Chapter Forty-Six: The Black Market
The next morning, when the sky was grey and fog crawled between the roofs of dilapidated houses, Daniel set out toward the depths of the poor quarters, specifically into its darkest districts. The place seemed outside of time: narrow lanes twisting like snakes, cracked walls breathing mildew, and mixed smells of old blood, rotting food scraps, and smoke from primitive hearths.
Everyone in the poor quarters knew there were streets no weak or ordinary person should enter — not only for fear of theft or murder, but because those alleys hid secrets one would rather not know. Every stone, every shadow, every crack between walls carried a story of death or disappearance.
Daniel hid his face well beneath a dark cloth and kept his head down so no one would recognize him. Only his eyes glimmered in the gloom. In his hands were four rings — two exquisite Eiras and two Niras — each one gleaming with a strange light. He held them as if displaying a silent power, then began walking down one of those lanes feared even by the least courageous criminals.
After a few paces, two men suddenly appeared before him, standing as if waiting. Their eyes scanned him from head to toe, measuring his appearance, his gait, even his breath.
The two were among the most dangerous criminals in that part of the quarter. Their looks alone were enough to make any stranger turn away: the first was tall and thin yet blade-like, his pale face marked by a long scar running from above his brow to mid-cheek. His eyes were narrow and cold like a snake's, his smile a small, colorless curl. The second was slightly shorter but broad-shouldered, his skin darkened from long sun exposure. He wore an unkempt short beard and had deep brown eyes; his voice carried a rasp as if he were used to shouting or fighting. They exchanged quick glances, as if communicating in some invisible tongue.
One of them, after sizing Daniel up, asked, "What do you want here?"
Daniel replied in a sharp, steady tone with no hint of hesitation: "I want the corpse of a man in his mid-twenties, and I want him to have died a natural death... of hunger, not of violence."
The second man glanced swiftly at his partner and said, "Good. Your request exists. We have such a corpse, though unfortunately it's been a month. Still, it's in decent condition thanks to our preservation methods, so don't worry."
Daniel lifted his head slightly and asked, "Not bad... what's the price?"
The first man smiled a neutral smile and said, "Not much — just five silver coins. That's of course because of the difficult and costly preservation."
Daniel shook his head slowly and said, "No. That's expensive. Make it three."
The first man raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Three? Didn't you hear what I said, friend? That would be a loss for us."
Daniel stared straight into his eyes and replied, "I'm not a fool. I know well the methods and costs of preserving corpses. Do you think I'm buying a corpse now? Three coins: take it or leave it."
The second man intervened quickly as if unwilling to lose the deal: "Alright, alright... for you only, we'll give it for three coins. And because you're a new customer as well."
The first man stepped back briefly and disappeared down a side alley, returning shortly with a large black sack that looked heavy enough to confirm a body inside. He placed it on the ground before Daniel.
Daniel approached, bent over, and opened part of the sack, pretending to inspect the corpse. Its features were dull, the skin tinged grey, the clothing tattered. After a careful look he closed the sack and said, "Okay, not bad."
He handed them a silver coin and two thousand copper coins, then lifted the sack and walked away. He wound through crooked streets, in and out of crowds, as if trying to erase any trace. He reached a hidden, abandoned corner he'd noted on his way in, and there he began to place the corpse into his spatial ring.
It took him a full fifteen minutes because of his low level and weak mana, forcing him to concentrate absolutely as he honed his mana and activated the Eira simultaneously. The body's medium size made the task harder, but at last he succeeded — because the corpse was no longer a living being, there was no problem.
After that he changed quickly into another set of clothes he had kept in his bag from the start, then slipped back into the crowd as if he had never been there.
An hour later the first man returned cursing under his breath. The second asked him, "What happened? Did you find his hiding place?"
The first answered angrily, "Damn it, I couldn't! He vanished suddenly; I searched everywhere and couldn't find him among the people."
The second reproached him, "Are you blind? He carried a large corpse the whole time!"
The first shouted in agitation, "I told you he disappeared suddenly! Can't you hear what I'm saying? Shut up!"
The second raised his voice, "Damn you, you speak as if you're not the one at fault!"
The first retorted, "And why didn't you let me rob him? I brought the men and they were hiding in the back. If I had tricked him into approaching the spot you knew, it would have been over."
The second snapped back, "You stupid fool! That man had four Eiras or Niras in his hands, four at once! And he offered us a good price to buy the corpse, which means he's used to dealing with corpses. He gave you a single silver coin and two thousand copper, which shows he's poor or has little at hand. Finally, that man could have run at any time; he was always looking around and ready to flee. He stayed near the edge of the street, so I killed the idea of telling him anything to make him come closer and not suspect us."
The first admitted hesitantly, "Maybe he was pretending to be poor."
The second sneered, "That's true, which makes him more dangerous — he's used to dealing with people like us. For those reasons and the last, it would be better to make him come to us often, so we can gauge him, gain his trust, and learn the risks of stealing from him before we act."
The first nodded, "Seems so."
...
Daniel went to the cemetery used for the poor and sometimes the common folk and buried the body there. The sky was grey and the sun barely pierced the heavy clouds, scattering faint light across rows of tilted graves eaten by rust and moss, while a cold wind carried the scent of damp earth mixed with an ancient smell that could have been from the ground or from the memories of the dead. Daniel's appearance was far from his true self; he looked closer to the corpse he buried — hollow-eyed beneath his cloak, the lines of his face worn — yet his body was healthy and strong unlike the emaciated corpse that had died of hunger, its limbs thin like withered twigs.
(It's good that I know how to handle the corpses of monsters and people because of my work; otherwise I'd be a fool in front of them, and that would get me into bigger trouble), he told himself as he pressed the soil with his hands until the body was fully covered, as if it had never been there at all.
As he slowly withdrew from the grave, he noticed at the edge of the cemetery an old man whispering to himself while placing flowers on a small headstone. The old man stared at Daniel as if he knew this stranger had not come merely to visit, but the elder soon turned back to his conversation with the wind, as if the graves themselves answered his questions.