Chapter 179: Pacts.

On the other side of the velvet door was a waiting room. Posh, with nice carpets, the smell of lavender, or some such smell in the air. Soft music played in the background. Yet, none of that bothered me more than something else. The moment the door closed behind us, all sound outside died.

This was room was heavily soundproofed. No, I could feel it was more than just this room, and it was more than just sound. The overpowering smell in the air did little to hide another smell, the smell of beasts. Of blood, sweat, and such.

I barely had time to process that before another door opened, leading to another ornately decorated room, only this room looked like an office space. And in stepped perhaps, the seediest man I’d ever seen in my life. Even the suit he wore did little to detract from just how dishonest he looked.

With a hunched back, wiry frame, and a mop of hair that looked excessively greased, I couldn’t help but question if this man was really the boss.

“You must be a buyer, yes?” He asked, his voice oddly nasally, his nose, crooked, like it’d been broken one too many times. Before I could even answer, he continued. “What am I saying, of course you are, I mean, look at your bearing, your presence, clearly you must have money, yes?”

At this point, his hands were constantly rubbing each other as he practically prostrated himself before me. “I am honored to have one such as you in my humble shop.” He continues, confusing me even more, yet… I couldn’t help but think something was off.

Not that I was going to make an issue of it, if anything… “You have good eyes.” I say instead.

“Of course, I have to have good eyes to find merchandise as exotic as mine.” His voice dripping with reverence, but his gaze, the way he looked at me… It was as if he was looking at an exotic animal.

It was strange, but… well… I’d never encountered someone like him. I had heard of people like him though, and seeing him acting like this, as strange as it was, it gave me some confidence that this wasn’t a wild goose chase. After all, some people just had a sense for blood.

“I’ll be the judge of that, but… I do find myself intrigued.” I reply, he laughs. A wheezing thing, and with how his body shook, I was frightened he might keel over. At least, until he pulled out an inhaler mid-wheeze and took a few good whiffs of it.

“My apologies, please, come this way, and do excuse the noise… and smell.” The man says, shuffling to a side door. A door that looked somewhat out of place, a metal door. The moment he opened it, I heard it. Cries, roars, then came the smell.

Unperturbed, we walked through, mentally, I noted how the other side of the steel door had numerous cuts and gouges.

“Do ignore that, we sometimes have rather… lively merchandise in stock.”

“And would any such merchandise be present now?” I ask back.

“Unfortunately, not. We recently received a new shipment, but I do believe we have something worthy of your discerning tastes.”

I didn’t question that statement, but I definitely noticed when Ophelia tensed up. Her eyes were stuck on the cages lining the walls, big and small. Many of them were spotted in old blood, rusted in places. Some of the cages had live beasts inside. Others, dead ones, corpses.

I didn’t say anything as he led us around, introduced us to exotic animals, beasts. He explained what they were, their specialties and all. I could only glance at Ophelia, and there was a permanent scowl on her face. She looked like she wanted to speak up but knew better than to speak up.

Eventually though, she nudged Talia, and whispered something into her ear while the man droned on about another exotic beast. I glanced over, not hearing their conversation, but I was taken by surprise when I heard a voice in my head.

‘Can you hear me?’

I glance back at Ophelia as the seedy man continued his pitch, unaware that someone else had spoke. She was looking at me, as was Talia. Curious at how they did it, I try to feel something, and I notice a foreign sensation. A kind of feeling and when I prod it, I do so with a single question.

‘How?’ I hear my own voice reverberate out in my head.

‘Mind magic.’ I hear Talia reply. ‘A sub-type of it anyway, that gives limited telepathy. We can talk safely without anyone hearing us.’

I take a moment to work over what was happening, letting the seedy man’s words drift into the background.

‘I suppose this is something you’ve been practicing?’ I ask.

‘Yeah, among other magic types. I figured with this, we could communicate without others hearing us, but it isn’t perfect.’

‘Right… now, can I ask why are we talking like this? And can you both hear me?’

‘Yes.’ Talia says. ‘Just direct your thought to who want, and it will work.’

“I can hear you, right now you’re broadcasting to both of us…” Ophelia follows up with. I find it odd that she was so non-chalant about this, but it’s likely she and Talia had been talking for some time.

‘Alright, so, why are you doing this?’ I ask, directing towards Ophelia. It seems to work as Talia keeps quiet.

‘It’s the animals.’ Ophelia says.

‘What about them, did you find one you want?’ I ask back.

‘No, it’s just, they’re in bad shape. Yes, they have magical bloodlines, and I have to admit, this guy does have a good eye for this, but… many of these animals he’s shown us are at death’s door. They aren’t cared for properly and…’ She trails off.

‘And?’ I press.

‘I’m just second guessing myself. I really don’t want to contribute to whatever this is…’ She once more trails off.

‘Yet you need a beast.’ I answer for her.

‘Yes…’

‘Well, we can’t just rob the guy or let these animals loose. Even if we bought them all, which I am most definitely not going to do. Even if I were too, I wouldn’t be able to afford it, nor would I be able to house them.’

“I know that… I know that all too well, it’s just…’ Again, she trails off.

‘I get it.’ Was my answer, ‘But focus on finding an animal worthy of you, and we can go from there, understood?’

‘I… Yeah, okay.’ She replies back and goes quiet, allowing me to once more focus on the man. Not that he’s doing anything in particular.

Eventually though, I have to ask. “Is this really it?” I motion to the nearest cage, noting the corpse within. “I mean, what kind of shop keeps dead animals around?”

The corpse in question looked like an ape’s corpse. The dim lighting above was just enough to illuminate its form, the angle just right to give us a good view of the interior.

“Ah, my apologies. Many of our shipments arrive earlier in the month, and well, they don’t always arrive in the best of conditions, but we do try our hardest to keep them from deteriorating, but its only inevitable I’m afraid.” He sighs and looks aggrieved.

I feel a spike of animosity from Ophelia over our link. I glance back, but again, smartly she keeps her mouth shut.

“So, I’m to assume I’m getting secondhand goods?” I say back, and the man’s smile falters slightly.

“Ah, but of course not, it’s only the best, I promise! I wouldn’t just show you any old beast!”

I highly doubt that, but it was clear, despite his claim of recently getting a shipment, none of these animals looked newer.

“Who even cares for them?” I end up asking.

“That would be my doorman, Trevor. He has quite the way with beasts.”

I frown, but I don’t pursue any further, yet before we press on, I notice something odd.

“Is that corpse supposed to be moving?” I ask, pointing to the ape.

“What? No, I checked earlier this morning, they clearly expired, but…” He pauses and quickly retrieves a stick, well, a metal pointing stick of all things and slides it into the cage and pokes the body a few times.

I could feel Ophelia’s anger rising by the second at seeing the man’s blatant disrespect of the animal. Eventually though, the poking reveals something, with a few strategic pushes, it’s revealed what was moving the corpse.

“Oh…” The man says in surprise. “I suppose that wasn’t dead…” He murmured. “Not that it’ll be alive much longer, unfortunately.”

What he revealed, was a smaller baby ape. It was clinging to its mother, clearly hanging onto life by a thread.

The moment Ophelia sees it though, ‘I want it.’ She almost yells over the link.

I wince at the sudden shout in my skull but keep my cool. “What kind of beast is it anyway?” I ask, directing my question to the seedy man.

“Hm? Ah, an iron palm ape, I believe. They have good physical strength, and it’s said they can break iron with their fists.” He says and yet, I could tell he didn’t truly believe it.

“Interesting name.” I say, “Where do you even find animals like this?”

“We have our sources.” Was his answer, which means it likely came from outside the city.

“Is that so?” I answer back cooly, and we move on, and I can feel Ophelia’s gaze burning into the back of my skull and yet… I say and do nothing. I only send her a warning glance.

Wisely, she keeps quiet, though, she looks at the baby ape with a grimace and clenching of her hand.

We continued the tour. As we pressed on, I could tell he was getting more nervous. He was almost sweating buckets, constantly dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief he pulled out of his pocket. And as we went, I asked more questions.

Like, “Is this legal, exactly?”

“Ah, but of course. Nothing illegal here. There’s nothing inherently illegal about the sale or purchase of exotic beasts.”

“How did you even set this shop up?” Was another, and his answer…

“We had help from the locals, of course.”

Granted, the constant stream of questions, and other things had another result. He was becoming a bit suspicious of us. Not that he would voice it. He’d simply assumed we were here to purchase, and I had an idea why. He probably saw magic users, or magical girls too at times. People desperate for beast companions or looking for certain materials.

In a way, we fit the bill, and really, we were here to make a purchase, only, I did agree with Ophelia, this was wasteful. So many of the cages were empty, having been recently cleaned out, those filled were either occupied by corpses or near dead animals.

Some looked good enough, but Ophelia quickly filled me in that they happened to be the closest to death’s door. If I had a choice, I’d much rather not put money into such an establishment but needs must. If I wanted Ophelia to join, or even be useful to me, I needed a beast today.

As for why I didn’t simply point to the ape and leave was simple. I could tell that this man was capable at negotiating. He spoke fast and hard, and there were a few times I found myself tempted to make a purchase based on descriptions alone. That is, until Ophelia chipped in with knowledge of her own, filling in the gaps.

After all, some of these beasts would be valuable to an alchemist, or someone in need of a certain something. Even Talia expressed interest in some of them, which only went to show, the man knew his stuff.

As for why he treated them like this, or how this happened, the man wasn’t very forthcoming, but I had thoughts. Mainly, Ophelia was oddly defensive of Trevor and said he did the best he could with what he had, but there was only so much a mundane could do with beasts that had magical lineage.

Whether that was true or not… how the hell would I know?

Eventually the tour arrived at its conclusion. A final hurrah, a final show, and as they say, a good merchant saves the best for last.

Sequestered in the far back, in a lonely corner under a heat lamp in a small enclosure was a snake.

“A Sapphire Viper. A rare specimen said to share blood with dragons!” The man says with a waggle of his hands. I glance back to Ophelia, and surprisingly she didn’t naysay the man. “It’s named as such due to their beautiful blue eyes, and the gem like protrusion on their forehead that looks just like a sapphire!”

He continues to speak, but at this point, I’m not sure what to say.

‘Thoughts?’ I ask Ophelia, she takes some time to respond as the man continues.

‘He’s not wrong, it is a stretch though. Technically, any kind of snake, even the most mundane can have draconic lineage. He’s not wrong in saying the snake is special, but… as it is, its really just a snake with some magic in its blood.’ She answers to my surprise.

‘So, would it be a good buy?’ I answered back.

‘Yes? I mean, it depends, why would you want it? If you want me to make a bond with that snake, I won’t. At least, not now. It has an ice attribute, which isn’t what I’m looking for right now, and I’m also not able to make a second bond, not until I get my first bond fully developed.’

‘I’m well aware of that, but… do you think this would be a good beast for me?’ I ask, taking her by surprise.

‘You?’ She questions… ‘I mean, yeah, it would work, but why?’

‘You mentioned bonds can be beneficial. That anyone can technically form a bond with a beast. I figured; you could help me make back the cost of buying you a beast by helping me form a bond with another beast.’

‘That… I mean, it might work? Like, yeah, it would work, but it wouldn’t be nearly as dramatic as what I have.’

‘Yet it could work?’ I ask back mentally, totally ignoring the man’s sales pitch.

‘As I said it would and…’ She trails off, thinks, ‘Yeah, you could form a bond with the snake if you bought it. It’s just…’

‘I know, it’s in bad condition. Tell me what you can, if you think it’ll survive and what I need to know.’

‘Alright.’ Was her response and she fed me everything I needed to know.

I could tell she was somewhat hesitant. She really wanted that baby ape, but I wasn’t going to just get her beast here. No, the moment I heard about bonds, how she could benefit, I’d already started thinking of how I could benefit as well.

After all, we were moving rather fast, but… honestly, spending mundane cash on a magical girl, and a potential magic beast was an easy choice to make. Surely, I wouldn’t regret this and better yet…

I’m absolutely certain I could negotiate this guy down to the dirt. Especially with all the information Ophelia was giving me. Which is why, when his pitch ended I began my own.

I pointed out the dullness of the scales, the ill-fitting environment, among other things. Some points he refuted, but that was by design. After all, if I cut him off at the knees too soon, he’d put his guard up. he’d resist lowering the price and we’d end up butting heads.

Sad as it was, many of the points the man was aware of, like that the snake may not even survive another few days. That it was in fact starved and hadn’t been eating among other things. And to his credit, the man even mentioned there was a limit they could do to care for the snake.

Eventually we settled on an acceptable number, but…

“I also would like to buy the baby ape.” I mentioned as we started to tally up the final. He gave me a look, as if wondering why I’d ask for something at death’s door and not my style, but…

“I’m thinking I could try and feed it to the snake. After all, its magical right?”

To her chagrin, Ophelia had to admit that feeding the baby ape to the snake would do wonders for its health. Apparently, the man was aware of this as well and gave me a good discount for buying both. Ending up with me paying even less.

The price was still, hefty. My finances weren’t in the best of places, not with all the spending I’ve been making at my job. Yet, I still was receiving my monthly paychecks, and I could easily pull from other areas, especially with us heading into the depths.

After all, just a few bronze coins would offset the cost of this little venture.

Eventually our purchases were made. we left, and as we were leaving, I asked Trevor, the doorman a question.

“This place, did it used to have a park?” I asked.

He thought, considered, “Yeah, there used to be a memorial too to someone back in the day. Got demolished... I don’t know when.” Was his answer.

“Was anything built over it?”

He shrugs. Somewhat satisfied we made our way back to the street and the car. making a stop at the store for Ophelia to make purchases both for her ape and the snake I’d bought. We had quite a bit piled up and it took some time to unload it all back at the warehouse, and to my surprise, Ophelia wanted to move in with Talia.

I didn’t argue, if anything, having them both here made it easier. So, while I continued with my preparations for our delve starting Monday, both Ophelia and Talia went to empty her room and move her stuff into the upper office that was being used as a living area.

By the end of the day, Ophelia had a proper pact with her ape and helped me make a pact with my snake. The effect wasn’t great, but it would take time, only…

“How am I supposed to get this thing to eat?” I ask, after all, the viper I bought had some interesting tidbits about it.

It was, as strange as it sounded, an ice-aligned magical beast. With cold venom, that worked through magic to turn hot into cold. Granted, it wasn’t that strong, but a good dose would give a normal person mild frostbite in the area. It also thrived in colder environments, meaning the cold storage was a decent enough place to keep it, especially with the ambient magical energy.

As for its for its food…

“Just use your magic to freeze a mouse, or small critter, I went ahead and bought some. Your magic will help it recover. It’ll also mimick how the snake’s venom is supposed to work.”

Which is good and all, but…

“It’s not eating.” I murmured. “Any idea why?” I ask Ophelia.

“I don’t know. I have a few guesses, but you have a bond now with it, maybe you could use that to help? You know, to get a sense for its mental state?”

It was a good enough response, only… all I could feel from my bond with it was annoyance, reluctance, and well, above all distaste. Like it was above this, above me. Over our link it was easy to feel its emotions, its distaste for me having to feed it, that it was this weak, that it was even in this position.

What then could I even say to break through this mire of negativity?

Well… “You going to keep wasting my time?” I say, to the snake’s bewilderment. “I paid for you, I’m even wasting my time feeding you, by hand of all things. I have better things to do, and you? You’re just wallowing in self-pity. That man really talked you up, but really, is any of that true? Are you really a so-called descendant of a dragon and not some snake with a pretty coat of paint?”

The snake bristled and with our bond, I knew full-well that it could understand me. And of all things, I heard a voice…

‘HOW DARE YOU!’

I blinked.

‘I’ll have you know, this one is part of a distinguished bloodline. This one is royalty, a princess!’

I glanced over to Ophelia as the snake blabbered in my head.

“Is it supposed to talk?”

‘EXCUSE ME!’ I ignore its outrage. ‘Are you ignoring me!?’

Ophelia frowned in thought. “It probably developed intelligence, which is rare, but… mm, I suppose not? I didn’t think it would be like that from the start though.”

I stared at the nagging snake, realizing, I was now regretting my purchase. Especially as it began to list its ancestors, whose names I couldn’t even begin to pronounce.

How the hell was I going to deal with this???