Since the Supreme Cult routinely searched the shops, Angor believed that Rosy Boutique couldn’t provide what he was looking for. Without tarrying any longer, he left through the door.
The saleswoman was still wondering who that boy was. She suddenly remembered that the boy showed her an Acoustic Illusion before entering the store.
There were very few apprentices talented in illusions. Even if someone would like to cross-learn other subjects, they usually chose easier skills such as Elemental spells, but not Occult.
There’s no way such a young man has enough time to learn illusions as a secondary major, so that boy is originally an Illusionist? Speaking of Illusionist apprentices in the city...
The woman immediately thought about the rumored figure, about whom people still occasionally talked about during mealtime even though it had been a long time since the garden challenge was completed.
Recently, many magazines would interview the survivors to create more eye-catching articles, and the interviewed apprentices were just glad that they gained popularity and fame.
There was one particular apprentice who never met with any journalist and still owned the top columns in various magazines.
Mister Phantom’s student.
“Was that really him?” the woman muttered.
...
Meanwhile, Angor had arrived at a narrow and particularly dark alleyway.
From what he heard, he knew that “Punk’s Employment Market”, which was established by Pierre, was located right here.
A large trash bin that occupied almost half of the already narrow entrance was releasing a foul stench into the environment. Angor believed he saw a rotten human hand inside. He looked behind him and saw the other shops that were all decorated with shiny and colorful magic effects, which looked as stunning as the neon lamps he saw from Earth movies.
But Pierre’s shop... No wonder he has to run around and broadcast his name everywhere.
He stepped into the alley and felt the ground damp and sticky due to either blood or polluted water. Meanwhile, he tried not to touch the walls that had strange-colored molds growing on them.
He traveled through half of the alley without seeing anyone. Although he did see many skeletons scattered about.
He suddenly saw a pair of glowing green eyes staring at him from a dark corner above him. Using the faint light that managed to sneak inside this place, he noticed an owl standing on top of a wall buttress.
“An alchemy familiar?” Angor quickly remembered something similar in his memory—an alchemy familiar named Isa, which was Flora’s pet.
The owl did not answer him. It kept its gaze at Angor’s back until he disappeared at the end of the path.
...
Just as Angor thought he was about to reach a dead-end, he heard the sound of wings flapping. The owl had left its original position and landed beside someone who was waiting at the end of the alley.
The man only had simple underpants and a pair of sunglasses on while he was taking it easy on an armchair as if he were sunbathing at the beach. Although there was only a dim wall lamp nearby that could be considered “bright”.
“Is it the Supreme Cult?” the man sat up and asked the owl.
The bird considered before shaking its head.
“No?” The man grew confused. “A customer then?”
“Excuse me, is this Punk’s Employment Market?” Angor already arrived and saw the figure as well as a small door behind him.
The door did not have any signs or slogans around it. Angor only saw a small line of words saying “Punk’s Employment Market” written under a road sign, which should be a street sign for Cork Street.
Angor frowned as he didn’t really believe that this hidden, easy-to-miss spot could be considered a “market”.
The man with the sunglasses inspected Angor and made sure he wasn’t a cultist. “Yes. This will be Punk’s... who are you?”
“A customer, like you just said,” Angor replied.
The man took off his sunglasses and gave Angor a shocked look as if he couldn’t believe what he heard.
“Hey, Pierre!! We have a guest!”
Angor was at a loss of words at the strange welcome. He believed he might be the first customer of the day since he didn’t see any other footprints beside his own footprints.
“You’re the first guest we have this month. Sorry I got a bit too excited...” The man stood up and bowed.
In this MONTH?! Angor tried not to act too surprised.
A fat guy squeezed out of the door and stepped into the alley while busily handling his untied trouser belt.
“We have a customer?” The second man finished tidying up his clothes and approached Angor. Due to his large size and extra-large belly, this man’s gentleman suit was funnily enlarged.
“Hello, Mister Pierre,” Angor greeted him. “I heard that you provide best-quality helpers for hire.”
He tried to be polite by saying “helper” instead of “slave”.
Both Pierre and the man with the sunglasses perked up.
“Yes, yes! I own the biggest employment market at Cork Street. Any types of talents, you find them all at my place! So what’s on your mind, sir? How about him?” Pierre introduced his shop proudly before pointing a finger at the semi-naked guy beside him.
Following Pierre’s gesture, the man with the sunglasses smiled and began to introduce himself, “A brilliant talent, right here! Take me home and I can help with anything you want, dear friend.”
Angor wasn’t sure how to reply at first.
So this weird greeter at the shop’s door is actually another “handyman” on display?
The Rosy Boutique did have many slaves who were free to walk around and serve the guests. They were “cultured” or “willingly offered themselves as slaves”, according to the cat-eared woman. So what about this one?
Angor checked and did not notice any otherworldly aura. It appeared this guy was a trained apprentice. Not only that, he was at his limit as a level-2 apprentice and ready to challenge the next level.
“Please don’t mind his... dressing style. He’s strong, I assure you. He participated in the garden challenge and made it out just fine,” Pierre explained when he saw Angor getting interested in his “merchandise”.
“No, I’m looking for someone else.” Angor stopped Pierre from his endless blabbering.
While the man with the sunglasses looked a little bit sad, Angor asked Pierre out of curiosity, “Why would he ‘sell’ himself like this when he has enough strength to... you know, do better jobs?”
Pierre and the man exchanged some puzzled looks.
“I guess he likes this way better?” Pierre commented.
“I’m not selling myself!” the man protested. “I just... need some money to stay alive, but I don’t know anything other than fighting, so I thought someone could use my muscles.”
Angor raised an eyebrow. “Man, I thought your shop is just another slave shop. But I see this is legit ’employment’.”
“Huh?” Pierre looked surprised to hear those words. “Oh, I do provide a place for people to temporarily hire workers, but my business is still mainly focused on dealing with slaves. Do you want slaves, sir? We have skillful maids that we smuggled in from Manda Plane, cat girls, rigid and aloof big sisters, gentle ladies perfect for being your housewives... Everything! Just say the word and I’ll help you look for it.”
“Can I um, browse them first?”
“No problem. Come with me!”
Following Pierre, Angor stepped through the tiny entrance and after walking down some stairs, he reached a relatively large area that looked completely different than the cramped space outside. In fact, it was generally larger than Rosy Boutique, just without as many people inside.
The round main hall was carefully decorated to accommodate guests. There were a cozy fireplace and hot tea, and all the furniture smelled like fresh sandalwood.
Angor would admit that he already took a liking to this place.
Several individuals in the hall looked his way to see who was the “first guest of the month”, but they only saw Angor’s hooded robe instead.
Angor looked around to see if anyone here belonged to another plane, and he was disappointed when he found none.
“Like I said, tell me if you have special needs, sir. Even if we don’t have what you seek right now, we can remain in connection so that I can help you find a suitable slave later,” Pierre said as he invited Angor to a sofa beside the lit fireplace.
Angor did meet with a number of otherworldly life forms before, but he had no idea which ones he could actually buy with money.
Pierre mentioned a “maid brought from Manda Plane”, yet Angor wasn’t interested in the least. For one, he was too young to understand how maids worked in private. And he could never find the courage to bring a maid to Sunders’ manor. No matter what was his reason, he couldn’t imagine what would happen if the stern gentlemen were to find out that his young student had purchased a woman.
For this reason, Angor would avoid asking for any females. At least he was not going to look for human ladies.
A name suddenly came to his mind as he remembered something he heard from Twilight Auction.
“Crystal Folks. Do you have any Crystal Folk that I can hire?”