20demayo Chapter 57 Inquiring about the Black Market
Chapter 57 Inquiring about the Black Market
A beautiful and hopeful day passed, but when Zag woke up the next morning, he didn't see Mrs. Marsh.
He knocked on the door, somewhat puzzled, but found that there seemed to be no response from inside.
This time, Zag panicked completely and rushed in. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Mrs. Marsh's chest was still rising and falling slightly.
She was so tired that she developed a fever.
It's obvious that she's been traveling, looking for accommodation, and sleeping in cheap hotels these past few days, so she hasn't been getting enough rest. Yesterday was especially busy. Given her physical condition, the fact that she's only collapsed now shows how strong her willpower is.
Should I apply an ice pack?
or……
After racking his brains for a while, Zag decided to buy a bottle of [Healing Hand].
There was no other way; there was no ibuprofen in this world, and Mrs. Marsh was already due to take her weekly Healing Hand.
To put it bluntly, if you're sick these days, using [Healing Hands] is a win-win situation, saving you from having to spend extra money.
Ms. Rowan was much easier to talk to than Matthew. Knowing that Zag's mother needed to buy a bottle of "Healing Hand" every week, she gave him a significant discount.
"10 shillings, only one bottle per week, and only for you to buy. You'd be hard-pressed to find this price even on the black market."
Rowan smiled and handed the Healing Hand to Zag. There was no wooden box, no packaging, not even a bag.
"With such a low discount, we can skip the packaging box."
Zag nodded gratefully, "Thank you so much, ma'am."
However, after receiving the Healing Hand, he took the opportunity to ask, "Where is this black market you mentioned, and how do I get in?"
Rowan chuckled and teased, "What, you're really planning to buy the Healing Hand on the black market? If you don't have experience, you can't just buy any alchemical potions there; there are a lot of fakes."
Zag replied, "No, I just have some alchemical materials that I acquired by chance and want to sell them for some money. You know, my mother and I just moved to East Port and we still need to buy furniture and daily necessities; there are many expenses."
Rowan's interest was immediately piqued: "Alchemy materials? Are they magical materials? What kind of materials are they? I might be able to give you a pretty good price, after all, I own an alchemy potion shop!"
Zag was somewhat surprised: "I thought that a chain store like this would get all its goods from Weyland, after all, your store is called 'Mrs. Weyland's Aromatic Pharmacy'."
Rowan replied, "Some of the goods are, but most of them are my own. If I sold everything from the Weyland family, I would starve."
Zag really didn't understand the chain brand licensing mechanism of this world. In modern times, at least under normal circumstances, a store selling a certain brand would not sell other things with that brand label on them.
"If they weren't selling Weyland's products, how could they have allowed you to use this sign? No offense intended. I'm just curious, doesn't the Weyland family worry that some unscrupulous shopkeepers might sell counterfeit or substandard alchemical potions and ruin their reputation?"
Rowan explained, "Yes, your concerns are valid, but the Weyland family doesn't just give this signboard away to anyone. Both Matthew and I have obtained sufficient guarantees and signed contracts. Moreover, the guarantor is one of the largest shareholders of the Weyland Company, which gives Weyland enough reason to trust us so that we can use this signboard."
"Of course, not all shop owners guaranteed by guarantors are trustworthy. The Weyland family also assesses the risks themselves. At least Matthew and I won't do anything to bring shame to the family, so we have earned their trust."
Zag suddenly realized.
It seems that the owners of Mrs. Weyland's Aromatic Apothecaries in all locations are no ordinary people; at least their backgrounds or connections are beyond the reach of most.
Of course, more importantly, contracts in this world where magic objectively exists are not only maintained by law, and this should be the main reason.
"I have some tree spirit healing slime that I want to sell. In addition, I also plan to go to the black market to see if I can buy some books on learning magic. You know, ever since I realized that my mother's illness was related to the occult, I've been thinking about seeing if there's a way to break into the occult and maybe cure her."
Zag not only brought up Mrs. Marsh as an excuse, but also deliberately concealed Herford's wolf fur.
This is a very sensitive topic right now. The cult scandal is making headlines in Cabbage Town, and he doesn't believe the lord won't investigate other places, especially a bustling city like Eastwater Harbor.
Therefore, it's best to try and sell these first-generation werewolf fur anonymously on the black market. If that doesn't work, save them up and sell them later when you really need to make money.
Rowan's eyes lit up: "Healing slime? That stuff is in high demand and worth a lot of money. If you really have any, I'll definitely buy it at a price higher than the market value! How much do you have right now? Are you planning to sell it all?"
"Yes, ever since the Great Calamity, the Gore people have fled, and the only stable source of healing slime has been the Kingdom of Lunaran. But the pure-blooded elves' asking prices are really dishonest. I had to pay a high price to intercept this batch when I was a sentinel." Zag said deliberately, "However, I put in a lot of effort to get this batch, so there's quite a lot, almost a pint or more."
The subtext of Zag's words was that he knew the market price and wanted to sell the healing slime he had for a high price, but Rowan was already shocked by the quantity of healing slime he mentioned.
She widened her eyes dramatically, repeatedly asking Zag for confirmation: "What did you say? One pint?! Are you serious? You actually have one pint! This stuff is measured in liquids, skrupp and grains! I always receive goods by the ounce! This is the first time I've ever heard of it being described in pints! This isn't like buying milk!"
Both liquid volume skruples and grains are units of measurement used in medicine, one being a unit of volume and the other a unit of weight. Of course, apart from grains being a commonly used unit, this was the first time Zag had heard the term liquid volume skruple.
Zag explained, half-jokingly, "Yes, there's a lot of stock, so I wanted to see if I could sell it on the black market. I even went to great lengths to find this connection. If there's a stable way to sell it, I can even provide it long-term. That would be a considerable amount of extra income."
Of course, the lies that were dug up with great effort were false.
The most effort he spent on these healing slimes was coaxing Snowball to communicate with the tree spirits.
The tree spirits were happy to exchange this secretion, which was of little use to them, for things they needed more. Apart from Meretra's Mercy, these were common alchemical potions useful to plants. They even asked for two pairs of shears and a hoe.
Although it's unclear what they use these things for, compared to the value of a large amount of healing slime, these things are obviously insignificant. Even combined with [Meretra's Mercy], they don't exceed 50 shillings!
However, if one can indeed consistently sell off these healing slimes, then maintaining a stable and long-term business relationship with the tree spirits cannot rely on such deceptive or fraudulent methods.
At the very least, if the value is not equal, it is easy to cause dissatisfaction on one side. There is no need to deceive the tree spirits for a little bit of profit when there is a way to make money through cooperation that benefits both parties.
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[Snowball's Science Mini-Drama]: Fluid Scruple is a unit of apothecaries' weight. 3 Fluid Scruple = 1 Fluid Dram, 8 Fluid Dram = 1 Fluid Ounce, and 20 Fluid Ounce = 1 Fluid Pint.
There is also the smallest liquid, minim, which is difficult to convert, but is roughly the amount of a drop of water.
"What a stupid unit conversion system! The stupidest in the world! I swear!"