Part 15
Cyeen was staring at the first page of her small book. There was a new message from En. It had been a while since they last spoke.
"I guessed you would get curios about the passive ability I gave you by now. I won't bother with any wordplays and get straight to the point. The more pain you are in the harder the white essence I gave you hits. I hope that clears up your confusion."
The noble thought for a second. Is that good enough or not? The new white essence she gained had low damage for sure but how much power it would gain at each pain level was unclear. She couldn't ask someone to beat her half dead before each fight. She laid down, looking up. There wasn't any sleep left in her now.
***
Another week had passed since the three had last met. Which meant they would be gathering again at noon today. Cyeen tried to sit up with a grunt but quickly realized her body wasn't cooperating. She struggled for what felt like an eternity before she finally managed to move a single finger. With a weary sigh, she resigned herself to repeating this painstaking action for every muscle if she hoped to get up. It seemed like doing actual work for this many consecutive days had started showing its effect.
The noble was finally free to move after a few hours. She looked out her window just to see the sun directly above the sky. Oh no. She thought, right before starting to rummage through a drawer.
***
"Cyeen? You look more tired than usual. Are you getting enough sleep?" Asked Zoen who was waiting at their designated table.
Cyeen had barely managed to get there on time and she was in no mood to be made fun of.
"Are you perhaps blind? Never mind, dont answer that, just tell me if we got enough money or not."
He emptied two sacks of coins on the table, signaling Cyeen to do the same. Cyeen threw the sack at him, commanding him to do it himself. Zoen sighed and emptied the sack he caught. There were forty silvers. Cyeen brought an extra ten silver? Zoen thought, lifting an eyebrow.
"Don't look at me like that. I actually receive tips unlike you." said Cyeen proudly.
The siblings sighed in sync. They had realized by now that they needed to ignore the snarky comments the noble made from time to time. Jess had gotten tired of threatening to bash her face in every time the noble said something like that. Maybe if Cyeen was ignored long enough she'd stop?
Cyeen's fingers tapped her arm.
"May I learn why you are staring at me?"
Zoen shook her head.
"I was just thinking on what to do next. But well, I don't know why Jess is staring."
A set of sharp teeth appeared in the noble's field of vision. They weren't being used for a smile right now.
"Alright I know what to do. Jess, buddy, can you piss off for today?" Said Zoen, with the most polite tone he ever used.
The demon huffed.
"Fine, I had me own busisneses to deal with aniway."
The brown haired guy turned his head towards the noble. His face looked as expressionless as it could.
"Why don't you come with me, Cyeen?"
She shrugged. Today was really not that thrilling of a day since she wasn't training with Jess. Zoen had made Cyeen a training schedule for each day except the last day of the week which they met up. It was obviously because of what Jess did when she was not being supervised last week.
Zoen gathered all the coins into one sack like he did last week, throwing it into a linen bag he had bought and signaled Cyeen to come with him.
The two of them walked towards the shopping district, leaving Jess behind. They walked by tons of stores. Half of them were clearly targeted towards people of higher ranks. It looked as if Bami in its entirety was targeted towards nobles. Well at least that's what it looks like. The two soon stopped in front of a luxurious looking herb store.
***
Two people with similar heights entered her shop. There was a familiar face along them. She greeted them both before turning to the guy.
"That yer girl? Ha! She lookeye more like a pirate than you! Slap an eyepatch on 'er and voila!!"
The guy smacked the shop owner.
"I specifically requested you to refrain from making any comments if I brought her here. She's the noble we teamed up with, I told you the whole story didn't I?"
Cyeen was taken aback, they know eachother?
"Excuse me? What gives you the right to say those to me? Who do you think you are?"
The woman spoke up cheerfully.
"O wait yar the nooble he talkeyed about? Well, anyway. The name's Cherry! Wait dats actually my nickname but whatevs. As for who I may be, jus' think o' me as an old crew member of yar friend ova there!"
Zoen quickly turned towards Cyeen. He knew she wouldn't understand anything from that.
"Thats right, the woman standing in front of you is an old friend of ours who left our former crew years ago when her essence core got damaged."
Cherry pressed the back of her hand to her forehead.
"Oh how tragic events have befallen this crew Seeming like—wi won't get a rest for a sec till the day wi drop!"
Zoen turned towards Cyeen once again.
"This woman was how I was able to turn that thirty into a forty last week. As for how: She introduced me to the 'downsiders' of this town."
Cyeen didn't care about most of what Zoen said. She was still stuck on the "Former Crew" part of his words.
"Come to think of it, what was your crew's name? I only remember some part of it. If I remember right it was something that sounded tough right?"
Zoen lifted his eyebrows. He had never thought their name sounded tough before.
"Oh yeah, we didn't tell you about that did we? Well, you'll learn sooner or later. Jess can tell you in detail."
Jess again? Cyeen really didn't like the way Jess told a story, she didn't even get into the essentials let alone the main story last time. Zoen clicked his fingers to get the attention of Cherry which marked the place which Cyeen stopped paying attention.
"As to why I'm here today; have you heard of a player with $)(#/$ hair and //#)# eyes? I think Jess said her name was @)@/#. Can you tell us if you know someone like that? It would really help us in our search."
Cyeen lifted her brow. I couldn't understand anything. Cyeen looked around for an answer but the voice was being as reliable as it always was. Probably the exhaustion catching up with me. Cyeen stared at Cherry, the woman's face was blurry as well.
It's because you don't care.
The noble ignored the voice as it was impossible she was that ignorant.
Zoen nodded after hearing Cherry's answer. The guy tapped Cyeen's shoulder to awake her of her thoughts. "Let's go, one eye." She knew it, that nickname would stick to her as long as she traveled with the siblings.
Cherry guided both of them behind the counter and into a secret door behind some racks. Behind the racks—they walked down some dark stairs for a while. They kept walking to the point of making the noble yawn. She tried making small talk to Zoen as the stairs looked endless. Her attempt to talk was cut in half by a door. They went and opened it quickly.
There was a huge open area lit with endless amounts of candles. Every part of the underground place was made with birch wood, rendering it extremely vulnerable to fire. Especially with those candles around.
The noble observed the people and objects nearby. And only when she looked at the big picture was she met with a sight she could only describe as breath taking.
It looked as if someone had constructed a wooden mansion underground. The dim lights coming from the candles further enchancing the view.
More than a dozen doors could be seen scattered around the open area, all leading into wide spacious rooms. They looked to be quite popular as the majority of the people down here were all going through them. Zoen and Cyeen on the other hand passed by all of them, heading straight to the double door across the open space.
They stopped by the door for a second. Zoen turned to Cyeen as he began talking.
"Alright we're finally here. I'm going to ask one thing of you. Please try your best not to talk to anyone. The people inside might actually recognize you."
Cyeen placed a hand on her hip.
"So there are nobles in there? Well if so, I'm sure most of them know me by face. Me not talking wouldn't do much for us here. I'm assuming you have masks for this occasion?"
The guy pulled out two masks from his bag with a smirk. He knew this would happen. His smile was just a proof of that. The owner of the two masks was actually Cherry, who he borrowed them from.
He handed Cyeen a mask that covered her eye and nose. It had purple and pink flowers all over her eye. Suprisingly, she could see through the flowers. The mask Zoen wore fully covered his face. It was decorated with countless feathers, resembling a dove. They entered through the door after wearing their masks.
Cyeen instantly knew what room they had entered. It was an auction room. Though, it was smaller than the ones that she had been in before. Must be for smaller budgets. It hit her then. So Zoen traded something he got here? So he actually wasn't lying.
It was a common tactic to go up to the person who took whatever one wanted and offer them a higher price than they paid as it was the only way to know you bought it for sure. It seemed like Zoen abused that to gain an extra ten silvers. The items they auction must be really insignificant then. Cyeen sat next to Zoen, waiting for the event to start. The guy had already started talking to a random woman next to him. It looked like he was asking some questions.
A guy in the center stage spoke up.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please! I know we usually bring items on the lower value to this stage but today, we've got something that'll surely pique your interest on our hands!"
The noble got a little uncomfortable in her seat. Cyeen didn't like what was hidden behind the curtains for some reason. She soon realized why as the curtains opened. What stood in front of everyone was a jewel, not just any jewel but one of the ones she gave her maid to sell. What was it doing here?
The bids started flying around, capping at one gold and fifty silvers. Cyeen nudged Zoen.
"Go on, bid." she said.
Zoen hesitantly raised his arm.
"One gold sixty silve-"
The noble exploded up her seat, cutting off Zoen. "Two gold!"
There were tons of whispers now which she didn't mind, there was only one thing she cared about right now. Her eye was dead focused on a well dressed gentleman.
The man knew instantly, the only way he was getting this jewel was by buying it from her in private. She smiled at him, there wasn't a hint of friendliness on that smile at all. Zoen whispered into her ear.
"If this fails you'll be paying this down to the last copper, you got it?"
Cyeen looked sure of herself.
"Don't you worry dear Zoen. I know how to make this someone else's problem."
The auctioneers voice echoed all around the room.
"Aaaaaand... Sold! Sold to the violet haired lady and the dove next to her!"
Zoen had no chance but to trust her now. They would lose more coins than they had on their hands if she failed to sell the jewel. Cyeen patted his shoulder before getting up to sit next to the man she stared at.
"Two ten." He whispered.
"Raise it, a lot." Cyeen responded.
"Two sixty. Final."
They shook hands. Cyeen took one last look at the guy's mask before scooting back over to Zoen. Cyeen handed him two gold coins and thirty silvers before pocketing the rest. Zoen was in awe to the point his expressions became visible even through his mask.
"How?" he asked.
Cyeen had a really smug expression on her face.
"Haven't you ever been to an auction? He was the one who insisted the most, of course he had a reason to buy it. Just think, bringing in the jewelry of a lost noble. One can only imagine the reward you'd receive."
The noble sat down proudly. She finally felt useful for once ever since joining the siblings. Finance and subtle intimidation tactics were two things a noble had to master and oh boy, did she not love both of those.
***
The dove and flower masked duo sat there for a little while, raising bets if something took their attention. Though, nothing after the jewel had significant value. Cyeen had started getting bored so she got up from her seat and whispered something to Zoen.
"Handle the payment and don't forget the guy you're supposed to deliver the jewel to."
Zoen could only nod. He wanted to leave too but thanks to Cyeen, he now had to stay here until the end of the auction. He cursed silently, planning to ask a few questions around after he was done with the auction. If he couldn't change his fate he figured he'd adjust to it.
***
Fresh air entered the noble's sinuses once again. She had caused them a thirty silver profit while securing herself some pocket change. Having some money at hand after so long truly felt refreshing. With this newfound feeling, the noble lady happily skipped over to the closest tailor.