Always good to see an mc with sense. Don't let any single group be the sole source of information; let the merchants, mercenaries and adventurers do complementary roles. If one group does something shady, or doesn't mesh with the other groups, mc can find out quickly.
So he will pay for the travel expenses even if the items he requested aren't found (p17). He better have a competing merchant contact so he can avoid getting scammed.
I was hoping that the final scene would be the two of them together introducing her friends to some mostly peaceful discussion, but I'll just have to settle for this ending.
So nobody's going to point out that It is also entirely possible that Given what we've seen so far, that this whole world has been deliberately designed as such is rather likely.