At first, Nial couldn't be bothered about the female butler. But when he began following her outside, he quickly noticed that her steps were nearly inaudible and that her presence was barely noticed by others.
Gianna had concealed her mana as well, which made it even difficult for Nial to gauge her rank.
Only if he were to reveal his Mana sense, and focus on penetrating her concealment would it be possible for him to find out her rank.
'Not bad' He thought, feeling slightly interested in the butler.
Nail's highly enhanced senses could still locate Gianna and follow her but every single motion of hers was several times quieter than that of a normal human, or Original.
'Assassin?'
Quietly following Gianna, who didn't say a single word, they roamed through the market before buying some masks and a black robe.
Nial activated his armor's concealment function before returning to his train of thoughts.
His senses were on high alert while observing the surroundings and imprinted the path they walked along.
Even when he was in a shuttle that drove more than 20 minutes through the shelter, Nial imprinted every single nook and cranny within his range of perception in his mind.
Everything was digested within seconds before newer information flooded him.
Contrary to Katu, Liondra had various interesting places. Perceiving a few of them for a few seconds was already enough to help him have a fair idea of the city.
"We're almost there. From here on, you should be careful. If you mess with the wrong person, your throat might as well be slit open before you blink!"
Gianna's voice was not loud but she spoke in a serious tone and with experience that made him feel as if she had faced similar situations in the past.
'...or she was the one, who slit open those, who offended her.' Nial thought with a faint smile on his lips.
His entire face was covered by a mask and so was his entire body shrouded in a cloak.
Not a single bit of his skin was revealed, which made it easier for him to move unhindered through the alleys of the Black market.
"Is all of that the Black market…really?" Nial suddenly asked, feeling a little bit out of place.
Hundreds of well-clothed Originals walked through the open streets, not bothering to hide their appearance.
It almost looked like they were in a normal shopping street that was bustling because of some special events that were being held.
Various Originals of all ranks could be seen all around him, yet, there were only a handful of robed and masked Originals.
Their mana was also concealed but nobody paid any attention to them.
It was as if it was perfectly normal to walk around either fully dressed up or robed in the black market without fear of exposing your identity.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"You said that you wanted to get your hands on some information about certain Organizations, right?" Gianna suddenly asked in a lackluster voice, ignoring his earlier question.
If not for Miranda's orders to lead Nial to the Black market, she wouldn't even care to give him a lift to the most bustling area of the Black market.
Thus, Gianna didn't feel that it was not necessary to answer Nial's question to begin with.
She might not hate Nial to the core but her liking toward him was non-existent.
There was some sort of disgust and repulsive behavior she sensed while being close to him that spoke volumes about the trouble Nial was able to create.
After all, every single person she felt repulsed by was either a mass murderer, something worse, or loads of trouble!
Nial looked way too kind to be some scumbag, let alone a mass murderer. Thus, Gianna presumed that he was a trouble magnet.
'Did Master really send me with him to play his babysitter? No, right…maybe…possible? Fuck…Master, whyyyy?!'
Gianna was busy trying to figure out why her master would punish her and for what deed. Thus, she felt worse the longer she stayed by Nial's side. After all, she presumed to have been awarded the unwanted responsibility of being his babysitter, which definitely didn't feel nice.
"I need a lot of information, exactly." Nial merely reaffirmed.
Gianna sighed softly before leading him to a small building nearby. It was a shop filled with items with a high variety of prices.
The most expensive items were in the tens of millions, while the cheapest was in the hundreds.
Ignoring the items, Gianna led Nial straight to a chubby merchant, who was standing at the counter, looking at them with a bright smile.
"Esteemed Customers, how may I help you? Do you plan on purchasing the tear of a Siren, the Heart of a Hellhound or do you plan on selling something valuable?"
Gianna rolled her eyes when hearing the overly exaggerated comments about the tear of a Siren and the Heart of a Hellhound.
'Piece of shit, just shut up.' Gianna grumbled inwardly before lightly pushing Nial ahead.
Seeing the smaller robed person pushing the taller one ahead, it was clear to the merchant as to who was his customer for the day. Nonetheless, the chubby merchant maintained his bright smile.
After all, nearly every single robed person hid because he had to purchase something in secret or sell something without others figuring it out.
"I want information about the Eclipse Assassins and the Sacred Knights," Nial said in a low tone.
"What information? Their numbers, their strength, their hidden missions? Be more precise," The chubby merchant replied without a second of hesitation.
He had more than enough information about nearly all Organizations. Both the Eclipse Assassins and Sacred Knights were mysterious, but that didn't mean they were perfect at expertly hiding their tracks. Even the finest criminal would leave behind a clue that would pin him to the crime.
Only the information about the Sacred Knights was scarce because none of their members seemed to reveal anything.
"I want to know everything about the Sacred Knights, if possible, including information about their Leader.
However, about the Eclipse Assassins, I just need to know the strength of their strongest members and all the information you have about their kidnappings, whether it involves entire families or single individuals."
Gianna turned her head toward Nial but didn't say anything.
'Kidnapped?'
Even the chubby merchant gaped in shock for a moment before he cleared his throat.
"The information about the Sacred Knights is scarce and providing intel about the kidnapped cases of the Eclipse Assassins will be dangerous for me as well…" The chubby merchant first said before smiling slyly as he rubbed his hands.
"...that being said, it will be expensive!"
Nial had already expected that it would be quite expensive to ask for information about the Sacred Knights and the kidnappings made by the Eclipse Assassins.
After all, it shouldn't have been easy to figure out this specific information and so on.
In order to quiet down the merchant, and prevent him from telling someone else about the information he just demanded to obtain, Nial decided to not be stingy.
He took out a blueish shining chestplate from his spatial ring and showed it to the chubby merchant.
It was one of the Tier-1 runic armaments they had procured in the ancient ruin's dungeon. This Tier-1 runic armament was one of a kind and had various unique effects.
"Is that enough to pay for the information?"
The moment the chubby merchant saw the blueish chestplate that had various engravings on it, his eyes shone in greed indicating that he was intrigued by it.
"Oh? Give it to me, I will test it out."
Nial handed it over without hesitation. There was no need for him to be afraid of the merchant acting like a petty thief.
"Is that one of the runic armaments I heard about? Interesting…" the chubby merchant mumbled, while his thoughts were running wild.
'It should fetch me a good price if I sell it to the Leaders…'
After testing the chestplate's function for a few minutes, the chubby merchant was more than pleased.
However, he put up a dissatisfied expression on his face before he turned back to the two robed people.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think that's enough. How about you give me 3…no 4 more items of the same quality?"
His greed to earn more was apparent in his voice and his eyes. It was obvious that he was going over the top.
Nonetheless, the chubby merchant believed that the young-sounding man was easy to exploit.
Unfortunately, he was trying to trick the wrong person!
Nial's surroundings suddenly felt ice-cold all of a sudden as his gloomy voice reached out to the chubby merchant.
"Fuck off. I guess I will trade the information I want with someone else, someone who knows how valuable this runic armament is."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmWhile speaking, Nial's left hand had stretched forward. There had been no warning, let alone a sign that Nial planned to attack the chubby merchant.
Dark energy shrouded his hand, enlarging it all of a sudden. Claws of darkness grew out of his fingers, shocking the chubby merchant, who didn't expect to be attacked in his shop by a customer.
He was already at the Low Prym rank and had created a Basic Origin ring. His reaction speed and movements should have been much faster than that of the young robed man's.
However, even then, the chubby merchant didn't notice Nial's intention to attack him before it had already happened. Even the hidden guards, who had been hired to protect him were not able to react fast enough.
The sudden attack had been…too sudden.
His hand had turned into claws that reached the size of a cow's head. They reached out for the chubby merchant's head, who stared at them in fright, only to change their trajectory as they grasped the Tier-1 chestplate tightly instead.
Retracting his hand, Nial didn't bother to waste his time with the chubby merchant anymore. He stored the runic armament away and ignored the few hidden guards, who had already begun to act before he left the store.
"What a waste of time. To think that some merchants are too stupid to understand the value of a Tier-1 runic armament."
Nial just shook his head and kept ignoring the guards, who had already appeared next to him.
The guards were baffled that Nial ignored their entire existence. They stopped trying to hold him back as if nothing had happened to their boss.
Thus, their job to protect the chubby merchant was still fulfilled and they didn't have to attack the young man, whose arm had returned to look normal.
'What the hell was that black energy?!' They asked themselves, feeling goosebumps spreading all over their body.
Even Gianna was slightly astonished. She didn't think highly of Nial before but she was shocked to see his nice attitude change the instance the chubby merchant tried to con him.
Information such as the one Nial wanted to purchase was not that expensive. A Tier-1 runic armament was more than enough to pay for everything.
In fact, a Tier-1 runic armament might even be too valuable to be used in exchange for the information Nial had wanted to procure.
'Is he rich?' Gianna suddenly began to wonder as her attention was involuntarily drawn to the blind 18 years old man.
'Who cares about his wealth?!... I didn't even notice his movements at first. Even I would have been delayed half a second before reacting to his move!'
"Young man, please wait!! That runic armament is more than enough, I didn't see it properly before!!"
Nial heard the chubby merchant's voice clearly but he didn't stop.
"I have special information about the Eclipse Assassins that no one else has!"
**
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