Black Market #4

Black Market #4

Ayama squints, trying to see past the incredibly thick cigarette smoke and the dim lights of the room they found themselves in. Akiro on the other hand was struggling to breath through his mouth, his heightened olfactory sense making his head spin from the burnt drugs within the man's large cigarette.

They found themselves to be in a luxurious room, in a hidden trading center called the Harvesters-- an incredibly secretive and thoroughly merciless organization who was proficient in trading high-value goods.

"These are impressive skins," The large, towering man huffed. He ran his hands through the leather, appraising the smoothness of the untouched leather and running his hands through the consistent cuts on all of the lizardmen hides. "You are very proficient with the blade."

"Whoa--" Ayama gulped, watching the man stand up from his solid wooden desk. He wore a completely white suit and jacket that emphasized his great physique and height. "He's huge."

"Quality like this has not passed through my hands in quite a long time," He smiled, flashing his as he held the cigarette by his teeth, "How does forty-five thousand a piece sound?"

"That's quite a lot when compared with the guild's! It's almost double-- I think, I don't remember." Ayama thought, internally excited but collected on the outside. "I believe that is more than satisfactory." He whispered to Akiro.

"S-Sure." Akiro replied to Ayama, even though he seemed to feel the adverse effects of the smoke. He turned to the man and nodded resolutely. "We expended quite a lot of energy and effort to provide high-quality skins. This is a premium compared to most store-- we will gladly accept your offer." He replied properly, speaking their language straight and properly.

The man nodded in response, clapping his hands once. "Good. The money will come shortly." He motioned to his subordinate, by the door, who then exited the room at his command. He eyed Akiro, appraising him with his nakedd eyes, "You seem to be the reason as to why these skins are so high-quality.

"You flatter me," Akiro naturally replied, "With enough practice and talent, one should be able to replicate these results."

"I still can't understand them," Ayama sighed, "Akiro must've gotten a language skill-- lucky him. It'd be great to understand even half of what they're saying." He thought, put off by his lacking understanding.

The man in white nodded, pleased by Akiro's poise and natural response, which was confident and mysterious at the same time. "Is that so?" He chuckled, "Even if that were the case, I would fail as a businessman if I fail to take advantage of this situation."

Taking the cigarette from his mouth, he opened the window, allowing the wind to aerate the room, "I would like to propose an arrangement. Any skin or monster by-products that you yourselves have acquired-- I would like to monopolize them." He said, receiving the money he got from his subordinate. The man then opened his drawers, taking another sack of cash, adding it to the other. "Consider this a token of goodwill."

Akiro reached for his chin, stroking it, pretending to be contemplating heavily about the matter. He turned to Ayama, who just shrugged back at him, and then back to the man. "My partner agrees with this arrangement."

"Wonderful." The man nodded, "You may address me as Mr. Grendel from now on, and how will I address you?"

"You can call me Partner, as I prefer to keep my anonymity, Mr. Grendel."

"That is satisfactory."

Akiro nodded, receiving the hefty sacks of currency, making sure the sacks did not rip open. “Thanks to me somewhat comprehending their language through intuition, I managed to learn a passive skill: Language Comprehension.”

[ Name: Akiro Hiroto / Age 18 / Job: Assassin / Sub Job: Gunman ]

[ Lvl 36 ] [ ATK: 196 / STR: 73 / DEX: 183 / SPD: 145 / DEF: 18 / INT: 100 / MANA: 210 ]

[ Gunman's Manual / EX ] [ Appraisal / D ] [ Stealth / D ] [ Weapon Master / D ] [ Appraisal / A ] [ Sprint / F ] [ Radar / E ] [ Disguise / S ] [ Square Cut / F ] [ Language Comprehension / F ]

"I'm not going to lie, but an inventory-skill or spell would be good right about now." Ayama joyously hummed, "I never thought I'd complain about the weight of money."

"This is why paper money was invented," Akiro replied, carrying his half of the load, while carefully surveying their surroundings because of the onlookers. "But on the bright side, we now have spending money– we can’t exactly bring this up to the surface without looking suspicious to our Professors.”

They walked through the streets, careful not to attract too much attention to themselves and the large amounts of money they were carrying with them. As they traveled back to the central market Akiro was bombarded with window notifications.

[You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!] [Level 36-39]

[ Lvl 39 ] [ ATK: 198 / STR: 75 / DEX: 187 / SPD: 147 / DEF: 19 / INT: 100 / MANA: 225 ]

“Those thugs died,” Akiro uneasily chuckled at the thought. “Ayama would feel bad if I told him, and technically speaking at the time, I did not lie– so, it should be alright now right?” He looked at his happy companion, “Yeah, it would be best not to tell him.”

Ayama inhaled the thick air, the scents full of spices, smoke and miscellaneous things. He beamed like a child visiting the candy store as he laid his eyes on the various goods in the central plaza.

“This place is huge!” He smiled, stretching and spinning around to see everything as they passed like he was not in a life-threatening condition just a couple of hours ago. “So many things to buy!”

This remark earned him a smack from Akiro, who just glared at him, “I said we can spend our money, but it might as well be on something useful! Supplies! Rations!”

Ayama was not physically hurt by the action, but he was more or less offended by his reminder. “Of course!” He shot back, “I know what to do, I’m not that big of an idiot!”

“I worry for your well being sometimes,” Akiro sighed, rolling his eyes in an amused manner, “Fine, meet me here in an hour, I’ll go buy us supplies.”

At that, Ayama immediately jogged into the marketplace, practically forgetting his grievous state and bursting with Energy. Akiro looked until he disappeared into the traffic, blending in with the native folk.

Akiro shook his head, smiling a little bit, his worries for his friend washing away, “Hopefully he doesn't do something stupid.” He thought, turning to the opposite direction from Ayama and into a less-crowded zone of the market.

Walking in that direction, he smelled the thick air, which was saturated by the scent of bitter herbs “This place is reserved for herbs and the like.” he deducted, pinching his nose as he read the sign, “Alchemist: Healing, Herbs, and Poison– seems accurate enough.”

Akiro stared at the building, which was carved from the wall of the cave itself, the window boards tied open and the door removed from its hinges. The scent of herbs was incredibly strong, the odor practically being colored by its strength.

“H-Hello?” Akiro spoke, strained and nasally, “I’m here to buy s-specific herbs—Ack!”

The shadow of the dimly lit establishment moved, a small elderly woman emerging from the shadows. She looked up to Akiro, pointing wordlessly at all the options available on the shelves that towered all the way to the ceiling.

“I-I can just go pick out whatever?” Akiro asked, spooked by her, “I didn’t even notice her presence.” He thought, bowing respectfully at the woman, who stared at him with a thousand-yard gaze, “Thank you.”

Speedily excusing himself, He began to browse tall shelves, disgusted and impressed by the contents of the glass bottles. Depending on their contents, the shapes and sealant of the containers varied, with the healing items having cylindrical containers and wax-sealed cork caps; and the harmful options having circular containers and narrow bottle necks covered in baked clay.

The contents were even more surprising to Akiro, the healing items holding dissolving herbs and the poisons carrying chopped-up insects and other poisonous organisms– ranging from whole centipedes to diced spiders and other mysterious creatures.

Looking at the labels, Akiro slowly read the characters like they were familiar to him– as if he studied them extensively, the characters dancing and morphing into the language he knows– they slowly were translated to Japanese.

“Hundred-legged Centipede Poison extract, Dozen-Eyed Venom Widow, Crushed and boiled Bloody Beetle–” Akiro smiled, impressed at the strange wonder of the world they have been summoned to, “Even though I’ve been summoned here for three— almost four months– I’m surprised at what I keep learning.”

Taking eight bottles of poison, two of the four he read earlier, Akiro put them on the counter, but he was not finished there. He returned back to the shelves, taking more of the healing items and adding them to a total tally. Akiro procured twelve small bottles of condensed painkillers, ten bottles of disinfectants, and two kit-bags of sterilized, herb-treated bandages.

“--These items please.” He smiled, the lady on the counter speedily calculating his total.
“Five silvers.” The lady said plainly, stretching out her hand.

Akiro reached into his own sack of money, pulling out the amount, “Thank you.”

“Well that was cheaper than I thought,” Akiro thought to himself, “I would’ve bought more since that was the case, but it’s pretty uncomfortable carrying my money as is– it’s such a security hazard.”

Taking refuge on one of the roofs by the central plaza, one that was well illuminated by the surrounding lights below, just across where the two had agreed to meet after an hour. Akiro carefully sorts through his money.

“If I am not wrong, I understand the gist of this country’s money system.” He looked at the pile of money in front of him, cross-referencing his educated guesses with the hefty spenders below him. “A platinum coin is equal to about a million Au; gold, fifty-thousand; silver, two thousand; brass, one-thousand; steel, five hundred; iron, a hundred; copper, ten; and tin is worth one Au– and totalling up my current net-worth… Ayama and I received 1,350,000 for the skins, with a gift adden on top of that for– 1,850,000 Au..”

“divided by two, it’s almost a million each at 925,000 for both of us.” Akiro chuckled to himself, looking at the absurd amount of money he currently had, which was currently in gold-coins. “I only spent ten thousand, so I have 915,000 as of now.”

Akiro smiled at his fortune as he tucked it securely under his clothing before jumping down from the roof, surprising Ayama, who was stuffing himself with a skewer of some sort.

“A–Ah-k!” Ayama gasped, choking on his food, “d-Damn it! don’t scare me like that!”

The reaction made Akiro laugh, “Okay, I'm sorry– I apologize,” He giggled, “So, did you find anything that you wanted?”

Ayama shook his head, “Nothing but food was all I found.”

“With your bottomless appetite, I’m not surprised,” Akiro smartly replied in his head. “I see, well, should we go? I think It’s time we look for proper gear.”

Ayama nodded, thinking back to the beaten leather–armor he still used– looking back at the memories of how often he got cut, stabbed or hit by goblins, only to be constantly healed by Otome.

“Yeah– In fact, I know just the place, I stumbled to it by accident.” He smirked, confusing Akiro, who just nodded.

“Well? Lead the way.” The other replied, making Ayama smile more.

Pointing across from themselves, about the opposite end of the underground cave, Ayama eyed the large tower of a structure— building carved from one of the largest stalactites of the cave.

“That’s a store?!” Akiro gasped, “It looks like a fortress. How in the world did you stumble upon that anyway? Just in an hour no less!”

“It’s much closer than it looks. C’mon!”