The Broken Halo

Simon eventually reached market square and with anticipation in his heart, he looked for quality and legitimate shops that would buy the sovereign ranked sword from him.

He had to find a shop that would be able to buy the sovereign ranked sword from him at the right price.

It did not take him long to find the first shop that obviously had the capability to buy a sovereign ranked sword from him.

However, when he presented the sword and told them that he wanted to sell it, the price they offered was absolutely ridiculous.

They offered a mere five thousand merits for the sword, making Simon to be stunned and baffled.

Even if the sword was a low grade sovereign artifact, it should cost at least fifty thousand merits.

And if the grade of the sword was higher, then it would cost even more.

When he asked why it was so cheap, the reason they gave nearly made him to curse their fathers, forefathers and ancestors.

First of all, they said that there was no proof from a licensed appraiser to verify that the sword was actually a Sovereign ranked artifact.

What if it was actually a fake and was just a Profound artifact, they said.

The second reason they gave was that he was a slave, and as a slave, five thousand merits was a lot of money.

One of the employees of the shop even said that he was worried about other slaves ganging up on him out of jealousy if it was known that he had that much money.

The words that came out their mouth were absolutely ridiculous and utter bullshit.

A fake Sovereign ranked artifact?

Nearly everybody in the academy and the clan had watched his battle with Blackblade.

There was absolutely no way it was fake.

As for the matter of the five thousand merits being a lot of money for a slave?

That was even more ridiculous considering how everything was triple the price for him.

Simon left the store in anger, then he went to another store.

To his surprise, they did something similar.

They offered him five thousand two hundred merits.

They also questioned the authenticity of the sword and told him that if a licensed appraiser could not verify the authenticity of the sword, then they would treat it as a fake sword.

He left the store without saying a single word, then he went to another store.

But it was the same thing.

This store even offered him a laughable three thousand five hundred merits for the sword.

They also questioned the authenticity of the sword, and Simon left before the employee could even finish his words.

To test out the hypothesis that was in his mind, he looked for another store that was far away from the three stores he went to.

But it was still the same thing.

They offered him six thousand merits, asked for proof from a verified appraiser, and they even told him that because he was a slave, they would have to reduce how much they would buy the sword.

After getting the same treatment from the fourth shop, Simon knew what was going on.

The factions.

The factions were using their authority to pressure these shop owners to either not buy from him or to rip him off by a great deal.

This was a massive problem to Simon, and he was not sure if he would be able to find a shop where he could sell the sword.

He had not expected this from the three factions, and it made him realize two things.

The first is that the brain or the brains behind the actions of the factions was not to be trifled with.

Though he could not completely understand their goals in making him fight Blackblade, they had succeeded in making a Greater Demon to target him.

The second thing he realized was the power the three factions had, but when he thought about it, it was not so surprising.

He was going against an alliance of three factions, not just one, and if those three decided to pool in their resources and power, they would be a force to reckon with.

And Simon was beginning to feel that force and alliance.

Now, he was not so certain about what he should do.

Should he try his luck and see if he would be able to find a shop that would buy the sword at the right price or at a reasonable price at least?

Was he willing to waste all that time and energy which could be used to achieve something better like learning how to draw chaos runes?

Or would he have to go to the worst parts of market square, the Black Market in market square to sell the sword?

Simon did not even entertain the thought of meeting with an appraiser to appraise the weapon for two reasons.

The first is that it costs money, and because the sword was a sovereign ranked artifact, it would cost Simon thousands of merits to hire an appraiser with the appropriate skill to appraise the sword.

And because he was a slave, the price would be triple the original price.

He also believed that the three factions would have met with the appraisers and he would face a similar situation with them.

Then there’s also the problem that the shops would still try to rip him off massively, so why bother?

He really needed the money, so after thinking about it, he decided to try as many shops as possible.

Going to the black market area was dangerous for him.

Though he had immense confidence in himself but it would not be strange for him to be ganged up on or to encounter a Greater Demon from the factions in such an area.

So, he decided to waste some of his time.

And the result?

He had gone to nearly twenty shops in market square, and they all did the same thing to him.

He decided to try one more shop, and there he encountered a familiar face, or to be more specific… A familiar mask.

The mask of a bored clown.