47 Not What I Asked For

To be honest, my nerves felt a little tense as I made my way to the black market. From what I remembered of the game, while there weren't too many plot points connected back to it, however, there was definitely a lot of danger.

While we were making our way there, I noticed that Raisa was looking at me strangely. She obviously had something she wanted to say but didn't mention it. Since I didn't really care, I didn't bother asking her.

However, she did end up eventually voicing out her worries.

"Bryson, did you love someone before?"

I leaned forth, putting my elbow into my leg before holding up my chin lethargically.

"No, I don't think so."

Was this a manifestation of her puppy love? Well, I guess I could just deal with it.

Raisa looked off to the side while pressing the tips of her fingers together. She glanced at me a few more times before continuing.

"But then why did you sing that song?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know, I just did."

Raisa turned to look at me with a soft gaze.

"But I really did feel the emotion from that song. You must've loved someone if you felt that strongly."

A laugh escaped me, one that went on for a little bit longer than what I was intending.

"That was not a love song."

Raisa looked at me strangely.

"Eh? But what else could it be?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I wonder..."

Raisa clicked her tongue before puffing up her cheeks. It seemed she was dissatisfied with my answer but didn't press me any further.

Eventually, we did end up making it to the black market.

Though, when I stepped off it looked nothing like I expected. As Raisa said, it seemed completely unnecessary for us to be wearing disguises, because quite literally nobody here was. Instead, the vendors were all set up in a shady area sure, but none of them were covered.

This felt incredibly strange to me because I distinctly remembered people would be wearing masks and cloaks. Maybe the black market was still in its infancy right now?

I walked around with Raisa and her personal bodyguard to explore what was offered there.

To my surprise, the items were far more ordinary than what I expected out of a black market.

The majority of what was being sold were things like salt, spices, and different kinds of jewelry. It almost felt like I was just walking around a street that had several stalls set up. Among the people shopping, I noticed a few nobles here and there going about without the slightest concern about their identity.

I muttered my thoughts.

"This feels... rather ordinary."

The personal bodyguard, who was clad in steel armor from head to toe spoke to me. Apparently, she was a woman.

"The grand majority of the goods found here were obtained through smuggling. There are also those that wish to avoid taxes when selling that show up here. A very small percentage contain those that obtained goods illegally and are too afraid to sell it publicly, lest the real owner shows up or they are found out."

I tried to scratch the side of my cheek and ended up only scratching the wood.

"Oh... that makes sense."

After giving all of the vendors a quick browse, I realized that none of the shops that appeared in the game were here. My first instinct was to believe that they would come along later, but then I recalled some details about those stalls.

The sprites for them were rather old. In fact, it was incredibly random, but I remembered that there were weeds that grew onto the bottom of the stands.

Connecting the dots, I realized what that meant.

There was another black market, that was the actual place I wanted to go to. The real black market.

Not that this wasn't one, since black markets were all places that dealt with illegal goods and the like, but you get what I mean.

While absentmindedly wandering around the place, I suddenly realized an item that looked oddly familiar. Though my pupils wandered, I kept my face straight. From there, I pretended to just curiously glance at the vendor and browse through the items.

There were various strange trinkets that mostly just looked like junk. However, there was one thing I recognized among the pile, off to the side, almost falling off the table.

A mask.

It was a rough wooden mask that had been painted white. On top of it was an exaggerated frown messily painted on top with blue paint. As for the eyes, they were also crudely outlined with blue paint.

There were chips in the edges, while the blue paint itself was rather sloppy, but it came together to make a strange creepy charm.

It was the same mask that I remember seeing Bryson use before.

From what I recalled, he had suddenly learned how to vanish from thin air at the same time he had acquired the mask. It could've been a complete coincidence, and he just learned some sort of magic at the time.

But... what if that wasn't the case?

A mask as powerful as that would probably be very expensive. Still, I was going to try and purchase it.

I casually picked it up and looked it over, then looked at the vendor who was a middle-aged man.

"Does this have any special properties?"

The middle-aged man's lip twitched. When he looked at me, it looked like he was on the verge of saying something, but stopped himself. Shortly after, he awkwardly stammered.

"N-No, sir. It is just a mask."

He seemed afraid. I guess under normal circumstances he would've made a special story to scam someone, but my outfit was a little too intimidating for that.

I proceeded to ask him with confusion.

"Hah? Then why are you even selling this?"

The middle-aged man smiled bitterly.

"Perhaps someone would take a fancy to it. You can have it now for one gold piece."

I looked back at him and tilted my head to the side, knowing he wouldn't be able to see my expression because of the wooden mask.

"Why would I pay that much for a piece of trash?"

The middle-aged man let out a nervous laugh.

"Then what about one hundred silver?"

...Seriously? You can't just convert one gold coin into silver and then pretend that it was actually less!

"Are you making fun of me?"

He trembled.

"T-Then fifty silver!"

I rubbed my chin in thought as I looked at the mask.

"Tsk... it's a terrible deal, but I suppose buying trash once in a while isn't a big deal. Fine, I'll take you up on that offer."

Raisa stepped up when she heard that.

"I'll pay for it then."

She set down fifty silvers on the table, after which the middle-aged man nodded respectfully, but still took all the coins quickly like he was afraid someone would take them.

I glanced over at Raisa and handed her a gold coin.

"Thanks for covering me, have this."

Raisa proceeded to wave her hands with a bit of exasperation.

"There's no need, really!"

I shrugged my shoulders casually.

"Well, you covered me before too, right? This is basically payback."

Raisa stammered awkwardly.

"Eh? Is this... part of being friends?"

I mean... she did spend a total of one hundred silver. Why was she making a big deal about this?

"I guess you could see it that way if you wanted."

She let out a giggle before holding out both of her hands.

"Then I'll take it!"

My eyebrow twitched as I dropped that gold coin in her hand, wondering why she was acting strange. Still, I didn't harp too much on it. I was about to leave, without another care in the world, but suddenly stopped in place.

While I picked up the mask, I noticed a tiny symbol that was almost covered by the various junk and trinkets engraved into the table.

A sword, piercing through an open book. The tip of the blade was pointing downwards, just like what the book had told me. While my gaze was lingering on that part of the desk, the middle-aged man's eyes also opened a tad bit wider.

"Is there perhaps... an item here you are familiar with?"

Was this guy hinting at me?

Ah, shit. Did I actually unintentionally find out someone that knew about this Dark Arts cult? Or was there actually some other way to enter or something like that? I kinda wanted to take the book out and ask him, since he should probably know about this kind of thing.

I definitely wanted to at least investigate this cult as it was never explicitly mentioned in the main game.

However, this was an inappropriate time.

"There is a familiar item, but I am not interested in purchasing it at this very moment."

The middle-aged man nodded.

"Ah, of course. The item should be here most of the time, but in my opinion, the value of it soars when the sun isn't too high in the sky."

Huh. So basically come here when it's night is what you're saying. I just gave a nod before moving on.

Raisa followed behind me and tilted her head to the side in curiosity

"What was the familiar item?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Nothing important."

After we walked on for a little while, Raisa's bodyguard spoke to me.

"You are familiar with the black market, Sir Bryson?"

I looked at her strangely.

"If I was familiar, then I wouldn't have asked to be taken there in the first place."

She promptly gave me a small bow.

"My apologies."

Raisa pressed her lips together and waved toward her bodyguard.

"Just ignore her, she's just a little nosy."

I didn't say anything after that. We continued on for a little while longer. Raisa's attention was sometimes caught by some jewelry, like brooches and pendants. However, she lost interest quickly, while I myself didn't care about them.

We then went back to the carriage. As I got back on, I let out a sigh.

"I imagined that the black market would be far more different than this."

Raisa's bodyguard called out to me shortly after I said that.

"Why do you say that? Where we were perfect fits the classification of a black market."

...Maybe I shouldn't have complained.

"Ah, I just heard some stories about it, and this is nothing like that. Maybe if I go to a different black market, then it'll be different."

Raisa let out a hum of dissatisfaction.

"Like I said before Bryson, you can just ig-"

"Sir Bryson, I highly recommend that you do not delve any further than you already have."

I turned to look at her skeptically.

"Why do you say that?"

Raisa looked quite angry that her bodyguard was still interrupting and made it rather obvious from the way she glared. However, her bodyguard paid no heed to that.

"I am only telling you this because of the goodwill you have shown to the Daughter of the Darcy Family. That place is far too dangerous. Even if I were to accompany you, I am unsure if I can protect you."

Yeah, I definitely believed that. But of all the dangers in the future, the ones in the black market couldn't be compared.

I let out a sigh.

"I understand. Perhaps you could tell me where it is so that I may avoid it in the future?"