"Can I see those samples" Fawks said
Kotori had Umi pulled out a few small sacks of the flour made from the magic wheat from her bag.
She gave Fawks a few sacks.
Fawks open one of the sacks and grabbed a pinch of flour. He rubbed the flour in between his fingers
He looked at it quite intensely before finally speaking
"Seems good enough… I'll buy it, how much do you got?" he said.
"We have several thousand bushels that can be transported over a couple of days." Kotori said
"Sure, I'll pay for it at the normal market price" It seems like Fawks was treating this like a normal transaction
"I don't want payment in gold. I want payment in wheat three times the amount of wheat we are selling you" Kotori said
Fawks furrowed his brown
"That doesn't make sense for me to give you three times the product you want to sell me." He said
Kotori pointed to the flour in Fawks hand.
"That isn't normal flour, it's flour made from magical wheat. It has three times the nutrition of normal flour" she explained.
"Magic flour?" Fawks said his eyebrows raising. It seemed like he had never heard of the concept.
"Yes, it is exactly like I said. The flour has more nutrition than normal flour and tastes better." Kotori explained.
"Hmm, if that were true than I wouldn't have much issue selling you the wheat…" Fawks started saying
"How do I know you aren't selling me snake oil" he said giving them an suspicious look.
"You can have that bag, make some bread from it then you will see." Kotori said.
"So, you don't mind me taking this?" Fawks asked
"Of course, go ahead" Kotori happily agreed.
Free samples were how you got someone hooked on a product after all, she would be happy to part ways with a few small bags of flour if it meant she could get rid of all the magic flour she had.
"Just one more thing" Kotori said
"Yes?" Fawks said
"You can't sell it to anybody from the kingdom" Kotori said.
Fawks chuckled
"I didn't have any intention of doing so! You must be new around here. Do you know where I'm from?" He said
Kotori shook her head.
"I come from Eris, a country across the sea. All we have are deserts and gold mines, everybody here knows that Eris merchants will buy every scrap of food"
Fawk entered a thoughtful pose.
"A magic wheat, huh," He said talking to himself
He looked up at Kotori
"Are you sure you don't want more? If this wheat is as good as you say you could be selling it for much more" He said
Despite having a sleezy sort of attitude Fawks was surprisingly nice. He wasn't going to just try and scam Kotori and wanted to make sure she was getting a fair deal. Thus, Kotori didn't try to use [Charm] on Fawks it would be troublesome if he was charmed and then got mad at her once the charm wore off.
"Should you be telling me this?" Kotori said suspiciously
Fawks laughed
"Surprisingly perceptive are you!"
The reason Fawks wasn't trying to scam Kotori was simple. He wanted her to sell to him again. If he gave her a fair deal, she would likely come back to him to sell this wheat. Fawks could see the wheat being extremely profitable.
Since the country of Eris was all desert they couldn't grow much and thus they had to import much of their food.
Magic wheat that had triple the nutrition content of normal wheat would mean that Fawks could transport essentially three times the amount of wheat on a single ship! Not only that, Fawks could sell the wheat for more than just three times the price on account of the value that was added by the wheat being so transportable. All in all, the wheat could probably sell for 5-6 times the normal price of wheat.
Kotori selling it to him for triple the amount she was giving him in normal wheat. This meant she was only selling the wheat for three times its normal price. It would be a little difficult to procure so much wheat in return but Fawks could do it if he had too.
If it turned out the wheat was as good as Kotori said it was it would an extremely profitable endeavor. So Fawks was willing to sacrifice a little.
Kotori felt lucky that the merchant she was talking too was foreign and thus didn't have much attachment to the kingdom itself.
"We want to get rid of this wheat to be honest…" Kotori said truthfully, there was no point lying to Fawks about this fact. As long as both of them knew the value of the wheat Fawks couldn't lower the price that Kotori had just offered him. She was already giving him a good deal anyway so there was no reason to try and cheat her either.
"I see…" Fawks said
He thought for a moment.
"Can you give me a couple of days?" I'll have the receptionist prepare some rooms for you as my guests." Fawks said
Apparently, you needed an invitation to stay in the merchant's quarters. Since the price for a room was cheaper over here the inn's her would easily outcompete the other inns.
Fawk's hesitation made sense. Suddenly asking a merchant to prepare three villages worth of wheat instantly was a little ambitious.
"Can I pay in other grains or do you want it all in wheat?" Fawks asked
"What are you thinking about replacing the wheat for?" Kotori asked him
"Well I can procure some Atlean rice quite quickly" Fawks said
"Yes!" Kotori said instantly
It had been over four years since Kotori had eaten rice. She longed for it every day, and although the food in the Faramouth kingdom was not bad, it was not the sort of cuisine that she was used to. Kotori mouse salivated at the thought of being able to eat white rice again.
"Well, then I'll only need three days. I'll send for you all once I am done."
"Okay" Kotori said
This worked out for Kotori anyway. She wanted some time to explore the city and was happy that she now had the opportunity to.
Fawks stood up and led them to the door.
"No handshake?" Kotori said
"Not yet, I still need to test that wheat after all. We'll have a true deal once I see if you are telling the truth and I finish preparing the goods" He said smiling.
[This man is surprisingly shrewd] Kotori thought.