Chapter 90 part 1 – Off to the Auction

Jack's brow is sweating as he rides Sleipner back to town, he's covered in blood while Sleipner has bug guts covering its head and hooves. The trio fought some tough, bitter battle while Fia occasionally showed up to mess around. The little bird is incredible with its delicate control, Jack learnt a few things for his fireball skill just from watching it.

Fenrir has already run off somewhere. It caught a rather large boar. A helldevil fire boar, its skin is like lava but Fenrir is happy to eat it. Jack can only hope he doesn't bring the giant boar into the village and eat it on the streets. Jack reassures Sleipner, who is feeling left behind now that he can now longer control the lightning powers.

Jack can only reassure it as they walk into the bustling town. Signs are being placed around for schools and places of learning while recruitment for hunters is also earnest bringing a smile to his face. There are lots of people signing and wanting to take part, but of course there are plenty that stay back.

Sleipner trots up the middle of the wide road and arrives before the big white tent, it's currently devoid of anyone for a change so he quickly cleans himself up without worrying about Jessica or Mai bursting in on him.

The auction is tomorrow night and things might not go as planned. The entry is already rather difficult.

Jack washes his body and takes note that his skin has a strange new lustre to it, it's like faint markings are coming out on his skin but he dismisses it as a light trick before putting on some protective gear and a disguise kit, he is disguised as a bunny assassin with his long bunny ears.

He smiles as he wears them for a purpose and completes the disguise; he blends in almost perfectly.

Jack looks around the tent one last time to ensure he's not missing anything before looking. He spots a black gem on the table and grabs it. It's one of the shadow crystals from when he met the elf, he has several of the crystals which might be worth lots. Jack pulls them out of his secure storage, they might be worth something so he puts brings them along.

The room is now empty as he leaves the tent, the smell of spring hits his nose as he walks into the garden area. The strange tree is sealed off and not viewable at all relieving him of a worry for now, he walks down the roadway blending into the crowd practising his movements. No one takes notice of their leader before them dressed as a Bunny Assassin moving around strangely in the crowd.

The strange dancing lasts until he reaches the city hall building where everyone is looking at him.

"What?" Jack asks.

"Oh, Lord!" Hilda lets out a sigh.

"What's going on? Did something happen?"

"There were reports of a strangely behaving rabbit-human. We couldn't catch up to him then you appeared matching his description." Hilda explains showing the report. Jack laughs before passing it back, Hilda shreds the document and returns to the table.

"Are we ready for tonight?"

"Yes, Lord!" they all respond in unison.

"Great, how many pills did Lunamarie provide?"

"She provided over 3,400 with a list here" Hilda passes Jack a list of pills that he cannot recognise but it includes an approximate value so it's helpful.

"Make sure she's tended to properly as that's a great effort on behalf of all of us, is there anything else I need to take care of?"

"No, lord!"

"Ok then let's set off!" Jack yells.

The bunny assassin's in the room give a shout and follow Jack out of the door. They leave Hilda and Drakon looking at each other with a puzzled expression.

The group runs down the pathway to the city heart building without a care as onlookers make way for them; they reach the city heart building where Tyson and Amber are waiting.

"Lord!" Tyson announces.

Amber walks forward and pats down his clothing. Jack is somewhat shocked that she could instantly pick him out of the crowd.

"A proper assassin won't get their clothes dirty."

Jack doesn't interrupt her as he stands there letting her do as she pleases, her hands travel all over his body fixing it up in spots that somehow got dirty on the short walks just now. Her hands finally arrive at his face where her eyes pierce deeply into his eyes, their gazes lock but she moves first looking above his head.

"There all better, oh wait a second..." Amber reaches behind his collar as her cheek nearly presses against his.

"Shall this bedwarmer warm thou's bed my lord?" she whispers while giggling, backing away without waiting for his reply.

Jack turns to face her and tells her off but she has disappeared, he moves his arm and catches a hand about to touch his shoulder.

Amber has appeared on his other side unseen where Jack has intercepted her hand, she is playfully pulling it away feigning a struggle as he loosely holds her hand. Tyson coughs, causing Jack to release her hand.

"We shall take care of the defenses while you are gone, the hunting teams shall be properly protected by interior defence."

Jack nods at Tyson while turning to Amber, "Ready?".

"Yes, Mr bunny assassin." Amber backs away and blends into the crowd, allowing Jack to inwardly celebrate.

Jack walks up to the portal and selects the destination, a large portal opens up. This will fit 20 people through at a time, so they split up as a small advance group prepares the scene. Jack's gazes into the portal and feels strange about it, something about the portal feels different from usual.

He pushes these thoughts out of mind and puts on a tough exterior, no matter what happens he will be able to deal with it, the worst that will happen is he respawns anyway.

"Alright two minutes is up, let's go!"

Jack goes through first by himself while everyone else is seconds behind, he steps through the portal and feels the familiar feeling of falling but his vigilance is up as something feels different. He thinks for a moment and notices the lightning feeling isn't present but suddenly, his heart clenches as a feeling a doom comes over him as this thought crosses his mind as he looks around. This travel only lasts a moment, but it's like time has frozen as he looks all around for the source of trouble.

*THUD*

He lands on the ground at the teleportation point; the portal closes slowly when a zap comes out.

*ZZZZZZZ*

This dark purple lightning bolt hits his body, it drills into his skin cooking some of his insides but he grits his teeth and bears it nearly screaming out in pain.

The zap leaves but his body is wracked with pain all over, it's like an energy deep within him is sapping energy constantly. He needs time to inspect it but he can't with everyone looking at him, Amber and the next lot of bodyguards appear. Jack blends into the crowd as several people come forward finally.

Amber stands out front welcoming these people. They arrived at a different location metres away so were safe from the lightning.

"Yes, can I help you people?"

"What was that just now, with that rabbit man? We saw some sort of dark flash. What was it?"

"Oh that, it was nothing. It was just a side effect of my bodyguard checking for teleportation traps. We have crude enemies all over the place."

"There are barrier masters in the region?" A couple of the people wearing city official uniforms speak amongst themselves as someone else steps forward. His eyes wander up and down Amber's body lecherously.

Amber smiles at the man looking at her, she glances at Jack but he shakes his head.

"We're after someone wanted for murder. People saw him arrive with a bolt of lightning. Which one of you was it?" the man bellows.

"We'll give you half the reward so come on, it's a murderer!" he continues.

Amber stands picks her ear with her nail until the man stops speaking, his expression is one of fury looking at her calming clean herself. She looks at him finally.

"Oh, I thought I had something stuck in my ear, it turned out to be your voice. That's unrelated to me so please move aside, I need to meet with Lloyd at Fengli & Pengwu."

One of the city officials ears perks up after hearing that name, "Oh young miss, you know Lloyd? Please don't keep standing there, please come through."

The city official leads Amber and her group forward. The furious person stubbornly resists for a moment before relenting and moving. His furious gaze almost burning holes into Jack's soul as they walk by each other part of the guard group.

Jack watches him as he takes part in the guard duties, Jack can see the furious person through divine sense, he has regrouped with about 50 tough looking people standing around with various nets and trapping devices.

"So much for neutrality" Jack mutters.

"What neutrality? Yes, we practise neutrality here, the council is overseen by 7 councillors. It is always fair and just with neither side overwhelmingly winning over the other. The city guard is a function of that so we can truly claim to be the regions most free and neutral city."

The city official leads them on a tour of the city briefly as Jack struggles to walk properly. His body is hurting but something else is happening.

"This is the famous delicacy shop called swamp moss. It's much more delicious than it sounds." the points to a store not far away.

Jack sends a quick spiritual message to Amber, "we go now!".

Amber interrupts the city official, "If you'd excuse me Elder Troy. I need to attend to duties. I thank you for the tour but will need to take my leave now."

"No problem, madam, shall I send word to..."

*ZZT* "No. Thank you." Amber cuts him off. The man politely bows and leaves. Jack has no time to pay attention to this exchange as he rushes away with part of the guard group. They quickly meet up with the advance group and head to their apartment inside a hotel, Jack quickly bursts into his luxury suite.

"Damn that was close!" he yells as he takes off his headgear.

A little bird appears on his head, it's little Fia.

It suddenly wanted to come out as they were walking by that moss store and Jack had to hold it in with the bunny ear headband. It flies about the room, making its noises and exploring. Jack lets it do its thing for a few moments as he inspects the interior of his body.

His whole body has had a weird energy course through it causing many tiny little fissures and cracks to appear. It should fix overnight. It just means that little Fia will hang around until it's sorted out as it encourages the phoenix qi to flow through him from that strange link within his body.

"Good thing the auction is tomorrow night." Jack removes the disguise, returning to his normal look with the usual black-and-white robe. He lets out a deep breath as he looks at himself in the mirror. It was the right move to disguise himself but it still feels stupid to have to do it.