They pushed through the crowd, the people parting around them like water around stones, their faces a blur of hollow smiles and empty eyes, and soon they were standing at the foot of the stage, looking up at Valen who had descended to meet them, his grin now replaced by something more serious, more measured.
"Well, well," Valen said, his voice carrying a note of dry amusement, "look who finally decided to join the party, I was starting to think you had gotten lost in your own head again, Lucid."
Lucid ignored the jab, his attention fixed on Valen's face, searching for any sign of deception, any hint that he was not being told the whole truth, "What is going on here, Valen, and do not give me that revival nonsense, I want the real answer."
Valen's grin faded, replaced by a look of genuine seriousness, "The real answer is that this town is being consumed, piece by piece, soul by soul, and I am trying to save what I can, even if it means playing the role of the savior while the real monster lurks in the shadows."
Ayame stepped forward, her pale hand reaching out to touch Lucid's arm, her touch was cold, but not unkind, she stared at him looking at him like usual, he had grown used to her observation, the way her eyes tracked his every movement, the way she seemed to see through the mist that shrouded his face, it was unsettling at first, but now it was just another part of his existence.
Arthur remarked in a cold manner, his voice carrying the weight of his suspicion, "Well, looks like everyone is here," he said with a sigh, "just what are you plotting, Valen?"
Valen only looked at Arthur with a quiet expression, his golden eyes unreadable, "Selling fish, of course, what else would I be doing?"
Lucid looked at the pearly fish, its scales shimmering in the afternoon light, casting rainbows across the stage, "I guess so, but what does this have to do with the Domain?"
He observed the magistrate Celeste, the one who had stabbed him in that alley, left him to die, and also pleaded to him during the last moment of the Domain, what could have possibly happened for her to be reduced to such a state, her eyes were distant, her movements mechanical, she was a puppet whose strings were being pulled by someone else, and he regarded Valen with quiet suspicion.
"Lucid, that yellow haired individual, I do not like him," Alice spoke, her voice abrupt and carrying a note of warning.
It was abrupt in a way, but Lucid did not question it, he had more than he showed and he omitted more than he said, "Perhaps you might not, but trusting or not is not the question at hand, it is irrelevant."
Alice sounded confused, her presence flickering with uncertainty, "I have people to back me up if it backfires, we have leverage in worst case scenarios, and I have you in case I die."
Alice exhaled, a soft sound that carried more weight than any words, "You are too trusting," she uttered in a quiet tone.
Suddenly the Chain of Heart resonated with a tone that felt something in the air like a dissonant note, a wrongness that did not belong, as he turned to scan the crowd he thought it was that ghost of a merchant girl again, but it was not, he looked and his eyes fell on a particular figure leaning on a pole with her shoulder, a coat over her shoulders, her hair pulled back, she continued to walk and observed the platform where they stood with a quiet smile, it was that lady he had met at the beach, and that lady he had also seen when he confronted the noble who had mass hired the common folk in the town square some days ago.
She has a connection with Valen, he thought, and briefly glanced at Valen, who seemed not to notice her presence, his attention fixed on the crowd.
After much time, Lucid and Arthur tended to the belongings being sold, other artifacts other than the pearl fish, it was the last bid being sold out after each purchase, nobody in the town really had that much to spend, especially considering when all of the other nobles had their other selves frozen in that Domain, most of the contenders buying were the common folk, so the price to pool or the ration they were willing to spend was not that much.
Lucid looked at the artifacts and the relics that were being sold, carried by Ayame, the magistrate carried a distant smile and had a pair of scissors that she used to clip the binding red thread to declare the purchase of an item on behalf of the governor and the representative as a magistrate.
'Hey, she is doing her job for once,' he thought, a note of dark humor coloring the observation.
"Her job?" Alice remarked, her voice carrying a note of curiosity.
Lucid was slightly caught uncomfortable, but he replied nonetheless, "Long story."
"I have time, my chosen."
"Well, I do not," he replied, his tone flat.
He made his way toward Ayame, who was carrying a large chest, he intercepted it and carried it instead, looking at her hands, they were bleeding, thin lines of red running down her pale skin, he spoke, his voice low, "Take a break, I can take things from here."
She nodded and stepped off, taking a seat at a nearby bench, watching over but yet also still at guard as she summoned a massive blood sword and plunged it into the ground, making the bystanders and the general crowd regard the massive blood blade with uncertainty and fear, Lucid made a hand gesture to signal for her to put it away, but she tilted her head and gestured with her left hand and made another of identical size, it seemed she understood it in the other way, for more protection.
Lucid narrowed his eyes in quiet resignation and carried on, there was no point arguing with her when she had made up her mind.
Now it was the main thing, Celeste spoke, her voice carrying across the crowd with a monotone that seemed almost hypnotic, "This is a pearly fish blessed by the Monolith of the Void, their kind drift through the seas that lie suspended in the void, migrating from continent to continent, their scales are shiny and their pearls carry distinct frequencies that can be used with fate conjuring and resonance, they are also generally fit for consumption."
"Our visitors today have acquired one near the shorelines of the harbor," she continued, her tone monotonous but carrying a hint of delightfulness that sounded all wrong, like a smile painted on a corpse.
A man who had frequented the harbor and owned several fishing boats stepped closer, his hand gesturing wildly, "I have fished near the harbor of Port Vexis for years, and I have never seen something like that," he yelled out.
Lucid looked at him, it was the one who had sold them the fruit, and the one who had also rented them the fishing boat earlier, 'talk about unlucky,' he thought, shaking his head at the irony.
"Well, it would seem Mother Alisia blesses the ones who are the most ambitious and daring," Celeste replied in a neutral, too far tone.
Lucid could not help but think that the woman was being used, her words not her own, her will not her own.
"A merchant by the humble name Valen Thorne managed to procure it near the shoreline," Celeste announced, "all credit goes to this humble young man."
Arthur spit out something he was drinking, the liquid spraying across the stage as he pointed an accusing finger at Valen, "Huh! That is a lie, I am the one!"
Valen looked back with a gleeful smile and winked at Arthur, his expression carrying a note of mock innocence that only made Arthur's frustration grow, "I am sorry, my friend, but the credit belongs to me, I was the one who organized the expedition, I was the one who secured the boat, I was the one who negotiated the price, and I was the one who brought it to shore, you just happened to be there."
Lucid watched the exchange with a quiet sense of detachment, his mind already moving ahead, trying to piece together the fragments of information that were slowly forming a picture he did not entirely like, the Domain, the fish, the magistrate, Valen, Ayame, the woman with the quiet smile, and the ghost of a merchant girl, all of it was connected, all of it was part of something larger, and he was determined to find out what.