Chapter 149: Back In Black
At the Guild of Fine and Magical Creations, Noir and Sam sat across from a stone elf of aged countenance, who was peering through a set of lenses into the soul sapphire before him. Noir had kept a tight hold on the soulstone, and he’d been quite anxious with every inspection of it, and the disappointing offers that were rejected, which led them up the chain of experts to the slate-haired elf sitting before them.
And that was because it was a slow day.
The representative of the Association of Jewelers, Lazuli Highstone, whose subset of the Creations Guild handled the legal trade of all mana crystals in the city.
With a large swallow, he analyzed each gem protrusion, every facet, even the fossilized bone under the gems, though he didn’t spend long on that.
"I was quite surprised when I received the message to come see this. I no longer regret failing to leave early." He pulled away from the stone, rotating the lenses out of his eyes and staring across the room through his glasses.
"So it’s valuable?" Noir asked, sipping the tea that had been served.
"Quite so. I can offer you fifty orichalc now, and a pass for you and your friend to take the next Guild ship when it arrives, assuming we are still besieged by then."
Noir almost spat out his tea, but he realized he was about to, and so in his attempts to refrain only managed to choke himself for the moment it took for him to force down the tea. After a furious round of coughing, he gasped, "Fifteen? As in one hundred fifty gold?" He was about to accept when Sam raised their arm to silence him.
"Too low... Offered too fast..." they stared down the elf.
Mr. Highstone sighed, unwebbing his hands to cross his legs before holding onto his knee. "If you are willing to accept city bonds, I can go as high as two hundred fifty, but I would need at least three days to get the transfer set up."
"Why the big jump?" Noir asked.