Aurora P.O.V

The day had already been full of ups and downs but from the tone of Ajax’s last words it seems we weren’t finished just yet. The boy was clearly full of surprises, his level and the fact that he knew so much about my [Analyze], it was an epic inspection skill mostly dedicated towards items than people but this was a first for me. The biggest issue was that I didn’t feel any resistance, whatever skill he had that had let him know about my own skill wasn’t strong enough to block me but was good enough for me not to detect resistance while also giving him information.

I put that realization aside, there was more to come now, I will talk all of this over with Elija later, he was always the better thinker between the two of us once he had all the information. I needed to focus on Ajax now, this was our grandson and the first meeting wasn’t shaping up to be a good interaction despite the joyous news.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The reason why I came here today wasn’t to reconnect with family.” My [Lie Detection] let me know that his statement there wasn’t all true, but what worried me more was that it wasn’t all false. “I came here looking to establish a cooperation agreement.”

I stayed silent for a moment, trying to think what the best way to approach this would be. From the feeling I got from the boy I felt that trying to push anything right now wouldn’t get a good reaction from him.

“What do you mean you didn’t come here to reconnect with family?” Elija responded, he was still a little off balance. I placed my arm on his shoulder trying to calm him down.

“I did my research into this organization.” Ajax said, something that rang true to my skill. “My earlier point about the token granting me a better deal should still hold. That is the main reason I chose to come here first.”

A tight squeeze on Elija’s shoulder stopped him from responding this time. Thankfully we understood each other well enough that the look he saw when he turned to me was enough to not only let him know that I should do the talking but also that he should be focusing on the details of the deal.

“From what my mother said when she gave me that token the night before I left for the capital she hasn't decided on the attitude she has towards you.” Ajax continued seeing us not respond. “ With that being the case my decision on considering you family rests with her, a decision she will no doubt have to make once she moves here and one I will not be influencing simply respecting.”

The truth of his statement was chilling. Right now he would be fully prepared to treat us like strangers if Silvia decides that’s what our past choice means. But since the part about SIlvia being undecided was also true helping him couldn’t hurt our chances in that decision.

“What type of agreement are you looking for?” I asked, switching back into the practiced role of merchant.

“I am currently affiliated with the Academy,” he said. “This results in me having a lot to learn, sufficient access to the dungeon, but not much time when it comes to gathering materials or selling any spoils, something I hope to rectify by having a contract with a merchant organization.”

“And how long would this contract last?” I asked.

“For others, I would start with the reminder of this academic year to see if it is a good fit,” he answered.

“But not with us?” Elija said, his tone calm and collected for the first time in the discussion.

“No, not with you.” He shook his head. “Considering what that token I have means I doubt anyone will be able to give me a better deal, at least not one that doesn’t tie me to them.”

“So then how long will the deal be?” I asked.

“Until my mother arrives,” he said. “When that happens our relationship will change and the deal we come to today will end regardless of which choice she makes.”

“That would be fine.” I confirm after Elija signals to me it is acceptable. “What materials would you be looking for?”

“My main focus will be Alchemy.” The reveal was big, all the high level alchemists were quickly swept up by nobles especially those that could craft in dungeons which is something I assumed he would be doing. “But I will be trying my hand at a few other crafts as well.”

“Like what?” I asked at Elija’s prompting.

“Leatherworking, mining, skinning, farming and a bit of blacksmithing.” he rattled off an impressive number of professions, no wonder he had little time for trading. I also had to stop myself, and thankfully Elija did as well, from reacting when he mentioned blacksmithing, afterall the whole reason for our disagreement with Silvia was over her choosing a young blacksmith as a husband.

“That is acceptable.” Elija says. “ On the raw items that you bring in we can offer you almost full market price, current or usual depending on which is higher we won’t be making almost any profit on them. For anything that you make we'll give you 90% of the price after taxes.”

The deal was not just good, this kind of a deal was only seen with master crafters signing for at least a century at a time or high level adventurers signing exclusivity. Elija obviously knew that and had somehow turned the short maximum three year lifeline on the contract in our favor.

“ Materials and tools for most of your professions should be easy to get on short notice, as long as you are not looking for anything too specific or rare. The sole exception is Alchemy, that’s not to say we can’t get them but it may take some time.” Elija continued “ These we would be willing to sell to you at cost if the item you make from them is successful and sold back to us and at 110% of cost if it isn’t.”

“That works for me.” Ajax said. “ We have a deal.”

Elija was quick in drawing up the contract. Unlike our usual deals this one was so straightforward and easily defined that it fit on a single sheet of paper that the three of us signed.

Right after the contract was signed Ajax already presented his first materials. Abyssal cores from imps, hellhounds and gargoyles as well as gargoyle coal. The total worth of the items wasn’t all that impressive, even with the inflated current price of the coal it totaled up to a little under seventy gold coins. A price that Ajax asked to be put towards his Alchemy equipment before he left.

“What did you find out?” Elija asked the moment the two of us were alone. We had canceled any other meeting we had for today as none were all that important.

“Almost everything he said was true.” I started, which got an eyebrow raise from him since I had a habit letting him know about any lie the moment it was spoken, even if I didn’t make it obvious to anyone else that I knew the statement was a lie. “It was a partial lie about reconnecting, I’m sure that he also did want to meet us but everything else was true.”

“Seems like the situation is worse than we feared considering Silvia is alive and well.” he nodded. “But it’s far from the worst possible outcome, we still have a chance to make this right.”

“We do.” I smiled back. “Or at least Ajax believes we do.”

“Anything else?” he asked, his mind already starting to plan the best way to earn our daughters forgiveness as he scoured for certain documents.

“Yes, but this is strictly about Ajax.” He stopped and turned towards me. The information was so astounding I wouldn’t be sharing outside the privacy of our enchanted office. “Firstly his level is thirty-one.”

“What?!” he gasped out incredulously. “Isn’t he only almost sixteen?”

“He is.” I confirmed. “Elija, that’s not all. I’m sure he has a Legendary skill.”

“A Legendary skill? But your [Analyze] doesn’t read skills.” he said.

“It doesn’t.” I confirmed. “But I also didn’t feel any resistance when I used it on him. He did however know that I used it, not only that but he also knew exactly what information I got even if it didn’t stop me from getting it, all of this without me feeling anything odd until he mentioned it. It has to be a low leveled Legendary skill, either a form of precognition letting him know about anything that targets him or a privacy one. I think it’s the latter but I can’t be sure.”

“I’ll have our people look into him.” he said, believing in what I told him.

“Wouldn’t that be likely to alienate him?” I asked.

“I won’t have them approaching him,” he denied. “He mentioned the Academy, have you ever known the young nobles going there not to spill information?”

As always Elijah was quick to come up with a plan. As always the first step was to get all the information he could.

“We need to increase our information gathering budget for the year.” he said as he got back to ruffling through the document “I think triple will be enough but best to quadruple it.”

“What else are you having them look into?” I asked, knowing that such an increase wasn’t accounted for only by Ajax.

“He said Tom was a guard, his wife Kate a member of the Healing Union and his sister Judy had started a trading company.” he rattled off all we knew about the rest of our grandchildren. “Since they are all that are tying Silvia to Lessis I want to see what I can do about speeding up that two year timeline.”

On that I fully agreed, two more years would be too long to wait. With that in mind I sat down across from him ready to spend the rest of the day building the foundations for getting our daughter back.