickly and put the box back on the desk, she adopted a more serene and monotonous voice not to let her emotions show, then she put on a commercial smile, the negotiations had already started.

“Given your reaction, I suppose you are interested?”

“Indeed, sugar of this quality is quite impressive. But I guess it took a long process to obtain such a result, add to that the transport cost from colonies or the empire sugarcane farms and the price will be all the higher, my company has the necessary contacts to sell it at the best price to the nobles and the bourgeois, what do you say, do you want to do business?”

Her face was indecipherable but radiated confidence, she was surely convinced that Ran could not sell this sugar without her and her connections.

He grinned wickedly.