[Arius POV]
"Leave kid!"
"OUCH!"
After being thrown on the ground over ten times now, my butt really started to hurt. Rubbing my butt, I get back up and start looking around for another merchant.
'Arius, why not take a break? It's not that I think you're body can't handle it but I doubt your clothes will be able to.'
Hearing Dakria's voice in my head, I look at my pants and shirt. And she was right, it was all dirty and dusty with a few small rips from me colliding with the ground.
"...Ok, but afterwards, I'm going to continue. I figured out something that might get them to talk to me."
'What?'
"I'm not going to tell you!"
'Oooh, are you trying to tease me, Arius? That's not going to do anything to me, I'll just figure it out myself. Hmmmmm, AH! Yeah, that could work.'
"What!? What did you think of?"
'I'm not going to tell you.'
"AH! You dare use the same tactic on me!"
A little grumpy that my try at teasing Dakria did not work, I start walking towards the Craftsman Guild. It was almost lunchtime and I was getting hungry. I found that there's supposedly a great food place just next door to the Craftsman Guild.
Jogging down the street and turning the corner, I see the Craftsman Guild in front of me but there was something else that caught my eye that was in front of the guild. A carriage and a few people next to it. Seeing another merchant buying weapons from the Craftsman Guild, I knew I had the perfect person that would buy our items.
'Arius, didn't you say that you would take a break?"
'Yeah, but this is the perfect opportunity. This merchant is different from the others. He's not buying string, clothing, spices, food, or whatever else they buy. He's buying items! He'll obviously want to buy the engraved items which are better!'
Seeing the merchant hop on the carriage, I quickly run over before he starts to leave. Unlike the other merchants that I talked too, this one only had one carriage and only a few guards that protected it.
"HEY! Wait, I got something to sell you!"
Neigh!!!
"Kid! Don't go jumping in front of the house like that right when it's about to move."
"I got something to sell you, you have to see it!"
"Fine, I might as well look at it. Guards! Stand down, everything under control."
After gesturing to the guards to leave me alone, the merchant gets off the carriage to talk to me. With that, I got a closer look at him. Unlike the previous merchants, this one was a lot younger. Long black hair, with a slim body wearing normal everyday clothes nothing like those chubby men and ladies who wore all sorts of fancy clothes and accessories. The only thing that was odd about him was that he wearing a large hat that cast a shadow on the rest of his body.
"So what you got kid?"
"It got engraved items."
"Engraved items, huh?"
"Show me then."
"Alright, I have one right here."
Hung on my waist was the first dagger that Grampa Edward engraved for me. Taking it off my waist, it looked a lot better than before. When I first received it, I showed Master the dagger and he personally took it and replaced the handle and made a sheath for it. The dagger had a beautiful handle with a black monster leather sheath.
"Seems like you weren't lying, that is indeed an engraving on this dagger. Very interesting, my skill is simply going off due to being in the presence of the engraved dagger."
"What?"
"Oh, sorry. I was talking to myself. This is a very interesting dagger, I would love to buy-"
"No! You can't buy that one!"
Hearing that the young merchant wanted to buy my precious dagger, I was happy that someone recognized its worth but no way I would want to sell this dagger. Grampa Edward put his all into engraving it.
Taking the dagger back, I quickly see the merchant giving me a wry smile.
"If you don't want to sell it, why bother saying to did?"
"I work at a store that sells engraved items so that's what I'm selling. I only showed you the dagger because no one would believe that I did have engraved items."
"Ah! I see, alright, show me to this store."
"Ok!"
Jumping onto the carriage, I quickly start pointing in the direction where we got to go. I was smiling the whole time. I finally found someone that would buy the items.
Arriving at the shop, I quickly jump down from the carriage.
"The Marks of Fate, what a weird name."
"Yeah, I thought so too. But now, I think it's pretty cool."
Leading the merchant inside, I see no one is sight. Grampa Edward wasn't drinking tea at the counter.
"This is a nice cozy place, are all these items engraved?"
"I don't think so, some of them are just regular items."
As the merchant started looking around at the different items on display, I look around some more before calling for Grampa Edward.
"Grampa Edward! I found someone who will buy a lot of items. Grampa!"
"*Cough Cough* O-Ok, Arius you don't have to yell anymore. *Cough Cough*"
After hearing Grampa's response from above, I soon hear someone walking down the stairs while coughing. After a few more coughs, I see Grampa reveal himself.
"Grampa, are you ok?"
"*Cough* Yeah, I'm fine. Next time don't go yelling all of a sudden, I can't stand those sudden surprises."
"Ha ha ha, I'm sorry, Grampa. I was just so excited."
"Alright, alright. So is this the one that will buy some items."
"Yes."
With that, I see Grampa go over and shack the merchant's hand.
"Edward Frosswell."
"Wilward Von Plaeus."
"Von...a vampire?"
"Yes, but don't worry Edward. I'm only here for business."
"Thank goodness, what would you like to buy?"
"Please bring me a few of your highest-quality engraved items."
With that, Gramap Edward quickly goes to get a bunch of items. Hearing that he was a vampire, I walk up to the merchant again.
"So you're a vampire, you don't look like one."
"I grew my hair out to hide my pointed ears and I don't show my fangs often. It makes being a merchant a lot easier."
As he was talking, Wilward took off his hat and pulled back his hair while smiling to show his pointed ears and fangs.
'Yep, those are the signs of a vampire.'
"Pray tell how you know what a vampire looks like. We aren't that common, have you met one before."
"Yeah, the village near where I grew up in has one, his name was Earnest."
"Earnest, never heard of it. Perhaps he's someone like me, wanting freedom."
"Freedom?"
"Yeah, you see, I'm the heir to a vampire count. I have many responsibilities and even more in my schedule. So I decided to run away for a bit and experience travel around as a merchant."
"What? Isn't your family worried?"
"They definitely were but since I haven't been kidnapped home, they must've allowed me to explore some more, just with a few extra guards."
"Ok! Here's all of them!"
Clank!
With the sounds of times hitting each other, Grampa Edward puts a box full of items onto the counter. Seeing the items, Wilward goes in and starts sorting through all of them and before long had picked out four items.
"I'll take these four."
"Wilward, can't you buy a few more?"
"Ha ha ha, kid, I'm still a merchant. I don't have a lot of money with me and I'll probably have to bring it to the Coalition to sell it."
"Why is that?"
"Engraved items that are not high ranked are just really hard to sell. I'll probably just sell them to a few collectors on the other side."
"...Alright."
With that, the vampire merchant quickly bought the items before leaving. However, right before leaving, he put and card in my hands.
"My business card, contact me if you want to sell something else."
"Ok!"
...
By the end of the day, we had reached 57 silver coins worth of things sold, mostly from Wilwark buying the four items. As I walked back home feeling a lot better, I stop at a place to eat.
"Dakria, it's a great day today. I'll do it again tomorrow."
'Sorry to burst you're bubble Arius but I'm pretty sure you've gone through most of the merchants in the city so you're going to have to find some other way.'
"Really? I don't think I can."
'You can always-'
"Nope, I won't talk to Master about it. That would be cheating!"
...
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Wilward's Fun Fact: Most races have key characteristics that set them apart from others. For vampires, the most obvious ones to look for are their pointed ears and fangs. Other less obvious characteristics are having breath smelling like sweet blood and pale skin(many races have pale skin).