A worn, woven-bound book with threads sticking out at the edges, the book was moldy. Pages fell out of the book. Nearby were stacks of old books from the First and Second Empires.
While Shir Ali was talking about books with the merchant, Dara decided to leaf through the remaining books. What caught his attention were the first pages, the title pages. In places, square and triangular holes were cut. Pieces of paper on the footer were missing from the books on different pages.
Square, oval or triangular. This led Dara to one definite thought ...
... on one book from the bundle, the faded, light purple seals are still preserved.
Dara smiled predatory.
"hey, I won't sell this book for cheap, look it from the first empire in 1892!" the merchant spoke insolently.
"But, I need this book !!" blunt Shir Ali.
The merchant's eyes were shining, it seems he found a simpleton and a rich one!
"Do you need a book? Then pay! $ 200, I don't need local currency!" the merchant smiled broadly.
"No, bro, what are you, the price is very high"! Shir Ali said in dismay.
"Well, the book is old, I can see in your eyes that it is valuable!"
"Come on for $ 150," Shir Ali made a mistake.
The merchant's eyes lit up with fire.
"All right, I got caught!" Dara muttered.
Yawning, he walked over to the merchant. I decided to save the fool.
"Oh, do you want to buy this book too ?!" the merchant was delighted.
"No, I want to ask you, one simple question," Dara said.
"What is the question, dear?" losing his palms and grinning, the merchants answered with books.
"Why have you cut out the seals of the libraries, and on one you left them?" Dara looked at the merchant sourly.
He was a little embarrassed, but then he wondered what to say to the importunate buyer.
"I, I, bought them from a bum!" he did it even without blushing.
"Ah" Dara yawned widely.
"Very good, so you are selling stolen books from the library, and even at a speculative price! Very good!" said in the ear of the merchant Dara.
"What? What do you want? You ... You ..." the merchant began to stutter.
"Nothing ... I'll just take all the books at a real price and not invented by you, you don't need to call your security ..."
"Who, who are you?" the merchant tried to press the quick dial button with his other hand.
"Oh, you crooks!" Dara grinned.
A heavy hand fell on Dar's shoulder.
"Brother, you break the rules ... it's not good, let's go and talk, well, I'll stuff your face a little, and you will give all the money," said a big fellow in a black leather jacket.
"I don't think so, look at this," and Dara unscrewed the lapel of his blazer.
"So what, a strange badge, shield and sword, I'll break your face now, you idiot!" said the fellow.
"Call the elder, you idiot," said Dara.
"There is nothing to call the elder, I'll break your face now!" the fellow waved his hand.
"Damn, now I'll get in the face!" flashed through Dar's head.
A powerful and well-delivered blow hit the back of his head, one, the other, the third, the fourth went straight to his forehead.
"Though the head is a bone, it hurts!" A noise began in his ears, some geometric, multi-colored figures floated before his eyes.
But Dar did not receive the fourth blow, he remained on his feet. But he was shaking.
When Dara came to his senses, he saw a big guy in a black jacket who was lying on the ground, his whole jacket was covered in dust. He whined. A well-dressed, tall man of about 50 stood nearby.