The World We Do Not Know - 182 Is he still the same?

The moment Faust enters the curtain, his emotions started overflowing as he is struck in awe. A huge creature covered in fur is in front of him.

“Oh, new customers!” The fur started talking by itself.

“What the HELL?” A fur is talking to me.

“Who you calling a fur?” The dark shape in fur responded.

“I’m not calling you anything.” Neith’s voice is heard from within the fur.

Faust did not say anything for a brief moment. “Ok? Auntie? Did you get eaten by the fur or is there a portal inside?” Faust cupped his hands in front of his mouth and as he yells.

“What are you saying? Faust? Hello?” Faust hears Neith again, and this time, he realizes the voice is coming from behind the fur.

As Faust tries to go around the fur, the fur slowly starts moving. Faust sees Neith, and walks towards her. She is under the street light which was suspended from the roof, as Faust walks close to her, he notices the fur is of orange colour. And it is a fur coat worn by a tall and huge man.

This man from behind, in his fur coat without a ray of light, looks like a huge creature full of fur, “You know this kid?” The huge man asks Neith. His voice is one of those extremely deep voice that is buried in the roots of your brain once you hear them. There’s no way you will ever forget his voice.

“Of course, he is with me.”

“Auntie? Here you are. I was worried. This place is so dark by the way.” Faust says as he gets near Neith.

“This is built underground. The roof above us is a city with roads.” The tall man assists Faust, describing the place.

“Ok, Bang! I will see you next time.” Neith does not speak anything else and decides to move on with her business.

Bang pauses while looking at her and Faust before eventually saying. “It’s ok, You have my code, right? Hit me up sometime.” I would like all of us to meet and hang out once again.” Bang says and sends off her off unwillingly. He wanted to stay and have a chat with her for some more time, but seems like Neith decided not to talk to him in front of Faust. Understanding what’s in her mind, Bang sends her off in her way.

“Woe auntie, you know many people here as well.” Faust wants to ask her about Bang. But he doesn’t want to be rude as to checking up on her. For which he decides to bring him up in a casual way.

“Of course, don’t you know what I used to do.”

“So is he your friend or?” Faust asks cautiously.

“He is someone I know from the past. Anyway, be careful to cover your nose. We’re entering the wild market.” Neith takes out a tissue, covering her mouth and passes a tissue towards Faust.

“Oh, what do you mean by wild market.” As Faust asks, he sees a purple smoke in front of him. He goes on to cover his nose and mouth with a tissue.

As they both are approaching, Faust notices a bad pungent smell, it’s getting stronger as they reach the market.

“Buy these! Just caught wild beasts from the forest of darkness.” A guy shouts from outside of a shop. Faust can see a form of cage from inside the purple smoke.

Everyone is wearing a sort of mask and looking inside the cages and some are discussing with the shopkeepers. The wild market is a place where they sell wild beasts that are poached.

These are not your ordinary beasts, rather, these are mutilated and evolved species, due to excess oxygen that is present in some forests.

The entire mankind has isolated itself in a small bubble and surrounding this bubble is a vast ocean. But, between the bubble filled with oxygen and man-made protective screen of sunlight is a huge dense forest that is growing rapidly.

“They sell wild beasts here, mostly the nobles that visit this market. They have a wide variety of animals here. Some come here to buy the beasts for amusement while others come here to choose their dinner.” Neith explains to Faust, who is looking at the cages.

Everything inside the cages is dark, but Faust’s eyes catch two small beautiful wolf cubs being handed over to a couple. “The cubs are crying and trying to get away while the shopkeeper keeps pulling their chains that are wrapped around their necks.

The chains are suffocating the cubs and they are being dragged in the dirt without a concern. It looks painful just to see them struggling. The cubs reminded Faust of Bella, but he kept walking by.

Soon, they got out of the purple smoke, Neith took off her tissue and kept it in her pocket. Faust followed her and after crossing a few more shops. “Oh, young man! Yes, you! Come here.” Another guy calls for Faust with a bracelet in his hand.

“Oh boy, look at you! Overflowing with spiritual power.” The guy says.

“Who me?” Faust asks in surprise. He is the only known living person who has no spiritual power in the entire world. And this shopkeeper is saying he is overflowing with spiritual power?

“Just try this bracelet, It is for both offensive and defensive. We will also give you an elemental stone-free if you buy this.”

“And keep waiting, your powers will bloom and one day you will become a soldier in one of the powerhouses.” The person announces.

At this point, Faust is just staring at the shopkeeper with a poker face. *”Really keepah?”* Faust said in his head before Neith call him and he starts walking on his way.

“How long more auntie?”

“We’re almost there.”

A decent-sized shop appears in front of them both with the words  ‘T R A D E” written on the signature board outside of the shop.

“This is it.” Neith enters the shop.

“This is it, huh?” Faust keeps staring at the shop painted in black. It is built as one of the oldest bars,  with all wood. Glass windows for ventilation and a white signature board in front of the shop that is attached on top of the entrance.

Faust follows the steps of Neith and enters inside. The whole shop is quiet and on either side, elemental stones are displayed inside a glass display. There are all seven types of elemental stones without the black one. There also some stones that implanted inside rings and watches.

Faust is mesmerized by the wide variety of tools and places his hand on the glass display out of admiration. These elemental stones are like gems and the tools are made of gold and platinum-like jewels.

“I wouldn’t touch them if I were you.” He hears a female voice from behind him that startles him quite a bit. He immediately retracts his hand and steps away from the glass.

A girl appears from behind, carrying a spray in her hand. She sprays onto the place where Faust placed his hand and starts wiping it off with a cloth. She repeats the process until the glass starts to shine.

“This glass is of low quality, so if you touch it, your fingerprints are clearly shown on it. And if my boss notices them, I will be punished.” She utters in a low voice.

Faust has found her voice, unique and adorable. It sounds like a female character from an anime. She is wearing a tight figure-hugging black jumpsuit like clothes. It looks like an outfit with only zipper in front. In a sense, the dress is enhancing her every shape, The dress is kind of leather. She bends down to wipe the dust on the bottom of the glass.

Her hair is brown and short, one side of her hair is really short while the other side is long enough to cover one side of her face, over her left eye.

“*Uh oh.”* Faust says in his head as her outfit is getting tighter and tighter as if it’s going to be torn. He is surprised that she could bend first of all, as her pants are tighter than normal and look like they will be ripped apart if she even bows to someone.

“Faust!” Neith calls for him from inside. Faust takes off the tissue that is in his pockets to wipe the sweat off his forehead. He notices that his forehead has gotten hot. He folds it and places it back in his pocket and starts going deeper into the shop.

“There are also tools in this shop huh?” Faust tells as he is walking to where Neith is standing. In front of her is a wooden table and she seems to be talking to a middle-aged man.

“N-o, Listen! That is not. Why can’t you understand?”

“I’m telling you, we don’t buy black stones. Those are useless as pebbles.” The guy sitting down in his chair is arguing with Neith, without even listening to what she is saying.

“Faust, show him the stones that you have got. He is thinking that I came back here to sell the black stone again.” Neith yells in anger. She is fuming like a fire.

“Faust takes out his pouch from his other pocket, takes out the stones and places it on the table in front of him. One red stone and Four green stones. The man jumps out of his chair seeing five finely polished stones on his table.

“Melissa!” The man yells and the same girl walks towards them.

“Who disturbed him again?” She asks in a really sweet voice.

She walks over towards the other side of the table to the guy and plants a thin earpiece in his left ear.

“Ahhhh, now I can hear properly, are you sure you guys came to sell the stones?” The man wants to check with them again. He could not believe, he is looking at brand new elemental stones.

“Tell us the prices first, if we like it, we will trade them. If not, we will go to some other city.” Neith raises her voice, she is not being the kind and caring aunt anymore, her body language describes her as strong military personnel.

“Yes, yes! Normally it is three hundred thousand Kani for the red stone and five hundred thousand for green. But, since it’s you, I will give you a price that you cannot deny.”

“Five hundred thousand for the red and seven hundred for the green. Final price. No more bargains with me.” The man says in a rather aggressive and demanding tone. His voice is resonating around the whole shop even when he speaks normally. If he were to shout, it would make one quiver in fear immediately.

“Ok, nice to know.” Neith, takes all of the stones, turns back and starts walking. Faust is confused, but he follows Neith in her steps.

“W-w-wait wait wait! What happened to my princess? Come back here and let us talk.” Neith stops in her tracks upon hearing the words of the man.

“Come one, let’s not be hasty, tell me if you don’t like the deal, but don’t just walk out on me.”

Neith comes back furiously and slams the stones on the table. She leans forward onto the table. Her eyes are burning like a fire. “Look here, old man. We don’t have all day to sit and discuss with you.”

“These elemental stones are not even used once in their lifetime. You think I’m stupid to take five hundred and leave? Did you forget about me?” Neith says and the table that her hand is on starts producing snowflakes and shortly the snowflakes turns into ice freezing the wood around her hand.

Melissa, who is standing beside the man, draws a short gun from under the table to point it towards Neith and aims at her,

*click*

In a blink of an eye, the gun that is in the hands of Melissa is in Faust’s hands and he takes out the red elemental stone off the gun. Melissa and the man sitting there are beyond shocked. The shotgun is instantly teleported into Faust’s hands.