On high alert, they turned into a corridor of colossal roots that served as a less-traveled passage between the Horizon Grand Bazaar and the residential towers.
As soon as they entered the twilight, Lisa stopped abruptly and growled, her paws already glowing with the white light of Spiritual Fire.
Lohan partially detached himself and extended two reinforced tentacles, ready to shoot magical webs and trap whoever emerged from the shadows.
With no way to communicate openly or make sounds, limited only to mental links that Lisa had to establish in advance, they couldn’t communicate with these hidden enemies, so they simply remained on high alert, making it clear they knew they were being followed.
To the duo’s surprise, the figures that emerged were unarmed and gave off no murderous intent.
They were two elves and a Beastman, dressed in luxurious merchant robes, very similar to those of Intervar, but with details indicating different shops. They performed a deep and respectful Thalendor greeting, which caused Lohan to retract his tentacles in confusion.
"We offer our sincerest apologies for our rude manner of approach, Lord Halon, Lady Lisa," said the elf in front, in a polite voice that betrayed none of the arrogance of the younger elves they had encountered in the past. "My name is Elidyr, owner of ’Eternal Essence.’ These are my colleagues from the Alchemy and Leather sector of Thalendor."
Lisa relaxed her shoulders, but the flames on her paws continued to flicker as a warning. Now with targets to activate the mental link, she finally connected with them. "What do influential merchants want with two monsters in an alley?" she asked, maintaining her icy tone.
"We saw the purity of the Digestive Acid you supplied to the Silver Crucible and heard the rumors about the supply of Swamp Slug venom, something we haven’t had in stock for a long time..." Elidyr explained, his eyes shining with pure interest as he looked at the pair. "You must know that in Thalendor, low-level rare materials are a logistical nightmare, and seeing Intervar receive materials like those made us interested in meeting the hunters who brought them."
Lohan tilted his spherical head, intrigued.
He recalled what he had learned: High-Level Hunters didn’t waste time hunting Shadow Serpents or Explosive Rabbits because the profit per hour didn’t justify the effort for them. Low-level hunters, on the other hand, simply didn’t have the strength to face Elites or the skill to extract materials without ruining them with blood or rough cuts, which meant that the effort to hunt these troublesome monsters also didn’t justify the time spent.
"Let me see if I understand..." Lohan said, controlling the small white eyes on his face to maintain a ’serious and thoughtful expression’. "You want a piece of the contract we have with Intervar?"
"Precisely!" Another merchant interjected, excitedly. "Not only because of the rarity of the delivered items, but the nobles and elite alchemists are fascinated by ingredients that don’t require expensive refining processes, and surprisingly, the ingredients you deliver—perhaps due to some unique refining process specific to your species—make these ingredients very... special."
As he said this, the man looked at Lohan with shining eyes, seeing his gelatinous mass as a pot of gold. If the man hadn’t shown any intention of attacking, Lohan would have already struck back just because of the way he was being looked at.
"While we were investigating the identity of the Intervar hunters, we discovered the identity of a special group... You’re forming a group of hunters, right? Calling yourselves a Guild. If your Astralis Requiem Guild can supply us with intact hides and pure toxins, we’re willing to pay 20% more than Intervar offers!"
Hearing that offer, Lohan was surprised.
Apparently, what interested these merchants wasn’t just the materials they brought, but the way those materials were removed from the monsters’ bodies, and the "refining" Lohan applied to those items, digesting everything non-essential with the digestive filter.
’Damn, if I could leave clones of myself with each Guild group, I’d be able to achieve that high level of material extraction from monster corpses all the time... unfortunately, my range for controlling my clones isn’t that great...’
Looking at Lisa, the two had a quick mental conversation about these merchants’ proposal.
They had already accepted orders from merchants other than Intervar, but the items requested by the other shops didn’t conflict with the items they had to deliver to Intervar, meaning they weren’t "feeding the competition," but these three in front of them were clearly competitors.
While it might be wrong to strike a deal with them, given that Intervar was acting as a secure and reliable source of income, one could never know what the future held, and limiting their sales to just one store could create a dependency on Intervar that would be far from healthy for the guild.
Fortunately, while Lohan had little experience in this corporate arena, Lisa had been trained in it since childhood, so for things Lohan was unsure how to handle—having never dealt with them before—Lisa practically had a manual on what to do in such a situation.
Stepping forward, extinguishing the white flames, and flashing a professional smile—which on a fox’s face looked like a cunning grin—Lisa spoke in a calm voice. "Everyone, thank you very much for your interest in Astralis Requiem and our services. We are expanding our membership, and we also believe that Intervar will not be able to handle our supply."
"Sure, we already have a list of items he requested and the prices he offers for those items. Our current priority will be the first contract we signed after the Guild was established, but his list is limited, and nothing prevents us from also signing agreements with you. So, if we find any materials you need beyond Intervar’s list, or if Intervar’s list is exhausted, yours will be our next priority." Lisa explained, surprising those merchants, who, despite imagining that these monsters possessed an intellect close to that of humans, had never thought it would be to this extent!
"That would be wonderful," said the first Elf, smiling and pulling out a sheet with a list of materials, monsters, and prices, exactly like the one Intervar had given them, and just like him, the other two merchants did the same.
’How did they know the list looked exactly like this? Did they get this information from Intervar?!" Lohan wondered, confused.
Reading the list Lohan held out in front of her with his small, blue, jelly-like hand, Lisa nodded and continued. "Your list has some similarities with the monsters and materials on Intervar’s list, but most of it is different, so there won’t be any conflicts, which is great. The only thing I have to point out is that not all items will be processed the same way, since not everyone in our guild has the ability to handle the items that way, but we’ll figure out a way to keep the quality as high as possible."
Hearing this, though a bit disappointed, the three merchants weren’t surprised, shifting their gaze between the fox and the Slime.
They could well imagine why those items possessed such practically "superhuman" quality, and it made sense that not everyone had that ability, since in their minds, it was already clear that likely only one member possessed that skill.
But hearing the fox say that he would try to find a way to deal with this as well made the merchants very pleased.