Chapter 125

Sabina led them into her laboratory, where she dragged out and set up a few foldable metal chairs. It wasn’t the most professional environment, but Adrienne didn’t seem bothered. Her attention seemed mostly focused on the organized clutter of Sabina’s laboratory. She peered around at the alchemy reagents, potions, and other paraphernalia with plain interest.

Zoey wondered how intriguing the magical craftsman professions were to normal civilians. She knew they wouldn’t find it as amazing as Zoey, who had grown up in a world without magic, but Zoey also got the impression stuff like alchemy was a field that only wayfarers were significantly occupied with, and that magical fields didn’t have huge prevalence in everyday life. Maybe more in a big Fractures city like Treyhull, but still not totally mundane.

Settling down into the chairs, the interview began in earnest.

“Before we get started,” Sabina said, “we should clarify exactly what this opportunity is. There was only so much I was willing to share through a messenger.”

“Setting up a potion stand in the red light district,” Adrienne said. “I can sort of infer what that means. But I’ll admit, I’m curious about the details.”

So Adrienne hadn’t received the full picture, as Zoey had been wondering about. Though, the woman had put two and two together. It would have been hard not to, she supposed.

“It’s what you’d guess,” Zoey said. “We don’t have a huge selection, but that doesn’t really matter. We’re pretty sure it’s not available anywhere else,” in fact, from what Sabina had said, Zoey’s specialty might be unique to the entire world, “and so we don’t think there’ll be a problem in turning a profit.”

“Can I ask what, specifically?”

Zoey shared a look with Sabina, who shrugged. She turned back forward. “Well,” Zoey said. “We’ve got aphrodisiacs, sensitivity enhancers, infertility potions, and the opposite, fertility increasers. To name a few. There’s lots of others.”

Adrienne’s eyes widened with each successive word, and she was leaning forward in her chair, eyebrows raised by the time Zoey finished listing off her even shortened account of their stock.

“Wow,” Adrienne said. “And how strong are they?”

“Pretty strong,” Zoey said. “They’ll be popular. Sabina’s working on improving the recipe, and also breaking them down into tiers of varying intensity. Because the strongest are already pretty crazy.” At least, from what Sabina said. Zoey had unfortunately not had much time to experiment herself.

“Wow,” Adrienne repeated.

“And there’s stranger potions, too,” Zoey said. “There’s one in particular we think is going to sell out in record time.”

“Oh?” Adrienne was visibly hanging on Zoey’s words, not having to fake interest in the subject. Zoey’s suspicion that the brunette would be interested in this business had quickly been confirmed. Not that she’d had many doubts.

As for the potion she mentioned ... she coughed. “It grows a cock. On a woman. Fully functional, works like it ought to, pretty much indistinguishable from the real thing.”

Adrienne paused, then blinked. She returned to her normal sitting position, seeming almost taken aback. Zoey was pretty sure that was from sheer strangeness, not disinterest.

“Huh?”

“Yeah,” Zoey said. “Definitely one of our more exciting potions.”

Slowly, Adrienne’s expression morphed into a sort of delighted incredulity. “And it works on anyone?”

“It does. Or, at least, we think so.”

“That’s ... incredible? Oh my gods.” Adrienne shook her head. “I’ve never heard of anything like that. You two are going to be carting money around in wheelbarrows. How?”

“How we made it?”

“Yeah.”

“Business secret?”

Adrienne wasn’t put off by that response. “That’s fair. But, wow. That’s seriously crazy.”

“Yeah. It is. Anyway, we just wanted to make sure you had the full picture. It’d be a bit awkward if you weren’t comfortable with it. Because we’re looking for someone to handle most of the stand, not just the finances portion. We know you work in accounting, but we’re looking for someone to handle the business in general, sales included.”

Adrienne nodded eagerly, auburn ringlets bouncing. “I can do that. I can definitely do that. Honestly, I was thinking of quitting even before this. Finding something more exciting.” She laughed. “And this is definitely more exciting.”

“There’s one more caveat. We’re probably not staying in Treyhull for long.”

“Moving somewhere else? Back up to Haven?”

“Mantle, actually.”

It was a somewhat sensitive topic, discussing a move from Striders territory to Deepshunters, so Zoey watched for any kind of worrying reaction. But Adrienne wasn’t perturbed in the slightest; she just nodded. Rosalie had said that highguild relations didn’t mean too much to civilians.

“I see,” Adrienne said. “For the better market? And you’re asking if I’d be willing to relocate, too, right?”

“That’s the plan,” Zoey said.

“Well, considering the opportunity, I could certainly be convinced. It depends on the details, of course. Hours, responsibilities, pay. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very interested, but my family relies on what I send back, so I can’t go around doing whatever I want.”

“It’s a strange job, needs you to move, and we’re also hoping for some discretion when it comes to the details of the business,” Zoey said. “More than that, we’re expecting to make decent returns. So we’d be happy to offer you what you’re worth.” She looked at Sabina; they had discussed this before hand.