Chapter 6 : Black Market

"This is taking so long… It's already been an hour…"I grumbled. "Tsk, I miss my car now… And the foods too."

I reminisced about the modern technologies. This world lacked a lot of things. Technologies, foods, entertainments... They were lacking in all of them.

"My lord, we're here." Winston suddenly spoke to me as the carriage slowed down in its tracks.

"H-Huh?" I snapped myself out of my trance.

"We've arrived, my lord."

"Oh. Then, I'll get down now." I responded.

"My lord, so where do you need to go?" Winston asked, opening the door and extending his right hand out to help me down the carriage.

"Don't worry about it. I'll go myself."

I held onto his hand and got down from the carriage.

"What? Are you sure? But it's dangerous, my lord."

"Yeah, I'm sure. You guys just wait for me here."

"But it's not safe…" Winston stated, with his tone sounding worried.

"Tsk, don't be so annoying and just wait here."

I used the attitude of the prince Emrys to escape from the situation.

"…Yes, my lord. I'll do as you say." He conceded hesitantly.

Then, without delay, Winston turned around and instructed the driver to park the carriage at a less crowded place.

As Winston instructed the driver, I took the opportunity and walked away from the carriage. I wanted to prevent further delays as the hour was growing late.

"Anyways, where is that place?"

I looked around the bustling street, crowded with people in every corner of the street.

— How much is this set of clothes?

— That's 40 Coppers.

— Buy this book for just 12 Coppers!

— Can you lower it to 11 Coppers?

— I'm sorry, I can't do that. It's already discounted.

The crowd was constantly noisy as they engaged in endless bargaining, their voices blending into a persistent clamor that echoed throughout the street.

Nonetheless, I continued my search for the place I wanted to visit. I slowly advanced through the entire street, looking left and right repeatedly.

"Finally. I found it."

I looked at one of the most famous and busy tavern in the street, a tavern widely known for its affordable prices and exquisite foods.

[The Starlight Tavern]

Subsequently, I pushed open the door and entered the tavern. Upon entering the tavern, I was greeted by a beautiful servant at the door.

Afterwards, I was guided to a vacant table near the bar of the tavern by the beautiful servant.

"What would you like to order, sir?" The servant asked.

"What would you recommend?"

"I'd say apple pie and mushroom stew." She recommended.

"Then, I'll have that."

"Yes, sir. Please wait for a few minutes." She said, taking down my orders.

Following that, she walked into the kitchen to place my orders.

"This place is known for its delicious food, huh? I should try it first." I thought to myself.

After waiting for a few minutes, just like the servant said, my food finally arrived onto my table.

It looked delicious, though not as much as the foods during the dinner with my siblings.

Consequently, I took a bite out of the apple pie first. Then, I took another bite out of the mushroom stew.

Despite its delicious appearance, it was exactly like the other food I've tasted in this world. It was flavourless.

"Tsk, the food sucks." I mumbled.

However, I still forced them down my throat. I couldn't have just left without eating them.

And thus, I finished those plain and boring food within 15 minutes.

"Bill." I said, raising up my right hand to call for a servant.

"Sir, that would be 20 Coppers." A man suddenly spoke beside me after a few moments.

(1 Copper = 1 Usd, 1 Silver = 10 Usd, 1 Gold = 100 Usd)

"Right."

I took out 20 Coppers from my robe's right pocket and placing it onto the table.

"Oh, right. Can I have an extra cup of tea too? And along with 51 cups of beer."I whispered to that man.

"…Who are you? I've never seen you before. How did you learn that code?" He queried, with his voice louder than usual.

"This is not how you treat a customer, is it?" I yelled at him.

Due to his mistake of slightly raising his voice, he attracted the attention of the other customers onto us. So I decided to use them to my own advantages.

"…My apologies. Please follow me, your excellency."He remarked, after a brief hesitation.

Following that, he brought me into the kitchen of the tavern and walked all the way to the end of the kitchen.

"Here it is, your excellency.

He pointed at a closed door in the corner of the kitchen.

Subsequently, he stretched his hand into his pocket, taking out a black-coloured card with some kind of unknown words on it.

"Huh? What's this now?" I inquired.

"…What? How can you not know? Are you imitating his excellency?!"He asked with his tone clearly suspicious of me.

"…How dare you take guesses about me. Do you want to die?" I threatened him.

Although I didn't understand why he referred to me as 'his excellency' or who 'his excellency' was, I made an effort to behave as the person he believed me to be.

"Now, open the door before I lose my patience." I ordered.

"Y-Yes, your excellency!"

He immediately opened the door after I gave him my orders as 'his excellency'.

"Then, p-please enjoy your time, your excellency."He uttered, before shutting the door behind me."

After the door closed, I was left in a quiet and dark room, with a long staircase down to an unknown place.

However, I started walking down the staircase without hesitation, as that place was the true goal of my trip here.

Upon reaching the end of that staircase, I was met with a bodyguard.

"Show me your card." He requested.

"What card?"

"Are you joking with me?!" He asked with a frustrated expression.

"Oh, wait... You mean this?"

I reluctantly took out the card handed to me by that man from my robe's pocket.

"…"

He promptly took the card away from my hand without responding to my words. Afterwards, he checked the information on the card through those unknown words.

"Please enter, your excellency."

He bowed to me before moving away from the entrance, allowing me to finally enter the place.

[Black Market]

The black market in the kingdom of Dale is where illegal dealings thrive. It's a place set up by a notorious organization known as [The Twilight League].

"Finally. I've arrived."

I looked at the scene in front of me.

A vibrant and crowded underground city, filled with people making illegal dealings everywhere. It was almost as lively as the streets on the surface.

"Now, where is that place?" I wondered, looking around the [Black Market] for a certain store.

Consequently, I took a stroll around the entire underground city, in hopes of finding the store I wanted to go to.

"Tsk, where the hell is it? That fucking author… He didn't specify that store's location…" I whined.

And after strolling that place for 10 more minutes, I had finally found it. The store that I wanted to visit.

[Space Depot]

Subsequently, I pushed open the store's door and walked into it.

Upon my arrival into the store, I was met by a huge man. His body was incredibly built compared to mine.

"Show me your card." He requested, just like the previous bodyguard at the entrance.

"Here."

I took my card out once again, extending my hand towards him to hand the card to him.

Immediately, he inspected the card I handed to him.

Yet, once he completed his examination, he uttered a word that sounded oddly familiar.

"Greetings, your excellency. It's been quite a while since you visited." He said as he knelt down onto the ground.

"…Yeah. I know."

I walked away instantly. It wasn't easy imitating someone I didn't know anything about.

Even in the novel, there wasn't much information about [The Twilight League]. So this place was still a huge mystery to me.

"So, your excellency, what would you like to buy?" A smaller sized man by the store's counter asked.

"The Space Pouch."

"Oh, that?"

"Yes. How much is it?" I inquired.

"10,000 Golds" The man answered.

"Are you crazy? It doesn't even cost that much."

"…Then, 9000 Golds." He replied after making a brief calculation in his mind.

"No. 5000 Golds."

"8000 Golds. I can't go any lower, your excellency. I would be losing my profits if I do."

"Then, how about 7500 Golds?" .

"…Tsk, fine. Deal." He conceded reluctantly.

Immediately, I took out a bag of exactly 7500 Golds. It was a price I've expected to pay due to the information from the novel.

The space pouch in the novel was bought for the exact same price and from the same person too.

"Here you go."

I handed him the bag of 7500 Golds.

"Thanks, your excellency. Here's the item you bought."

He took out a small, blue pouch from an extremely secured safe, which was stored in one of his tables drawers.

"Pleasure doing business with you, your excellency."

That man waved at me while the huge bodyguard escorted me out of the store.

"Anyways, let's go there now. There's one more thing I need." I spoke to myself.

Due to the fact that I walked through the entire underground city for a few times before, I could immediately head to the store I wanted to go, instead of wandering around again.

As I walked closer to the store, I felt my stomach plunge into turmoil once again, just like the time when I first saw a real corpse.

But instead, this time I saw slavery. This shop was a shop that sells humans for money.

"Urgh… That's… cruel as fuck…" I grumbled in silence.

However, disregarding the fact that I felt extremely disgusted, I forced myself into the store.

I navigated myself through the crowds of people at the front of the store, slowly entering the inner part of the store.

And like I thought, it was absolutely disgusting. What I saw was a bunch of mistreated humans, locked in inescapable, giant cages. There were all kinds of people trapped inside, ranging from 8 years old all the way to 50 years old.

"Ugh… No… I can't show weakness…" I reminded myself.

"Sir, which one would you like to buy?" A man suddenly asked from my right side.

His face's expression showed that he was clearly excited for the money he was about he receive.

"…What an inhumane bastard." I mumbled silently.

"You… What did you say?!"

"What? Nothing. I didn't say anything."

"…Really?"

"Obviously. Anyways, I want those two." I declared, pointing at a pair of siblings sitting in one of the cages at the corner of the store.

"…Are you sure? That boy... He's… Quite rebellious… And the girl is… like a mute."He doubted.

"Yeah. I'm sure. How much are they." I stated without hesitation.

In the novel, those two were regarded as one of the most promising among their peers. There were only a few with potential on par with them.

"I'd say 500 Golds. Since they're quite rebellious, I'll give you a discount." He proposed.

"…Sure. I can do that."I replied, suppressing the urge to smack him for his inhumane behaviour.

But anyway, thanks to my earlier prediction being accurate, I only paid 7500 Golds for the space pouch. And because of that, I still have around 550 more golds on me.

So, I took out another bag filled with golds and handed it to that disgusting man.

"Here you go."

I gave the bag of golds to him.

"Hehehe… Thanks for the golds!" He thanked me with a huge smile on his face.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Now bring me into a private room with them. You can do that, right?" I asked.

"Of course, my dear customer!"

He signalled his men to bring those pair of siblings, along with me into one of their soundproof rooms.

"There." The men pointed at an opened door at the other end of the store, which led into a empty room.

Afterwards, the men bowed to me and granted me entry through the door into the room.

However, despite their show of respect, he callously threw both siblings into the room instead of treating them like a proper human.

"…Thanks." I uttered, restraining myself from punching him.

"Right. And don't worry. These rooms are completely soundproof."

"Sure. Now, please get out. I want to talk to them."

I gestured him to leave.

Accordingly, he left the room and shut the door closed.

I was now completely alone with both of the siblings. And I trusted that the room was really soundproof was because this was exactly the room that appeared in the novel.

So, of course I would have information about this particular room.

"Are you two okay?" I asked, walking towards the siblings and offering them a hand up from the ground.

"…Fuck off." The boy spat.

"Don't worry. I won't harm you."

I grabbed his arm.

"Don't touch me!" He threw my hand away from his arm. "Everyone said that! But they always end up hurting us!" He yelled, his tears flowing out of his eyes.

"…Trust me. I won't do that." I said, removing my robe's cover and revealing my face.

"I'm Emrys Lorendale, the youngest prince of Dale. So if I lied to you, what would my reputation as the prince become?" I stated.

"…Can we really trust you?" The 'mute' girl suddenly spoke.

"Of course you ca-"

"No! We will never trust you!"The boy jumped in front of his sister and spread his arms out as a form of protection. "If you're really the prince, why don't you destroy this place?"

"You think I don't want to? I have no authority to do that. I'm the youngest, remember? And even if I inform my father, do you think he would he take action just because of my words?" I explained to the boy.

"This… But…"

"Don't worry." I patted both his and his sister's head lightly. "I'll destroy this place when I get the chance."

"…You promise?"

"Of course, I can promise you that." I smiled at him.

Upon hearing my promise on destroying his inhumane place in the future, he immediately turned his head to his sister's direction, silently asking for her opinion.

"Let's trust him, brother." His sister responded to him.

"Okay…" He turned his head back to face me. "T-Then, we'll follow you for now…"