The news only needed a day to spread.
Silver Crown City had no secrets. Four fourth-tier aether fluctuations had left traces on sensors across half the city. Night-shift researchers, merchant guild informants, and brokers in Dark Alley who lived by selling information had spread word of the disturbance at Ginkgo Alley No. 3 Courtyard before dawn.
By morning, gift-bearing caravans had lined up all the way to the bend at the alley entrance.
Elena stood just inside the courtyard gate, clutching a list with a charcoal pencil tucked behind her ear. The stone table before her was divided into two piles: "Accept" on the left, "Return" on the right.
"Balti Trading House: one fourth-tier talisman, with a tracking circuit engraved on the back. Return."
Saina picked up the talisman, turned it over, then tossed it into the bamboo basket on the right. With a clang, it landed atop the returned gifts already filling half the basket.
"Lord Gren: two deeds to Dock No. 3, with a note reading, 'In gratitude for Master Su's protection.' Return."
Saina curled her lip. "Who said we were protecting him?"
"Elven Merchant Association..." Elena tapped a line on the list with her charcoal pencil. "Twelve bottles of fourth-tier stabilizing fluid, two rolls of premium mithril thread. No markings, no circuits. Accept."
Saina took the weighty wooden crate and hefted it. "Practical."
"Silver Claw Merchant Guild, personally delivered by Barlow. Eight fourth-tier refined iron ingots, three crates of slag containing aether crystal powder, plus twenty sacks of flour. No additional conditions."
Saina's eyes brightened. "Is the flour good?"
Elena turned a page. "The finest kind. Ground three times and sifted."
"Accept it." Saina answered faster than she had for any previous item.
Elonore crouched nearby, an individual gift list from the Elven Merchant Association spread before