Chapter 38: Black market (5)
Perseus arrive at the spot and knocked on the door. A slot on the door then opened, with a pair of eyes then looking downward to see Perseus and the spirit beasts.
"What is a child doing down here?" the guy asked "...Wait...I recognize you, you're the genius from the Silver family, why are you here?"
"I'm here for a Boris, I need some information" Perseus answered
The slot then closed and Perseus hear some locks opened and followed by the door.
"My son must've send you here, but I don't mind having more customers" an old man said "Come in and take a seat, I'll give you any information that you need, if I can't provide them, then I won't charge you, if my information is wrong, I'll give you a refund, just present evidence on why I'm wrong first"
He was an old man, 180cm tall, grey hair hair with a grey beard, not as muscular but not frail either.
He was then led to a seat, which he took, Boris then sat at the opposite of him.
"Tell me what you wanna know" The old man said
"I heard that there is this certain pill, a pill that greatly enhances one's abilities, used by members of the red sword to be specific, know anything about that?" Perseus asked
"I know" Boris nodded "That's 10 silver coin, you asked a question, payment upfront"
< Damn > Perseus gritted his teeth < Luckily the adventurer's guild will give us our money back >
"Is he lying?" Perseus turned to Siege
"No, he's telling the truth" Siege answered
"Ah it seems like you are as smart as the rumor says" Boris chuckled "You also have a lie detector with you for precise information"
Perseus then handed 10 silver coins.
"How is it made? What are its side effects? Is it mass produced? And who makes them?"
"I can answer the last one for free, because even I do not know, because even some of my sources don't know, only a higher up within the red sword would know. But as for the other questions, it would be 5 gold coins" Boris demanded
"5 GOLD coins?! Shouldn't it be at most 1 for each question?" Ace asked
"That's another question, 5 silver coins" Boris pointed out "Yes, it's one for each question, so that's 3, 1 is for my future troubles and the other 1 is for security. You're probably doing this under the request of someone, won't be long till the information get leaked out, the red sword would then connect the dots and know that I gave you the information, they wouldn't let it happen again, so it'll be no doubt harder to get anymore leaked information . Plus I need some protection, not that they'll target me specifically since several others also know, but just in case."
Perseus then handed in 5 silver coins
< So damn expensive, but it's the best lead we got > Perseus thought
"2 gold coins upfront, 3 after you answered my questions" Perseus said as he handed in 2 gold coins
"Alright then, yes, it is being mass produced, but in very small amounts, as for where it's made? I wouldn't know. The side effects are very severe," Boris answered "If they use all the boost, for example onto their legs, they will no longer be able to use it afterwards, the only way to heal it would be to cut it and regrow it, which would take months to get used to the new body part again. But if they spread the the effects out evenly through out the body, they will be paralyzed for a decent amount of time, only being able to move their mouth and eyes."
"As for how is it made..." he trailed off and then stared Perseus off into his eyes "They use the arcana imbued blood, most of which are from the buries, but now that most buries are gone, criminals in prisons would disappear and go missing, only to find themselves at the mercy of the red sword's. They would even capture regular civilians, but those cost higher, since they would need to pay off the enforcers to not investigate further into the matter. That's 3 gold"
"Siege?" Perseus turned to the wolf again
"Truth" Siege shook his head "I detect no lies"
Perseus then handed in the rest.
"Last question, the kids that are adopted from the buries, can you hand me a list of all their names? I want not just the ones in Artia but on the continent" Perseus asked
"I'll give it for 50 silver coins if you tell me why you want it" Boris replied
"Just curious on how many there are and how strong they are."
"You trying to eliminate them or something?" Boris chuckled "They're citizens now you know, even if you hate them, you can't kill them, you'll be trialed for murder, but give me a minute and prepare my money in the meanwhile"
Boris then got up and went to look for that list
*****
"You sure you don't need anything else?" Boris asked at his doorstep
"No" Perseus shook his head "We got what we wanted"
"I'll tell you one more thing before you leave, there are a few more that are not on that list, there are other kids that were adopted in secret, even I do not know who they are, there was no trace leading up to them." Boris said
"So there's more than 1?"
"Yeah, I don't know what you plan to do with those kids from the buries but as for the mysterious ones, don't go looking for them, if they left no trace, it means that the families that managed to hide them are insanely powerful or at least has a lot of connections"
"Noted"
"Bye now kid, come here again when you need anything else" Boris then entered back into his house
"What do we do now?" Ace asked "We got what we came here to get"
"We wander for now" Perseus answered "We attract attention away from the others for now, once they're done and they signal us, we'll meet them at the exit"