themonasnovels Chapter 63 Black Market
Chapter 63 Black Market
Alchemy is more interesting than Zag had imagined.
In fact, his favorite class during his student days was chemistry, which allowed him to go to the lab and tinker with bottles and jars. He never expected that after being transported to another world, he would still be able to tinker with bottles and jars.
Of course, it will probably be some time before he actually gets to operate it. After all, those alchemical materials are not cheap, and if he were Rowan, he wouldn't immediately let a novice like him, who has never been exposed to alchemy or even mysticism, operate it.
After leaving Mrs. Weyland's Aromatic Apothecary in Rowan, Zag did not go home immediately, but instead went to the entrance of the Black Market in the East District, which is also known as the Free Drinking House.
This Monday happens to be the third Monday of the month, which is also the day the black market opens.
The Free Drinking Bar and the Pipe Bar are owned by the same person; the former is the entrance to the black market, while the latter is simply used to announce the black market hours in the newspaper.
Rowan also told Zag that the black market usually starts at noon and continues until about 10 a.m. the next day, so he has plenty of time to browse the black market.
In particular, he had told Mrs. Marsh before leaving home this morning that since it was his first day of work, he planned to discuss the details of the job with Mrs. Rowan, so he would be home a little late and wouldn't have to wait for him for dinner—this was, of course, an excuse, but Mrs. Marsh believed him.
Anyway, given Mrs. Marsh's personality, she definitely wouldn't go to Rowan to verify it. Even if she did, given their working relationship, Rowan would surely cover for her.
However, as soon as he stepped out of the shop, Zag felt somewhat grateful to Mrs. Marsh for insisting on giving him a small bread loaf that morning.
Although he ate a lot for breakfast, he didn't eat lunch, so he was really hungry.
Salty bread with dragon pepper and fish paste filling can be eaten as a main meal. Although the portion is a bit small, at least it won't give you the feeling of not eating anything like sweet food.
Zhage quickly finished the small bread, patted his stomach, and then met up with Snowball outside the Free Drinking Bar.
Snowball deliberately appeared after hiding.
Of course, cats always have their own lives, so even if Snowball disappears temporarily, Mrs. Marsh won't suspect anything. She'll just assume that Snowball has run off somewhere again. When it gets hungry, it will appear in front of Mrs. Marsh with an expression that says, "Silly Modo, come and give me food," and allow Mrs. Marsh to pet it.
Mrs. Marsh also fully respected Snowball's autonomy. Only when Snowball returned from hunting, proudly carrying his prey, would she shower him with praise and cook it for him.
"That sounds much more sincere than that foolish dragonborn!"
Snowball commented as follows.
In short, Mrs. Marsh gave Snowball considerable respect in terms of freedom, and Zag, as a transmigrator with very little knowledge of this world and its mystical realm, still needed Snowball a lot when browsing the black market.
Following Rowan's instructions, he took the invisible snowball into the Free Drinking Bar and ordered a 10-shilling mead at the bar.
This is the password for applying to enter the black market.
Well, the original code was "10 shillings of beer," but since the Earl of the Golden Helmet issued the prohibition order, beer has been replaced with mead.
"Only foolish Northrends could come up with such a stupid code! Who would order a 10-shilling cup of mead in this run-down tavern!?"
Taking advantage of the fact that no one could hear, Snowball continued to complain without restraint.
The bartender, completely oblivious, poured Zag the mead while squinting at the unfamiliar face, saying, "Ten shillings for mead. Not many people know about this. Is this your first time ordering it?"
The bartender's words were cryptic, but it wasn't hard to guess what he meant.
Zag replied cryptically, "Yes, it was the first time. Someone told me about it, so I came here specifically to try it out."
The bartender nodded, handed him the mead, and then lowered his voice to remind him, "Come with me."
The two then left the tavern's main hall one after the other, and entered the storage room through a hidden door in the kitchen.
Then, the bartender moved a wooden crate in the storeroom, opened the cellar door that the crate was covering, and pointed to the cellar, saying, "Go down there. The gatekeeper is down there. Remember to have one gold pound ready."
Zag thanked him and went down the ladder into the cellar.
Once inside the cellar, they saw a kerosene lamp hanging on the wall not far away. Next to the kerosene lamp was a small wooden door, and a person was dozing off beside the door.
However, as soon as Zag landed, he saw that the gatekeeper had almost instantly regained his senses and then said to Zag with a cold face, "One gold pound, no bargaining."
Zag handed over the 1 gold pound he had prepared beforehand, and the gatekeeper then gave him a wooden pendant, explaining, "A concealment necklace blessed by Agora, used to hide your identity. Of course, you can choose not to use it. 1 gold pound each, given away for free on your first visit. If you lose it, you'll have to pay extra to buy another one next time, understand, newcomer?"
The gatekeeper didn't expect Zag to reply. Instead, he impatiently pushed open the small wooden door, gesturing for Zag to go in.
Snowball stared in shock, his eyes wide: "This thing would cost me nothing if I just prayed to the Mother Goddess! And they dare to charge 1 gold pound! Why don't they just rob us?!"
After the wooden door behind him closed, Zag whispered back, "They're already robbing you, and they're even giving you a necklace as a gift."
Snowball muttered angrily, "Those greedy motorists are really something!"
Behind the wooden door lies a hidden world.
There wasn't anything particularly hidden or unusual about it.
Upon seeing the scene before him, Snowball was the first to harshly criticize, "This is truly the smallest black market I've ever seen in my life!"
As Xueqiu pointed out, the black market was much smaller than Zag had imagined, not even as big as a small vegetable market. In terms of space, it was only about half the size of a basketball court, which was pitifully small.
There weren't many people in the black market, only a dozen or so vendors. But there were a bit more people browsing, about twenty or thirty.
Overall, however, the size of this black market was shockingly small to Zag.
But upon closer reflection, it's not entirely incomprehensible.
After all, Dongchui Port is just a small city with a population of over 10,000. If a black market really had hundreds or thousands of people, what kind of black market would it be? It should just be renamed a supermarket!
Moreover, if we calculate based on that number, it's likely that more than half the people in the entire city have come into contact with the realm of mysticism. This proportion is probably even more exaggerated than that of Holland, the capital of the Eternal Supreme Kingdom, enough to make the Golden Palace blush with shame.
"New here! I've never seen you before! Are you here to buy or sell?"
As soon as he stepped down the steps, someone struck up a conversation with him.
Zag answered evasively, "I sell goods and buy goods. I only settled in Dongchui Port last week, so this is my first time here."
The man's eyes lit up: "So you're from out of town! No wonder I've never seen you before! What kind of goods do you sell? And what are you looking to buy? I'm not bragging, but there's no one in the entire black market I don't know!"
Zag glanced around at the people and, seeing that no one seemed to react in any particular way to the person in front of him talking to him, lowered his guard and replied, "I have some magical materials that I want to sell, and I also want to buy some basic spellbooks."
"Then you've come to the right place! I have two spellbooks right here!"
As he spoke, the man immediately opened the double-buckled leather box bag slung over his shoulder, pulled out two not-too-thick books, showed them to Zag, and added, "One is 'The Pale King's Eternal Slumber,' and the other is 'The Lullaby of the Primordial Tree,' both top-quality goods! Especially this one, 'The Pale King's Eternal Slumber,' its power is so great that it can banish your opponent's soul to annihilation!"
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【Free Drinking】: Free Drinking is a tavern that doesn't live up to its name. It is the largest tavern in the East District of Dongchui Port and also the location of the underground black market in Dongchui Port.
Note that "Free Drinking" means "free to drink", not "free beverages".