The merchants guild was much larger than the adventurers guild, at least twice the size and far more organized and luxurious. Victor was not impressed, he was used to places like that. On the demon continent even the adventurers guild had a similar structure. Humans like to separate people based on how much money they have and what they do for a living.
"I want to register with the guild," Victor said to a receptionist.
She looked at him differently. She sensed something unusual about him, she could not see him as a merchant. Still, she said nothing about it.
"Good morning," she said with a smile. "I need you to fill out this form and pay a fee of twenty gold coins."
"I will do that, thank you very much."
Victor began filling out the form and realized something. He did not own a shop or a stall. He was pretending to be a traveling merchant. He could still register, but in that case he would not have access to all the informational benefits he wanted. He would be the one selling that information.
The merchants guild protected its members from certain problems, such as having their goods seized by the government. It also allowed merchants to trade whatever they wished without worrying about abusive taxes or conflicts of interest with landowners. But there was a clear distinction between fixed merchants and itinerant ones. The fixed merchants paid the guild for information about routes, suppliers, and other matters. The itinerant merchants traveled from city to city and passed through many villages. These traders gathered a great deal of information, so they sold some of it, and monopolized other pieces. News of a highly skilled blacksmith who sold the weapons they forged at very low prices was worth gold.
"I will need to buy a shop," Victor said.
"We could open a potion shop. Our stock is very large and my assistants can produce potions in bulk, as long as we have all the resources and Niko has plenty of mana to use that plant growth spell. Or we could hire many adventurers for that and monopolize the entire supply and..."
"Stop. We will open a potion shop and sell items like scrolls and crystals. But I do not want to cause any problems with monopolies or start a war over resources. You still remember the last one you caused, do you not?"
"Yes, I understand perfectly and I will never say something that foolish again."
Niko burst out laughing.
"Are you afraid of going to prison?"
"Obviously. That prison changed me as a man, today I am a decent person."
"If you consider yourself that now, imagine what you were like before," Niko said happily. The thing she enjoyed most was making Vans miserable.
"Vesta will take care of all our stock, she is the best for that. I want you to choose one of your assistants for potion production and other items. Some supplies will come from our own stock, the rest will be purchased from the guild."
"Who will be responsible for the shop?"
"The assistant and two people from the Tower. I will let Pallas choose, he knows who has talent for that."
"Lotus should choose, since he manages all the servants, he should know who is best suited for the job."
Everyone agreed.
Victor finished filling out the form, paid the fee, and asked if there was any shop for sale. The receptionist asked for a moment to check. There were no shops available in the city, but she pointed out a few cities where shops were for sale. Victor chose the Capital. That would certainly be the most useful place, since all merchants passed through there, and it was closer to important figures.
The price, however, was not inviting, twenty thousand gold coins. Victor did not hesitate. He paid the full amount at once. The receptionist was startled and asked two other clerks to help her count the coins. Once the counting was done, she handed him a document granting ownership of the shop. Victor now had full rights, but he needed to go to the guild in the Capital to collect the key and inspect the shop's condition so he could renovate it as he wished.
He also took the opportunity to purchase information about routes and other details that came up while he spoke with the receptionist.
He learned several things. One of them was a possible war with the neighboring Kingdom of Solgard, and how some nobles might be involved. The Kingdom had not existed before the great war. Newer kingdoms were usually more unstable, yet Solgard had managed to gain greater military power than Vorngate. Vorngate had lost territory and ceased to be an Empire, becoming a simple Kingdom, still large, but much smaller than it once had been.
Victor grew even more curious about the matter. He wanted to offer help in some way, but he did not know how. He hoped it would bring more useful information that he could use somehow, or at least make him appear more normal, since he had no idea what the state of the world was.
Another piece of information he considered useful was the peace between the demon continent and the central continent. Even though the demon continent was still devastated and would take many centuries to rebuild, since the damage had been far greater and much of the land was arid. Still, knowing that the continent was developing made him happy. But he knew he could not return yet, especially considering the defeat he had suffered.
He also wanted to help the continent, but he did not know how. It would be much more difficult because of the distance and because he believed he needed to remain hidden for a while.
"What will we do now?"
"We will complete two guild missions and then head to the Capital."
Victor chose four gathering missions. He was only able to keep two, since there was a limit to how many missions an adventurer or group could hold at once. Because both were gathering missions, they were allowed to take the two, but adventurers usually chose one monster subjugation mission and one material gathering mission. There were also rules regarding rank and mission type. F rank adventurers could normally hold only one mission at a time, but both of these were classified as safe, which allowed them to take two.
The first mission was to gather a type of yellow plant used in simple healing potions. These potions only cured ailments such as headaches and nausea. That was why the mission did not pay much, ten copper coins for more than twenty herbs. The second paid twenty copper coins for only five blue herbs. These herbs were used in healing potions for small cuts and other minor injuries. Such potions were cheap, and the materials were even cheaper.
The task was tedious and everyone hated it. Spending the day searching for herbs in the fields was something no one enjoyed. That was why Vans had his own herb plantation. He grew them in several rooms on the second floor. There were still some plantations on the seventh floor, but those were cared for by other people. Vans used the herbs from the seventh floor for mass produced potions, while the potions made with herbs from the second floor were ones he devoted more effort to and only certain soldiers used them. All soldiers had at least one, but they only used them when the others ran out or when the injuries were severe.
Lysandra disliked having different potions distributed unevenly. The generals consumed only the best potions, but she had never managed to convince Vans to change the production and distribution system.
With the herbs collected, they returned to the guild, handed them in, and received their reward.
"The guild master wants to speak with you, Victor," the receptionist said as she handed over the money.