Chapter 372: Docks, why is it always docks
[Hurricroak, I understand that for the most part that this particular scheme seems to be becoming a passion project of yours, but are all these theatrics necessary?]
[If our lord’s usual plans are anything to go off of? Yes, yes it is.]
[She…has…a…point.]
[Thank you, Frosttusk. But with that said, Nepherage would you mind?]
[On it.]
Fwoosh.
[Thank you. Now, any other questions?]
[I got one,] Razor Maiden interjected, [why didn’t we just have me and Spring punch Victor’s lights out and steal his teeth? He could have squirreled away the girl like he did Mini.]
[Aye. Why didn’t we?]
[There was non-zero chance that they kept Janice elsewhere and not in that guy’s teeth. Besides, y’all seen the crime thrillers. It’s never that easy.]
[But… we’re not in a crime thriller.]
[Ehhh… we’re hanging around a warehouse where a dirty deal is about to go down, I’m currently possessing the body of a child who’s adoptive sister were attempting to rescue from a pair, possibly trio, of kidnappers, all while screwing over some bigwig in the underworld, who I’m pretty sure was the opera singer we just watched, all for the sake of shits and giggles…and doing the right thing. If any of us were law enforcement, this would definitely be a crime thriller.]
[Wait, why do you think the dealer we’re screwing over is that Madam Venus lady?]
[I have no love plagiarists.]
[Ah.]
[Now, please get into position and put on your scare face. We have the fear of hell to instill into people.]
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Like any harbor worth its salt, Pearl Tusk was home to large warehouse district that served no purpose other than to store large amounts of goods at any one time.
At least, that was their intended purpose.
The thing about warehouses, and warehouse districts in general, is that they’re big and empty.
Really, really fucking big.
Really, really fucking empty.
This made them, especially abandoned warehouses, prime real estate for clandestine activities such as loitering, illegal parties and the movement of “highly sensitive” goods.
It was for this precise reason that Victor, Simos and Graff were now navigating the warehouse district for a specific one where they could unload their “rare good”, i.e., finish their deal with Miss Venus.
Granted, the latter two weren’t exactly happy about all of this navigating.
“Are you sure we’re heading the right way?,” Simos griped, “all of these stupid warehouses look exactly the same to me.”
“And that is precisely why I am handling the map,” Victor chided as he looked over the sheet of papyrus detailing the route they were supposed to take, “if I handed it to one of you two, we’d end up in Rot Oyster.”
“That’s…a fair assessment to make,” Graff conceded.
Neither him nor Simos came to the warehouse district that often due to the lack of easily accessible goods to pilfer. That and all of the guards that were placed by the warehouses made the whole idea of raiding and stealing from this place a bad idea.
“Now then, if I’m following the directions correctly, it should be here.”
The trio stopped in front of a warehouse that looked like any of the others right next to it, except for a unique identifier in the shape of a sunflower painted on the door.
All of the warehouses in this particular part of the district were marked with flowers to separate them from one another, there was no real deeper meaning.
It was pretty though.
Simos and Graff were just about to try and open the big warehouse door in order to enter, until they saw Victor open up a smaller, human sized door to the right of it.
Victor stared at the two with a touch of disbelief.
“How the fuck did you two survive being criminals this whole time?”
“Sheer luck and pluck,” Simos and Graff answered with weirdly practiced fluidity. Apparently they had been asked about this before.
Unsure on how to respond to such an answer, Victor just let out a sigh before entering the door, followed shortly after by Simos and Graff.
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[Okay, looks like our first three members of our audience has arrived…now where are the others?]
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“Buh! What’s that smell?,” Graff complained while pinching his nose.
“I think that’s salted fish?,” Simos guessed.
The man quickly made his way over to the an open crate and peeked inside.
“Yup, definitely salted fish. Look pretty tasty to me, honestly.”
“Hmmm. What a strange choice of location,” Victor mused as he stared at the crates of dried and salted fish.
The sunflower marked warehouse had turned out to not be abandoned as Victor had assumed, but instead was an active one used to stored preserved fish.
But before he could actively think as to why Miss Venus would organize a trade here if all places, the woman herself appeared from the shadows like a frog emerging from the depths and proceeded to explain what they were smelling exactly and why.
“What you’re smelling is salted Quicksilver Cod. A personal favorite of mine for it’s strong odor. Makes it very easy to hide one’s scent, very easy to wash off as well, but you’re not here to hear me talk fish, are you?”
“Whoa! She came out of nowhere!”
“Man, we have gotta learn those shadow movement arts.”
“Ah, Miss Venus. How are you this fine evening?” Victor said in greeting, promptly ignoring the outburst of his companions.
However, this did not stop them running their mouths when they heard how Victor greeted this unexpected newcomer.
“Wait…that’s Miss Venus? She looks way different than what we saw on stage back at the hotel. Is she like, Madam Venus’s sister or something?”
“I was gonna say maybe it’s the power of make-up, but even her aura feels different…it’s like a different person altogether.”
Fia looked on at the duo with an amused smile on her face.
If they weren’t about to hand her an important piece of her lost property, then she would have absolutely wanted these two as fish food.
But alas, business before pleasure.
“Now then,” Fia continued, as if Simos and Graff conversation didn’t happen, “I believe you three wanted to trade me something?”
“Huh? Oh! Yes! We do,” Simos answered.
He and Graff quickly turned towards Victor, signaling him to present the “good”.
However, Victor kept a more leveled head and didn’t do anything…yet. He had to confirm something first.
“Miss Venus. I know it may be a bit improper to ask, but-.”
“You wish to make sure I have the promised payment, correct?,” she interrupted with a small smiling expression plain on her face, “caution is paramount in our profession. A good call.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
Fia lifted up her right hand and proceeded to snap her fingers, releasing a crisp sound that would have definitely echoed had the warehouse been abandoned. Instead, seconds after the snap was done, a large bag of coons and an unassuming bottle appeared from the shadows directly by Fia’s feet.
Simos was about to rush over and see if the money in the pouch was correct, but was stopped by Graff, who shot him a mildly dirty look.
A good thing too, because to prove her sincerity, Fia proceeded to whip her finger at the bag with a small touch of aether, cutting it open and allowing everyone to see that there were indeed a lot of gold coins inside.
A little over five thousand, at least, an outrageous sum.
“I would open up the bottle of medicine as well, but I think you can sense it’s power even without it being open, right?”
Victor could indeed sense the power radiating from the bottle, a clear sign it was a high ranking medicine, definitely the type he needed as well.
“Now that I have showed you mine, mind showing me yours?,” Fia asked with a mildly teasing tone.
Seeing how everything was in order, Victor nodded in agreement.
Victor’s aether began to roil as power flowed into one of his teeth. Once it had reach some invisible threshold, smoke began to pour out of it and spill onto the floor beneath.
Seconds later as the aether surrounding Victor began to grow still, and the smoke cleared, an unconscious little girl holding an equally unconscious kitten had appeared out of thin air and were now laying on the warehouse floor.
The smile on Fia’s face went from small to wide once she saw the little girl.
“Ah, my precious little lapis. You have indeed returned to me,” Fia said in an unnaturally cheery sounding voice as she admired the little girl.
Seeing how unusually happy the sight of the little girl made Fia, Simos couldn’t keep his mouth shut.
“Uhh…pardon me, Miss Venus, but…why is this little girl so precious to you? I mean…she doesn’t appear to be capable of using aether or anima. No offense but, why would you care about a crippled girl?”
As soon those words left his mouth, Fia turned her head sharply towards him, a strange look in her eyes.
Not one of rage at being interrupted or question, but one of… genuine pity.
“Tsk, tsk. Children these days, unaware of value…why don’t I do you three a favor and enlighten you all?”
