"Calm down, gentlen and ladies, please remain calm." Mr. Pride's voice was steady, his face still wearing a smile, showing no trace of nervousness.
"Everyone should also understand the special nature of this transaction, so for this deal, we will not allow the buyer and seller to et separately. After the seller provides the map, we will privately transfer it to the buyer. Even the seller will not know who the buyer is."
As he spoke, his gaze turned to a certain corner of the hall, nodding slightly toward it, his tone carrying a hint of businesslike regret: "Yes, it is this special thod. So please don't look at
like that, young knight. Very regrettably, if you insist on taking action here, I can only ask you to leave."
There sat a knight clad entirely in heavy golden armor. The style of his armor was distinctive enough to make it clear at a glance which knightly order he ca from.
The golden armor was thick, its style ancient and majestic, completely covering his entire body. Even his face was obscured by a heavy visor, making his features indistinguishable. One could only judge from the armor's contours that the person beneath was exceptionally tall, probably exceeding three ters in height.
The knight and Mr. Pride engaged in a silent stare-down. Beneath the knight's thick golden visor, no one could see his expression.
Mr. Pride maintained that slightly apologetic smile, tilting his head slightly, seemingly patiently waiting for the other's response.
A few seconds later, the golden knight's slightly raised left hand slowly loosened and then lowered.
The movent was slow, carrying a sense of sluggishness, as if in that mont, he had indeed been prepared to "pull" sothing out of thin air.
A Sacred Law Knight of the Royal City.
Even in this not-at-all-secret extraordinary gathering, that na carried a weighty significance.
The most basic prerequisite for donning that golden armor was the successful inscription of six "Law Marks" within one's body, which was the limit that wild Law Seekers could imagine and reach. Beyond that lay realms shrouded in mist and legend, difficult for ordinary people to touch.
It was rumored that there were five tiers within the Sacred Law Knights. But for most Law Seekers in the hall, who lingered at the lower or middle levels, they had only seen the first two ranks.
This wasn't because they were particularly hard to see; one just had to go to the westernmost part of the West District.
The first rank were newly appointed Sacred Law Knights who had just passed the rigorous examination.
They wore retro golden armor, thick and heavy, embroidered with the royal family's emblem. The armor bore many patterns, primarily in gray and red, depicting unknown runes. Although they were "knights," they were not equipped with mounts.
Alchemy, runic magic—if you wanted to see these legendary things, you just had to go to the West District and find a Sacred Law Knight to look at.
Their weapon was a heavy, gold-made greatsword.
Gold was a tal with good ductility, but its hardness was sowhat insufficient, probably not very suitable for a weapon.
However, the knight's weapon was still made of gold, combined with so other extraordinary materials. The runes inscribed on it prevented the greatsword from deforming.
No one knew what combat skills or extraordinary abilities the Sacred Law Knights possessed. Everyone only knew one thing: even if it were just an ordinary person, as long as they could wear this armor, lift this greatsword, and obtain the "equipnt permission" from the Sacred Law Knight Order, then they would be enough to contend head-on with an ordinary five-mark Law Seeker.
And the first test for a Sacred Law Knight's examination was that he needed to inscribe six Law Marks. According to the unified standard, inscribe three [Restraint] Law Marks, two [Pure] Law Marks, and one [Self-Only] Law Mark.
The second rank were the Sacred Law Great Knights, also known as Scale Knights.
The na ca from their knight helts.
The helts of ordinary Sacred Law Knights were pointed, while the Great Knights had a horizontal bar and two dangling spherical beads added to the pointed top on both sides, making it look like a scale.
Their armor style was more refined, its structure more complex, its protection more comprehensive. The patterns on the armor surface were slightly different, more delicate. At the center of the breastplate, an additional golden semi-transparent gem appeared.
Their weapons were no longer limited to greatswords; they added shields and golden halberds also forged from special tals and gold.
No one knew how far they had walked on the path of the Law, but Law Seekers knew that six-mark Law Seekers could only serve as mounts for them.
Though that was purely a case of rumors being exaggerated.
The Law Seekers referred to here ant their warhorses, genuine extraordinary warhorses that had undergone special breeding and training. The knights did not have any strange fetishes for riding their own kind or horse-girls.
The warhorses were also draped in exquisite horse armor covering their entire bodies.
Most animal brains were not as good as human ones. Therefore, the number of horses that could reach six marks was quite rare. But conversely, precisely because they were pure enough, they could be more outstanding than Law Seekers of the sa tier in certain aspects.
As the knight released his hand, several participants sitting near the knight visibly relaxed, their bodies unconsciously leaning back, trying to distance themselves a bit from that golden armor.
Just monts ago, the few participants around this knight had clearly seen this Sacred Law Knight pull a rein out of thin air and prepare to haul sothing out.
This had nearly scared the surrounding people to death; now they were utterly sweating bullets.
Fortunately, Mr. Pride intervened in ti; otherwise, today's gathering probably couldn't have continued.
Sacred Law Knights wouldn't attack innocent people—that was a precept they had established and could not violate.
But the problem precisely lay in this: who could determine what the definition of "innocent" was in his eyes?
No one could be sure whether sothing like "intent to rebel" might be considered so kind of contagious ntal illness in his view.
If he genuinely believed that from the bottom of his heart, then no one present was "innocent."
It was common knowledge in the Law Seeker world that Law Seekers with more than six marks were all lunatics, obsessives, and performative maniacs who liked to act normal.
A Law Contemplator who might seem even the best, gentlest, most approachable person, as long as you touched their trigger point, "death" was the luckiest outco.
Legend said that the [Sacred Judgnt Fire] of the Sacred Law Knights ca from the purest sun high in the sky, possessing both "destruction" and "redemption" characteristics. Before burning away all the "sins" of a "sinner" from childhood to adulthood, the "sinner's" body wouldn't even bear a scar.
Who hadn't felt greed in their childhood? Who hadn't told a lie in their childhood?
Even if they had only told one lie, a burn lasting several seconds, from flesh to soul, was unavoidable.
As for how long it burned, that depended on that Sacred Law Knight's subconscious judgnt regarding the severity of the "sin."
For the sa thing, the sentence could be one second, one minute, or one hour—all were possible.
Mr. Pride's tily intervention was fortunate, but no one dared to provide a map, and no one even dared to pick up paper and pen.
Never mind that they simply didn't know; even if they really did know, no one dared to write it down.
Most participants remained silent, exchanging unease and hesitation with glances or extrely subtle gestures among themselves, unsure what to do. The air was left only with the occasional crackle of firewood in the fireplace and the slightly heavier breathing of so people due to tension.
Except for Samuel.
"Ah, the kitten hissed, so cute."
In the slightly quiet hall, these words reached the ears of many Law Seekers.
That knight also slowly turned toward Samuel's direction, casting his gaze upon Samuel.
He wasn't likely to get angry over such a trivial matter; compassion and benevolence were required courses for every knight. But soone who could say such a thing at this ti seed to have a few screws loose.
Rather, directly demanding a map of the Royal District in public was already a sowhat brain-deficient thing to do.
Connecting a sowhat brain-deficient person with a sowhat brain-deficient matter, Samuel's suspicion in the knight's eyes beca quite significant.
This behavior was so outrageously audacious that it almost seed like it wasn't an act.
One could only say, indeed, for a knight who had reached this position, his sixth sense was quite accurate.
Mr. Pride's voice returned to its usual steadiness. He raised a finger, gently tracing it across the parchnt: "Then, following the procedure, we'll continue with the next one."
He read out the next relatively conventional transaction information, concerning the purchase request for a sowhat rare crystalline ore used for ritual assistance.
The atmosphere in the hall seed to loosen slightly as he read in a calm tone.
Whispers cautiously began again, but compared to before, they were clearly much more suppressed, and most people intentionally or unintentionally avoided topics concerning maps, the royal city, and that golden knight.
Samuel no longer paid attention to the knight, withdrawing his gaze directed at the knight, lowering his head again to look at the *Lunatic's World Travel Guide* spread open on his lap.
His knowledge of Sacred Law Knights was limited to "knowing such an existence exists, not even knowing what they're called."
So he planned to open the book and look it up.
Anyway, automatic search didn't require much effort.
Soon, he finished reading the general information, which left him sowhat speechless.
anwhile, in Samuel's mind, his conversation with Celt continued.
"Well, although I knew this secret gathering wasn't really secret at all, having a knight dressed so conspicuously show up directly is just too much," Samuel's mouth turned downward as he complained to Celt. "Really shows no respect for the ga rules at all. How co this secret gathering seems like common knowledge?"
He hadn't considered the Sacred Law Knight's status to be so high initially, so he didn't take the armored person seriously, just thinking it was normal disguise.
But then...
"Didn't you know from the start?" Celt chuckled. "This secret gathering probably has official participation."
"Then they should at least put on an act," Samuel remained dissatisfied. "If he took off his armor, who would know he's a Sacred Law Knight."
After pausing for two seconds, Samuel's previously downturned mouth quickly curved upward again, his mood instantly improving.
"But hey, I helped you get connected with internal personnel from the royal city. Want to thank ?" Samuel teased.
"Perhaps it's a difference in customs. We don't have the habit of calling surveillance of 'criminal suspects' 'getting connected,'" Celt replied.
"Isn't that even more interesting?" Samuel's ntal activity radiated a sense of eager excitent.
On the stage, Mr. Pride read out several more requests, mostly concerning materials, information, or so less sensitive extraordinary item transactions.
The trading atmosphere in the hall gradually ward up again. Although still not as lively as before, at least people began raising their hands to signal, and attendants started moving again to collect slips of paper.
That Sacred Law Knight never made any further attention-grabbing moves from start to finish. He just sat there quietly, like a golden statue, standing out from the slightly restless surroundings.
The first phase of the gathering soon ended. After a brief five-minute break, the second phase's procedure began.
"Alright, everyone, ti's up," Mr. Pride gently clapped his hands, his voice not loud but clearly reaching every corner of the hall. "Next is when everyone sells things. The rules remain the sa: submit anonymously, and I will read them out on your behalf. If you have transaction intentions, please indicate on the slip, and the attendants will arrange private contact."
"Of course, for items with fixed prices, you can also purchase them directly on-site. As long as you're not afraid of exposing what good things you have on you, not worried about being targeted."
Then, looking at the parchnt scroll, he began reading one by one.
"Mind-Cleansing Potion, can help the target stabilize their spirit in the short term, calm intense emotional fluctuations. One bottle for fifty yur, or exchange for equivalent value."
"Three pairs of 'Silky Panther's Poison-Tempered Claw Tips,' well-preserved, toxicity active, suitable for making poisons or as auxiliary materials for related rituals, also usable for alchemical purposes. Eighty yur per pair."
"One extraordinary item, na undetermined. Effect: slightly enhances the wearer's intuition, increases a small amount of luck. Form: an iron-gray ring. Price three hundred yur, negotiable."
"..."
Samuel also tried selling an extraordinary item.
"One extraordinary item, Trashcan Brand Treasure Chest. Can connect to all trashcans within a city's range. Can randomly obtain one piece of trash from the 'Trashcan Brand Treasure Chest' daily. Price: six yur, forty-eight sien."
After pausing for a second, Mr. Pride continued: "The seller deliberately emphasizes: the Trashcan Brand Treasure Chest can only take out trash; there is no way to teleport to a trashcan sowhere in the city through it."
Mr. Pride read the contents on the parchnt without any change in expression, but the participants below the stage didn't have such good control over their expressions.
They looked at each other, all understanding what the other ant.
What the hell use is this?
For Law Seekers, a price of less than seven yur was actually quite cheap.
But probably no one was willing to spend that much money on a garbage generator that refreshed every twenty-four hours.
Probably?
"Tch, no taste," Samuel pouted.
After waiting a few seconds, letting the participants rember this information, Mr. Pride continued introducing the next item.
"Next one, hmm, this is a living commodity."
"One Nether-Floating Jellyfish, head-sized, can live on land, can float, needs to feed on souls, cos with its own toxicity, toxicity strong. Seller does not provide a contract; purchaser must handle control issues themselves. Price: one hundred twenty yur."
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