[Royal Capital Alavia, Most Divine Kingdom of Alterya]
(14th, Silver Dew Moon (II), 634 ASY)
"Are they all idiots?" This is the thought that races through Daniel's mind as he converses with his friends. He had been taught to suppress his emotions, but they were starting to spill out right now. Ashe starts to tell him about the other two's monetary problems, and how she couldn't afford to buy anything without taking on more tasks at the guild. Daniel tightens his fists.
"Are they really this stupid?"
"Do they know nothing about how money works?"
Thoughts like that fill his mind as he tries to play down how much money he has. Of course, he had money problems. He had spent the three weeks that they had spent here sorting out his financial position. During that time, he had found out that nobody in the entire kingdom knew what glass was, and, instead of using glass drinking cups, they used clay and metal ones. This was one of the reasons that Daniel decided to sell glassware. Firstly, glass was most likely going to be enjoyed by the privileged class, earning him connections. Second, silica sand, the base product of glass, is so different from glass that the connection between the two is nonexistent for a person not explicitly told that sand makes glass, so he would have a monopoly on the product for a long time. Thirdly, while glass had more use than just being dinnerware, it is very easy to convince someone that it is, thus avoiding being marked as an essential industry and then nationalized. Because of these facts, Daniel had decided to sell glassware to make money.
Daniel had sold small amounts of glassware to the three largest merchants in Alavia, their information he had found within the Merchant Protection Guild, and they had hungry bought it up. After about a week after he had first sold the first batch of glassware, he had gotten the three merchants into a meeting to discuss prices. Here he had gotten the second largest merchant, Augustus Marchoi, to agree to the following conditions: He would have a monopoly of glassware from Daniel, he will have to let Daniel do small-scale orders from individuals that cost less than 2 silver pieces (Which he had figured out to be around 500 USD by using the cost of grain. Of course, this was probably skewed as industrialization and globalization made many things cost less than they did here), he had to proclaim that he was simply the retailer and not the producer, and he had to allow Daniel to put his seal on all glassware. This set of rules greatly benefited Daniel as it allowed him to secure a cooperative and willing retailer, as well as keep publicity and independence. Within three days of selling in bulk to Augustus, nobles started showing up at the inn where Daniel lived, seeking lower prices and custom glassware. This way, in the three weeks that Daniel had spent in Alavia, he had managed to both secure a very stable income as well as connections within the royal court. He had already learned about the exploitative tactics of Tamach through small talk with a noble. He had already sent word to-
Hmmm? Hold on. What is that at the door? Daniel had place alchemical sensors at the door as a test of his powers, and they were picking up men in full battle armor at the entrance. This might become a problem…
"So, are we going to talk about the tenish armed men standing at the front of the restaurant right now?" Daniel asks.
"What ten men?" Tyson says quietly.
"Oh shit-" As the words leave Ashe's mouth, the door to the restaurant bursts open, splinters flying out in a cloud of grey and brown. Screams and shouts ring out throughout the estate as ten heavily armed men rush forward. They stop for a moment and then lock eyes with Ashe. They suddenly sprint toward the booth where they are sitting. Daniel sighs. He had to use his powers in battle without fully knowing them again. This couldn't be good for his health. A thick-bearded man with a great ax on his back runs up to the three of them. He glares at Tyson and Ashe, but as he sees Daniel, his gaze hardens a little, a small film of fear appears in his eyes. Daniel had been taught how to see minute changes in a person's expression and the emotions that it conveyed. There are many reasons why this man's expressed fear. The first is that he knew who he was. The second, and more likely, is Daniel's face. He was told that he looked like a demon, and many people thought that he was one. He could use this to his advantage.
"Wha business do you people have here?" Daniel asks, putting some force into his voice, but not enough for anyone to be alarmed by it.
"I don't know if you know these people, but they shouldn't be here," The man furrows his brows.
"What do you mean by they shouldn't be here?" Daniel sighs. Should he pressure? Bribe? Or straight-up kill them? They wouldn't know his influence within the courts, so pressuring wouldn't work as well as it could have. Killing them would paint a bad look on him within the guild. Bribing is the only option at this moment if he wanted to remain strong.
"Look, I'm can't tell you why, but they shouldn't be here!" The man puts more force within his words. The small film of fear expands. What? Daniel hadn't done anything and he was already getting scared? No, he is scared of someone else. Perhaps a disgruntled employer?
"Now, I don't know why you are doing this, but I might be able to convince you to let them go. Say, I will make a gift of 50 sivs to you when we get out of the establishment…" Daniel preemptively looks around the restaurant. Many of its patrons had already fled, and those who stayed eyed both Daniel and his group as well as the ten heavily armed men with the same amount of threat. "Letting the crane and the clam fight, I see," Daniel thinks to himself. This is useful as if he could cause a large enough incident, he should be able to scare off the remaining patrons. Turning to look at his friends, in both of their faces were expressions of shock and surprise, but Tyson had an added expression of jealousy and Ashe one of doubt. Ashe's doubt he could work with, but Tyson's jealousy will be dangerous. He could not let that turn into hate. He'll have to deal with it at a later date. The man facing him has a spark of temptation and greed but is quickly turning back into fear. Daniel sighs internally. Fighting it is.
"I know what you mean, but I cannot accept tha-" The man starts to say before a loud banging noise reverberates throughout the restaurant. People scream as the man takes multiple steps back. The remaining patrons and staff members leave through the broken doors, screaming, shouting, and otherwise attracting attention to themselves. Ashe puts her hands over her ears while Tyson curses. Daniel can only chuckle internally. He had simply caused a large pressure differential. Unless you were close to the epicenter, there would be no harm as it quickly dissipated.
"You were saying?" Daniel smiles. This should be the t.hing that pushes them over the edge.
"Why you-!" The man yells as he draws his sword and charges Daniel. Now, he is only about two or so meters away from Daniel's table and would have made it there without much trouble. His fellows are also not too far away from Daniel's table. It would have been very easy for them to slaughter the three. But…
"So we can all see that they attacked us first. I did not do anything to harm them, and they attacked us," Daniel calls out. Pouring power into his hands, he channels that power into the floor surrounding the ten men and breaks the chemical bonds in them. The floor around them turns into dust as a massive crater is opened in the room and a cloud of dust floats in the air. The hole is quite massive, about five meters in diameter and three meters deep. As the ten men fall into the large hole that has suddenly appeared in the ground, tumbling as they lose their grip, Daniel turns to Tyson.
"Do we kill them or not? It's your call," Daniel nods to Tyson as the ten men lay in the pit, moaning in pain. "I would suggest doing so. The way that I provoked them to attack can't be cleared easily of suspicion, even more so if they are still alive."
"No, they have not had any bodily harm nor magical residue on them. It would be right just to leave them to the guild," Tyson sighs. Ironically, the same person who killed an ogre in hand-to-hand combat couldn't stomach killing people. Tyson is too weak-willed.
"But, there are some merit to killing them?" Ashe says, half asking herself, half telling Tyson. "They are loose ends here?"
"I'm just going to let the two of you sort this out," Daniel sighs. "Each person has their own flaws" was a phrase that Daniel heard a lot growing up. Tyson's main flaw is he cannot see the larger picture. He is too busy looking into the sky and chasing naive dreams. He fails to notice the multitude of rocks and potholes on the path that is in front of him. Ashe's flaw is that she cannot decide whether or not to look up and chase the sky or to look down and look for the pitfalls. He sighs once again. He can hear the arguing of Ashe and Tyson, but his real goal is within the pit. The ten men who are now trapped within the pit were originally shouting and screaming, trying to get out. When they tried to climb over each other, Daniel had dropped the pit's depth by another 3 meters. The air around them is so choked with dust that Daniel had made the materials reform at the edges of the pit, causing its effective depth to rise without causing more dust. Daniel climbs to the edge of the pit and looks inside. There, ten men are sitting down, exhausted from trying to escape.
"Ernst Ribentoff, Auradi-class adventurer. You are very talented in your arts, but yet you still follow the dictates of Tamach? Why don't you leave them?" Daniel asks a young man, perhaps 15 or 16 in age, with bright blonde hair, bright green eyes, and light leather armor.
"What-? How do you know my name?" He asks back, his eyes widening.
"Your father, that's how. Adolf Fredrick von Ribentoff, yes? " Daniel snorts.
"What! How did you know that?" He screams back, not even caring to hide his surprise.
"He and I chat all the time. He's quite the talkative man in private," Daniel shrugs.
"Alright, what do you want me to do? You've trapped us here, so you must have some sort of agenda!" Ernst screams back.
"Well, I didn't trap you guys here for any particular reason. I could have just turned you people into kebabs. But, that would reflect badly with my friends, so… I decided to trap you guys instead. I just so happened to notice you among the crowd," Daniel replies. This wasn't truly a lie, but it wasn't the full truth. Adolf had wanted Daniel to get his son out of Tamach due to Tamach's ever-worsening reputation. "I have a proposal for you Ernst. Join us, and you won't be in for any serious trouble, or stay with Tamach, and watch it fall. Your choice."
"I...I'l join you…" Ernst says slowly. However, his face is half-filled with delight. 'A easy way out!' his eyes seem to say. Of course, Daniel had found Ernst not just because it would leave Duke Adolf in his favor, but because Ernst is incredibly talented. There would be many adventures to come…