Chương 50: The Trade

Arielle continued to stare at the space, waiting for the man to emerge. He took his time with it. She could hear his heart quickening, his feet shuffling, and could even hear him straighten from where he'd leaned against the wall. Then he dropped the concealment with a spell," [Reveal]," that had his body shimmering back into view. He walked forward slowly, a wand in one hand, a bottle of brown liquid in the other. Arielle scanned the man as he watched her.

He looked like a pirate from a storybook with his long, dark hair braided and beaded, falling to his shoulders. He'd tied some of it up in a bun on the top of his head. A scar cut across his closed eye, and the opened one showed irises black as tar. His skin was ruddy, with pale scars lining his forearm. I can see him with an eyepatch and a hook, Arielle thought. Actually, she was surprised he had forgone the eyepatch given the state of his eye." What do you want, child?"" I'm no child," she said."

I'm looking for someone who deals in elven gems." He tilted his head to the other side." Why?"" Because I have some to sell."" Now, why would you admit that child?" The' child' was starting to rankle. He didn't look that much older than she was." Because I would rather we proceed with honesty. I'm not good at deceit, and I want to save time."" What if I were law enforcement?"" You're not."" How do you know?"" Because you look like a pirate." His eyebrow raised." What?"

Arielle paused and weighed her next words, trying to find a clear yet inoffensive way to phrase what she was about to say." You do not look like law enforcement. You are not wearing the standard-issued robes, and you appear to be drinking on the job, which is strictly forbidden for law enforcement officials. Also, the nature of your scars suggests that you have been in far deadlier fights than most law officers deal with."" You say I look like a criminal."" Yes. In the best possible way."

He snorted and walked closer to her, such that Arielle stiffened. He smelled a little like coal, and something darker, earthier, and familiar. Was he a smoker? Ari frowned. Her grandmother had been a smoker, and now she couldn't talk for long periods of time without coughing. Grandmother had claimed she'd had that problem before she started smoking, but no one in the family believed her, including Arielle. As far as she was concerned, the pipe was the enemy.

As he circled her, monitoring for who knows what, Ari couldn't help saying," You know you shouldn't do that."" Do what?'" Smoke. Or drink. It's bad for your health." He gave her a sidelong look." I reckon my choice of career is even worse for my health."" That's true, but there's no point in tripling the damage." He snorted." You're funny. What gem do you purport to have?"" Are you the one I sell it to?"" Unlike you, I would never admit that in public." Arielle blinked slowly at him."

You think I'm law enforcement?"" Perhaps. Although if you are bait, then those pigs must be losing their touch because you might just be the most obvious bait in the world."" I am not bait," she said." I am a businesswoman."" Business child more like it. Now, tell me. What do you have?"" A crionite amongst other things." His eyebrows climbed into his forehead." Where did you get a crionite?"" I'm not going to answer that. Do you want to buy it or not?"" Do you have other buyers?""

No, but I'm sure with effort I can find some." The man smirked." No, you can't; otherwise, you would not be here."" I am here because you're my first option, not because you're my last."" I am both, at least on this island. You will not find anyone for miles willing to touch an ill-gotten gem."" Are you certain?" She cleared her throat." I am quite good at doing things that other people say I can't do."

Shadow wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. When the cloaked figure had wandered into their base, he had initially thought nothing of it. He assumed tha t she was a straggler from the festival who had gotten lost, and she would soon turn around when she found tha t there was nothing there. But then she stood on the base floor and stared right at him, telling him that she knew he was there. Incredible. As a Level 120 adept, concealment was one of the skills he'd spent the longest training and perfecting.

It was not a bloodline spell, but he'd spent so long just on that spell that he was probably a master at it. Almost no one detecte d him when he didn't want to be. But she had within seconds. At first, he'd thought maybe it was because he was a little tipsy, thanks to a few bottles here and there. Who could blame him? Keeping a lookout was the most boring task in the world, and he needed something to make the time pass faster.

Maybe he'd drunk more than he should have and had slipped up on the spell, which was why she'd caught him so easily. But that wasn't the only thing that bothered him about the girl. He was typically very good at reading people, but for some reason, he couldn't get a clear idea of who she was. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It wasn't just the disguise. A lot of people approached them with disguises, yet Shadow could smell a rat or a pig a mile away.

With her, he didn't know. Her voice sounded strange.... flat and mildly accented. She wasn't noble born, but she sounded well-educated. Her clothes were dark and practical, rather than extravagant, yet she had good posture, better than that of a commoner. She also sounded young. Too young to be here. He really wanted to send her home, but he didn't have the power to do that. Besides, he wasn't sure she would appreciate it. The people who came to make trades were typically desperate and in dire straits.

His boss, Van, always said," The more desperate, the better." However, that was another thing that was throwing him off. Though she sounded hasty, she didn't sound desperate at all. Neither did she sound scared like a civilian would be watching a man melt out of the darkness. He was used to people fearing him, especially given his scarred face. Yet when she'd looked at it, not a single trace of fear or disgust sparked in her eyes. Only curiosity. Then she'd looked away and kept her gaze on his neck instead.

Despite the lack of eye contact, she had an aura of confidence that belied her lack of experienc e in criminal matters. And he knew she had to be inexperienced. In this short conversation, she had already made so many rookie mistakes that revealed too much, yet she didn't seem concerned about them at all. Almost like she knew someone with the power to back her if need be... Rain?" I assume Rain sent you."" I don't know who that is," she responded." If you're not interested in trading, then I will leave."

His expression didn't change." How much crionite do you have?"" I'm not sur e. I presumed you would have so me sort of weighing apparatus with yo u."" Where did you get it from?"" The point of my being here is so as not to answer questions like that." Hmm. He remained confused. Was she a trap or a blessing? Where would a girl like her get her hands on crionite?

On the other hand, why would law enforcement send someone like her, with a strange accent and plainspoken speech, to them, knowing she did not at all fit their usual demographic? If it was a trap, then it was an outrageous one, and the only reason he was inclined to believe her was that truth was often stranger than fiction. He'd experienced enough of that in his life to know it for sure. Anyway, back to the alleged gem.

The Order of the Black Crow had been in charge of illegal treasure trading for some time, expanding their reach around several continents. Elven gems remained one of the rarest to come by, and they were typically only sold by mercenaries with decades in the game. A few times, they came from a clan representative who sold them because they didn't want to disclose the reason behind their ownership. This girl was neither. She wasn't old enough to have even seen a crionite.

She was a Level 51 apprentice with no hidden abilities. How did she even find this place? No matter. All that mattered was that if she did have the gem, they would take it off her hands. And if this was a trap, well, she didn't look like a warrior. She looked like nothing but a weak child. She would be powerless against them. She should not be here." For me to take you to my master, I must ensure what you're holding is legitimate," he said." Procure it for me."" Right here?"" Did you expect at the King's castle?""

No, but…" She glanced around." The environment looks too open. Anyone could walk up on us."" Don't worry about anyone else coming here. This area is secure. Now show me." The girl shrugged," Alright." She spread her palms and paused." Are you going to attempt to snatch it from me once I present it?"" No."" Good. Because I will warn you that if you try to steal from me or cheat me, it won't end well for you." His sharp gaze ran down her form, and the corner of his lips twisted in mockery." Noted."

She nodded once, then materialized the crionite in her hands. First, he eyed it. Then used his wand and whispered," [Quick Appraise]," triggering the words to begin running in his head. It gave him the particulars of the gem, its weight, luminance, and purity. It was a hundred-percent pure crionite. He bit back his shock and drew back, eyeing her once more. How? How had she gotten her hands on this as an apprentice mage? He didn't ask because he knew she wouldn't say.

But boy, Van was going to have a field day with her. Not only was she young and naive, but she was also holding a crionite worth thousands of gold. Did she know that? Did she know the fortune she'd just brought them? Shadow watched the girl. If he had a conscience left, he would send her back on her way. This was no place for a lady like her, and Van would eat her alive. However, it was not his call to make. He turned around." Follow me." She tucked the gem away and obeyed without a word.

He walked through the back of the uncompleted building toward a patch of grass not unlike the others. He was the only one here who knew it wasn't really a patch of grass. When he touched it, it briefly transformed into a metallic hatch, which recognized him as he pulled it open, revealing an underground bunker. He thought the girl would balk at that point as most people did, but she did not.

She climbed down the ladder with him, into what had once been an abandoned sewer but was now turned into a veritable living space; dry, dimly lit by lanterns in the corner, yet still with the faint stench of rot. Van had nevertheless attempted to make the place appear livable, with leather couches, a stool for propping feet, even bedding and books somewhere at the back.

The metal had been painted a warmer brown, with insulative tapestry hanging on the walls, and benches sectioning the long tube into different rooms. Van and his two right-hand men occupied the couches in the' living room', playing cards as smoke lazily curled from the pipes in their mouths. They didn't look up as Shadow approached until he cleared his throat." What is it?" Van finally responded." What do you have for me?"" A trade. Crionite." That got his attention.

He didn't lay down his cards, but his gaze flipped to the girl." Who are you?"" She refuses to say," Shadow said." I don't like doing business with people whose names I don't know. And whose faces I cannot see." The girl thought about it, then lifted her hood. She had brown hair and blue eyes, but mostly the raven mask she was wearing obscured the rest of her features. Van chuckled." You think you're funny."" Not often," the girl responded." Now I'm even more curious about your true identity.""

I'm not here to satisfy your curiosity. I'm here to make a trade. Quickly." That last word had Shadow and Van stilling along with the other two men in the room. There was too much command and self-assuredness in her tone, like she was ordering around a subordinate. Van was very sensitive to being treated like that, and he was the type to throw his weight around just to convince others of his own importance. Most other criminals in this town were terrified of him.

He was the enforcer of the Black Crow sect here in Khor, and they treated him with frightful deference. Yet, this girl didn't seem afraid of anything. She only sounded merely annoyed. Van's eyes glittered. Shadow knew then that he would make her pay for the insult. How does four hundred gold sound?" Van said." Standard is a thousand," she responded." This is the black market. There is no standard."" Yes, but at least eight hundred gold pieces would suffice."" No."" I think that's more than fair.

You are offering me less than half the market price." Van chuckled." It seems you're ignorant of your situation here. You're an adept mage who wandered too far from home. Let me gue ss. A noble's daughter. You fell in love with some poor sod, and the two of you want to run away together. Your father either disapproves of the union or hasn't met the spouse, and so you've stolen his prized crionite and are selling it for quick means to start your new lives together. How much of that did I get right?'" None of it."

He gave a quick bark of laughter, though the atmosphere tightened. Things were going to go left, soon. Shadow felt sorry for the girl." Either way, you're not leaving here with the crionite," Van said." So I recommend you accept my very generous offer."" I already warned your subordinate that if you tried to steal from me, there would be consequences."" You're the one who has to worry about consequences." At the cue, the other two men stood, flexing their thick necks and cracking their fists."

Surrender the crionite now and walk away. I might give you a little gift for your cooperation." Even facing down four big and powerful men, the girl did not appear. Half of her face showed a faint trace of annoyance. She moved her gaze from one man to the other, as though appraising them all. Perhaps that was what she was doing, checking their rank. When she saw how powerful they were, she would likely show fear, try to run, and scream for help.

When that was futile, she would finally give up the crionite for whatever Van decided to give her. Then she would leave with her tail tucked between her legs. That was how Shadow expected this all to go. But he was proven wrong almost right away. When she was done appraising, she still wasn't afraid. She raised an eyebrow." No."