Chapter 12: Chapter - 11 - Dark Auction [2]
[The Bazaar]
"Ohoho- You have a very sharp eye, my friend. It was just a few days ago we got our hands on this piece."
Joshua watched as the bracelet he was looking at got picked up by the bulky man on the other side of the stall. The man kept playing with it in his hands as he talked about the information related to the bracelet.
From the very first second he entered the market, Joshua kept on stopping by every stall that somehow attracted him in a way.
"As you can see, this bracelet can increase one's charm stats by a whole 3 points! Its original price was 50UC but since you are new here, 20UC should do. What do you think?"
Hearing his words, it didn't take a genius to understand that the man was trying to scam Joshua.
"He-Hey! Where are you going? Okay, fine! 15UC will do!"
Shaking his head from side to side, Joshua walked away to another stall with the male attendant following right after him, dejectedly.
'Do I look that much of a pushover... no, I'm already wearing my cloak so why...'
Joshua tried his best to put those depressing thoughts to a side as he took a glance at the male attendant without him noticing it.
'What is his purpose?'
He has long since noticed that his presence wasn't normal. No matter how much he looked around, there was no other attendant in this [Dark Bazaar] at all but as if it was only natural, this guy kept on following him. He tried to ask the guy indirectly many times but he never answered him. In the end, left with no choice, he decided to give up on the thought.
'Yeah, it's not like they can kill or hurt me as they like or their reputation will suffer... well, that is, if only the guy isn't some kind of agent trying to frame the Dark Auction... '
'...Ugh, I should just stop thinking about these unanswered questions and focus back on what should I do...'
While eyeing the attendant from time to time, Joshua kept on buying the thing that were in his list. From potions to light leather breastplate, he bought them all. Thankfully, all of those were unranked items so they only amounted to about 49UC. He had 229UC at the start but after spending 33UC on the dagger arts and 49UC on his needs, he was now left with 147UC.
When looking around the market with his [Observation] skill activated, he noticed a colour that he never did when the skill was activated, dark blue. Normally, whenever he activated [Observation], the living would glow blue while items such as manuals and skill books would have a yellow-ish sparkle on it in that black and white space.
When he looked over to where the source was, he noticed that it was coming from an alley that had lesser stalls. Without hesitation, he started to walk to the stall directly. His action confused the male attendant but he chose to follow him, not like he had another choice anyways.
When they reached in front of the stall in the back alley, the male attendant was even more confused.
'Why would a kid who appeared out of nowhere would want to buy from those beggars?'
The moment Joshua's eyes landed on what looked like a pair of shortswords -they were too long to call daggers-, the gas-like colour intensified. Not so long after, a system message appeared.
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<[The [Dark Dagger Arts <mid-rank> shows great reaction to the following items;
➢[1st Requiem: Execrate]
➢[2nd Requiem: Woe]
====================
When he saw the system message, Joshua's eyes shot open. He was flabbergasted. He never expected such an occurrence to happen but was happy anyways.
"-Ahem! Are 'chu lookin' for somethin'?"
A deep voice belonging to a woman woke Joshua awake. It was only then did he notice that he was holding the shortswords in his hand. Quickly apologizing, he returned them on the stall but he still couldn't let go of them easily. Even though the woman thought he was just some thief at first, noticing that he didn't run away nor took the shortswords forcibly, a gleam appeared in her eyes. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the woman, whose bones could be seen under her skin, rubbed her clasped hands as she looked at Joshua eagerly.
"My my, where are ma manners? I'm shorry for being di'respectful to 'ou, dear chostumer. Are 'ou perhaps interested in those blunt shortsw'ords?"
The woman tried her best to appear as courteous as possible but her weird accent was for all to see. Thankfully, it wasn't to the degree Joshua couldn't understand.
Looking back at the shortswords with his skill deactivated, Joshua noticed that they were just two silver blunt shortswords which left him confused but it didn't waver him in the slightest. If the system and his skill said so, there has to be a reason why those shortswords were special. Picking both of them up, he looked at the woman.
"How much are they?"
"The one on da right is 10UC and da one on de left is 8UC."
Joshua was more than happy to buy them at such a price. After all, his intuition told him that these two were worth more than the rest of what he ever bought but he knew that paying 100 and 80 gold coins to nothing but blunt swords would make him look like an idiot and that was the last thing he would've want with the male attendant right behind him.
Looking at the Joshua who was lost in his thoughts, the woman felt that she went a bit overboard so she decided on changing the price. No matter what, she needed to earn some money today. If not, her children home would die out of hunger.
The [Dark Auction] was an marketing organization that earned millions of gold coins a day but that didn't mean everyone in the organization did. People like this woman, who was saved by the organization, were given a place to live in their shelters and to tell the truth, it was a really decent place at the level of the apartments outside but obviously, it was not for free. If a person wanted to keep on living in the shelter, they needed to pay 50 silvers per week for a single flat. It was simply fraudulent but with most of those people being abandoned by the government, they had no choice.
Considering that it has been 11 days since the woman was rescued, she needed to find that money in one way or another in 2 days or she would have to pay by another organ just like how she gave away one of her ribs. With her only roommates being her children, there was simply no other way.
"O-Of chourse, I whas just kidding... haha. For 'ou-"
"Alright, I'm buying."
Before the woman could finish her sentence, Joshua spoke up. He didn't know much about the organization as it wasn't too relevant to the plot but he still could notice the desperation in her eyes.
-Normally, he would've waited for her to lower the price but what made him act was the look in her eyes. Not because of the desperation but rather that caring look she had.
'It looked like she was worrying about someone else rather than herself...'
Joshua wasn't some kind of charity who would do things for someone else just because of 'pity' but the look in her eyes affected him in a way. Even if it was little and held no significance whatsoever, he felt like doing it would be 'right'.
In his 15 years of life as Joshua, there was no one who looked at him that way. If not for his memories from his past life, he wouldn't even know what that look was.
Shaking his head to drive away those thoughts that visited him often lately, Joshua held the shortswords as he took out his card. When he placed the card on them, some green tech lines appeared on the card, they spread until the whole card was covered before disappearing. It meant that the transaction was completed.
He saw the woman jumping up and down with joy as he took his leave. He could notice the confused gaze of the attendant still on him but just shrugged it off.
Only after putting the shortswords in his bag did Joshua notice that the back alley he was in had very few people which was not helpful in this situation at all. If the person on his back were to attack him in some kind of way, he didn't have any insurance when he was out in the open. He hurriedly directed his steps back to the main market.
With a questionable bonus, Joshua, who was left with his 129UC, finally focused on his main point. The Fertilizer.
Going to the most crowded area in the market, he looked left and right as he walked. Unlike the rest of the market where everyone opened up stalls, this place was full of small shops that were lined up in an organized matter, giving it a shopping centre feeling.
After a while, he found the shop he was looking for. The small building was covered in green and brown colours with branch and plant drawings here and there. Admiring the drawings, Joshua entered the shop. Just like its outer, the interior was also covered with drawings. The only difference was that they prefered flowers to the branches outside.
Joshua walked up to the cashier on the counter.
"Hello. Can I see your ranked fertilizers, please?"
The woman, who seemed to be doing calculation based on the calculator in front of her, looked up at Joshua before fixing her posture. She greeted him with a gentle smile that went well with her orange hair and blue eyes. She had freckles on her face, making her appear as cute and harmless.
"Ah, yes. Give me a minute."
Saying that, the woman disappeared to the backroom as Joshua looked around. The whole shop was filled with fertilizers. Normally, it would've been a huge waste for someone to spend so much money on fertilizers but in the last 20 years, it was the complete opposite.
After people started to adapt to the major differences in their lives created by the catastrophe as dungeons, towers and ruins; they tried to take the things they found in them to their world, including living beings such as trees and plants. But the result came as shocking. Some of those trees died while some turned into beings such as those beasts without a monster core... but in the end, they were able to successfully get some of those plants continue living in the world by providing them with chemicals, somehow mutating them. They even experimented on some trees by injecting them with the alburnum of the ones that they couldn't take from the overworld. With that, it didn't take nobles, aristocracy and politicians to turn it into a competition of wealth in no time at all.
So, right now, it was the people who sold plant care items that gained the most money in this situation.
A few seconds later, the woman opened the door and escorted Joshua to upstairs, where ranked fertilizers stood. While climbing the stairs, Joshua noticed that the male attendant wasn't following him unlike before but rather stood still next to the door. Even though it was confusing, Joshua didn't thought much of it. When he entered the room, he noticed that the layout of this place was the same as the one downstairs with flowers decorating the room.
Following after the woman as she showed him various kinds of chemicals, Joshua activated his [Observation] skill again and took a look around.
====================
⊗<[Congratulations! Your skill, [Observation] has leveled up! It is now Level 3!]>
====================
At that second, thanks to his skill improving, he noticed a faint yellow-ish colour dancing around the room with it focusing on some places. If it was a second before, he was only able to see those focused points while the rest were fully black and white.
He could notice that the glow intensified the more one went to the right side but looking at the prices, he had to gave up on them.
'Crazy...'
Shaking his head inwardly, Joshua looked at the organic chemicals on the left side. Well, they weren't really 'organic' but they definitely weren't at the same level as chemicals anyways.
As if waiting for him to be interested in something all this time, the woman started to speak up. Joshua didn't do it knowingly but while he was using his skill, he completely ignored the woman, causing her to turn quiet.
While one of his ears were on what the woman was saying, Joshua got close to one of the fertilizers. Even though it wasn't that special, considering his budget, it was satisfactory. Picking it up and asking the woman about where he could find essential gardening tools.
In the end, his total came up to 76UC, leaving him with 53UC which was nearly about the money he planned on saving with him to buy a fake ID.
"Come again!"
Joshua saw the woman wave at him with a smile on her face before leaving the shop. The male attendant who stayed at the first floor also continued following him as if nothing happened.
Joshua put his hands behind his head as he walked down the crowded path to the entrance.
"Alright. It looks like I'm done here."
When Joshua murmured that silently, the male attendant's face turned ashen. His grip on his phone in his pocket also tightened slightly but he tried his best to keep his expression as still as possible. What he didn't know was, however, Joshua was already watching him with the corner of his eye so there was no way he wouldn't notice his weird demeanour.
'Hm... should I pursue it or should I try to run away as soon as possible? It's hard to decide when you don't know the enemy...'
Joshua started to murmur a song with the male attendant following right behind him but both were already lost in their thoughts. Even though Joshua thought this situation was complicated, he felt that it wasn't at the same time. If the guy was trying to hurt him in any way, he already would've done so when they were in the back alley. Also, he couldn't be some kind of 'card thief' as he made sure he kept his distance from Joshua whenever he was buying items.
'Perhaps it's Mikael..?'
It wasn't a completely groundless assumption as he straight up called Mikael by his name before entering the underground. Joshua obviously did it to attract his attention in a way but...
'Actually, it somehow makes sense?'
If Mikael ordered some of his lackeys to do a background check on Joshua, they would notice that he entered Rutherglen only today. He might've even interrogated some of the people from the travelling group... maybe he even knew him as a 'Courtner'?
Thinking so, Joshua's eyes shot open. Thankfully, the male attendant, who was right behind him, couldn't see his face so he was in clear. A second later, a sinister smile took the place of it.
"Ah, wait. I need a fake ID. Do you know where I can get one?"
Joshua turned his head slightly as he asked the attendant. The guy, who was contemplating about how to convince Joshua to stay here a bit longer, was more than happy to hear this piece of news. Nodding his head energetically, he led Joshua to another shop that was few shops next to the one they left.
When Joshua was just about to enter, the attendant stopped him with his hands as he went inside, telling Joshua to stay where he was until he came back with his eyes. A few moments after, he came back with a bulky black man on his front.
"So you're the kid?"
Joshua had no idea what the guy said to him but he nodded his head at the man. He was completely distracted by the light on the man's bald head that shined under the artificial light in the market.
"Follow me."
The man took the lead as he led Joshua and the male attendant deeper in the shop. Unlike what it looked like outside, this shop was quite big. Like, really big.
On their way, they passed by multiple people and everytime they came across them, the bulky man said another quote that looked like a code. After repeating the same process for a while, they finally arrived in a decent room with a hunchbacked old man sipping tea in the middle.
'It looks more like his beard is drinking rather than him...'
With a white beard that came down to his stomach, whenever he spilled some tea, it would dirty it.
The man right beside him tapped on Joshua's shoulder as he tilted his head to the couch's side, telling him to take his seat inaudibly. Obeying his words, Joshua sat down and waited for the old man.
Finally finishing his tea that colored his snow-white beard pink, the old man turned to the man.
"Bring the documents and a pen for him to fill."
"Yes sir."
In a few swift movements, the man grabbed both of them from the other side of the room. Putting it in front of Joshua, he beckoned him to fill it.
There was no questions exchanged in the process.
Joshua tried to hold the ballpoint pen which was too heavy for his weak hands as he filled the document. The document was full of questions regarding information about this 'new' identity he was going to create.
When he was finished with it, the old man took it without giving him a second to check it as the bulky man forced him to sit up straight. Joshua, who followed his orders without much thought, saw a camera placed in front of him before disappearing in a second. It was so quick that he doubted what he saw. In the next second, all Joshua knew was that the old man kicked him out of the room. Confused, Joshua turned to look back, only to see the bulky man looking at him.
"It will be ready in 10 minutes, you can wait in our waiting room if you want to."
Before he could even reject, the attendant that always walked behind his back, went off to the waiting room, leaving him all alone with the bulky man. Feeling an invisible pressure bore upon him, Joshua followed right behind the attendant. He didn't want to be left alone with this guy at all. Anything but that.
<[A/N: I know you guys are sick of me leaving chapters unedited already :'D]>
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
rosfuel
rosfuel >>Hello hello!
I still can't say it's for sure but I might write a completely different book about a 'tragedy' story in the future. Even I don't know how but it just came up to my mind yesterday morning and it's pretty similar to classics.
There is a huge chance I won't but I just wanted to share it with you guys!
In any cases, I would be really happy if you guys commented about what you think about the story. I'm open to criticism (don't be too harsh tho)
Have a good day/noon/evening/night^^.
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