Chapter 8 - An Exchange To Be Made

The sound of hooves clacking against the dirt and gravel outside of the front doors became apparent, followed by the neighing of a horse, echoing through the quiet night.

"That must be our buyer."

Klaus smiled with an air of avarice, smacking his meaty hands together.

"One of them, at least."

Abe, the lanky tall one with unnaturally elongated arms that hung below his knees responded. If Klaus was built like a gorilla, then Abe was more of a chimpanzee.

"Buyer? Is this what I think it is--?"

Ren asked, looking at Adelaide who gestured for the two thugs to get the door. It didn't take a genius to realize what was happening now. He was their merchandise. As this revelation came to him, he watched as the doors opened up, letting in a chilly breeze as a man became visible in the doorway.

"Welcome, Lord Althaus."

Adelaide greeted the man, bowing her head as the two thugs hesitantly followed her gesture.

"Now, now--such formalities are not needed! As buyer and seller, we're both equal, Miss Adelaide."

The man's words came out with a tinge of elegance as he stepped into the abandoned shack, a bodyguard dressed in a suit of armor following close by him. Ren could only sit and watch while the nobleman stepped over to him, wearing a finely woven dress that exuded his wealth.

"Nice to meet you, otherworlder--I am Stefan Althaus, head of the Althaus family."

Althaus placed his hand over his chest before bowing his head, rising back up as he stroked his light-brown beard with one hand.

"He's not very talkative, is he?"

The nobleman turned to Adelaide, smiling as if this situation was completely of the norm.

"He was flapping his lips just before ya' came in!"

Klaus answered, walking over and gripping Ren by the hair, pulling his head back as he used force to make him speak.

"Now, such savagery is unnecessary."

"Ya' don't tell me how to handle our merchandise until the money is on the table!"

The boarish thug spit as he talked, letting go of Ren's hair after a sharp glare from Adelaide. Althaus brushed off the rude behavior, placing his arm in front of his bodyguard, who seemed as if he was about to put Klaus in his place.

"Before we talk about money, I believe verification is in order."

"The hell do ya' mean?"

"Klaus, quiet down. Do whatever you need to do, Lord Althaus."

Adelaide pulled Klaus back, giving the nobleman free rein to "verify" whatever he had in mind. A small vial was pulled out from under his coat pocket, containing an unknown blue, powdery substance. As the cap of the vial was popped off, an aroma similar to gasoline drifted from the unknown substance.

"This will be a rather...unpleasant experience, just bare with it--it'll be over quickly," Althaus assured Ren, "Johannes, hold him for me, will you?"

The armor-clad guard grabbed hold of Ren's head, forcing his mouth open as the vial was brought above his face.

"--Hgh! --op it!"

Ren stammered out, squirming as he tried to escape from his inevitable fate. The powder fell from the tube container, directly into his mouth as he instinctively swallowed it. It took no more than a few seconds before the effects of the substance made themselves present--he wailed out as all of his muscles seemed to cramp at once. Every fiber of his body seized, tightening and shortening is his muscles contracted. It was like sparks of electricity were coiling around each of his nerves, shocking them endlessly and without mercy.

"--Ghh...Gah! Ngh…!"

He let out whimpers, yelling when his body allowed him to as his screams carried his agony through the room.

"The hell did ya' give the poor guy?"

Abe asked, scratching the top of his head with his tube-like arms.

"It's nothing dangerous for those of this world, but for otherworlders--it invokes a reaction like you see before you. So, with that said--it seems the boy here is truly an otherworlder."

Althaus explained, slipping the vial back under his coat as he had Johannes sit Ren back up.

"So, where's tha' money at?"

"Johannes, you can show them the payment now."

The nobleman's guard removed the pouch attached to his leather belt, bulging with the contents it held inside. Setting it down on the table--the thud that echoed under its weight was telling of how much coin was on the line here.

"Holy...are those--"

"One-hundred holy coins, no more, no less."

While Ren was ignorant to how much money that turned out to be, the other's eye-widened reactions to Althaus' words told him it was not a small sum.

"One-hundred...that's--Ad, you can pay that bastard Gunther back in full, with change to spare!"

Klaus celebrated, while Adelaide was left in slight disbelief at the sight of such money.

"If this is our starting bid, then our other buyer will have to offer up more!"

"Yeah, that's right!"

Abe and Klaus were like two children, getting giddy over the exuberant sum in front of them.

"Now...there is just one condition."

Althaus spoke up, stopping the celebratory air in the room.

"The deal is only on if you accept it here and now."

Klaus' excited face contorted into his usual angry mug as he stomped towards Althaus, his bare, hairy feet making it sound as if the wooden floorboards would snap under his feet.

"Tha' hell? That's not how this works, you know that! We'd lose our reputation if we just accepted the first offer we got without hearin' out the other offer! Yer'just scared that the other buyer will outbid ya'!"

"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to the lady."

Althaus looked up at the gorilla-thug, holding his slight smile--which for some reason seemed to further the thug's rage as he raised a fist to the nobleman.

"Klaus, stop--!"

As Adelaide attempted to stop her partner, it was too late--the hand he raised towards Althaus was gone from its wrist. It all happened in the blink of an eye, even Klaus didn't seem to notice until he stopped and looked at the stub at the end of his arm.

"Huh--?"

Looking up, Johannes had unsheathed his broadsword from its scabbard--coated in crimson as the thug then realized his severed hand on the floor below.

"--My fuckin' hand! Ya' cut my fuckin' hand off!"

The brutish thug fell to his knees, holding onto his wrist as arterial fluid spewed like a fountain out of the open wound.

"Yer' dead, bastard!"

"Stop it, Abe!"

Adelaide held Abe back from approaching Johannes, who stayed silent and ready to retaliate.

"You know the art of healing magic, don't you? If you act diligently, you can return the gentleman's hand to his arm, Miss Adelaide."

The nobleman spoke calmly, stroking his beard as he glanced over at Johannes, having him return his blade to his scabbard. Although the girl held a burning rage in her emerald irises, she hesitantly listened to the words of wisdom, kneeling by Klaus, who was now growing pale from the rapid loss of blood.

"--Abe, get his hand and hold it to his wrist!"

"But, Ad--!"

"Now, Abe!"

The lanky thug froze for a moment before following her command, rushing over and retrieving the still-intact hand, holding it against Klaus' open wound.

--The hell is going on here?

Ren felt as if he was experiencing a fever dream, watching all of this unfold after his body calmed from the experience with the blue substance. Besides that--he assumed these thugs were just some randoms, but Adelaide seemed to genuinely care about them.

"--Licht, Gaia--Greater Healing!"

Adelaide's words coated in desperation and anxiety manifested in the form of a spell, a divine light emanating with a rejuvenating warmth illuminated the gloomy room.

"--Amazing, it truly is."

Althaus commented quietly as he watched the spectacle, narrowing his eyes from the blinding light of healing. As expected from something called "Greater Healing", the thug's hand was reattached to his wrist, only leaving a pale scar at the attachment zone.

"...thank ya', Add."

"Just let me handle this, Klaus. Abe, make sure he stays put."

"Add--I just wanna' make sure ya' aren't getting taken advantage of, these nobles can be real slimy…"

Klaus muttered, still sweating from the previous mixture of pain and shock.

"So, have you considered my deal?"

Althaus asked Adelaide as she stood in front of him, still stroking his beard with an unmoving smile.

"--You attack my family like that, then have the nerve to continue on like nothing happened?"

"Now hold on, your "family"--he was going to attack me, but Johannes here acted swiftly. All is well anyways, look--he's all healed."

"Only because I had access to healing magic powerful enough to repair such a wound--you had no way of knowing I even possessed such magic."

"Sure I did--you're a descendent of the Sages, one of the last "Ancients", no?"

Adelaide's eyes widened at the nobleman's words, clenching her fists as an aura of mana emanated from her.

"Calm yourself, Miss Adelaide--I did not come here for you. All I want is the otherworlder, then I'll be on my merry way. You just have to accept my offer, here and now--time is of the essence."

The vibe of the small room, now full with two sides who had every reason to fight one another, was too intense for Ren to even attempt to speak. Even somebody like him, holding little to no experience with girls, knew that telling an obviously angered girl to calm down was not the best idea.