A Straightforward trade can't be this easy...

"Well that went surprisingly well," Alexander commented as the group left the Marquis's manor with their new treasures in tow, "I thought there would be more haggling involved."

"I'm just glad the Marquis had what we were looking for and then some."

'Yeah I'm half expecting this thing to have a curse on it or a tracker of some kind,' Zhen Liu mentally mused as he looked over at the new, blue box that Jin Fang was now carrying.

After Zhen Liu and Zhen Hai had regaled the Marquis with their tale of daring into the Vault of Hel(read: abusing the fact that Zhen Liu's "puppets" were indestructible), the Marquis became more the willing to trade for the Iganti beast core. Of which, they did gangbusters.

"Xiao Hai, your face is going to become stuck like that if you keep that crazy smile on your face," Daria chided her nephew with a soft tone.

"Apologies auntie," Zhen Hai said while maintaining said crazy smile, "I just didn't expect the Marquis to be this generous to both me and Zhen Liu."

In exchange for the core and story, the Marquis had decided to trade the Zhen Clan party, two items instead of just the one they needed.

The first was, of course, the Aquarii beast core, but it was bit more than they had anticipated because it was a full rank higher than on they gave him. More specifically, they received a seventh rank Diamond Crusher Shark core. This core was a full rank higher than the one the current patriarch absorbed many years ago, meaning that Zhen Hai could reach heights even further than his grandfather. Assuming he didn't die between now and the hypothetical then.

As for the second item, it was for Zhen Liu and he had mixed feelings about it.

"What's wrong, son? Not liking what the Marquis gave you?," Zhen Yan asked.

"Ah no, it's fine. Just a bit... much," Zhen Liu answered. 'It also looks incredibly fucking cursed...'

When the Marquis heard that Zhen Liu was an aether puppet user, he looked absolutely over the moon about that fact. As far as Zhen Liu could recall/understand as to why he was so happy about it: "Ah yes! A fellow patron of the fine craftsmanship of puppetry! With a such a fascinating background as well! Please! Consider this puppet, one I made with my own hands, a long time ago mind you, yours. I only ask you someday return the favor in kind."

After that, Zhen Liu was given a decorated hardwood box, containing the Marquis's handiwork, labeled with the name: "Razor Maiden". It soon became very evident as to why it was called that.

The aether puppet, at least in it's carry state, was a porcelain doll, crafted into the visage of a young maiden with exquisite attention detail down to the finger. Even the dress appeared to have been made from high quality silk, not battle attire but it looked damn nice. This covered the "Maiden" part.

As for the "Razor" portion: that was focused on the face, legs and aforementioned fingers.

In lieu of a proper face, the Marquis had adopted to use a jester's mask instead with razor sharp metal teeth forming a smile.

In the place of the legs were a pair of long blade with blunted ends. One wouldn't be able to stab such blades, but they could make long and nasty slashes with them.

In place of fingers and hands, the Razor Maiden had a pair of wicked claws that looked both elegant yet cruel.

By themselves, these feature would be unsettling on any other puppet. Combined like this was just pure horror movie fuel.

In essence, the puppet that Zhen Liu was given was really well made, it was just really fucking creepy.

'He said this puppet was one of his early works...what the hell is his latest work like?'

[Corpses]

[Bones...]

<Animals stitched together like human centipede rejects.>

'Why do you know the reference?'

<Memory sync.>

'Ah...wait a minute.'

But regardless of how Zhen Liu felt about this situation, the trade was done and the Zhen Clan would have no further interaction with the Marquis for the rest of this trip.

_________________________________________________

Manor de Howlite

After the transaction and bidding the Zhen Clan adieu, the Marquis had retreated to the inner sanctum of his home with his new prize in tow. Following closely behind him was his manservant, Corriandis, and his maid, Farisia, both of whom were holding strange iron rods.

Eventually, the trio stopped at a particular section of wall that was decorated with a single large sized portrait of lady in red, flanked by matching boar head trophies. The Marquis stood a little straighter now that they were in front of the portrait.

"Open the way."

"Yes, my master," the two servants answered in unison.

The two servants walked up to the two boar head trophies, and proceeded to insert the metal rods into the mouths of these trophies. A pair of satisfying clicking sounds echoed out once the two had locked in their metal rods.

Once the rods were firmly in place, the two servants began to pull the rods towards themselves.

*GROOOAAANNN, CLICK, CLICK!*

As the servants pull, the large portrait of the woman began to split open like a castle gate, revealing a darkened corridor that had a foul and stale odor coming from it. The Marquis seemed to relish in the scent.

Once the gate was fully open, the Marquis proceeded to climb in with his box in tow. Before went deeper in though, he gave his servants one last order.

"Acquire the materials tonight. We don't want to keep the marchioness waiting for much longer."

"Of course my master," the two answered in unison.

With his words received, the Marquis went further down the dark corridor, allowing the two servants to shut the gate by releasing the iron rods.

*Click, click, click*

The gate slowly closed on itself until shutting completely, returning to looking like a portrait and nothing more.

The two servants removed the iron rods from the boar mouths and placed them to the side.

"Shall we prepare the fog to ensnare their minds?," Corriandis asked.

"No need," Farisia answered while pulling out a flyer from her dress.

"There is a circus in town. All eyes will be there."