Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 7

The Quagoa turned his furry head at her mention of his name.

“Who…?”

“You,” Ilyshn’ish said. “You’re Zu Chiru, yes?”

“Yes, er…who are you is my asking.”

Ilyshn’ish furrowed her brow at his question.

“You know who I am,” she said. “Shiver.”

“Shiver…Shiver…Shiver…” Zu Chiru scratched his chin with a claw, then the fur over his shoulders ruffled. “Oh, but you do not look like her. She is also dead. Old man Tian turned her into crafting materials.”

“Are you sure about that?” Ilyshn’ish crossed her arms.

“Mhm,” the Quagoa nodded sagely. “Zu Chiru was there. The dead do not return…unless they are Adventurers. But Dragons are not Adventurers.”

Zu Chiru’s wheezing laughter rose into the evening sky. What did he find so funny?

Ilyshn’ish’s mind drifted back to why she was standing there. She looked down at the stall number, then at the details that Lady Wagner had written out for her.

“I’m looking for the merchant that’s supposed to be here,” she said. “Instead, I found a Quagoa. Do you know where they went?”

“Such rudeness. Zu Chiru is the merchant here!”

She looked at the stalls to either side. Everyone else was a Human or a Dwarf.

“If you’re a merchant,” Ilyshn’ish asked. “Shouldn’t you be in the Demihuman Quarter?”

“Lady Gagnier says that we are all subjects of the Sorcerous Kingdom,” Zu Chiru answered, “and we must learn to live in harmony with the others. Lady Wagner says that if I’m to be a merchant, I must be brave and seek new opportunities. I have…employed some of my kin to work in the Demihuman Quarter for me. Here, I sell our goods to the Humans, who are many and have great wealth.”

The jumpy little Quagoa had apparently gone up in the world. Ilyshn’ish leaned forward to look at his wares. Though they were sorted into cases, it was a familiar sight. Olasird’arc’s hoard was filled with the tributes of his Quagoa slaves, who offered him all manner of precious stones and metals. It wasn’t a surprise to Ilyshn’ish that they would put their skills to work here, but she wondered where they had found them. Perhaps they had burrowed deep into the earth to find hidden lodes.

As she continued to savour the sense of the raw treasures, Zu Chiru poked his whiskered snout in front of her.

“Will you buy?”

“…buy?”

“Yes,” Zu Chiru told her. “Buy. This is merchandise, yes?”

“I was just browsing.”

Zu Chiru leaned back on his stool, looking somewhat disappointed.

“Then I must ask you to move for the next customer,” he said. “But I must also thank you for bringing so many.”

“I did?”

She sensed that people had gathered around the stall, but she wasn’t sure why. Zu Chiru nodded.

“While you were appreciating the gemstones, they were appreciating your rear. Zu Chiru must think on how this may be used in the future.”

The heads of the people behind her snapped away. Ilyshn’ish turned to glance at them. Why did they have to put on innocent looks? It wasn’t as if they knew she was a Dragon. Human propriety was one of the strangest things about them; a strange dance with all sorts of unnecessary and unspoken rules.

Ilyshn’ish stepped aside and slipped in behind the stall with Zu Chiru.

“W-what are you doing?” He asked nervously.

“Lady Wagner sent me here,” Ilyshn’ish reached into her bag. “Here’s a letter from her.”

“Hey,” a man in a leather apron said. “How are you for rubies?”

Zu Chiru turned away from the proffered letter to address him.

“Rubies? Ah, ehm, this is all we were able to find for today.”

“Can’t be helped, I guess,” the man blew out a sigh. “I’ll take all of them.”

A scale was placed on the table, and Zu Chiru pulled a sack out from his cart. After weighing the sack, he poured the case of uncut rubies into it and weighed it again. A half-minute of bargaining ensued. When the exchange was finally agreed upon, half of the customers dispersed.

“They couldn’t all have been here for low-quality rubies,” Ilyshn’ish remarked.

“This surprised me as well,” Zu Chiru said as he swept the coins on the table into the now-empty case. “They say that the quality does not matter for the purpose intended.”

“Those rubies aren’t being used to make jewellery?”

“Zu Chiru does not think so. At least three of the Humans who have purchased them say that they are being sent south. If it was for jewellery, they should be cut here, no?”

His reasoning made sense. She wondered where the rubies were going and what they were being used for.

After dealing with the rest of his customers, Zu Chiru turned to face Ilyshn’ish again.

“Now,” he said, “why are you standing here with me again? Something about Lady Wagner…”

Ilyshn’ish held out the letter again. The Quagoa merchant took it into his claws, silently mouthing the content of the letter.

“Hm…what does this mean? You are not an apprentice, but…watching, helping – are you my minion now?”

“No.”

She shot him a cold look.

“But it says–”

“No.”

Zu Chiru scratched his head, reading over the letter again.

“…you will watch and learn and help, yes?”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Ilyshn’ish replied. “But I’m not your minion.”

“Okay…this letter says that you will work, but I do not have to pay you. But only work you agree to do?”

“Yes,” Ilyshn’ish nodded. “I’m a Bard – I don’t plan on becoming a Merchant. Lady Wagner says that there are many things a Bard can do to help you, so that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

The Quagoa merchant looked around the plaza with a thoughtful look.

“Singing and dancing do not suit this place,” he said. “Maybe you can lean over the table ag–aieeee!”

Ilyshn’ish lifted him by the scruff of his neck. She set him aside and went to stand in his place.

“If you want me to draw customers,” she told him, “I can do better than that.”

“But they must be ones that will purchase our goods,” Zu Chiru rubbed the back of his neck.

She reviewed her memories, profiling the people that had registered to her senses since she entered the plaza. They were all dressed in annoyingly similar ways. Most had aprons and other equipment that spoke of vocations that posed hazards to exposed skin and hair. Appearance was secondary to how functional their outfits were. The most valuable items they held on their person were their tools. Nine out of ten were male, which offered her distinct advantages.

“By bringing many,” she suggested, “won’t at least a few make purchases?”

That was how the city plazas worked, in principle. By drawing people to a centralized location, many people offering a variety of products, services and entertainment could take advantage of the numbers. Drawing the awareness of thousands of people was easier than trying to isolate that single customer who would make a purchase.

“Zu Chiru thinks so as well,” the Quagoa nodded, “but if you bring people in for nothing, I think they will get angry at us for taking up their time. This will work better when my company has more to offer, so I do not wish to test the patience of others right now.”

“Your company? I thought you worked for Lady Wagner.”

“Both Lady Wagner and Lady Gagnier have helped Zu Chiru and the Zu Aygen clan a great deal. This arrangement is also one of their favours – by appearing to work for Lady Wagner, my company is sheltered from the predations of others.”

“Why would two Human nobles go out of their way to help a Quagoa?”

Zu Chiru’s nose wrinkled as he thought. In the end, however, he looked just as clueless as Ilyshn’ish was.

“Lady Gagnier and Lady Wagner have different reasons for doing this, I think. Though they are different, their actions lead to the same result. It is difficult to put in words. My mind cannot understand, but my heart can somehow feel that something important is happening.”

Perhaps it was because Quagoa were far more social than Humans, but Zu Chiru appeared to have picked up on the subtle changes going on in the Sorcerous Kingdom. Did Human leaders also have some special sense for it? Baroness Zahradnik appeared to be moulding the identity of her territory and its people by sheer force of will. Countess Wagner and Baroness Gagnier were combining their talents to subtly influence the flows of culture and commerce.

For that matter, Ilyshn’ish’s father, Olasird’arc, also sowed the seeds of change in his brood as a Dragon Lord. Without his influence, she wasn’t sure how well she and the others would have adapted to their new life in the Sorcerous Kingdom. Was it the will of the world that all this should happen? The more coincidences she came across, the less she thought there was such a thing as coincidence.

“How large is this company of yours, anyway?” Ilyshn’ish asked.

“For now it is not overly large,” Zu Chiru replied. “I have five clansmen that deal with those who bring stones and such to the Demihuman Quarter from their lands. I am not yet confident that we can deal in more dangerous goods like wood. Later, I can show you what we do. The Humans are only active for a few hours in the evening, so we will return to the Demihuman Quarter soon.”

Ilyshn’ish continued manning the stand. Though things picked up a little bit, it wasn’t anything like the brisk business that merchants in the central plaza saw. A large part of the reason was that it was not the central plaza and thus did not see as many people. As she had observed earlier, the plaza that they were in was for merchants that specifically sold goods related to the nearby industries. The largely taciturn clientele came to the place knowing what they were looking for, and there was little shopping being done.

Another reason was that the stand was very plain. This was common for lesser merchants in the city or those who were just starting to make their way, like Zu Chiru. There was the table, its stool, and the cart. The only other thing was some sort of tarp that was shading the stand. Humans did not naturally possess Darkvision, so the poor lighting probably made for poor marketing. The lack of attention irked her as a Bard.

“What is this tarp up here for?” She asked.

“To block the magical lighting,” Zu Chiru answered. “I would like my wares to be more visible to these Humans, but any more than this my eyes cannot stand. Lady Wagner said she would do something about it, but she has been busy as of late.”

“I see…”

Lady Wagner says that if I’m to be a merchant, I must be brave and seek new opportunities.

Normally an exclusively subterranean race, Quagoa were subject to day blindness. Ilyshn’ish supposed any bright place would be a brave new frontier full of untapped markets for one who had only worked in the darkness of the Demihuman Quarter so far.

“How long have you been selling your wares in this plaza?”

“Hm…one week? They said it would be a good step for me – the Demihuman Quarter is close by and the type of business done here is straightforward.”

That much was true, from what she had seen so far. She looked over the stand and the surroundings again, trying to figure out how to improve their visibility.

In addition to the tarp, the location that Zu Chiru had chosen was also the furthest from any set of magical lights. It was the opposite of every other merchant, who competed for the places with the best lighting. If one considered that Zu Chiru was selling gemstones and precious metals, it was far worse. The lumber, stone and the ores that were being sold here did not shine and sparkle when flooded with light.

Ilyshn’ish reached up to remove the tarp from above them. Zu Chiru dove under his cart with a squeak.

“W-what are you doing?”

“Trying to improve the visibility of your stand,” Ilyshn’ish replied. “Since I’m here now, you don’t need to sit out in the light.”

She wrapped the tarp around the table legs and ushered Zu Chiru into the nearly lightless space.

“Oh, this is nice. The surface is so cold and the wind makes it worse. I was thinking of buying a bigger one of these…like little buildings…”

“Tents?”

“Yes, tents. I wonder if I can afford one yet.”

The amounts that were being exchanged for Zu Chiru’s goods were more than enough to buy a tent. He could easily upgrade his entire stall and have plenty to spare.

“Is there a reason why you haven’t bought one yet? Do you owe tribut–er money to Lady Wagner?”

“I have already paid her back for the table and the cart,” Zu Chiru said. “When I first met Lady Gagnier and Lady Wagner, they showed me how to trade. We started with six copper coins and ended up with twenty silver coins in a few hours!”

Six copper coins became twenty silver coins? What supreme sorcery was this?

“Out of curiosity,” Ilyshn’ish asked. “How much have you made since you started?”

Zu Chiru fished around in a satchel slung over his shoulder, producing a notebook.

“Hm…it felt like a lot back then,” he flipped through the pages, “but I was only making around one gold per day for the first month. Lady Gagnier also sent me to learn how to read and write at the Azure Sky, Iron Fist Sect. Miss Yuri is very scary and her attacks pierce my fur like it’s not even there, so the learning was quick. She teaches for free, so I send my apprentices to study there too.”

The Quagoa Merchant shook his head, fur rippling as he appeared to reminisce over the pages.

“I do not know what has happened to me. Back then, I thought I would be content making enough for me and my sister’s family. Then I started thinking about what I could do with the extra money, and it kept growing and growing. My clan was always small. When we were sent here we learned what it is to be poor. There are many mouths to feed and everyone has to work very hard just to survive. With my recent experiences, I know it does not need to be this way.”

Ilyshn’ish couldn’t wrap her head around the way that he thought. Frost Dragons rarely cared for even their children, and even then it was based on whether they were considered competition or not. Her relationship with Hejinmal only existed because he was both harmless and useful.

Their work continued for a few more hours. Ilyshn’ish would welcome customers and put on a pleasant front while Zu Chiru listened from under the table. Bards were possessed of a wealth of social skills, lore and the ability to detect and appraise, so much of what she did working the stand was a variation of what she usually did as a Bard. There was no music, but her interactions were a performance of their own. The customers were a bit disconcerted when, instead of dealing with her, they found themselves bargaining with someone hidden under the table.

It was an hour to midnight when they finally carted Zu Chiru’s things back to the Demihuman Quarter. Well, it was more like she carted things back to the Demihuman quarter. The Quagoa hid in the cart, away from the streetlamps.

“How did you get out there if you have to hide from the lights?” Ilyshn’ish asked.

“I pushed my things to the southern gatehouse,” Zu Chiru answered. “Once I was there, I asked one of the Death Knights to help.”

“You asked the Undead for help?”

“It is strange, yes? But Lady Gagnier showed me that they would help people if what one requested was reasonable, so I did.”

Zu Chiru hopped out of the cart, brushing off his fur.

“Come,” he said. “There is still much work to do. This Zu Chiru will show you around.”

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