05 / A Little Bird Told Me

WHITE WALLS SURROUNDED ME while a blaring light sat overhead. I tried to move but found myself bound. Both of my arms and legs were secured to an icy metal table by steel clasps, I was surrounded by people wearing lab coats wearing strange breathing apparatuses. I tried to speak but only incoherent sounds left my mouth. I knew what was going to happen next. I started screaming and thrashing only to find myself back in my cold apartment.

 Beads of sweat covered my body. 

 It was just a nightmare. It's all in the past now.

 It wasn't the first time I had dreamt of this, but it was something I tried very hard to forget. I pushed it away to the darkest parts of my mind, I had more important things to do than remember the past.

 I stared at the rays of sunlight bursting through my window onto the floor. Small particles of dust drifted around. It was already well past noon. I got to my feet and made my way over to the refrigerator. I opened it only to find it totally empty.

 I let out a heavy sigh as I closed the door. Because of all the commotion from last night, I had forgotten that I had eaten the last of my soup yesterday. Looks like I had to go shopping.

 I didn't wear my usual bounty-hunting clothing when I went shopping because it drew too much attention, instead, I wore a long black cloak with a deep hood. This helped me blend into the crowd much easier. It also prevented both of my ether blades from being seen. The shopping districts were filled with pickpockets who were notorious for stealing people's weapons and other equipment. A few other hunters had suffered at their hands.

 I made my way through the streets until I arrived at a marketplace I often visited. The people here, of course, were always trying to con their customers. But once you knew how to deal with them, they weren't that bad. Everyone was just trying to make a living as best they knew how.

 I perused through the marketplace, looking for anything that might be a good deal. You could find just about anything you needed at these markets, food, weapons, equipment, and even drugs if you knew who to talk to. I only came looking to stock up on food, and I knew the place with the best prices. I ignored the other shopkeepers as they hollered at me as I pressed through the crowd. But at one stall I noticed something that stuck out. It was a small ether pendant with a crest on it. Now I didn't really know that much about any of the royal families that existed in district three, but that one I recognized. I had seen it just last night, it belonged to the Blackwell family.

 I walked over and examined it. It had small droplets of blood on it. I couldn't be sure of what this meant exactly, but I could guess the reason those Guardians were out here must be connected to this, it was luck that they stumbled across me and the beast.

 "Ah, you got a good eye," the old woman behind the counter said with a shrill voice.

 "That pendant has the crest of the Blackwell family on it. A piece like that will sell at a high price to those rich snobs."

 "Where did you get it?" I asked,

 "Can't say. All my suppliers have a strict non-disclosure." She said with a stern glare.

 I clicked my tongue. This has trouble written all over it. 

 "How much?" I asked, fumbling it between my fingers.

 She paused to glance over my appearance, "I'll give you a special discount. Twelve-hundred credits."

 I stared at the shopkeeper without responding. In all honesty, it was a terrible deal considering the size of the ether and the gold inlaid on it. Around here you had to haggle to get a decent price. Plus, if I turned this into a guardian, they'd only give me seven-hundred credits for it at best, at worst they'd beat me and take it for themselves.

 "Make it eight and I'll consider it."

 The old woman's face didn't change in the slightest. She had been doing this for a long time and knew how to keep a good haggle going.

 "I can do eleven, and I'll throw in some freeze-dried beef,"

 "Nine and I won't tell anyone that the beef here is actually dog."

 I could see the old woman's eye twitch with frustration. She turned with a huff and stuck out her hand. I pulled out nine-hundred credits and left with the pendant.

 "Thank you! Please come again!" The old woman said with a giant smile on her face.

I can't help but think I still got swindled, too late now to do anything about it. I had other matters to attend to, and the list seemed to keep growing.

I finally made it to a little stall tucked away in the corner of the market. Laid out were numerous different kinds of foods. I scanned through them and found my usual soup. I also picked up some freeze-dried vegetables and meat. Most of the meat and vegetables sold were freeze-dried. They stayed good longer, which allowed the shops to reduce the amount of expired food they had.

"Good to see you again!" the small shopkeeper said from the back of the stall.

 "It has been a while, I worried that something bad happened to you."

 "It's good to see you too, Nagato."

 He was a small middle-aged man. He had no hair but made up for it with his happy attitude. He was a hard worker and didn't swindle you too much.

 "I heard a beast was attacking the homeless last night, but two guardians killed it. Better be careful with them around," he said as he put my items in a bag.

 Nagato was also an information broker. I came to him when I wanted to hear what was going on. I figured I'd see if he knew anything about the pendant while I was here. I pulled the pendant out and let it hang in front of him.

 "Do you know anything about this, Nagato?"

 He stared at it for a few minutes before responding.

 "I overheard a little bird saying that one of the royals went missing and those guardians are here looking into it." His demeanor had changed to a more serious look.

 I had feared that was the case. While this did provide a chance to make a ton of credits, it also meant that it was likely something much larger at work here. No royal would ever just go up and vanish, especially into the outer districts. That was the whole reason the inner districts sat behind the guardians. But like they say, high-risk high reward, so I decided to take my chances.

 "Anything else?" I asked, sliding fifty credits toward him.

 "There's a rumor that the pendant came out of the red-light zone to the east of here."

 "I appreciate it," I said as I gave him another thirty credits. Information wasn't cheap, but he gave a me discount for being a loyal customer.

 "That will be seven credits for the food," he said with his usual upbeat attitude.

 I gave him the credits and waved goodbye as I left the market.