Chapter 8: Fantastic Animals.

As the man gets closer, he can feel how the cat tensed up and started to show its teeth, the cat was furious and ready to attack, this behavior of the cat makes the man stop in his tracks and raise his hand trying to prevent any attack from the cat. 

"Psh is hopeless, if she chose you there is nothing I can do, you will have to pay me for her"- says the man while glaring at me.

"Excuse me but what do you mean?" 

"Although it is very uncommon for this kind of creatures to choose their masters forming a bond in a forced way, normally I sell them to special customers so they can use them as hunters until the creature sees the person as its master, but your case was special dwarf"- says the man while still grumbling. 

"And how much do you want for it?" 

"Hummm how about a sum of 350 galleons?"- the man's face changes and he starts smiling with his cigar between his teeth. 

Shit in my bag there must be about 50 galleons at most, plus a creature isn't what I was thinking of buying right now, but it doesn't seem to want to get away from me...I could escape but being honest, escaping in a place like this would only draw attention to me sooner than I wanted. 

"what's the matter midget, you don't have that courage, hahaha if that's the case I have another option, an easier one depending on the point you wish to see it...."

It seemed that this was his intention from the beginning. 

"Speak up, old man." 

"Hahahahaha I like your attitude dwarf, follow me, to tell you the truth I would only need a few favors, something simple, like collecting some stuff"- says the man taking me to his fantastic creature shop. 

If before I thought I had seen many creatures this has no comparison, unlike the other places this store is incredibly large, but it is also due to the wide variety of creatures it has...

"Alright dwarf, I need you to help me with the collection of some creatures, creatures that I have not been able to go and collect due to issues of taking care of these beauties"- says the man while stroking the head of a griffin, which is a few steps away from the exit of the store, one of the wildest creatures in the magical world due to its ferocity.

Simply amazing, I had never seen one of them...This man... He is different from all the others in this place, even his way of acting outside his tent was different a moment ago, now he is calmer and warmer, but he still had a characteristic roughness in people with rigorous jobs.

It also seemed that each beast, animal, or plant has its own habitat suitable for its survival, it's amazing this place almost looking like a kid in a candy store, although I'm practically a kid now. 

"So what do you think dwarf, do you want to help this old man or will you pay with your life?" - says the man as he walks down the corridor of the store until he positions himself in the center of the store with his arms open in token of all the creatures around us. 

"what do you really want from me? Why me? "Although it seemed to be a good deal, I would not accept stupid proposals for an unknown creature in my hands. 

" Well boy, I'm a busy man as you will see," He said as he pointed to his desolate store with a proud face and a cheeky grin. 

The creature oblivious to any conversation or situation seemed to be busy as it was engrossed in its hunt for flies flying around the store-and what is she supposed to be?" 

"A moment ago I told you that this creature chooses its master, but it really doesn't, this creature are usually wise and powerful beings that never yield to the control of another being"- explains to the man as he approaches a bookshelf and takes from a large book of a dark color-" although its appearance is of a simple cat, nobody has really seen its true form... mainly because nobody has survived long enough to see its full form". 

"If so how come you have such a creature?" 

"That's my point, nobody knows much about this creature but that they are dangerous, only a few specimens have been found and their eggs are incredibly difficult to find, I had the opportunity to save this little one before it hatched"- he explains while he approaches me again and points to one of the pages of the book the image of the cat, where you can only appreciate a half drawing and a brief description of what the man just told me. 

It appeared to be an encyclopedia on creatures, and quite an extensive one for its size "An egg?" 

"That's the most curious thing about this being, it lays eggs, not knowing what habitat it usually has it is not easy to keep it in a specific place, I told my assistant to change its habitat while I went out to do some shopping but apparently he could not control it and it escaped"- says the man while he leaves the book in my hands and approaches to observe through the window of the establishment. 

"The man who was chasing him." 

"So you know Philip, he's a bit clumsy, to tell the truth, he's not a bad person, in this place there are few left like that, good thing he didn't leave this place to the surface because it would be dangerous for the integrity of the place" -the man walks back passing by me and heading to a desk that was in the center of the establishment while looking for something else in one of the drawers of his desk. 

"Damaging the integrity of the site?" 

"I imagined it, I had never seen you around these parts, it is very rare to see a dwarf in these places... this is the alley of the bloody cauldron, one of the most secret places in the magical world, the real black market of wizardry, a place where you find everything you don't need but you wish to have.... everything you want but can't have, everything you need to fulfill your darkest pleasures"- after these words the man takes out a briefcase from one of the drawers of the desk, inside the briefcase he proceeds to keep the book he took from the bookcase a moment ago. 

"If this place were to be discovered, many wizards of the high and low class would fall before the congregation of world magic and would be convicted of trafficking many illegal materials, creatures, and potions in the magical world." the man continues to explain. 

"Is that why the man was asking the old woman for so much mercy?"

"Oh shit, Philip got in trouble again with that old lady, I hate owing favors to that woman,"-the man passes his hands over his face in a desperate way-"well, later I'll solve that problem, for now... I'll hand you this"-the man approaches me again while handing me a shovel and gloves "And what am I supposed to do with this?"

"Good dwarf, these once the most spectacular creatures in the world, fantastic, beautiful, and dangerous, but there is one thing in common in all of them and indeed in all living creatures in this world and that is that they shit, some too much for their size and I am an old man that time is catching up with him too fast"- the man walks past me again and goes around the room as they feed their creatures and points to the scraps.

"It's something you could do with magic, " 

"You don't know much about magical creatures, do you? Some are very sensitive to magic, the slightest spark of it and they are likely to shatter their entire cage. 

"A calamity?" 

"Nothing to worry about dwarf, maybe they are just ideas or things in my head, consequences of so many years in this job, but I still want to protect them"- the man turns his gaze to me again and although I have a mask I feel as if he was looking me directly in the eyes just like the cat did on the surface. 

This man is definitely not like the others, it seems that his only purpose is to protect these creatures. 

"One more thing, when you have all the creatures on the list come and visit me to close the deal"- the man extends his hand towards me and concludes by saying- " best of luck in your adventure... wait what can I call you ?" 

I hadn't thought about what name to give...

"You can call me a shady cat." 

"That's a bit ridiculous, but if that's your alias then there's no other option, my pleasure I'm Rakan the hunter of fantastic creatures, from now on I'm counting on you dwarf... I mean grim cat, we'll be in touch, best of luck in your adventure." - the man stretches out his hand again to shake it with mine tightly. 

author's note: remember to visit my website if you want to support my work. there you will find advanced chapters. patreon.com/SlipperyRaccoon