Omniscient Necromancer POV

"Apprentice, aren't you?" I asked Lysa with narrowed eyes.

Neither Lysa nor McNee had told me her last name, but I didn't even need to ask to know. Ever since I saw her running away from the police station, I knew. She was Lysa Mostana, a twenty-year-old girl born in Birsk who had been stealing since she was a child.

At eighteen, Lysa gained the Mimic Blessing. With this Blessing, she could change her body structure to look like anyone else. For a thief like her, this power was perfect.

The tension between Lysa and me was palpable as we stared at each other. I didn't like her for wanting to live an easy life stealing, and she obviously didn't like me for some reason.

"A-anyway, S, you said you came today because you had some impressive items to show me," McNee said, obviously nervous about the bad atmosphere.

"Lysa is someone we trust, so why don't you show us the items you brought?"

I took a deep breath and nodded in agreement. "As you wish."

The first of the items I took out of my inventory and placed on the counter was an oval gem that was as blue as a sapphire. In addition to already being cut, it emitted a small magical aura that was visible to the naked eye.

Someone experienced in magical artifacts like McNee immediately recognized what this item was.

"An Observation Gem?" Surprised, he asked and delicately picked up the item. "It's been months since I've seen one in person."

McNee held the gem up with two fingers and placed it in the light of a gas lamp that illuminated the counter area. The yellowish light from the lamp passed through the blue gem, and McNee's face was illuminated by a green light.

"What do you think?" I asked with my arms crossed and a serious expression.

"It's definitely very pure," Lysa replied, looking from a distance.

"Yes, you're right, my dear apprentice," McNee said with a satisfied smile on his lips. "It's not just the cut that's perfect, but also the enchantment and clarity of the gem. I believe that only great craftsmen from the Capital could do such work."

Observation Gems were not produced naturally these days. These gems were created from a mineral called Astrofite, and it was said that only one pair of gems could be created from each medium-sized piece of Astrofite.

After that, the gem gained the magical property of observing through each other through a binding enchantment.

Normally, only those blessed with the Magical Craftsman Blessing could create Observation Gems precisely because they were the only ones who could develop the magical skill <Magical Bonding>.

"To think that only a few humans can make a pure Observation Gem like this reminds me that the Dwarves of the Tower of Babel are truly impressive."

Legend had it that it was the Dwarves who built all those golems in the Tower of Giants as a gift of friendship and peace to the King of Giants, so the logical deduction was that the Observation Gems that were the eyes of those golems were also produced by Dwarves.

In fact, there were sentient races other than humans inside the Tower of Babel—dwarves, elves, fairies, and many others. However, they lived in their own communities and did not yet have much contact with humans.

"If I may ask, Mr. S, can you tell me how—" McNee tried to ask, but I interrupted him.

"A good merchant never reveals his supplier," I replied with a confident expression.

Disappointed, Erich McNee sighed and placed the gem back on the counter.

"It's a little sad not to know where you got such a beautiful observation gem, but I guess that's the price you pay for being in this line of work. Well, I think I can offer you five silver coins for this specimen. What do you think, S?"

Five silver coins are a lot of money, but I thought so because I was poor and valued things from the perspective of someone who was broke. I knew that with a single silver coin, a family of four could have enough bread and vegetables to eat for a week. It wasn't enough money to pay rent or buy meat, but meat was also a luxury for most families these days.

To be honest, if I only had Brandon's memories, I would have accepted the five silver coins right away for that gem. However, I also had memories as a reader and knew that it was still a low price.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked McNee indignantly. "Your mind games won't work on me, Mr. McNee.

Raise your offer or I'll walk out that door and never come back."

Ever since he saw me, McNee had been looking at me with his eyebrows lowered, but I knew it was all an act to make him look like a businessman cornered by the situation. That changed at that moment. He straightened his spine and the expression on his face became serious, just like when we first met.

"If that's how you want to settle this, I'll negotiate seriously. The most I can offer is eight silver coins. It's not just for my part, but also the percentages from the contacts I have that will get this gem clean into a high-end store."

"I understand that you need to make a good profit for the risk to be worth it," I thought aloud as I analyzed the situation.

McNee was a cautious and experienced man, which was why I had chosen him to do business with, and that meant I knew my profit margin would be smaller. On the other hand, I didn't need to be cautious.

"Twenty silver coins seems reasonable to me, would you increase it by one silver coin per unit if I told you I had many more gems identical to this one?"

Lysa and McNee frowned when they heard me, apparently skeptical that what I was saying was true. As such, their only possible reaction was for their jaws to drop when I placed a bag containing three hundred Observation Gems on the counter.

McNee looked at me with a smile and asked, "Seriously, S, what kind of demon are you?"

'Hehe! That's not even half the loot I got from all 820 golems I killed' I thought, scratching my cheek with a finger. "But he doesn't need to know that yet."