Chapter 18 - 18 Fleecing Retainers
Pops' predictions about the potential for profit were uncannily accurate, Dominic decided, as the first four of the noble retainers entered the shop, pretending to be customers.
"Welcome, welcome. I knew when I saw you that you were a discriminating group. We have the finest of gear in the city right here for you to peruse. What can I help you find today?" He greeted the group, who smoothly transitioned from investigative mode to pretending they were here on legitimate business.
The sudden shift in demeanour nearly made him laugh, but Dominic managed to keep a straight face as he made his way out from behind the counter to pull them into his trap.
"Do you perhaps have a skilled masseuse on your Mistress's staff? We have the finest of silver needles for acupuncture here, made to the most exacting of standards." He suggested.
They weren't intended for that purpose, the silver needles were for tailoring damaged magical clothing, where other metals could interfere with the enchanted cloth.
"Oh, I see that you have quite a few prepared. I am not an expert in the art, but perhaps the masseuse might like a set." One of the servants agreed.
"As I said, a truly discerning eye. They are only one small gold coin a piece, but I can offer you a small discount if you purchase a full set of fifty. Only forty-five small gold coins for the set."
Dominic pretended that he didn't notice when the man blanched a little at the price, but the man didn't want to make his Mistress seem cheap in front of the others present, and his hand went to the coin pouch at his hip.
The others looked around quickly while Dominic boxed up the needles and wrote up an official receipt for his first customer of the afternoon.
"Were you out gathering materials with the guard today? I couldn't help but notice that you got down from a Royal Carriage." One of the others asked.
"Indeed I was. Then afterwards, Princess Eleanor invited the victors of the day's martial contest for a meal. A fine meal as a reward for fine work, as she said. The youngest Princess is truly blessed with her family's signature beauty and generosity." Dominic replied, trying to deflect the topic away from his getting a ride home with the Princess' older sister.
"Indeed. Our Kingdom has been graced with an entire generation of beautiful souls." The servant agreed, and then gestured to the shelf of tools.
"Our Carpenter requires a new plane, might you recommend one?"
Dominic nodded and tried to recall what Pops had told him about the tools. There were five different ones, and they all looked very similar, but had different uses.
"Which one does he need? Or do you know what he is making?" He asked hopefully.
The servant looked relieved that the question hadn't led into a trap of an overpriced bulk purchase right away, as the last one had.
"He is our in-house furniture maker, and the rough shaping tools were inherited from his grandfather. My Mistress wants to replace one as a birthday gift."
Dominic stepped over to the rough shaping tools and took three out to place on the table.
"These are the three tools most commonly used for rough shaping. A wedge chisel, a rasp and an adjustable hand plane. Now, these are fine quality and durable tools, made to last a lifetime, but the materials for a workman's tool that needs constant sharpening and sees hard use aren't the most precious.
Thirty Silver will get you all three, and for another ten silvers I can have his name or initials monogrammed on them, to make the gift even more memorable." He suggested.
It would take Pops all of two minutes to add a name to the tool, so ten silvers seemed to be a reasonable amount to extort the noble spies for the service.
The servant held out his hand and shook Dominic's then handed over four small gold coins, equivalent to the forty silvers.
"The carpenter's name is Jack. I don't know as that he has a family name." The servant informed him as Dominic wrote up his receipt.
Dominic took the tools to the back, where Pops was silently laughing at the forge so hard that tears were running down his face, leaving streaks in the soot. Dominic gave him a smirk, assuming that the laughter was for his antics with the nosy servants.
But when he pointed at the pricing sheet, even Dominic had to laugh a little.
[Monogrammed names burned into handles: 1 copper a line]
Pops took the tools and used a hot poker to burn the name into the handles, then gave them a quick coat of oil varnish, bringing a shine to the handles that usually wasn't necessary for a plain hand tool.
The heat of the forge dried it in under a minute, and Dominic brought back the tools to face the impatiently waiting servants.
"We appreciate your patience. We had to make sure these were worthy of being presented as a gift by your Lady. Would you like a gift box? I have one here." He suggested.
"No, thank you. I have the Lady's preferred packaging at the house." The servant replied stiffly as he put the items carefully in a pouch.
"Did you get a chance to meet the twin Princesses? Are they as lovely in person as they are reputed to be?" One of the female servants asked as she admired an ornate bronze tool that Dominic recognized as a spell casting focus for Technomages.
"You have no idea, even fresh off the battlefield, I doubt any man in the Kingdom could hope to measure up beside them." He replied with a wink.
"Did you learn about anything that they like? Or were they all strong silent type?" Another of the servants asked, getting excited now that Dominic had admitted to having been in close contact with them.
Dominic considered his answer for a moment, and then a brilliant answer came to him.
"They're quite sensitive to scents, it seems. They had mentioned how they disliked the artificial scents of cheap perfumes, and people who just generally smelled bad. The younger twin Princess is not fond of floral scents, and has a preferred scent of gentlemen's Cologne that she buys regularly, but I didn't get a chance to ask anything about it."
Princess Alexis had actually smelled like sandalwood and leather, most likely from her equipment. But if these people asked, the description would send them on a fruitless hunt for the right product.
If these people stalked the Princess, they should know where she regularly shopped, and Cologne was insanely expensive by any standard. Surely, sending some paying customers the other shopkeeper's way wouldn't hurt anything.
The rest of the group made their excuses, and they nearly ran out of the shop, leaving Dominic with a laughing Pops.
"Not bad, boy. Only two sales, but you more than doubled the day's revenue. You just might have a talent for this, even if you never set foot in the forge itself." The old Dwarf congratulated him as he looked over the shelves for anything that needed to be restocked.
"Hopefully, whatever perfume shop the Princesses purchase their perfumes from does just as well. I believe that the Princess was actually headed to the Guard Tavern, but I suggested that the ones trailing her get new perfumes and Colognes that the Princess would like from where she shops."
The Dwarf looked at Dominic, confused. The only scents that Dwarves usually wore were from the forge, food or ale.
"Perfume is insanely expensive. If her preferred shop actually has their own line, they will make a fortune from the nobles trying to impress the Princess."