"That's not it! I'll… I'll notify the owner right now!" Not daring to turn down Gerald's wishes, the attendant quickly ran to announce the later's arrival.
He came back shortly and bowed, "Sir Gerald, master Arthur is expecting you."
The attendant led the way and brought Gerald to the guest room. He stopped at the door and respectfully gestured the other party to enter.
"Master Arthur, hello!" Gerald greeted courteously after walking inside.
"Gerald!" The owner of the Auction House, Arthur Rosecloud, stood up from the table and shook his hand. "What brings you here? Did anything go wrong with the merchant's guild?"
"No, no, everything went fine. I guess should thank you for that," Gerald expressed his sincerity with a warm smile.
Both men made some small talk after sitting down and having a cup of tea.
"Actually, the reason I'm here is to ask for your help…" Gerald eventually brought up the reason why he came.
"Oh?" Arthur lifted his eyebrows curiously, "What is it?"
Presenting a difficult expression on his face, Gerald said, "It's like this… My master left me with a task before he left. I'm supposed to gather as many God's Blood herbs as I can in his absence, but after scouring the entire city, I was unable to locate a single plant…"
"I heard from my master that you helped him procure some of those, and I was wondering if you could give me any advice…" Gerald pleaded with a hopeful gaze.
Arthur frowned, "God's Blood? But even if you get some, it will go bad in a few weeks, a month at most… Do you know what your master needs it for?"
He was trying to probe and get some clues as to what this mysterious master was capable of.
Shaking his head firmly, Gerald spoke, "I don't know… Master has many secrets and even though I'm his apprentice, he doesn't tell me everything. As for the herbs… Master taught me a preservation technique to keep the medicinal essence in good condition for a few years, so it should be no problem gathering them in advance."
"A way to preserve herbs?" Arthur gasped in wonder, "But a far as I know, if you try to dry or bottle up those herbs like any other plant, they will lose most, if not all of its medicinal properties…"
"Hmm, as for the God's Blood… We were lucky last time as a merchant from afar had a few stalks of it by chance. Getting our hands on more of it would take quite a bit of effort, money, and time."
In his mind, Arthur was like, 'Why should I waste my time to help this brat? I already gave him a mansion, and he still wants more? Forget it!'
"Oh," Gerald made a disappointed sound. "That's unfortunate… Master told me that I could use a potion to trade for the herbs. Seems like I will have to find some other way…"
Arthur's eyes lit up after he heard of a possible potion trade, "Wait! What kind of potion are we talking about?"
"Oh, it's something my master come up with, a potion that helps with concentration. It's called Potion of Focus!" Gerald explained swiftly.
"Potion of Focus?" Arthur leaned closer with curiosity. "What does it do?"
Gerald scratched his head, "Well, according to my master, it helps a person concentrate on a task at hand, be it studying, or learning magic, it also removes distracting thoughts and allows a person to work more efficiently."
"Although I'm not quite able to make the potion, my master gave me some when I was learning with him, and the effects were quite amazing. I was able to learn much faster and with greater ease, and master said that it can also help speed up trying to learn new spells and study magic!"
"Hmm…" Arthurs listened to his words attentively and he was amazed by the facts that Gerald was spouting. But then he suddenly remembered what the later said, and so he frowned, "You can't make the potion?"
"That's…correct. But I'm close! In a week at most, I'll be able to produce Potions of Focus!"
Arthur tilted his head sideways and stroked his chin calmly, "Well… I guess I can ask around to see if there are any of God's Blood herbs left. How about this, you make sure to make a few Potion of Focus, and if they are as good as you can say… We can maybe establish a few connections to the far corners of the kingdom and get some of those rare herbs. What do you think?"
Gasp!
"Really?!" Gerald made an elated expression and looked at Arthur like he was looking at a saint. The sheer joy that was coming off of him made the owner of the Auction House feel immensely proud of himself.
'Heh, I promised so little, and yet he is so happy already! This fella probably feels immensely indebted to me. When his master returns he will probably be of great help in establishing friendly connections! I just need to act magnanimous and help him here and there with a few little things and I'll be set!'
At the same time as Arthur was having his moment, Gerald had similar thoughts, 'Hah! Just one little potion and this guy already took the bait! A few more of this and he will be eating from my palm soon enough! Do you think you are cunning? I'm already twenty steps ahead of you, haha…'
Changing expressions and presenting a totally fake personality and reactions was already an almost universal skill in the modern world. Being highly open-minded, Gerald did not shy from those less popular methods, such as deception and manipulation, to achieve his goals.
Especially after so many near-death experiences. He realized that all courtesy was useless before real strength and words carried almost no weight in a fight.
As such, he decided to do whatever it takes, within reason, to achieve his goals. Small lies and trickery were only the mildest of tools at his disposal.
"Thank you, master Arthur! I'll be eternally grateful and I'm sure my master will be happy as well. Then I'll not waste your time any longer and return back home to study. I'll try my best to create the Potion of Focus as soon as possible!"
Arthur chuckled, "You do that. I'll wait for your good news!" He escorted Gerald a short way out and then returned to his room in high spirits.
"Hehe, accepting this task from that mysterious man seems like it's going to be more than worth it! I just need to keep a friendly relationship with this guy, and I'll probably be able to get the recipes soon enough."
Arthur rubbed his hands together in delight. From his experience with master G, he already found out that the latter's potions were some amazing stuff. If he could get a monopoly on something new that every single mage would want, his reputation would soar and he would be widely recognized and respected.
Unfortunately for the young Auction House owner, Gerald was counting on that exact thing.
While he could easily sell the Potions of Focus by himself, and the money he would receive from all rich and influential mage families would be great, it would do him more harm than good in the long run.
He didn't have any connections, so straight up buying God's Blood would be tricky and time-consuming, while at the same time he would be exposed to the public and it wouldn't be long before some jealous people would try to get his hands on the potion recipe.
Lawfully or not.
On the other hand, now the Golden Pouch would take the brunt of the pressure and they would even protect him if anything went wrong.
They would also be the ones that did most of the heavy lifting. Advertisement for the potions, searching for God's Blood, and similar miscellaneous stuff that took a lot of time would be all on them.
In a sense, both Gerald and Arthur were making use of each other, and they both profited at the same time as well. They both felt like they came out on top in this transaction, feeling extremely proud.