THE RAT IN THE MATERIAL VAULT
"Conjurer Iras, what does the Conjurer Court do with all the magical hearts and parts of the magic creatures that they obtained from the conjurers when they do their missions?" I asked Conjurer Iras.
"We keep them in the Materials Vault. We have unique ways of preserving magical hearts so they would not deteriorate too much in storage", he told me.
"What I mean is, what do you do with these magical parts after you stored them?" I asked him.
"The magical hearts and parts are useful to Apothecarists, so they would be given out as reward to those conjurers who need them, in exchange for services rendered or potions", he replied to me.
"Will these conjurers sell the magical hearts?" I asked him.
"Those who obtained our magical hearts usually use them as ingredients for potions or medicine making. The potion or medicine is worth a lot more than the ingredients, so I don't believe anybody would want to sell them off", he replied to me.
"What if the magical hearts are given to those who are not apothecarists?" I asked him.
"That is not possible because we only give out materials as rewards based on the need of the conjurer. Why are you asking about this all of a sudden?", he replied to me and asked when I brought out a container, containing a magical heart.
"What is this?" he asked me.
"Do you recognize the magic that preserved this magical heart?" I asked the conjurer master.
Conjurer Iras looked through the container and brought out a magnifying glass before he scrutinized the magic in the container.
"This is our preservation magic in the container. Where did you get this?" he asked me.
"That is not the right question to ask", I told him.
"What then is the right question?" he asked me.
"You should ask me how many of these that I got", I replied to him.
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"What do you mean there is tracking magic in the Aur stones?" someone behind the curtain asked another who brought out a chest of magic stones.
"We didn't know about this when we got the money from the Auction Hall. Do you think the Auction Hall will leave a trail in their money to track us?" the guy asked the man behind the curtain.
"That is not the usual practice of the Auction House. Who bought all our materials? There was a substantial number of ingredients that we sent to the Auction, and they sold all of them so quickly?" the curtain guy asked.
"The Hunter's Guild of Kaleon bought all our materials after bargaining for a good price", the other guy replied.
"The Hunter's Guild? The new guild in Kaleon town?" the curtain guy asked.
"Yes, they are affiliated with the Noten Apothecary, they probably bought all the ingredients for their potion making", the other guy replied.
"That sounds reasonable, but why will they track the money that they used to pay for the ingredients?" the curtain guy asked.
"There are wealthy merchants who tracks the money inside their vaults. In case of theft or burglaries, they could quickly find the thieves and recover their property. I guess the Hunter's Guild has the same kind of practice", the other guy said and explained his thoughts on the matter.
"Are you sure you disabled the tracking in the Aur stones?" the curtain guy asked.
"Yes, when we passed through the Conjurer Court's security check, the tracking on the Aur stones was detected, I removed the tracking soon after. The Aur stones are clean now", the other guy replied.
"You must be more careful next time. Check the money for tracking first before you bring them here, now sell the next batch of ingredients", the guy behind the curtain replied to him.
"Should we lie low for a while? Even if the money tracking may be a false alarm, there is gossip in Tarah city among the major families about the flooding of the market with cheap ingredients", the other guy asked.
"I need as much money as I can get my hands on. One of the Supreme Conjurer is retiring soon, without a disciple. He would select one of us to become his successor. I need all the money and influence in the Conjurer Court to compete for the position", the guy behind the curtain said.
"Maybe I will approach the Hunter's Guild of Kaleon directly without going through the Auction House this time", the other guy said.
"Make sure this doesn't get traced back to me", the guy behind the curtain said.
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"I've done a secret audit in the Materials Vault, there is a big number of ingredients that are missing", Conjurer Iras said to me.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked Conjurer Iras.
"Because you discovered this fraud", he told me.
"Don't get me wrong here. I'm telling you what I know because you gave me good advice about the Aqrabuamelu as a return favor. It doesn't matter to me if there are people stealing from the Material Vault, even if that person is you", I told Conjurer Iras.
"Nonsense, I will not do such a thing", Conjurer Iras proclaimed his innocence to me.
"It doesn't matter to me at all how the materials originate but if you want to sell more materials to me, I can take them all. As you know I am rich", I replied to him.
"That won't be necessary, but I need your help to catch the thieves", Conjurer Iras said to me.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked him.
"I want you to inform me about suspicious large shipments of magical materials on sale in the market when they come online", he said to me.
"Well,… if you are not the one stealing the magic ingredients from the Material Vault, then you should know that an agent approached my Hunter's Guild recently offering to sell a large shipment of magic floras at a steep discount", I told Conjurer Iras.
"That must be the thief. Will you help me catch the thief together?" he asked me.