Quoted By:
“I, uh, I suppose I should explain. My Master does not have an account here – in fact, he does not have an account with any establishment in this city. He has just arrived in this city a few days ago. This is the last leg of his journey to personally inspect all of his families’ estates and investments throughout the Empire.”
You are not sure if the men are even listening to you, as all they are doing at the moment is staring at the coins in your hand. It is almost frustrating – you weave up this great fable right on the spot, and they can’t even be bothered to pay attention to it.
“Unfortunately, the stresses of the crossing must have addled his humors somehow, as at this moment, he is laid up in bed, along with the two of his manservants that he brought along. The public house that he has put us all up at is taking good care of him, but there were some things that he wanted that they simply do not have on hand, and rather then have them procure these comforts for him – and charge a premium for the service – he sent me out to do it.”
The younger of the two clerks is the first one to drag his eyes away from the pile of coins in your hand and breaks the relative silence of the storefront by asking you a question – the first time he has spoken during your time here in the hardware.
“He wanted refurbished riding cloaks and used footwraps?”
“Well … no … you see … he wanted me to get those for me. I had a full set of clothes, more suitable for travel then this dress and apron, but they were … lost at sea. We got caught up in a bit of a storm during the crossing, that’s what got him laid up in bed. Anyway, when he gave me these coins, he told me to replace what was lost.”
The other clerk and the customer, who still has not left, have managed to take their eyes off of the coins by now as well. You can clearly see them evaluating your story. The two clerks quite obviously <span class="mu-i">want</span> to believe the story, as they want the sale, but you figure that they have some lingering doubts. You do not know how Citizens – or wealthy Subjects for that matter – conduct themselves while travelling, but if you had to guess, you would say that sending a maid out on their own, loaded down with talents, in a completely unfamiliar city, do to shopping on their behalf is not something that is typically done. Your little tale has done well explaining the difficult straights that your fictitious Master has found himself in, and why he needs to trust you with the money to do his shopping, but you have to acknowledge that by addressing everything so perfectly, the story does sound a little contrived. Especially about purchasing the items that are obviously for you, the used clothing that your moonbeam Master would never be caught dead wearing.
