Carina

  “So, to confirm for the final time, you are selling me the Love Turned To Hate, Blood Thicker Than Water Array for the rights to 50% of everything I then in turn sell it for, correct?” Perival had highly reflective bright blue eyes, long black hair neatly combed and braided to keep it out of his handsome pale face, and, as a half-human half-messenger, he had cute gray wings on his back about two thirds the size of her own, but, unlike normal, she wasn’t visiting him for pleasure, so his expression and tone of voice were serious.

  “Yes.”

  The contract was sealed, the merchant god providing the contract skill, and then it was time to watch her sometimes lover do what he did best.

  In Perival’s mansion near the center of the third largest continent of one of the Sangha’s A rank worlds, a large opulent building made out of old wood and covered in luxurious tapestries, Carina hid in a side chamber off the mansion’s main hall, a room designed to let anyone inside see and hear everything going on in the hall while remaining completely hidden, even from the senses of other gods.

  And, just as she got settled into the comfortable large lounge chair inside, she watched through the walls as one of Perival’s A rank servants, a gray-haired human, guided three gods in to meet with the merchant.

  In the center of the three was the Master of the Eternal Forge, the youngest son of the Primordial Sovereign and the third strongest in the Primordial Humans faction of gods, only behind his father and eldest brother. To his right was his sister, the Lady of Hellwater, the Primordial Humans’ goddess of death and the afterlife as well as one of the rare gods to have an additional divine role based on elemental power, in her case a mix of the water, life, and death elements called hellwater. And, to the Master of the Eternal Forge's left was his niece, the Lady of the Eternal Flame, a goddess of alchemy and the Master of the Eternal Forge’s teacher, being more than ten billion years older than her uncle despite their familial relationship.

  “Welcome, Lacarmus, Antonia, Ularia,” Perival rose from his seat on one of the three couches in the room, all surrounding a large coffee table, and nodded toward the Master of the Eternal Forge, The Lady of Hellwater, and the Lady of Eternal Flame. “Can I get you any refreshments?”

  “No need.” The Master of the Eternal Forge waved his hand dismissively. “This isn’t a social call, and we all know you’re about to try and fleece us.”

  He took a seat on the couch opposite Perival’s and the two goddesses very deliberately sat on the other couch, putting them in Perival’s peripheral vision if he looked directly at the Master of the Eternal Forge.

  Perival for his part then ignored the two goddesses, focusing on the Primordial Humans’ chief negotiator as he sat back down. “Fair enough.

  “We all know you are after the Love Turned To Hate, Blood Thicker Than Water Array, Lacarmus. So, what is your opening offer?”

  The Master of the Eternal Forge leaned back in his seat, putting his right arm over the back of the couch. “Three divine weapons, design of your choice, custom made from our own resources.”

  “You’re up against arguably the best crafter the Prime Material has ever seen, and two years ago he added to the bounties on your heads the reward of a personalized divine weapon, armor, alchemical product, etc.” Perival smiled in that way he had, which was somehow both classy yet dismissive. “And this isn’t even mentioning how you would have to be alive to make the products you just offered, something that isn’t guaranteed.

  “Please try again.”

  The Master of the Eternal Forge frowned, probably regretting the contract all the Primordial Humans’ gods had signed with Perival long ago that kept anyone in the force from just killing the man. “This is going to be a waste of time if we continue this game, Perival. Why don’t you just tell us what price you want and we can go from there?”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “We’re all immortals, Lacarmus. We have all the time in the universe.” Perival’s smile grew a bit wider. “Why would I care about wasting my time when I have an infinite amount of it?”

  The Master of the Eternal Forge frowned, not trying to hide his annoyance. “Five faith gathering stones; 40 kilograms of God rank iron, your choice of five different varieties; nine trillion units of pure refined nascent energy; and one ton of God rank level alchemy base liquids, your choice of a mix of seven different varieties.”

  Perival just raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything for a good three minutes.

  “Fine.” The Master of the Eternal Forge waved his free hand. “Double that.”

  “If you don’t have any sincerity, Lacarmus, feel free to leave.” Perival clapped his hands and one of his servants, a young B rank human woman, entered the room with a large plate of fruit she placed on the table in front of him before walking out. “I’m offering you a unique array that might save your life and the lives of everyone in your faction, one you won’t be able to get from anyone else before it will likely be too late, and we both know it. Yet you haven’t offered anything of similar value.

  “I’ll see you again in 144 years.”

  Perival took up one of the fruits, a yellow and green one about the size of a fist, and took a bite into it, but the Master of the Eternal Forge didn’t leave, causing Perival to again raise his eyebrow.

  “I can add the seed of an immortal essence tree and a dao guide created by an elder god.”

  Perival smiled and took another bite of the fruit, leaning back against the back of his couch and appearing to think to himself. “Which elder god?”

  “Either my father or the Radiant Behemoth.”

  “Both then.”

  Perival took another bite, just waiting, and Lacarmus soon nodded in assent. “It’s a deal then.”

  “Oh, nowhere close.” Perival smiled at the recognized best blacksmith god in the Prime Material. “We’re just getting started.

  “Add in a material universe core, 36 stones of primal beginning, 48 units of chaos essence, 96 units of order essence, and a God rank self-actualization crystal and we can start negotiating.”

  The Master of the Eternal Forge frowned, pulling his arm from the back of the couch and leaning forward. “I want to know how you know about the material universe core and self-actualization crystal, but I’m not stupid enough to pass over the other items, the order essence especially.” The man’s expression was dangerous. “Please explain yourself?”

  “You are asking for an array to use in a war it’s possible you might lose.” Perival shrugged while taking another bite of the fruit, showing complete nonchalance as he took a few seconds to chew and swallow. “Why wouldn’t I want resources to use as appeasement to a possible godslayer?”

  The Master of the Eternal Forge appeared about to grow angrier, but then he thought better of it, sighed, and leaned back in his seat. “And it will cost us more for you to not trade with our enemies?”

  “No.” Perival smiled warmly, showing not distain but instead obvious excitement. “It will cost you more for me to not trade with your enemies for a given time period, or until your death.”

  The Master of the Eternal Forge didn’t show any change in expression, nor did the Lady of Hellwater or the Lady of Eternal Flame, but Carina had seen this dance far too many times to not realize the man had given up trying to trick Perival into not taking advantage of him, which basically meant Perival had won.

  The Primordial Humans needed her array, and they needed it yesterday, so they were willing to pay almost anything. And this meant, if he wanted to, Perival could take them to their absolute bottom line, which would involve far more treasures than already discussed.

  But this wouldn’t happen.

  Perival, and she herself, would have to interact with the Primordial Humans again—despite what the merchant god had said, it was unlikely any of the human gods would die—so he’d only push them to roughly 48 times what the array would normally be worth.

  It was still a lot of treasure, and Perival’s information network had apparently found some rarer resources the merchant god was interested in, but it wouldn’t actually put him at odds with the Primordial Humans, just piss them off a little.

  “So,” Perival said a few hours later, smiling at the completion of the back and forth negotiations, “the end price for the Love Turned To Hate, Blood Thicker Than Water Array and the stipulation in the standard format that I will not trade with the Heavenly Spark Soul King or any of his allies for 248,832 years, or until your death, is one material universe core, 48 stones of primal beginning, 60 units of chaos essence, 108 units of order essence, one God rank self-actualization crystal, one complete dao guide from the Radiant Behemoth, one complete dao guide from the Primordial Sovereign, one seed of an immortal essence tree, seven faith gathering stones, 30 kilograms of God rank eternal iron, 23 kilograms of God rank abyssal iron, 7 kilograms of God rank astral iron, 3 kilograms of God rank royal iron, one ton each of all your God rank alchemy base liquids, and 107 trillion units of pure refined nascent energy?”

  “Yes.” The Master of the Eternal Forge almost growled out the word, and the deal was sealed.

  Then the Lady of Hellwater left the planet and returned a few hours later with all the items and, when they were transferred to Perival, the merchant god handed over an information orb containing the blueprint for the Love Turned To Hate, Blood Thicker Than Water Array and the three Primordial Human gods left, none of them very happy.