124: THE PETTY ALPHA

THE PETTY ALPHA

Iris thought they would leave for the black market much later according to the original plan, precisely at night after the sun went down. But now, she was going alone with Cane?

She looked at the man beside her. He said nothing since they left their inn, or on their way to the meeting point. It was a tea stall not too far and would take around ten minutes on foot.

Iris said nothing either since Cane was very quiet. She didn't try to start a conversation, nor did she try to ask about anything, since more or less, she knew his intention to meet with the two people.

When they arrived, the couple was already there. From the information that Will gathered, they were merchants from the Holy Kingdom.

Iris felt there were so many people from that continent in this pack. Sometimes, she would even catch some people talking in Andel language.

However, she didn't voice this fact, as she followed Cane to sit in front of the couple. Neither of them looked more than forty years old.

Now, without a mask, Iris could see them clearly. Most of the people from the Holy Kingdom had small figures, even the average height for their men was only around one hundred eighty centimeters to one hundred eighty five centimeters, while shifters could grow two meters tall in general, almost twice the size of their bodies, especially when you were an alpha.

Therefore, with Cane sitting in front of them with his imposing figure, they literally looked like dwarfs.

However, these two were merchants and were used to facing various kinds of creatures, thus they got their bearings right away and assumed a formal attitude to talk to Cane, as if they were there to do business.

"What do you want from the black market?" Cane asked after a nice greeting, there was no need to exchange pleasantries, since they were there for trading.

"We want the Asturi stem." The woman named Cecilia spoke clearly. "You can find it if you find the head of the Rosantine guild."

The Rosantine guild was the largest guild from the Karam continent whose people were well known for their little barbaric nature. They would trade anything, even if it was an infant, from the most crucial information to trivial matters, as long as it brought benefits to them. Cane knew this much about that guild.

"I will give you one water magic stone if you can bring us the Asturi Stem." The woman did all the talking, while the man stayed quiet during the entire conversation.

"Two."

"No, one."

Cane tapped Iris' shoulder, as he stood up. "Let's go." They were willing to lose the two stones in the auction last night only for an entry, but right now, they were actually trying to make a fool of Cane, while expecting him to give them too many benefits.

On the other hand, Iris was surprised that Cane didn't haggle at all and asked her to leave immediately. She didn't have any other choice and stood up, following Cane out of there.

Seeing that, the woman was surprised, because she didn't think he would leave like that. There was no effort whatsoever.

"Wait! Gentleman!" Cecilia immediately stood up as well and rushed toward Cane and Iris, as she blocked their way.

Meanwhile, her husband, Fergan, tried to talk to Cane. He didn't know his name, since he didn't introduce himself earlier.

"Come on, we can talk about the price, you don't need to leave so hastily." He chuckled awkwardly, as if to smoothen the situation, while his wife stood there to prevent them from leaving this place. "You have not even touched your drinks yet."

"One water magic stone is more than twenty thousand gold," Cecillia said, as if Cane didn't know the value of one such stone. Neither of them had the slightest idea that they were talking to one of the two alphas who owned a magic stone mine in this realm.

"We will add five thousand gold to that magic stone, how about that?"

Iris glanced at Cane, but his expression didn't change at all. It seemed what they offered was not good enough.

"Two water magic stones and you will pay however much price quoted to get the item."

Iris was surprised by his proposal, but then she remembered, the man was ready to let go of two magic stones, just for the entry, thus for them to pay the same price to get what they wanted, wouldn't be too much, right? More so, they wouldn't need to go through the hassle of finding the leader of the guild.

"No, that's too much!" Cecillia cried, she looked around and immediately lowered her voice. "I will give you one water magic stone and ten thousand gold, but we will pay half of the price for the item."

Cane narrowed his eyes. They wanted to rob him and make him work for them for nothing. "There is nothing to be discussed."

This time, he grabbed Iris' hand in an attempt to walk away once again, but Fergan joined his wife to stop both of them, effectively blocking their way.

Seeing this, Cane could see how important the Asturi stem was for them, but he was not clear about its functions.

"Fine! Fine! Let's talk," Cecilia said begrudgingly, as she waved her hand toward their table, gesturing for Cane and Iris to return, but he didn't budge, while Iris stared at his big hand that grabbed her wrist. "I agree!" Cecilia blurted out. "Let's discuss this."1

Only then did Cane relent and return to sit on the table again and was willing to discuss terms. He let go of her hand and focused on the discussion, while the couple didn't seem to be happy with the price that they had to pay.

"I want to see the two water magic stones first." That was the first thing that Cane demanded.

Cecillia swiftly fished out something from her pocket, it was a small wooden box, and pushed it toward him across the table, but instead of checking it himself, Cane pushed it to Iris.

"Check the stones," he said.

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