Chapitre 20: Little Money for Little Information
"I'm a little relieved to know you're smart enough to judge things in front of you. Perhaps you are more suited to be a village chief or advisor than their hero."
"I've never proposed myself as a ruler or leader. Besides, the judgement just now was very general and everyone must be thinking the same thing."
"Unfortunately, I am not a 'person'." Cytherea let out a long sigh while shaking her head. She was trying to exalt her dignity but her partner did not care at all.
They decided to enter the market building with a bit of encouragement from various quarters. It looked a little wider than the eastern part, but the visitors were also much more crowded to the point where they were physically fighting each other to break through the crowd.
'Bloody hell. The sweat of poor human beings completely shattered my peace. How can they live in this condition all the time?'
Cytherea muttered as if she was not at home but also didn't feel guilty. After all, pinning hopes on one person who was no longer useful was painful. That was why Cytherea did not understand how miserable the locals were trying to take her life while the current culprit was putting her problems first.
Bumping into dozens of people until he staggered, he was still looking for the person he had set out to find. Basically, caste places at least had a community head as a controller or supervisor. They intended to find one of them to pay for information or anything favourable during the journey.
'I should look for a place away from the crowd. The most powerful people usually stay away from meaningless festivities.'
Xavier decided to ask one of the vendors who was quite famous there. She was so famous that she showed off her income for one day in three weeks. It wasn't a huge amount to Xavier but to the poor vendor it seemed like a world of treasure.
"Excuse me, I'd like to see your boss. Can you tell me where he is?"
"Boss? You mean the leader of this market? He's a busy man and doesn't accept meetings with strangers. You don't have a chance at the moment."
"Tell me how much you want?"
The woman sighed, her hand slowly raised and pointed at a glass door upstairs. "You can meet him there. Save your money because he is more obsessed with money than I am."
"Oh, thanks. But at least let me reward you with a small amount." Xavier left a small pouch, making the clinking sound of dozens of coins rubbing together.
Cytherea gaped, incredulous, then ran after him and asked. "You waste your money on trivial information? Let me manage our finances for this trip." Her hand instantly reached for her robe pocket.
But Xavier's experience had honed quick and careful reflexes. "We? Stop your jokes. I don't even intend to give you a single coin until this mission is over. At least do exactly what they do. Steal to survive and plunder without mercy. It's like portraying a god, isn't it?"
Cytherea chuckled. "Humans like you don't know anything about the lord of the world."
"The lord of the world?" It was his partner's turn to laugh. He did not even expect that statement to come out of the mouth that had begged her. "At least, defeat Azazil without human help. You overestimate your worth, Failed Goddess."
After they fussed over nothing, they arrived at a glass door that was not so big but they could not see inside from the outside.
The glass door was more like a two-way mirror, allowing the activities of the market leader to be kept a secret while those inside could monitor the market's activities without being noticed by the public.
"I believe this is the only glass door in this market. It looks mysterious yet ordinary. I'll bet the market leader is a dork and always looks glamorous. What about you?"
Cytherea squinted, she didn't understand the statement just now and wasn't in the mood to bet anything. "I didn't know you could still tell weird jokes. Quickly go in and meet that person, get all the information they have without leaving any confusion."
Without knocking on the door or calling any of the officers inside, Xavier opened the door quickly and pushed it without hesitation. His body darted inside and witnessed a small office that was promising enough to be used in the process of negotiating or gleaning information about the market. It was humid, without air circulation or air-conditioning, and many documents or letters were scattered on the floor.
There wasn't any rubbish or anything smelly in there, but still working in such conditions was a lot of work as if our breath was being slowly pulled out. There was no mistake about the location of the market leader's office, unfortunately, they didn't meet anyone there. It was a kind of deception or surprise that the market leader was not easy to meet with strangers or those who claimed to be goddesses.
With no other choice for now, they decided to wait outside, hoping that there was someone inside whom they could ask about the market leader's whereabouts. Whether the goddess was lucky or not, at least they quickly found the answer they were waiting for. The adorable little old man suddenly surprised them with his sudden presence among them.
"The powerful leader always shows himself never in the office. Wandering around and negotiating with company leaders to smoothen their business while satisfactorily raising the financial charts. Achieving the prosperity of customers and sellers is a secondary goal to other priorities. You can name any greed that is highly achieved even if it means bringing down friends and subordinates."
His right eye was closed while his left eye was quite sinister with a deep red sclera like clotted blood. A handful of large protruding lumps covered the surface of his thin and pale hands. In order to cover all her flaws, he wore a jacket that was not too thick, just to hide his perfection from the comers.
Cytherea stared at Xavier, while he stared at the little old man. From the looks of it, he looked familiar and had met him somewhere. It was just that her doubts were more dominating whereas it had been many years since she had met an outsider and shut herself up in a village far away from civilisation.
"I know where the person you are looking for is. If you wish, follow me and prepare yourself because he is in a place you may never go."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone