"A what?" The short fishman asked with a clear frown on his face.
"Ah, right...that's not a thing here. Sorry, do you have some kind of large stick?"
The bearded fishman was even more confused than before. However, he still tried his best to serve me to the best of his abilities. He had already noticed that I was quite different from the people he had met in the past, but maybe that's what made him more interested in me.
"Large sticks, large sticks..." He muttered as he looked around his shop. "I probably have that lying around somewhere. But why would you a big stick?"
"To hit people with it?" I said with a smirk.
"Hit people?! Then, why would you want a stick? I have swords, spears, maces, any weapon you're looking for...I have them!"
I shrugged when I heard him say that. "A stick is funnier, no?"
He just shook his head very slowly when he heard that; he was probably exasperated by me already.
"Young man, what's your name?" He suddenly asked out of nowhere, the look in his eyes changing.
I didn't know why, but I could feel his big fish eyes staring me down as if observing every single part of my body. It even managed to make me feel awkward. Talk about an achievement.
"Caedrel, sir. What about you?"
"Meh, my name isn't important. Can I ask you another question?" Your next read is at M V L
"Sure, I don't really care."
"Perfect. Then, can you tell me why you are here...in my store?"
I frowned. I wasn't sure why he was asking such questions, but I had no reason to lie at the moment, so I simply told the truth.
"Because it looked interesting, that's all."
"What if I told you there was an even more interesting part about this store? Would that interest you?"
The fishman brought his hand close to the door handle and slowly started twisting it.
"Ah, right. You can't speak about what you see in there to anyone."
"Sure, don't worry. I'm not one to spread around secrets."
"Perfect, here we go."
I was confused as to why he was so easy going. He had little to no idea of who I am, and he had no idea if I would keep my promise of keeping my mouth shut about this place.
When he opened the door as a whole, that's when I understood that this whole thing was a lot more complicated than I thought. Hiding behind that wooden door was a portal.
Where would it lead? I had no clue.
"Follow me."
The Fishman didn't try to explain anything as he simply walked right through the portal before him.
I was wary of the portal but still decided to follow him as I didn't think anyone strong enough would be able to deal with me on the other side.
My vision became fuzzy while I walked through the portal, but once I regained it, I noticed that I was in some kind of grand auditorium, and on the stage, there was a cute lady wearing quite a revealing outfit speaking to thousands of people sitting comfortably in their seats.
'Wait...what's that behind her?' I thought in the back of my mind as I noticed a big, black cage right behind her.
However, before I could answer the question myself, the cute lady on the stage started speaking.
"Welcome everyone to the brand new edition of our Secret Auction House. Today, on the menu, we have everything that you could ever dream of. Slaves, weapons, rare artifacts, pets, anything you could dream of, we have it."
I stopped walking momentarily when I heard the word "Slaves." I looked at the fishman before me and simply eyed him for a few seconds, wondering what the hell was wrong with him.
'Just who are you really?'
I looked on the stage and quickly realized what was inside the black cage. It was obvious now that she had mentioned slaves. I could see it from where I was standing; there was a young girl lying on the ground...looking absolutely drained of all energy.
'Just where the fuck did I end up?'