Zareth quickly turned around on hearing this, his eyes widening in shock.
'How did she know it was me?'
He thought to himself, as he still had his mask on.
Behind him stood a worried Freya, with Drufus not too far behind.
"Where were you!? Are you alright? What's with this mask?"
Freya immediately began to question, quickly checking his body.
Zareth had expected her scalp to come off, and lava to spew out, killing everyone in the entire festival.
However, it seemed his predictions were only a hint bit off.
She did not worry about her tone or body language, only concern.
He quickly thought of something clever to say but realized there was nothing that could fix his current situation.
Looking back at Yan's table, it seemed they still hadn't noticed him being approached by his parents just yet.
He quickly looked back at Freya.
"Look, I know this must be confusing, but I just need you to trust me alright? I will be back, just wait for me."
Zareth said, departing from his mother's hands and walking to Yan's merchant group's table.
Freya tried to go after him, however, her hand was held back by Drufus before she could go.
"What are you doing, let go!"
She frantically yelled, still only focusing on Zareth.
Finally, she turned back to look at Drufus.
He had a solemn expression on his face, his eyes showing nothing but empathy.
However, his actions contradicted them.
"Why..."
Freya finally said, defeated.
"I want to go embrace him as well Freya, however, I believe we should trust him."
Freya gazed at Drufus' eyes, panting slightly.
After multiple seconds, she stopped fighting for him to let go.
She didn't say anything, but she understood what he meant.
Before, they had a conversation where Drufus had made a point she couldn't refute.
He said:
"If you want him to stick around, you better stick with his decisions Freya."
It was something she hadn't thought about before.
Nonetheless, she knew it was correct.
Now, listening to Drufus, she only hoped he was correct.
The two went back to their tables, briefly explaining a made-up lie to the others about their sudden leave.
Zareth on the other hand took off his mask and robe as he reached the table.
No one who had seen this power and who could spoil it to anyone else was present, so he could take off his mask and reveal his identity.
Immediately, he was greeted by Yan's father, who looked to be smiling brightly.
"Speak of the devil! He has finally arrived!"
He said as all of the other merchants looked at Zareth, smiling as well.
He smiled slightly before introducing himself to everyone present, as they all awaited to judge what kind of person he was.
The first impression was always the most significant.
"Hello everyone, I assume you have heard much about me from the main man here."
He said, gesturing to Yan's father.
His tone was charismatic and confident, making everyone laugh slightly.
Just before he could explain to Yan that he needed to go back to his family's table, Zareth couldn't help but be affected slightly by the glares he was getting every few seconds from the other merchant group tables.
He had noticed them at first and didn't mind too much, but it was simply too far out of place to ignore now.
On asking Yan, he learned that Yan's father was a very controversial figure in the kingdom.
Many believed he stole and scammed people for wrong prices, and thought he was some sort of black market merchant lord.
Not only this, the man had publicly stated the city he was going to visit during the festival, and it was for sure not this one.
Although it was outside of the kingdom, Bolnuir still had a very fresh buyer status.
Now, that was not to say that its economy was bigger than any of the cities inside of the walls of the kingdom, because it was not.
However, merchants found a difficult time selling their products in such popular cities. They found it easier to sell in slightly worse economy-based cities, with the easier public to sell to.
But it looked like Yan's father had indeed come to this city as well, making them all look like fools, and even shortening their profits by heavy margins.
After hearing this, Zareth looked at Yan's father, just to see him laughing wholeheartedly.
No wonder he was in such a good mood, along with the other merchants sitting around the table.
After learning about this, the auction had nearly finished being prepared.
It was now time for Zareth to head back to his parent's table.
He asked Yan to speak somewhere private before the two walked a couple of meters away from the merchant group table.
"My parents want me to come back to their table. I can not refuse, but I also don't want to disobey your father."
Zareth laid out his situation, hoping for a certain outcome.
Yan paused to think, before replying.
"Alright, if that is the case, I will join you at your table. You will still be within the presence of our merchant, group, and your parents won't be upset either."
Zareth smiled inwardly as his plan had worked.
"If you could do that, it would be very meaningful. Thank you, Yan."
Hearing this, Yan couldn't help but feel slightly guilty.
It was his disciple's fault that the poor boy was in this predicament in the first place, but now he was thanking him as if he was some sort of saint.
Yan explained the situation to his father as he made his way to Zareth's parent's table with him.
As they walked, he said,
"If you want anything, just let me know. I will try my best to get it for you, no matter the price."
He smiled proudly, clearly knowing the status and wealth of his family and merchant group.
Even without his name of Kaien supporting him, Yan had built quite a fortune himself.
His wealth alone could easily have toppled that of the most prosperous family in the entire city.
"Are you sure? You do not have to do this!"
Zareth acted as though he didn't want the money, but Yan insisted.
"Then, could you tell me what sort of limit you've placed for my spending?"
Zareth wanted some sort of quantity to go off of, so that he wasn't completely blind.
"Hmm, anything around twenty thousand gold ingots should be fine."
Zareth thanked Yan as a smile formed on his face.
'The goddess of luck...'