Chapter 11: Black Market

‘I had forgotten about the mana signature collection. For a black market, they sure have rigorous identification. Well, that’s why the past kings haven’t gotten rid of this place yet.’ Ciel thought as he tossed the now faintly glowing token into his space ring. 

The black market collected all of the mana signatures of the visitors. If the visitor wasn’t a mage, they would collect a drop of blood instead. No matter what, they would still be recorded in the black market’s archives. But since no sample would be named, no one cared, including Ciel.

Looking around, he saw a huge plaza crowded with stalls with vendors displaying their goods. Each stall had something different and unique. Because the ceiling was embedded with glowing stones that didn’t hurt Ciel’s eyes, the black market seemed to be an underground version of the Ovine district on the surface.

‘Let’s see what a black market in another world sells.’ Ciel looked around. 

Most of the goods were rare materials or items from far away or restricted areas. 

‘When the protagonist got here with her harem, she found the long lost relic of the church, which later on became her main weapon. If I can find it here, I can sell it to the church at a high price. The protagonist gets her weapon early and I get money. Its a win win. I might even get her to owe me a debt.’ 

Ciel hehe’d as he walked while thinking. 

In the novel ‘The First Saintess’, the protagonist had visited the black market by accident when one of her harem members got poisoned. The ingredients for the antidote were exotic and the fastest way they could buy them was through the black market. 

As for why they had to go to the black market when the third harem member had a whole organization that specializes in trading exotic things with eves, Ciel attributed it to his unwillingness to help love rivals. 

‘Hmm, the protagonist was attracted to the relic at first sight when she stumbled into a stall selling mostly fake antiques. I think it was a tacky striped blue and white stall owned by a man wearing a rabbit mask.’

He examined the stalls before yawning, feeling sleepy. ‘In the past, I could go three days without sleep. I want to grow up as soon as possible.’

Soon, Ciel saw a striped blue and white stall. A man wearing a bunny mask sat behind it. Coming closer, Ciel could see various dusty old antique-like items scattered neatly on the display. 

The bunny mask gave a warm greeting to his first customer in a while.

“Welcome! I sell priceless relics from across the continents. Any one of these can sell for more than 100 gold outside the market.”  

“Do you have any staff antiques?” The lost relic of the church was the weapon used by past heroes chosen by Delmira. It took on the most suitable weapon for each saint. The last hero had used an exquisite, pure white staff that was topped with the church’s symbol. That was why Ciel didn’t want to pocket it for himself. The relic would only work for heroes. 

Ciel didn’t know how the church had lost such an important item, or was it because demons hadn’t invaded in a long time?

The bunny mask conveyed his apologies, “It seems we don’t have any staffs here, but we have many other things! Such as this lamp, if you clean it the right way, a genie will appear and grant your wish!” He quickly grabbed a lamp from the counter. Ciel stared at it, before turning away. 

‘Did the bunny mask not acquire the staff yet or is this the wrong stall? This is five years before the novel starts after all. The protagonist hasn’t even been summoned to this world yet.’ 

“No thanks. I’ll come later.”

‘Besides, that lamp doesn’t have a speck of dirt on it, what are customers supposed to clean?’ He noted down the stall’s location in his head. He would come later if there were no other striped blue and white stalls with a bunny masked man. 

The relic was destined for the protagonist, who was the saintess of this generation. Such an important plot item, there probably won’t be any bugs like his mother’s recording. 

Ciel walked away. Passing by a small shop, he stopped, and backtracked to the entrance of the shop. It wasn’t fancy, but the thing that stood out was that it was a shop, not a stall.

The black market rarely had any shops because it was incredibly chaotic. Any stall owner could have their stall smashed or die themselves the very next day. Shops who had their own building in this underground market were owned by people who could hold their own against the chaos. 

Interested, Ciel entered the shop. 

Ding a ling ding ling a ling~ 

The bells connected to the door jingled. 

‘No one’s here?’ Ciel looked around the shelves displaying various trinkets. Moving forward, he tripped on something on the floor. 

‘F*ck. Who left a dead body on the floor?’ Ciel sat up and rubbed his forehead, which felt like it hit a wooden board. ‘It’s been so long that rigor mortis has made it this stiff!’

“Ugh…” The dead body groaned and turned over, making Ciel tumble off. 

“F*ck it’s alive!” Startled, Ciel sprang back. 

“Child, didn’t your parents say it's rude to swear with that milky voice of yours?” As the figure sat up, a strong scent of alcohol hit Ciel’s senses. As she slowly stood up, Ciel could see that she was a well built woman that reminded Ciel of a bear. She wore a plain black mask that only showed her dark eyes. 

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“...Are you the owner of this shop?” Ciel couldn’t deny that his voice sounded like a child’s. One of his purposes for coming to the black market was to get a voice changer. The main reason was that he wanted to see if he could find anything interesting.

“I am the owner, what’re you looking for?” The woman asked, squatting down to Ciel’s height. She was tall, and Ciel was one third her size. Looking closer at her calloused hands, Ciel could see that her skin was an earthy brown. 

“What do you sell?” Ciel could tell the metal trinkets on display were for show. The counters were dusty, as if the trinkets were arranged there, then never touched again. 

In reply, the woman stepped behind the shelves. “This must be your first time at the black market. You’ll see when we get to the back.” 

Behind the shelves was a door, which led into another room filled with weapons. Ciel looked around in wonder, his eyes shining. There was almost everything, from tiny throwing stars to what resembled modern handguns. 

The woman noticed Ciel facing the guns. “Those are called guns. They condense mana into bullets that can be used like arrows. Their firepower is decent but the recoil won’t be good for a thin kid like you.”

Ciel was covering himself with a black robe, but the woman could feel that he was incredibly bony when he had fallen on her earlier. 

Ciel shook his head, “How much is that?” He pointed to a small gun that resembled a revolver. 

The woman shrugged, a customer was a customer, she wouldn’t refuse money delivered right at her door, “10 silvers.”

“I’ll take two of those then.” It was quite cheap considering the prices stated in the novel.

Ciel inspected the revolver and examined it while pocketing the other one in his satchel. 

“Can I test this somewhere?” 

“There’s a testing area behind that door over there.” The woman pointed to a door, apparently having no intentions to take him there herself. Ciel nodded and entered the other room. It was like the inside of a dirty cube, with a few dummies arranged in a neat row in the middle. 

Raising the gun, Ciel’s smile became wider. The gun absorbed the mana Ciel took out into its chambers and shot out the instant Ciel pressed the trigger. 

Bang! 

A white light penetrated the dummy before the gun dropped to the ground. 

‘The recoil’s stronger than I imagined. Or was I overestimating myself?’ Ciel looked at his trembling hand. The gun’s speed and power were much greater than his past life’s guns. The craftsmanship was excellent.

Before the trembling subsided, Ciel picked up the gun and went back to the woman. 

“I’ll take this, this, and that.” He pointed to a few smaller weapons that could be easily thrown with his current strength, showing none of the stinginess he had with the emerald eyed young man. He would only spend money if it was necessary, if not, forget about getting a single coin from him. 

Paying the money, he looked at them. Each one was the same quality as the gun. 

“Did you make all of these weapons?” 

“Of course.”

“Then do you take customized orders?” 

“Depends on the price and what I’m going to make.”

Smiling, Ciel took out a deck of poker cards from his ring. “How much would it take to make three metal versions of these?”

“Playing cards? Thirty silvers. Any modifications?” The woman took the deck and turned a card over in her hand.

“I’d appreciate it if the edges were sharp like blades.” Ciel added. “What should I call you?”

“Taq. I’ll have the cards ready in a week.” It was an obvious fake name, but this was the black market, it would be incredibly stupid to give your real name. 

Ciel smiled in satisfaction. “Ok Taq. I’ll be seeing you in a week. You can call me Carmine.”

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