Once again, Haley revealed a surprised look.
But then she gave a nod and said, "Let's go talk in my office."
She said a few words to the clerk that had been taking care of us before gesturing for us to follow her.
This time, we were led to a part of the store that we hadn't been in before.
This was the back of the store and as we walked by, we could see the different merchandise that was being stored in this back room.
I couldn't help being impressed by a few of the items here since these were things that I could recognize as being rare. These things hadn't been shown in the storefront, so it was clear that they were being kept back here for special customers.
Normal customers wouldn't even have a chance to see these things.
At the same time though, this showed how much financial power and influence this store had.
It seemed like the title of the third largest company in the city wasn't in vain.
It seemed like there was some power that backed this claim.
When we arrived in her office, we were surprised to find how small it was and how messy it was.
Since this was the office of the boss, shouldn't it be much cleaner and much larger?
Haley saw the look on our faces and she said, "Why waste money on a larger office when you can put that money into your operations instead. There's no point in putting more money into a place that's just used once or twice."
That wasn't the image that I had of an office since in my world, offices were used for plenty of meetings with people.
So these offices had to be impressive to impress the people that were coming for the meetings. It was a sort of power play to put the owner of the office in a superior position, making it easier for them to negotiate.
But it seemed that this concept wasn't that widespread in this world.
I didn't think too much about it and just sat down in front of Haley's desk.
Both Nicole and Jessica stood to my sides while Haley sat down in front of me, behind the desk.
Once we were all settled, the smile on Haley's face disappeared. Well, it didn't completely disappear as she still had a smile on her lips, but that smile in her eyes disappeared and was replaced with a serious look.
She looked right at me with that business smile and asked, "So, what deal did you have for me?"
She didn't waste any time as she directly got to the point of this meeting.
I couldn't help being surprised since I had thought that most merchants would try to beat around the bush first before using some kind of tactic to bring up these things, making it easier for them to negotiate. I never thought that Haley would be this direct about it and ask me what I want to my face.
But even if I was surprised, that didn't mean that I was against it.
This would make it much easier for me to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish.
After all, sincerity was the best.
So I said, "I need food and supplies for the winter."
Haley couldn't help being confused when she heard this, but then she remembered something else about me from last night. She remembered the fact that I was a baron.
Since I was a baron, it made sense that I would have territory.
So what I was buying was actually food and supplies for the winter for an entire territory.
Depending on how big the territory was, there was no doubt that this would be a large deal for her company.
That was just how it was when it came to working with nobles.
So there was also a trace of excitement that flashed in Haley's eyes before she suddenly calmed down again.
She looked at me and asked in a calm voice, "How much do you need?"
This time, I didn't answer and turned to give a nod to Nicole.
She pulled out a piece of paper from the bag that she was carrying and placed it on the table before siding it over to Haley.
Haley picked up the piece of paper and looked carefully at it before saying, "We can do this, but…" After a pause she said, "That depends on the price."
Hearing this, I knew that it was time for the main part of these negotiations.
This was the part that I was dreading the most since this was the part that would be the hardest fought battle.
I just looked at her and calmly said, "What is your first price?"
Haley didn't answer right away as she took a moment to think about it. After thinking it through, she grabbed a piece of paper from the side and wrote something on it before sliding it back over to us.
I picked it up and then looked at it with Nicole.
When the two of us saw the number that was written on, both of us couldn't help revealing surprised looks. We both looked at Haley as if we were trying to figure out if she was serious and then we looked back at the paper, trying to find if there were any extra commas or dots.
But in the end, everything seemed in order.
So I couldn't help asking, "Is this really your first price?"
Haley just nodded with a smile on her face.
Seeing the serious look in her eyes, I couldn't help asking, "Are you kidding me? This price…won't you be suffering a loss if you sell at this price?"
When she heard this, Haley couldn't help breaking out in laughter.
We just looked at her with confused looks when we heard this.
After laughing for a bit, Haley finally said, "This is my first time hearing this. There are actually people who are worried about the merchant suffering a loss from a deal."
I couldn't help revealing an awkward smile when I heard this.
But then Haley said, "You don't have to worry, I'll still be making a profit from this. This is the advantage of being a big business, you have lower costs than others."
I still couldn't help hesitating when I heard this.
Seeing the doubt in my eyes, Haley then said, "Just consider this the friends and family discount. While we aren't family, I think that we would still qualify as friends, especially after everything that you've heard about me last night."
After saying this, she looked at me with a friendly smile.
This wasn't her business smile, but rather an actual friendly smile that she would show to a friend.
It seemed like she really did believe in these words and she wanted to be friends with me.
Since that was the case, I didn't have a reason to refuse.
Although I couldn't read people as well as Baroness Rose, I could still see a thing or two about people.
I could tell that she was being sincere and this was her way of making up for last night.
In that case, there was no need to refuse.
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