As Artha had positioned himself as basic potion supplier, the demand was only for those. He replied to every ping. Sometimes, he decreased the amount to be sold. Sometimes, he asked for a bit extra as price of potions had increased along with the need for them. All sorts of tiny maneuvers, just to show that he was a simple bumbling fool of a trader. He increased the price for those who behaved arrogantly. He shortchanges the potions to be sold to those who complained about the price. Cause and effect, clear visible. But, he was being petty. Not a good sign of a salesman.
Didn't he know that there were spies everywhere? And now there was even legitimate way to send the news - alliance of guilds to crack the dungeons. Did you think that alliance was just made to open the dungeons? A visionary would see that such alliance or even a facsimile of it would be useful for many things in novice village.
Artha would declare confidently that he was not a visionary. He was a blockhead, a horse on a race course, with blindfolds on sides to ensure he can see only the finish line. And his finish line was enough money. When would money be enough? Don't have time to be philosophical, need to earn money.
Such person, a trader, why would he make such rookie mistake? To show that he was a rookie. Obviously. If other believed that Artha was simple man, he would be allowed to live, even flourish a bit. If he is brilliant man, he has to be destroyed before he becomes enemies' friend.
Regular sales equals regular deposits. No matter the quantity. The regular increase in credits balance, just warmed his cold heart.
Next in the list was actually the order lists given by his tier 1 customers. Should he fulfill the order?
Go big or go home. Time to sheer these sheep. They should be feeling the pinch of the wallet after the news shared from gaming company. Would they still be ready to pay in credits to get the items in the list?
Artha started a conference call with his tier 1 customers. Let's give something to worry first.
"Hear ye, hear ye. There shall be an impromptu auction. Grab hold of your coins and credits because you shall find good products in auction. It shall start in ten minutes."
"Hey, hey,hey! What's this? What auction? What are you selling?" The lady from Bloody Rose really didn't have enough patience when it comes to business.
Sun Lord came up with another question, "What about our lists?"
"Okay. Coming to lists, I can fulfill only partially and I want to add some clause regarding the lists. It's not clause per se because I had mentioned it before too, but apparently it was not registered to you people yet. So it's technically a recap.
You people are ordering like there is Armageddon tomorrow and you want to stockpile everything. Good for you.
But, beyond certain price range, I can't fulfill your demands. I told you before. I don't have a huge back up to absorb any losses I make in these deals.
The amount I spend to collect the items, it's not reflecting in the bill. So, please readjust your lists and send them. I will be able to fulfill them completely. Else, I shall fulfill till the limit and if you still want more, you should pay more.
Which I know you won't. I will give you half an hour head start to resend me the list based on your preference of doing things. But before that, there will be an auction within ten minutes."
Baccara or Sun Lord were not fazed by his lengthy monologue. Oh Lord, how much b*llsh*t have they heard that these many words didn't faze them!
Ofcourse, they were unfazed, unperturbed. They sometimes had to present their development within the game, which would take even longer time. What concerned them was the order list. If he had fulfilled the orders, they would have somehow paid the bill. Can't go back on the word and similar phrases. The penalty for breaching the contract was hefty. But Artha had given them the option of changing the order amount. There was still time to make corrections. This time, the amount of items would be reduced, a lot.
Whyy was this profiteer setting up an auction when they were still consolidating money? This was hard time to let the wallet be loose.
"What are the auction items?" He sold things which could not be bought elsewhere. Really have to decide if auction can be missed or not.
Artha started his pre-planned speech.
"Coming to auction, three main items, few miscellaneous. Solemn promise by myself that I won't sell these items till tomorrow to others if these are the type which can be sold.
Please be aware that the order is mixed up, jumbled. There will be no talk like final auction item will be worth highest.
First item to be auctioned is level 1 basic binding scroll. You might have seen it at Zumi's. Of course, he would not have sold them to you. He has even weirder rules there. I have only 10 scrolls. Each capable of binding monsters of elite grade or less below level 10 for solid 40 seconds. It's a must of you are planning on exploring the dungeons. As we know as you move deeper, monster levels increase but the loots will be better too. If you want to pioneer the dungeons, this scroll will be your best friend. I will be selling them as bundles of 3, 3 and 4. Any doubts so far?"
Artha felt parched. Granted he talked fast to finish all the talk but it was not as fast as the ad people saying 'conditions apply'. Yet, he was parched, parched enough to drink water. The pause was to his benefit, not his customers.
Too bad. No doubts, as of now.
Artha continued his sales speech. " Next items are your best friends when mage in your team is dead. Basic skill bombs. Throw the ball, spell is used. I have currently only bombs that can burn or freeze for a diameter of 1 meter. You can not expect much from basic level 0 bombs. But they will be handy for you to escape while running from monsters if there is no ranged player alive in the team. Please note, though these items are basic and level 0, they cost a lot as lots of effort is put to stabilize the spell. I will be selling these as sets of 10. I have only 20 burning bombs and 10 freezing ones."
" Lastly, I have a recipe here."
Baccara's eye gleamed. Artha literally shivered. What is this desire? How strong is it that he can feel it even if he was so far? He looked at Sun Lord and saw that this desire was not gender specific at all. Fearing his self, Artha still continued. " The recipe is for stamina potion. The same which you can buy from Zoya's. I assume that you still don't have such recipe. If you have and you don't want to buy, let me know and I shall remove it from the list."