“A what?” The short fishman asked with a clear frown on his face.
“Ah, right…that’s not a thing here. Sorry, do you have some kind of large stick?”
The bearded fishman was even more confused than before. However, he still tried his best to serve me to the best of his abilities. He had already noticed that I was quite different from the people he had met in the past, but maybe that’s what made him more interested in me.
“Large sticks, large sticks…” He muttered as he looked around his shop. “I probably have that lying around somewhere. But why would you a big stick?”
“To hit people with it?” I said with a smirk.
“Hit people?! Then, why would you want a stick? I have swords, spears, maces, any weapon you’re looking for…I have them!”
I shrugged when I heard him say that. “A stick is funnier, no?”
He just shook his head very slowly when he heard that; he was probably exasperated by me already.
“Young man, what’s your name?” He suddenly asked out of nowhere, the look in his eyes changing.
I didn’t know why, but I could feel his big fish eyes staring me down as if observing every single part of my body. It even managed to make me feel awkward. Talk about an achievement.
“Caedrel, sir. What about you?”
“Meh, my name isn’t important. Can I ask you another question?”
“Sure, I don’t really care.”
“Perfect. Then, can you tell me why you are here…in my store?”
I frowned. I wasn’t sure why he was asking such questions, but I had no reason to lie at the moment, so I simply told the truth.
“Because it looked interesting, that’s all.”
“What if I told you there was an even more interesting part about this store? Would that interest you?”
The frown on my face was simply accentuated when I heard that. “Uh…possibly, but why are you telling me this?”
The fishman asked me to bend down so that he could whisper to my ear, and that’s exactly what I did.
“Because I know you’re special. You might be able to hide it from everyone else, but I can see right through your disguise.”
I just laughed when I heard that. “Good one. I didn’t expect it. Well, whatever, when are you planning on telling me about this other interesting part of the store?”
I was curious about it, so I wanted to know more about it. That’s all. It’s not like the students were waiting for me to comeback or anything, most of them were getting ready for the tournament. That’s why I could use some of this free time to do whatever I wanted, and who knows maybe I would get a hint about the demons by following this weird-looking fish.
“Follow me, young human. I’ll show you the way.”
The bearded fishman walked in front of all the customers toward a red curtain that was all the way to the back of the shop, away from the eyes of most people.
On the other side of the curtain, there was nothing. It was dark, and there was pure darkness everywhere. However, it seemed we still hadn’t arrived at destination as the fishman suddenly bent down and grabbed hold of the floor. He pulled it up and a hatch revealed itself.
“Come, we still have to walk a little before we arrive.”
I just nodded as thoughts ran wild in my mind.
I had no idea where we were going, but this place was clearly hiding something important. Something that no one was supposed to see. I wasn’t sure if it was because of my appearance or strength, but the bearded fishman didn’t seem wary of me whatsoever.
‘Still, this is weird. Why would he bring me there if he knows about my strength and who I am?’
Doubts surfaced in my mind as I continued to walk behind the Fishman, who finally stopped walking in front of a plain wooden door.
He looked back in my direction and flashed a smile, showing his teeth for the very first time.
They were made out of gold, and what was even stranger was the look on his face. It wasn’t the same innocent and pure one that he had seen up in the shop. I wasn’t an expert at analyzing people’s faces, but he looked different as if he had a tinge of craziness hidden behind that oldness of his.
“Are you ready?” He said while his smirk only got bigger and bigger.
“Yes.”
I was actually quite excited to know what was hiding on the other side of that door. It wasn’t every day that something like this would happen. Actually, it was the very first time since I had been transmigrated into this world. No one had brought me to a secret place like this in the past. It was a completely new experience, and I was up for it without a single doubt.
The fishman brought his hand close to the door handle and slowly started twisting it.
“Ah, right. You can’t speak about what you see in there to anyone.”
“Sure, don’t worry. I’m not one to spread around secrets.”
“Perfect, here we go.”
I was confused as to why he was so easy going. He had little to no idea of who I am, and he had no idea if I would keep my promise of keeping my mouth shut about this place.
When he opened the door as a whole, that’s when I understood that this whole thing was a lot more complicated than I thought. Hiding behind that wooden door was a portal.
Where would it lead? I had no clue.
“Follow me.”
The Fishman didn’t try to explain anything as he simply walked right through the portal before him.
I was wary of the portal but still decided to follow him as I didn’t think anyone strong enough would be able to deal with me on the other side.
My vision became fuzzy while I walked through the portal, but once I regained it, I noticed that I was in some kind of grand auditorium, and on the stage, there was a cute lady wearing quite a revealing outfit speaking to thousands of people sitting comfortably in their seats.
‘Wait…what’s that behind her?’ I thought in the back of my mind as I noticed a big, black cage right behind her.
However, before I could answer the question myself, the cute lady on the stage started speaking.
“Welcome everyone to the brand new edition of our Secret Auction House. Today, on the menu, we have everything that you could ever dream of. Slaves, weapons, rare artifacts, pets, anything you could dream of, we have it.”
I stopped walking momentarily when I heard the word “Slaves.” I looked at the fishman before me and simply eyed him for a few seconds, wondering what the hell was wrong with him.
‘Just who are you really?’
I looked on the stage and quickly realized what was inside the black cage. It was obvious now that she had mentioned slaves. I could see it from where I was standing; there was a young girl lying on the ground…looking absolutely drained of all energy.
‘Just where the fuck did I end up?’
