Volume 2 Chapter 5: Part 3: Reminisce Of Her

The next day, Onyx came back to the guild hall.

"Thank you for telling me," Onyx says, thanking the guild employee.

"No problem. It's my duty." The employee says and quickly goes back to his own devices. Oliver sent him as a messenger to the inn to notify Onyx about the information.

To think he got all this information in a day. Onyx is still surprised that Oliver obtained so much information in such a short time. He knocks on the door.

"Come in." When Onyx walked into the room, Oliver was sitting in his seat. He isn't alone. There are two other people in the room with him. One is a middle-aged man who looks the same age as Oliver.

The other is a woman. She was wearing a long red dress with a slit down the side, showing her legs off. She looks to be in her mid-twenties at the least.

The three's gazes focus on him as he walks in. The woman is the first one to speak up,

"Is this the boy you're talking about?" The woman says with a smile. She glances Onyx up and down.

"!" Onyx's expression turns a little wary. He feels his skin crawling from how she gazed at him. Like the woman took off his clothes and stared at him buck naked.

"Michelle, stop eyeing him like you're going to eat him. Just look at him. You're making him embarrassed." Oliver says as he shakes his head. He turns to Onyx,

"Don't worry about it, Onyx. She's not going to eat you. Well, I don't think so."

Onyx's face twitches. You think? He can't say anything else as the woman is already in front of him! Then, he caresses his face,

"One platinum coin. How about it, handsome? Wanna play with this-"

"And that's enough of that!" The other man quickly speaks up and slaps the woman's hand, "What are you trying to pull, Michelle."

Quickly after, Oliver hides Onyx behind his back, trying to block Michelle's gaze at him.

"What? He's already an adult. And just look at how handsome he is. Just my type too. Anybody would want to spend a night with him." Michelle makes a mischievous smile.

"..." Onyx doesn't know what to say. But only one thing is going through his mind; can we talk about the girl?

The guy understands, "We're here to talk about serious business!" "Tch, you need to be looser. No wonder your workers don't like you."

The two begin to argue, completely forgetting about Oliver and Onyx. Oliver turns to Onyx, "Anyways. Onyx, abet them acting like children; these two will help you with what you need. The woman who tried to hit on you is Michelle Fowler. She owns the largest brothel in advent city and the slaves too."

Oliver looks at the two and back to Onyx and whispers, "Also, don't ever go near her no matter what! She may look like she's in her mid-twenties. But she's actually- Mwaghhhh!"

Before Oliver could reveal her age, he got a fist right on his head! It was Michelle. The smile on her face was just.....pure murder.

She can kill a thousand with that look.

"How rude. How can you reveal a young woman like myself's age? That's why you can't get girls like Walter and Vargar." Hearing that, Oliver fumes a bit,

"How does this involve Walter and Vargar?!" Even he knows it as well. Walter and Vargar were the popular ones with the ladies in their group. That he couldn't argue with. But young woman? You're-

"Gahhh!" "And don't even think about it either." Michelle's smile grows even wider as she beats Oliver down. She could tell what this guy was saying about him.

"Fine! Fine! Fine! You're a beautiful young woman! Just stop hitting my head, sheesh! Also, let's get down to business." Oliver screams out. He didn't call Onyx over here to watch him get beat up by this demoness.

Hearing this, Michelle starts to stop punching him in the face.

"So you want information about Rena, right?" The smile Michelle had before was nowhere to be found. Instead, it turns into a sneer as she eyes down Onyx,

Onyx doesn't back down as he nods, "Yes. I want to know more about her." He isn't going to lie to them.

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Hearing his words, the other person looks at Michelle, and she nods her head slightly. What are they thinking right now? Onyx can't get a read on them.

"I can't give you information about one of my people all willy-nilly. Tell me, why do you want to find out more about her? And tell me the truth."

Michelle points at Oliver and continues, "Unlike this fool here, your reasoning is bullshit to me. So tell me the actual reason."

Michelle isn't a fool. When Oliver told her Onyx's reason, she just laughed at it. Michelle didn't trust it at all. If everybody gave her the same reason, Michelle's information would be leaked everywhere.

Onyx tells the truth, "I see my childhood friend in her. Seeing her like that is something I don't ever want to see. That's why." Rena isn't a mirror image of Irene appearance-wise. That's for sure.

But he can't get it out of his head. He has a weird feeling when he remembers his face. Something he could only get when he was with Irene.

"..." Hearing his words, Michelle doesn't know what to say. She only frowns as she asks, "You know Rena and your childhood friend aren't the same people. And you only met her once. So why go so far as to want to find information about her."

That's true. Onyx only met with Rena for just a single moment.

"I know the two are different people. But I just can't forget about her. Not when she's in that cage. That doesn't sit well with me." If Irene was in this position?

Yesterday, that thought came into Onyx's mind. There was no need for him to think about it for another second. He was not going to let that happen to Irene! He would rather die.

And as he remembered how the girl sat in the cage, it was the same irritating feeling in his heart.

"I don't care how much money you want. Just tell me the price and free her from there."

Michelle's face turns evil, "Even if I ask you for an enormous price? Will you still pay for it?"

"Yes." There was not a second of delay when Onyx said this.

"..." Seeing his determination, Michelle doesn't know what to say. The only thing she can do is laugh, "Kid, you got some courage. I'll give you that. However, if you want to free Rena, you're out of luck with me."

"Huh? Why?"

"Rena won't be sold by normal means. Sorry about that. If you had come here sooner, it might not have come to this." Michelle scratches her head. It would've been perfect if Onyx was the one to buy Rena.

But that was only her thought. It's not reality.

Am I too late? Onyx grit his teeth when he hears that. Did he really come too late?

"Hey, don't make such a despairing face. I didn't say Rena won't be sold. She just isn't going to be sold the normal way. And that's why we have this person here." Michelle smiles as she points at the guy sitting next to her.

The man bows his head,

"Hello, Onyx. My name is Gilbert Moran, the master of the auction house. I heard a lot about you from Oliver. Also, thank you for the last time."

Hmm? Ahh, the auction house. Onyx remembers. He gave Oliver the herbs and materials for him to sell at the auction house.

"Thank you for auctioning off all of those materials. They have given us a lot of profit." The auction house takes a small cut from the profit. A service fee for using it. However, it's not to the point that would affect the person itself.

"Also, here are 9 platinum coins from all the herbs and materials."

"Ahh, thank you." Seeing so much money in his hand, Onyx is surprised. He got an extra 2 platinum coins from all of this.

"Hold up! What kind of materials did he bring to get so many coins?!" Michelle looks at Onyx in surprise. Seeing how calm Gilbert and Oliver are, it seems she missed out on something important.

Gilbert smiles, "Onyx, you can thank Michelle for spending three platinum coins to buy some of your materials."

Michelle's expression drops. She turns to Onyx, "Wait, you brought back the crystal dragon lychee and the thousand-year blue aloe?"

Onyx thinks about it, "I think so. I don't remember." There was a lot in his bag. They got stuffed together to the point that he couldn't even tell what the herbs were.

Immediately after saying that, Michelle grabs onto Onyx's hand, "Please, sell me all of what you have! I need all of it!" Her voice turns frantic, and those bloodshot eyes are just scary.

"Ehhhh." Onyx wants to back away. But he can't. Michelle clamps onto his arm so hard that he can't break free.

"If I remember correctly, those herbs are considered the perfect materials for silky smooth skin," Oliver mutters.

You think?! How about you help me out here? She's so scary! Onyx can't look at Michelle at all! Not when she looks like a crazed animal!

"Alright! If I ever get materials like this, I will sell them to you first. Is that fine?!" Onyx gives in quickly.

The bloodshot eyes disappear as the smile returns on Michelle's face.

"Umm." Onyx doesn't think much about this as he turns back to Gilbert. He's more focused on Rena.

"Sorry about her. I shouldn't have said anything. Anyways, I should explain what's happening to Rena. Instead of being bought the normal way through Michelle, she'll auction off."

Hmm? "Why is she being auctioned?" Hearing his question, Michelle and Gilbert turn away from Onyx.

Something is up.

Realizing how Michelle talked about Rena, he knew the two were close. And with the auction house helping out, it makes Onyx feel something is up.

Gilbert tells him the truth, "I can't tell you much about Rena's situation, or Michelle will beat me like a drum." And noticing her expression, she was not going to say anything about it either.

"The only thing I can say is Rena is not supposed to be a slave. That's all I can say."

"I see." Hearing that, Onyx clenches his fist even tighter. I knew it.

"How many coins will I need to buy her at the auction?"

Gilbert's eyes turned wide, "Are you really going to buy her?!"

"Mmmhmm. How much do I need?"

Gilbert turns to Michelle and gives him a look, "If I have to think about it, you'll need around 20 platinum coins to be sure to buy her." Onyx's eyes go wide.

Twenty platinum? That's a lot of coins. I've only got half of it. Thinking about it a bit more, Onyx asks,

"When is she going to be auctioned?"

"The next auction will be next month." They just had an auction yesterday. The auction house needs time to prepare.

Hearing that, Onyx sighs in relief. I got enough time. He quickly bows his head,

"Thank you so much for the information. I have to go now." Onyx doesn't wait for them to say anything and quickly leaves the office. He knew it was rude.

But time is his enemy.

As Onyx leaves, Oliver looks at him in astonishment. But then he frowns, "Dammit! He's going to do that!" Oliver shouts out, realizing it too. He quickly leaves the room and chases after him.

While the two leave, Michelle looks at Gilbert, "Doesn't that boy remind you of him?"

"Yeah. I felt it too. Onyx is the spitting image of him." When Gilbert saw his determined expression, he couldn't believe it. And Michelle felt the same too.

"Are you sure it's ok to tell him that it's 20 platinum coins?" Even he thought 20 platinum coins was overkill. But Michelle told him that this was the price.

"If he's afraid of paying 20 platinum coins, he doesn't deserve to protect Rena." That 20 platinum coin was a test for Onyx. To see whether or not he had the resolve to do it.

"Also, he never lied to us, did he?" Gilbert asks. And Michelle shakes her head. All of his words were the truth. Never once did Onyx lie.

"So when is Oliver going to come back?"

...

"Madelyn!" Onyx shouts out.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Onyx?"

"Do you have any quests that will give me platinum- Grah!" Before Onyx can finish his sentence, he's brought away by Oliver! He quickly hooks his arms around Onyx's mouth,

"Sorry about that, Madelyn. You just need to ignore him for today." Oliver doesn't say anything else as he drags Onyx away from the receptionist's desk and back upstairs. He goes into a different office room.

"Don't even think about it."

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