A Fae's Emporium 13

Commissioned by InfiniteChaosRai

A Fae’s Emporium

Chapter 13

-VB-

“You want me to visit that odd shop?” 

Halfdan grunted. “Yes. You’re going to end up wandering in there anyway, so I’ll give you some warnings. The thing that owns and operates the shop is not like us. It is not a man or a woman but a spirit disguising itself for its own amusement.”

Thorfinn looked at Halfdann in surprise. “There is a spirit on the island?” he asked in surprise. In all of his short life so far, he hadn’t yet met a spirit except in his dreams. Askeladd’s final words to him definitely couldn’t be him just imagining things. 

“Yes,” the richest man in Iceland groused but didn’t say anything else for a moment. “When you are there, do not make promises easily. Words have power to spirits and the divine.”

Thorfinn looked at Halfdan and then at Einar, who looked as surprised as he felt. 

Spirits? Here on Iceland? 

“Is it a spirit of nature?” he asked instead, feeling a little too inexperienced regarding spiritual matters. Again, he’d never encountered spirits before.

Halfdan frowned. “I did not ask because I did not want to pay a price for information, which it surely would have exacted from me. Once again, I give you this last warning. Do not ask for what you cannot pay for. Do not make promises you cannot keep or afford to keep. Do not think like a merchant; think like a survivor.”

Thorfinn nodded slowly. “I… thank you for the advice, Halfdan. What do you think I should go in there to see?”

The richest Icelander grunted. “I’d rather you not go in there at all,” the man huffed. “But if you must, ask what product or knowledge it has that can help with your… efforts. It looked sophisticated enough to have even that kind of knowledge laying around.” Then he paused. “Or how to make Iceland better. Either works, in my opinion.” Then he turned around and left, leaving Einar and Thorfinn by themselves to contemplate what the man said… and look upon the curious building made out of stone, wood, and glass.

Thorfinn had just returned from the expectation to Baghdad, and he’d seen many glasses there and in Constantinople. But even there, barely any glass displayed in public had not been as clear or big as the glasses they were seeing on the shop, which seemed to be serving the role of a window. 

Thorfinn squared his shoulders and walked in. He heard Einar follow after him, and the sound of his lighter footsteps - compared to normal - told Thorfinn that Halfdan’s warning had unnerved his friend. 

He opened the door and something metallic rang soothingly above them. Thorfinn paused and looked up. Oh, it was one of those door chimes. He’d seen those in a few places he went. It was a smart way of alerting the location’s owner that someone had entered the premises. 

“Ah… if it isn’t the customer. Welcome to The Fae’s Emporium,” a voice crooned. 

Thorfinn froze, standing in the doorway. He looked into the shop, and almost as if the space was warped, he was able to see over displays and shelves to meet the amused gaze of a young man who looked, well, amused by his mere presence. 

He gulped. 

This was … not normal.

Nevertheless, he stepped in. 

‘Remember to not promise anything.’

“Good morning, good sir. Are you the owner of this shop?”

“I am!” the amused man replied as he stood up from his stool, which showed that he was shorter than even him and looked less like a man and more like an adolescent… with cat ears. “I am Alan, the owner of this shop and the merchant of all manners of goods and services~! Please, have a look around, and if you need anything, then just ask me a question. I don’t charge anything to tell you about what products I might have.”

Thorfinn nodded in thanks and began to look around. 

The items at the front of the shop were … normal? Normalish. All of the goods on sale at the front were of fine make. Pencils, metal ink pens, paper, “erasers” for pencil marks, and blank page books sat on the shelves, and all of the listed prices were cheap. Two silver coins for a book filled with blank paper pages was a steal! Though he wasn’t sure what “95%+” in front of the silver coins meant. He’ll have to ask about that. 

There were household objects as well. Metal pots and pans. Even ceramic and porcelain dishes. 

He continued to look over all of the items on display… and soon realized something after the hundredth item he saw. 

He looked up.

For a split second, the shop looked endless, its tall shelves continuing on forever and ever. 

And then in the next second, he was back in the “shop” that he had seen when he first entered. 

Thorfinn gulped. 

This shop truly was not of this world. 

Deciding that he would have better luck finding what he wants, Thorfinn squared his shoulders and walked up to the shopkeeper. 

“... So?” the man asked him. “Did you find something?”

“No, which is why I came to ask you,” he replied. “I am planning on creating a new nation across the ocean, and I need help with it.”

“Help, eh?” the shopkeeper hummed, and his cat ears flickered. 

‘So those are real and not some accessory?’ he thought. 

“Well, I certainly can provide some help, knowledge, and even tools,” he replied with a grin. “But what can you offer me?”

“I have silver and gold.”

“For a gold piece that is at least nine-tenths pure gold, I can offer you tools, food, seeds, and more suited to the environment you will encounter.”

Thorfinn blinked. “You speak as if you are aware of what Vinland is like.”

“Oh, but I do! But knowledge about Vinland will cost you more than just a gold piece~.”

“And how much would it be to know what dangers may lurk?”

“Fifteen gold pieces.”

Einar choked on his spit behind him. “That’s way too much -!” he protested but Thorfinn cut him off. 

“Done.”

Even the shopkeeper looked at him in surprise. 

“Just like that? Did Halfdan not warn you about me?”

“He warned me that you were a spirit of some sort, but all I see is a merchant in front of me.”

The shopkeeper blinked and then let out a bark of laughter. 

“Alright, then let’s go with that,” the shopkeeper smiled. “Anything else?”

“Do you have methods of preserving food for long voyages or winters?” 

“I do have that as well!”

“How much silver or gold for a such method that we don’t know but can learn quickly and implement with limited resources?” 

“Hmm,” the cat-like shopkeeper hummed. “Ten gold pieces.”

“Done.”

Einar stumbled behind him. 

“Anything else?” the shopkeeper asked. The way he was smiling told Thorfinn that he was probably happy. Satisfied, perhaps? “I think you’re one of my best customers so far.”

“I am?” Thorfinn asked with a raised eyebrow. 

He knew that he should be haggling at least a little, but he also felt that Halfdan’s advice about not thinking like a merchant might actually be doing him a favor here. 

“You are. Most of my customers always want something more or something cheaper and constantly arguing with me as if my stated prices are ridiculous!” 

“But it is ridiculous!” Einar complained. “You haven’t even shown us the product!” 

The shopkeeper glared at Einar, and Thorfinn felt…

Oh.

“Einar?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you leave the shop and wait for me outside?” 

“Thorfinn, what-!?” 

“Please.”

Thorfinn didn’t take his eyes off of the shopkeeper, Alan, and listened to Einar’s gritting teeth. 

“Fine! I’ll wait outside.”

Then he stomped out. 

“... Smart,” Alan crooned after his friend left the shop. 

“I heard from Halfdan that you are a spirit,” he replied honestly. “So you are not someone I should disrespect, lest I get cursed. You are also a merchant, so you must think about what is a proper price for the goods and services you sell. If you thought that we couldn’t afford what you had, then you wouldn’t be here on Iceland, right?”

The spirit merchant stared at him… and then smiled. It wasn’t a condescending grin or malicious smirk. It was an honest and satisfied smile. 

“Perhaps, perhaps,” he replied. “Though wouldn’t that also be trusting the merchant too much?”

Thorfinn shrugged. “If you charge me too much, then I simply won’t ever return. That is all.”

The spirit chuckled. “Anything else you want to buy before you leave?” 

“... Do you have mundane jewelry that a woman, a boyish woman, might appreciate?” 

-VB-

As I watched Thorfinn Thorsson leave my shop, I felt … good. 

Aside from having made some decent sales and receiving gold coins I could certainly sell to collectors elsewhere and elsewhen, I met a man whose eyes were clear of bias and preconceptions. 

“You were gentle with him,” Medusa noted. 

I looked to the side and saw my Servant.

“Oh, yes, I have been … gentle with him,” I grinned. “Kind, even.”

“Why? Others in worse situations have been scorned and scammed.”

I snorted. “What am I, Medusa?” I asked her, half-serious.

“... A half-fae shopkeeper?”

“Anything else?”

“... I am unsure.”

I gestured to my shop.

“This is my domain, my dear maid,” I told her. “This is my domain and I am its god in the most literal sense of the word. I know the value of the goods I carry not because I know them by heart but because goods that are in my domain are automatically valued by the goods themselves,” I hummed. “See, Shinto and Hinduism have a decent grasp of what magic and spirits are alike. All things are alive, though in a different way than you and I are alive. They have value that they themselves are aware of. What my domain does is merely assign that value a numerical or service that matches its value.”

Medusa stared at me, and her eyes widened with each word I said. 

Then I glared. Not at her, but just glared indignantly at the shit I dealt with.

“But people come in here and make demands. They haggle. They argue. They demand to pay less than what the very items they are trying to purchase say they are worth,” I drawled. “They think it’s too much. They say it’s too much.”

With a phwip, White’s jar was on my counter. 

“Take White, for instance. Not only is it a unique existence with sapience and sentience, it is one that I have personally taken effort into crafting modifications that will allow anyone to use it, regardless who they are. I can give this to a literal God of Chastity and she will be able to use it without risking her own soul getting contaminated by White’s existence. I offer things that are literally impossible for any of my customers to ever have, see, or experience.

“And they try to haggle the price with me.”

“Do you remember the red-haired devil?”

“I do.”

“If she had accepted my offer at the first price or even the second price… White would not be in my possession anymore. It would be hers. But no… she had to haggle. She had to get the lowest price. She had to fight me every step of the way. Do you remember how long it took us to come to an agreement?”

“... Six hours.”

“Yes. Six hours,” I snarled. “Six hours of my time I could have spent doing anything else if she had simply paid the proper price for, even if it was a deterred payment later as she initially agreed on the first haggling. But no. She thought she was getting cheated. That White was cheating her.”

My fist slammed down on the counter.

“I AM THE GODDAMN GOD OF THIS DOMAIN, and they DARE tell me to MY FACE after coming into MY DOMAIN that THEY deserve MORE!” 

The shop shook. Everything trembled. 

I took a deep breath in and let it out. 

Didn’t want to scare the goods. 

Didn’t want to scare ‘dusa. 

Calm.

Think about the ocean breeze.

…

I snorted. “Is it any wonder that I try so hard to make them pay for what they get?” I asked. “Look at Thorfinn. He understood my position better than most, even though this was our first meeting. He looked at me and saw what I was at my heart: a merchant. Not a scammer, not a scalper, not a fucking thief… but a merchant. And a merchant, though they may embellish, fight, or even argue… can’t remain a merchant if they try to steal from people. Any that do remain alive and active because the people they steal from are dumb shits incapable of their own action.”

I took another breath in.

“I am a merchant,” I told her. “Do you remember Shirou?”

“Of course,” she said. “We met him just a month ago. That was your … third visit?”

“Yes. Unlike Thorfinn, he didn’t understand what he was getting into or what value his own good had. But he wasn’t unsatisfied by what he got in return, no? And now, he gets to eat those juicy food at a price that everyone could afford… yet only he can eat? I don’t sell that food to anyone else in his world, you know.”

Medusa stared at me and then her eyes widened. 

“Wait-.”

“Ah, yes, you realized it,” I crooned. “I am a merchant, and even if I am a half-fae and half-human merchant who can lie and steal, I am a merchant who needs a community of people to sustain myself.” 

A pause. 

“Or at least, sustain my entertainment. I am a god of my domain. What true need do I have for all of these goods? Those who accept the price I offer are simply welcomed back. To treat with me like a neighbor. But those who are like Red, like Rias Gremory, who callously ignore or trample over the values of others, are not welcome back. After all, have you ever seen me pull my fae-ness over regular customers who are completely unaware of this shop’s uniqueness? No, they simply pay for the goods and come back later for more without a problem. Which is why Emiya Shirou and now Thorfinn Thorsson are the only two customers who may come back without problems. At least, on my end. When they need me, my shop will be there for them to enter.”

“But what about the books you sold Thorfinn? Are … twenty-something gold coins too much for three measly books?”

I raised an eyebrow. 

“Hun, I just gave him all of the books necessary to make not only make his colonization of Vinland a success but irrevocably change the course of history. I gave him books, translated into his own language, that will allow him to understand diseases, diplomacy, history and culture of the people might meet, and even a dictionary-slash-grammar textbook on a language that hasn’t ever been recorded before for the first non-Norse he will meet over there. I should have charged him more, not less!” Then I huffed. “But the books said no. They wanted to be used so they demanded I charge less.”

She blinked. 

“I … see.”

“I hope you do! Because even if I don’t want to go back to see Gremory, someone else from there is calling.”