Chapter 025

Vincent and Kate walked into Baldwin's Bar wearing simple hoods and cloth masks. He looked around, to find that it was still recently occupied, despite it being 9 in the morning. He looked back at Kate, who gestured him to act on his own. He nodded, and approached the bartender.

"Hello, a glass of Blood Whisky please" he said.

The bartender nodded, and poured out a glass of blood red liquid in front of Vincent.

Vincent slid over a note worth 1 soli and said, "Keep the change. I heard that there are some really extraordinary people at the bar. Do you think I could join them?" he asked.

"Don't know what you are talking about" replied the bartender impassively.

"Oh come on. I am qualified to join you know" he said furnishing a dagger from out of nowhere. He then proceeded to slowly sink the dagger into the bar counter. The dagger penetrated the sturdy wooden counter, and sunk till only its handle was visible.

The bartender looked at the dagger with fear in his eyes. He then looked at Vincent and said, "Wait" before leaving the counter and entering a private room at the side.

He returned to the counter after a while, and said to Vincent, "Room 5 at 9 30"

Vincent smiled and nodded.

"And you owe me 2 pounds for the damage to the counter" he added.

The smile on Vincent's face froze. But after some consideration, he did not challenge the bartender, instead electing to leave 5 pounds on the counter and going to sit on a table to the side.

Approximately 20 minutes later, people with all sorts of disguises started filing to Room 5.

Vincent, with Kate following them, was one of them.

He said inside with Kate, among the 20 or so people, all around a huge brass table.

"All right. Looks like all those who want to participate are here. The gathering will begin now. The same old rules. You will have a chance to put an item for sale one by one, clockwise starting from my left. Anyone can bid and purchase items. You pay 5% of the transaction amount as the house fee to me. I don't care what grudges or intentions you have, but in this gathering you will not leave your chairs, and not make any attacks, until the end of the gathering. There are 5 doors behind me leading to different exits. You will go in one by one with a 20 second gap at the end of the meeting. No two persons will go through consecutive doors. Let us begin" said the man sitting at the head of the table.

The person next to him spoke, "I have a mystical item for sale. It is called the Skeleton Whistle. As the name implies, it will summon a skeleton from the nearest corpse, which will be under your control. The skeleton itself is not very strong, but it can take several hits, and is great served as a distraction. The negative effect is that it may summon skeletons on its own on occasion, only these skeletons will attack the holder instead" he said. Then he looked around, gauging interest before telling "400 pounds"

"I'll take it for 400" came a voice.

"420" came another voice.

Vincent looked at the whistle the man was holding with desire, and said, "440 pounds"

There was no reply for a while, and the man said "Sold at 440 pounds" and put a black and silver whistle on the tray, and slid it across to Vincent. Vincent took the whistle, and put 440 pounds and slid it back, and paid 22 pounds to the house.

"I have the Ear of a Farfetch Lynx, which is the main ingredient in some Sequence 8 potions. I am selling it for 600 pounds" said another voice.

A couple of people bid on the product, and the ingredient was eventually bought by a hooded man.

This process went on, with things being sold and bought. The house always got a cut out of successful transactions, which was paid by the seller of the item on the spot.

Eventually, it was the turn of a man in tight fitting red and black leather clothes, wearing a strange mask.

"I have this to sell" he said displaying a gorgeous silver broad sword. "It is called the Sword of Culling. If you hold it, you will automatically have perfect control and mastery over the weapon. It can also strengthen your physical body and increase your resistance to attacks to some extent. Its weakness is that you have to have one fight while wielding it every day. If you don't it will weaken your physical strength and resistance instead of increasing it, and cause you to be a clutz in any action. The price is 600 pounds" said the man, as he silently waited for offers.

The sword was gorgeous to look at. While its effects were not particularly powerful, its negative effects were also easily manageable. A sword like this could easily be worth over a thousand pounds.

Everyone looked at the sword with hot eyes.

"700 pounds," said Vincent jumping the gun.

"800 pounds" came a voice from nearby.

The bids kept rising in increments of 50 pounds. Eventually, the price reached 1,100 pounds. Vincent was the one who placed the bid, and he was proud to see that no one could compete with him. He turned around and looked at Kate proudly as if he was seeking approval.

"1150 pounds!" came a loud sound. A burly man sitting some distance away from Vincent had placed the bid.

"1200" said Vincent, seemingly a little irritated.

"1300. Haha, scrawny guy, you can't compete with me in terms of wealth" he said happily.

"1400" said Vincent almost jumping out of his seat.

"1500. Give up scrawny guy. You can't satisfy that woman next to you even if you get this enormous sword. So why don't you just give up and get lost?" said the man.

Vincent jumped up from the chair cursing out, when the man at the head of the table gently coughed. A coercion belonging to a powerhouse spread out, freezing Vincent in his tracks. Kate pulled Vincent's arm forcefully and made him sit. The burly man gave an amused chuckle, promoting a look of rage from Vincent.

The masked man looked around, and seeing no other bids said, "Sold" and proceeded to exchange the sword with the burly man.