There was a common naming convention shared through the populace, a standard way of labelling places, notions and also to exploit a low level of vocabulary into one universal method to easily recognize things that are either too sophisticated to explain or too grand to comprehend. For example, if the underworld represented the world ‘under the world’, then it was common sense to call the world ‘above it’ the overworld. Because it is ‘over the world’.

The name was simple enough and largely welcomed thanks to its lack of complexity. Some could argue the world over the world would be the sky or the heaven, however, to the people living here, it was more acceptable to say a ‘world’ was a place to live in, therefore the underworld became the hidden part of humanity, the side nobody want to know nor acknowledge or deal with, while the overworld became the obvious part where cities where built and citizens lived in society.

It was already midday, according to the Sun shining right above John’s head. Perhaps a little bit more or less afternoon due to the changes with the current season. To stop the confusion from spreading, he rapidly checked the time on his pocket watch then nodded when he learnt he wasn’t that wrong about the current hour.

Usually, the traders were open all day. As long as the day was bright, they would welcome customers to their stands and sell as much as possible to make the biggest profit. Then, once dusk arrived and the flow of customers grew thin or almost extinguished, they would quickly switch their habit and resupply their stocks as soon as possible. They could also send a guy during the day to quickly buy a thing or two, however, it sort of became the norm for merchants to sell during the day and buy during the night. Perhaps some sort of compromise to avoid annoying the common folks with their mandatory tasks.

John didn’t really care here, all he needed was to find someone who would buy a monster. And for that, he first needed to go back to the city.

Fortunately, the nearest agglomeration wasn’t too far away. He would have appreciated the company of his former comrades from yesterday, alas the two fools were so busy he couldn’t even find them in the popular bars they frequently visited together. It wasn’t rare for them to be called somewhere else, yet warning John was the least they could have done before disappearing without leaving any trace or note behind.

“Well, let’s forget about them. I’ll just sell the harpy and hand myself a few more coins from the trade…”

Leisurely walking through the forest, the canopy filtered the light and sliced it in many rays, painting the barks and soil with many dots brighter than its entourage. The deep nuance of green permeated the background, the naturalness emerging from the collapsing sight of all those trees hugging each other gave birth to the illusion of a walled labyrinth despite the apparent cavity between each of those trees.

John remembered how the place looked like under the veil of the night: a figureless path with no beginning nor end, surrounded by pillars of eternal stillness, soundless, yet absolutely pressuring, striking the fearless idiots with the gazes of the abyss. Shadows overwriting the black fog of obscurity, lurking and panting outside one’s sight, hiding behind the comprehendible scope of one’s perception, syphoning the wavering confidence of the lost.

But now, all of this was gone, replaced by the elegant environment one would expect from the forest. Adorned with the birds’ chirping, it was hard to imagine this place could turn into such a horrific nightmare once the sun set. Luckily, even the animals seemed to avoid this path, letting John go both unnoticed and unharmed, only a bit tired and dirty from the promenade.

Further away, he started to spot the main road, carefully maintained despite its passage through the unhospitable forest, it was a public paved path accommodated for travellers but mostly caravans with their own mean of transport: namely the chariot with their pulling horses. As usual, the road was quite busy with all those merchants going one way or another, so many you could say the economy was steadily growing in the country which was a positive aspects brought from the lasting peace.

After cooling down from his stroll in the forest, John grabbed the first cart his hands landed on, flipped a coin to the driver then made himself comfortable next to the stranger pulling the reins. They both spent the rest of the travel minding their own business, probably aware of each other’s circumstances, sharing the sacred vow of not starting a conversation and learning more about the other person’s backstory and stuff. There were many reasons to maintain the silence atmosphere, however, there were really only two main points to the problem: first, they both didn’t really care about each other, and second, if they did care, it would only bring trouble to their already clumsy and messy routine.

As nobody enjoyed receiving more trouble than they already have on their hands, John and the driver chose to keep their mouth shut.

A while later, the road was about to leave the forest and the city’s gates were finally in sight, broadly open to welcome incomers and let out travellers. The entrance only cost a few little coins, John had a lot of those to share with the guardsmen just in case but, thanks to a small strike of luck he easily slipped inside the city thanks to his driver.

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After a short walk through the crowded street of the town, they both bid a silent farewell and went their own way. They’ll probably never see each other in their lifetime, so better just hurry and do your things.

“Now, as for the Broker…”

If trading monsters was a well-known thing in the past, now people only referred to it as an old attraction or some sort of publicity they kind of forgot to dispose of in their spare time. In other words, finding someone who still had the tools and the staff to manage such kind of goods was harder than trying to explain the laws and concept of magic to a toddler; not like he himself knew how this shit works anyway.

For now, John went for the simplest destination he had in mind: the black market. Another side of the underworld, one of the tips which still brazenly interact with the overworld and help circulate bills and money in exchange of luxurious but slightly illegals items, sometimes the client would even come to purchase some “assistants” to help with some underhanded strategy.

To get there he’ll had to go through the most repugnant back alleys, meet a few despicable persons and utter the password in front of an unsuspicious wooden door… Or not. Actually, he directly walked inside one of the shop of the bigger merchants in town.

“Greetings customer. How may I help you?”

Being welcomed by the jolly lady at the counter, John harmoniously smiled at her.

“I’m here for a sale. Can I see your manager?”

“Unfortunately, the manager is busy, but I can send him a word if you wish for a meeting today.”

An expected answer, therefore John didn’t back down, instead he got closer to the girl and whispered something she will definitely not ignore.

“Sure thing. Tell him I have something we don’t sell anymore.”

Albeit somewhat cryptic, the intention was clearly conveyed. Only a fool wouldn’t understand what he implied with his words, a fool or someone unaffiliated to the underworld’s business. The lady’s smile told him he won’t have to look for another place. She also got closer and inquired in a discreet way to John.

“Just one more word, sir.”

She wasn’t asking for some sort of polite key word, she was asking about the nature of the item John desired to sell here. Wondering if the answer would surprise her, John smiled even more deviously than before.

“Harpy.”

“… Very well, I will tell the manager immediately.”

A short silence hung between both of them at the mention of the monster’s name before she disappeared behind a tightly shut door, leaving John by himself and allowing him some alone time to think ahead. Which arguments will he use with the manager to appeal to him and obtain a better price? Now that he was thinking about it… He quickly sniffed his shoulder just to check something.

He smelled nothing. It was a bad sign.

“I probably should’ve taken a shower before coming here…”

Too late for remorse, the lady already returned and asked him to follow her. Well, in the end he came to make money, not to claim another conquest for tonight. With that mindset, John followed the girl through the corridors while glancing at the many offices they crossed, each seated with a clerk busy writing numbers and checking if the value sums up. As all those tasks made his head easily confused with complicated arithmetic, he solely focused on the path ahead. However, because he had nothing better to keep his mind busy, his eyes wandered on the behind of the woman he was following. Despite the thick clothes, he more-or-less got a grasp on her silhouette, then his imagination did the rest of the work.

“Nice hips, I like them… But yesterday’s girl was more chubby and soft and busty like… Yeah, like the harpy.”

Thinking about another girl again, this time his mind reminded him of the harpy’s delicious shape. And reminiscing those feathers… One could only guess the feeling of embracing such beauty while being engulfed inside those smooth sheets. “Happiness” would be one word to describe it, however, even he believed such sensation couldn’t be summed up with only one word. Perhaps he should’ve at the very least taken a bite before storing her away…

Again, too late for remorse, for the lady finally halted their walk in front of another door. On the frame was nailed down a sign with a name, unfortunately John wasn’t literate enough to decipher the letters written there.

“The manager is inside. Please wait a moment here, then come in after we tell you to.”

“Protocols, protocols…” John wanted to retort, but abstained in order to not lose any points before the negotiation even started. It didn’t take too long before a voice resounding behind the door gave him permission to enter the room. Taking in a short breath, John tried his best to relax himself before pulling the doorknob.

There, he noticed two person waiting inside. The first was the lady he was previously ogling, sitting not too far away with a pen and a book to scribe down the content of the meeting, while the second was certainly the one she called the manager. He appeared as a wealthy man, as his body size could not lie about the amount of dinner he stuffed inside his stomach every day to achieve this level of… Diameter? Whatever his daily life was, John still had to make a deal with him.

“Pleased to meet you. My name is John, and I presume you are the ‘Broker’?”

“Ah! Who’s the idiot who spread the idea that the Broker was a literal name?”

Slightly confused, John answered cautiously.

“Ehm… Some people?”

“May the Goddess damn them, for they are dumb enough to keep conceiving such wobbly fairy tales!”

“… May I assume that’s not your name?”

“Are you from the underworld, yes or no?”

Answering a question with a question may sound rude, but here John wasn’t in any sort of advantage to make a fuss about it. Beside, directly asking if someone was part of the underworld was both a bit too frank and maybe a tad idiotic if it weren’t in such a close and secure environment. Not sure what to think of it, John simply responded with an affirmation.

“Well… Yes?”

“Then don’t be stupid and believe in those stupid rumours! The Broker is just a codename to address all those who make trades between the underworld and the overworld. Decent people don’t use nicknames nowadays, it’s what muscle-heads do.”

“I’ll… Keep that in mind, sir…”

“For you, it’s just ‘sir’. Well then, I’ve heard you’ve got your hands on some peculiar package, is that right?”

“That’s right, sir.”

John couldn’t help but rub his hands in his head.