Page 37 of I Married A Lizardman

I held my breath. That would be a wonderful sale. But that was short-lived. My heart sank when my female shook her head.

“Not exactly,” Susan said. “You cannot stack the tokens that way. It is one token per purchase, hence why I said the discount isup to60 marks. So, if you want one of those one-of-a-kind, premium necklaces at 100 marks, you will give one token and pay the difference of 40 marks. However, you could get one of the more affordable models at 60 marks or less, which would cost you nothing but the token. That said, if you use a token on something that costs 30 marks, you lose the balance.”

It took me a moment reflecting on this system—which seemed complicated at first glance—to realize how clever it was. Had the customers been able to stack the tokens, they could have indeed acquired high end items for free, or a slew of cheaper ones.

“This feels somewhat unfair,” she complained.

“How is it unfair?” Susan asked, looking at her with an air of complete innocent confusion—that I knew for a fact to be fake. “I’mgiftingyou the ability to get up to 60% discount on handcrafted jewelry made with the noblest materials found on Xecania, simply for buying some of my fruits. I doubt you will find any other merchant making you such a generous offer.”

“They’re not that special,” the female from the first disgruntled couple interjected. “We’ve bought similar jewelry for a cheaper price.”

“With all due respect, Madam,” Susan said in a polite, but somewhat patronizing tone, “the only similarities between the necklace you are currently wearing and the ones my clanmates are selling, is the style. I’m afraid you’ve been duped into buying a cheap knock-off.”

“Cheap knock-off?” she exclaimed, outraged.

It was indeed a cheap knock-off. Any Andturian could see it. But how did my Susan know this?

Susan nodded with an apologetic expression. “I’m afraid so. See how the leather has darkened? A true Andturian piece of jewelry—or any of their other crafts for that matter—does not discolor with time,” my mate accurately explained. “The ribbed pearls that adorn them are actually lillian shells. You’re wearing a beautiful blue sarong. I would have expected you to make the shells match its color. But you can’t because those shells are synthetic reproductions. Whereas Andturian jewelry and weapons are adorned with the real thing. Yamir, will you show them?”

My mother eagerly picked up one of the most expensive necklaces on display and came to stand next to my mate. By now, a few more Bosengis, including a handful of humans, and Drantians had gathered around to observe and listen.

Using a heating wand, my mother aimed it at the female’s dress for the sensor to capture the exact color. She then carefully rubbed the tip of the wand on the shells of the necklace which quickly took on the same hue. A collective gasp rose from the crowd.

“Lillians are a shellfish found in certain bodies of water here, on Xecania. They exude heat to change the color of their shells as camouflage,” Mother explained to the female. “Once set, the color remains until a noticeable variation in heat triggers another change. What you are wearing are not real lillian shells.”

She gave her an apologetic smile, cast a glance towards my mate, then headed back to her stand—but not before I noticed the very pleased expression she was attempting to hide.

“I will take the four trays and the tokens,” the female from the trio stated, gesturing at her male companion to pay my mate.

“What? Wait? You can’t take everything and leave nothing for the others,” the stingy male she’d called Wolny exclaimed.

“You had your chance, but chose to cling to your credits,” the female responded with a shrug. “Your loss.”

“It’s okay, I have some more,” my mate replied reassuringly.

She quickly concluded the transaction, my head spinning at the sight of the crazy amount of credits being handed to my mate for things that only required a bit of water once every other day for three weeks. I sprang into action, pulling another cooling unit from under the table, and took out a tray for Susan. She beamed at me with gratitude and nodded her approval when I placed four of them on the table, the same way she had previously set the others.

Watching the first trio spending all four of their tokens on some of the most expensive jewelry of my Crafters had my throat constricting with emotion. While a few humans and other species bought a basket or two, the majority of the customers were Bosengi, buying full trays.

However, a number of the tourists actually stopped at our Crafter stalls to buy without tokens—on top of the Bosengis with tokens. It was eye-opening the number of customers asking questions about the trinkets they had bought at the tourist shops of the resort and spaceport, thinking them authentic, only to find out none of them had the unique properties of our true products. More sales were thus concluded.

Too soon, my mate sold out her thirty-five trays. Many of the Bosengis placed more orders with her, not only for reezia berries, but also for other products from their homeworld they couldn’t easily procure here. Although she didn’t commit to anything, she promised to investigate that possibility. In the meantime, with my consent, she had agreed that the Bosengis could come by the village twice a week—with an appointment—to buy that day’s berry harvest.

By the time the market closed, Susan made more than 25,000 marks—2,000 of which she redistributed to the Crafters in compensation for the tokens she had handed out. I made 4,000 marks from my weapons sales, twenty-five times more than my usual proceeds on any given market day. The other Crafters also sold more than 50% of their inventory, many with special requests for the next market.

The return home was beyond festive. The Spirits had heard our prayers. My mate had saved the day.

Chapter 15

Susan

Iwas flying high. Everything had gone so well, far beyond my wildest dreams. Even as I flew back to the village with the elders and my mother-in-law, I couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off my face. My companions kept talking in excited voices, switching back and forth between Universal and their mother tongue, so carried away they forgot I didn’t understand it. But I didn’t mind. They weren’t trying to exclude me, but were simply overjoyed by their long overdue success.

There was something magical about seeing people happy and basking in that aura of joy. Knowing that I had a hand in making it happen made it all the more amazing. And yet, I had little merit. Their products were fantastic, but disloyal competition from the Conglomerate had undermined my new people who knew and understood so little about marketing. I fully intended to address this matter in the upcoming days and file formal complaints with the UPO.

The swift flight home allowed me to get a head start on preparing my contribution to tonight’s meal. Between the market’s success and the dishes I would present, I held strong hopes that this would mark a radical shift in the Andturians’ way of thinking when it came to farming. With the kind of credits I had made with just this limited amount of reezia berries, we could be making a killing by diversifying the products on offer and producing them in larger quantities. The tourist resorts alone could represent a huge market for us.

Bubbling with excitement, as soon as I finished unloading and putting away my empty cooling units, I made a beeline for my shed to harvest oyster mushrooms, green onions, and some herbs, and then out to the field to pick some lettuce and spinach. I was just finishing putting them in a hover basket when Yamir’s soft voice startled me. I had not seen her approach so lost I had been in my thoughts.

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