Chapter 130 – Auction house
"Dear, are you gonna let this go so easily? He was my servitor, a part of our household. How dare this slave kill him?" Said the beautiful blond woman with pale white skin and bright red lips that had an expression of pout at the moment accentuating those sexual lips even more.
"Markus was right. We had to dispose of him. You can find yourself a new one. It's no big deal" Said Theron sitting on the couch and rubbing her cheek gently with his finger. "Once I become the master of the household, you can have them however much you want."
"Tsk." Voiced the woman turning away with a hurt expression then glared at the adventurer's leader standing leaning on the wall without a spec of concern on his face. "You can be the master of the household if we kill that bitch Cassandra, there's no need for all this trouble."
"Shut the hell up. She is the master of the house don't you fucking dare to spout such shit anywhere where you can be overheard. She gives me my freedom until she trusts me. If she ever heard such rebellious talk from one of my people she will use her master power over me just like I can use it on you."
"Of course, I would never say something like that anywhere else, dear!" Quickly said a woman with fear in her eyes. "I only dare to say it here as there are no outsiders to overhear us. Unless of course, you can't trust these dogs of yours." She said looking at the adventurer's party leader again.
"Don't dare? Do you think I don't know of the sour relationship between you and Cassandra? Just because you bitch around her she is being distant and hateful toward me as well. As if those two bitches that she calls nieces standing in a way is not enough. You have to sour our relationship with your stuck-up attitude as well."
"I am sorry, dear. Don't be so angry. But you don't need to be concerned about it. Once this plan of yours succeeds, you will become the master of the house and can dispose of that bitch and her disgusting friend."
"Dispose of? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Huh? Are you going to let her live?"
"Why would I kill her? Once I become the highest Nosferatu in this kingdom I will be the king of all Vampires. A king must have a worthy Queen at his side."
"WHAT? You want that bitch to be your Queen? I am your fiance!" Said the woman in anger. "This throne is mine!"
"Ahahaha. Stupid bitch." Said Theron grabbing the woman by the hair and yanking her head to face him. "You are just a lowly wench. You, a queen? Don't make me laugh. The King needs a true Queen that everyone respects and looks up to. Queen whose pussy they dream to fuck but would never attain. Queen such as Cassandra. In this whole world, there is no one more worthy than that bitch to sit on the throne beside me."
"No! No! I don't approve of it. I gave everything to you. It is mine! I….I…"
"Kneel!" Commanded Theron and the woman's eyes glazed for a moment as if she lost her spirit. She stood up from the couch and kneeled in front of Theron with her forehead touching the ground.
"Know your place slut. You have no right to approve or disapprove anything. I am your owner and you do what I said or I will find another sister for my other finances." He said leaning forward and raising her head to face him with a finger. "Is this understood?"
"Yes, my lord." Murmured the woman in fear.
"Gorig is here." Said Markus suddenly, standing at the wall.
"Finally." Said, Theron. "Stand up, don't embarrass me in front of my friends." He said, glancing at the woman still kneeling on the ground.
*****
Passing through the market, Taur turned toward one of the warehouses where their group noticed one of Theron's mercenaries beckoning them into the cargo door.
Noah's minimap showed that a few vampires hid inside the building, but several of them were hiding in the area outside among the crowd of people moving through the market.
"You took, your damn time, Gorig." Came Theron's grumbling voice from the stairs leading from the cargo room to the upper floor. Noah turned his head up to see that same asshole that he met at the ball in Vespertine mansion. He stood on the second floor looking down at Gorig with a beautiful pale-skinned blond beauty at his side. Brianna once said that she is a disgustingly haughty bitch, but right now she stood meek and silent.
"We are here on time, right? What are you whining about?" Said Gorig without a speck of worry in his voice.
"Do you have any idea of the amount of pleading and concessions I made to gain butler Vernon's approval to list our merchandise on the auction today?" Said Theron, with anger.
"Blame that little bitch of yours that searched for the cargo for so long. Had she found them sooner we would not have been overtaken by some local shits from the dark association." Answered Gorig. "Had you sent me for the search from the get-go, this would not have happened."
"Tsk." Voiced Theron. "Glancing at the woman that stood bowing her head not daring to look him in the eyes."
"Unload the healer. Taur, send your men to bring the leftover women to the auction house. I have already arranged everything with butler Vernon at the Auction House.
Noah and Brianna glanced at each other before unloading one of the boxes. Gorig followed Taur walking upstairs toward Theron without even glancing at them.
/What do we do?/ Asked Brianna's voice inside Noah's mind. /We will get separated from her now./
/We have no choice. We knew this might happen. Let's hope our arrangements will be enough. Leave it to the doppelganger./
/I still don't trust him./
/Neither do I, but this is the best choice for now. Until we rescue Danny we have to play the roles./ Said Noah.
As the box was unloaded the leftover group, together with Noah and Brianna left the warehouse.
"Markus." Said Theron glancing at the adventurer team leader. "Load her into my carriage. We are bringing her to another place."
*****
From the cavern where the market bustling with activity situated many cavern-like tunnel paths led in different directions. Just like any other dungeon, this place had a multitude of tunnels, caves, and caverns. Although this was just the weakest dungeon with no monsters and only had one floor, its first floor was comparable to a full-fledged dungeon, both in size and intricacy.
It was believed that dungeons were like micro-worlds within their own separate space, so the inner size of it greatly differed from what you could measure outside. Of course, no one could ever actually measure them as they were deep under the ground. The newest versions of dungeons, the above-ground dungeons, that stalled humanity lately, may be easier to measure from the outside, however, no one dared to venture into the wilds full of high-level monsters just to prove this.
Although the Black market dungeon was a defective dungeon with just one floor, for the underworld organizations' purposes this was enough. First and the biggest cavern contained The Market, however, this was not all to this place.
As they passed the market cavern and went deeper into the dungeon through one of the cave-like tunnels they met a few teams of warriors in black armor belonging to the Black Market personnel. All of them looked more like a bunch of thugs with scars and old wounds on their faces making them look fierce and menacing.
Once they reached the next wide cavern, they were met with a different atmosphere. Unlike the noisy and bustling scene of the market cavern, the noise here was of a different kind. More coherent or orderly. It reminded Noah of the crowd of people cheering for something.
As Noah searched for the source of this noise he understood that the structure at the center of that floor looked like a smaller version of an arena that could be found in the city above. This was a place for those who found the tournaments held by the government in the upper city too boring for their tastes. Unlike the tournaments that would be held in the arenas in the cities, the fights here would very likely be a lot more brutal, deadly, and profitable to the survivors risking their lives in the ring.
A loud roar of some monster was heard coming from the building, followed by the loud cheer of the crowd shortly after. A few seconds later they could hear the muffled voice of an announcer explaining something to the cheering crowd.
Besides the arena, there was a multitude of gambling houses and bars. Every kind of entertainment could be found here.
They did not stay in that cavern for long, quickly passing through it to the next path leading deeper into the dungeon.
The next cavern that they entered was a lot smaller than the previous two, And as Noah noticed, a lot dimmer. Many buildings of different types and styles stood here creating a similar feeling to the city above. Only this one had a dark side to it. This cave was the living quarters for those who decided to make their residence in the underworld.
A lot of people that had warrants on their heads would make this place their permanent living space. However, dungeon space was limited, and gaining residence here was not an easy matter. People living here were not just street ruffians. Cold-blooded killers and the worst of criminals, many of which had not just a huge price on their heads, but also high levels, giving them respect and status in the underworld. Only the worst of the worst could be deemed worthy to possess a property inside the dungeon to live here safe from city guards' hunts. Just like having property in the capital was a matter of status for nobles. Having a property in the Black Market Dungeon was a matter of status among criminals.
This was also a place where many illegal alchemy or craft laboratories making drugs and forbidden items were situated. As well as headquarters of sects, cults, and organizations that dwelled in the darkness of society. In the upper world, such places could be traced and eventually ransacked by the government and knights, but building a base here allowed the criminals to have a safe place of operation, although it wasn't cheap.
Among these buildings, Noah noticed, one bore the crest of Dark Association marking the base of the local branch of this organization.
A wide road was going through the center of that cavern and led to a humongous mansion at the furthest end of it. This was their group's destination. The auction house of the black market.
As they walked down the road, Noah noticed another road leading to the side where a path to some other caver most probably was.
However, the entrance to that path was a lot different from the usual. Instead of a simple archway leading deep into the dungeon, this path had something that reminded them of a castle gate with a platoon of guards manning the defense wall above the gate.
Unlike the Black Market personnel they met before that looked more like a bunch of thugs in uniforms, these were full-fledged warriors. This platoon looked orderly and disciplined with every man having fierce and vigilant gazes reminding Noah of seasoned and elite warriors of the city guards in the outskirts region, where fighting off monsters that constantly attacked the town was a daily task that required diligence and constant training.
To make a dungeon there must be an evil seed that turns into the dungeon core. This core is the most important thing within the dungeon as it contains the key to its control and destruction. In normal dungeons, it would be guarded by the strongest monster. Here it was protected by the castle wall and a platoon of seasoned warriors. Without a doubt, this path led to the so-called boss room. And this was most likely the place where the owner and creator of this dungeon resided.
As they moved further down the path leading to the mansion-like building of the auction house, they saw a crowd of people gathered at its main entrance.
This mansion was the only property in the whole dungeon that had its own garden in front of the building with gorgeous gates that were now wide open leading into it. This house was built with all the features that a noble house would have. Carved patterns, fancy decorations, balustrades, and balconies. Building was screaming of wealth and noble status of its owner. The only problem with it was, that it was over-accentuating all these features as if owner was afraid that people would not notice it. Born as noble and raised in high noble house, Noah knew what this implied. This was a common feature of newborn noble houses or people that pretended to be ones. It was how people that did not understand the noble life well perceived noble life. It screamed of wealth and status, yes. But at the same time, it was tasteless and jumbled together many styles. Decorations had no meaning or story, as if they were there just to be there. It felt like they just showed that they had money to decorate, instead of actually decorating the place.
The house itself had a multitude of side entrances at the ground level and a lavish main entrance with a wide staircase leading toward huge main doors. Guards in fancy armor, which was more decorative than practical, stood all around the garden and at the mansion's doors.
Noah saw the groups of people surrounded by their guards and solitary people covering their faces and figures with capes entering the mansion through the main door led inside by the personnel in elegant servant wardrobes. At the upper steps of the main entrance stood a pair in noble attire, whom everyone entering the building greeted with respect.
An aging man with graying hair and a constant smile on his lips greeted the guests, stretching his hand to some of them, showing off the rings and bracelets adorning his palms so much you could barely see his skin.
A gorgeous young woman stood by his side holding his forearm in a possessive manner with a haughty and proud face.
The first thought that Noah had after seeing them was - pretense. These two people were more like playing the roles of nobles, instead of being ones.
She looked a lot younger than the master of the house as well and was very beautiful. And from the looks of it had no qualm to flaunt this beauty before everyone, as she had a dress accentuating her voluptuous breast with a deep cleavage cut reaching almost to the navel, showing off the sides of her magnificent tits and well-toned body, while the side of her leg showing out from the cut in the lower part of the dress.
She was the perfect example of the trophy wife married into money and status. Also stupid enough to not realize that she was not the first and most likely not the last of the "wives", this man had by his side.
If Noah was not wrong, the man, although not a true noble, had a very high level, which gave him status worthy of possessing such property inside the Black Market dungeon.
However with it also came longevity far greater than the normal humans. While this woman was beautiful, yet had a lifespan of a normal human being. This meant she would be changed as soon as the master of the house found her starting to age and lose the beauty that she was chosen for or when he found a new beauty to fancy. She was just a commodity with an expiration date. Noah saw such things a lot among the Nobles.
They would fancy a concubine for a time, promising her wealthy life. Yet simply threw her out like garbage, sometime later.
At least in this, the man in front of him had a true likeness to a nobleman. Or at least to a rotten one.