"Magic Transmitter Artifact? Sounds interesting, what does it do?" The other merchant said, Rugel has now caught all of the merchants attention.
"Heh, allow me to explain, this artifact is something that me and my close buddy made after days of researching and testing various magic crystal ore." Rugel said, before he was about to continue with the explanation, one of the merchant suddenly interrupted him.
"Magic Crystals?! Isn't that incredibly rare? where did you get it?" The merchant said.
"That's, a business secret." Rugel replied, he smirked at the merchant who asked the question and then moved on. "Like i previously said, this artifact is made mostly out of Magic Crystal, and me and my buddy realized that– These crystals behave differently depending on their colors, just like how elementals have different colors for them, red for fire, blue for water, and so on– These crystals are also the same, since they form out of an abundant amount of mana, those mana sometimes have specific element affinity in it, and when these crystals absorbed them, they became a magic crystal with various affinity."
"–And? What does this artifact do? It doesn't seem to have any color? More like a cloudy glass to me." One of the merchant said.
After Rugel heard the merchant talked, his eyes immediately widened and he looked at the merchant dead in the eye.
"That's because, this crystal ball is a wind type magic crystal." He said while smiling. "Now, what's the use of this artifact!? Let me show you, here hold this one in your hand."
Rugel gave the crystal ball in his hand to one of the merchant, he then grabbed another one in his backpack and told the merchant that was holding the other ball to put it near his ears.
When the merchant obliged and raised the crystal ball to the same level as his head, Rugel then began to close his eyes and seems to channel some of his mana into the crystal ball in his hand.
Soon after he gave the crystall ball his mana, the artifact glows in white light.
"Hello." He said to the crystal ball.
As soon as his voice reached into the crystal ball, the merchant that was holding the other artifact near his ears suddenly heard the same words that was uttered by Rugel previously.
"Woah!?.." The other merchant was shocked when he hears Rugel's voice coming from the crystal ball.
While the others in the carriage was confused by the strange use of the crystal ball, Syla was the only one that understood what just happened.
'That's a telephone isn't it..' She said in her mind. 'Hey hey, Isn't this a big discovery?.. What do you mean that guy just invented a magic telephone!? This is too fast of an advancement?!'
Syla noticed that the adventurer infront of her was also confused by the crystal ball, she doesn't expect him to understand the significance of a telephone, but still the fact that this kind of technology had already been made when considering most people in the world hasn't learned about the importance of hygiene is crazy.
"Isn't that amazing!? With this artifact, you can talk to someone that is over a hundred meters away! By using your mana to activate a string of wind magics, anything you say into the artifact will be transfered to the other nearby artifact, the whole runic letters that was written inside this crystal ball is what made this possible." Rugel explained, he was thrilled to see the others reaction when they knew about the importance of this artifact.
The whole carriage fell into silence, as the other two merchants were thinking about what they should do next, Syla observed them from the side, she still hadn't spoke a single word yet.
Then, after approximately 10 seconds if silence, one of the merchant gave his opinion on Rugel's artifact.
"Hmm– I don't know.. If its made out of Magic Crystal, then wouldn't it be expensive? I can see the potential in this artifact, communicating with someone even when they're far away sounds convenient, especially for adventurers in groups that often gets lost with one another—
"However, getting magic crystal on itself is already a lot of work, not to mention that you need a specific magic crystal for this artifact to work– Do you think magic crystals just grow in some trees? Even in the whole kingdom, only a few mines was discovered to be having magic crystal in them."
Rugel's smile slowly faded as he heard the merchant's words, his energetic face and demeanor gradually slips away from his body as the merchant kept talking until the end.
"Well, i get that your artifact here is interesting, but it could be better, to be honest– I'd buy it from you, but i won't use it like how you described it, in my opinion, just selling the magic crystal alone will get you a lot of golds from nobles or rich adventurers, as for the other parts, that can be sold too at a cheaper price—
"In other words, i doubt anyone would use it as intended, it'd be better if they use the magic crystal for something else like enchanting." The other merchant also gave his opinion regarding Rugel's artifact.
'Enchanting? Like imbuing a weapon with buffs and enhancement?' Syla thought, her attention was shifted towards the concept of Enchanting.
She saw Rugel's lips frowning as he realized that there was no one that wants to buy or establish a partnership with him, Syla noticed his breath becoming heavier before putting one of the artifact back into his backpack.
"Can you give it a second thought? Im sure it can still be improved- For example i can make the crystal a lot smaller, althought it means the range of the communication will be reduced, the price won't be as high as before, normal adventurers may be able to afford it." Rugel tried to compromise and encouraged the other merchants to think it twice before they locked their decision.
But no matter what he said, the other merchants seems to have thrown their attention away from Rugel, they kept telling him that a magic crystal artifact for communicating is way too expensive, they mentioned that an artifact like this could only be used by leaders and kings, as most adventurers would likely to just use the magic crystal to enchant their weapon.
"You should just sell those magic crystals, it'd be way more profitable.. Of course im willing to buy it, how about 50 golds for the magic crystal in your artifact?" One of the merchant said.
"You sly bastard, im not selling my stuff to other merchants." Rugel said while furrowing his eyebrows.
The negotiations between Rugel and the two merchants ended there as they can't reach a collective agreement, in the end Rugel didn't get what he wished for and was left with an empty hand.
Syla watched as she saw Rugel leaning back into the carriage wall behind him and sighed.
"I guess i'll have to talk to my buddy again about this." He whispered. "You heard all of it?"
Rugel suddenly turned his head towards Syla, although he was sitting beside her, he doesn't seem to care at the slightest bit despite her beautiful appearance.
"Well, i can't pretend i don't hear anything can i?" Syla whispered back.
Although no one in the carriage was talking anymore, the carriage itself kept moving without troubles, all of the passengers in that carriage went on to stay silent throughout the whole trip before they arrived at Hayville.