Linkin rubbed his hands together with a smile as he moved from in front of the doorway and said, "I knew I had a good feeling today. It will be a lifetime's worth of fortune if I can walk away with even one insight from Sir Richard."
"Hahaha, I was wrong about you. I thought you were just some common street vendor, but you have an admirable set of eyes and know how to speak properly." Richard said as he lightly pat Linkin's shoulder while he walked into the private room.
"Your kind words are lost on me, Sir Richard. However, I will do my best not to disappoint you." Linkin responded.
'In more ways than one.'
After Richard entered the private room, his entourage followed right behind along with Lovell.
As for Kaela, since she was a part of the Merchant's Guild, it would be improper for her to attend a meeting in a private room. Not to mention, now that Linkin had let Richard into his private room, she had completed her task.
"Then, you will have to excuse us, Miss Assistant," Linkin said as he looked toward Kaela with a friendly smile and closed the door.
Click!
Once the door was closed, Kaela sighed as a small frown appeared on her face. She still felt rather apprehensive leaving a newbie merchant in a room with someone like Richard. That being said, strangely enough, her feeling of apprehension did not stem from her concern about Linkin. Instead, for some reason, Kaela felt that Richard had unknowingly stumbled into the mouth of a beast.
Unlike Richard, blinded by showers of praise, Kaela viewed things through the lens of an outside observer.
The door closing by accident? How absurd. She had worked for the Merchant's Guild long enough to know that no such malfunctions ever occurred. After all, they took the safety and functionality of the private rooms incredibly seriously. There was no way the door would accidentally close on its own.
Of course, Kaela had no intention of stepping forward to reveal this information. In the end, it would only cause a bigger issue to erupt. Furthermore, she understood that it was not her place to interfere in the exchanges between merchants unless they were breaking the rules of the Merchant's Guild and acting too far out of hand.
"That man... Is he really a newbie merchant? Even though it was brief, for a moment, I could have sworn he was giving off the same feeling I get when I'm in the presence of those high-ranking merchants. Not to mention, what was that before he closed the door just now? No... Forget it. I must still be tired from working all day. Besides, how can a newbie merchant possibly give off the same aura as those high-ranking merchants?" Kaela thought to herself as she shook her head and sighed once more.
Kaela walked away from in front of the door and down the hallway as she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. However, no matter how much she tried to write it off as part of her imagination, Kaela could clearly see a certain image in her mind.
Just now, at the exact moment before the door shut, Kaela saw it—a grin unlike any she'd ever happened upon emerged on Linkin's face. A grin that sent chills down her spine.
...
...
...
In the private room that Linkin occupied, including himself, there were a total of seven individuals.
On the left side of the private room sat Richard and the four members of his entourage, consisting of three men and one woman—all of whom appeared to be in their twenties.
On the right side sat across from Richard's group was Lovell. And, it was precisely as Linkin thought—that man was their client.
As for Linkin himself, he had taken a seat at the back end of the table and quietly observed the two sides.
Richard's side was full of eager and hungry gazes ready to devour the prey seated across from them.
On the other hand, Lovell appeared to be completely out of his depth.
Linkin could see the discomfort on Lovell's face and his stiff movements in the costly-looking clothes he donned.
Lovell adjusted the piece of clothing around his neck and cleared his throat in an attempt to shake his nervousness.
As he did so, Linkin took a closer look at him without drawing too much attention to himself.
'He's clearly uncomfortable in formal wear. The muscles on his arms are well-defined. Black soot under his fingernails, taking into account the type of world this is and his physique, it's likely from some kind of manual labor. Thick calluses on the palm of his left hand and a lighter variation on his right palm, meaning he's probably left-handed and uses a repetitive procedure that requires clenching an object for extended periods of time. The front portion of his face is a shade darker than the skin going back from behind his ears. There are also small wounds on parts of his arms and hands that are consistent with thermal burns. With this, it's safe to conclude that he works around fire on a daily basis. Sturdy physique, manual labor, calluses on his palms from clenching an object, fire... If I'm not mistaken, this man is probably a blacksmith.'