Chapter 97: Bargain
Charles's group walked on the smooth hardwood floor, turned towards the right side, and soon arrived in front of a wooden panel door.
After that, Charles raised his black cane and knocked on the door twice using it.
'Damn it, that hurts.' A cursing old man's voice echoed in his head, causing him to curl his lips upward.
After a minute of the long wait, a black formal suited, messy red-haired woman with slightly exposed cleavage walked out of the room and soon went towards the nearby room while adjusting her coat.
At the exact moment, they heard a woman's voice from inside.
"Please, come in."
Nodding, Charles raised the black cane, opened the door using it, and entered in. Then, his gaze swept across the wooden table and soon landed on a long brown-haired woman, who sat on the office chair behind it.
She wore a white shirt, which almost turned transparent due to the unusual sweat on her body, a half-opened black coat, and two long earrings. She was a woman in her late twenties and had seductive jade eyes, a beautiful oval face, a pear-shaped body, plump lips, and big half-visible melons.
Upon noticing the two young boys' gazes, the woman made a mischievous smile and soon buttoned the coat. Then, she lifted her head and looked at the white-haired old man.
"Why did you bring the kids to this shady place, old man?" She asked with a cold look on her face.
Charles smiled lightly and then spoke while pointing his finger at Jessie.
"These kids are here to sell something. She is your customer."
Confusion appeared on the brown-haired woman's face as she sized Jessie up and down for a moment and then nodded.
"I'm Margaret Carley. What is your name, kid?"
"Jessie." Jessie gave a short reply.
"What do you want to sell?" Margaret narrowed her eyes and asked.
At that moment, Jessie hid her nervousness, arrived near the wooden chair, placed in front of the table, and sat on it. She then took the black-colored class gem from her pocket and gave it to Margaret.
"Inspect it and name the price, ma'am." She said in a calm tone.
Upon seeing her calm attitude, Margaret picked up a small lens-like glass from the drawer and started inspecting the gem. After a few seconds, she placed the lens on the table and frowned.
Then, she placed her hands on the arm pads, leaned her head against the headrest, closed her jade eyes, and spoke in a deep tone.
"It's a forbidden item, child. If we buy this, we need to transport it to the Iron Kingdom or Herald kingdom and sell it in the auction house. Suppose, if the transport cart got caught by any Church's Inquisitors' Team on the way, we have to face the consequence and give a fine amount of 500 gold coins or more." She paused for a second while slightly opening her right eye and added with a calm voice.
"I can give you 800 gold coins for this piece. Any more than this, you can go and look for other shops. But be warned that they might take this gem by force."
Meanwhile, Jessie wore a troubled look for a moment and soon squinted her emerald-green eyes as she felt that this woman was saying excuse to lessen the price.
"Why not use your space ring or void pouch? Would church members dare to check others' personal things? This gem is just a thumb-sized one and its weight should be less than 200 grams. So, hiding this thing from those lawful believers is just a piece of cake for you guys, right? Then, why are you making such silly excuses? Are you planning to snatch this at a low price by scaring us?" Her face turned colder.
Upon hearing those words, surprise flashed on Margaret's face as she opened her eyes, raised her head, straightened her back, and stared at Jessie in interest.
"So, you are a literate child, huh." She clicked her tongue and soon added.
"1,200 Gold coins. This is the final price I can give it to you for this gem."
"1,700 Gold coins, ma'am. My teacher said that this gem is a very rare one and we can sell it in the Secret auction house for more than 2,000 gold coins. Due to some personal matter, we are in a hurry and we need extra gold coins for another purpose. Otherwise, we wouldn't have come to this old place." Although Jessie spoke politely, the words that come out of her mouth appeared sharp as knives.
"Old place? Do you know how many treasures and gold coins are hidden in this old place?" An angry voice echoed in the small room as Margaret slammed her fist on the wooden table, causing Jessie to shrink in shock.
At the exact moment, Margaret activated one of her class skills and released an invisible pressure to the surroundings, causing the kids to lower their heads subconsciously.
Even Charles became startled by her sudden outburst and soon narrowed his amber eyes.
'Is it a skill to intimidate others? Hmm, she is trying to scare these kids and let them realize who the boss here is.' An amusing smile appeared on Charles's wrinkled oval face as he zeroed his focus on her for a moment and cast inspect skill on her.
'Oh? Rank-3 Mystic?' For the first time, Charles felt that he needed to intervene.
Although he was just a Rank-2 Mystic, he had much more advantages in battles than normal Rank-3 Mystics. Moreover, he had no plan on starting a worthless fight at all.
'Wait, I'll take care of it, lad. She is a Rank-3 [Guardian] Class Mystic. Although I can't freeze her body for more than two seconds, I think that skill should be more than enough to scare her.' The Holem's Crown spoke coldly in his mind.
In the meantime, Jessie felt suffocated all of a sudden, and her legs started to tremble on their own.
"Enough." Letting out a heavy sigh, Charles tapped the cane's heel on the floor and spoke in a cold tone.
A moment later, the Holem's Crown activated its skill and at the same time released a bit of its soul power to the surroundings.
For the first time, shock and anxiousness appeared on Margaret's face as she felt that her whole body began to freeze up all of a sudden!
Although she could see and think clearly, she couldn't move her muscle at all!
'Sh*t! He is a Mystic! And, he seems to be a powerful one!' Realizing the grave situation she was in, Margaret instantly dismissed her [Intimidation] skill and soon breathed out a sigh of relief as she noticed that she could move her body.
Cold sweats dripped on her forehead as she stared at the old man in wariness!
At that moment, Jessie and other kids also noticed that the sudden pressure had disappeared and soon held their hands together in anxiety.
Then, Jessie raised her head, stared at Margaret in anger, and spoke before standing up.
"We will sell this to other shops, ma'am."
Meanwhile, Margaret wore an awkward smile on her face and spoke in an anxious voice.
"1,400 gold coins. This is my final price to show my respect to your guardian."
A look of surprise flashed on Jessie's face as she glanced at Charles for a moment and soon gritted her teeth.
Earlier, she clearly felt the invisible power and knew how dangerous this woman was. But after seeing how this powerful woman got scared of her teacher, she got amazed. At the same time, she realized that she had failed to meet his expectation and grew solemn.
'No, I can't give up like this.' She bit her lips and said while shaking her head.
"1,400 gold coins and one [Learner] Class Gem."
Margaret wore a troubled expression on her face for a moment and soon let out a deep sigh. She could feel the stubbornness in Jessie's face, so she gave up on arguing with a kid and agreed to her request.
Although [Learner] Class Gem would cost around 80 to 100 gold coins, she didn't put much thought into it.
'This old man seems to be a powerful mystic. Offending him just for 100 gold coins is not worth it. Moreover, he might be interested in purchasing more items from our company in the future.' She instantly made up her mind and soon took out a wooden chest from her space ring.