I woke up quite happy. The last day had brought me quite a lot. Now that I had fully digested my potion, I only needed one last Beyonder ingredient to make the Sequence 8 potion.
The first thing I did today was put on some appropriate clothes and go outside to check my mailbox.There I found a letter and a newspaper. I took both inside and read the letter slowly, since I was still tired from just waking up.
"Hello, my little disciple. I was able to get into contact with the leader of the gathering, and there is one happening today, this afternoon. The gathering is in the Empress Borough, but since it's your first time with this gathering and there isn't any good description I can give you of where it exactly is, I will come with you for your first time. Meet me a bit before afternoon."
Hm… well, I guess I'm pretty lucky. Not only did I digest my potion yesterday, but today there's a gathering. Let's hope that I find a Wendigo's Eye.
In the meantime, I didn't know what to do, so I just made my breakfast, ate it in silence while reading my newspaper, and then went outside for a walk.To be honest, I still hadn't fully become accustomed to the fact that there's no internet and nothing to do in your free time. I'm trying to adapt while trying to find new hobbies that I can do. Well, the only positive thing is that I at least have less back pain from holding my phone for too long.
Time went by slowly. I did quite a lot of different things: I walked around the East Borough, jogged a little, did some push-ups at home, and sat on a bench for a long time. Fortunately, a lot of time passed, and I finally decided to go to Edward's house.
A small carriage drive later, I was finally at his place. To be honest, today was quite boring; I was just thinking about the gathering and when I could finally go. It also didn't help that I had nothing to do in the meantime.
I knocked at his door, and he soon opened it for me. I entered and saw that there were a few more boxes than last time in the living room.
I do wonder why Edward is getting so many weapons. I mean, I know that he sells them, but where does he get the guns from? And who was the buyer from last time?
Before I forget, I should tell Edward about the murder I did yesterday so he can do an anti-divination.
"Edward, yesterday I fought two thugs. One of them had a gun. I was forced to kill both of them. Could you do an anti-divination?"
"Sure, just give me a bit of your blood. Although, as long as it doesn't happen too often and it's just criminals, the police—and especially Beyonders—won't really take it too seriously."
Since I was going to a Beyonder gathering, I had a knife with me. I took it out and made a small cut. I dropped the blood into a small glass. Since it was just a small cut, only a few drops came out.
"Is this enough blood?"
"Yeah, I only need a little for it."
He then took the glass, stared at the blood for a few seconds, and then just put it down.
"Is that it?"
"What did you expect, some kind of magic show?"
"No, not that, but I thought that maybe some kind of black smoke would come out or something."
Well, I guess it doesn't matter how it looks. I should focus on the more important thing.
"The Empress Borough is quite far away. Should we go immediately?"
"Give me a few minutes. I'll go and grab my robe, Viktor."
"Wait, you need a robe to attend the gathering?"
"You don't have your robe with you?"
"Well… I thought that the gathering would give us robes. Wait, I'll go quickly and buy one."
I practically ran to the nearest clothing store. I had the entire day to think and forgot that every gathering is different, and just because the gathering at Bravehearts Bar gave robes doesn't mean others do.
When I arrived at the clothing store, I was a bit sweaty and out of breath, but I went inside and looked around. Since I'm in East Borough, the options weren't many and also not very good quality, but I was fortunate enough to find a few robes. Sadly, they were all a bit smaller than what I needed, but since there wasn't anything I could do—unless I wanted to run to another shop—and since I wasn't sure how much time we had, I just bought a robe that was a bit too small for me.
I then ran back to Edward's house. This time I was definitely out of breath.
I was already wearing my robe, and it really constricted me. I also needed to be careful that it didn't tear while running.
"It seems like the robe you got is a bit too small. Well, it doesn't really matter as long as it hides your face."
"I took quite a bit of time. Are we still going to make it to the gathering?"
"Don't worry too much. The time isn't taken too seriously, so you don't need to rush. I'll go find a carriage driver."
If we didn't have time stress, then why did I run so much…
Soon Edward found a carriage driver, and we drove to the Empress Borough.
It felt a bit weird, since both Edward and I had our robes on, although we weren't hiding our faces yet, so I guess it didn't look too suspicious.
Soon we arrived at our destination. Edward continued to walk while I followed behind him. A few minutes later, we arrived at a house where Edward knocked three long times, then two short times.
It was opened by a man with a small black robe and a face mask. He let us in. After entering, I immediately noticed many people sitting or standing around. Most had robes or face masks, but some didn't bother and fully revealed their faces.
Edward walked to two chairs a bit farther away, and we sat down.
"Do you see the man on the sofa?"
I looked in that direction and saw a person with a black robe sitting on a single sofa.
"Yeah, I see him. Is that the leader?"
"Yes. He's called Mr. A. And do you see the guy near him? He's the one who manages the two blackboards. If you want to buy or sell something, go to that guy with a note of what you want to buy or sell. He'll put it on the board. One is for buying requests, the other for sales."
Wait—so this guy is Mr. A? I knew he had a gathering, but I didn't expect it to be this one. Although Mr. A is very dangerous, as long as I don't do anything against the Aurora Order, I should be somewhat safe.
"How much do you think I should pay for the Wendigo Eye? And isn't it dangerous that people might guess what pathway I'm on?"
Although last time I asked for a Wendigo Eye at the Eye of Wisdom gathering without a problem, here there were a lot more people, and they seemed much more dangerous.
"Once you've written what you want to buy and given it to the blackboard manager, he'll wait a while, and most of the time he'll get other notes in that period. That lowers the chance of anyone knowing who placed the order. Of course, once someone has what you want, the manager will come tell you, and both you and the seller will be brought into a private room to discuss the trade.
"Of course, there's still some danger the seller might guess your pathway if he knows the formula. But as long as you hide your face, it isn't too dangerous."
I then took a note and wrote a buy request for a Wendigo Eye: price negotiable. I brought it to the man managing the blackboards. He was standing near Mr. A. I was a bit scared that Mr. A might attack me for no reason. Of course, nothing happened, but knowing the Aurora Order was the craziest secret organization in the novel made me nervous.
After handing over the note, I went back to Edward. I had thought about offering 400 pounds for the Wendigo Eye, but that would be overpriced. "Negotiable" seemed like the better move. If someone had it, I might get it for cheaper. I'd only have around 30 pounds left if I spent 400.
After around 20 minutes, the blackboard manager put my offer on the board along with three other requests.
There were a lot of things being sold—some cheap, like mummy powder or some of Roselle's diary pages—while others were more expensive, like the Sequence 8 Sheriff formula being sold for 450 pounds.
After 20 minutes of doing nothing, the blackboard manager came to me.
"Someone has what you requested. Come with me to a private room."
I really couldn't believe my luck. My first gathering here, and I already found what I needed. Of course, I still had to hope the seller didn't overprice it. Even if I couldn't buy it, knowing who had it meant I could ambush the seller with Edward if necessary.
I went to another small room where I saw the seller. He had a robe and a face mask, but I could still see some features: blue eyes with a tint of gray, and brown hair.
The blackboard manager soon left the room, leaving just the two of us.
"I have a Wendigo Eye. How much are you willing to pay for it?"
To be honest, I wasn't sure what to say. Should I start low or realistic? I never learned how to haggle.
"How about 300 pounds?"
Although I might be willing to pay more, this is the regular price for a Sequence 8 main ingredient. Maybe he'd accept.
"I believe it has more worth than that to you, right?"
Well… I guess he knew it was the main ingredient for my next potion.
"I think 300 pounds is a lot of money, right?"
"A Wendigo Eye is quite rare here."
"How about 350 pounds then?"
"Make it 370, then you get the Wendigo Eye."
"No problem."
I placed the money on the table and counted it, then gave him 370 pounds. He handed me a strange-looking eye. I was kind of scared I was getting scammed, but I definitely didn't want to break the deal. I could show it to Edward and he'd know if it was real.
We both left the room and parted ways. It felt surreal that I finally had my main ingredient.
When I sat down, I secretly showed the eye to Edward, trying to hide it from others.
"Is it a real Wendigo Eye?"
"Yeah, it looks real. Mine looked like this too."
That was all I needed to know.
Time passed quickly after that. When the gathering ended, Edward and I split up, each taking our own carriage. I drove home feeling a bit exhausted. Even though I didn't do much, maybe it was because I knew I would soon advance—which is both a good and scary thing.