Chapter 94: 94
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"Excuse me," said Graham to a man walking the opposite direction from him.
"Yes?" the man looked at Graham curiously.
Graham made eye contact with the man and stared at him intently. He then started speaking with a persuasive tone. The man didn't blink or nodded the whole time Graham was speaking to him; he was only staring blankly at the person in front of him. After speaking for more than a minute, Graham finally stopped and the man nodded slowly. After that, his blank stare was gone and he looked confused for a second before continuing his way.
Graham continued walking towards the small diner and arrived not long after. There, he was greeted by the usual friendly smile from Mirjam the waitress.
"Good morning, Graham!"
"Morning. I'd like the usual, please," he said right away and then sat at his usual spot.
Mirjam gave a shout to the kitchen to tell them about Graham's order and then proceeded to serve another customer who called for her. Meanwhile, Graham was people watching from his sport, where he could see the street outside clearly.
It was a Tuesday morning, almost midday. The sun was shining bright, but the temperature had gone slightly lower. There was the occasional breeze blowing away brown fallen leaves. There were not very many people in the street, but those that were there seemed to be enjoying the sun. There was a group of people that looked like they were from another country, excitedly taking pictures of everything they saw.
Mirjam came bringing his food not long after. He got bacon pancakes with bananas and peanut butter toppings and a cup of hot chocolate with mint. He had a lot of usual orders so Mirjam just took the liberty to pick one up for him.
"Are these alright?" asked Mirjam.
"Yes. These are actually what I want. You always know best!" complimented Graham.
He started eating right away while Mirjam took the seat near him.
"So, who is detective work?" she asked curiously; her friendly smile adorned her beautiful face.
"I just helped a client find her wedding ring. That's basically that. What about you? Anything interesting happening around here?"
She seemed to be thinking for a while, recalling her memory.
"Now that you mention it, there was actually something. Yesterday, there was someone asking me about suspicious people. But he himself was pretty suspicious to me,"
"Why do you think so?"
"Well, at first, he came in here and ordered food like a normal person. Then, when I brought him his food, he started whispering to me these things about if I have seen people that seem out of place lately. When I asked him why, he didn't want to answer. Isn't that pretty suspicious?" explained her.
"So what did you tell him? Have you seen anything out of place lately?" asked Graham curiously.
"That was indeed suspicious. What does he look like?" he asked while taking a bite out of his pancake.
"I don't really remember. He was not bad-looking, but there was nothing memorable about him. But I'm sure I can recognize him if I see the man again," replied Mirjam with doubt.
"Anyway, I've been curious. Do you live alone?" asked Graham. His tone was genuinely curious without any hidden intention.
"No. I live with my sister. She's still at university. Why? Do you want to move in with me?" she replied with a teasing smile.
"No. I don't want you to go talking with my clients and taking away my business," he replied casually, and then his tone became serious, "Maybe you should consider moving to another city with your sister. Sloten hasn't been safe lately,"
Graham put down the fork and knife that he was using on the plate and looked seriously at Mirjam.
Mirjam looked at Graham with confusion. She didn't know why the detective would suddenly suggest something like that.
"You know I can't just suddenly move. There would be a lot to take care of, and my sister can't leave uni anyway," she replied matter-of-factly.
"True. But at least don't go out wandering at night. The recent murder case is worrying," he replied.
"Are you worried about me? That's so sweet of you," she said with a genuine smile.
"Well, you can take it however you want," he replied casually.
"Mirjam!" shouted a customer from the back while waving his hand.
Mirjam excused herself and went over to the customer's table. Graham continued eating his breakfast and finished it not long after. He then got up and paid before saying goodbye to Mirjam and left the diner.
He had only one plan today. He couldn't go around looking for Pale Society members since he would never know who he would encounter. He also couldn't search for the temple from his divination because he didn't know where to start. Even if he did, it would still be dangerous. He was going to leave the temple to the Police and helped out with taking care of the weaker members for now. Since he had no better idea, he decided to follow his initial plan to go to Erbarmelijk Bazaar to look do some window-shopping and to sell the remains from the ghoul.
He went back home first to get ready. He had left the mask there, so he would need to pick it up, along with his gun, and the ghoul's remain that he would try to sell. He arrived home not long after and quickly picked up the mask that he had left inside one of the drawers in his desk.
The mask was still a yellow sorrowful one, so he had to alter its appearance first. He found out that it could do so only because of his experimenting, but besides switching among the sorrowful, joyful, or the dual emotion, it couldn't change into anything else.
"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to change your appearance back to normal!"
As his voice resounded in his room, the mask strangely underwent a transformation. The paint on its right side was slowly overcome with red like a molting skin of a snake. It stopped in the middle and the mask's original appearance had been restored.
Once the mask was ready, he opened his safe and picked up the gun along with its holster and hung it on the pale leather belt.
"Val, now let's switch. I need your power to conceal this belt later once we get out of range."
After that, he lied down on his bed and closed his eyes. It didn't take Graham long to fall asleep, and Valentine woke up right after. He got up from the bed and then went to his office and put on his coat to cover the revolver on his waist. Both the gun and the belt had been placed anti-divination on, but he could only use Concealment on one at a time, so he had to be ready to switch at any time.
He got out of his apartment and quickly made his way down to the street outside. The entrance to the black market was in Oosteinde, so he headed east. The street got quieter the farther he went east. He crossed the intersection easily because there weren't many motor vehicles on the road either.
He kept walking and entered an industrial area with a lot of factories around. The smoke from those giant buildings rose up high to the sky, coloring it grey. He went towards a secluded alley several meters away from there and turned left to it. In the alley, he quickly placed Concealment again on the belt to prevent it from sending out a presence that could be detected by dangerous individuals. Once done, he then stood in front of the wall that Ivo had shown him previously and spoke to it.
"I want to enter,"
The bricks moved around and formed the word 'password'.
"Wij Zijn Arm,"
Once the password was said, the bricks started moving around again uniformly. It created dragging noises and not long after, a gap appeared in the wall. He quickly put on his Gemini mask and entered the black market.
"Can I get a discount for this?"
"I'll just go check at another stall. I'm sure they are cheaper there."
"Selling handmade talismans!"
"These fingers are the real deal! I got them from the graveyard myself."
The bazaar was still busy like last time, if not busier, and with his boosted hearing, he could somehow hear clearly what the people near him were saying.. There were people with various different masks, as usual, walking about. Nobody knew anyone's identity there, and strangely, even though a powerful individual might be there mixed in with the crowd, there was no dangerous presence that Valentine usually felt. It must be the work of a Contractbound's ability or an enchanted item.
He made his way past the masked people towards the common hall, where he could sell the ghoul remains to the highest bidder. Graham had had the chance to divine the use of the remains, and apparently it was used for a powerful dark ritual that he had no access to at the moment. Graham had also divined the normal price for one, and it could fetch the high price of fifteen guilders each, much more than the wraiths remains and even more expensive than an Earl contract scroll.
Once he arrived, he took a spot near the alley so that more people could hear him.
"Selling a ghoul's remain!"
People's attention was drawn by his words. It seemed a lot more people were interested, unlike when Graham tried to sell the wraiths remains last time.
"Are you for real?" asked a woman with an expressionless mask.
"Can we see the thing?" asked a man wearing a creepy mask.
It seemed that a ghoul's remain was a very rare item for that many people to be interested in it. Valentine took it out from his pocket and showed the round compressed flesh to the potential buyers.
"Is that real?" asked the woman with an expressionless mask again.
"I can tell from its appearance that it's real," replied another woman wearing a rabbit mask complete with rabbit ears.
"I'll sell this for twenty-five guilders," said Valentine shortly. He had learned from Graham's experience to sell at a high initial price.
The people went quiet. They seemed to be thinking if it was worth it to spend so much on an item that would usually cost less. However, there didn't seem to be another seller besides him.
"I'll buy it," said the man with the creepy mask.
"I'll buy it for twenty-six guilders!" interjected the woman with the rabbit mask.
"Twenty-seven guilders from me!" shouted a man from the back. He was wearing a child-faced mask.
If they kept going at that pace, it would just be a back and forth shouting fest.
"Thirty guilders and it's yours," said Valentine loudly but confidently.
Usually, during a bidding process, the seller wouldn't increase the price suddenly. However, Valentien just wanted to get the money quickly. He had already jacked up the price so much anyway that it was double its original value.
"Deal!" said the man with the creepy mask quickly.
The others didn't seem to want to increase the price any further, so they just stood there watching. The man gave Valentine thirty guilders total and in return, Valentine gave him the round soft object. Valentine didn't feel bad at all for setting the price himself instead of waiting for it to get higher because soon enough, there would be more ghouls to hunt. Of course, the people there didn't know; otherwise, they wouldn't have accepted such an outrageous price.
After selling the ghoul's remains, he had become twenty guilders richer. He would have to give ten guilders to Luuk as his share, which to him was a fair price because if he had sold it at the original price, Luuk would have got only seven and a half guilders.
Valentine then left the common hall together with the people who dispersed after the auction was done. The whole time, he had a feeling that someone was watching him, but he pretended not to notice. He walked around the bazaar looking for items that interested him. He wanted to see what kinds of enchanted equipment were sold there, so he went into a store that seemed to sell them.
The store had the sign that read 'Warwick's Armament'. He entered the store and saw the storekeeper standing in the corner quietly, staring at him. It was a man wearing a wolf mask with bloodstains. Inside the store, there were various items on display, both inside glass cases or on the wall. However, he only felt spirituality coming from a few items, so not all of the items in that store are enchanted pieces of equipment.
"Are you looking for anything in particular?" asked the shopkeeper disinterestedly.
"Not really. I want to know what enchanted equipment you sell here," replied Valentine casually.
The shopkeeper moved from his original spot and stood next to a glass case with a gun inside.
"This gun is called the Sharpshooter. It can boost the shooter's accuracy slightly. Five hundred and thirty guilders and it's yours," he said, still with an indifferent tone. It seemed that he was used to people only asking and not buying.
"G, for something with only a slight boost, the price is so high," he muttered and then turned to the wolf mask, "What else do you have?"
The wolf masked shopkeeper moved to the other end of the store and gestured at him to look at the wall behind him.
"That's a vest that can block two blood attacks," said the shopkeeper.
"And what will happen after two attacks?" asked Valentine with suspicions.
"It will get destroyed. Only seven hundred guilders," he replied.
Valentine gasped in disbelief inwardly. Blocking two blood attacks might be useful, but it was too situational. And that much for something that would break after only two attacks was too much.
"G, these are basically rich people's toys. I guess the useful ones won't get sold so easily. If we want anything, we just have to wait at the common hall. Now I wonder how much this belt would fetch if we were to sell it," he muttered again.
Valentine thanked the shopkeeper and quickly left the store. There was nothing else in that store that could pique his interest, and he didn't have that much money anyway.
Since he was done with the bazaar, he decided to go out. The feeling of someone following him was still as strong as before, so he still pretended not to notice and casually got out of the bazaar. Once outside, he saw someone with a robber mask standing at the end of the alley, blocking his way out. Judging from the outfit, the person was a woman.
"I've been waiting for you," said the voice that seemed to belong to a beautiful woman.
"Are you a member of Pale Society?" asked Valentine coldly while observing the person in front of him.
She was wearing a beautiful dress that was totally not suitable for battle, but the fact that she was wearing it meant that she was strong enough to make in a non-issue. Besides the dress, she was also wearing high heels, which made her mask even more ridiculous if combined with her overall outfit.
"How did you know?" she asked, slightly taken aback.
"I guess you're not the smart type. I was followed the moment I sold the ghoul's remain. If not Pale Society, who else?"
Valentine kept talking to stall for time. He felt a very dangerous aura coming from her, more than what he felt from Gloom. On top of that, there was still the one following him in the bazaar, so she should have reinforcement in case things went bad for her.
"How dare you call me stupid!!"
She shouted angrily and suddenly charged at Valentine while carrying a heavy club that materialized out of thin air.
"Well, shit..."
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"Excuse me," said Graham to a man walking the opposite direction from him.
"Yes?" the man looked at Graham curiously.
Graham made eye contact with the man and stared at him intently. He then started speaking with a persuasive tone. The man didn't blink or nodded the whole time Graham was speaking to him; he was only staring blankly at the person in front of him. After speaking for more than a minute, Graham finally stopped and the man nodded slowly. After that, his blank stare was gone and he looked confused for a second before continuing his way.
Graham continued walking towards the small diner and arrived not long after. There, he was greeted by the usual friendly smile from Mirjam the waitress.
"Good morning, Graham!"
"Morning. I'd like the usual, please," he said right away and then sat at his usual spot.
Mirjam gave a shout to the kitchen to tell them about Graham's order and then proceeded to serve another customer who called for her. Meanwhile, Graham was people watching from his sport, where he could see the street outside clearly.
It was a Tuesday morning, almost midday. The sun was shining bright, but the temperature had gone slightly lower. There was the occasional breeze blowing away brown fallen leaves. There were not very many people in the street, but those that were there seemed to be enjoying the sun. There was a group of people that looked like they were from another country, excitedly taking pictures of everything they saw.
Mirjam came bringing his food not long after. He got bacon pancakes with bananas and peanut butter toppings and a cup of hot chocolate with mint. He had a lot of usual orders so Mirjam just took the liberty to pick one up for him.
"Are these alright?" asked Mirjam.
"Yes. These are actually what I want. You always know best!" complimented Graham.
He started eating right away while Mirjam took the seat near him.
"So, who is detective work?" she asked curiously; her friendly smile adorned her beautiful face.
"I just helped a client find her wedding ring. That's basically that. What about you? Anything interesting happening around here?"
She seemed to be thinking for a while, recalling her memory.
"Now that you mention it, there was actually something. Yesterday, there was someone asking me about suspicious people. But he himself was pretty suspicious to me,"
"Why do you think so?"
"Well, at first, he came in here and ordered food like a normal person. Then, when I brought him his food, he started whispering to me these things about if I have seen people that seem out of place lately. When I asked him why, he didn't want to answer. Isn't that pretty suspicious?" explained her.
"So what did you tell him? Have you seen anything out of place lately?" asked Graham curiously.
"That was indeed suspicious. What does he look like?" he asked while taking a bite out of his pancake.
"I don't really remember. He was not bad-looking, but there was nothing memorable about him. But I'm sure I can recognize him if I see the man again," replied Mirjam with doubt.
"Anyway, I've been curious. Do you live alone?" asked Graham. His tone was genuinely curious without any hidden intention.
"No. I live with my sister. She's still at university. Why? Do you want to move in with me?" she replied with a teasing smile.
"No. I don't want you to go talking with my clients and taking away my business," he replied casually, and then his tone became serious, "Maybe you should consider moving to another city with your sister. Sloten hasn't been safe lately,"
Graham put down the fork and knife that he was using on the plate and looked seriously at Mirjam.
Mirjam looked at Graham with confusion. She didn't know why the detective would suddenly suggest something like that.
"You know I can't just suddenly move. There would be a lot to take care of, and my sister can't leave uni anyway," she replied matter-of-factly.
"True. But at least don't go out wandering at night. The recent murder case is worrying," he replied.
"Are you worried about me? That's so sweet of you," she said with a genuine smile.
"Well, you can take it however you want," he replied casually.
"Mirjam!" shouted a customer from the back while waving his hand.
Mirjam excused herself and went over to the customer's table. Graham continued eating his breakfast and finished it not long after. He then got up and paid before saying goodbye to Mirjam and left the diner.
He had only one plan today. He couldn't go around looking for Pale Society members since he would never know who he would encounter. He also couldn't search for the temple from his divination because he didn't know where to start. Even if he did, it would still be dangerous. He was going to leave the temple to the Police and helped out with taking care of the weaker members for now. Since he had no better idea, he decided to follow his initial plan to go to Erbarmelijk Bazaar to look do some window-shopping and to sell the remains from the ghoul.
He went back home first to get ready. He had left the mask there, so he would need to pick it up, along with his gun, and the ghoul's remain that he would try to sell. He arrived home not long after and quickly picked up the mask that he had left inside one of the drawers in his desk.
The mask was still a yellow sorrowful one, so he had to alter its appearance first. He found out that it could do so only because of his experimenting, but besides switching among the sorrowful, joyful, or the dual emotion, it couldn't change into anything else.
"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to change your appearance back to normal!"
As his voice resounded in his room, the mask strangely underwent a transformation. The paint on its right side was slowly overcome with red like a molting skin of a snake. It stopped in the middle and the mask's original appearance had been restored.
Once the mask was ready, he opened his safe and picked up the gun along with its holster and hung it on the pale leather belt.
"Val, now let's switch. I need your power to conceal this belt later once we get out of range."
After that, he lied down on his bed and closed his eyes. It didn't take Graham long to fall asleep, and Valentine woke up right after. He got up from the bed and then went to his office and put on his coat to cover the revolver on his waist. Both the gun and the belt had been placed anti-divination on, but he could only use Concealment on one at a time, so he had to be ready to switch at any time.
He got out of his apartment and quickly made his way down to the street outside. The entrance to the black market was in Oosteinde, so he headed east. The street got quieter the farther he went east. He crossed the intersection easily because there weren't many motor vehicles on the road either.
He kept walking and entered an industrial area with a lot of factories around. The smoke from those giant buildings rose up high to the sky, coloring it grey. He went towards a secluded alley several meters away from there and turned left to it. In the alley, he quickly placed Concealment again on the belt to prevent it from sending out a presence that could be detected by dangerous individuals. Once done, he then stood in front of the wall that Ivo had shown him previously and spoke to it.
"I want to enter,"
The bricks moved around and formed the word 'password'.
"Wij Zijn Arm,"
Once the password was said, the bricks started moving around again uniformly. It created dragging noises and not long after, a gap appeared in the wall. He quickly put on his Gemini mask and entered the black market.
"Can I get a discount for this?"
"I'll just go check at another stall. I'm sure they are cheaper there."
"Selling handmade talismans!"
"These fingers are the real deal! I got them from the graveyard myself."
The bazaar was still busy like last time, if not busier, and with his boosted hearing, he could somehow hear clearly what the people near him were saying.. There were people with various different masks, as usual, walking about. Nobody knew anyone's identity there, and strangely, even though a powerful individual might be there mixed in with the crowd, there was no dangerous presence that Valentine usually felt. It must be the work of a Contractbound's ability or an enchanted item.
He made his way past the masked people towards the common hall, where he could sell the ghoul remains to the highest bidder. Graham had had the chance to divine the use of the remains, and apparently it was used for a powerful dark ritual that he had no access to at the moment. Graham had also divined the normal price for one, and it could fetch the high price of fifteen guilders each, much more than the wraiths remains and even more expensive than an Earl contract scroll.
Once he arrived, he took a spot near the alley so that more people could hear him.
"Selling a ghoul's remain!"
People's attention was drawn by his words. It seemed a lot more people were interested, unlike when Graham tried to sell the wraiths remains last time.
"Are you for real?" asked a woman with an expressionless mask.
"Can we see the thing?" asked a man wearing a creepy mask.
It seemed that a ghoul's remain was a very rare item for that many people to be interested in it. Valentine took it out from his pocket and showed the round compressed flesh to the potential buyers.
"Is that real?" asked the woman with an expressionless mask again.
"I can tell from its appearance that it's real," replied another woman wearing a rabbit mask complete with rabbit ears.
"I'll sell this for twenty-five guilders," said Valentine shortly. He had learned from Graham's experience to sell at a high initial price.
The people went quiet. They seemed to be thinking if it was worth it to spend so much on an item that would usually cost less. However, there didn't seem to be another seller besides him.
"I'll buy it," said the man with the creepy mask.
"I'll buy it for twenty-six guilders!" interjected the woman with the rabbit mask.
"Twenty-seven guilders from me!" shouted a man from the back. He was wearing a child-faced mask.
If they kept going at that pace, it would just be a back and forth shouting fest.
"Thirty guilders and it's yours," said Valentine loudly but confidently.
Usually, during a bidding process, the seller wouldn't increase the price suddenly. However, Valentien just wanted to get the money quickly. He had already jacked up the price so much anyway that it was double its original value.
"Deal!" said the man with the creepy mask quickly.
The others didn't seem to want to increase the price any further, so they just stood there watching. The man gave Valentine thirty guilders total and in return, Valentine gave him the round soft object. Valentine didn't feel bad at all for setting the price himself instead of waiting for it to get higher because soon enough, there would be more ghouls to hunt. Of course, the people there didn't know; otherwise, they wouldn't have accepted such an outrageous price.
After selling the ghoul's remains, he had become twenty guilders richer. He would have to give ten guilders to Luuk as his share, which to him was a fair price because if he had sold it at the original price, Luuk would have got only seven and a half guilders.
Valentine then left the common hall together with the people who dispersed after the auction was done. The whole time, he had a feeling that someone was watching him, but he pretended not to notice. He walked around the bazaar looking for items that interested him. He wanted to see what kinds of enchanted equipment were sold there, so he went into a store that seemed to sell them.
The store had the sign that read 'Warwick's Armament'. He entered the store and saw the storekeeper standing in the corner quietly, staring at him. It was a man wearing a wolf mask with bloodstains. Inside the store, there were various items on display, both inside glass cases or on the wall. However, he only felt spirituality coming from a few items, so not all of the items in that store are enchanted pieces of equipment.
"Are you looking for anything in particular?" asked the shopkeeper disinterestedly.
"Not really. I want to know what enchanted equipment you sell here," replied Valentine casually.
The shopkeeper moved from his original spot and stood next to a glass case with a gun inside.
"This gun is called the Sharpshooter. It can boost the shooter's accuracy slightly. Five hundred and thirty guilders and it's yours," he said, still with an indifferent tone. It seemed that he was used to people only asking and not buying.
"G, for something with only a slight boost, the price is so high," he muttered and then turned to the wolf mask, "What else do you have?"
The wolf masked shopkeeper moved to the other end of the store and gestured at him to look at the wall behind him.
"That's a vest that can block two blood attacks," said the shopkeeper.
"And what will happen after two attacks?" asked Valentine with suspicions.
"It will get destroyed. Only seven hundred guilders," he replied.
Valentine gasped in disbelief inwardly. Blocking two blood attacks might be useful, but it was too situational. And that much for something that would break after only two attacks was too much.
"G, these are basically rich people's toys. I guess the useful ones won't get sold so easily. If we want anything, we just have to wait at the common hall. Now I wonder how much this belt would fetch if we were to sell it," he muttered again.
Valentine thanked the shopkeeper and quickly left the store. There was nothing else in that store that could pique his interest, and he didn't have that much money anyway.
Since he was done with the bazaar, he decided to go out. The feeling of someone following him was still as strong as before, so he still pretended not to notice and casually got out of the bazaar. Once outside, he saw someone with a robber mask standing at the end of the alley, blocking his way out. Judging from the outfit, the person was a woman.
"I've been waiting for you," said the voice that seemed to belong to a beautiful woman.
"Are you a member of Pale Society?" asked Valentine coldly while observing the person in front of him.
She was wearing a beautiful dress that was totally not suitable for battle, but the fact that she was wearing it meant that she was strong enough to make in a non-issue. Besides the dress, she was also wearing high heels, which made her mask even more ridiculous if combined with her overall outfit.
"How did you know?" she asked, slightly taken aback.
"I guess you're not the smart type. I was followed the moment I sold the ghoul's remain. If not Pale Society, who else?"
Valentine kept talking to stall for time. He felt a very dangerous aura coming from her, more than what he felt from Gloom. On top of that, there was still the one following him in the bazaar, so she should have reinforcement in case things went bad for her.
"How dare you call me stupid!!"
She shouted angrily and suddenly charged at Valentine while carrying a heavy club that materialized out of thin air.
"Well, shit..."
"Excuse me," said Graham to a man walking the opposite direction from him."Yes?" the man looked at Graham curiously.Graham made eye contact with the man and stared at him intently. He then started speaking with a persuasive tone. The man didn't blink or nodded the whole time Graham was speaking to him; he was only staring blankly at the person in front of him. After speaking for more than a minute, Graham finally stopped and the man nodded slowly. After that, his blank stare was gone and he looked confused for a second before continuing his way.Graham continued walking towards the small diner and arrived not long after. There, he was greeted by the usual friendly smile from Mirjam the waitress."Good morning, Graham!""Morning. I'd like the usual, please," he said right away and then sat at his usual spot.Mirjam gave a shout to the kitchen to tell them about Graham's order and then proceeded to serve another customer who called for her. Meanwhile, Graham was people watching from his sport, where he could see the street outside clearly.It was a Tuesday morning, almost midday. The sun was shining bright, but the temperature had gone slightly lower. There was the occasional breeze blowing away brown fallen leaves. There were not very many people in the street, but those that were there seemed to be enjoying the sun. There was a group of people that looked like they were from another country, excitedly taking pictures of everything they saw.Mirjam came bringing his food not long after. He got bacon pancakes with bananas and peanut butter toppings and a cup of hot chocolate with mint. He had a lot of usual orders so Mirjam just took the liberty to pick one up for him."Are these alright?" asked Mirjam."Yes. These are actually what I want. You always know best!" complimented Graham.He started eating right away while Mirjam took the seat near him."So, who is detective work?" she asked curiously; her friendly smile adorned her beautiful face."I just helped a client find her wedding ring. That's basically that. What about you? Anything interesting happening around here?"She seemed to be thinking for a while, recalling her memory."Now that you mention it, there was actually something. Yesterday, there was someone asking me about suspicious people. But he himself was pretty suspicious to me,""Why do you think so?""Well, at first, he came in here and ordered food like a normal person. Then, when I brought him his food, he started whispering to me these things about if I have seen people that seem out of place lately. When I asked him why, he didn't want to answer. Isn't that pretty suspicious?" explained her."So what did you tell him? Have you seen anything out of place lately?" asked Graham curiously."That was indeed suspicious. What does he look like?" he asked while taking a bite out of his pancake."I don't really remember. He was not bad-looking, but there was nothing memorable about him. But I'm sure I can recognize him if I see the man again," replied Mirjam with doubt."Anyway, I've been curious. Do you live alone?" asked Graham. His tone was genuinely curious without any hidden intention."No. I live with my sister. She's still at university. Why? Do you want to move in with me?" she replied with a teasing smile."No. I don't want you to go talking with my clients and taking away my business," he replied casually, and then his tone became serious, "Maybe you should consider moving to another city with your sister. Sloten hasn't been safe lately,"Graham put down the fork and knife that he was using on the plate and looked seriously at Mirjam.Mirjam looked at Graham with confusion. She didn't know why the detective would suddenly suggest something like that."You know I can't just suddenly move. There would be a lot to take care of, and my sister can't leave uni anyway," she replied matter-of-factly."True. But at least don't go out wandering at night. The recent murder case is worrying," he replied."Are you worried about me? That's so sweet of you," she said with a genuine smile."Well, you can take it however you want," he replied casually."Mirjam!" shouted a customer from the back while waving his hand.Mirjam excused herself and went over to the customer's table. Graham continued eating his breakfast and finished it not long after. He then got up and paid before saying goodbye to Mirjam and left the diner.He had only one plan today. He couldn't go around looking for Pale Society members since he would never know who he would encounter. He also couldn't search for the temple from his divination because he didn't know where to start. Even if he did, it would still be dangerous. He was going to leave the temple to the Police and helped out with taking care of the weaker members for now. Since he had no better idea, he decided to follow his initial plan to go to Erbarmelijk Bazaar to look do some window-shopping and to sell the remains from the ghoul.He went back home first to get ready. He had left the mask there, so he would need to pick it up, along with his gun, and the ghoul's remain that he would try to sell. He arrived home not long after and quickly picked up the mask that he had left inside one of the drawers in his desk.The mask was still a yellow sorrowful one, so he had to alter its appearance first. He found out that it could do so only because of his experimenting, but besides switching among the sorrowful, joyful, or the dual emotion, it couldn't change into anything else."I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to change your appearance back to normal!"As his voice resounded in his room, the mask strangely underwent a transformation. The paint on its right side was slowly overcome with red like a molting skin of a snake. It stopped in the middle and the mask's original appearance had been restored.Once the mask was ready, he opened his safe and picked up the gun along with its holster and hung it on the pale leather belt."Val, now let's switch. I need your power to conceal this belt later once we get out of range."After that, he lied down on his bed and closed his eyes. It didn't take Graham long to fall asleep, and Valentine woke up right after. He got up from the bed and then went to his office and put on his coat to cover the revolver on his waist. Both the gun and the belt had been placed anti-divination on, but he could only use Concealment on one at a time, so he had to be ready to switch at any time.He got out of his apartment and quickly made his way down to the street outside. The entrance to the black market was in Oosteinde, so he headed east. The street got quieter the farther he went east. He crossed the intersection easily because there weren't many motor vehicles on the road either.He kept walking and entered an industrial area with a lot of factories around. The smoke from those giant buildings rose up high to the sky, coloring it grey. He went towards a secluded alley several meters away from there and turned left to it. In the alley, he quickly placed Concealment again on the belt to prevent it from sending out a presence that could be detected by dangerous individuals. Once done, he then stood in front of the wall that Ivo had shown him previously and spoke to it."I want to enter,"The bricks moved around and formed the word 'password'."Wij Zijn Arm,"Once the password was said, the bricks started moving around again uniformly. It created dragging noises and not long after, a gap appeared in the wall. He quickly put on his Gemini mask and entered the black market."Can I get a discount for this?""I'll just go check at another stall. I'm sure they are cheaper there.""Selling handmade talismans!""These fingers are the real deal! I got them from the graveyard myself."The bazaar was still busy like last time, if not busier, and with his boosted hearing, he could somehow hear clearly what the people near him were saying.. There were people with various different masks, as usual, walking about. Nobody knew anyone's identity there, and strangely, even though a powerful individual might be there mixed in with the crowd, there was no dangerous presence that Valentine usually felt. It must be the work of a Contractbound's ability or an enchanted item.He made his way past the masked people towards the common hall, where he could sell the ghoul remains to the highest bidder. Graham had had the chance to divine the use of the remains, and apparently it was used for a powerful dark ritual that he had no access to at the moment. Graham had also divined the normal price for one, and it could fetch the high price of fifteen guilders each, much more than the wraiths remains and even more expensive than an Earl contract scroll.Once he arrived, he took a spot near the alley so that more people could hear him."Selling a ghoul's remain!"People's attention was drawn by his words. It seemed a lot more people were interested, unlike when Graham tried to sell the wraiths remains last time."Are you for real?" asked a woman with an expressionless mask."Can we see the thing?" asked a man wearing a creepy mask.It seemed that a ghoul's remain was a very rare item for that many people to be interested in it. Valentine took it out from his pocket and showed the round compressed flesh to the potential buyers."Is that real?" asked the woman with an expressionless mask again."I can tell from its appearance that it's real," replied another woman wearing a rabbit mask complete with rabbit ears."I'll sell this for twenty-five guilders," said Valentine shortly. He had learned from Graham's experience to sell at a high initial price.The people went quiet. They seemed to be thinking if it was worth it to spend so much on an item that would usually cost less. However, there didn't seem to be another seller besides him."I'll buy it," said the man with the creepy mask."I'll buy it for twenty-six guilders!" interjected the woman with the rabbit mask."Twenty-seven guilders from me!" shouted a man from the back. He was wearing a child-faced mask.If they kept going at that pace, it would just be a back and forth shouting fest."Thirty guilders and it's yours," said Valentine loudly but confidently.Usually, during a bidding process, the seller wouldn't increase the price suddenly. However, Valentien just wanted to get the money quickly. He had already jacked up the price so much anyway that it was double its original value."Deal!" said the man with the creepy mask quickly.The others didn't seem to want to increase the price any further, so they just stood there watching. The man gave Valentine thirty guilders total and in return, Valentine gave him the round soft object. Valentine didn't feel bad at all for setting the price himself instead of waiting for it to get higher because soon enough, there would be more ghouls to hunt. Of course, the people there didn't know; otherwise, they wouldn't have accepted such an outrageous price.After selling the ghoul's remains, he had become twenty guilders richer. He would have to give ten guilders to Luuk as his share, which to him was a fair price because if he had sold it at the original price, Luuk would have got only seven and a half guilders.Valentine then left the common hall together with the people who dispersed after the auction was done. The whole time, he had a feeling that someone was watching him, but he pretended not to notice. He walked around the bazaar looking for items that interested him. He wanted to see what kinds of enchanted equipment were sold there, so he went into a store that seemed to sell them.The store had the sign that read 'Warwick's Armament'. He entered the store and saw the storekeeper standing in the corner quietly, staring at him. It was a man wearing a wolf mask with bloodstains. Inside the store, there were various items on display, both inside glass cases or on the wall. However, he only felt spirituality coming from a few items, so not all of the items in that store are enchanted pieces of equipment."Are you looking for anything in particular?" asked the shopkeeper disinterestedly."Not really. I want to know what enchanted equipment you sell here," replied Valentine casually.The shopkeeper moved from his original spot and stood next to a glass case with a gun inside."This gun is called the Sharpshooter. It can boost the shooter's accuracy slightly. Five hundred and thirty guilders and it's yours," he said, still with an indifferent tone. It seemed that he was used to people only asking and not buying."G, for something with only a slight boost, the price is so high," he muttered and then turned to the wolf mask, "What else do you have?"The wolf masked shopkeeper moved to the other end of the store and gestured at him to look at the wall behind him."That's a vest that can block two blood attacks," said the shopkeeper."And what will happen after two attacks?" asked Valentine with suspicions."It will get destroyed. Only seven hundred guilders," he replied.Valentine gasped in disbelief inwardly. Blocking two blood attacks might be useful, but it was too situational. And that much for something that would break after only two attacks was too much."G, these are basically rich people's toys. I guess the useful ones won't get sold so easily. If we want anything, we just have to wait at the common hall. Now I wonder how much this belt would fetch if we were to sell it," he muttered again.Valentine thanked the shopkeeper and quickly left the store. There was nothing else in that store that could pique his interest, and he didn't have that much money anyway.Since he was done with the bazaar, he decided to go out. The feeling of someone following him was still as strong as before, so he still pretended not to notice and casually got out of the bazaar. Once outside, he saw someone with a robber mask standing at the end of the alley, blocking his way out. Judging from the outfit, the person was a woman."I've been waiting for you," said the voice that seemed to belong to a beautiful woman."Are you a member of Pale Society?" asked Valentine coldly while observing the person in front of him.She was wearing a beautiful dress that was totally not suitable for battle, but the fact that she was wearing it meant that she was strong enough to make in a non-issue. Besides the dress, she was also wearing high heels, which made her mask even more ridiculous if combined with her overall outfit."How did you know?" she asked, slightly taken aback."I guess you're not the smart type. I was followed the moment I sold the ghoul's remain. If not Pale Society, who else?"Valentine kept talking to stall for time. He felt a very dangerous aura coming from her, more than what he felt from Gloom. On top of that, there was still the one following him in the bazaar, so she should have reinforcement in case things went bad for her."How dare you call me stupid!!"She shouted angrily and suddenly charged at Valentine while carrying a heavy club that materialized out of thin air."Well, shit..."
