The merchants rose up even before the sun to prepare their stalls. When Mahon exited Nightmare, he was one of the last to wake up. A joyful effervescence had struck the caravan as everyone was happily setting up their carts in clean rows and unpacking their goods to put them on display.

Edwin and the Frontaliers were organizing the market with the efficiency only people that already did it hundreds of times could have. The guards had been tasked to transport barriers from the city to the market to enclose the carts and prevent anyone from accessing the market from elsewhere than through two doors that had been set up on both sides of the place.

The market was laying against the city south wall and was directly accessible from the city main door within a minute’s walk. They hadn’t even finished setting up that people were already queuing at the doors to enter.

Edwin gave a quick speech to remind the guards of their duty before assigning two guards to each entrance and leaving the rest to patrol the market in case any trouble happened. As every day since the goblin’s episode, he didn’t dare order Mahon and Jorik to do anything, in fact they weren’t even guards anymore, but the two men had still listened to the Frontalier’s leader instructions as they planned to watch over the market, anyway.

When they came back to Siraye’s cart, the woman had already finished preparing her stall. She had over a hundred weapons carefully displayed, from throwing daggers to two-handed swords. Although she was interested in all kinds of weapons, she mainly forged and sold swords or similar weapons. Other than that, she only had two axes, one spear and one warhammer for sale that she had previously obtained through trades.

On the side of the heavily loaded cart, there was a smaller stall with all the necessary equipment to take care of the weapons such as whetstones, sheathes, oil and more.

A few minutes later, the first customers were given the authorization to enter the market, and the crowd squeezed through the small doors to access the market. Even though weapons weren’t a rare commodity, and Siraye wasn’t actually selling exotic ones, they were all of great quality given the woman’s impressive standard, and a small group of people quickly formed around her cart.

Most of the passerby also took a quick look each time they walked by her stall, and the woman became incredibly busy right after the opening.

Mahon and Jorik simply stood to each side of the cart and observed with attention the men and women interested in the woman’s goods. Although the market was always in action, Mahon wasn’t moving at all, and so he let his mind phase out in his usual sentry routine. He focused intently for half an hour to get a perfect sense of his surroundings before letting his mind analyze in the background for any suspect movement while he could pay more attention to Siraye and the people she discussed with.

“Of course! See this sword?” Siraye pointed to the famous sword hanging above her head. “It was actually wielded by a seven-star warrior and helped him win the fight. That’s the quality I’m selling. No less.” She explained with a proud smile.

The crowd’s reaction didn’t disappoint as every single customer gasped in awe at the explanation. After a moment of silence, they connected back with reality before rushing to buy a weapon each. Siraye was immediately overwhelmed by the crowd, and she didn’t waste any time, discussing deals left and right and advising each of her buyers with the weapon best suited for their usage.

She was actually very caring of her customers, and even though she was shameless about her weapon’s promotion, it was because she was very confident about her blacksmith abilities. More than once, she refused to sell to someone because she deemed the usage inappropriate for her weapons, even though the people were adamant to buy them. Other times, she simply shook her head and explained she hadn’t a weapon suited for a specific need instead of redirecting people to a less fitting weapon.

In the end, many people tried to buy her weapons, but she only sold a few at the appropriate time. Some would judge her very picky and obstinate, but that was how she worked and despite the majority of people leaving without a weapon they all received adequate advice. There was no need to tell about those that managed to leave with a weapon, as they were so ecstatic it directly could be read on their faces.

Twice, young people tried to steal a weapon while Siraye was too busy dealing with her customers, and they might have actually succeeded if not for Mahon and Jorik keeping watch. Both times, they intervened before the thief could even lay his hand on a weapon, and their efficiency at protecting the cart earned them some admiration from the crowd.

The market was very well organized and when lunchtime came, the Frontaliers closed the market doors and chased away the clients so the merchants could have a break and eat. The cooks distributed food directly to the carts so the merchants wouldn’t have to move away, and they could reorganize their stalls for the afternoon while eating.

Lunch break lasted for one hour and a half, but after half an hour, the market would reopen one hour early for special customers ready to pay a hefty sum to discuss leisurely with the merchants. They were mostly nobles or really rich merchants wanting to negotiate their own rate without a crowd pressuring them. It was one of the features that made this caravan’s market famous.

Siraye had just finished eating and was reorganizing her weapons, taking notes about what she had sold because she didn’t have the time to do it before with the constant flux of customers, when an awesome-looking man came to her stall.

The man had blond, flowing hair almost fully covering a long, charming face. His darting blue eyes and soft skin gracefully complimented his aristocratic bearing. The man sported a muscled frame that stretched his expensive clothing in a very manly way, and he walked leisurely through the market as if everything belonged to him.

If not for his arrogant smile, Mahon would have categorized the man as a noble among others, but there was something that ticked Mahon off about his behavior, and seeing how he walked directly towards Siraye’s cart, he knew it brought nothing good.

“Is this the sword from a seven-star warrior?” The man asked immediately once he reached Siraye’s cart.

Seeing a rich customer right at her door, Siraye stopped her accounting business and smiled widely.

“Yes! Actually the story goes tha…”

“How much?” The noble interrupted her harshly.

A frown appeared on Siraye’s face. “It’s not for sale.” She explained.

“I didn’t ask if it was for sale.” The man retorted with a bored look. “I asked how much.”

“Are you deaf or just dumb?” Siraye immediately got pissed. “I said it’s not for sale.”

The man showed an ugly face. “Do you know who I am?”

“Yes, I think I know exactly.” The man smiled proudly, but it quickly faltered as Siraye continued. “You’re just an immature brat trying to leech off your dad’s success, but here you’re just a customer and I’m the merchant. You have no power. No one will force me to sell anything. So now, piss off!”

Siraye waved him off before going back to her accounting while muttering to herself how rash people had become nowadays.

“You dare?!!” Instead of leaving, the man turned red from anger.

“Easy boy.” Siraye retorted without even raising her eyes from her papers. “Go back to your daddy and ask him for something else. But not at my store.”

“Who do you think you are?! Barely looking twenty and pretending to know anything about weapons? If not for a seven-star luckily touching one of your weapons, you would be nothing! How can a woman even dream of having a weapons business? You’re just a fake!”

The man’s tirade actually got Siraye to stop what she was doing and glance at the man with a look that could kill. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t even notice as he continued to yell and sputter all over her stall.

“You’re only a girl! Not even a woman! What can you really know? I’m gonna take this sword right now, and we’ll see what is left of your petty business! I was being kind by offering you some money!”

“Ok, that’s enough.” Jorik stepped forward, but Siraye raised her hand to stop him.

“No. No. Jorik. Let me handle this cunt.” She raised from her chair and slowly walked to her stall while looking straight at the noble throwing a tantrum. “Listen carefully, dickhead. If you dare touch a single sword on my cart, I’m breaking your fingers. If you don’t believe me, try it, but being young or being a woman will not change this outcome in any way. It might cure your superiority complex for some time, though.”

The noble didn’t even hesitate as he moved forward and grabbed the seven-star sword. Or wanted to grab. In a flash, Siraye jumped over her stall and kicked the man in the guts. As he crumbled on the ground while holding his private parts and wailing in pain, Siraye kicked one of his hands away before raising her foot and stomping heavily on his fingers with all her might.

A horrendous crack was distinctly heard, and the man’s whine suddenly grew much louder as he eyed his hand with two fingers hanging at impossible hands, clearly broken.

With both of her hands, Siraye grabbed the man’s clothes over his shoulders and raised him up in one powerful move. She slapped the man to get his attention, and even though he was two heads taller than her, he didn’t dare move in front of her intense look.

“You got what you asked for. Now scram before you piss me even more you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

She eyed at his crotch, and the man was fortunately smart enough to understand the implied threat. He fled the next instant while holding his broken hand.

Once he was far enough, Siraye bursted out laughing, to the surprise of both Mahon and Jorik that had watched the whole scene unfold with astonishment.

“Ah! It had been long since I corrected someone like that. Feels good!”

And then as if nothing had happened she went back to her books and accounting papers. Except, this time a happy smile lingered on her face for long as she dived into numbers and inventories. Mahon and Jorik exchanged a puzzled look, but in the end they ignored the matter altogether and went back to their own business.

No one came afterwards until the market opened his doors again after the lunch break was completely over. Then, another crowd harassed Siraye for weapons during the whole afternoon while the woman provided advice to everyone, but only sold her weapons to the most righteous. Meanwhile, Mahon and Jorik didn’t have to stop any thief attempt even though the market stayed open much longer than in the morning. Maybe the thieves had passed the word to each other that as long as Jorik and Mahon were beside the cart, they had no chance whatsoever to steal anything.

On the other hand, Siraye got a few rude customers that didn’t like that she was refusing to sell them a weapon, but they weren’t as daring as the noble from the lunch break, and Siraye managed to handle them even more easily.

When the market closed for the evening, Siraye had managed to sell twenty percent of her stock, and she was very happy with it. The first day in a city was always the most lucrative, but even she didn’t think she would sell that many.

As they closed her cart and secured her merchandise safely inside, Siraye led their group of three to the city as per their agreement.

“Let’s go, boys! I’m offering the first round tonight!” She said with a wide smile.