Elmer nodded his head up and down in two quick jerks.

"I can. I can. But let's start with debt. How do you want to pay?"

I laid my coat on the counter, fished into my jacket pocket and pulled out my balance statement.

"Oh?! A high roller."

"You know it."

Elmer hopped off his stool and disappeared behind the curtains at the back of the shop.

I leaned on the counter, sliding over the book he was reading.

It was written in High Elvish.

Before I could get a closer look, Elmer pushed through the curtains with a glass inkwell, a quill, a small knife, and a fresh contract.

He plopped on the stool, closing the book and slipping it under the counter.

"Business first."

He pushed the inkwell, quill and knife over the counter's rough surface.

"You know the drill."

I reached for the knife, running the blade across my right palm and letting the blood drip into the glass inkwell. Elmer pulled out a regular inkwell and quill from under the counter and started scribbling on the contract.

"I've been wanting to ask… How did you become an enchanter?"

Elmer let out an incredulous laugh, not taking his eyes off the paper.

"Me? No. No. I'm no enchanter."

I frowned in confusion.

"You're not?"

"Not the strict sense. I don't have enough will."

"Then how do you enchant objects?"

"I cheat."

"You… cheat?"

I scrunched up my face, trying to understand what the soft-spoken merchant was saying.

"It's a long story," Elmer said.

"I have time."

The slow drip of my blood into the inkwell punctuated the point.

"Well, if you have time then… There! Done."

Elmer raised the contract in the air, blowing on the ink before he slid it across the counter.

"If you have time, then I don't mind sharing. Hmm, where to start?"

"Maybe the beginning."

I smirked, turning the contract around to read it over.

Elmer shot me a sour expression and then snorted.

"Alright… When I was young, I trained to be a Sanctifier."

I quirked an eyebrow.

"I didn't get very far, mind you. To advance in the Guild, you have to take oaths and... I wasn't a fan."

Elmer pursed his lips like he was sucking on a lemon.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"I left the Guild and then a few months later, my father died. He was a craftsman and this..."

He gestured around us.

"Was his shop. I ran it for years, and then Sin found me."

My ears perked up at the mention of her name. Elmer continued.

"She offered to complete my training. To make a Sanctifier without their stuffy rules…"

Elmer's lips curled into a tight-lipped smile.

"Of course, I said yes. I already knew how to read High Elvish, but she was the one who taught me the First Magic."

I stopped reading. My head jerked up to meet Elmer's spectacled eyes.

"Sin knows the First Magic!"

Elmer nodded.

"Yes, and she taught me everything I know."

"Is she an enchanter?"

"Oh, no. No. She could be if she wanted, but Sin is too… She's too… What's the word?"

"Psychotic? Insane? Deranged?"

"Violent. Sin is too violent. She's a hammer in a world full of nails. She prefers to use her hands instead of her words. In that way, she's like my father."

I nodded.

"That sounds like Sin."

Elmer snorted.

"She was still a good teacher. She's the one who taught me how to cheat."

Elmer paused. The only sound in the room was the rhythmic drip of my blood filling the inkwell.

I stared at him with expectant eyes.

His thin lips peeled back in a smile, enjoying my complete and undivided attention.

"If a mage who owns farmland gains the ability to create crops, what type of land does a mage need to gain the ability to enchant?"

The room fell back into silence. I furrowed my brows in concentration, and then realization made my eyes go wide.

I turned to the walls… To the shelves packed with dusty, old trinkets.

"You need land with a stockpile of enchanted objects."

Elmer nodded, his four-lensed glasses bouncing off the bridge of his nose.

"Correct. It's one of life's great ironies: the more you have of something, the easier it is to make more of it."

"Are they all enchanted?"

Elmer nodded.

"Yes. Yes."

"How?! There has to be over a hundred of them."

"Sin, of course. She helped me put together my little collection. Many of them I made myself. It's the same trick the Sanctifiers use."

Unbelievable… Enchanted objects were supposed to be rare.

"Can I buy one?"

Elmer chuckled.

"That's not very elven of you, Jacob. I don't buy, but we can trade. A gift for a gift."

That's all I needed to hear.

I dipped the quill into the glass inkwell and signed the contract.

"Here."

Elmer took the contract and disappeared behind his curtains.

My debt to him repaid, I pushed off the counter and stalked over to the shelves. I brushed my fingertips on the objects, shivering at the hungry sensation that crept into my hands.

"Jacob, take this before you get blood everywhere."

I tore my eyes away from the shelves.

While I was fixated on the objects, Elmer reemerged with a small roll of linen bandages.

He tossed it in my direction.

"Now what's this about a coat?"

"Right."

I walked over and unbuttoned my jacket, putting it on the counter next to the coat.

"The Sanctifiers put a tracker in this jacket. Sin told me to burn it, but before I do that, I was hoping you could replicate the enchantments."

"You want to enchant the coat?"

"Exactly."

Elmer cleared the table of inkwells and quills, flipping the second set of lenses over his glasses. He slid the jacket to his side of the counter.

"This quality is excellent."

He leaned forward, pressing his ear against the red and gold fabric.

"Why do you guys do that?"

"I'm listening to it. Everything has a unique vibration, Jacob. When you work with the First Magic long enough, you can hear those vibrations… and understand them."

He frowned.

"Who made this?"

"An enchanter called Shay."

Elmer's head shot up from the counter.

"The Silk Garrote!"

"Uh-huh... I met him."

"W-What was he like?"

"Arrogant. Annoying. Incredibly powerful."

Elmer laughed.

"Just like the stories. He's a legend among the Sanctifiers. You were lucky to meet him."

My mind flashed to Kateen's estate and a room full of dead little girls.

"I wouldn't say that..."

Our conversation fell into silence as Elmer closed his eyes and held his ear to the jacket. After a few minutes, he spoke.

"I think I'm ready."

"You think?"

"This jacket is a masterpiece, and the Silk Garrote is a tailor by trade. I can copy most of the enchantments, but they won't be as effective."

I glanced at the shelves.

"Couldn't you just remove the tracking enchantment from the jacket?"

"No. No. The Silk Garrote thinks of everything. The jacket has clauses and conditions like a contract. You can't remove one enchantment without removing them all."

"OK. How much will it cost?"

Elmer pressed his lips together, running the math in his head.

"5,000 gold pieces."

"5,000?!"

My jaw almost dropped. My land cost 10,000 gold pieces.

Were the enchantments on the jacket that valuable?!

"2,000."

"3,000, I keep the jacket, and you can take something from my collection."

I glanced at the enchanted objects on the shelves, imagining the possibilities.

"What about the tracker in the jacket?"

"I'll worry about that."

I quirked an eyebrow.

He would risk being tracked down by inquisitors. Elmer must really want this jacket.

I could use that…

I sighed and gave the merchant an exaggerated shrug.

"Sin told me to burn it. It's the safest way, Elmer. I'm sorry."

His grip tightened on the jacket.

"I'd rather cut off my own hand!"

I smirked.

"Then how about this, the same deal for 2,500 gold pieces. Refuse, and I'll burn the jacket in front of you."

I conjured a tongue of fire above my left hand.

"Do we have a deal?"

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.