Chapter 64: Beast Core Galore

Callum wandered downstairs and into the hall, following his connection to Amarok. He found the Dire Wolf surrounded by multiple people who were all petting him and slipping him scraps of food; Callum smiled at the sight and found a random bench to sit on.

Amarok looked up and locked eyes with Callum. He could tell that Amarok was about to get up and join him, but Callum was happy that many people were getting over their reticence about the imposing predator.

'You can stay there buddy,' Callum sent over their shared bond, 'enjoy the attention.'

He still wasn't sure if Amarok understood his words or just the sentiment behind them. Amarok was a very smart animal, but their connection was something that Callum didn't fully understand.

He took the time to study the various individuals; the hall was treated as a combination of a dining room, tavern, and town square.

In one corner of the room, a woman was mending a tear in some clothing, and a short distance from her was a couple of soldiers playing a card game. Another cluster of people were sharing stories over plates of food that went ignored.

In another corner, someone was quietly playing a lute; several others had pulled up benches and were enjoying the music. A couple of people were sleeping in the opposite corner of the room. Scattered around the hall, small groups of two or more were quietly conversing.

'It's perfect', Callum thought.

'Well, mostly perfect. I still need to figure out a way to get more rooms for people,' he thought as he glanced at the sleeping forms.

Captain Xinyi walked up to him, holding a bag in her off hand and an orb in her dominant hand.

"I have come to exchange Beast Cores, including fragments, for cold hard coins at fair market prices. I know that you wish to buy all the Beast Cores that you can," her voice boomed as she projected her battlefield command voice throughout the hall.

Her voice, that could pierce the clamor and din of a battlefield, shattered the quiet stillness of the hall. Everyone, even those sleeping, stopped what they were doing and looked over at her as she held out a fist sized black orb.

Callum didn't know if he should facepalm or laugh at her wooden delivery.

He tried to fight the smile that wanted to break out at her horribly bad acting. He quickly glanced around the room and saw most everyone oscillated between puzzled, amused, or shocked at her sudden proclamation.

'I guess that's one way to deliver the news that I'm interested in cores. I would have thought that they would find a different way to get the word out,' Callum thought to himself.

"Uhhh, yes. I mean yes, I am looking to buy as many Beast Cores as I can. I'll be right back after I get some money," Callum said as he quickly fled the scene.

Once in the privacy of the winding staircase, Callum giggled aloud at the thought of Captain Xinyi acting out the lead role in a play. He'd had to leave quickly before that thought caused him to laugh out loud.

He found a guard stationed on his floor, something he hadn't seen before, he would have to ask Jia Xinyi about it later. He grabbed his trusty bag and a pouch of coins from the treasure chest, before he made his way back down.

His mirth at her bad acting was completely gone by the time he returned to his seat at a table.

He entered into a loud haggling session with Captain Xinyi over the price for the many Beast Cores she had in her own bag. Callum didn't intend for it to be loud, but she would exclaim loudly in her overly acted voice and then pretend she didn't hear him unless he also raised his voice.

Eventually, they concluded the deal and Callum had another half a dozen Beast Cores to his name; Callum was once again on the verge of laughing. He could tell that many in the hall were quietly laughing at what they were watching, clearly it was high entertainment.

As Captain Xinyi stepped back, she not so subtly nodded her head at one of her soldiers. The man sighed, before he proclaimed that he was interested in selling his Beast Cores as well, this man could act and played his part well.

Callum conducted a much shorter haggling session with the party leader of another adventuring group. Both of them were handicapped in their haggling by the loud haggling session that took place shortly before they started haggling.

At least the price that Captain Xinyi accepted earlier was a reasonable price for both parties, as that soon became the standard price for all parties.

Veronica Blix cautiously approached Callum and offered to sell some of her Beast Cores; she had clearly picked up on the acting that Jia Xinyi had done earlier and didn't know if Callum was legitimately buying Beast Cores or if it was all a charade.

They quickly struck a deal based on the price that the two previous sales had set, and she walked away happy to offload loot for coins. She had a storage ring and Beast Cores took up significantly more room than coin did, she now had room for more loot and made a tidy profit.

Callum looked up from that deal and saw that there was now a small line of people waiting to sell their Beast Cores. He did brisk business buying up every Beast Core or Beast Core fragment that people offered him.

Halfway through all the purchases, Callum looked up and saw the smug looking Captain watching the results of her idea.

'Even if it worked like a charm, you're still a horrible actor. It's good to know that you have at least some flaws.' Callum thought as he nodded his head at her.

He was impressed with how well the idea worked out since she had to know how bad of an actor she was, but she still did it despite what people would think of her.

Most everyone had been relaxing in the hall when she had created her earlier scene. Those that were in the hall quickly went to inform those who weren't and had some Beast Cores of their own.

Captain Xinyi followed Callum up the stairs as he carried the much heavier bag back up to his room.

"I didn't think that your idea would work so well, that was a great idea of yours," Callum said over his shoulder.

The staircase was too narrow for them to walk side by side, but people going in opposite directions could at least squeeze past each other by turning sideways. Getting anything bulky up and down the stairs was tricky.

Callum made a note to look into adding another staircare or widening this one. The only good thing about it, was that it made a great defensive position; one person could easily hold the stairs against overwhelming odds, at least until that person ran out of Stamina.

"Thank you, Lord Murray. I was sure it would work as long as we were loud enough," she replied.

"It was very brave of you to do that before so many people, especially with your acting level," Callum said as they neared his floor.

"What do you mean by that? What's wrong with my acting? I put on small plays for my soldiers all of the time, and they always tell me how great I am."

Callum reached his floor and was able to look back at her as he stepped off of the stairs. She had a genuinely puzzled look on her face.

'Oh, shit, she doesn't know how bad she is at acting. Distraction, I need a distraction now!' Callum's mind raced as he realized that she truly didn't know.

"Uh, nothing's wrong with your acting. Did you post a guard on this floor," Callum said as he pointed towards the guard off to the side.

"Both your room as well as the Baron's room are on this floor. I thought it best to keep a guard at his post," she confirmed before she rounded on the guard, "Oh, tell Lord Murray about my acting."

"Captain Xinyi's ability to act is the best in the Baron's force," the guard shamelessly lied; disproving his own statement with his cool and rapid lie to his superior.

Callum exchanged good nights with both of the soldiers, and thanked Captain Xinyi for her assistance. He also thanked the soldier on guard for watching over the floor. He closed the door before a huge smile appeared on his face.

The number of Beast Cores he had bought was enough to buy some more upgrades for the Castle Core. He couldn't sustain many large purchases like that, but he was pretty sure that he had wiped out most of the Beast Cores that everyone had.

He would probably be able to buy a small, but steady, amount as the various adventurer parties farmed them from the dungeon.

"Primrose, I need your help in the Core Room," he said as he walked over to the wall where he had anchored the magical entrance to the Core Room.

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
seth4bucks

Please comment and review if you're enjoying the story!

A big thanks to RedPandaChick for editing my novel and bringing clarity to my words. Any grammatical or spelling errors are my own, since I probably didn't listen to her sage advice.

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