We all sat down to eat venison with a side of an earth vegetable that very much resembled a potato but was a lot larger and green when ripe. Tom was on a break and transitioning from workout in the courtyard to patrol. Kate just finished her stint in the healing tent and will be going to the Healing Union. Apparently the guard had worked out a deal for their trainees to learn the basics there. I didn’t know about Alana and Judy’s plans yet.

“This is very good, you managed to make this with just what you found here?” Kate exclaimed after taking a bite. Her tail was swishing gently behind her.

“Yeah, I had a bit of time after I butchered it so I took my time prepping it.” I said.

“What’s your plan for the rest of the day?” Judy asked me.

“I was thinking of exploring the town, at least before nightfall. I read that book on vampires Tom told me about and I am not taking chances with a level 70 one around here.” I said.

“LEVEL WHAT?!” Judy exploded

“Well that explains why you were so insistent on escorting us yesterday” Judy said more calmly, but her face betrayed her surprise at the news.

“Yeah, we are informing people that a vampire is suspected to have entered the city, we will be keeping quiet about its level, and don't want to cause a panic.” Tom said, the implication that we shouldn’t spread the level around clear.

The more I thought about this the stranger it seemed, why would a commander offer up that information to me in the street but keep it from the general public. This was clearly some sort of test. My only question was, am I the one being tested?. Or was I just being paranoid and he was testing Tom for possible recruiting.

“Tom, do you think the commander telling us about the level yesterday is some sort of test?” I asked, I was done being so paranoid with my family.

“What do you mean?” he said surprised, the others looking at me intrigued.

“The last thing he added on yesterday was the level, I am pretty sure he did it as a test” I explained my theory “ I am just not sure if its a test meant for me, since I scanned him, or for you since you are trying to join his squad after you’re done as a trainee.”

“It definitely sounds like a test,” Alana said as she frowned.

“It’s most likely for Tom” Kate said “ I’ve healed a part of his squad before, while they are tight lipped with us healers, they are less so with their own squad mates. Having enhanced hearing I picked up a few things. His team seems to be kept in the loop on more things than they should so he is probably testing his ability to keep relevant information to himself as well as convince others to do so as well.”

“Well that’s good, since this doesn’t seem to be centered on you, and you had the day free, how about joining us for the rest of the day.” Judy said looking at me “you’ll get to see how we do business in the city and may even unload your own wares at a good price while we’re at it.”

After we finished eating Judy and Alana dragged me with them while Tom and Kate prepped the rest of the meat for storage before heading to their next assignment.

“Just so you know, both me and Alana have a contract in place with our organization. A part of that contract is that we can’t lie, having you with us might be a bit suspicious but you can answer some questions and lie to cover.” Judy said, clearly the herbs cause a bigger stir than I thought

We collected all of our merchandise without any issues from the warehouse and headed off to a different part of the city to sell them. The people we were selling them to were connections to bigger cities that paid a good premium but still part of the same organization. This was a win-win as we got good prices and the organization managed to keep items in stock in a high demand market.

Most of the things they were selling off were parts of monsters that showed up at any of the villages on route to the city. Since the Caravan only came once every two months and most parts like bones and teeth had no use in a village, they had a few. That, along with anything else they picked up that they thought would have a better market in a bigger busier city.

I was mostly ignored as part of the group. Despite my impressive size, I kept my beard well trimmed, this showed off my young features and most of the merchants ignored me or filed me as a new apprentice learning the ropes. My curious looks and small questions on everything that was selling couldn’t have hurt their presumptions.

As we were approaching the herbs trader my sister whispered to me.

“You mind letting us handle this one. You will get a bit of a better deal with us negotiating and it will take a bit of the suspicion off you having mana?”

There seemed to be no downsides, also knowing the real value of the plants will likely help me understand prices of anything I wanted to buy that used them as ingredients. I was definitely going to be selling most of anything that I sold through my sister as I grew up so letting her deal with it early was a good first step.

“Yeah, sure, since you both already know I thought it might just be better to do all my deals through you. It will not only get me a better price but also help you with some rarer goods.” I said. “So long as my identity is hidden.”

Judy just smiled and nodded at that then proceeded to step forward and start laying down all the plants I grew in the past 6 months for inspection. While the trader was examining them I could see his eyes growing wider and his eyebrows rising higher. This let me know that I was about to make out with a lot of money.

Judy and Alana seemed to have both grown quite a bit, and if I was not mistaken they must have had some sort of skill that let them cooperate to grow the price further as they negotiated it as a team rather. In the end I ended up making close to 15 times my normal asking price.

This made me a bit sad, thinking about all the money I lost in the previous years. Then again those were all sold to a merchant who just unloaded them all for a profit two villages down the road so that at least didn’t blow my cover as a mana user. I would have to take this precaution if I was dealing in anything I infused with mana in the future, so it was a price I was… well not happy but certainly willing to pay.

As we turned to walk, I was happy that all went well, I didn’t notice somebody approaching us. He was very well dressed, with a sharp look in his eyes and a business smile plastered on his face.

“Judy, Alana, is this the mysterious merchant friend of yours? Or perhaps is he the mana farmer that grew these plants?” he asked, while the words seemed polite his tone suggested that he was looking for any weakness.

I was more than prepared for the first question. Knowing that they couldn’t lie, and that their fast growth in the organization gained them some enemies, they prepared me for this. His second question took me by surprise and it was all I could do to not let it show on my face.

While my sister seemed to have the same reaction to the questions Alana started giggling a little.

“Jeffrey, meet Ajax. Ajax is Judy's brother.” She didn’t even miss a beat as she answered.

“Oh, to have someone so talented in your own family.” he continued prodding for information.

“Ajax here is a hunter, he’s visiting his brother Tom and decided to join us for today while Tom is on patrol.” Alana said.

This quickly brought a frown on Jeffrey’s face and he excused himself as he beat a hastily retreat.

“Thanks for that.” I whispered to Alana.

She gave me a wide smile and said “ No worries”.

The rest of the afternoon I got to watch them in action going from stall to stall looking for opportunities. I quickly picked up a pattern, a pattern that the earlier conversation heavily supported. While they were both good at haggling, and even played off one another to get a better deal, they each had their own roles.

Judy was the talent, she was great at identifying undervalued or odd items. Sometimes even just getting a feeling and landing in front of something somewhat valuable. Alana was the brains, she was quick on the uptake and made connections I didn’t even see until she pointed them out.

This trip was an eye opener and I started looking at Alana very differently. As we returned to Tom’s place I decided to make them an offer.

“Do you two think you can handle anything else I might want to sell?”

Judy quickly threw a quick glance at Alana, clearly she was on board with the idea but didn’t want to volunteer her friend for free work.

“Sure, with your skills you’re bound to come up with some interesting stuff now and then, just moving it is bound to get us some better connections.” Alana said.

After we had dinner I headed upstairs feeling quite restless. A full day of not using mana felt odd after years of daily practice. I was looking forward to tomorrow, even if it was just cleaning the courtyard I was going to be able to examine all sorts of different magic.