Chapter 60: An Expensive Proposition (Patreon)

I took the stairs first with Elise close by and Hemi at the rear, carrying a sleeping Hugo. I told him I felt bad about him being a bird babysitter again, but Hemi assured me that he preferred it to fighting. Past the void room, the descending stairs were brightly lit, and we saw no sign of anyone as we crept down.

Hugo woke up briefly to ask what was going on. Once we told him, he expressed dismay that we wouldn’t wait for the void level to reset so that he could have his fight between his Ostorox and what he called Ostorox 2. I said that he could always go back by himself and Hugo retorted by saying something about a fight needing a proper audience before going back to sleep.

A few sets of stairs later and we heard a metallic rattle and froze. The sound of cursing followed.

[Lucas Hudson: It sounds like a goblin. I’ll go first.]

The others nodded. I leaned around the corner. No, it wasn’t a goblin at all. The creature had its back to me and was bent down, searching for something. It was a seven foot tall dark green lizard-like humanoid. The beast had a scimitar strapped to its back and wore some kind of brown scaled armor that looked like it had been taken from another monster.

With my sword out, I quietly moved closer to get within range for a Heart Strike. No reason to draw this out and I could kill it before it even realizes I’m there. The creature muttered another curse and there was another clang as it tossed a metal helmet aside. It looked like it was digging through a large sack of items. Perhaps we weren’t the only people to come this way? If others had gotten past Ostorox and then fallen to this creature, then it must be tough. Past the lizardman and his sack lay the door to floor 95, so there was no avoiding a fight.

Once close enough, I raised my sword, but just before I could use my ability, the lizardman whirled around and angrily hissed at me in surprise. I couldn’t let it draw its sword, so I dashed forward to close the gap between us. The lizardman retreated until its back was against the wall. I moved for a quick, clean slice across the throat when suddenly, the lizardman threw up his hands.

“Wait!” it screeched.

I paused and held my sword against its neck. “Why?” I asked.

“I’m not an enemy combatant!” the lizardman exclaimed with a slight hiss.

“You’re wearing armor and carrying a sword.”

“That’s just for my protection. I’m a traveling merchant, I swear.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Do you really think this trick will work?”

“Wait, no identification message has come up on me, has it? You know, the one all you tower residents get when you face off against the enemy. Why hasn’t it come up for me?”

That wasn’t enough of a reason. Many times, an identification message wouldn’t appear unless the enemy moved to attack me first. By not doing so, the alien had his level and name hidden. It was a clever idea that would fool others, but if it was on the Staircase, then it must be dangerous.

“What if he’s right?” asked Elise, coming down the stairs with Hemi and a sleeping Hugo.

I scowled. “I thought I told you to wait?”

“Your conversation was very loud, and we were curious,” said Hemi.

Elise bent down to pick up the helmet that the lizardman had thrown.

“Hey, be careful with that. It’s expensive,” he said.

I rolled my eyes. “I just saw you toss it over your shoulder.”

The lizardman shrugged. “A dent or two adds character to it.”

“He’s right,” said Elise. “The helmet has a price tag on it and I can’t use it, store it in my inventory, or take it past this room. He’s telling the truth about being a merchant.”

Reluctantly, I lowered my sword and backed off.

“The System should make you guys wear nametags or something,” I said.

The lizardman grimaced. “It tried that one year, but it just encouraged people to target the merchants. We were like walking piggy banks during that whole integration. But let’s not dwell on the past.”

He pulled a large desk out of his inventory. It plopped down with a heavy thud and the three of us jumped back a step. The lizardman chuckled and extended his hand. “The name is Raimon. A humble merchant traveler.”

I shook his hand despite not trusting him.

“Why aren’t you with the other merchants on floor 98?” I asked.

Raimon spat in the corner. “The first foundational floor? Bah, there’s no money to be made there. Everything’s too safe and low level. It’ll be ages for tower residents to make decent money. But those who take the stairs? Those are people with coin that I can do business with today.”

The merchant then pulled several items out of his sack to lay across the desk before pulling even more out of his inventory. He quickly ran out of room on the desk and starting putting stuff on the floor around our feet. Everything from books to weapons and armor were shown for us to look at. Curiously, the last thing he pulled out looked like a small television. He’d put it in the corner almost out of the way, like it wasn’t worth much.

I pointed at it. “What’s that thing?”

Raimon looked and then grimaced. “It’s probably too expensive at this stage, even for stair travelers, but you might as well take a look,” he said as he shoved a book aside to put it on the desk.

*Item Identified* [Merchant Terminal Interface (uncommon: D-grade)] – Must be assimilated to a place owned by the resident in order to be activated. Once this occurs, merchant communication and trade across all floors can be achieved. Warning the terminal only allows the transfer of verbal communication and coins. Item transfers must still occur in person and cannot be bypassed. (Cost: 1100 coins)

*Two locations are available for assimilation. Apartment D on floor 100 and the Clock Tower on floor 98*

[Would you like to purchase the Merchant Terminal Interface? Y/N?]

“It’s D grade?” I asked in shock.

Raimon slapped the side of it. “Hell yeah. This baby’s built to last. It also keeps a directory of every merchant you’ve met before to make future communication easier. Some of them are even willing to make deliveries.”

I looked down at my clothes. My cloak was still great, but the rest of it had multiple holes and pieces missing that would need repairs. It would be frustrating to have to make two trips to floor 98 to see Andreas without being seen by Martin’s people, but I probably didn’t have a choice. The terminal sounded amazing and it was a shame that we couldn’t get it. Hemi and Elise examined it too, but I almost told them not to bother. Eleven hundred coins was well out of our price range.

“We should buy this,” said Hemi.

“I agree, but I don’t have enough for it,” I said. “I’ve only got 309 coins and Hugo’s got 257. Even combined, we’re not close.”

Hemi nodded. “And what about you, Elise?”

She quickly checked her stats. “I’ve got 154. Though most of that came from killing the void spawn.”

“Okay, sounds like we’ve got enough,” he declared.

[Hemi Smith has transferred 380 coins to Lucas Hudson]

My eyes boggled. “Where did you get all that money?”

Hemi grinned. “My last group made me the party treasurer after Sebastian got drunk in town on the first night and tried to spend all his money on health potions. He claimed he’d then double their price and offer them to people out in the forest for when they most needed them. Rebecca told him that in that situation, a tower resident was more likely to kill him and steal the potion instead of purchasing one, but he wouldn’t listen. We held him back until the next morning when he’d sobered up. The group then nominated me to look after everyone’s money to avoid future mishaps.”

“Won’t they be mad at you for using their money?” asked Elise.

Hemi shrugged. “What are they going to do about it? With Earnest gone, they can’t return to floor 100 and if we keep descending, then we might never see each other again.” His voice nearly cracked at that last bit and he looked away. Hemi was putting on a brave face but saying that last part out loud hurt him a little. He had considered those people his friends, and their cowardice still stung him deeply.

“You’re cleaning me out here, so you better let me use that thing,” Elise told me.

[Elise Evans has transferred 154 coins to Lucas Hudson]

Hemi gently poked Hugo awake so that he could transfer the remaining funds and I purchased it. Rather than go straight into my inventory, the assimilation prompt came up again. I selected the apartment on floor 100 and the terminal vanished.

“A pleasure doing business with you,” said Raimon.

He stored the desk back in his inventory and stepped aside to allow us access to floor 95. Something about him still felt off to me and he was the only merchant I’d seen carry a weapon, but if the terminal worked as advertised then it will have been worth it once we reached a silver elevator.

With our business concluded, we opened the door to floor 95 and stepped on through.