Chapter 43: Volume II - 9: Market and Protection

Chapter 43: Volume II - Chapter 9: Market and Protection

I looked again at the name of the building in front of me. I knew I would have to come here again, but I didn't think it would be this fast.

With a deep sigh, I entered the place with the sign 'Riala Bar'.

Inside it was the same as always. Drunks, people playing cards, people hanging out, and so on... Of course, I was here for a different purpose.

Ignoring them all, I approached the bartender and settled into the long-legged chair.

"What would you like?"

He wasn't the same guy as last time, but he was sure to do the job.

After a few cryptic words, they led me into the library in the same way as last time. They gave me the necklace that disguised my appearance and five minutes later I was finally in the hallway where I had to pay the entrance fee.

"I assume you know the fees?"

I approached the woman, but I didn't pay her twenty-five thousand wels like last time. Rather, I sent her exactly twenty-two thousand eight hundred and five.

This meant that I had a particularly 'illegal' job, but she didn't budge one bit.

"What kind of service did you want?"

"Market and protection."

After what I said, a holographic screen suddenly appeared in front of the woman.

She entered a few things on the screen that I didn't know, and exactly one minute later, two security guards came in through the door behind her.

"Please follow them."

So we walked with the guards through countless corridors until we came to a door that looked very grand. When we finally arrived, they welcomed me inside.

It was actually quite nice inside. A table with chairs facing each other in the center and decorations... Everything was in a simple design that didn't look overly fancy, and that's the kind of thing I like.

"Here, have a seat."

With the sound echoing around the room, I realized that someone was sitting in the seat across the table.

I wonder how I didn't see him...

I approached the table and sat down, and then I heard the door close behind me.

Here we go...

"You asked for protection and market services... Could you please elaborate?"

"Sure."

I took a deep breath and, as calm as I could be, entered the gallery from my watch. Then I showed the man a photograph.

"Clara Tenebra. She is sixteen and lives in this city."

The man looked at the photo for a brief moment, and I kept talking.

"I'll give you about three hundred thousand."

I was pretty sure the man was surprised, even though I couldn't see it through the blur.

"Half a year? Then we have good options-"

"No."

Even if I'm paying three hundred thousand, I won't get what I want if I choose the half-year option. Because the price of the protections is calculated on a daily basis, and logically, the more money they get in a day, the better-quality protections I can access.

"I only want one week."

The man stood where he was without saying anything.

With my offer, they would get about forty thousand wels a day. That meant that there would be 'real' professionals involved, who had put their all into this, not just anybody.

The man opened a holographic screen in front of him. Then he entered a few things into it and scrolled the screen in front of me.

"These are the bodyguards we have available right now, there are single ones or groups of them. So choose wisely."

I smiled as I looked at the screen in front of me, because the people I was looking for were right at the top of the screen.

"Joez Group, they are available right now, aren't they?"

The man must have been surprised to see that I was quick with my selection because he was silent for a while.

"Yes, they are available. If you add twenty thousand to the daily rate, you can give them additional missions."

Well, that was my intention already.

"I will pay. The guards will have two extra tasks. One, they won't let the girl know she's being guarded. And for the second one... There are assassins on her tail right now. Guards are not supposed to let them know, but they're not supposed to let them out of the way right away. They will wait until the time is right, and I will signal them."

The man wrote down everything I said, then rubbed his hand and spoke excitedly.

"And with that, we close the protection business?"

"Yes."

"Then let's get into the market business! What do you want to buy?"

I smiled even though the man couldn't see my face.

"I need two things. The first is an old phone with an anonymous line that's only open for one day."

That wasn't hard to get, but it was best to get that out of the way while he was here.

"The second is... an illusion device with a one-time use of at least ten minutes, approximately six hundred and twenty-five squares, and at least a B grade."

I could have sworn he was smiling as much as I was after what I said.

*******

Actually, I wanted to pay Clara a quick visit before returning, but I didn't. I couldn't risk revealing my plan by exposing myself to the assassins, so I just went back to the academy, as much as it hurt.

Today was Saturday, so there were no classes. Therefore, I continued my preparations and now, in the woods inside the academy, I am texting a number on the anonymous phone I received today. n0velusB.c0M

<<------------------------------

To: **97*76**9

Message: There is a great danger in Monday's preliminary, a danger that you will regret if you ignore it. I advise you to be 'extremely' careful. The more the better. Keyword: starts with 'w' and ends with 'a', I guess you can understand.

(45°03'50.7 "N 34°38'51.2 "W)

-Send-

------------------------------>>

I read and checked the message, then I pressed send and crushed the phone under my foot.

I made sure that it was in pieces and as soon as I left the woods, I threw the pieces into different trash bins. Then I went back into my dorm room.

Okay... That's pretty much everything that I had planned. I just need to do a few more things and then all that's left is to wait for the day.

I approached my bed for a quick rest. I wanted to lie down, to rest, but then I hesitated.

The day is far from over... Why am I resting?

I put on my training clothes, strapped my sword around my waist, and then spent the whole day training...

*******

The next day I invited Adrian and Julian to have dinner with me to clear my head. Nothing much happened after that. I met Justin again and gave him more details about the plan, we made our preparations and finally, the time came.

Before the preliminary, we were given specially made plain clothes in gray. We were also each given a dimensional button that could only hold a weapon, and nobody had anything else on them.

Well, technically...

It's been almost four months since the so-called dimensional button was invented on Lunerra. So it's still 'new' to humanity and there are a lot of things that are not thought about, and even if they are thought about, they are not 'taken seriously' because nothing has happened about it yet.

The most important one is that what you put inside a dimensional button is determined by your imagination and other things that come into contact with it.

So if I tape a dimensional button on my sword that already has another item in it, I can transfer the two of them into another dimensional button in contact with each other.

Of course, the button will be a bit unstable because I'm creating another dimension inside a dimension that's already been created, but that's not something I need to worry about that much.

That's why I was a bit nervous when we were being searched, but it worked fine. Since I had taught Justin's group this, the plan was working perfectly for now.

"Line up a single file and follow me."

Everyone was nervous and excited but no one objected to the professor. We quietly formed a single file line and when everyone was in place, the professor walked ahead of us and led us to the section with the wide staircase.

All the corridors were full of students and everyone here was now going to the lower levels of the academy for the first time because it was forbidden.

As we were walking down the wide stairs, I started to feel strange. At first, my body started to shake and then my vision started to blur, but after a few seconds, the feeling slowly subsided.

I couldn't understand why this was happening and panicked, but then I realized that everyone around me was suffering from the same thing. There were even some people who almost fainted.

We were approaching the dungeon gates and so the mana around us was extremely concentrated... So we, who were still young and mana-poor, were inevitably affected.

Professors helped the wobbling students. It didn't take long for people to get back on their feet, so there was no problem. So after this descent, which took about two minutes, we came to a huge hall.

The hall was so large that it was supported by columns. The doors on the walls were so magnificent and large that no one, including me, could take their eyes off them.