127: THE BLACK MARKET

THE BLACK MARKET

The black market was a place of mysterious trades and transactions, never lacking in providing even some forbidden goods or items for sale at inflated prices.

The money used often came from irregular channels as well, such as usury loans, laundered funds, thus making the entire market 'black'.

The black market was an illegal place where you could trade anything, or anyone. There were no explicit rules here, aside from all things that happened there would remain there and anyone that you saw mustn't be discussed with the outsiders.

If these rules were breached then the consequences would be dire, since it was easy to track you down through the magical tattoo on your arm.

All in all, this was a very secretive organization, the owner of which was unknown. But according to rumors, it was someone from the Andelus Continent, because Andel language would be often used during the transactions in the black market and the auction.

More so, even the king seemed to be well aware of this place, since the crown prince was here on orders from him. Meaning, he turned a blind eye because he gained benefits from this place as well.

Before daybreak, they finally arrived in the black market, which was called Sky Black Pearl. It was a fortified stronghold located completely underground, despite the name 'Sky Black Pearl', with its entrance hidden on a barren hill.

As soon as they reached the barren hill, all of them dismounted their horses and walked toward the entrance.

They stopped walking when they reached a dark, upright stele. With no words on its surface, the stone looked markedly cold and gloomy.

"This is the entrance," Redmond said. He gave the reins of the horse to Iris, who looked at the structure curiously, and walked forward, as he kicked it carelessly three times.

Slowly, a pitch- black passageway opened up behind the stele, leading to a tunnel deep into the hill.

Soon enough, an old man emerged from the darkness, his hair was grey while his body was slightly bent forward. He had a luminous pearl in his hand to illuminate the path.

"Kicking the door with your foot? Are you sick of living?" The old man reprimanded Redmond angrily, since he took the lead and walked in front of all of them.

Iris was given a fright as soon as the old man raised his head and the luminous pearl in his hand to look at the five people before his eyes one by one.

When he raised the pearl in his hand, they could see him as well. The man had one of his eyes completely blind while his face was covered in wrinkles. His ferocious expression made him look absolutely hideous!

Iris took a step back and bumped onto Ethan, who put his hands on her shoulder to calm her down, while Will took the horse's reins from her hand.

Ethan still couldn't guess why Cane took her to this kind of place, instead of Avid or Trion. New moon was still ten days from now and there was enough time to go back from this underground black market. He didn't understand what the old man was saying because he was talking in Andel.

After Redmond talked to the man, Cane tossed a gold coin to him, who caught it deftly, despite being half blind. He looked at the gold coin and inspected it, only after he was sure that it was legit, a warm smile appeared on the corners of his wrinkled lips. Even his voice became a bit gentler.

The old man then called two of his subordinates to take care of their horses, before he opened the door behind him, where another man, looking identical to him, seemingly his twin, had been waiting for them. He wore a cold expression and even after Cane tossed him a gold coin, he kept that attitude.

Will and Ethan frowned. What a waste of money. Why were they even in this black market in the first place? They didn't think this was worth it, more so, they were still under the impression that it was not right to go to an illegal place like this.

However, they kept their opinions to themselves after witnessing how Cane didn't budge with his decision.

The alpha showed the tattoo on his arm and the man examined it, while his twin brother was the guard for the entrance, he was the examiner.

After five seconds of staring at the symbol, he nodded and let them pass.

"I don't like the vibe here," Ethan grumbled and Will couldn't help but agree with him.

The first old man walked ahead of them and soon enough, a lively underground world revealed itself before their eyes.

This place was a literal subterranean town, aside from its location, it was no different from towns found aboveground. There were streets full of shops and magnificent buildings. Everything one expected to find in a town were all present. Luminous night pearls illuminated the expanse throughout the domain, leaving no corner unlit.

All of them followed Redmond past a few streets, because aside from him, no one ever came to this place.

Iris was looking at the variety of items displayed for sale, slaves and women, they didn't even spare the children.

All of this made their stomachs churn, but Cane and Redmond didn't seem to be affected at all. Iris pressed her body close to Ethan because she felt her heart ache to see the children crying, but the grown ups were conversing about how much they would be worth.

The three of them hoped they could buy rations and find the head of the guild to buy the Asturi stem as soon as possible, and then get out of there, instead they were strolling around for a bit.

During this time, Iris would keep looking over her back, until Will noticed that.0

"What is it?" Will asked, they were in a crowded street, but everyone seemed to be minding their own business.

"Nothing." Iris was puzzled, because she felt someone was watching her, or maybe it was just her own feeling.

pqdm.com