4 Facade

Carefully but methodically a young hand was placing vials of different colors into their corresponding placeholders designated to them.

Close to those vials were other different glasswares neatly arranged and filled with different types of substances like powders, pills, or even creams.

Each of those items was taken out from a leather bag that the person was carrying in their arms until a certain amount was displayed.

At the end, when the person was finished arranging them, all of these vials combined made a very interesting display and the clean look enhanced the interior of the small shop.

When what seemed to be the last vial with a red liquid was placed on top of a special pedestal in its lonesome to the side, the ringing of a small bell sounded.

The person refilling the vials put away the small, now empty leather bag and looked over at the young man that had entered the shop.

The customer looked around curiously and noticed that most products were behind the counter where a young person stood around and had been smiling at him for a while now.

So he approached the spot in front of the counter and looked at a book that lay on it with the title 'Products & Prices'.

The young man took the book and flipped through its pages. Each time he read what was written inside the book, the more did his brows furrow together into a scowl.

"Isn't that quite expensive just for some ordinary medicines? Also, where is the owner? How come a child is working as a clerk here?"

True, the one behind the counter looking at the young man was no other than the red-haired Mordyn or as described by his customer, a child.

"What does running a business have to do with age? Dear customer, from looking at you, I don't think you are that much older? Maybe 20 at best? And to answer the question regarding my prices. I believe each price is adequate to the effects of said medicine. They may seem high at first, but no one is forced to buy them in the end."

When Mordyn answered the young man, the person in question squinted his eyes a little and placed the book back in its previous place.

"Then the rumors are true. A child is the owner of the apothecary 'Tweak N' Brew'. What was it? Mr. Flamel?" The young man now asked with a pinpoint question.

Flamel was the family name that Mordyn had chosen for himself so that he could start his little medical company in Piltover.

Well, he had no family name here, to begin with, and he didn't like to involve his previous family name in this new life.

So he chose a new one for himself that would somewhat fit himself. It was already enough of a surprise to know he had a close enough sounding given name.

And this whole name choosing came only to be because of the already above-mentioned business affairs.

To let everything go legally and reap even more profits, Mordyn had to open up another small shop in the upper city. And for that, he needed local identification papers with a full name and all that bureaucratic hell.

Speaking of profits. The last 4 months had shown him extremely well how much money he can gain from just his skills. Especially now, after starting to squeeze dry the richer people of Piltover.

The profit from the shop in Zaun was laughable in comparison. But Mordyn kept his products affordable for both places.

Shunning one place just because of its weaker economy at a certain time is just a weakminded excuse that people tend to use in fear to fail.

Most of the money gained was more of an investment anyways and soon enough would show its effects in the variety of his products and increase of productivity of the city in general.

The customers in Zaun were after all people of the working class or criminals. And if those were healthy, then the economical picture would slowly start to better itself. Even if it was akin to moving a huge boulder from point A to B, it would pay off.

Especially with how Vander started to have his hands busy in keeping the vultures from Piltover away. The tension was still there and evergrowing.

Sometimes Mordyn even ended up in trouble with some Enforcers.

Especially down in Zaun because they tried to buy his products at the Zaunite prices or just confiscate them with blatant reasons.

Just a reminder, Mordyn did not sell his products outside Zaun at those lower prices. If Mordyn did not know someone was 100% a citizen of the undercity, then he would not sell.

At first, it was not a real problem but the more fame his products gained, the more problematic it became.

But in the end, even that increased his profits further somehow. So much so that soon the name Tweak N' Brew became a very powerful brand known for its wonderous products. And a name with promising products did lure investors. That in itself also helped protect him from unnecessary trouble.

Especially after a certain fact spread widely that the owner and maker of said products was only a child of 10 years of age. That is when he started his shop.

Some called the child a genius of his own craftmanship while most others just didn't agree and thought him just being an apprentice to the actual master craftsman.

Nonetheless, the shop became very popular. The only real problem Mordyn ran into was the demand skyrocketing.

He could only do such much of alchemy each day and seriously speaking? If someone wanted to have his products, then that person would need to pay the increasing prices through the demand the people had.

And that is where the problems started with him playing supposed favoritism. Damn, if he had charged a gold coin each time he was told by someone that he is only ripping people off while only really adjusting the prices and reacting to the development of the market, then he would already be rich without selling anything at all.

Before anyone asked, he would not simply increase his production. It would be a waste of time that he would rather put into his own matters. Flooding the market would also diminish his profits anyway.

Was he actually getting way too greedy? Who knows. It's not like he made that much...After all, he kept it reasonable.

So, in general, he would work for 2 hours daily in the shop in Piltover. That was pretty much the amount of time needed now that he would be out of stock for most medicine.

Then another 2 hours would be spent in Zaun and finally 4 hours back home brewing and restocking his products.

After that, he would spend a little bit of time further increasing his skills and the rest of the day was relaxing and enjoying his time with the others.

Thinking about it like that, he seemed to have a rather structured normal working schedule cut out for himself. Not that he always stayed inside his shops. After all, why bother selling stuff if someone could do it for you.

After all, Mordyn knew what sums to expect after having sold certain amounts of medicine.

But what was most important was he slowly became richer. The only downside to that was that the delivery times of products were hellish slow. Medieval traveling options were really annoyingly limited.

For example, one freighter ship from Demacia to Piltover took about half a month to arrive. And let's not talk about the Freljords that had first to travel by land and then by ship.

Anyway, everything aside, now he was the prideful owner of the two shops. Up here he had fewer problems with thugs than down in Zaun. But that was that.

"Yes, that is my name...Well, you are not the first customer to be surprised about that. As you have said, rumors spread pretty fast. So, are you only here for irrelevant questions or can I help you with something?"

The young man only nodded not arguing anymore.

"Information - I am here for that kind of good."

Now Mordyn shifted his head sideways. His ponytail that rested on his shoulder now slipped from it and rested at his back when he also looked up and made a thinking posture with a hand placed at his chin.

"That may be expensive depending on what kind of information you seek...dear customer." Mordyn smiled devilishly. This was also another little service he had in store. He dealt with certain information and sold it to people for enormous prices.

That information was mostly about things he knew about Runeterra.

Why not use the little knowledge he had to his advantage anyway. It was not like he knew everything but whatever he did know could bring him great benefits in form of coin.

Sure, for some this kind of business could be a waste of time, but interestingly enough he had already encountered a few requests of interest regarding legends or other stuff.

"I heard...You also deal in magical artifacts. Is that true?"

And then there was that. Mordyn now raised both his brows in intrigue and looked at the man closer.

"That is not correct. I don't deal in illegal products..." At least not up here in Piltover is what Mordyn would normally say.

The young man looked at Mordyn as if trying to find out if he was lying or not. "Then how about this? Have you seen something like this?"

The young man then showed him his wristband with a blueish purple stone embedded inside that also had a clear magic rune carved on it.

"Hmm? Ha, if that ain't interesting. To see a 'Catalyst of Aeons' in the hands of a non-mage. Well, not that the crystal actually got any magical energy left inside it by the looks of it."

Those words got the young man somewhat interested.

"Wait, you know what this crystal is?" The young man asked excitedly now and leaned over the counter to get closer to Mordyn.

"Ehem..." Mordyn coughed lightly. He wanted to make sure this guy noticed what he was actually asking about here. And that information was not for free.

That he just told him something about his own item was already going too far for his own self-interest anyway.

It was actually amazing how this person didn't know what he actually had in his possession there. Well, to tell the truth, Mordyn only guessed just now since the stone looked a lot like an in-game item he was too familiar with.

At least its form was close to the item he knew, even though it looked more like a tear...So it could very likely also be just a Goddesse's Tear in the end.

What he was very sure about is that this item was of magical nature. No wonder this guy started asking questions about the arcane from the get-go.

But one should know that everything related to the arcane was forbidden in Piltover. You were actually better off not getting caught asking too many questions about it and especially owning such illegal items.

That is why Mordyn kept such information away from his shop in Piltover and didn't go further into the topic.

Not only that but there were already other customers entering the shop.

The young man noticed this as well and sighed. He then scribbled something on a small piece of paper he took out and handed it over to Mordyn.

"I will leave for now but please, if you do have information, then contact me at this address. Even if it is only through mail." Then the young man turned around and left. Though he did stop shortly after and quickly brought a rejuvenation potion that helped someone sleep better before he finally left the shop.

Mordyn looked at the piece of paper and smiled lightly. What made him surprised was the name written on the little piece of thin paper.

Jayce Talis - If that ain't a familiar name.

'Could that be the same Jayce? Doesn't look buff enough yet for swinging a giant hammer around, though.' Mordyn contemplated in his head about this person.

The location did match. Could very well be him. So Talis was his family name? He also wondered what someone like him was doing here just walking around and asking about arcane stuff so nonchalantly.

Well, Mordyn put those thoughts at the back of his mind for now and started concentrating on selling his product to the incoming customers.