Julien swallowed hard.
He was clearly creeped out by the man’s overly polite personality, but he decided to talk anyway.
He needed to get this done.
"We want to talk with the boss of this place," Julien said, keeping his voice steady.
"We want to strike a deal."
Eric folded his pale hands on top of the old wooden desk and tilted his head slightly.
"Oh, are you a rchant?" Eric asked.
"Sothing like that," Julien replied.
"Very well," Eric said, his creepy smile never leaving his face.
"We always welco a new rchant to our little community. What kind of products do you actually have?"
Julien did not want to show his hand yet.
He had an entire system inventory full of top-tier items, but giving that information to a guy who could knock people out with a single touch was a terrible idea.
"I want to et the boss first," Julien stated firmly.
"I only talk business with the person in charge."
Hmm.
Eric stopped smiling for a split second.
His dark eyes narrowed into tiny slits, giving him the look of a very dangerous predator.
The friendly priest’s act vanished entirely as the air in the small office felt heavy and cold.
Then, just as quickly as it disappeared, the warm smile ca right back.
"The boss is out for the day," Eric explained smoothly.
"He is currently eting with the Republicans to strike a deal of his own. So, I guess you will just have to stay here for a few days until he returns."
Kyle scoffed from the doorway.
The big rcenary crossed his thick arms and looked totally unimpressed by the delay.
"We will just go straight to the Republican camps then," Kyle said loudly.
"There is no need to wait around here."
Eric turned his head and looked at Kyle and let out a soft, amused laugh.
"Not just anyone can enter those military camps, rc," Eric warned him gently.
"I can see you are very strong. You carry yourself like a man who has killed plenty of things. But if you just walk up to their front gates, you will be smashed by their gods and hung up on a pole as raven food. So, you really have to wait."
Julien frowned.
He wondered what Eric ant by their gods, probably talking about Commander Lena and the other high-ranking S-class Awakeners she kept at the base.
Walking right into a military camp full of paranoid supersoldiers without an invitation was definitely a quick way to die.
"How long?" Julien asked, bringing the conversation back on track.
"Preferably two days," Eric answered, tapping his fingers on the desk.
"He might co back sooner, too. It all depends on how the negotiations go."
Julien nodded slowly.
Two days was not terrible. It gave him ti to scout out this black market and see what kind of items people were actually buying.
"Well," Julien said as he stood up from the cheap plastic chair.
"I guess we will just go outside and camp sowhere in the ruins until he gets back."
"There is no need for that," Eric said quickly, raising a hand.
"We have multiple empty shops right here inside the stadium. You can stay in one of them and set up your stall safely. But we need sothing from you first."
Julien stopped at the door.
"Like rent?"
"Like proof," Eric corrected him.
"I need to know if you are really a high-tier rchant and not just a lucky scavenger. So give sothing to prove it. Sothing other than a health potion."
Julien did not speak for a while.
He stood there and thought about his options.
He had to give Eric sothing good enough to buy their safety, but nothing so overpowered that it would make the market boss greedy enough to kill them for the rest.
"Alright," Julien finally said.
"I will pick sothing out from my cart and give it to your guards upstairs."
Eric laughed out loud. It was a happy, satisfied sound.
"Perfect," Eric said, waving them away.
"You can leave now. Make yourselves comfortable."
Kyle opened the office door, and Julien stepped out first.
The second they walked back into the massive underground area, Julien stopped completely.
The place was eerily silent.
Just a few minutes ago, twenty exhausted workers were standing right here who had been sweating, grunting, and pulling desperately on heavy iron chains to keep that giant cage completely still.
Now, the workers were totally gone.
They had disappeared without making a single sound.
The thick iron chains were now wrapped tightly around massive concrete pillars to keep the pressure stable.
The entire room was empty, quiet, and incredibly creepy.
"Where did they go?" Kyle whispered, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
"I have no idea," Julien muttered back.
He looked across the dark room.
The giant steel cage was still sitting right in the centre of the floor.
It was not shaking anymore; whatever was inside had finally stopped fighting against the chains.
Julien felt a sudden, heavy pull of curiosity.
His brain always wanted to know exactly what kind of rare assets people were hiding.
He slowly walked away from the ladder and moved closer to the thick iron bars.
’There is no way, right?’ Julien thought to himself as he crept closer to the cage.
’Keeping a boss monster locked up down here is completely impossible. It would break out and destroy the whole stadium.’
He stopped a few feet away from the heavy bars.
It was incredibly dark inside the box.
He squinted his eyes, trying to see through the shadows, expecting to see scales, glowing red eyes, or massive claws.
He expected a dungeon boss that the market was trying to ta or sell to the highest bidder.
Then, sothing shifted in the dark.
A huge figure moved closer to the bars, stepping slightly into the dim light of the underground room.
Sothing looked back at Julien.
It was not a monster.
It was a human.
Well, it was kind of a human.
Julien’s eyes went wide as he looked up.
The proportions were completely wrong, the chest was too broad, the arms were too long, and the height was absolutely insane.
This figure had to be at least ten feet tall, covered in muscles and heavy scars.
It was wearing dirty clothes, and heavy tal cuffs were locked around its massive wrists.
"Huh?" Julien breathed out, taking a slow step backwards.
It was a giant.
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