The rest of the banquet was rather uneventful – Calen recounted their adventure in the second temple and Elira explained the strange substance they found inside.
That second thing seemed to especially interest Geodor and Tiana, both claiming they could use it for many things. In the end Elira agreed to leave a sample with Joel and Martha so that they can try to recreate the substance.
At some point Damien started telling some of his stories, which were directed mostly at Calen’s group since the others already heard most of them before.
Turns out living for centuries while protecting the humankind can result is some pretty unexpected situations.
The story that grabbed their attention theost was a one about a strange merchant Damien met on one of the hunts outside the Order’s territory.
"I don’t know what he was but he definitely wasn’t a human or a Blightborn, nor a spirit for that matter. He wasn’t hostile and even seemed to be a rather pleasant guy, but unfortunately I didn’t have anything to trade with him."
"What did he look like?" Isara asked.
"That’s the thing, I’m not sure." Damien shook his head. "He set up shop in a decently big cave but only half of the place was lit up – the counter he was sitting behind was shrouded in darkness even senses enhanced by aura couldn’t pierce. I could make out that he was probably humanoid in shape, but that’s about it."
"Where did you find him? Do you think he’s still there?"
"It was in the nort-west of the kingdom, a few days travel away from the Summit I’m afraid – as for whether he’s still there, I’d guess that he is, the area around the cave was almost creepily empty, like no beast wanted to go even remotely close to it."
"Did he introduce himself?" Sylara questioned out of nowhere.
"Um, he called himself just the Merchant if I remember correctly."
"I know the being you speak of." The Guardian leaned back in her chair with a thoughtful expression. "I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised he survived the invasion, although knowing him it’s more likely that he run away to a safe place and came back once the situation stabilised."
"Was there even such a place during the invasion?"
"Not in our world – but the Merchant isn’t bound to a single world or even reality. He is a singular entity, one who can step through dimensions as easily as we breathe. If he was set on destroying our reality there would be little we could do to stop him, but fortunately he seems to have developed a love for collecting and trading things."
"An impossibly powerful being with incomprehensible abilities... became a regular merchant?" Calen raised an eyebrow.
"There’s nothing regular about him or his stock – he can find anything your heart desires somewhere in the vast stretches of all existence, and the price he asks of you is always proportional to your purchase."
"Is he one of those creepy creatures who asks for your soul in exchange for a loaf of bread or something like that?"
"No, mortal souls don’t hold any value for him – they do for some of his clients and he might collect them, but the source is rarely the buyer. He much prefers rare things or those he can multiply on his own, he’s a businessman first an foremost."
"Doesn’t that mean that protecting our world from the invasion would’ve been in his best interest? You know, more clients and all that."
Sylara shook her head.
"He has infinite possibilities across countless worlds, why should he care for any single one of them? Besides he doesn’t allow just anyone into his store, only those he deems interesting enough can enter his cave."
"Why does he use a cave anyway, If he’s so powerful couldn’t he create at least a regular shop? It doesn’t seem like protecting it would be a problem either way." Isara pointed out.
"He believes that the cave adds a sense of mystery, and to be honest he’s probably right – also the cave isn’t technically real, it’s a space outside of any dimension he created himself, in there he’s akin to a god."
"You know awfully lot about this being Lady Sylara." Greg’s question was crystal clear.
"I haven’t traded with him myself – but many people I know did. Tharion got his armour from him, the Tower holds regular exchanges for otherworldly materials and even some merchants from our city somehow got in contact with him recently. Not to mention that my grandfather traded with him on a regular basis."
Cassian looked at Alison to confirm his suspicions about the local merchants part – the capitan nodded.
It did explain why Piff had such elaborate clothes when pretty much everyone else were confined to relatively simple garments, even if it also really made Cassian question the trader’s priorities.
"I think you have plenty of things that the Merchant would love to trade for actually." Sylara added. "If you ever find yourself wanting something that might not be attainable through normal means, you should try trading with him."
"We don’t have that many things we could trade, since we actively need most of our rare possessions." Calen frowned.
"Who said you need to trade the originals? The Merchant would happily accept replicas and copies. For example, you can’t give him the entire sacred flame, but there are no downsides to leaving a small lamp filled with it with the merchant. Same thing for the Fool’s notes, Isara needs them to learn but copying a book is really easy."
"Wouldn’t Antonio get mad if I sold his life’s work?" Isara chuckled.
"First of all he’s dead so he has no say in it, but even if he wasn’t then I think the Merchant would be the only person whom he would allow to read his notes – for a price of course. They were almost friends after all, and it was for a reason..."
"We’ll keep it in mind then, if we ever need something oddly specific we’ll go to the Merchant."