Slave Market (5) - Encounter

When Stigma was walking away from the scene of incidence, a group of men sat in one corner in a shop giving their reports on their finds.

After the last one made his call, one of them spoke to the figure holding some scrolls with an abacus[1] resting on his left side.

A six foot tall hooded man walked closely to the leading figure, he was head shorter than him so had to bow when he asked.

"Young Lord, should we go buy the supplies now or should we search around for more information on the other shops?"

Since they rushed for two day straight without resting completely, they made it to the market sooner than expected.

But with the daylight still present they started investigating the shops they can buy supplies from rather than strolling around, they agreed to meet in the afternoon by the tea house right near the entrance with the red birth sign board.

Each person were exhausted from the entire journey but pushed forward in their investigation, for the knew what was in stake.

But their leader can weigh in the pros and cons.

"Neither, we shall take residences then start tomorrow, the notice had a list of stores that agreed to lowering their prices range starting tomorrow, I looked into it and verified at least five of them so it checks out."

"But Young Lord, prices are better when their lowered yet we are not the only ones here with the same interest, if we don't buy them now we might not get enough or none at all if someone takes them first."

After rolling the scroll with one hand, he scratched his eyes with the same hand then explained the situation.

"That is an issue I have to admit, but we have already went on this journey for a long time with no proper breaks, but the time frame has been extended so we can now do things properly, also you and everyone else here deserves to rest."

He then grabbed a cup of tea and took a sip.

*Sip!* " 'We can't work properly, if we don't close our eyes and mind from time to time'[2] don't you know that saying."

The man can only submit, since hearing the news not just him but everyone in their group was agitated so they had to move fast.

But compared to them, their young lord been compiling, thinking and calculating their progress since they left so they were better of than him since he had a bags under his eyes.

Since they were physically tired, while he was mentally exhausted, so they volunteered on searching while he took his time and looked around.

"As you wish Young Lord, but you as well need to relax to, I'll look into a residence now and check back."

"No need, I found one but have yet to make any registration since we were separated at the time and needed to see if we have enough for the succeeding day."

The were all empathetic to him.

Since he can't do much physical activity for a long time he had to make up with his inability by doing other tasked the others looked over, they were all grateful for him and at the same time cared for him like their own sons when they had their own children.

After gathering all the material into his space ring he lead the way to the residence.

On the way they saw someone drag another man in an untucked shirt by the arm, he immediately recognized the man being dragged away as the appraiser he met when sold some cores.

He then overheard one of them saying something about a large Heavenly Beast Core about the size of a small bucket.

"Young Lord, do you think it was true?"

...

"...What do you guys think?"

...

...

...

Cultivators are stronger than normal people and after going through each tier their senses increase as well, like they hearing so they all heard the key words.

Everyone had the same idea, it must be a 2nd Tier beast if they compared its size to another object.

"...For now let's follow from behind."

They all agreed to the decision, but before they can get close they stopped after seeing a symbol they all despised.

"F*ck! Bad timing, we have to get there before they find out!"

Instead of following the two from behind they had to circle around the stall to avoid being detected.

Eventually it took them a long time to find him, but after asking around they found were he went and was surprised by the coincidence on the destination.

When they walked over to the registration tent the smell blood was in the air, along with some men wailing in pain.

They then readied themselves and brought forth their weapons swords, shields, hammers, spears and a mace, slowly they made they way to the entrance with their Young Lord in the back.

They didn't want him to get involved in the account of his injuries.

Inside a tent the wails of pains and curses were being heard, from outside it looked to horrifying for non cultivators.

Thoughts became to wander from seeing such a barbaric scene.

If anyone looked inside they would be in utter shock and fear from the large pool of blood on the ground, about eight bodies on the ground covered in wounds.

Some had multiple wounds from slash marks, some had a bloodied head from a being bludgeoned, two had a knife stabbed in each eye, and one had a knife in his chest and clutched the wound, he showed a face of despair, like he was facing a tiger barehanded.

"Now then, how shall I deal with you lot?"

They then heard a voice causing them to look and found a boy covered in blood with a rusted sword and a face of pure...indifference.

***

'Crap, I think I went to far.'

What Stigma did was a few slashes on their joints and muscles followed by a few punches and kicks, what he had not expected was that he was facing a bunch of weaklings that didn't survive even one attack of his.

But then he remembered he was buffed with multiple beast souls along with being a cultivator, he was faster, stronger and more prone to bloodshed than these guys.

What he had expected was these guys to put up a decent fight for a while then discourage them to tell the truth, yet they just stood there and look like background mob.

When he saw a group of men from the outside he thought they were backup so had to end them early, so he had to finish of the remaining ones.

Then again he was moving in a slow pace than he usually those, so he must have been fighting some very weak opponents.

He looked down and felt a little bad.

'Ah I remember this feeling, it was when I had a bunch level 9999 characters in Disgaea[3] and started K.O. - ing all the weak monster as a pass time.'

He then furrowed his eyebrows and didn't smile at the situation, showing an unamused face now he had to figure out how to salvage the situation from getting out of hand and bringing extra trouble for him.

Others, however, interpreted it differently as a face of boredom or indifference and wanted to kill more.

From others perspective he was covered in blood and was bored from his brutality and wanted more forms of violence .

Each one saw him and had different opinions.

The men on the floor were cursing their leader for slandering such a monster they didn't even know, now they understand that he did in fact kill the beast and was extremely vicious, they were now praying to their respective beliefs as he would not kill them and at least spare them to be cripples.

The employees started to pray that they had not offended him by staring at him with disgust or would end up as collateral damage from witnessing his brutality, especially the woman who wanted to swindle Stigma ended up being a witness to a one sided encounter with a monster versus a bunch of weakling.

While the men outside were still on guard, they were exhausted and had little time to recover know they encountered a monster in a child's form, if they try to fight him know they would suffer greatly.

Different thoughts circled around the room be it fear, anxiety, despair, hope, denial, madness, anger, rage, defeat and confusion.

"Now then, how shall I deal with you lot?"

Their backs started to freeze from the sudden declaration.

They were all focused on Stigma when he spoke up, he didn't change his expression but had raised his hand to his chin and made a thinking posture.

The employees continued to pray in silent, the men outside were alarmed and wanted to walk away, but the men on the floor started to panic like crazy fanatics.

"PLEASE FORGIVE ME!! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE THIS POWERFUL!"

"PLEASE SPARE ME! KILL THIS MAN! IT WAS ALL HIS IDEA!"

"PLEASE SPARE ME!! WE WILL BE YOUR LOYAL FOLLOWER"

"I HAVE A HIDDEN FORTUNE! YOU CAN TAKE IT JUST PLEASE SPARE ME!!!!"

"I'M NOT PART OF THIS THIS MEN FORCED ME THEY HAD TAKEN MY DAUGHTER HOSTAGE!!"

"PLEASE I HAVE A FAMILY WAITING FOR ME, I CAN'T DIE!!"

"PLEASE SPARE ME I'M INNOCENT NOT APART OF THIS, I CAN PAY YOU A FORTUNE JUST DON'T KILL ME!!"

"PLEASE, I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!!!!I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!!!"

Their sudden yell shocked Stigma and focused his attention to them, and leaned his head to the side.

He didn't need his skill to tell that these men were lying, he can smell a faint scent of blood when he passed them, and it wasn't dry.

"...Why should I? You told me I stole 'your Core' yet you say they were witness that being your crew and you claim to have evidence on me, so..."

He then decided to have some fun and wanted to make them pay for their insult.

"...I have to find out what you have on me then get rid of the evidence along with killing all witnesses."

To add the pressure, he released his Zen energy and Grudge energy giving the same oppressive feeling from before and with his eye still squinted he smiled making it look like a sadistic grin.

The sudden change in the atmosphere had made them choke on their next words, they never realized he was a cultivator and now they had really pissed him of.

"But I can't tell if you guys are lying, so I have to be thorough."

"So to prove your story I would need to torture you then ask you each a question, since there are eight of you are the witness, it's only fitting that each of you get about eight types of torture."

When his parents were still alive, he researched a bunch of useless facts, such as how paper was made or how to carve wood using a knife or how to cook french fries with an actual potato, when he had time he would just research stuff that interest him including some torture techniques.

"First, I would use the ten thousand slashing method, unlike your friend here I would slash you not with a knife but with broken plates or glass, then rub your wounds in acidic juices like lemon or lime, and since there are eight, each one of you will have to go through ten thousand each."

"The next I ought to try would be abuse by horse, I would use rope and have you bound by the hands and feet, then tie the other end to a horse and have it run around in circles at a field full of stones eight times, each time one of you faints, you will have to repeat the process until the number eight is reached to make it fair."

"Next should be the eaten by rodents, I believe someone nearby was selling a cage filled with rats so I suppose I shouldn't feed them in a few days to make them really hungry, then afterward I'll trap your hands in the cage with eight of them, then let them eat to their heart's content.

"There is another one where I could start by inserting a heated piece of metal like small dagger and pierce you in any part of the body, say the spine then let it cool, then I should do it until the number eight is reached should be fair don't you think."

....

Quoting each torture method and explaining their methods with a malicious grin, had caused the maximum effect in intimidation, that is what Stigma wanted to happen.

What Stigma did not remember was that he not only gained skills in boosting his physical traits but the natural ability to intimidate foes.

If one does research, animals have different ways in intimidation, such as how Lions, Tiger and Bear uses their roars, other animals do actions, such as how snakes use their flickering tongue, or how monkeys throw object from afar or how gorillas beat their chest.

Since Stigma absorbed the actual souls of the beast, he could release a feral like aura just by getting angry or by venting out his frustration.

What Stigma was doing was no different to an act of intimidation, since he released his Zen energy he had unintentionally used all his intimidation skills to vision, voice and action.

Causing not fear but terror, their backs started to shiver and were covered in sweat, the group from outside were feeling some slight discomfort so he assumed his intimidation was not effective on them, but the non cultivators felt the full blunt force of his skill and Grudge energy.

Unknown to them, Stigma had no intention in doing such acts.

Since he can't negotiate with these types of people properly, he can only intimidate them to listen, he already foresaw the ruse the female receptionist was doing when she saw her stutter a while ago, so he didn't care anymore and wanted to get even and take a chance to really scare the shit of them.

After finishing his explanation, he clapped hands and continued to look downwards to the battered men, causing their faces to go pale.

"Afterwards that fixes this entire situation don't you think!"

Smiling deeply, he had made everyone feel like they were in a nightmare, they have never seen or heard someone who could be so dangerous, what was worse is that he was cultivator so only those in the clan can stop him.

The bandits wanted to kill their leader a thousand time, while the receptionist continued to pray, but one man stood forward.

"Excuse me."

Stigma turned his attention to the entrance and found a young man removing his hod and raised his hand.

"Young man, I must ask you to please stop these atrocities, you are making all cultivators have a bad name."

"...Are you friend with these fools."

"No, we are not even acquaintances, so please stop causing a scene."

"...Before I do, tell me who are you?"

"My name is Felix, I hail from the Boar clan, and you would be."

He thought for a moment and answered.

"Stigma Falsus, please to meet you."

Silence descendent in the room, there were know seeing a confrontation with a monster and a hero.

Little did they know, their encounter would change their respective futures.

[1] abacus - a type of old calculator that the Chinese use for business or simple calculation like addition and subtraction.

[2] 'We can't work properly, if we don't close our eyes and mind from time to time' - it means you have to relax every now and then, in case some of you don't understand

[3] Disgaea - In case some wanted to know link is below.

"disgaea.wikia.com/wiki/Disgaea_Wiki"