The use of money is all the advantage there is in having it. - Benjamin Franklin

The sign said, ‘The Business End’ beneath an artfully painted sword and buckler. The whole facade had an understated neatness to it, almost as if the place was confident that if you knew what you were doing, you would end up there. In he went. It wasn’t the biggest shop with a limited numbers of various things on display but through a doorway behind the counter Hank could see a much larger selection.

Hank walked over to a rack that held four staves. All of them were thicker than the walking stick he had previously used. They were all shod in various metals, but apart from that Hank had little idea about what he was looking at.

“This could be a problem.” He mumbled as he inspected them, receiving a number of variations of the same notification.

Inspect

Item :

Staff

Owner :

Unknown

Size :

Quite Big

Durability :

Good

Attributes :

Unknown

He sighed. “That skill still isn’t giving me anything of actual use”, he thought.

He walked over to the sword rack, perusing the selection, then over to the knife and dagger racks. He picked up a couple of leather jerkins and put them down again, before meandering back to the rack of staves.

“Are you interested in purchasing anything here or are you just trying to make my weapons equally dirty?” A thin gentleman had appeared behind the main counter.

“Buying actually. But I don’t know what I'm looking at so perhaps you can tell me about these staves.” Hank indicated the rack before him.

“Well in that case. All the staves displayed are made from fire-hardened wood. After that there isn’t a similarity between them.”

Hank struggled not to gasp. He still had a window open from the last staff. It changed.

Inspect

Item :

Staff

Owner :

Unknown

Size :

Quite Big

Durability :

Good

Materials :

Fire Hardened Wood

Attributes :

Unknown

This change to the inspection skill intrigued Hank. He wished to know more, so he asked a more probing question. “So why should I pick one over the other or any at all for that matter? None of them have prices and I would want to test them before I made any decision.”

“Well what you want and what you get aren’t always the same thing. Firstly, you use the equipment after you pay for it not before. No ‘testing’. People always break stuff.” This last was said in a decidedly testy tone before the man continued. “Secondly, I price nothing until I know what kind of person you are. Why do you want a staff, anyway?”

“I, rather inconveniently, broke my walking stick a few days ago. After some thought I decided that rather than replace it I should upgrade to a proper staff.” Hank wandered over to the counter.

“Ok so long as you’re not one of those people who thinks they can emulate the vagabond who was involved in that gatehouse incident a few nights ago.”

“Gatehouse incident?” Hank asked.

“As I keep telling all the kids, he mostly caught people unaware, and he almost died. Besides Duke Roger faced off most of the guards, and the thief escaped in the fight. Still, I guess the craziness of someone only level 4 taking on two level 7 thieves appeals to the martially romantic.” The shopkeeper groused.

“Level 5,” Hank mumbled under his breath. Before continuing at a volume the proprietor could hear. “Well I’m not martially romantic if that’s a phrase. I just need a new walking stick and I want one that doesn’t break as easily as the last one. Besides, I took some classes once in the quarterstaff and I have discovered that I am useless with this.” Hank pulled out his sheathed sword laying it on the counter before the man.

He picked it up to examine. “Hmm a Shashka. I haven’t seen one of those in years. Well made. Nice hilt. Very serviceable. I’ll take it off your hands for the right price.”

“And what’s the right price?” Hank grinned.

“3 gohan.” The thin man replied.

“3, its purchase price was 5 and 7. So with the scabbard, at 6 and 4 you have a deal.” Hank responded

“Well you’re having a laugh.” The man’s accent had the faint twang of the confederate states. “8 tsuki short of a suiden is crazy. But I’ll raise my offer to 4 and 2.”

“4 and 4 I’ll consider, if you throw in that staff that looks like it’s made with singwood.”

“The one with singwood is it. My best staff. Shod with a custom steel silver alloy to allow better weighting of the ends. It’s worth 3 gohan alone. It plus 1 and 6 and you have a deal.”

The inspection window changed again.

Inspect

Item :

Shod Singwood staff

Owner :

Unknown

Size :

Quite Big

Durability :

Good

Materials :

Fire Hardened Singwood Haft

Silver Steel Alloy Shodding at both ends

Attributes :

Unknown

“Better weighting of the ends. Pull the other one.” Hank responded. “You and I both realise that silver in the alloy means that they couldn’t refine the zinc additive enough for proper stainless. You also understand that nobody wants anything made from singwood. It’s called singwood because people believe there are voices in the singtrees. The naturists hate anyone who’s ‘killed’ a singtree and the rest of the population thinks they’re possessed. Bet you nobody has put an offer on it in a year.” Hank paused. “The staff and 4 gohan.”

“Your right nobody has made an offer in a year but that looks like changing with this gatehouse incident. In any case, I’m not paying a suiden for your antique blunt sword.” The proprietor replied bluntly.

“And I’m not paying you 3 gohan for your cursed wood staff.” Hank replied in kind.

“If you want something cheap, I have a couple of pine poles we use for tents out back. That will be more inline with your budget.” The proprietor smirked.

“I am sure that the tent pole would be fantastic, as firewood,” Hank said. “I could probably buy a couple from a nursery for a for a fist full of doim. But if we’re going to discuss an actual trade, perhaps we could both return to reality. The sword alone for the staff and 3 gohan.”

The two men stared at each other and then with a smile shopkeeper said. “What are you going to do with the scabbard without the sword? Fine, the staff and 3 gohan for the sword and scabbard.”

Hank put out his hand. “Agreed” and they shook with a smile.

"Haven't been able to shift that staff for 5 years." The shopkeeper said with a smile. “It’s the perfect height for you as well. You’re what? 6’1 and that staff is 8’5. Perfect. And at 3 inches about the perfect thickness for you.” The window changed again

Inspect

Item :

Shod Singwood staff

Owner :

Hank Sternstrider

Size :

8’5” Tall

3” Thick

Durability :

Good

Materials :

Fire Hardened Singwood Haft

Silver steel Alloy Shodding at both ends

Attributes :

Unknown

“My father got that sword gambling one night for 4 gohan.” Hank returned the smile.

They grinned at each other. “Always fun to complete a sharp trade. If you need any other weapons come to me. The name’s Larry.”

“Yes it is.” Hank agreed saying nothing about the change in the results his inspection window was giving him. But when he used it on the other staves, he now saw a lot more useful information.

Inspect

Item :

Shod Wooden staff

Owner :

Larry, proprietor of “The Business End”

Size :

Approx. 8’2” Tall

Approx. 3” Thick

Durability :

Good

Materials :

Fire Hardened unknown wood Haft

Unknown Alloy Shodding at both ends

Attributes :

Unknown

Obviously the skill was connected to what he knew or could reason. It wasn’t some mystical all knowing ability. But, Hank reflected, it good to understand how the skill worked. The more you knew or could infer about things the better your inspection skills where. With relief, Hank realised, It made sense.

There was a blinking icon that Hank opened.

Log (Skills and Techniques)

Haggling has advanced, trading increased by 0.01% where bartering

Sweet Talk has advanced to level 3, persuasion increased by 0.1%

“So Larry, why are you trading with me when others don’t trade with foreigners.”

“Well there’s really two stories.” Larry sighed.

“Firstly, the king arms the most people and so the guild protects its revenue by limiting who can and can’t sell to the king. They do this by promising quality and offering it exclusively to the king. I’m not a member of the guild and I don’t want to be.”

“Perhaps more relevantly, most of my good quality stuff is sourced overseas and not locally. There are lots of bonuses to that, which boil down to better prices. Oh, and I don’t have to deal with that arse of an inspector Franks who has to pass locally made equipment. I still think he’s on the guild pay but what can you do about corruption.”

“And you make enough just selling to people like me?” Hank was curious.

“Yep. The kingdom is becoming less and less friendly to foreigners. I think it’s the prospect of war with Fujiama that’s doing it. At any rate there are plenty of foreigners looking to protect themselves these days. Naturally they end up at my door.” Larry concluded.

“Dad says the same thing. It’s why so many of our rooms are empty at the moment.” Elise had crept in when Hank was focused on his negotiations with Larry.

“So you’re the one who sent the gentleman in. Tell your dad I’ll pop in tonight. But I’m not drinking with Bartholomew again. The last time I did that I couldn’t remember Wednesday.” Larry grinned down at the girl.

“Was that the day before or after you drank with him?” Hank asked

“Yes.” Was the curt response.

“What do you mean, yes?” Elise asked.

“I can’t remember,” the shopkeeper looked rather sheepish.

“Know the feeling.” Hank said rubbing his head still feeling the effect of the night before.

“Anyway, come on Hank, I have errands and the best stuff in the markets will be gone soon.” She started tugging Hank’s arm. “Bye Mister Johnson.”

Hank grabbed his new staff as he was dragged from the store. “Bye Larry”

“Wow. Is that staff made from singwood?” Elise slowed down as they emerged into the street.

“Yes.” Hank took a moment to study it in the sunshine.

“Thought it was. Lots of people say singwood’s possessed but Dad says that that's just superstitious nonsense. Lady Mary says that each tree has its own voice, and it is incredibly evil to cut one down. So, it’s probably cursed.” She concluded. Hank just rolled his eyes before she continued. “Of course, Sir Laurie uses a singwood bow and nobody ever shot as well as he. So maybe it’ll be good fortune for you.”

She changed subject mid stride. “Now I have to run dad’s errands so when we get to the square you go and browse. Keep a firm hand on your money. Don’t buy anything from ‘The Book Place’ or ‘Madge’s Herbs’ they’ll both rip you off. And look out for the red section, those aren’t ladies of the night it’s the assassins’ quarter. Anyway, if we meet in an hour at the big tree, I know the best place to buy seeds in the whole kingdom, maybe the world.”

“Well the entire world might…” What the entire world might do was completely lost as they rounded a corner and the shear bustle and volume hit Hank like a hammer.

Elise pointed to the only tree in the market that Hank could see, a massive sequoia located somewhere off towards the right. And then waved before diving into the massive street densely packed market.

Hank just starred. The line of stalls and stands continued for at least a couple of blocks in each direction. Not that Hank was sure he was in the middle of the sprawling jumble of stalls before of him. Elise disappeared down the only path ahead. It was absolutely packed with people. Looking at the crush of temporary and semi permanent stalls Hank wasn’t sure how he was going to get through, let alone find anything.

“Hey boyo, either move forward or get out of the way. Some of us have places to be and things to do. Things that shouldn’t be delayed by a country hick while he contemplates his navel in the middle of the west entrance.” There was a stern voice behind Hank.

So, with a brief glance at the speaker behind him, Hank gripped his new staff tightly and pushed forward into the teaming throng. The ‘west entrance’ opened into the middle of the textile section. On the left there were merchants haggling over whole bolts of cloth. To the right women were shouting prices at the scarf merchants.

Hank hadn’t gone more than 50 metres into the throng before he felt hands groping for his pockets. He whirled around looking for the pickpocket. Only he couldn’t work out who fit that category. He remembered Elise’s comment to hold on to his money pouch. Yep, he thought to himself, this was going to be some kind of day out.

As Hank continued, the press of people increased and the tracks between the stalls became more defined as one way paths. There seemed to be some kind of rule that if you were standing to the side of the path you were negotiating a purchase. Hank wasn’t interested in cloth so without paying attention he was swept down a left-hand tributary. Unfortunately, it was still the textile district. Though now it seemed to be curtains, draperies, and bed linen.

“How do you know where to go?” Hank yelled at someone in the same surging tide of humanity as he. Rather than reply the man just pointed to a collection of painted carved objects hanging suspended above the path.

There were arrows pointing in various directions with a number of other carved symbols below each one. There were trees, swords, anvils, bananas, books, hats, mugs, shoes, and a host of other things dangling from each of the arrows. Some of the hanging objects seemed self-explanatory such as the book. Others much less so, what on earth are the yellow door symbols for Hank wondered. At the next intersection Hank headed off in the direction pointed by an arrow with book depending from it.

A little while later Hank found himself in a quieter part of the markets. The traffic was more sedate, and some stalls were more built shop than the pitched tents or lean-too of other areas he had walked through. The book range was everything from fiction through to political theory and castle building.

Hank wandered up, and down the rows going into various stalls and asking questions. Finally, he found a small shop run by an older lady and her daughter.

“Can I get books delivered?” It had been a standard question all morning.

“That depends. In Perison we deliver for free. Otherwise we only deliver inside the kingdom and that requires upfront payment.” It was not the answer Hank had been hoping for. But it was the best answer he had received so far.

“And do you source books or only sell what you have in stock?” Another staple of the morning.

“Sourcing books is what we do, but if it’s something specific, there is a fee. You can pay us a monthly retainer to keep an eye out for certain books or books in a category. You can pay us a fee to search the markets and stores of Perison. Or you can pay expenses and labour to find a specific title we haven’t been able to source so far.”

It was the kind of full service that Hank had been hoping to find. “Good.” He started perusing the aisles in earnest, pulling out books as he continued. “So what do I address you both as?”

“Address? You can send all correspondence to the shop, the couriers are aware of who we are. But you can call me Lucinda. Both of my sons are on deliveries before the evening rush starts. And my daughter here looks after the sourcing department.” Lucinda replied.

“And do you trade books?” Hank asked hopefully.

“Do we trade books?” There was a derisive snort from the short stocky lady. “Does the king have a castle?”

“In that case I would like to trade my first edition ‘Marko’s Theories of Military Manoeuvres’ and ‘The High Desert life’ by Lois de Gaff for these.” And Hank dumped a stack of books on the counter.

“Let’s see what you have?” She started rifling through the selection. “Creatures of the northern forests - Nancy Greenleaf. Plant life of the northern forests - Nancy Greenleaf. Fan of Nancy are we?”

“Not really but I’m heading north from here so they looked appropriate.” Hank replied.

“I’m always conflicted about her books. I want to sell them because they’ve been on the shelf far too long. They have solid information about what’s there, but I wouldn’t trust her on what’s dangerous and how to look after yourself.” Lucinda glanced up before returning to the pile.

“Prospecting made easy - Lance McDonald. Build your own house - Bob Katter. Useful herbal remedies - Nancy Greenleaf.” She yanked the last book from the pile.

“Nope, nope.” Raising her voice she addressed a younger lady resolving books down one of the isles. “Sally, I told you to toss that Nancy Greeleaf remedies book.” In a quieter tone she continued to Hank. “I don’t normally like throwing out books, but that naturalist nuance Nancy will kill someone with one of her crazy remedies.” Raisin her voice again she addressed the girl. “Sally get Lenard Williamson’s book. And throw this piece of rubbish out.”

“But mom it’s a signed copy and a collector’s edition.” Sally started tugging a larger tome from a different shelf.

“We’ll talk about it later.” Lucinda grumbled before turning back to Hank’s book pile.

“Drinkable Water Guide by the Perison Sanitation Department.” She looked up at Hank. “Sewers, really?” She retired to the pile. "Successful towns by Lord Byron. New village is it?” She asked.

“Perhaps.” Hank was nervous about telling people he wanted to start a village.

“In that case you should have a copy of ‘From foundations up’ by Castonage and sergeant Buller’s ‘fortifications and logistics’. Sally grab those.” Her daughter added a book to Hank’s pile before scurrying off to fetch the two books mentioned. Lucinda sighed. “Normally I would recommend some additional titles, unfortunately, none of them are in stock.”

As Hank thought about it he realised he would need more books than could comfortably fit in his backpack. Even if he was trading them back once he had finished reading them, He would probably also need to keep a number of them as reference texts. Hank’s mind wandered off as he contemplated libraries and book shelves and he didn’t notice when his quest icon lit up.

He was brought back to the here and now as Sally placed two more books on his pile and Lucinda spoke. “So, after substitutions and additions we’re looking at 10 gohan and 8.”

Hanks eyes glazed over, it was way more than he had budgeted. “That’s a lot more than I hoped.” He said to himself.

Lucinda grumped at that. “Yes, well most of the books you picked were under a gohan but you would have poisoned yourself and built your town in a swamp. If you’re going to be serious about a successful village, you need to stop tsuki pinching and pony up the suiden.” No one would ever accuse Lucinda of not voicing an opinion. “So let’s have a peek at what you’re offering.”

Hank pulled opened his backpack and pulled out a bundle of waterproof skins tightly tied up and put it gently on an empty stool near the counter before undoing it. Five books hid within the skins. Hank pulled out the top two books before hastily flipping the skins back over the top of the others. Trying to hide the three remaining as much as possible.

“Did I see a copy of ‘A Life Pursing Magic’?” Awe coloured Lucinda’s voice.

“That book is 300 pages of imaginary nonsense. Well so people say.” Hank tried to deflect.

“I know, but it was the only book to survive the collapse of old Kay’dence. It’s rumoured to have pictures that move and describe lands that nobody has seen in 500 years. There are only supposed to be four copies. Is that really one? Where did you get it? Can I see it?” She was winding herself up.

“I’m not saying you did or didn’t see, anything. But if it was something of that era what would such a book be worth?” Hank was whispering.

“Well the rumour is that the last copy was bought for 105 suiden. You could feed an army on that.”

Hank could not believe it. And old man Griffiths had just been chucking out his dead son’s library. “Huh. There’s a thought. Anyway, back on track, what are these worth?”

Sally picked up Theories of Military Manoeuvre by Chester Marko whilst Lucinda examined The High Desert Life by Lois de Gaff.

“Ok so where do you get your books?” Sally sounded excited looking at Hanks books.

“Old friend? Why.” Hank asked carefully.

“Because, I’ll buy whatever your friend is selling.” Then turning. “Mum that copy of ‘The High Desert Life’ is practically mint. Of course, ‘Theories’ has seen harder use.”

At this Hank looked a little sheepish. “I like ‘Desert life’ more and so I used ‘Theories’ to protect it.”

Lucinda looked at Hank. “You better hold on to that copy of ‘The High Desert Life.’ It’s worth too much to trade and one day your village might need some quality literature. But do you really have a copy of ‘Pursing Magic’ I don’t even know anyone who has seen a copy. Whatever you do never let anyone learn you have it. If you did the red maidens would be after you.”

Hank looked at the women. He didn’t want to say anything, but they were intently looking at the pile. But the reason it was in the middle wasn’t to keep it safer but because it’s light purple cover was larger than the covers of the two books underneath and he wasn’t telling a soul about those. So, glancing around to make sure nobody was looking, he nodded slightly.

Lucinda looked up and around before nodding to Sally and saying in a loud voice “Well your copy of ‘Theories’ is not in wonderful condition, so I could only give you 11 and 2 for it. Tell you what, you take your stack of books I’ll toss in ‘Directing Water Courses’ by La’Tuse and we’ll call it even.”

Hank was about to open his mouth when Sally quickly approached the front of the store and dropped the front shutters, locked the door and pushed Hank through a small back door into the back room. Lucinda followed a second later with all the books in question. Then she locked the small door they had just gone through and she and Sally rushed around locking all the doors and shutting all the windows.

Hank was getting nervous when. Both ladies sat down at the table in front of him and in unison said. “Can we look at it?” Though Lucinda added, “but next time you won’t get a big discount for a viewing only.”

Deciding that discretion was required Hank decided not to let the lady’s see the other two books. As it was, he was nervous enough about letting the see ‘Pursing Magic’. 105 Suiden, he had negotiated all five for a weeks worth of mucking out the pig stalls from the old man. 105 Suiden, dad’s farm with 20 workers was only worth about 4. He didn’t want to contemplate what the ladies would decide the other two books were worth. Nope that could wait. He carefully pulled ‘Pursuing Magic' out.

The fading spine showed that the book had spent most of its life on a book shelf. But the cover and back were still the light purple colour used by the Kay’dence to cover their high-quality books. The embossed gold lettering hadn’t faded or scratched and the image centred on the cover still showed all the colour of its strange symbol.

There was a quiet whisper from Sally. “Mum, Gavin, and Ross are going to be so jealous.”

“Sally, you don’t mention this, not until the gentleman here has been gone for months. And then you never say who or how you saw it, only that you once saw ‘Pursing Magic’. Otherwise there will be assassins up and down the country looking for it.” Lucinda answered curtly.

“Ok, ok.” She backed down.

Hank turned the book around and opened it to the first page. They couldn’t understand the writing of course, Kay’dence hadn’t been written in 500 years. Nobody understood Kay’dence but for the next 15 minutes there was nothing but the oooh’s and ahh’s of two genuine bibliophiles’ pouring over the pictures and lettering of a book older than countries.