Ch 119. The Golden Pavilion

The chambers were just like a normal mansions, thankfully. Given that this was supposed to be my own wing, none of them had made their own special changes. The only odd thing was that of the maids, if I had to put words to it was how docile the staff was.

Bael's powers were undeniably manipulation focused, from memories to physical control, and it was clear that these people were victims of his, much like the unfortunate previous Bael had been.

Due to the memory wipes, nobody but me was aware of how dangerous the church truly was. Only Palantia's parting words gave me comfort, "Don't worry too much about the others. I've lasted this long here, haven't I?". Which was true. If a native as confrontational as herself could avoid being killed by the other chosen, it meant that at least they had some boundaries they kept to when it came to killing another chosen's followers.

For that end I decided that marking all my followers as my own was something that needed to be done at the soonest opportunity. Given that my father was a small-time knight with no men under his command, we had no crest to speak of, so it was up to me to create one.

Sitting in the open-aired courtyard of my room I reflected on my options. 

"Something feels wrong Master," Belle sat lightly next to me, having caught me unaware with her light feet. "Like Belle's forgotten something."

Raising my eyebrows in surprise. She could tell her memories had been cut? In truth the kind of power that Bael had shown was entirely frightening to me and I had no countermeasures. It would be very much of use to me Belle were naturally resistant to its effects, even if it just meant noticing when it had been cast upon her.

"Go to sleep Belle," I whispered while patting her head, sending her into the bedroom with the others. We had many things to do here, and I wouldn't sleep until they were done.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

"We've come to sell our wares." I spoke as Cal and I stood in front of the premier auction site, it was so early that there was not a single other soul around. Just the staff who looked like they had yet to properly wake up for the day, and now they were dealing with what looked like two rural bumpkin nobles who didn't know what they were getting into.

"Ah, I'm sorry young masters, but this is the Golden Pavilion, we have a one-hundred gold minimum transaction value for non members. Unless you have goods worth more than that we aren't interested." Given that the young man who was acting as a greeter was act this arrogantly towards two supposed nobles, the backing behind him was no doubt impressive.

"We know. That's why we've come. We're alchemists."

Eliciting a skeptical look from the greeter, "I suppose you have an alchemists license for that?" To which it was Cal's turn to flash an emblem from his coat pocket.

The young man studying the design for a moment. "Marcet family? I barely recognize the symbol. If you've brought whatever it is you've come to sell, we'll at least appraise whatever it is you've come to sell. I can't make any guarantees though." Still clearly suspicious of us.

Bidding us entrance into the building, the woman beside him led us to a side room.

"We'll have our appraiser in within five minutes, I hope you can wait that long." She said while closing the door to private room before fetching a pair of tea-cups, pouring us each a drink from a silver teapot and offering us the bare minimum level of respect so as not to embarass their own reputation.

We both sipped politely, clearly they weren't treating us a esteemed guests just yet.

"We're fine with that, thank you." I said. Studying the interior room as we waited. It was somewhat plain in comparison to the palatial estate we stayed in yesterday, but nonetheless the wealth of the institution could be felt. Noticing the magic seals on the walls and the door which caught my interests.

"To prevent surveilence. We have many wealthy clients who are afraid of being targeted for what objects they bring in." The show-woman explained. Magic was still a complete mystery to me, and one I would need to pursue while here in the capital.

Beforelong a knock echoed on the door, and in stepped an elderly gentleman dressed in a long and comfortably decorated robe.

"This is Gamlin, our in-house alchemist. Gamlin, these two are..."

"Keaton Pel"

"Cal Marcet"

We both answered in turn with a small nod of our heads. "And we've come with a vitality reagent stronger than Troll's blood."

His aged brow rising in expectation as I left a single vial on the table with a wave of my hand.

"Marcet... I thought that name sounded familiar. There's been a rumour of a space mage being found in the countryside, though I haven't heard much about it recently now I see the rumours were true." His eyes returning now with a gentle look, "Ah yes, the potion you've brought me. A vitality reagent is it? Better than a troll's? A bold claim, bold but easy to test. Anette, could you go and fetch me my testing kit? And the troll's blood samples if you would, thank you."

Addressing the female attendant, who bowed curteousily before running off, coming back not a minute later with a small leather pouch.

Making quick work, Gamlin fished out a vial of troll's blood before laying it side-by-side with the vial we had provided. Uncorking both temporarily to add a small droplet of reacting reagent before corking it again and swirling the mixtures around. The troll's blood giving off a healthy glow while mine lit up like the sun, clearly the superior option.

"What manner of creature could provide such a thing... have you actually brought me a dragon's blood?"

"Not a dragon's but rather a new creature, a rare magical beast previously uncatalogued, and one that we do not wish to expose. We can arrange sale of more if the price is agreeable."

Stroking his beard, the appraiser examined the bottle once more with eyes like a fox. "Three-fifty, no four hundred gold, a vial that is. We will buy it outright at that price, otherwise it goes to auction."

Cal turned to me before whispering. "Troll's blood would go for half that... but we most likely will get more from an auction." Raising his voice now for Gamlin to hear, "It has another function, that of a powerful aphrodesiac."

Gamlin lifted his brow again in surprise, "Truly this sounds more like Dragon's blood the more I hear. Very well, Annette would you try a little to confirm?"

Bidding the greeter woman to do another task for him, which she complied by dipping her pinky in and licking a small portion. "It's effective." She said after a few seconds, sounding a bit more shy.

"Four hundred and fifty." Gamlin pronounced again, an air of finality sounding out into his voice, like nothing could budge him from this number.

Cal and I whispered again to ourselves, seeing that this was lower than what Cal expected, it was still not too far off. In the end we agreed to sell half of our stock upfront and let the other half go to auction, given that we were in somewhat dire financial straits, this was a much needed injection of cash. Investment money. It wasn't as if our entire strategy hinged on selling my blood, after all.

"We're holding an auction in three days time, your potions will be auctioned off. If you feel at all inclined, please pay us a visit, I'll have your names added to a special guest list."

"Thank you, we intend to do so." Both of us smiled.