Alas, it is just "a specially designed _cubic gate_ that is attuned to several fishing vessels on several Material Planes as well as to a polar region on another Material Plane". (He gets ice for the fish from the polar region. He doesn't, say, sell ice to everyone when the city is in summer, even though he has access to unlimited quantities of the stuff... [1])
He doesn't truly understand what a valuable item it is, and got it from his father; the family has always used it for buying fish. Nevertheless, he "is wise enough to keep his methods a secret from prying eyes", and please see the rant above in another comment about how ubiquitous divination magic is a problem explicitly mentioned by the rest of the book. He cannot _possibly_ keep his mysterious fish source mysterious.
The other oddity is that he's not even a 15th level Commoner. He's a fighter 11th, some prestige class I don't recognise 4th. Now, we could make _some_ sense of this NPC if he was a retired adventurer who has inexplicably always wanted to be a fishmonger and so in spite of his vast wealth and ability is selling fish because that's what he loves... but no, this is the family trade. How did he _get_ to be a fighter 11th selling fish? Do the fishing boats sometimes send through a live octopus if they think he might be bored?
[1] I know, epic level spellcasters can create ice on demand... but also _Create Food and Water_ (and spells and wondrous items that create more sumptuous repasts) must be in near-infinite supply, so why is anyone buying fish to begin with?
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He doesn't truly understand what a valuable item it is, and got it from his father; the family has always used it for buying fish. Nevertheless, he "is wise enough to keep his methods a secret from prying eyes", and please see the rant above in another comment about how ubiquitous divination magic is a problem explicitly mentioned by the rest of the book. He cannot _possibly_ keep his mysterious fish source mysterious.
The other oddity is that he's not even a 15th level Commoner. He's a fighter 11th, some prestige class I don't recognise 4th. Now, we could make _some_ sense of this NPC if he was a retired adventurer who has inexplicably always wanted to be a fishmonger and so in spite of his vast wealth and ability is selling fish because that's what he loves... but no, this is the family trade. How did he _get_ to be a fighter 11th selling fish? Do the fishing boats sometimes send through a live octopus if they think he might be bored?
[1] I know, epic level spellcasters can create ice on demand... but also _Create Food and Water_ (and spells and wondrous items that create more sumptuous repasts) must be in near-infinite supply, so why is anyone buying fish to begin with?