The shop apprentice had already left again, and only then did Mr. Finch get down to business with Shade:
"I don't have any [Active Metal] in stock from what you mentioned yesterday, but I wrote to contact a few old friends. You're in luck—someone local really does have some. I happen to be going to the 'Tower of Marvels' in the Upper City District now. You can come with me."
Mr. Finch had introduced the "Tower of Marvels" yesterday. It was a shop jointly founded by several local inventors and factory owners. Like the Gear Workshop in this Outer City District, it specialized in selling strange Mechanical Creations.
It was just that the Tower of Marvels in the Upper City District did extremely well. It marketed "handcrafted mechanical inventions" to attract nobles with money to burn, and some of its goods could even make it onto the auction block at the Cassandra Auction House. Nobles throughout Kasonlik would not mind displaying a mechanical invention sold by the Tower of Marvels in their homes.
It was not because they genuinely liked those bizarre things. Much like putting on airs of refinement, they needed such devices to show that they kept up with the times.
Mr. Finch arranged for a factory carriage to take them to the Upper City District. Along the way, the old gentleman told Shade about [Active Metal].
Among the other inventors who had founded the Tower of Marvels with him, several also had Ring Arcanist backgrounds, so they had always been on very good terms. This time, the relic was provided by a friend who had co-founded the Tower of Marvels with him. However, the man had not explained the relic's current condition or how he intended to sell it, so Shade would have to negotiate everything himself.