Crimson Serpent Trading Guild

The Black Market is a place where you can buy and sell that which is prohibited or is not in production anymore, and the reason, why almost everyone knows the black market, is due to the owner of the black market.

Every city in the Tremond Kingdom has a black market and there is a reason why the black market in any of these cities hasn't been destroyed or attacked and that is because of the owner of the black market.

The Black Market came to be about 10 years ago, at the beginning most of their places were located in some of the cities with the least guarded by knights due to the catch-to-kill rule at that time.

But no matter how many Black Market places the knights raided the true owner of the place was never found and none of the captured people knew who the leader was or they were so loyal to the leader that they preferred death over telling them the name of the leader.

This cat and mouse game kept going for about 7 years during which the mouse got smarted and smarted at scaping from the cat and even hiding from the cat, but it was at this point that a huge change happened at the Black Market.

For some unknown reason, the kingdom stopped sending knights to subjugate the people of the black market making them grow bigger by the day. What's more incredible is that the hands of the black market not only reach the dark side of the business but even reach the bright side of it, due to their growth over three years the presence of the black market is so important in every city because without it the cities would have collapsed by themselves without any financial help.

Some hypothesize that all this happened because the Black Market is now the owner of one of the biggest businesses in the Kingdom or because they hold one of the biggest weaknesses of the kingdom and this is why the kingdom is not sending any more knights after the people of the black market but whatever is it nobody know and will know.

Thanks to these tunnels that Gabriel and Kate are walking the Black Market managed to survive its early days because these tunnels started from normal stores towards the Black Market it was easier to bring clientele without being noticed and to escape from the knights if ever the Black Market is being attacked.

While walking down the tunnels, Kate was feeling slightly nervous because they were walking down this tunnel with little visible light and that dangerous-looking man, so she tugged at Gabriel's shirt.

"Is it safe?" asked Kate in a low voice after seeing that Gabriel turned his head towards her.

Hearing Kate's question and the way she did so made Gabriel understand that she was worried about their wellbeing so he could help but laugh a little while reassuring her.

"Don't worry no matter what the Black Market never targets their customers unless the customer attacks them first." Said Gabriel while petting Kate's head but at the same time, the corner of his eyes was watching the man's every move.

Although Gabriel knew that the Black Market never attacked their clients, it didn't hurt that he was watching every move of the man guiding them. After all, he has already someone mysterious who is after his life and that person even hired one of the most dangerous organizations the Dark Assassins Guild.

"Uff, that's good." Said Kate relief while still grabbing Gabriel's shirt.

"We are here!" Announce the man who was guiding them through this tunnel.

The moment the man said that, a bright line appeared almost blinding Gabriel and Kate, but after a few seconds their eyes got used to the sudden increase in light in the environment.

"WOW!" Kate marvels at the sight of the Black Market.

And Gabriel although he has seen the place before the one who experienced this wasn't the current Gabriel, that's why he also marvels at the sight of the Black Market but without showing it.

The Black Market was built deep underground, but that didn't take away its beauty, from the ceiling hand some type of light crystal balls shone throughout the whole place while making the ceiling look like a sky full of shining bright stars.

The Black Market was like a normal city, there were houses and even stores like a normal city. The people lived happily in this place like any other city. They go to work and earn money and after a day of string work, they can go the a bar or restaurant to relax or bent off.

After the man dropped Gabriel and Kate at the entrance of the city, they looked around the place. It was exactly like a normal city, if one didn't look up and saw dirt and stone this place would pass off as a real place above ground.

"Where are we going now?" Asked Kate after having walked for a while and not seeing anything like she imagined that this place would look like.

"Right now we are going towards the central square." Answer Gabriel

Not understanding why they would go to the central square when their objective was to go to the Black Market, Kate asked" Werent we going to the Black Market?"

To this, Gabriel just smiled and said "That's where the Black Market is."

He continues "Some may think that the Black Market is this underground place and they are not wrong but this place is where the normal commerce happens. At the central square is where all the illegal and dangerous stuff is dealt with."

"This is because the Black Market wants all the illegal and dangerous merchandise to be in one place in case something happens and they don't need to send their forces to the different parts of the underground city, they only need to concentrate their strongest and biggest force on the central square and all dangerous variables can be taken care off by their forces at the fastest speeds." Explain Gabriel.

"So that's why this place looks that peaceful even though it's a place where shady people would sell and buy stuff." Exclaim Kate.

"Yes, that's the reason why. It's also well known that you shouldn't mess with the Black Market because no matter where you are they will always retaliate against you." Added Gabriel.

While looking around the place, Gabriel and Kate saw a bunch of kids and teens on rags walking down the streets toward Central Square.

"Isn't this place supposed to be safe? why are there kids like that?" Asked Kate after seeing the kids all in rags, beaten, and malnourished.

"That's because they are one of the products that is being sold at the Black Market." Said Gabriel after seeing the kids while at the same time, he was using his [Appraisal] skill on each of the kids.

"Oh, I see." Said Kate with a gloomy face after hearing Gabriel's answer.

After having seen their status with his skills, Gabriel had a shine in his eyes. He found more useful people among those kids, if they were paired with Kate they could be more helpful than he expected.

"Let's go, I think I found our target." Said Gabriel after he watched somewhat where the kids were going.

He wanted to go where the kids were being sold, if he bought them he could set them free and offer them a job, This way he could increase the loyalty of all of the kids he purchased by at least a little.

Another motive was for Kate to use her talent on the Slave merchant in case he wanted to scam them by raising the price or making it difficult.

This would accomplish two things in one, where Kate can try her talent and get a reward for judging someone with a gift by using her talent.

"Where are we going?" Asked Kate wondering why Gabriel suddenly wanted to go somewhere after seeing the kids.

Gabriel understood immediately why the sudden confusion of Kate after seeing the kids, so he said "We are going to help those kids. There are a few of them that have some talents that will be helpful for me and you."

After hearing Gabriel say that they were going to help the kids, Kate's mod suddenly improves. At this time her impression of Gabriel increased, now she saw him as someone noble who would help people in need.

"Alright, I understand." Said Kate after thinking the last part of what Gabriel said was just an excuse for why he wanted to help the kids.

For some reason, Gabriel felt that Kate misunderstood his intention but he didn't want to clear her misunderstanding for now, he needed to concentrate on finding who was their slave merchant.

Gabriel started to follow the kids, stealthily so that they don't notice and get scared. Kate just copies everything that Gabriel is doing, so she also follows along stealthily.

After arriving at Central Square, the kids didn't stop and continued to walk, it was after a few turns on the left and right that the kids finally arrived at a building.

The sign of the building read 'Crimson Serpent', after the kids stopped at the entrance of this building, they went towards the back of the building and finally entered a door.

"This is the place." Said Gabriel after seeing the place that the kids enter.

Gabriel knew this was the place because he recognized the name on the sign at the building. Crimson Serpent Trading Guild owned this building.

This was one of the 10 best merchants on the continent, the Crimson Serpent was ranked 7, and they are known for being involved in all types of trade from food to jewelry.

That's why the moment that Gabriel saw the Crimson Serpent sign he knew immediately that this was the place because they were the only merchant group that would even involve themselves in the trade of slaves.

So after identifying where the kids were being sealed, Gabriel just left with Kate to look around the place.

"Why are we leaving? What about them?" Asked Kate after seeing Gabriel leaving.

"We need to wait a little because it would be weird if we came in after following them and asking for them." Said Gabriel while looking at the things that some of the stalls around the Crimson Serpet building.

"That's why we'll wait for a while and then enter later and ask for slaves." Continue Gabriel after he stops looking at the stuff from the stall and faces Kate.

"That way they will not have any suspicion of us." Said Gabriel after turning back.

"So that's it." Said Kate with her eyes shining after being enlightened by Gabriel's explanation.

Kate and Gabriel looked around the place for a while, while looking at the place they noticed a bunch of interesting stuff like hazardous poisonous plans, magic items, curse items, and even valuable items from infamous people.

Feeling that it was the right time, Gabriel said "Let's go, it's time."

The moment that Kate heard this she straightened her body and with a serious face said "Yes sir."

Kate and Gabriel then headed towards the Crimson Serpent store, having waited enough they decided it was time to go and buy the kids finally.

Entering the store a little bell rang, announcing the arrival of new customers, and a few seconds later, a hurriedly sound of steps sounded inside the building until a fat person with a fancy dress appeared in front of Gabriel and Kate.

"Welcome to the Crimson Serpent! How can I help you?" Said the store owner.

"I want to buy some slaves." Said Gabriel to the store owner.

While he said this he was analyzing Gabriel and Kate with his eyes, and after a few seconds he came to a conclusion.

"Tch, Just some poor people. They will waste my time." Thought the Store Owner.

"Of course, I can help you with that." Said the store owner with a sneering eye.

Gabriel noticed but did nothing he just raised his guard against the store owner.

Bowing a little and pointing to a door the store owner said " Come follow me."

Then he guided Gabriel and Kate towards the door, the place where they are now is a room with a bunch of cells where all types of slaves were held.

They were from men to women, from old to young, they were even some of other species like elves or beastman. Although they were slaves they all were malnourished and had a lot of bruises and some even were missing some body parts.

Kate who saw this couldn't help but tighten her fist, this sight made her angry but she just helped her anger and Gabriel saw all this without any disturbance.

But inside he was burning with rage at the way all these people were treated, after all, he came from a world where slavery was abolished.

"With this, all the little guilt I felt about using Kate's talent on him vanished." Thought Gabriel after walking down the hallway where the slaves were being held.

"Which types of slaves do you like?" Asked the store owner after arriving at the end of the hallway filled with cells.

Gabriel to not make it obvious decided to choose some random slaves besides the one he wanted to save.

"I want him, her, him, him, and all of them." Gabriel started to point at a few people, among those he chose he also chose the kids he saw earlier.

"Alright, for all of them, it will be 170 silver." Said the store owner.

"Follow me, I will take you to my office to process your purchase." Said the store owner and then turned around and left towards the exit.

"Good." Said Gabriel and followed behind the store owner and Kate did the same.

At the store owner's office, he opened a drawer on his desk and took a paper and a pen from it. Having the paper and pen on his hands he started to write something on it, after a few minutes of waiting he finally stopped writing on the paper.

"Done! you only need to sign this paper and pay for the slaves and you're all set." Said the store owner to Gabriel while he handed the paper to him.

Seeing the paper Gabriel was a little confused, so he asked "Why do I need to sign?"

"This paper is a contract where you need to abide some certain rules before you can buy the slave. This is for the slave's safety." Said the store owner while making an extremely serious face.

"Ok, that's good. I'll sign it." answered Gabriel and then took the pen and got close to the paper to sign.

"Yes, you only need to sign here and here." Pointed the store owner to Gabriel.

When Gabriel was getting near the paper with the pen, he suddenly stopped he felt that something wasn't right so he used his [Appraisal] skill on the paper.

When he used the skill the description of it made Gabriel filled with extreme rage, if he ever signs the paper before checking before with his skill he would have been screwed.

Because the skill showed him that the contract was more than that but a [Slave Contract].