Chapter 17: Market
Damon didn’t need more than a glance to imdiately recognise his best friend. The person he grew up with and considered family.
He watched as people sward him like so divine figure, thanking and shaking his hand with awestruck expressions on their faces.
Kade’s eyes trailed across the crowd until they went beyond those right in front of him and moved toward where Damon was.
For a mont, his golden gaze lacked recognition, but then, his sly smirk vanished. His eyes widened slowly, and his smirk twitched into surprise.
As Kade pushed through the crowd, excusing himself as he moved toward him, Damon noticed sothing odd. The people who were smiling and thanking Kade just a mont before seed to let out shaky breaths the mont he left.
But before he could dwell on that sight, his best friend had already approached him.
"D-Damon?"
"It’s been a while," Damon replied.
"You’re alive," Kade mumbled, more to himself than to Damon.
"Why would I not be?" Damon shrugged.
A mont of silence followed before they both smiled.
"What are you even doing here? I thought you said you’re gonna be ho all day."
"Oh, I was out to et Eleanor when people turned to monsters."
Damon nodded in understanding before asking another, more pressing question.
"By the way... you’re the leader?"
Kade chuckled nervously. "It... kind of just happened. I was here when everything started and just got lucky, I suppose."
"Lucky..." Damon nodded at the word.
Unlike him, who had been unlucky his whole life, Kade was the opposite.
"Kade..." A voice of one of the twins called from behind. The broad man was stomping his foot as he watched the whole reunion.
Kade turned and nodded toward his companion.
"I’m sorry, but we have to go. There was a hunting party that went missing, and we’re going to search for them. When I return, let’s catch up."
Damon barely had ti to nod as Kade already turned and hurried outside with his group.
He couldn’t help but smile seeing his best friend do well, but before he could dwell on that, Victor’s voice cut through his thoughts.
"You... You know Kade?!"
Damon turned and shrugged. "Yeah?"
Victor’s jaw almost dropped before he shook the surprise away. "You know he’s like... a celebrity here. Everyone sees him not as a leader but almost like a hope in the world that had ended."
Damon scratched the back of his head. His best friend was supposed to be not only a leader but also a symbol of hope for the people here?
’The world really has ended, huh...’ He thought to himself before walking, but toward the stands filled with relics he had seen before.
As he arrived in front of the proper stands, he saw relics lining the tables ahead of him. Armours, weapons and accessories like rings, necklaces or earrings filled the space. Each gave off a luminescence that made it clear those were no ordinary items.
"How much for the armour?" Damon asked, pointing toward a dark grey, steel armour. The only armour on the table in front of him.
"Ten shards"
"Ten?!" Damon yelped in surprise.
The rchant, a young man with dark brown hair and blue eyes, scoffed at his surprise.
"It’s an E grade relic. It’s one of the only three E-grade relics in this whole market."
The rchant paused, then, without Damon even trying to speak, he continued.
"I won’t go any lower. I already had offers of seven shards. But if you insist, I can do nine shards. What you say?"
Damon watched the rchant with a perplexed expression. The man was basically haggling with himself.
"Do you have anything I can get for one shard?"
The rchant froze at the question, then studied him as if trying to see if he was joking.
"Fucking ti wasters," the rchant shook his head before turning to another custor that just approached.
"Let’s check the other stand," Victor said nervously, "He’s known for being rude to custors, so don’t worry about it."
Following Victor’s advice, Damon moved toward the second stand. There, a young girl stood behind the stand.
The items on this table were significantly smaller, mostly accessory-type relics.
Damon’s eyes trailed indifferently across the items, not seeing anything worth his attention.
"This...!" Kitsune’s voice suddenly cut through Damon’s head.
’What is it?’
"That feather... What’s it doing here...?"
Damon’s gaze shifted toward a dark feather. It gave almost no presence; if it wasn’t lying along with other relics, he would assu it might’ve fallen from a pigeon passing by, not dropped from a monster as loot.
"What’s this feather?" Damon asked.
"Th-This?" the female rchant pointed to the feather with a surprise on her face. "Soone traded it in when buying a different item. It doesn’t have any use as far as I know, so I try to sell it as an ornant for the girls."
’You want
to waste a rift shard on an ornant?’
"No. It’s not an ornant, just trust ." Kitsune replied.
"How much is it?" Damon asked, after standing there awkwardly in silence and talking to Kitsune in his head.
"O-one shard?" The female rchant stuttered, as if charging even a single shard for this thing was a scam.
Damon lingered for a mont, watching the useless item with a cold gaze before summoning his only shard and passing it over to the rchant.
"Really? Oh, right, okay. Here you go, mister!" the girl said cheerfully, passing him the black feather with a wide grin.
As Damon gripped the item, he saw a small window with a description appear before him.
[Relic]
[Na: Black Feather]
[Grade: F]
[Type: ???]
[Stats: ]
’F Grade with unknown type and no stats... I didn’t just waste my shard on nothing, right?’
"Don’t worry," Kitsune giggled victoriously, "I promise it was worth it."
’So, what do I do with it?’
"Find so place alone, oh and make sure you have sothing to make fire with."
Damon raised a brow at the words before letting out a long exhale.
"Victor..." he suddenly said, making the scrawny man jump. "I need a place alone and sothing to make fire with."
"Place alone? Platform 8 is empty, you can get through, but there are monsters in the tunnels-"
"That’s fine. Fire?"
Victor patted his pockets before pulling out a tal lighter. Damon spotted Victor’s na carved onto the side of it.
"Here, you can take this."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, if it wasn’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have made it back."
Damon accepted the lighter and followed Victor toward platform 8.
***
Monts later, Damon was already standing on the empty platform. The person holding guard before the last flight of stairs refused him entry at first. But after accidentally ntioning Kade’s na, the man quickly moved aside, letting him through without a hindrance.
After Victor left, excusing himself as needing to run so errands, Damon was left alone. Looking down at the black feather in his grip, he frowned slightly.
"Burn it," Kitsune suddenly said.
’What?’
"Set it on fire."
’I didn’t spend one shard just to burn this thing.’
"Just do it."
Damon hesitated. The feather looked as if it could break in the gust of wind, let alone fire, but with Kitsune insisting, he flicked open the tallic lighter and set it on fire.
In an instant, a bright fla engulfed the feather. His stomach sank for a mont. Instead of a feather, he saw his last shard burn in the flas. But then, just as he thought the feather would turn to ash, the relic seed to absorb the fire until its colour and presence changed, turning to a fiery orange.
[Item restored!]
[Black Feather -> Phoenix Feather]
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