บท 85: Halcrem Armand

Greyson continued to travel to the Beast Empire through the main roadways. His new identification and permit allowed him easy access into all the cities in the Rainbow Country. Along the way, he signed up to escort some low-level caravans. This way he could make some money while still heading in the right direction. No major attacks came to these groups since what they were carrying was not too precious, so Greyson did not run into any trouble yet. Quickly passing through the country, he made it to the last city, Mist, before going over the border into Greenwolf Country. Approaching the city entrance, Greyson could see that the name of the city was quite representative of the surroundings. He had heard the legends beforehand, but actually seeing the thick fog covering the city, Greyson could not help but marvel at the sight. Creeping closer and closer, Greyson started to realize that he could not see ahead of him well. At first his vision started to decrease to only tens of feet around him then to a couple feet finishing to almost no vision even a foot in front of him. At this point, Greyson activated his wind magic allowing a small vortex to form around him. It cleared the space around him by a couple feet. Although he could not see the actual gate, he could see the paved road. His feet just followed the road until he could feel himself entering a large array. Once he was passed this invisible shield, the mist surrounding him cleared significantly. Not completely gone, there was still a mysterious thin covering over the entire city. Everything was visible, but the remaining mist gave the city a rather ominous feeling to it.

Greyson heard rumors of this city on the way. Lots of the others in the caravans that he helped out informed him that this was a black market city that smuggled a lot of things. Its largest market was slaves. The mist surrounding the city was actually a natural phenomenon, however, criminals took advantage of it to turn this hidden city into a crime haven. Staying on his toes the minute he entered the city, Greyson knew he could not let his guard down for a second. Some areas in the alleyways of the city were still covered in fog and lots of people suffered muggings and sometimes murder. The natives of the city already adapted to seeing through the fog after growing up surrounded by it. Greyson decided on a very unassuming disguise for this city so he would not catch any attention. Dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and a bony stature. He looked like an average commoner teenager who did not get enough in the day to eat. This way people would not really look to rob him.

Making his way to the common square of the city, Greyson expected to find a posting for help. However, all he found was an enormous crowd of people all surrounding a makeshift wooden stage. On top of the stage, he saw slaves getting pulled up and put in a line one by one. Some of them were young children, some naked women, some fit men each of them bringing a slightly different skill but all equally hopeless. Greyson could see the dead look in their eyes, even as people shouted out bids. No change in expression as they were walked to their new owners, the ones who could decide their life and death in an instant. Almost apathetic to such scenes, Greyson could tell that it no longer riled him up as it once did. The feeling was disturbing to realize. Slavery was definitely not something he supported as he saw a fair share of orphans who grew up with him captured and sold later on. Somewhere in his mind, however, he just let the issue go because he felt there was nothing he could do to change it. A lot of times in the past, he would try to secretly free slaves only to see them running right back to their owners. Most slaves already went through extensive training that pretty much breaks them. They were even branded with an array that could kill them as long as the owner breaks their copy of the seal. Taking one last glance, Greyson began to turn away and continue on to find the request board for another caravan heading into the Greenwolf Country.

"Now, a rare commodity on the market! A Beastman! We captured him on the border of the Beast Empire. He is half human, half Sun Lion. His strength is enormous and he can transform into a human form and lion form, so he would be great as a mount. Although slightly dull, his intelligence is much higher than normal beasts. You will not find many of these types of slaves outside of the Beast Empire! He will start at 50 gold!" The announcer's voice began to echo through the square. Stopping in his tracks, Greyson turned around to look at the stage with his attention piqued. Although he had information about the Beast Empire, he already was thinking that he would need to find a guide to teach him the ins and outs of the tribes. Up on top of the stage, four heavy-set men tugged up a heavy cage carrying a massive man. He was probably over two-meter-tall with rippling muscles. Although most of his features were human, his eyes were the orange-brown of the Sun Lion and spiky orange hair that was shaped like a mane. Unlike the other slaves, this man was furious and continued to bang against the cage even with his entire body chained. Seeing the surrounding crowd begin to shout out bids, his anger rose and he let out a thundering roar which showed the sharp teeth present in his mouth.

Sweetbow taught Greyson about the Beastmen in the Beast Empire. Most denizens of the empire were actual magic beasts and most of them could not transform into human forms until their power grew to about the equal level as Magician King in human magician levels. Sometimes, the higher-level bloodlines would allow for magic beasts to be born in human form as they are born powerful from the beginning. However, these races usually have extremely low fertility and have maybe one or two children in their entire lifespan. The hierarchy of the different tribes was by bloodline. Weak magic beasts with low intelligence were pretty much the bottom. The more powerful and more intelligent the beast, the higher that beast's position in the tribe. Most of the magic beasts lived simple lives, however, the intelligent and sophisticated ones need to trade with the humans. Some races, like the dragons, love treasures and valuables. So, they trade the abundant natural resources of the Beast Empire with the humans for valuables. This is where Beastmen come into play. This race of people are slaves in the Beast Empire. Using their human form, they are able to communicate with other Empires for trading. The largest reason for their bad treatment, however, is the fact that they are mixed race existences. Bloodline focused magic beasts, disdain the weak human bloodline that calls for almost no natural talent other than their cunning.

Watching the bidding war, Greyson felt the urge to throw out a bid himself. However, he knew that the moment he did this, it would attract the attention of everyone and make him a target. Thinking through his options, he knew that he did not want to give up this chance, though, of finding a guide. Continuing to wait and observe, the final winning bid was 500 gold. Sharply inhaling, Greyson was shocked by the large number. Refocusing, he made sure to get a good look at the winner. Activating his dark element, he shifted into the shadows of the city and decided to continue following the man who won the bid. The seller handed the man a sheet of parchment which most likely was the other half of the slave seal planted on the Beastman. That man then had his men lift up the chained Beastman and exited the square. Skulking through the shadows behind, Greyson could tell that he was only one of many tailing this man. Grinning wryly, Greyson could only feel helpless towards such a large criminal tendency.

Patiently waiting, Greyson felt speechless at the amount of attacks that occurred to this man. Half of the attacks were to rob the money while the other half were to rob the Beastman slave. One by one, the original buyer's guards were dwindling down in number. Although he was tempted, Greyson continued to wait because he could tell that he was still not the only person waiting. From his feeling, there was at most two more people who were waiting it out with him. Seeing that the buyer's guards were down to only around five from the original fifteen, both the remaining men struck out at the same time. Watching closely, Greyson could tell that the guards and the robbers were all at the advanced level, however, they were only around stage two or stage three magicians. He could overpower all of them. The fighting turned extremely bloody and the conflict grew louder. Efficient fighters, the robbers managed to take out most of the guards until it was a one on one fight. Taking all of this in, Greyson stayed inside his shadow. Surreptitiously pulling out his bow and arrow, Greyson allowed just his upper body to come out of the shadow. Knocking two arrows, he reinforced them with the earth element and added the wind element enhanced speed. Releasing the arrows, they arrived almost instantly into the backs of the robbers and tore straight through those men into the last two guards. Spitting blood, they all collapsed to the ground injured. The buyer's face drained of color as if he could feel his impending death. Suddenly, he regretted his overconfidence in making such a high profile buy.

"S-s-sir, maybe we can negotiate about this. I don't have much money left, but I can give you this slave..." Stuttering in fear, the man could only shout out to no one since he had yet to spot the last attacker. Raising an eyebrow, Greyson decided that he could strike a deal with the man. Disappearing back into the shadow, he appeared right behind the trembling man.

"Give me the seal." The man jumped in surprise after hearing the voice show up right behind him. Turning slowly, he came face to face with an average looking teenager. Trying his best to analyze the face for redeeming features, he only came up empty.

"The seal!" Holding out his hand impatiently, Greyson raised his voice. Shivering in fear, the man finally realized he had been staring so he quickly pulled out the parchment from earlier and handed it to Greyson. "You can scram now." Waving dismissively, Greyson allowed for the man to run away. With no need for a second reminder, the man ran away faster than he knew he was capable of. No longer taking another look at that man, Greyson quickly ran over to the Beastman. Even chained up, he did not lose the rebellious look in his eyes. Growling at Greyson, he did not have an ounce of gratefulness in his eyes since he believed that Greyson was just another slave owner.

"Do not worry, I am not taking you to make you my slave." Greyson tried to reassure him before having Al hide him inside his shell. Once the lion man was put away, Greyson switched his disguise. Sporting black hair and green eyes, he also switched his outfit. Although he looked a little bit well-off, he still was not too noticeable. Leisurely walking from the scene to avoid looking suspicious, he found a main street in the city and began walking towards the back gate to exit. With no resistance coming to stop him, Greyson easily made his way out of the city. Starting his wind magic, he jumped up into the air to try to avoid the thick mist and quickly made his way far away from the city and in the direction of Greenwolf Country. Making it to another forest, Greyson traveled to a deep part of the woods before finally resting. After looking around to make sure there was nobody around, he allowed for Al to let out the Beastman. Still glaring hostilely towards Greyson, the lion man did not say a word.

"I am going to break your chains. I will also release you from the slave seal if you just do me a favor. I know you understand me, as well, so don't try to play a fool with me."

The Beastman continued to silently observe Greyson as if looking for a sign that he was lying. After slight deliberation, he finally decided to speak.

"What favor?" A deep and gruff voice asked.

"I need to go to the Beast Empire to look for a Calming fruit, and I was hoping to find someone who could guide me and help communicate with the tribes."

"Calming fruit? Why do you need one, human?" Scanning Greyson suspiciously, the Beastman did not lower his guard. With a thought, Greyson stopped his disguise spell and allowed his original features to appear. Soon, his beautiful long platinum silver hair returned. However, instead of just stopping there, he also lifted up his hand and summoned his dragon bloodline. Silver scales appeared and his nails turned into sharp claws. The Beastman was obviously surprised as his eyes widened, and a new unexpected expression appeared on his face, one of sympathy. Although minute, Greyson could feel that the lion man's attitude toward him softened. Maybe it was the connection of knowing that Greyson probably suffered in a similar fashion to himself.

"Elf and dragon? No wonder you need the fruit." Taking in the new information, the Beastman became silent before nodding his head. "I need to go back to the Beast Empire anyways. Those wretched slave traders caught me while I was on my way back with items that my young master asked for. I could probably take you back to my tribe to see if you could buy a Calming fruit. I will agree to help you as long as you get rid of this awful seal."

"Great!" Eyes lighting up, Greyson smiled happily before he sliced apart the chains and took out the parchment. Allowing his mana to flow into the array, he unlocked it before burning the paper. Staring at Greyson in shock, the Beastman could feel that the seal was really gone.

"How could you do that? What if I just ran off after you released that seal?"

"I knew that I could trust you. I have heard that those of the Beast Empire take their word very seriously." Plus, I knew that you could not escape from me with your level of power. However, Greyson decided to exclude that piece of information and just smiled. Booming laughter came from the large man as his expression towards Greyson warmed up and respect filled his eyes. Seeing this, Greyson inwardly sighed in relief while thanking his teacher once again. Sweetbow had told him that magic beasts and Beastmen were simpler and respected those who respected them. They were easy to make friends with as long as you assumed the right attitude.

"Hahaha, small human, I think I quite like you. What is your name?"

"Greyson, how about you?"

"Me? I am Halcrem Armand of the Sun Lion tribe."

"Nice to meet you, Halcrem. I will be counting on you, then." Greyson smiled while holding out his hand.

Smiling back, Halcrem shook his hand.