Gora gestured to the couch across from him. “Please. Sit. Make yourself comfortable. Tell me, are you liking your Information Overlay Brand? Not wanting to return it, are you? There are so many features you can unlock with it, if you’re clever enough. Even one or two which the church doesn’t like us to advertise, if you know what I mean.” He nodded his head forward and tapped the side of his nose in some kind of gesture I assumed I didn’t have the cultural background to understand.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I answered honestly, “but I’ve found the Brand ridiculously useful. What’s that about returns, though? I didn’t realize you could return Brands.” I flopped down on the provided couch.

“My mistake. I should have explained it to you last time. Yes. If you decide you don’t like a Brand you just purchased, you can come back to any Broker’s Guildhouse in the first twelve days after your purchase and have it removed for 50% of the purchase price in store credit. It doesn’t happen often, but we try to accommodate, even though we have no means of reselling returned Brands. Weapons and armor get a 90% credit return.”

“Good to know,” I said. “But no, I’m happy with Information Overlay. Extremely happy. I just found out yesterday that it can track my money for me. My money! I feel like I’m barely scratching the surface of what it’s capable of.”

“Indeed,” Gora agreed. “Many Brands have secret abilities that require practice and a willingness to experiment to unlock. I have referred several clients to Oxenraith University to take their class on Homeward Bound.” He turned his head to gaze out the window that looked out over the gardens, rubbing his chin thoughtfully for a moment before making his eyes go wide, like something had just occurred to him. “I feel obligated to ask… how much money did you want to spend here today? You understand, of course, that I will need to tailor my recommendations to your budget.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” I dug into my pocket and pulled out the pouch filled with Marks. I dropped it on the table between us and loosened the drawstring. Gora’s head snapped around. I swear I could see the prismatic kaleidoscope of colors coming off the coins reflect in his dark eyes. “I decided I want to rank up in the Adventurer’s Guild,” I explained. “So I’m looking to get as many Brands and other equipment as I can afford. Anything that will help me rank up as fast as possible.”

“Are those… all… Marks?” Gora’s tone was distant, like I was losing the battle for his attention with the bag of money. I cinched it closed. That got him to look back up at me.

“My budget today,” I said, “is a little more than eleven thousand Crosses.”

“Yes,” Gora said. “Yes, I believe I can help you with that. I didn’t realize the university paid so much for participation in their Outworlder research projects.”

I latched onto that immediately as a potential means of explaining away my new money without revealing my connection to Brookie. “Well, like you told me last time, they have deep pockets.” I thought that was probably true, from the perspective of an individual at least. My chat with Professor Lightglow had revealed some budgetary strain, but I doubted that was something many people were aware of. “Anyway, I was looking through your pamphlet on the Brands you offer here and I didn’t finish yet, but I thought aside from one or two ideas of my own you might just be able to recommend me a few Brands based on my needs.”

“You intend to spend your entire budget today, and you don’t know what you want?” Gora’s words sounded confused, but his face lit up with thinly disguised excitement.

“Well, there was one I know I want. I should probably get that one first. I think it was called Manifest Imagination?”

“Manifest Inspiration,” Gora corrected. “Yes, I recall you indicating you were interested in that particular Brand. I will have to fetch reference material to apply that one, as it’s not a Brand I use for myself. Why don’t we decide now how you want to spend your money in case I need to fetch multiple references from the back? And… did you say you wanted to be an adventurer?”

“I am one,” I said. I pulled the wooden medallion out from under my shirt to show him. “Joined last night.”

“Very good,” Gora said. “And do you have any traveling supplies? Weapons? Armor? We sell everything you would need. And at a discount. We offer a discount to adventurers of all ranks.”

“I guess it’s a good thing I registered before coming here,” I said. “How much is the discount?”

Gora cleared his throat. “We also offer a starter kit for new adventurers for only 12 Crosses that comes with a backpack, a bedroll, a blanket, a pot, a waterskin, flint and steel and some rope. Best deal in town. All the essentials.”

I was pretty sure Gora had changed the subject on purpose. He had done that the last time I was here and tried to bring up the you-know-what. I decided not to call him on it. He probably just didn’t want to admit that the discount was some negligible amount, like 1%. “That’s definitely something I would be interested in,” I replied. I was reminded of an adage about selling pickaxes to miners. They say that the only people who got rich off the California Gold Rush were the people selling the pickaxes. Selling a “Starter Kit” to adventurers sounded a lot like that. I offered Gora a smile. I found it comforting to know exactly what his motivations were.

“I’ll put you down for one,” Gora said. “You should also pick out some arms and armor before you buy the Brands you want. It’s a rookie mistake to lean too heavily on Brands. They give you options, yes, but when your MP runs out, you’ll be glad you still have an ax or sword. I really do everything I can to give my customers advice that will keep them alive.”

“So thoughtful,” I said dryly. I didn’t delude myself into thinking he actually cared for me intrinsically. I was a customer to him. If I died, he’d lose a source of revenue. Sure, it was a little impersonal, but at least I knew where I stood. His greed would have him offer me genuine advice, and I’d told him exactly how much money I was looking to spend, so he won’t waste time trying to upsell me. If his commission was the same on different Brands, he shouldn’t care which I bought from a monetary standpoint. Knowing his commission was already guaranteed would ensure he offered only good advice. At least… that was my reasoning. “Okay,” I said. “What kind of armor do you have that’s in my price range? It needs to be light. I don’t want to give it up later if my illness gets worse.”

“That would exclude any artifacts then,” Gora said. “We have some basic leather armor for only 576 Crosses. Pursuer beast leather is sturdier, but also heavier. If weight is your biggest concern, you can’t do better than spider silk. It is sometimes worn in place of chain mail and has a comparable strength while weighing no more than cloth.”

“How much?” I asked.

“4,176 Crosses,” Gora said. He listed the exact price so quickly. A good salesman.

That seemed expensive, but not nearly as expensive as the other armors I skimmed on my way inside. I’d read some pop science articles before on how strong spider silk was. Stronger than steel, they said. It could be worth the money if I got cornered in an alley again. Worrying about getting a knife in the gut before I could drain someone would be a problem. It wasn’t like I knocked my targets out instantly. “I’m considering it,” I told Gora. “Do you know if it’s strong enough to stop pursuer beast claws?”

Gora’s smile faltered. “Spider silk isn’t quite that strong,” he said. “But I have it on good authority that it gets tangled in their claws for a few seconds before they can get through it. If you’re worried about pursuer beasts, I would recommend serpent scale armor. It is heavier and more expensive, but it’s the lightest armor that can stop those claws.”

I shook my head. I’d seen the price on the serpent scale armor and wasn’t willing to spend half my budget on it. Maybe if a pursuer got its claws tangled in my spider silk, that would give me the time I needed to drain it. “Fine,” I told Gora. “I’ll get the spider silk. But don’t lock me in on that just yet. I might find a Brand I want more.”