The Slave Market (1)

It had took him days to travel, but now he was here.

What he can see was a valley with nine mountains, on top of each ones were carpeted with Red Lilies, going downward he saw a flat land with the mountains acting like a natural wall.

Looking around he saw Dusk pointing towards the right, he then saw a red gate and a natural formed slope leading down in a zigzag pattern from the cliff to the lands below.

At the end of the road he saw something like a checkpoint with a gate, about a dozen or so guards were standing by with spears by their hands and swords strapped to their waist, equipped with a helmets, breastplates and greaves made from iron.

From the side he saw some men armed with different weapons standing by as well, he guessed that they even employed mercenaries since they are bringing a lot of merchandise.

Guessing from the length and height of the cliff he was standing on, he estimated the time it would take him would be half a day to reach the bottom, by then it would already be dark.

So he ran to down the slope at top speed to make up for lost time.

Going down, he can see roughly the entire lay out of the market, he would describe it as an hourglass figure with the top being larger than the one below.

Most of the facilities be it the stalls, guard houses, toilets, store houses, public areas and the lounging were all tents.

He did see a large carriage, but no one was going near them, since they are surrounded by armed guards.

From what he can see, the lower part was were the general public could enjoy meals and entertainment, while the larger part was where the market was selling their inventory.

He then double checked his current inventory.

To make make it appear as though he had hunted in the area, he changed from his baggy clothes to a tight fitting outfit, using the the excess fabric he tied it to fit him.

He doubted that they would allow a child that looked like a beggar, so he had to look like a professional to fit his reason for being in the wood.

What he carried were two sacs one filled with all the core he hunted excluding the higher tiers like the Tiger, another was filled with dried rations, and some jugs of alcohol he planned to sell.

He also had a small bag filled with the shiny stones he found on the ground along with some of the rings that had no value to him.

Strapped beside his waist was a coin purse filled with 20 pieces of gold coins, 100 pieces of silver and about a 500 pieces of Copper.

He can't show his space ring since it would draw unwanted attention, so he wrapped it with his hands with rags torn from the extra clothes.

His attire was altered to look like he was a scout like in rpg games, wearing a bandanna on his head, with a scarf to cover his face, using the extra cloak, he fashioned a shorter version to cover his body with a hody.

His weapons consist of Hilda, the three knives he kept on using and the black shield, in the space ring there were other weapons like a bow and a 100 arrows, but he decided to sell them if he had the chance.

On a side note, he had Dusk jump down first and waited for his orders at the general area.

While he was at it he tried to look for a man dragging a large sac, but he couldn't find him.

"Master, were almost there!"

Looking down he saw the gate and some guards with the leading one lifting his hand warning him to stop and slow down, while other guards and mercenaries are gripping their weapons.

When he turned his head he saw a large dust cloud.

He never realized that his running speed was fast enough that he was leaving behind a dust cloud, so he slowed down after hearing him and skipped forward stopping before the guards.

He then looked at the guards and waited as the dust cloud disappeared from behind with the wind following behind.

The guards were obviously baffled in seeing such a display that they had left their mouths open wide, enough that an egg can fit inside.

"Excuse me...is there a problem."

The leading guard snapped out of his surprised and looked at Stigma's figure top to bottom with a wary expression, from behind he can hear guards mumbling about him.

The mercenaries were looking back at the largest man behind them, indicating that was their leader.

Slowly the guard asked him some question, such as who was he, what is his reason for coming here, and why was he running at that speed.

He was already prepared with his such questions so he answered diligently, the scarf that was covering his mouth and bandanna on his head were removed to show he was a young boy.

Seeing the face was a child made the tense guards relax a little.

He answered truthfully using the name Stigma Falsus, his reason for being here was to buy slaves for labor since he heard it from a passing merchant that it was nearby so he took his chances, and the reason for running at top speed was him mistaking his route and thought he might miss the time limit before they left.

The guard was a little wary but he still followed the procedure, he had him do a routine inspection from checking his things and a pat down while listing his weapons.

The mercenaries were watching the scene unfold and eye bold his money and core, they are worth a fortune to non cultivators.

They didn't check his hand, but they inspected the coin purse to check the contents and were surprised that they found a lot of money and questioned him.

"I already told you that a merchant told me about this place, I sold him some meat and cores and he gave me some liquor for a trade since he didn't have enough at hand."

They believed it since a lot of merchant do those type of deals so they just accepted it.

The other leader was grinning with an evil expression, clearly he had some intentions to take advantage of him.

Stigma saw the grin but ignored him, compared to con-artist using dirty deals and scare tactics, he looked like an amateur who had no idea on how to keep his excitement in his pants.

He had already dealt with this type of situation so he was not afraid, since they were employed they won't do anything that would jeopardize their future payment and reputation or they will be in trouble.

With all the inspection done along with the questioning, all they did now was warn him about the rules and penalties, layout on the surroundings, and the time limit.

The rules are simple:

During the day market are open and close during the night, some will continue until the night which depends on the store; Any form of forced transaction will be fined to any damage done within the property.

There must be a contract with a signature and seal from the merchant, the signature must be from the merchant that is listed within the roster, to prove any form of transaction or trade was made by legal means; If such items were found stolen, then the person will have his or her hand chopped of as a sign of payment for the crime including the return of the stolen goods, finally a promissory note will be written the offender's name, place of origin, and the price of the item, with interest.

Lastly, arguments between guest or merchants can be settled with a third party involved or a battle; the terms must have both parties consent.

He then explained the layout, contrary to what he thought, it was separated between four layers;

Each tents are labeled using flags.

Outside are where the inns and guard houses are stationed, the tent using the symbol of fire are the inns, while the ones using the shield are the guardhouses.

The second area is where the customers use as a rest stop with private lounges, the stalls stationed there are selling food, jewelry, clothes, weapons, armor, and services. They buy and sell all sort of goods depending on the store.

Each store labels are as follows, lounges are with golden leaves, food is with an animal skull, weapons are swords and shield, armor is with an armor stand, jewelry are with a star, the services are with human hands, blacksmith are using the hammer and anvil.

There are others types but are labeled with a blank flag since they don't fit in the category so they are hidden within the stalls.

The third layer is where the market has it namesake the slave market, they consist of merchants that sell and buy people who are branded, to know more Stigma would have to go there himself.

The last layer is where the administration reside, this is where all the transactions are recorded and stored, so most merchants follow their rules, if they want to have a special delivery they could send a request their.

Finally the time limit:

Due to the storm that had been going on for five days, the administration had announced that they will extend to five days and at the end they will house a special auction to make up for the inconvenience.

"Any questions so far?"

"...Why is this place called the slave market if they don't only sell slave?"

"There are some reasons; one is that most employees here are slaves, another is that they started out as a market that sold only slaves but other merchants took the chance to include themselves in the group."

Another man cut in the conversation, the leader of the mercenaries showing his motive.

"You must be new here, so you have to pay a toll fee and information fee..."

The leader was obviously showing his greed after looking at the small fortune on the table, he gave an excuse and tried to reach out the money.

Before the guard leader could say anything, Stigma had taken action.

*SWISH* *SWISH*

"...What..the..."

Looking at his hand he saw two blade had impaled the table, one was at the tip of his finger and one was aiming at his foot.

If the table was not there, his foot would have been stabbed, he saw that both were intended to kill as both were deep and almost went through the surface to the other end.

It was so fast that he had no time to react, and he had stopped an arrow being shot at him with his sword, but the speed of the thrown knife was to faster than he can see.

"Don't move..."

Stigma was behind him, with a knife at hand, to add to the pressure he released some of the Zen energy mixed with Grudge Energy.

With the oppressive energy behind him, he immediately understood his position, if he dared make a move his life will be taken.

The other guards who were watching the scene were stunned and mercenaries who were laughing in the inside had stopped and choked with wide eyes.

Their confidence in their leader was valid, since he can fight about five men all at once, yet they were seeing the so called easy score turned into a hostage situation.

The leader of the guards had finally regained his senses and looked around and found Stigma behind the mercenary leader with a knife behind his neck.

He first thought Stigma disappeared, but know he realized they were facing a cultivator.

From the perspective of all the guards, Stigma figure move in an incredible fast pace, now they saw him behind the man a knife on his hand.

All Stigma did was turn to the table behind him, grabbed three of his knives then threw two at the Mercenary leaders hand, dashed behind him with the knife being placed behind his neck.

The leader was scared stiff, if he had knew he was dealing with a cultivator he would have stayed quite.

Cultivators have special privileges, if they decided to kill non cultivator no one can stop them unless another one stepped in.

Now the situation was unfolding, and the guards can not do anything about it as he can only watch.

"M.y..apolo..gize, you...ng ma....ster for offen.d..ing you, plea..se h.av.e mer...cy on.. th..is fo..ol, if ...if..I..had...kno...wn you...wher.e..thi...s s..trong I wou..ld ha..ve neve...r off..fended you."

His entire sentence was broken, but the message was clear to all who are present here.

Cultivators are known to be blessed people, if a non cultivator were to offend them, then they can only pray for forgiveness.

The mercenary leader had already fought with a cultivator once and had broken all his bones for taking his women, now he developed an superiority complex to anyone weaker than him, but developed a deep sense of fear to cultivators in general.

"Now then, how shall I deal with you."