by Cobyboy
"Come, come in. It is rude to make an acquaintance of a friend of mine wait outside the house." Mark immediately greeted Feihren as he led both him and his daughter inside.
"Ah, it seems that my friend Zow had something so important to say that he didn't rely on using communication magic huh." Mark casually talked as they towards the living room of the mansion.
Mark inspected Feihren from head to toe and had a feeling that this man is not someone that was just a 'messenger' and is likely to be part of the message in and of himself. "You should return to your patrol duty now, you could leave both of us alone." Mark signaled for his daughter to return to the city gates and to leave Feihren and him alone.
"But, father! This man is a stranger, and I can't just easily trust that he won't do anything by just leaving him be, especially alone with you." Marie replied with quite a loud voice as he retorted at the request of her father.
"It's fine. You can trust me on this one. Besides, I don't think Zow would send someone to harm me, would he now?" Mark smiled as he once again asked his daughter to return to the gates.
Marie could not do anything but heed to her father's request. She intently stared at Feihren as if warning him not to do anything funny before leaving the place.
"I apologize for my daughter's behavior. She had been like that ever since her mother passed away. She is now way too overprotective of me." Mark laughed as he looked at the figure of his daughter going down the staircase.
"It's understandable." Feihren smiled towards this loving father and daughter relationship.
"Have a sit. I do think that the letter sent by my friend will be something of high importance that we shouldn't wait till morning to read. Can you please hand it over?" Mark had immediately asked Feihren for the letter, and he handed it over.
"He also wanted to give you this." Feihren also gave him the pouch that was also with the letter.
"Hmm, ah, this is just the payment for the bow he bought for me back then." Mark immediately confirmed as he slightly tossed the pouch within his hands.
'And here I thought that it was something really important...That old man...tsk tsk' Feihren shook his head as he thought all about the ideas of being the 'Chosen One' and now... he was literally made into a working mule. Feihren could only laugh at all this.
Seriousness was evident on the face of Mark as he read the letter.
"... I do apologize for not greeting you immediately... Your Majesty."
"Huh?" Feihren was dumbfounded by the sudden words that came out Marks' mouth.
'Now you made me curious on what is in that letter damn it...' Feihren could only sigh as he never took a peek at the letter is self as it was sealed. It even mentioned about him, could it be about him being the 'Chosen One' again? 'I just hope not...'
Rolling the letter back up, Mark had a hint of a joyous smile on his face as he continued.
"Aside from this errand, do you have something else that you wanted to handle within this city, Your Majesty?"
"I have heard that you are of the Ice Troll race and are a local of the Icy Tundra, which is the home of these tiger cubs right here."
"Ah, I was wondering what the story was with those two cute little things you are carrying around. They are Snow Tiger cubs if I'm not mistaken? If so, then you are right. They are indeed from the same place as our race resides, but that leads me to one question. How did you acquire those?" Mark inquired
"I saved them from poachers that were also abducting the spirit guardians of the elven tribe in the central woodlands. Zow said that you might know where or how I could leave these two snow cubs?" Feihren answered without a hint of a lie. There was no point, as it seems that his identity was exposed on that letter. It would be best to treat Mark as an ally and just ask for help.
"I do apologize. I have not returned to the icy tundra for years. Only one acquaintance of mine from there would come here every other year, which would be 9 months from now. If you can wait until that time, we could ask him to bring those tiger cubs back to the Icy Tundra with him. Unfortunately, it seems that by that time these two little ones won't be 'cubs' anymore... Although you could travel there yourself, it would take quite a while. I do not suggest for a king to go that far away from his own kingdom..." Mark earnestly answered Feihren as he thought of the possibilities that he might try.
Feihren nodded as he thought of the ways he could return the cubs. Waiting for nine months was definitely not plausible. Although traveling using the Titan Slate would definitely shorten the time, going to an unknown region without knowing if the parents of these cubs were still alive or not and just leaving them there would only leave a bitter taste in Feihren's mouth.
'Well I guess you will be staying with me for now' Feihren smile as he patted the heads of the sleeping snow tiger cubs. They were indeed a handful, literally, but for Feihren, they were not a burden, and it seems that both these cubs had already grown fond with him too.
"Would it be fine if I take care of them myself?" Feihren randomly asked.
"I couldn't see why not Your Majesty. They seem to like you anyway, seeing that they could comfortably sleep in your arms." Mark smiled as if he was expecting that choice from Feihren.
"Anyways, anything else Your Majesty? I do not think that you have come all the way to Sechua City just to ask about the tiger cubs and hand me a letter, right?" Mark continued as he inquired about Feihren's other business within the city.
"Ah, there is. In fact, there's a lot, but I could narrow them all down into a single question." Feihren continued.
"You're a businessman, right? Do you happen to know the location of the black market within this city?"
Chapter 54: Business is Booming!
"Black market huh... Although I am a lawful business person, I do have an idea of where it is..." Mark pondered for a while as he honestly admitted to Feihren.
"But coincidentally, you need to register yourself with the adventurer's guild for you to be allowed entrance, or so I've heard? It seems that the higher ups of both the guild and the black market are siblings? They have made this whole system where the items from the black market can be "bought" from those requests on the guild. It was a clever move in my opinion..." Mark added as he explained the situation to Feihren.
"Registering huh... But if I do that, wouldn't they find out who I really am? Here is the deal. My weapon was stolen back when I was traveling in the central woodlands and I have narrowed down the location of the thieves to this city... Although I doubt that they could even use my weapon, I am pretty sure that they would be selling it on the black market instead." Feihren told Mark everything so that he could properly assess the situation and thus, could efficiently help him.
"Hmm... If it's a weapon you're talking about, then maybe I really could help. I am both registered within the Adventurer's guild and the Merchant's guild. I am more inclined with the latter due to my work and all, but I guess I could pull a string or two so that you could get your weapon back..." Mark replied.
"... Aside from my weapon, I guess I have another piece of business to attend to within that market." Feihren replied as he suddenly remembered the illusory image that the spirit wolf showed to him back then. 'That's right. I also so have to find whether or not the Spirit Wolf parents were sold here or at another place. I am pretty sure that transactions such as those would be held in places closest to the forest, which happens to be this city...'
Even though Mark could technically help Feihren with the issue of his stolen weapon, Feihren was actually more concerned in helping the spirit wolves. The Demonic Carbine that the Ancient Demon Lord was tightly trapped within could not possibly harm anyone anytime soon unless the carbine was physically broken. If that were to happen then it might cause another 'leaking'. Although it was still urgent, Feihren could put it lower in his priority list. A living creature's life would be of much more importance, but it was better for him to kill two birds with one stone.
"Thank you for your help Mark. Althou
gh, it seems that I couldn't avoid registering huh?" Feihren smiled as he asked Mark about something else entirely irrelevant. "Do you have anyone you care about that works inside that black market?"
"Huh? As far as I am concerned, there would be none Your Majesty. Most of the people I know of in this city are those that abide by the laws of the city lord. I do not know much about those underground areas. Why do you ask Your Majesty?" Mark answered.
"Ah, it's nothing. I'm just making sure that I won't be harming anyone you care for when things don't go as I planned..." Feihren waved his hand in dismissal as he answered Mark.
It was already 2 in the evening; Mark had offered for him to stay for the night so that they could get some proper rest.
...
Feihren went on to one of the guest rooms Mark lead him to. He then proceeded to thank him as Mark returned to his room.
It was quite a spacious room with a comfortable looking bed.
Feihren then gently placed the sleeping snow tiger cubs on the soft mattress as he proceeded to take out Samael's gem, placing it besides them.
"Take care of them for a while, I'll be going out" Feihren instructed Samael as the gem glinted.
Equipping the Stealth Armor, Feihren opened one of the windows in the room as he bravely jumped out, landing smoothly without noise. Feihren had decided that always playing safe throughout this entire mission is only necessary when you don't want the innocent to be caught in the crossfire. As for the black market, he couldn't care less. Those places are where scum breeds, and Feihren wouldn't even bat an eye when killing those kinds of people.
He then immediately used [Battlefield Scan] as he noticed a few figures scattered throughout the city. Feihren hid in the shadows as he lurked throughout the streets that were basically empty.
'This could only mean that the black market is literally underground...' Feihren grinned as he proceeded to look for an empty alley.
Checking within the scan for if there were any people close by, Feihren made sure that there were none, including those directly underground.
Equipping the Titan Armor, Feihren started smashing the brick road as debris flew all over the place. The softer soil revealed itself within seconds as Feihren continued digging. The dirt and debris were then cleared as a hollow area was seen. Feihren then re-equipped the Stealth Armor so he could fit inside.
"Hmm... around 400 different 'stores' and 'booths'. Quite a lot of nobles are here too..."
This place was indeed bustling. It was because of the fact that these kinds of businesses do not rest that Feihren had wondered why those mercenaries hadn't immediately proceeded in here.
'Are they so confident that I could never track them down?' Feihren jokingly thought as a grin appeared on his face.
Roaming the entirety of the black market that spanned almost 1/4 of the entire city itself, Feihren had finally tracked down the place where they sell poached creatures. There were approximately 3 Spirit Wolves left. It seems that business was booming as most of the other creatures were cleared and only common ones were left.
Feihren confirmed this and marked the location of the said store as he went back to the only entrance to this place. It seems like an underground tunnel that leads to an iron-clad door that's connected to one of the buildings above.
Equipping the Titan Armor, and switching into Titan Arms mode, Feihren punched the upper walls of the tunnel until it started collapsing, covering the entirety of the entrance. The noise made by the collapsing of the entrance had grabbed the attention of everyone as panic started rising within this sealed dome.
Switching into the Titan Slate, loud buzzing sound was heard as Feihren rushed forth towards the place where the Spirit Wolves were sold. Dropping from a decent height, Feihren smashed some of the stalls and destroyed most of the cages that contained other ferocious beasts. The unleashed animals then caused more commotion as they started attacking and biting every merchants and buyer they could land their eyes upon.
A few heavily built thugs had gone out of their temporary tents as they had witnessed the sudden commotion. The eyes within the helm of the gigantic Titan glared at these figures, as they immediately decided to run for their lives.
Equipping the AKM as he changed into the Hades Armor, Feihren started wrecking havoc within this underground black market as the scum started running towards the only entrance, only to be blocked by enormous boulders that have piled up.
A few of those people started digging into the pile of rubble as some of the spellcasters invoked explosion magic to reduce the size of said boulders. Everything they did was futile as the recoil from the magic attack only caused the tunnel to collapse even further, ultimately making it harder for those that could only do the physical labor.
Some of the merchants that have hired misaligned adventurers have started to turn the other way to fight back. Although the enemy was something that was akin to a metal giant, there was only one of them. There were a few thousand people within this place that could fight.
Huge magic circles could be seen overhead as the spellcasters started chanting their strongest offensive spells, blasting all of them in a single direction. The place was sunk into a mixture of despair and utter chaos as the explosions shook the entire place. Large piles of debris started falling from the ceiling as all of the spells landed on Feihren.
This kind of 'battle' is where Feihren was most proficient. No surprise attacks, no people actually trying to use disabling spells on him... The complete chaos must have just numbed the senses of these people.
"I guess my only weakness is being a bit reckless by actually catching that dagger huh... I could have just immediately switched into a Titan and got all of it done... tsk" Feihren muttered to himself as he continued, "Oh well, I was also prioritizing those cubs back then... I might have accidentally squished them if I had hurriedly switched into the armor... hmm or maybe not? Oh well, what's done is done anyways..."
The continued rise of Feihren base HP as he continued killing people within the black market was enough to tank every single attack that these people could throw.
Blood splattered all over the place as the beasts that were freed by Feihren, whenever he passed stores that sold them, would immediately retaliate and attack those poachers that had abducted them. It was pent up anger that had turned all these beasts into such a savage state.
"We thank you, Oh Chosen One..." One of the Spirit wolves that were freed and was now helping Feihren suddenly spoke.
"Chosen One? How did you..." Feihren was quite in shock as well. 'Wait...'
"You can talk? How..." Feihren was again shocked. The wolf was speaking with human language!
"Yes, I am the Alpha Spirit Wolf, and I can speak the human tongue... It does not matter for now. What matters is that you have come to our aid. For that, I sincerely thank you." The Alpha Spirit Wolf answered Feihren earnestly.
"And as for how I know that you are the Chosen One? I can smell the elven treasures on you..." The Spirit wolf then added as he proceeds to pounce upon and attack even more of the people from the black market.
It was all of these corrupt people versus a Titan with an army of beasts.
A single bullet from Feihren and anyone that started retaliating against the beasts would immediately fall. Their bodies piled lifelessly on the ground, only having a single hole within their skulls as blood was covering the floor.
It was indeed a gruesome scene as shouts and screams of desperation resounded within the underground market.
The hellish scene matched the blood red color of the Hades armor that blazed with baleful flames, releasing a terrifying aura that covered the entirety of the market... This imprinted fear within the hearts of those that saw it before they perished.
Only the stench of blood remained as Feihren started to collect everything in this huge place that was now eerily silent. Feihren hadn't collected every single body within this place as the carnivorous beasts had started feasting on them. He could not help t
hat this was the reality of most of these creatures. Those that had removed these beings from their proper habitat deserved the punishment of them being food, as they were mostly starved while they were waiting to be sold.
Feihren had yet to check the quality of the items that he had gathered in this place as he noticed that it was almost 6 in the morning. He changed back into the Titan Armor as he started scraping away the blockage, clearing the tunnel and allowing the entrance to be open again.
"And now, we wait for my Demonic Carbine to come back home..." Feihren smiled as he stood guard at the entrance of the now empty black market.
Chapter 55: City Lord Allen
