Once in the city, he took the disguise of a different human and returned to sell the items he had purchased and no longer needed. He did better than he expected. The daggers sold for almost what he paid for them. The armour was not as good, and the shields were even worse. What prevented him from seeing a loss was that the gear was all brand new, at maximum Durability. The jewelry didn't sell for nearly as much as he paid for it. The people who offered to buy them from him, thought he was a thief and gave him a worse deal than he deserved, were hard-pressed to do better. Finally, Rocko suggested he go for a trade, which netted a much better response and return on value. James discovered that the jeweller he was interacting with had a few Enchanted items through this transaction. James bought them all. The Jeweler didn't have many, and most were common or uncommon, but James bought forty enchanted rings, bracelets, brooches, earrings, pins, hairpieces and things he didn't know. In the end, James was given a discount because of the volume, and they told him to return it in a week.

James frowned; a week was too long. He was going to need a more significant supplier. James remembered a city near Milgarden and wondered how it would be for supplying gems. James didn't want to go there because they had recently killed two Champions, and he didn't want to be a third. The other option would be to go to one of the cities he had learned about.

Looking at the collection of Enchanted items he had collected, he decided to swap out the two rings for something better. The Ring of Poison Resistance and the Ring of Fire Resistance were both good items to have, but he opted to replace them with a Ring of Intelligence +5 and a Ring of Strength +5. Rocko explained that the Attribute would not level up as quickly because they were considered 5 levels higher than they really were, but the trade off would be invaluable. He was tempted by one of the rings he purchases was a Ring of Experience. It increased experience gain by 2%. Over a life time, he could see the value in it. But over the span of a year, he wasn't convinced.

"You know you will have to do it eventually," Rocko pestered him. Rocko had been trying to convince him to go after his fellow Champions. James hated the idea.

James tugged on the call cord. "I can deal with trouble when it finds me, but I don't have to look for it."

When Jones arrived in his room, James asked for a meeting with Ferdinand. But instead of asking for Ferdinand by name, he asked to speak with the guild master. This conveyed to Jones that this was business and not pleasure.

Once James had changed, Jones, along with another guard James didn't know, led him to a different part of the house. Once there, James was asked to wait. This reminded James of the first time he visited the place. The second door in the waiting room opened, and a young woman introduced herself as Celest, the assistant to the guild master, and she would escort James to his office.

When James arrived, it reminded him of being called to the carpet. When James arrived in front of the desk, the guild master looked up and smiled.

"Please have a seat. Would you like something to drink," he said, waving his hand to an empty seat.

"Sure," James said non committedly. "Whatever you're having."

The guild master chuckled, "Thank you, Celest, that will be all. Please see that we are not disturbed."

No one spoke until Celest had left the room. "Are you okay?" Ferdinand asked.

James looked up with a start, "What? Oh, yes, I am fine. Just have a problem and was told you would be the best person to help with it."

"And still you hesitate," Ferdinand said, "Am I so distrustful?"

James got up from the chair and started to pace behind it, "No, it is not that."

"Then?" the guild master urged him to continue.

"You have done a great deal for me already. And I don't want you to think that I am ungrateful for what you have done." James paused, then sighed, "I am in over my head here. I am an operator. I specialize in dealing with conflict resolution if you know what I mean." The guild master chuckled and nodded his head. James continued, "I am not a merchant, and I am not a salesman and to be honest, I don't have time to be anything other than a Champion."

"You wish for me to take something off your plate?" Ferdinand asked.

"Yes. I have brokered a deal with a Dungeon Core. One that should garner a profit of about five hundred to a thousand gold a day." James stated. He might have been aggerating the profit margin, but he hoped by an acceptable amount.

"That is... something," Ferdinand said. Getting up, he limped around the desk and pointed to a soft seat in the sitting area of the office. "Let me pour us a drink, and you can tell me the story."

James did just that. Rocko didn't object to the full disclosure and even helped by reminding James of details he forgot. In the end, the Guild master only asked a few follow-up questions to clarify the details. Rocko had to inform James that the Dungeon was near the city of Bristol and that the gold could be in any coin of the realm.

"I want to help you, James, but I am unsure if I can. Bristol is more than a month away. How you get there and back in a day is a wonder. That is not in my territory, which means I would have to sell this to someone else. That means less profit for you." Ferdinand explained.

"How long would it take to set up the operation if you were to do it?" James asked.

"At least two months. Not only would I have to get there, but I would have to arrange for the transport of goods, a distribution system and a steady supply of Enchanted items. And if the local guild found out about it. It could turn into a blood bath." Ferdinand stated.

"James, if you set up another Astral Anchor, you could just have to transport the goods once a day. Or once every two days if necessary. Or alternate between the two. See if he can supply you with the Enchanted items here and distribute the items brought back. Armour, weapons, gems, jewels, whatever he needs." Rocko offered.

James passed the offer to the guild master.

"Poisons?" he asked. "Could you have the Dungeon make poisons and antidotes?"

James nodded, "So long as they were considered Common or Uncommon."

A flicker of irritation flashed across the guild master's face, "It is the rare poisons with the most value. But still, it is workable. As for getting rid of the gear you provide, that is possible. Honestly, you may have to make a few deliveries, but not many."

"What do you mean, deliveries?" James asked.

"If we collect a thousand steel swords, I could sell them to a kingdom with a growing army, mind you, they would prefer iron swords on the cheap. Either way, I am certain I can find a market for most of the items you produce, but you will need to diversify. I may also have you drop off the items at a different warehouse in a different city and then on a different continent. We would need to spread out the operation so that we don't flood a single market." Ferdinand mused.

"Please remember that I am handing this project off because I don't have time to be running around. I need to be focusing on being a Champion." James corrected.

"I will arrange that you don't change warehouse locations more than once a month. That should help reduce occupying your time. I will keep a ledger of your funds so that you can pick up your money as you need it. I will keep it in gold so that you can utilize it as you need," Ferdinand offered.

"Thank you," James said, getting up from his chair.

"What do you plan on doing about the other Champions in the city?" Ferdinand asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Two Champions arrived in the city yesterday. The city started hunting them this morning after the announcement. If you catch them, it would mean a lot of experience for you." he explained.

James shook his head, "If they come after me, I will put them down or try to. But I am not going to start hunting them."

Ferdinand shrugged, "My sources tell me you need to get into the top 500 to survive. I suppose you can let others do the work for you, but if there is something to gain for doing the inevitable, then why not grasp it?"

James was silent, "Because I don't want to be that person. Someone who sells out their friends for money. Or anybody else, for that matter. It puts a price on the life of another, and I don't feel right cashing in on something like that."

Ferdinand chuckled, "You know who you are speaking to, right? Everyone has a price."

"Even you?" James asked.

"Especially me. My price just happens to be higher than most," he laughed again. "Don't be too surprised. I value loyal friends. Someone who will take a poisoned dagger to the gut is a valuable friend indeed."

"In all fairness, I didn't know it was poisoned." James frowned.

Ferdinand took the glass from James' hand, "No, I suppose you didn't. I will speak to some people and make sure that we can accommodate your request, but I think we can do that for you. We will give you 40% of the profits and move your goods."

James's turn to laugh, "I don't think so, old man. I get 80%. Since I was the one who brokered the deal, I am the one ferrying the good around the world, and I am the one with the Dungeon core as a friend."

Ferdinand tisked with his tongue, "You young bucks think you have life by the balls. 50%, and not a penny more. I will be fencing all your goods, moving thousands of gold worth of weapons, armour and jewelry around. On top of that, I will be drawing a lot of attention to myself by buying a thousand gold worth of Enchantments a day. Did I mention each day!"

James sighed, helping Ferdinand to his office chair, "I thought you were an assassin, not a thief. Your company should be moving thousands of gold a day as it is. 70%, and you pay for any bribes and taxes that need paying. This is a drop in the bucket for you."

Ferdinand sat with a sigh and rubbed his hip, "It is a drop in the bucket, but you will be having me move pawn-store junk. 60%, and if you want more, you need to get me gems worth a few hundred gold, and we will be able to move those with great regularity."

James headed to the door, "65%, even if I got you gems worth that much, you can't move them every day. At least with the smaller items, you have a larger market. This will allow you to spread your wings and finally do some honest work."

Ferdinand growled, "Fine!"

James smiled as he closed the door, "Fine!"

When James was gone, Ferdinand stopped smiling. Pulling a piece of parchment from a drawer, he dipped his quill in some ink and began to write.