Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

They stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do exactly.

"No need to be shy. Look around, take a gander. Ask me if you are looking for something specific. Evil souls of the worst Dark Lords, the soul of an untainted maiden, maybe? Whatever you need and for whatever purpose you have, Tano'Mol has it or can procure it. The quality and source of my wares are top-notch, documented, and certified.

But you probably already know this, as you came to Tano'mol's Soul Emporium, instead of visiting those shady junk dealers and human traffickers out there."

The goat just kept talking without pause. It obviously liked hearing itself talk and Seth couldn't help to admit that it had an ounce of charisma that made others want to listen to its gibberish. Since it liked to talk, the bard thought it was a good chance to collect information on the business.

"Shady junk dealers and human traffickers, what do you mean by this? I'm new to this business."

"And you directly came to the best. A wise choice. You are a human, so you probably heard of all kinds of awful stories about humans making a deal with the devil, getting more than they bargained for, and unfairly losing their souls. Well, all of them are true.

I personally judge these kinds of practices. They are the reason our once highly acclaimed craft has fallen to the point that I can only do business in this kind of place," he said with a tragic sigh.

"You see, here at Tano'Mol's Soul Emporium, I put a lot of emphasis on letting the customer know where their souls came from. None of these come from unfair contracts. Nobody was killed or cheated to lose their souls."

Tano'Mol kept actively gesticulating to accentuate his speech. He directly touched on a topic Seth had been a little worried about. Technically, he could go around and slay all kinds of people for their souls, but he didn't do it because he thought this was too high a prize.

Now, he also didn't want to support a business that simply did it in his stead. What would be the point of that? But if every soul in the shop came from a fair contract, this brought up another question.

"Then, if I wanted a huge quantity of small or medium common souls, how would you source it?"

"Is that what you need? No problem at all. We have partnered with many slaughterhouses and monster farms across the pathworks. With Tano'Mol's patented Soul gathering formation, we collect souls where death is already prevalent. Instead of wasting them on some God of the Underworld, they become a by-product of an already established business," the goat explained fervently.

The blacksmith was still skeptical, but it sounded convincing. If it all was documented and comprehensible, Seth would feel quite relieved about dealing with Tano'Mol in the future.

"Could you show me those papers?"

"Of course!" the goat said enthusiastically and brought a stack of papers.

Despite his gut telling him to trust the goat, and Seth was pretty sure he was not put under a spell, he still wanted to check and made sure.

While Seth was doing business stuff for his conscience, Ember was wandering around the shop and staring at the little soul blobs floating in the glass containers.

"And what would these cost?" Seth asked after checking the magic documents.

If these were just paper, the bard would not have been convinced. However, all of them were magic contracts and treatises. This didn't just mean that the parties of the contracts had to abide, but it was also easy for third parties to ascertain the legitimacy.

All of it was, of course, for naught, if there was not also a magic pledge of Tano'Mol towards his customers. When it came to demons, one had to be thorough. Whether it was about catching their schemes or them trying to prove that they were honest both were hard.

"In system currency, the usual asking price for a small common soul is 30 Copper. A medium soul would be 3 silver per piece. However, we can give a discount for small souls if you buy in large quantities." Tano explained readily.

Seth did his best not to show his surprise. This was dirt cheap, compared to the hardships he had gone through to get souls. This was the difference between an amateur and a professional. At least in the matter of collecting souls.

A single gold coin could get him about 30 medium souls, or roughly 300 small ones. With this price, it would even become feasible to start equipping all the people of Minas Mar with soul armaments. Maybe even selling some smaller trinkets with souls in them to the public.

"How much discount are we talking about?" he asked seriously.

"If you buy more than 500 I will sell you the small ones for 25 Copper," the goat answered concisely.

Decisively Seth put down two stacks of 10 gold coins each.

"Then give me 2000 small common ones and 500 medium ones, for the start."

The goat seemed petrified as it stared at the 20 golden coins on its counter. Seth wondered whether Tano'Mol short-circuited or regretted not asking a higher price. However, soon a little glint appeared in the horizontal goat eyes.

"That's quite a lot to buy in one go, even if they are just low-level goods. Even if you say this is your first time in the business, could it be that you already do something with a high demand for souls? Like... your equipment for example?" the trader guessed.

"Good guess. I indeed need the souls to make items like the ones I am currently wearing."

The blacksmith saw no reason to hide this fact, as it was clear that Tano'Mol already had a way to know about the traits of his items. Once Seth admitted it, the eyes of the demon widened in wonder and maybe a hint of hope? Seth couldn't quite read the goat expressions.

"A blacksmith who can so perfectly meld a soul into an object.. this is the first time I meet someone like this. It's an honor for me to be able to meet a man of such talent," the goat suddenly said and bowed to him.

When Seth asked how he knew, Tano'Mol explained that as a specialized soul trader her was able to see a soul's glow on items that had souls attached to them or were possessed by souls. Seth's armor was very special, as it had a glow very similar to a living person, which was probably thanks to the process of using the Waters of Styx to ultimately bind the soul to its new body.

"If it is like this, wouldn't buying special souls benefit your craft more?" the demon asked curious about the reason Seth bought only low-tier common merchandise.

Seth chuckled.

"Didn't I say this was only the start? I need the common souls for something specific and as stock. I was going to look for something more special afterward."

Tano'Mol played with both his hands on his beard as he seemed to ponder something.

"Then why don't we wait with the final billing until you chose all your items and I will make you a bundle price since this is your first purchase." the demon suggested courteously.

Seth just wanted they suddenly heard someone call from somewhere on the second floor.

"What are those souls?" Ember asked curiously.

Tano'Mol looked up, obviously surprised how Ember even got to the second floor but didn't seem too concerned.

"Shall we take a look at what your company came across?" the goat suggested and led the way to the second floor.

The second floor was not too different from the first floor, except for a slight jump in quality. The goat cocked his head when he saw Ember in front of a locked showcase with rows of crystal ball containers inside.

The trader's ears twitched when he saw the demoness fiddling with the showcase.

"Please don't play around with those, they are sensitive."

His eyebrows jumped up when Seth looked at the cabinet. Almost all souls inside the cabinet were epic, with many being ego souls. But the really surprising thing was that they all fell in the same category as the Vengeful Soul. They were all something like longing souls, hateful souls, or even malicious souls. They all had some kind of identifier with a strong attachment or motivation.

"This is quite the sinister-looking shelf. Where do these kinds of souls come from?" he asked as Ember took a step back from the showcase.

"They are the souls of undead we harvested across many worlds. Before you ask, anything above the first floor is restricted and cannot be bought with just money," he explained.

That explained the cabinet full of terrifying souls.

"Anyway, shall we get back to business?"