Chapter 34: Punisher (1)

Q: Where's the Tomb of Aasghar located?

A: The Wilderness of Eathenir.

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Stay away from white-haired girls, and you will be fine.

A couple of faces instantly appeared in my head, and I knew which one of them would bring all the dangers towards herself and others that are close to her. Nevertheless, I would like to hear everything she saw in her vision. It might help in some areas to know what I will be up against.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Dakota yelled, trying her best to crush my leg in the door frame. "You got what you needed, now, get out."

"Didn't I say I have some other business?" I said. Getting the fortune-telling done was only a side intention, while my primary goal of coming here was to get a weapon I would need for the next few months. Looking at the anger ridden face of the brown-skinned woman, I reckoned it won't be that easy.

"What else do you need?" she asked, squinting her nose, finally stopping from crushing my legs. She was, after all, not a noob against spirit practitioners, and knew I would not leave if she did not entertain me for some time.

"I want to borrow something," I said. "I hear you loan people stuff?"

"We don't loan things to everyone," she said. "We only loan to people who are capable of returning with more odds. First, I have to investigate about you, your standing, and if you can return the odds, then we might consider lending something to you. All of this will take at least a couple of days. Just leave showing your face to the old man, and you could leave your name as well."

"Unfortunately, I don't have a couple days," I said, shaking my head. Then I removed the hood from the top of my head, revealing red hair and pupils--iconic only to a single-family in the realm. "However, I'm sure you would not need to check my background for a couple of days to find anything. I am quite famous here."

Dakota knitted her brows and looked at my smiling, smug face. She finally seemed to recall what these red hair and pupil implies.

"Oscar Emberheart?" she asked and seeing me nod, she continued, "you are famous, though infamous would be the right word to characterise better."

Dakota stepped out of her room and closed the door. Smoking as she usually does, she started to walk further into the corridor as if its natural for me to follow her.

"Investing in you is quite a difficult deal," she said. "There is a very slim chance that I will get my returns. But since you would not leave without taking a look, follow me. Let's see what you can offer."

I followed her and wondered if she did not feel cold with only the thin, sleeveless, and loose gown. I swirled a few strands of spirit force inside my channel to ward away the cold as we approached the end of the corridor. She stood before the last room of the corridor, bringing a chain of keys out of her cleavage. Was it hidden in her bra?

My eyes popped seeing that. Was that the most secure place to hide the keys? Come on girl, you could do better. She seemed to notice my look and gave me a contemptuous click of the tongue.

She opened the door and a dark and small staircase that went all the way down welcomed us. Without saying a word, she moved, and I followed, observing all around. This was the Dragon's Fang. The nostalgia store in the front was just for a show.

After reaching the end of the stairs, what welcomed us was an empty broad space, just like I had assumed. There was a big cage inside in the middle, which I assumed to be a fighting ring. Every month once or twice there will be a fight inside with all the other bettings and many other things. Not many people know such things happened under the secure city of Starlight.

That's the Dragon's Fang alright.

Though it was not mostly illegal, this girl would get in trouble eventually, but that was not the case today.

We left the battle ring to go even deeper and a couple more levels below before she knocked on the door muttering something that I did not hear correctly, nor did I understand. It was in some other language.

The heavy metal door opened, and the storage room lit up, however, no one was present on the other end. Perhaps hid immediately after opening the door. I was not sure even with my extra knowledge from the books.

She brought me inside, not fearing that I might do something to her before fleeing with some valuable item. She had her pieces in places or how she could run such a business under the surveillance of the freaking Starlight Academy. I reckoned she sent the right amount of money to the right people, so the warders or enforcers who were responsible for this area let her do the bidding. Though it would all be eradicated if there were no bars or regulations in place. This was just some sorted-out underworld stuff.

"The Infamous Oscar Emberheart," Dakota said, closing the door. A couple more luminescent stones lit up in the ceiling immediately, bringing the light of the room to an eye-friendly level. "Tell me what you need."

"A weapon, a sword, actually," I said as my eyes drifted towards the waste laid on the ground to the shining armour or weapons displayed on display on the wall. Actually, I know what I need, but bringing that to her would be quite difficult. Like what I would say if she asked how I knew about the exact sword.

"Everything's on display; choose anything, then we will negotiate," she said, and took a seat in the middle of the storage room like the madame of the place which she really was.

I released a breath and looked for the weapon I had in mind. It was quite a valuable weapon, and could possibly be worth as much as all the junk put together. She could possibly store it somewhere more secure. Within my search, my eyes went to many useful artifacts that would come in handy in many difficult situations, but none of them would with my current one. They were good, but none had the features that I couldn't possibly get elsewhere.

Until my eyes drifted towards a full-body Ward, shining in the pale silver dark colour. Wait, it wasn't a ward, but a false one. However, it appeared a lot thicker and heavier than the usual False-ward. Going on at the design alone, I could guess it was an old product, and evidently, not one of the empires.

"That's an old design of the Ruthalynian Knight's gear that was never put to use after the war a decade ago," Dakota said, seeing my interest in the gear. "Are you interested in that? Though I'm not sure if you will be capable of tolerating it for over five minutes."

"I'm looking for a sword with fire attribute amplification," I said and laid my eyes on the swords showcased on the walls. Most of them were low-grade artifacts with 10 to 20% reinforcement, while a few there might have reached 50 or 60%, but that's barely would be helpful in my case.

"You don't fancy any of those?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, I assumed they were nothing fanciful to the heir of the Emberheart."

I did not know if she said it out of contempt, knowing I was cut off from all sources of capital from the house or only speaking her mind. But since I was here to borrow things, I did not mind.

Dakota stood up and went near an old metal armour that stood like a statue in the corner. She removed the empty helm from the armour set before putting her palm inside. Next, she brought out her palm with a shiny needle sword. Though a nail sword would be a better word to describe it.

Yep, that was the one I was looking for.

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