be happy to help you.’
‘Yes, good idea,’ Ari agreed reluctantly. ‘And definitely don’t ask any more about semi-finished products.’
‘Why?’, Draco was intrigued. He’d never before encountered reluctance when trying to buy such substances. In Dagos, he rarely looked for semi-finished products, but when he needed them, there was no problem buying them, as long as no one had a personal grudge against him.
‘The Thieves' Guild often uses various kinds of semi-finished products to produce poisons and alchemical reagents useful for theft.’ Forth didn’t seem interested in the conversation, but he was clearly following it closely. ‘Because of this, a large number of merchants accuse alchemists of supporting the Guild. The alchemists themselves, in turn, complain that the merchants are inflating the prices of raw materials by citing fictitious thefts that they themselves stage. And so the vicious circle closes.’
‘On top of that, the City Watch is rushing about all over the place and can’t prove either side right.’ James shrugged. ‘Luckily, it’s giving us a wide berth for now. It’d be hard to deal with this seriously with as many jobs as we’ve got at the moment.’
‘I’ve always thought the Thieves’ Guild did everything it could to avoid complicating its own life.’ Draco had a limited understanding of such matters. He’d never been interested in them and had no motivation to delve deeper into the subject.
‘Usually, yes, but recently someone’s been hanging around all the shipments of alchemical ingredients in a rather suspicious way.’ James leaned forward slightly. ‘I’ve heard rumours that it’s someone from outside the Guild, and they’re looking for whoever’s causing them trouble.’
‘I don’t believe they don’t know.’ Ari shook his head, smiling wryly. ‘They’re probably responsible themselves; they just want to wriggle out of it.’
‘That wouldn’t make any sense.’ James wouldn’t give in. ‘Now the Watchman are patrolling the whole area, everyone’s keeping a closer eye on things than usual, and the port thieves have to venture into territories that aren’t theirs. Nothing but trouble, so why would they do that?’
‘For gold, of course.’ Ari shrugged, as
