The following morning, I headed toward the meeting location on the note. It was a normal street in the eastern part of the city, with nothing special about it. I was there five minutes early, but even after waiting for a while, no one came to meet me.
It was only twenty minutes after 11 am that a duo of hooded women approached me. They were wearing large mantles to conceal their body while their face was fully hidden by masks, making them look extremely suspicious. When they were close enough, one of them spoke to me.
“Follow us.”
“How can I be sure you’re not part of the association?”
“You can’t. Don’t waste our time if you don’t plan to follow us.”
At least, they weren’t of water affinity, and their rank was 3, but this was in no way insurance that they didn’t have grim intentions toward my person. Still, nothing would start if I got scared here. I stayed on my guard while answering.
“Take the lead.”
The one who talked nodded and turned around without saying anything further. The three of us moved through a few streets until we reached a small back alley. We stopped there, the two women watching my every move, and I doing the same to them.
“Why did you contact us?”
“You two are part of the alternative water market, right?”
“Yes. I guess you want to buy water. How much do you want?”
“No, I want to sell instead.”
“Sell?”
They looked at one another before the same woman continued.
“We’re always looking to buy more. How much water can your water mage friend or friends produce a day?”
“What are your prices?”
“We buy and sell at 10 lods per liter.”
This was half the standard price inside the domes. It was no wonder people would take risks to buy from them.
“You don’t make any money out of this?”
“Did you think we did this to get rich?”
“Just asking. I only heard about you from someone else, I don’t know the details of your organization.”
They relaxed a little while I got to think. I only had a vague idea about how much water each rank could produce. I estimated that a rank 2 would be able to produce something like a few tens of liters every day. However, that would generate too little profit.
“I can sell a thousand liters per day.”
“A thousand? Are you playing with us?”
“I’m not. You’ll be able to see for yourselves after our first transaction. I need you to prepare the containers, though.”
They looked at each other again.
“…Fine. Here.”
She gave me another note, with a different address written on it, together with a key.
“Memorize the address and give the note back.”
I did just so, and she went on.
“The containers will be ready there tomorrow, in the morning. The key opens the door at the address. Inside, you’ll find another note and a key for the following day’s deal. We’ll change the location every day.”
“That’s smart of you.”
“We come to fetch the water late at night. You need to finish everything before that. If we find you or anyone else at the location, the deal is off, Tila Urtek.”
“I see you investigated me. No problem, this is good for me too. I want a long-term collaboration with you.”
“We’ll see about that. The money will be at the second location, and at every location after that.”
“Perfect. Looking forward to working with you.”
They turned around, but the second woman, who hadn’t talked so far, paused and stared at me one last time.
“It’s fine if you can’t create the full thousand liters. Don’t force your friends to go over their limits.”
I smiled.
“That will never happen.”
They left, and I gave a long internal sigh, the tension leaving my body. This was great, maybe even better than I expected. I had the whole day to fill the thousand liters in a closed-off location, which should only take me a few minutes by teleporting back and forth to the river. I could do it at any time during the day, meaning I didn’t need to stretch my other activities to make room for this either.
If it all went as expected, I would earn 10k lods a day. I would only need a few seasons to get enough funds to finance the selnic factory.
I had the rest of the day free, so I planned to take care of what I remembered the day prior. I teleported to the bunnies’ village for the second time and made my way toward a specific house while greeting any bunny I came across.
Once I was there, I knocked on the door, which soon opened to reveal the person I wanted to talk to.
“Hello, Mrs. Fitak.”
“Tila, dear! I’m glad to see you.”
She gave me a great grin and I responded with mine.
“The pleasure is all mine. It feels like my day will be great whenever I get to meet you.”
“Oh, you just never change. Enough with the flattery. What can I do for you?”
“I came to discuss business with you today.”
Her eyes widened in surprise.
“Business? With me?”
“That’s right.”
“What sort of business could a widow like me possibly do with you?”
I shook my head.
“You’re greatly underestimating your potential. But don’t worry, that’s why I’m here.”
“Tila, dear, I’m doing fine as I am now. I don’t need any extra money.”
“Maybe not, but are you truly doing fine? Aren’t you idle and bored a lot of the time? Species aren’t made to be idle, or else we tend to get lost in our minds, together with our bad memories.”
She glared at me for a long moment before opening the door wider.
“Well, I can at least listen to what you have to say. Have you eaten yet? I was going to prepare the third meal.”
“I wouldn’t say no to joining you!”
“Good. Sit in the living room while I cook something.”