These shady-looking people were resting at different spots such as out in the open or under some roofs that had yet to collapse. But every one of them had an iron cage nearby.
The cages were all covered under black curtains, so Angor could not see what was inside. Although he more or less had an idea.
The robed people looked his way when he arrived, then turned away to mind their own business. They thought Angor was only another customer who came to check their merchandise. In fact, there were currently several buyers who were looking through the cages.
One of the robed sellers, a man who had been sitting in the center of the settlement, suddenly removed his hood and revealed a face that did not look like a human.
Angor could not tell this man’s age because his face was full of hardened scales like that of lizards, as well as a right eye with a slit pupil like a snake.
He was Rossum, the deputy commander of their trader group. Those who saw him for the first time tended to mistake him for a humanoid. But the truth was, Rossum was a human who received body transplants of certain creatures from other planes. He had many more of such foreign body parts all around his body. Only his brain and his heart were still his own.
This was a common sight in the wizarding world. People already realized that humans were far from being the strongest species among denizens from different planes. For example, demons from the Abyss Plane were usually born at wizard level, and they could easily surpass the most powerful wizards upon reaching adulthood. Getting foreign organ transplants had become a universally-accepted means of improvement.
This could be very costly to do, however. For example, Rossum’s enhancement cost him more than 6,000 magic crystals initially, and in the future, it would be likely more than that price should he go for further maintenance. Though this was rather worthwhile since he needed such power to become the second-in-command.
“What’s up, Rossum?” A slim-bodied man who had been leaning against a gilded cage spoke to Rossum, “What do we have—oh! What a stealthy customer. He has something to hide his form, I reckon? That face though... We can earn big money if we sell him to Puppet Master.”
“Puppet Master” Bogula’s obsession with blond hair and blue eyes was almost known around the whole world, and Angor’s style fitted perfectly.
The Ashen Traders used to assist Bogula in finding “proper slaves” as well.
Rossum gave Angor a careful look and replied, “Captain Beals, I should tell you that Bogula did try to capture this man before, and he failed, miserably. Are you sure you’d give it a try?”
Beals raised an eyebrow and waited for further explanation.
“Before we came to Lloyds, everybody was talking about a footage that showed us a person making an alchemy treasure. That rings a bell?”
Beals nodded. He never watched the said footage, but he did hear about it quite a lot. Almost every alchemist at Fey Continent was crazy about it.
“Do you mean he got something to do with that image?”
“Not only that, but if I remember right, he’s the ‘leading actor’ of it.”
“Really now? It’s our lucky day.”
Beals was now giving Angor a passionate look. If Rossum was right, they needed only to build a friendly relationship with Angor, and hopefully, they could import several simple alchemy items to sell, which would benefit their entire trading team greatly.
Even the cheapest items from the hands of a future master were still top-notch.
While Rossum and Beals talked about their plans, Angor’s attention was attracted by the bulky thug behind him again, who had given up his stealth tactic and had approached Angor in the open.
Those who didn’t know what was going on might mistake him as Angor’s bodyguard, while those who recognized this infamous bandit around here already sentenced Angor to death in their minds.
“Hope you’re smarter than that a*s I killed. I might let you live if I feel like it...”
Angor glanced back with a smile and kept heading to the traders ahead.
The bandit found Angor’s reaction to be a little weird, but he quickly ignored his concerns. He was confident in his strength after mugging all sorts of people without breaking a sweat.
“Welcome, dear friend. I’m the deputy chief of Ashen Traders, Rossum. May I know what you are looking for?” Rossum addressed Angor with a bright smile without wearing his hood.
The other shoppers all looked this way in confusion. As regular customers of this place, they knew how these particular traders usually behaved. “Friendly service” was never written in their job description. The sellers, especially the two leaders, always left their guests to pick goods by themselves and didn’t care about whether their merchandise was sold at all.
Even some of the team members were wondering why their secondary chief was acting so amiable.
Instead of answering Rossum, Angor looked above him, where an owl suddenly descended and perched on top of a broken wall nearby.
“I’m not buying, Mister Rossum.” Angor reached out a hand, and Brulee quickly took out a small card from under its feathers and gave it to him. “I was asked to receive something from you.”
Rossum looked at the card and Brulee. He then put up an even more polite manner.
“You came in Miss Seeley’s stead?”
“That’s right!” Brulee exclaimed proudly before Angor could say anything. “We’re talking about my master, Lady Seeley!”
“Her goods are personally guarded by our chief. Please come with me.” Rossum lowered his head and moved to lead the way.
Miss Seeley? Angor thought he heard this name from somewhere before, but he didn’t have time to think about it right now.
The stalking bandit, however, couldn’t really keep up with Angor. He clearly felt that Rossum was at least a level-3 apprentice, who was probably stronger than he appeared to be with all those body enhancements. He wondered whether he should insist on getting his prey.
Angor halted his steps briefly and glanced at the bandit again.
The bandit felt dizzy all of a sudden, and his body was going after Angor before he noticed it.
When he could think clearly again, he was already standing at the center of the settlement, where Rossum, Angor, and Beals were talking not far from him.
His legs almost gave in as he just realized that he messed with someone he shouldn’t. The unknown force prevented him from escaping when he had a chance, and it was too late to do it now.
He KNEW he was in big trouble when looking at Beals, who just claimed to be the leader of Ashen Traders.
As a Bloodline user, the bandit could easily recognize the unparalleled Bloodline power emitting from Beals’ body. To make it worse, Beals was talking to his “fish” in a friendly way, if not exceptionally respectfully.
The other onlooking buyers all noticed the same thing. They didn’t know Angor, but they knew who this trembling thug was.
“I’d say the Shark Hunter poked his nose at something he couldn’t handle,” one of the customers whispered.
The bandit, who was usually called the “Shark Hunter” in these parts, heard those words and felt his heart drop.