Black Market

Ogre had no idea what kind of fate awaited him in a month's time.

Either way, he was feeling quite happy at the moment.

“Little Ogre, why did you come out so fast today?” the guard at the back door asked as usual.

“Master Yade told me he found a more professional mural restorer for the rest of the job, so I was reassigned to clean out the storage room,” Ogre lied effortlessly without blinking an eye.

“Does the storage room even need cleaning? Wait, Little Ogre, did you get your pay for today settled?” the guard reminded him.

“Uh, I think I forgot.” Ogre rubbed his head. He had received a bit too much information earlier, which made it completely slip his mind.

If I'm going to act, I might as well play the part to the end. Teacher Yade should understand me collecting my wages, right?

“Oh, Little Ogre, how could you forget something like that? Here, take it. This is the remaining balance from before.” As the guard spoke, he unhooked a small coin pouch from his waist and tossed it to Ogre.

Instinctively, Ogre caught the pouch, opened it, and began counting the contents on the spot.

One coin, two coins... A total of twelve copper coins and two silver coins.

“An extra silver coin...” Ogre looked up and pinched a silver coin out of the pouch.

“You gave me too much.” Ogre had a clear scale in his heart for what he should and shouldn't take.

“This foolish kid... Can't he just keep it if I gave him extra? Really now...”

The guard grunted and waved his hand. “I added that myself. Eat better during the time you don't have work. If you neglect your body at your age, you won't be able to make up for it later.”

Ogre wanted to say that he wasn't short of a single silver coin.

However, after giving it a brief thought, he accepted the kindness. “Then thank you, Guard Brother.”

After Ogre left, the guard stared at the empty back hall with a slightly forlorn expression.

“Sigh, youth is wonderful.”

...

Since he no longer had to work repairing murals, Ogre finally had time to go to the black market early.

With light steps, Ogre walked all the way into the chaotic slums.

Compared to the main city district basking in the sun...

The people in the chaotic, narrow slums appeared somewhat out of place—not even the light of Truth and Dawn shone upon this land.

In Ogre's eyes, this region adjacent to the Forest of Monsters was essentially no different from the forest itself.

Turning a corner, the striped mask appeared on Ogre's face once more.

In places where Truth and Dawn could not reach, strength was the only thing that talked.

The weak "Little Ogre" was better suited for the main city district.

Meanwhile, "Gourmet" was better suited for the arena and this chaotic domain.

Although the slums bordered the Professionals Association and the stationed kingdom army...

The association and the army did not care much about what happened inside—unless monsters invaded, or someone carried out a large-scale slaughter.

The slums' existence served as a buffer against monsters in the first place.

The people who came here initially were homeless wanderers. Since the main city district would not take them in, they settled near the safer Professionals Association.

As time went on, more and more refugees arrived, making the outer construction increasingly expansive.

This was also largely because the Church only took in young orphans.

Children had potential and could be nurtured.

Adult vagrants were a different story; they were cost-ineffective from every perspective. If they were lucky, they might get hired for odd jobs, but if they were unlucky, they could only enter this area to try their luck.

Almost all young women in the slums would choose to send their babies to the Church after giving birth.

This had already become an unwritten rule.

As the slums grew larger, many criminals took the opportunity to hide among these refugees. Slowly, unsavory businesses began to flourish within this "protective wall."

As for whether nobles were involved in this...

That was hard to say.

After all, few nobles cared about commoners, let alone these poor souls who couldn't pay taxes.

The black market Ogre was heading to was located deep within the slums.

Many illegal Warlock Apprentices, secondhand dealers, and intelligent species from other races gathered in this place.

Many goods impossible to buy locally could be purchased here—including slaves of various races, though as for the prices... that was hard to say.

Of course, the origin of these items was even harder to guarantee.

Their quality was basically unassured as well.

Perhaps the only highlight was the various commissions in the black market, whose rewards were often much higher than those in the Professionals Association.

These were tailored for transcendent individuals with questionable identities.

Ogre was certain.

The real Professionals Association definitely had plants here. In fact, the task organization in the black market might even be run by the Professionals Association itself—all to exploit these desperate mercenaries who valued money over their lives.

In a sense, the black market area was actually the safest place in the slums.

The black market guaranteed the rights of both buyers and sellers. If someone was truly worried about safety, they could use the variable-distance teleportation array at the exit as long as they were willing to pay.

He wondered which genius came up with that.

“Exchange all of these for cash for me.” Ogre pulled out some miscellaneous items from his bag—mostly jewelry and gold teeth.

Some were collected by him in the forest, while others were "donated" by fools who liked to bully the weak.

Ogre usually only picked up relatively precious materials because they were easier to convert into money, but the downside was that only the exchange post at the entrance would buy them back.

“Oh, and this.” Ogre pulled out the remaining half bottle of Recovery Potion.

“This potion is high quality! Good stuff!” The gnome appraiser rubbed his hands together. In the black market, high-quality Recovery Potions usually commanded a premium and were never short of buyers.

Although it was only half a bottle, if diluted with low-grade recovery liquid, it could make at least five bottles!

Half a gold coin was the official price for half a bottle, but in the black market, this thing was worth at least three gold coins.

If Ogre didn't lack a "stall" and if his own magic resistance didn't dilute the potion's effects, he wouldn't have directly exchanged it for gold coins.

“Convert it all to gold coins for me,” Ogre said.

“Alright, please wait a moment, customer.” The gnome appraiser began calculating the price.

Compared to dwarves, gnomes were less broad and stocky, appearing much shrewder.

Although legend had it that dwarves and gnomes shared the same ancestors, their talents in weapon crafting were clearly different. Most importantly, gnomes disliked drinking, and rarely grew beards—and even if they did, they were very short.

Compared to similar gremlins, gnomes were far less greedy, despite both possessing a talent for appraisal.

However, gnomes were much more popular than those cunning gremlins that looked like goblins.

After all, gnomes didn't share the gremlins' general habit of stealing money.

Even within the Church of Truth, there were quite a few gnome members.

“That comes to twelve gold, fifty silver, and fifteen copper coins, my customer.” The gnome deftly packaged the three types of currency into small black pouches and handed them to Ogre.

For transactions of this scale, the pouches were provided free of charge.

Ogre tucked away the money, pulled out ten copper coins from it, and handed them to the gnome to receive a single-use wooden identity badge for entering the black market.

These wooden badges were carved with magic runes for identity verification, allowing the holder to cross the black market's barrier just once.

Although the barrier's defensive power wasn't great, if you tried to enter by force, you'd have to consider how many opponents you could handle.

“Alright, customer, here is your identity pass.”

Having received the wooden badge, Ogre stepped into the black market.

He came here mainly to purchase extraordinary food for "feeding."

As for the underground casinos and scammy items inside, Ogre had no intention of touching them.

In short, the Ogre's Lunchbox was ready.