Chapter 38 – The Vial War.

Morning at the Arcane Greed Faction Headquarters began with an unexpected setback in the basement laboratory.

Aurelia-Elysia hurried up the basement stairs, her dress skirt hitched up slightly, an expression of anxious concern on her face, clutching two empty glass vials in her hand.

"Commander Diana!" Aurelia-Elysia called. "We have a serious problem with workshop production!"

Diana was in the living room, reviewing the logbook with Rhea. She raised her dark eyes. "What problem?"

"We ran out of reinforced glass vials to bottle today's healing potions." Aurelia-Elysia explained, setting the vials on the table. "I went to the artisans' plaza to buy a batch of five hundred vials, but the suppliers told me they have zero vials to sell. NONE."

Rhea raised a silver eyebrow. "Not a single vial in the entire citadel?"

Fifteen minutes later, Kael returned from the street bringing confirmation of what had transpired.

A rival merchant guild from the central sector, the Mercury Guild, had executed an aggressive commercial sabotage maneuver. They had bought out 100% of the glass vial inventory from every distributor in the Ivory Citadel all at once, creating an artificial monopoly on containers.

The Mercury Guild leader's plan was simple and cruel: choke out the Arcane Greed Workshop and all small independent alchemy shops for lack of containers, forcing them to sell their potion formulas for dirt-cheap prices or shut their doors.

Kael slapped his hand onto his sword hilt, irritated. "Commander! Let me go to Mercury Headquarters! I can break down their door and take our vials back!"

Diana took a calm sip of her hot tea, and a slow, sharp, brilliant, terrifically clever smile appeared on her lips.

"Direct violence is the resort of those who lack brains to think, Kael." Diana said, adjusting her jacket collar. "They think they can freeze my production with a childish monopoly stunt? I'm going to teach the Mercury Guild how a real trade war is waged."

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Phase 1 - Shadow Espionage

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Diana set Phase 1 of her plan into motion in under twenty minutes.

She sent Rhea on a stealth reconnaissance mission. With Agility 49 and the [Phantom Step] skill, Rhea turned into an invisible streak that infiltrated the Mercury Guild's offices.

In under half an hour, Rhea returned to faction headquarters bearing an exact copy of Mercury's supply transport manifest.

"They only bought out the citadel's urban stock." Rhea explained, presenting the document to Diana. "The primary supplier of quartz and glass for the entire Second Circle is the West Sector Crystal Foundry, run by Master Boros."

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Phase 2 - Master Volkan's Play

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Diana and Rhea walked immediately to the Forge District for a meeting with Master Volkan.

When the four-armed old rock smith heard about the Mercury Guild's monopoly attempt, he let out a laugh so loud and booming it made the workshop anvils rattle.

"Those stuffed-suit merchants at Mercury think they run the glass market?!" Volkan slammed a stone hand onto the counter. "Master Boros of the Crystal Foundry has been my drinking buddy for fifty years! He hates the Mercury Guild!"

Volkan grabbed a quill and wrote a direct letter of recommendation to Master Boros.

Through Volkan's brokering, Diana closed an Exclusive Factory Supply Contract directly with the West Sector Foundry, securing the daily purchase of three thousand reinforced glass vials straight from the source at half the price charged in the city.

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Phase 3 - The Noble Shield and Anti-Mercury Alliance

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When the Mercury Guild realized cartloads of fresh glass vials were arriving from the West Foundry for the Arcane Greed Workshop, Mercury's leader attempted to use town hall inspectors to seize the wagons at the city gates for alleged 'lack of transit seals'.

Diana personally walked to the south gate, accompanied by Kael and Aurelia-Elysia, and presented the Magical Contract of Tax Exemption and Protection signed in Lord Vane's blood.

Upon seeing the red seal of the Council of New Nobles and the perpetual exemption title granted to Arcane Greed, the town hall inspectors turned pale, released the wagons instantly, and even issued formal apologies for the inconvenience.

But Diana didn't stop there.

She called an emergency meeting at her faction's Headquarters with all small alchemy shop owners and independent artisans being suffocated by Mercury's monopoly.

Diana placed the fresh glass vials onto the dining table.

"The Mercury Guild tried to wreck your businesses by buying up all the glass in the city." Diana declared in an imperious tone. "I have an exclusive contract with the Crystal Foundry. I will resell glass vials to all of you at factory cost price."

The small merchants looked at Diana with eyes brimming with tears of relief and gratitude.

"In exchange…" Diana smiled, a sharp, hungry smile, "…all of you will sell exclusively the medicinal concentrates from the Arcane Greed Workshop and sever all commercial ties with the Mercury Guild."

The proposal was accepted unanimously with enthusiastic applause.

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Mercury's Collapse and Greed's Profit

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The result of Diana's counter-strategy was a devastating financial catastrophe for the Mercury Guild.

Mercury was stranded with warehouses filled with thousands of glass vials bought at inflated prices that no one wanted to purchase anymore, while the Arcane Greed Commercial Alliance doubled daily potion production and flooded the Second Circle market with 85% purity goods.

To recoup losses, the Mercury Guild was forced to liquidate its stockpiles at a 70% loss, while the Arcane Greed Workshop consolidated its definitive monopoly over the medicinal sector.

Direct profit from the vial redistribution operation and doubled potion sales generated an extra sum of 10 Pure Silver Coins for Diana's faction vault.

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[FULL FINANCIAL AUDIT]

Previous Balance: 70 Silver Coins (7 Gold Coins).

Anti-Mercury Trade War Operation Profit: +10 Silver Coins!

[NEW ABSOLUTE NET WORTH: 80 SILVER COINS (8,000 Bronze! / EXACTLY 8 PURE GOLD COINS!)]

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Eighty silver coins stashed in the faction vault. Exactly eight pure gold coins.

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Nightfall found the squad celebrating their commercial victory in the inner courtyard of the Arcane Greed Headquarters.

The mana campfire lit in the center of the courtyard illuminated the stone walls. Kael roasted cuts of beast meat on spits, Aurelia-Elysia served chilled fruit juice, and Rhea rested beside Diana, laughing over the espionage stories.

Final Notes:

Trying to mess with Diana is like trying to mess with a horse, there's always gonna be a kick back- hehehehe.