Chapter 251 - Chapter 251 The Black Market Beneath The City

As Thomas left the inn he mumbled "Let's see, the others are all going to relax in the room while I try to get some information from the black market." Thomas glanced up into the sky and asked "Where the hell can I find a black market?" Thomas turned around and said "Hey Gwen do you know?" As Gwen stepped out from an alleyway she asked "How did you know I was there?" Thomas pointed to her and said "I could smell you." Gwen began to sniff her own arm as she said "Your sense of smell must be pretty amazing." Thomas shrugged and said "It's alright but back to my question, do you know where the black market is?" Gwen nodded and said "Yes I was going to head there to ask about the items you were searching for later." Thomas stared at her and asked "Can you take me there with you?" Gwen nodded and said "We can go now." As they arrived in a rather shady looking underground city like area Gwen glanced at Thomas and said "Down here you should be careful, you never know what someone is capable of." As a man swung his fist at Thomas he shouted "What the hell is a demi human doing down here?" Thomas took the punch and was knocked into some creates and barrels. Gwen stared at the man and put her hand on her dagger by her side as she said "This is exactly what I meant." Thomas glanced at the man and said "That punch ain't half bad, but it needs some work." Thomas walked over to the man and began to poke him as he asked "Is everyone down here stronger then most of the people above us?" Gwen nodded and said "Yes but this man is just some side show who will do anything for some cash." Thomas glanced at Gwen and asked "Does that mean that the strongest people aren't adventurers?" Gwen nodded and said "Yes, and I'd recommend you don't get caught up with them and back away from that man." The man raised his fist above his head and shouted "You should listen to your friend before you get yourself killed." Thomas punched the man in the stomach and said "So everyone down here is gonna be more cocky and full of themselves." The man collapsed to the ground unconscious as Gwen nodded and said "That's not entirely true, there are some that won't see there strength as an opportunity to belittle others." Thomas stared at her and said "Then I guess we better hope the person with the information we want isn't some power crazy guy that will beat us for asking a question." Gwen glanced at Thomas and said "I do know of one woman that may be able to help us, there is a rumor about her though." As they began to walk Gwen said "The lady is supposedly human, and people say she's been here way longer then any other creature possibly could." As they entered a building Gwen glanced at Thomas and said "We should be careful though, I hear she doesn't like visitors and will kill us if we keep insisting." Thomas and Gwen stood there in the room patiently as Thomas asked "So do we just wait here?" As Gwen nodded a voice was heard from a chair that was facing away from them that asked "Why did you come here?" Gwen glanced at Thomas and whispered "You can ask her now if you'd like." Thomas took a step towards her and said "I came here in search of something that can prolong life, a spell or some object would be great but if there's other methods I'd like to hear about them." After a few moments the voice said "Your just like all of the others, searching for eternal youth just to prolong your life, it really is pathetic." Thomas stared at the chair and said "I don't care about prolonging my life, if you have methods to extend others lives by using my own that'd be fine to." The woman appeared in front of Thomas with a knife to his throat as she asked "Are you really willing to give up your life in order to prolong someone else's?" Thomas pushes the knife away and said "Sorry can't do that, Mary said if I did that she'd be mad at me." As she lowered the knife she asked "Who is this Mary person?" Thomas held his hand up beside him and said "It's a girl about this tall." The woman glanced at Gwen and asked "Who are you two?" Gwen pointed at Thomas and said "He's Thomas and I'm Gwen." The woman put the knife down and asked "If your not willing to forfeit you life then your hoping to take time away from yourself and add to hers, am I right?" Thomas nodded and said "Well kinda, there's more then just her but I've also been told that my life is seemingly endless by a dream eater." The woman put her hand on Thomas's head and said "She's right, I can't see an end in your life, your almost like me." As she took her hand off of him Thomas asked "What do you mean like you?" The woman walked towards her chair and picked up a book as she said "My life is long however yours may very well be eternal." The woman stared at Thomas and said "Answer me honestly, what's the reason you wish to prolong their life?" Thomas fell silent as Gwen said "Come to think of it you never told me why either." Thomas stared at the woman and mumbled "It may be a bit selfish but, I don't wanna be the only one alive ten thousand years from now." The woman nodded and said "I thought the same a many years ago, however I ended up living longer then them because they were all killed when the last demon lord was awoken, and since then I made sure no one else would be able to make the same mistake as me." Gwen stared at her and said "So you kept the secret of eternal life to yourself?" The woman nodded and said "However it seems like he will take my path as well." Thomas stared at her and said "No, I won't let them die." The woman stared at Thomas and said "You weren't even able to see my movements, compare to the demon lord I am but a fly, if you wish to protect them you'd have to surpass me by at least ten thousand times my current strength." Thomas stared at her and said "If that's what I got to do then I'll do it." The woman handed Thomas the book and said "Within this book is where I have hidden them, I won't say what they are but I will say that it holds the many secrets of eternal youth." The woman sat back down in her chair and said "There are many forms of eternal life in that book, I wish you luck and hope that you don't face the same miserable fate I did." Thomas stared at the book and asked "So all I have to do is find them?" The lady sat there silently as Thomas said "Peace of cake." The lady peered over her chair and said "Remember these words, the longer your life the longer you'll have to live with the regret, and after inspecting your life you may have more regret then any single being." Thomas stared at her and smiled as he said "Don't worry I plan to live with as little regret as possible." The woman sighed and said "I thought the same, but hopefully you live up to those words." Gwen glanced at Thomas and said "I think we should go now." The woman sat there and said "Yes that would be for the best, I enjoy my solitude." As Thomas glanced at Gwen they were now outside. Thomas looked around and stared at the entrance to woman's house and said "Did she use magic?" Gwen nodded and said "Most of the powerful beings are apart of the underworld we call the black market, so it's highly possible she teleported is out." Thomas glanced at the book and said "Well powerful or not I have what I came looking for." Gwen stared at him and said "You don't necessarily have what you were after but you did obtain the means to find it." As Thomas began to walk away he said "Well guess we should get going." Thomas glanced around and said "This underground city area seems pretty dull though." Thomas stared at a piece of paper on a wall and asked "What's this?" Thomas grabbed the paper from the wall and read "Up and rising threats." Thomas stared at the list and asked "Why am I on here?" Gwen peeked over his shoulder at the list and said "If I had to guess it's because you've killed a king, became a pirate king, and have been seen making contact with multiple ancients." Thomas tossed the paper aside and said "That's not the problem, the problem is that there is a one hundred gold coin reward on me." Gwen stared at him and said "You'd better watch yourself, more assassins then just me will be after you."