"These vegetables aren't the best," murmured the woman at the produce shelf. She sighed and picked up several anyway.

"I'm sorry about their condition," Robert said, knowing that they were throw-aways from his dad's other shops.

"No, child, it's all right. If I could afford the better things, I'd probably be grabbing something other than some carrots and potatoes." She smiled at him, as if making a joke, then gently laid the bruised items on his new counter.

Robert counted them carefully, feeling awful at the condition of some of them, "That will be four copper, please."

She turned her worn leather pouch over and four battered copper pieces fell out. "I should be able to make a good soup out of these. Maybe my husband will be able to bring home a piece of meat tonight."

"How are your children doing?" he asked as she placed them into her bag.

She gave him a soft smile and said, "They are getting better. Little Jared was able to get up out of bed for a short while. Anna was still too weak, but I think they should all recover quicker now that there's food available again. Boiled leather tastes awful."

"I know that sickness was really hard on everyone," Robert said, thinking about his mom.

"I'm just grateful that I didn't lose any of them. In fact, I should probably hurry home and check up on them. Have a good day, young man!"

He watched her leave, and turned to get the broom. It had rained overnight, and everyone was tracking in mud and dirt when they came in. He heard that it was supposed to rain again tonight.

The door opened and a short stocky man, with a thick beard entered and looked around. Robert blinked and realized it wasn't a man, but a dwarf!

"Welcome to my shop. How may I help you?" he asked.

"I heard ye had some basic things for sale, ah! Here they are!" he rumbled, turning to the shelf that held the adventuring gear Robert's father supplied him with.

"Hmm, do ye have any tools? Maybe some shovels, or axes? They don't have to be very sturdy, just basic ones that if I leave behind, I won't miss."

"No, I'm sorry but I don't. All of my supplies that you see there, are sent by my father. Would you like for me to request some of those?"

Robert watched the dwarf scratch his head as he looked through the things on the shelf, then turned to him.

"Ye might want to consider that. Ye look young to be runnin' a shop. Are ye considered a man yet?"

"I am old enough to marry, if I wanted to," said Robert, feeling uncomfortable under the dwarf's hard gaze. He fought to keep from squirming like a little boy.

The dwarf chuckled and shook his head. "Ye humans marry as babes. That doesn't mean much. If ye are old enough to be called a grown man, why do ye let your father pick your goods? Do you get any say in the matter? If someone were to come to you with goods for sale, would you have the coin to buy them, assuming you wanted to?"

Robert cocked his head to the side, suddenly realizing what the dwarf was doing, and started laughing. "Do you have something to sell to me, good dwarf?"

The dwarf gave out a loud guffaw and pointed at him. "That's what I'm talking about! I guess I can deal with ye as dwarf to man if ye can see through me talk that easy."

"Let's see what you have available, and how much you're looking to get for it," said Robert, excited about his first possible trade. He had watched his father deal with people over and over, imagining himself in his place, and now he was getting that chance with a dwarf!

"Well, based on the stuff you have for sale, I'll skip to my cheapest items," said the dwarf, taking off his bag with a thud. Pulling the straps open, he shoved his hand into it and dug around for a moment. Pulling out several whetstones.

"I already have some whetstones," said Robert, looking over at the shelf that they were on. He had two left.

"I've got too many, and these are dwarven whetstones. See? I've carved a dwarven mark on the end here. If ye buy them all, I'll part with them for 2 copper each."

Robert shook his head. "Even if they are dwarven, they're still only whetstones. Besides, I sell mine for 2 copper. I would be losing money with that trade."

The dwarf pondered that for a minute, then nodded. "All right, ye strike a hard bargain. I'm fixing to head home, and really don't want to haul these extra weights with me. I'll sell them to ye for a copper a piece if ye'll buy em."

Robert thought about that. He would make the money back, when he sold them, and it would keep him from having to get some more from his dad. With a sigh he nodded.

"Alright, I'll buy them. Do you have anything else?" he asked pulling out the two copper.

The dwarf set the two stones on the counter and reached into his bag again. Robert ended up buying a map case, a crowbar, a couple of torches and a couple of daggers by the end. Never paying more than half of what he charged for his own, the dwarf quickly learned what his top price was and they were both happy with the final results. Paying him, Robert watched him leave before placing the items on the shelves for sale.

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No sooner had he reached for the broom again, than the door opened again.

"Good afternoon, sir," said the adventurer who entered. It was the same man who had promised to find out about the other two adventurers who were arrested.

"Good afternoon," responded Robert, setting the broom back in its corner and turning to give the man his whole attention. "Did you find anything out?"

"I was going to come right back, but then I discovered something worth far more than just 2 silver," said the adventurer with a smile.

Robert narrowed his eyes. He had assumed, when the guy didn't come back the very next day, that there wasn't much to find out, but now he was thinking the guy was just wanting to milk him of money.

"Look, whatever you discovered, I agreed to pay you only 2 silver. If you think," Robert started to say, but the guy held up his hand, cutting him off.

"I know what we agreed, and for 2 silver, I'll tell you what you want to know. The person behind those two is Lord Richmond. But if you are wanting more information, then I want a full gold instead."

Robert shook his head. If this was involving Lord Clark Richmond, he needed to inform his dad and not have this adventurer poking his nose around. If it got back to the powers that be, that he was sending people around investigating such prominent people, he would be in serious trouble.

Handing him the 2 silver, Robert said, "Thank you for letting me know. Here's your 2 silver. While I would be very interested in the rest of your information, I'm afraid I don't have the gold to spare."

The guy took the 2 silver, then stood there, looking down at it. He hefted it in his hand, and Robert wondered what was wrong.

"Kid, you've been honest and fair with me, which I'll say is nice after some of the other crooks in this city. I'll tell you the other for free. Word is that the king will be coming soon, and there's going to be a lot of people coming to the city. Especially adventurers looking for some coin. Since you are the only store near this gate, you're about to get a lot of business. The Lord Richmond is wanting your land to build an inn and develop the area. What I heard, is that he's planning to get rid of the poor people in this area, and then drive you out."

Robert shook his head. If that was what Clark wanted to do, he was going about it all wrong. Hector, Robert's father, would fight with tooth and nail to keep this store open, because of the reason's this man had just stated. Plus, the poor people would never go away. Even if the lord found some way to make these poor people poof into the air, others would quickly follow. Robert had seen enough to know that where you have one person with money, you would always have another without.

"Thank you for the information," said Robert as the adventurer left.

Picking up his broom, he finally managed to sweep the floor clean. Putting it up, he heard the door open and turned to see a group of kids peeking into the store.

"Welcome, how can I help you?" he said with a forced smile.

These were poor kids, and he had heard plenty of stories about how they were thieves and up to no good, but they were also customers that might have coin to buy something.

"Sir, we don't have much money, but we were wondering if you had any three-day old bread?" asked the oldest boy.

"Sorry," said Robert, shaking his head. "I sold out of bread at lunch time. I should have some more tomorrow, after my morning delivery."

They looked at each other, several clutching the rags they wore, over their stomachs, all of them wearing panicked and sad faces.

"Wish there was a soup kitchen still," whispered one, and the others nodded.

"Alright, we'll be here in the morning," said the older boy, putting the coins back into his pocket. They left looking rather dejected.

"Wait, what do you mean there's no soup kitchen anymore?" asked Robert, before the door could close.

"One of the lords ordered for it to be taken down. Said it was a disgrace. Us orphans have nowhere to go now," explain the eldest boy.

"Though, there's talk of an orphan's house, where we might be able to go," said one of the younger kids.

"Don't be a fool, Timmy, those places are horrible."

"How would you know?"

"My mom told me they was!"

Robert watched all of the fight go out of them at the mention of the mother, and they all just turned and walked away. If he thought they were acting, maybe it would have made his heart break a little less, but the gaunt faces, and skeletal hands that stuck out of their ragged clothes, only confirmed his suspicions. The lord behind this had to be Lord Clark Richmond, and Robert was starting to hate the guy.