Jonathan emerged from the alleyway a few minutes later, onto a bustling side street that seemed to be set up as some sort of market. There were hundreds of stalls along its length, and people shouting out their wares at the top of their lungs. All manner of goods were being sold, but most of them seemed like magical items of some kind or another, and Jonathan noticed a nearby shop that was selling portable heat gems for the purpose of cooking with. They looked like flat plates of red crystal that seemed to glow with an inner light. Jonathan had no idea whether they were real or not, but seeing the number of people flocking around that stall. He assumed that they were. In fact, this might be a good place for them to get disguises.
Jonathan gave Edgar a look, and the man nodded, understanding what he was getting at immediately. Jonathan and Edgar slunk into the crowd, and let it take them through the market, trying to get a glance at every stall as they passed. Jonathan subtly made it so that the crowd did not move him anywhere that he did not want to go, using his superior strength to remain rooted in place. He did it gently enough that nobody noticed, but it was still effective. Edgar did the same thing, and the two men slowly walked down the street, eyeing up the surrounding vendors.
Most of them were useless to their current predicament, and they were all selling various household items that seemed to be made for utility rather than any sort of combat purpose. This was probably just as well, seeing as most of the people here were simply trying to live normal lives. There were no monsters here for them to fight. For someone who had been born into this world, perhaps such a life was all that they knew. Jonathan had been transported here against his will, and as such had been forced to progress through blood and sweat. Perhaps that was not the only way though. However, he would not be changing his path any time soon.
As he walked, he eventually spotted a section of the market that was a lot less crowded than the other ones. There was a small black tent in the center of it with nobody standing around it, and he could feel a faint aura of power coming out from the tent. Curious, Jonathan moved through the crowd towards it, making sure not to get sidetracked by the people bustling around him. He was shot more than a few dirty looks from the passersby, but he ignored them, focusing on his target.
The tent was made entirely out of black cloth, and it seemed to be darker than its color would suggest, hiding it from prying eyes. Jonathan broke free of the crowd a moment later, and strode over to the tent, interested to see what was within. Edgar followed him a few paces behind, breaking out of the crowd a moment later. It was like there was an island of silence around the tent, and it was as if the sounds of the crowd were suddenly muffled. If Jonathan was skeptical about the importance of this place before, he was not anymore, and he quickly opened the tent flap, and ducked inside. The interior of the tent was dark, but he could vaguely make out a figure sitting on a chair near the back, poring over a piece of parchment. The room was filled with boxes, and Jonathan had no idea what was within them.
“Hello?” he called out, trying to get the attention of the person sitting there. The hooded figure simply continued to read their parchment, ignoring Jonathan completely. He walked over, and tapped them on the shoulder, finally causing them to look up. Jonathan instinctively recoiled. It was a human, but an extremely deformed one, missing a nose and indeed most of their face. Jonathan could not tell what gender the person was, nor anything about them really, such as the extent of their deformity.
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“What do you want?” They hissed, in a voice that was warped and raspy.
“Why is your tent surrounded by a ring of emptiness? It’s like some effect is keeping the passersby away,” Jonathan said. “Why would you want to deprive yourself of possible customers?”
“The only customers that I want are those who are powerful enough to break through the warding,” the shopkeeper said, grinning slightly, tugging on their many scars. “People like you. I can give you all manner of illicit goods, and any of them are yours, for the right price, of course.”
“And what is the right price?” Edgar interjected.
“Oh, you’ll know when you see it,” the figure said, grinning uncomfortably through their distorted flesh.
“Well, do you sell any sort of disguises? We are in trouble with someone, and we need to be able to hide ourselves from them,” Jonathan said, trying to be as vague as possible. He did not know whether this person would refuse to serve them, or perhaps even report them, if they said that they were trying to evade the servants of Granath.
“In trouble with the law, are you?” The figure said, grinning once more. “I know your kind. People who have still not realized that Granath is paramount in these lands, and still try to fight him. Now, I won’t begrudge you that, as business is business.”
Jonathan gritted his teeth, but remained outwardly stoic. If this person had come to that conclusion so easily, then they would have already reported them to the authorities, or would have threatened to do so. However, it seemed like they were eager enough to sell to them instead.
“Is there any reason why you aren’t trying to threaten us with that knowledge?” Jonathan asked the vendor, trying to keep his voice calm.
“Who’s to say that I won’t?” The shopkeeper said, beginning to laugh.
Jonathan’s eyes glittered with purple light, and his aura came out, pressing itself like a naked blade to the shopkeeper’s throat. The person suddenly gurgled, and froze, looking at Jonathan in a new light.
“I am not in the mood for games,” Jonathan said, sending his power into his voice. As a result, it was far deeper and louder than normal. His aura withdrew a moment later leaving the shopkeeper gasping.
“What are you? That elemental power is like none I have ever seen before.”
Jonathan cocked his head threateningly, and the shopkeeper raised their hands rapidly.
“Alright, alright. Not another word. However, I assure you that you want to know why I have not already betrayed you like the rest of the people in this city would?”
“Why would you make such assumptions about the character of the citizens?” Edgar asked. “There are bound to be some good people out there, people who yearn for freedom.”
“Oh, yearn they certainly do. However, all of the people in this city are soulbound to Granath. One of his many perversions of the magical arts. I only escaped because of my unique talents.”
“Talents such as?” Jonathan asked, trying to keep the surprise of his face. That bit of information about the soulbinding sounded like something that would be suspicious not to know, far more suspicious than being on the wrong side of the law.
“I have a rare hereditary class called Dark Merchant. It allows me to evade most forms of surveillance as long as my wares are sufficiently illicit. It comes with other bonuses as well, but you hardly need to know those now, do you?”
Jonathan scanned the shopkeeper, but nothing happened. They were completely shielded from his sight.
“You just tried to scan me, did you not? Well, I guess you just found out about another one of my talents. Now, if this foreplay is over, then can we get down to business?”
Jonathan and Edgar nodded, and the shopkeeper snapped their fingers, causing the various boxes around the room to suddenly open, revealing a wide array of various sinister looking goods.