The Road to the Bar was uphill, it was a reprieve because the walk back would be assisted by gravity. There was little else to do besides sit at their own table. The Bar was a bit orderly for a Bar, Wu Hai and Mike both expected a medieval version of a biker bar but were left with a beer diner. A quiet waitress came up with a mousy voice and asked if they liked anything.
She handed a menu over and waited patiently.
Mike and Wu Hai were both completely baffled.
This was suppose to be the best Bar, where information could change hands and people would be cheering, fighting or at least drinking.
"What's with the stuffy atmosphere, this doesn't really feel like a bar. This place does sell information and Booze right?" Mike inquired.
"Ah, yes. We do. In order to access our information brokers you'll have to place a deposit for each piece of information and we have the right to refuse. As for alcohol, We do sell quite a few. The menu should have the majority of our selection although if you're a big spender we can show you the cellar." The waitress was polite and courteous.
She kept grabbing the hem of her skirt while she spoke and looked to the floor quite often.
"Do you know how many types of alcohol you have? And what's the most expensive one." Wu Hai was going to assist on collecting whatever they could find.
There was always a use for alcohol.
"We have just under 700 types of alcohol. The most expensive is 3 gold coins for one." She gave a quick answer.
The waitress watched the Wu Hai pull out 3 gold bars. "I'll take two of everything, you can put them in a box. I'll collect them before we go. Please bring us two of the most popular drink to enjoy while we're here."
"Brother Wu, so many? I suppose it never hurts.. here I was thinking that I was overdoing it before. I'd really like to take a look at those books while we drink, is that going to be okay?" Mike didn't want to give away information about themselves at the bar that brokers information to bidders.
It was also good for his relationship with with the Cheng Brothers, the booze they had gotten from the Minaur was mostly gone.
"Its as you expect, lets drink and find a place to meet up with Qu." Wu Hai had a feeling they were already being surveilled.
"Pretty sure we're already being watched. Lets leave after she brings the drinks over." Wu Hai suggested that they leave, but they didn't even get their order.
It didn't take too long for the Waitress to come back with the manager who was wearing a smile. "What can I do for you? You've spent so much already. I am Manager Chou."
"Manager Chou, we only wish to know of schools in the area and warnings we should keep our eyes aware of. We would also like to know if you have any maps or bookstores you would advise?" Wu Hai kept it simple.
"I suppose these are innocent questions that I can easily answer, will that be all. To contribute so much for two drinks is a bit.. well." Manager Chou looked at Wu Hai and Mike with a Devilish Smile.
"Ah.. it is as you say, there is no reason behind our 'Donation' We only seek membership in your council." Mike had played a mafia video game back in the day where donations were code for payments.
'This must be a front, I hope Wu Hai doesn't blow it.' thinking to himself, Mike played it cool.
"Membership is exclusive, but you have certainly taken the proper initiation. The Last part is to answer some of our questions, basic ones." Manager Chou gestured for them to follow.
As they made their way to a back room there was little they needed to worry over. The place was clean and had a fine smell. Mike and Wu Hai were reminded of a brothel at the same time.
They looked over the room and sat on a couch. The manager rang a bell and many women started to parade themselves out, most were beautiful but all of them looked like they were not choosing to be present.
"These slaves are our best quality, we have about 300 we can have available at a moments notice. We charge by individual quality, each woman is valued differently and some are quite exquisite." The Girls were easy on the eyes and mostly in tact, some of them had obviously been sampled. The Owner Grinned while eyeing over the Women.
"These will do for starters, are there any more in house? Or do I need to wait for their arrival. We can discuss payment when you have the figures readied." Wu Hai looked at Mike.
"How many more are we talking about? I have facilities that can house about a thousand. Although, I don't intend to only take Human slaves. Do you have others races or do you only deal in humans?" Mike backed up Wu Hai.
It appeared they were going to buy slaves, it was a considerably strange thing to do but Mike knew that Wu Hai wouldn't be okay with keeping a slave population. They had prisoners of war or puppets for manual labor needs.
"We could fill an order that large, but It will cost considerably. For the 25 I have present in house it will be 250g each, since you paid with bars, that's 6 and a half bars." The price was way more than he anticipated, but they had the funds.
Manager Chou would have written up a contract if he had time, but they duo looked like they were going to be leaving shortly after the interview.
Waiting for a moment Wu Hai responded. "We can receive them whenever you're ready to part with them, but no more sampling.. I don't want to find bastard children in a few months either. Do you have any males? I was hoping to find craftsmen for certain design projects."
"Males? Sure. We do that on the street once a month, but women can't be sold openly.. it causes too many problems for our business." With a strange look on his face like he had been through a few ordeals over the matter Manager Chou pulled out a stack of slave contracts for the women that had been paraded out.
They all started to stare at Mike and Wu Hai with sullen looks. To the Prince, these women looked like previous owners or their captors were not kind.
"When is the next sale for males? Also, I still would like the information on the schools and a proper map if they are available." Mike nodded to Wu Hai.
Manager Chou didn't take any time to respond. "The next sale is in three days, We have a number of beast-kin, but those tend to be sold to the royalty for prize fights. I have my assistant writing the information down for you, We do have maps but they are drawn by Dwarves on silver.. the price is extensive. These are the contracts that we need your blood-seal on, destroying the contract dissolves its bond."
"I will go ahead with the contracts" Wu Hai played the bit well.
Grabbing the stack of contracts he pulled a knife from his spacial ring while it was hidden under his robe. Dripping blood to each page after reading them Wu Hai was actually impressed by the wording, the contracted individual would lose the ability to express free will if it interfered with direct orders without limitation, it was vicious.
"There will be a lot of contracts. Its nice to be at the right place to find what we're looking for." Wu Hai winked at Mike and the Two of them got the deal finished.
It took a bit to sign the contracts, Wu Hai slit his fingertip and went through the mass of contracts.
Mike wanted to drink what they had been given but they knew it was likely that they'd be drugged.
"If that is all, We have a lot of shopping to consider. I have one more question." Putting an additional bar of gold onto the counter, Wu Hai started to ask his question.
"Is there an auction house in this city." His expression was one of greed, so the Manager was happy to oblige.
"Good Sirs.. All this information is in the map and booklet my assistant is preparing. As for the slaves, you can pick them up out back. Bring a covered carriage, we don't advertise the sale of women." Manager Chou gave his final sentiment by giving them directions to the nearest stables.
They could purchase a carriage and return, Wu Hai and Mike said their thanks and left briefly.
"Mike, we have a covered cart in the tower but not a carriage. I wanted to get a mount to ride In the city as well, we can't let people discover our backgrounds.. What we really need to do is find a place to expand the pagoda in hiding." Wu Hai whispered to Mike.
The stables in Yunnan were much nicer than the ones they had in Portano or the army outposts back on the other continent. There were giant Moles, Bears, and even Nightmare Horses. The Nightmare Horses were among the most expensive because of their beauty. Wu Hai didn't want to have black flaming horses.. he wanted a strong, dependable mount that was fast and agile when it wasn't pulling and it had to have the ability to pull great loads.
In the end, Wu Hai took a Dragoon. The spider-like quadrupeds were nimble and ate little making them ideal. Mike really wanted to get a nightmare horse, but he just didn't have the drive to feed them. Nightmare horses had to have a steady supply of monster hearts, they had to eat several a day which was a lot of time they would have to spend caring for the beast. Mike also didn't feel like they were practical, in the end they both took a Dragoon.
"Why do we always have to be so practical when we have slaves, they can just take care of the mounts when we're not using them." Mike felt like an ass the moment it came out of his mouth.
"never mind.." Mike tried to retract his statement, but it was too late.
"We can get a black carriage, It won't be on fire but that's a good thing." Wu Hai like the sound of getting things over with, he didn't really want slaves, but he needed a carriage for appearances in the city.
When rushing around, the Dragoons would scare off most pedestrians. The pair even had to leap over a few of them as they passed through streets. Mike was worried that they were attracting too much attention, but they passed some guards who didn't seem to be bothered by their activities.
To the guards, it was barely considered a disturbance.
Most commoners could never afford a mount, let alone anything dangerous. If a dangerous looking animal was being ridden within the streets, the person riding them was either rich or powerful. It was never a good idea to anger such a personality.
They Dragoons had a tendency to claw at nearby things when they were idle or stopped. As natural diggers on the continent, they were nearly immune to basic physical based attacks, which made them even more ideal to ride into battle.
When they came to pay the bill, the Stable Master explained that they would need 6 dragoons to pull the carriage at close to regular riding speeds. Wu Hai didn't care too much, he wasn't intending on using them for distance and only for the convenience of looking the part. The bill came to 4,000 gold pieces.
The Black Carriage had been well kept and didn't have a lot of problems with it, 2400g for the carriage, and 800 gold each for the Dragoons.
Even Darkwing didn't cost that much and he was amphibious.
They happily paid and mounted the dragoons to the carriage, it didn't take a lot of effort to lash them properly. When they made the way back through the streets they were stuck behind scattering pedestrians until they reached the alley for pickup. It would take at least an hour to get somewhere they could raise the tower and store the slaves. Qu would be able to keep them busy, and the contract was very helpful while they were traveling.
"Ah.. Dear Member. We are ready, here is your information." The manager passed the tethered chain of slaves over to Mike, Wu Hai grabbed the book and started scanning over its contents.
"Thank you Manager Chou, We need more than this but if I'm to buy so many I'd like a good deal and a wider selection. Please manage some Beast-kin next time" Wu Hai looked back at Auction house and hurried remaining girls into the carriage.
"I understand" Manager Chou had his own tastes as well, but he keenly remembered Wu Hai's request for them to be unsampled.
Getting to the top of the Carriage Wu Hai snapped the reins and directed the dragoons forward. They had at least an hours ride to a spot they could erect the tower and store the slaves. The tower would be safe for the most part from invaders, but if it came under siege it could be a problem to take it away under so many eyes. They would have to do this several times. The people inside the tower would have plenty of supplies and be in good health while time passed inside they would also be safe.
After finding a clearing they spent the time they had explaining what was going on with the slave girls. Most of them rejoiced, they weren't new members of some whacked out harem.
Wu Hai raised the Pagoda for everyone to enter. They had found a small depression that would help hide the tower between some hills. The tower was not short, and although it could expand and shrink it was unable to stop halfway to allow transit to and from. The properties of the spacial distortions prevented things like that. The Tower operated like the Spacial Rings, despite being a celestial object.
"Qu!" Wu Hai called out and started explaining.
"I want you to test their intelligence, then have the four smartest and trustworthy people in charge of the others. Restrict them to the library, lobby and their own bedrooms. It might be a while before we get back and every time we come back more people will be coming with us. All of them will have individual slave contracts that prevent them from doing bad things to their owners, but I wouldn't put it past traffickers to tamper with them somehow or hide soldiers in the males." Wu Hai had a lot on his mind and wanted to get back to the Inn to study.
"Yes, Master Wu. Will Master Mike also require anything while you're away?" Qu was widely aware of Mike's qualifications to wield the Creators Crusher.
Even Wahchung had been annoyed by the same fact.
Guardian Spirits were created to guard the creator and serve him in all things.
"Its alright mike, you do deserve the right to council on everything. You're also qualified to hold the Creators Crusher, which.. is beyond me for the reasoning but still awesome. If I were to die, I would expect you to take it and get revenge for me. Perhaps that Tattoo is just a way to crown you worthy, no one else has gotten one." Wu Hai looked at all the women inside the tower.
They were dressed in terrible clothing. Wu Hai gave them all new dresses and showed them to the bath. He instructed Qu to give them all healing potions before they went to bath.
"Don't let them destroy the place or distract you. Remember it was your decision to learn all the books we brought." Wu Hai and Mike both looked at each other, they had their own books and scrolls to toil over.
Wu Hai showed them to Qu for the sake of him memorizing them and in a few minutes he was already done. It was important to have Qu understand the material, Qu was able to do quite a few things at once. Wu Hai might have questions about cross referencing some older material. While The Prince did indeed spend more time reading than in his previous life, the books and subject matters from Earth were so complex that humans spent their entire lives absorbing the materials only to barely scratch at their surfaces.
It would be a monumental leap in advancements if Kim Li were able to bring about a mechanical age with mystic or magical materials.
"This won't take long for you to learn yourself, but I will assure you of its completion within the time frame I have already state." Qu was already sure of their abilities, it was apparent shortly after their meeting that Wu Hai would only bring wonder to his existence.
Mike and Wu Hai stored the pagoda.
The Dragoons were obedient enough, they didn't stray too far. The ride back was a lot faster than the ride out to the field, hopefully no one notice them. Their luck was in order and they made it safely to the Inn. The dragoons were stuck in the barn and caged. It was a necessary measure, they had a tendency to gnaw on too many things.
Mike searched through his storage to pay the innkeeper another gold coin. The mounts needed to be fed, housed and cleaned for the week. The Dragoons weren't all that violent, just impatient and bored of remaining idle. Someone had to entertain them occasionally. The best thing for them was to nurture them.
"Ahh, Guests. I'm sure you're ready to eat? Tonight for Dinner we have Berrican River Fish." The Innkeeper was happy to get more money, usually people were just demanding but these guests were big tippers.
The Innkeeper was showing a lot more interest in the two's activities and it was showing. Mike wondered if they would be betrayed, he had played enough video games to know that when the Innkeeper starts paying attention to you its always a sign of impending danger.
Wu Hai wondered if he had done the right thing by overpaying.
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