Jinn walked out of the Opal Trading Co. through the front door, making the bells attached to it jingle. This was the only branch of the Opal Trading company in this area, and so it was also a source of attractions for the people who were looking to buy things without getting extorted.
Which was why, as soon as he left the store, Jinn encountered a large line of people gathered in front of the shop. Staff members were guiding the people into the shop once the crowd inside lessened a bit.
"Hey jinn." Some of the staff members even recognized the boy and greeted him. "Your lining-up method sure helped managing the shop a lot."
After some short talks, he walked out of the crowd and took a side lane. His next destination was... the DumDum street, located on the east side of the city.
Jinn especially made sure his money was with him all the time as he moved in between crowded places. Even in a country ruled by churches and a place where the people feared the gods, they certainly still did not shy from stealing or pickpocketing.
’Thankfully my money is still here; otherwise, I would need to carry a gun with me as well.’ Keeping one hand on the gun and the other on the cash. The thought itself was dreadful and scary to Jinn.
"The rest of the things should be in that shop too; why did you not buy them all?" The voice came out of nowhere, this time more than just a whisper.
Jinn looked around, and only after he made sure no one was around them did he whisper back in a singing tone. "You haven’t seen any crime series; I have. Just watch what I am doing, and don’t talk to me until I am alone."
Without paying attention to the grumbling voices beside his ears, Jinn kept following the directions in his mind and turned at the end of the road. He soon arrived at the Twisted street, hidden in the back corners of the DumDum street, his real destination.
"Come, come, fresh vegetables for sale!"
"Buy one, take the other on sale!"
Jinn walked straight into the street full of vendors. They had all kinds of products lying on a sheet, right on the footpath or up on a cart.
Various shouts sounded from all directions; each vendor was trying to sell their products.
They would eye everyone who walked by their area until that person was forced to make eye contact. Once that happened, they worked their charm and pulled them toward their wares.
’Some things never change, no matter which world you are in.’ Jinn sweat-dropped when the stares turned to him. He just looked straight ahead while discreetly looking for a seller who had the things he wanted.
"Ah, welcome, sir! What would you like to buy?" When a stall owner saw Jinn walking towards her, she enthusiastically greeted him, causing her wrinkles to stretch.
Jinn glanced at all the several herbs placed on the wooden cart and asked casually, "Do you have the bark of the Argroot?"
"Ah, a rare herb to ask for," The woman gasped in surprise. She walked around her cart and bent to take out something wrapped in cloth from underneath.
"How many would you like, dear?" she asked while unwrapping the cloth to reveal thick sticks of wood.
"Just one would do." Jinn replied with a smile, and the woman proceeded to wrap one up for him in a neat piece of paper. Her smile never faded from her face until Jinn mentioned something: "... do you also happen to have something called Baba Yaga?"
’!!!!’
Even though his voice was lower than a whisper, it managed to reach the old lady. Her response was not what he had expected. She raised her head in reply and looked at him all confused, but Jinn saw the momentary slip of recognition from her face.
So he decided to press on a bit: "it is also called the soul vine."
This time, the old lady flinched more visibly, but she managed to compose herself. She looked at Jinn and then lowered her head, focusing on packing. Her movements had turned hurried and sloppy as she whispered back, "I don’t know anything about what you are talking about."
’Ah, so it’s some sort of restricted product.’ Jinn thought to himself. Though a little helpless, he understood the woman did not want to get into trouble for saying the wrong thing and chose not to pressure her anymore.
But...
Surprisingly, the woman spoke again, "Even if I knew about it, I would tell you not to look for it here. It cannot be sold in the open."
This only confirmed his suspicion and made him more curious about what it was. Before he could open his mouth again, the woman pushed the packed Argroot in Jinn’s hand and said, "That will be 50 Dors."
"Ah, can I also get 10 grams of Silver Tick leaves?" Jinn did not rush to pay and decided to get a few of the herbal ingredients from her.
"Of course! Although they are somewhat expensive, I only have 5 grams of those leaves." The woman seemed a bit pleased that Jinn wanted an expensive product, but the boy could also sense a hint of helplessness in her voice.
"5 is fine, too." With a chuckle, he added. "I was just trying my luck."
With a kind smile, the lady weighted the leaves with silver vein-like lines all around it and packed it for Jinn as well.
"What is the total?" Jinn placed the two things he asked for aside and took out a few silver coins from his robes.
"190 Dors."
The leaves alone were worth more than three times the root. After placing twenty silver coins in the woman’s hands, Jinn turned around and left without another word.
The stall lady looked down at the two coins in her hands, and her eyes widened in shock.
At first she felt Jinn had conned her, but when she saw the silver shimmer in her hands, her hand moved faster than her mouth and closed up, hiding the coin. She looked around like a suspicious cat and wrapped the coins in a paper before stuffing them in her blouse.
...
Back on DumDum Street, Jinn strolled on an empty road talking to himself—or so it would seem to others if someone saw him.
"Why are you even asking for the Soul vine. That thing has no use for you!"
"Then you also went ahead and paid her more than what she told you. Did she show you the magic under her skirt while I was not paying attention?"
’How loud...’ Jinn felt his ears burning with the annoying voice ringing beside him. Sometimes he wondered if he was schizophrenic or something.
"Are you listening to me?!" The voice became louder, causing Jinn to frown.
"I can hear you; you don’t have to shout." Jinn groaned in annoyance, "I am not leaving anything to luck. The priest gave that root water to everyone except Geralt, as he did not need it. But it still increases the odds of success, right?"
The voice went silent for a second before giving a positive response.
"I will take all the help I can get. As for giving the kind lady the extra money, She just did me a huge favor.
"Something better than the magic under the skirt?"
Ignoring the voice, Jinn slowly unfurled one of the pages wrapped around the big Argroot. There it was, scribbled in a corner....
An Address!
"She told me where to find the rest of the ingredients on the list. So yeah, she deserves a little reward."