Chapter 30 – The Auction That Sells Everything

Seris hurriedly pulled out her wand as Thirteen abruptly stopped his nonchalant walk. He turned around on his heel, face twisted in shock and surprise.

The translucent figure struggled against Darya. She tossed Seris’s coin pouch at her and used both her arms to restrain the flailing limbs. The feral thing was screeching like a distressed bird.

Seris plunged her wand into the translucent mess in Darya’s hands, her forearm emitting vapor trails of mana. She muttered some incantation, and the translucent figure instantly flickered into existence. The translucency peeled off like paint, revealing a messy-haired child wearing dirty clothes.

“What is happening?!” Sarka asked, caught off-guard. “I can sense a mana signature out of nowhere!”

The child had the same eyes as Thirteen. They were too young to estimate a gender, but Darya had a hunch that this was a girl. She was holding the little thief in a weird grip, mistaking a leg for an arm, nearly bending her tiny body in half by one thigh and one bicep. She let go of the leg and grabbed the arms, lifting her off the floor.

She can’t be older than what? five? seven?

“Let me go!” the little thief squeaked, trying to bite her hand. Darya restrained her against her knee.

“Leave her alone!” Thirteen hissed at them, dashing face forward as he drew a dagger out of nowhere. Seris leapt sideways and whacked him across the forehead with the coin pouch.

He wobbled on his feet, and the dagger clattered on the stone floor. Seris grabbed him by the back of the neck and poked his chest with the wand.

“Don’t even think about it!” she warned him with gritted teeth.

Woah. She’s fast. I thought she was about to get stabbed!

The entire sequence had happened in the shadow of the giant door, and no one had noticed, even with the sound of the coin pouch against the forehead and the knife clattering on the ground.

Darya silenced the feral girl in her hands by covering her mouth with her forearm. Thirteen swayed on his feet, staring up at Seris while panting. He pulled his hood back and touched his forehead. His fingers turned red with blood.

They got the first look at him right then. He had iridescent purple-blue scales around his jaw, the sides of his head, and down his neck. This man was a merfolk half-breed, tilting more towards a fishman.

The little girl wasn’t scaly like him, and her eyes were less colorful than his. She was covered up to the neck in rags.

Thirteen rubbed his blood-drenched hand on his shirt.

“Let my daughter go!” he hissed at them. “We’ll leave. No trouble for you.”

“I don’t think I will,” Darya said, tightening her grip on the girl. “I think we’ll hand both of you over to the guards, you dirty thieves!”

“Almost stabbed me too, the nerve!” Seris said indignantly.

The girl in Darya’s arms gave up struggling and started whining pathetically against Darya’s forearm. She sounded like a tea kettle between quiet sobs.

“Princess! I am concerned. Why am I hearing a whining little child!” Sarka asked, still confused.

“We caught two thieves. Stay quiet,” Darya said briefly.

“Oh my!”

Thirteen gritted his teeth and exhaled angrily. He clenched his fists, pushing against the wand that Seris held against his chest. “Let her go. You can take me to the guards!”

“No, if I bring guards into this, both of you have to go. I don’t owe you any favors,” Darya said firmly, glaring back at him.

His eyebrow twitched, and blood trickling down from his forehead flowed down his cheek, turning into heavy drops at his chin.

“I can give you money—”

“Really? Why did you try to steal from us if you had any money?” Seris asked, pressing the wand deeper.

“I don’t need your money even if you have it,” Darya said.

“Wh-what the hell do you want! Just let my daughter go, please!” he said dismally.

“I said no…” Darya said sternly and let the silence hang for a bit. Thirteen shot daggers at her with his glowing eyes.

Darya cleared her throat, looking at the girl who was halfway into biting her forearm while drowning in snot and tears. “…unless you can tell me more about auctions, of course.” She added innocuously.

His eyes widened as if it were unexpected. He unclenched his fists, relaxing his brows. “W-wait! I’ll tell you, I’m sorry. We’re sorry!”

His demeanor changed from rage to proper begging in almost an instant. Darya knew why. The deal she offered was good. He probably wasn’t that attached to the information anyway. He’d refused to go through with it earlier because he was planning on stealing the whole pouch. If anything, he had to be displeased about her taking five silver coins out of it right before.

“Seris, let him go,” Darya said.

Seris quickly grabbed the fallen dagger off the floor and shoved it into her bag.

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“Cover your head, and tell your daughter to stop biting me,” Darya said as she wrenched her forearm away. Her sleeve was already torn between the girl’s tiny teeth.

“Seha, stop. Do as the good lady says!” Thirteen said desperately, covering his head with the dirty rags.

The little girl calmed down at the stern mention of her name. Her teeth loosened. Darya used her cape to cover herself entirely.

“Seris, where can we talk with these two in peace?”

The guild hall was too crowded. Drawing attention to themselves, engaging with merfolk slaves wasn’t a good idea.

“Follow me,” Seris lowered her wand and stared warningly at Thirteen. “Don’t get any ideas. You’re not faster than us.”

They followed Seris for about eight blocks behind the guild hall. It only took a few hundred meters for Galtea’s city center to gradually deteriorate into the slums. Passing through a guarded gate by the sixth block, they witnessed a sharp decline in architecture and living conditions.

Beggars lined the sides of the street, sleeping in the shade or passed out drunk after a night of work. Only their children seemed to have the energy to run around. Thirteen kept his head down as they passed, but there was some sort of nonverbal communication between them. Some of the children were glaring at them with smug expressions.

Looks like he’s signalling them, but would he dare to do anything after what just happened?

They stopped by an alleyway tucked between two crumbling buildings. The ground was wet from overflowing gutters. There were no pavements for the beggars to sleep.