Pawn Shop (3)

"Burp, I am stuffed. That old lady sure can cook."

Graham lightly burped as he logged onto the old laptop and checked his messages.

Surprisingly, his friend Chubsy had responded and was even online.

Graham immediately messaged him asking to meet up on Market Street, and Chubsy agreed, listing a familiar 24-hour lounge that he liked to visit.

Graham quickly changed his Merchant's Uniform into simple leather pants, a torn sweater from a name brand, and a leather jacket, slicked his hair back, and put on sunglasses on his face.

He observed himself in the small mirror upstairs before placing all the Mirystals in his inner pocket and heading out.

[Where are you headed?]

IMES floated up in front of his face as he opened the door.

"To see a friend and cash in some favors. I'll be back."

[Be safe.]

"Naturally."

Graham activated his Disguise skill, running in the opposite direction as he had earlier before deactivating it just as his mana pool was about to run out.

Fanning himself as he walked, Graham headed toward The Classy Lady, the lounge that Chubsy wanted to meet at.

As he ducked down into the basement walkway, Graham greeted the familiar bouncer Bubba before heading inside uncarded and unsearched.

Dim lighting and loud music greeted him, as well as the sight of scantily clad women dancing up and down silver poles with enticing expressions.

With great familiarity, Graham headed toward one of the private rooms in the back and entered without knocking.

The room's lighting was even dimmer, as it only had a single flashing disco light that alternated colors.

Front and center was an extraordinarily fat boy with triple chins, beady blue eyes, and a blue tint with the faint appearance of scales on his pale skin, who occupied half of a large sofa all by himself. He was dressed in a too-small black T-shirt that exposed all of his stomach rolls and tight white pants with white boots.

In one hand, he held a hookah pipe and in the other hand, he held a drumstick that he was eating voraciously while blowing smoke out.

"Chubs, my man. How goes it?" Graham greeted him lightly as he threw himself on the other couch and helped himself to a glass of bottled juice.

"Big G. You getting more handsome even though your dad kicked you out?" Chubsy spoke between his chews as he reached for another drumstick.

"The news spread fast, huh?"

"You'd be a spy if you hadn't heard about it. Kubera's assets are split up among over 100 children. Your siblings are making big moves, and you're supposed to be in some historical property in the middle of nowhere, so what are you doing here, and why did you contact me? It can't be that you want me to give you some money, or you want to hang out for old times' sake?"

Despite his appearance of greedily eating while taking puffs of smoke, Chubsy's eyes were sharp as he stared at Graham's face.

It was part of why Graham liked him so much.

 He was a very sharp guy who often knew more than he told, but because of his laziness, he rarely acted on the information or shared it with others.

He was just focused on experiencing all of the pleasures of life, whether that be food, alcohol, drugs, women, or other things.

It was why he and Graham got along so well.

Chubsy was always looking for a thrill, and Graham only had time and money to waste while avoiding his sibling's surveillance, so they paired well, and Graham had even gotten Chubsy to owe him a couple of favors.

"Nah, I don't need money from you. I am here to cash in all my favors, though."

"Thought so. What do you need, Big G? Money? Room and Board? Drugs?" Chubsy coldly listed the options as he continued eating.

"Private meeting with the Deep Sea Pawnshop Manager." Graham listed the most pressing concern.

Now that he had gotten general verification of what he thought the Mirystals were, it was time to begin cashing in and increasing his scale of business.

And to do that, he needed a private place to sell that wouldn't expose his identity.

The only connection that would allow him to do that was the Pawn Shop owned by Chubsy's family, who dealt with high-end clientele all the time.

Although it was currently overkill, he hoped that as his businesses grew, the relationship would become satisfactory for both sides.

"Found some fun things to sell at the historical property?" 

Seeing Chubsy's eyes begin to gleam with interest, Graham quickly deflected.

"Something like that. Nothing that you'd be interested in, though. Just some knick-knacks and collectors' items I want to sell for some cash."

"Hmm. That's fine. Anything else?"

"An intro to that magical beast trader with the beast fighting pits, and if there's anything left, a place I can get magical weapons for cheap."

"Magical weapons?" Chubsy stopped mid-bite and looked him up and down with a suspicious expression.

"Since when do you have an interest in weapons, magical or otherwise?"

"Let's say that my father lifted the kill order among siblings, and I have a vested interest in staying alive," Graham replied as he drank his juice.

Chubsy considered his words for a moment before nodding. 

"That's rough."

He dropped the drumstick bone in his hand, dug out a phone from the couch, and sent a message.

Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz. Bzzzzzz.

The phone began vibrating, and he picked it up while taking a puff of smoke.

Bzarlegu jamen slrathuesi.

Chubsy began speaking in a different language, and Graham turned his head away to hide his expression while listening carefully.

Even though he knew that IMES had given him the intergalactic language patch, it was still surprising that his ears heard a strange language, but his head understood it.

The possibilities of eavesdropping and learning people's secrets excited him, but he definitely couldn't give it away with his expression.

Play it cool, Graham. Play it cool.

In less than 30 seconds, Chubsy got off the phone.

"It's done. The driver will be waiting for you outside. You'll head to the Pawn shop first and go from there."

"You don't want to come along? Help me choose?" Graham spoke in a teasing manner.

"Don't ask questions you don't mean. If you wanted to share what you found, you would have told me clearly." Chubsy rolled his eyes before continuing to eat.

"Thanks. Next time I see you, I'll bring some food and drinks that you've never had before." Graham looked at his friend gratefully.

"Doubt that. You'd have to discover a new world that hasn't been found by Earth before."

"Ah, I guess you're right. But you never know. Crazier things have happened." Graham stood up, grabbing another bottle of juice before heading toward the door.

"Take care of yourself, Big G. I don't know what you found on that historical property or what's giving you confidence now, but I don't want to see on the news that you were found dead due to 'unusual circumstances'."

Graham met Chubsy's serious expression before giving him a faint smile.

"I'll try."

He left before Chubsy could say anything else, and once he stepped outside, a luxurious black car was waiting for him with a man dressed in a suit standing by the back door.

The man had scaly, bluish skin like Chubsy, and faint gill marks could be seen on his neck.

"Mr. Kubera, please enter." The man bowed his head while opening the door, and Graham got in and relaxed in the back seat while playing with the Mirystals in his pocket.

First stop.

Deep Sea Pawnshop.