Harley took a step forward, entering the tavern with Nolan right behind him.
The insides of the tavern were made out of wood. Also, the tavern was full of people sitting on three-legged wooden chairs around round wooden tables. They all chatted, laughed, and drank beer in large wooden mugs.
Opposite the entrance, on the other end of the tavern was a wooden bar. Behind the bar was an average-looking man, at most in his late thirties, and behind the man was a wooden door.
The moment Nolan and Harley entered the tavern, the chatter instantly stopped, and all the people turned towards them.
The serious gazes of everyone in the room affected Nolan and Harley, but they pretended that it did not affect them and proceeded to walk over to the bar.
"How can I help you?" The man behind the bar, the waiter, asked.
"Two mugs of beer," Harley said, taking out a silver tael from the belt of his hanfu and passing it to the waiter.
The waiter took the silver tael, and in a short while, he gave Nolan and Harely their mugs of beer.
While the chatter in the tavern did return a bit after Nolan and Harley entered the tavern, while drinking their beer, Nolan and Harley could not help but notice that everyone in the room had their eyes on them.
After taking a sip of the beer, Nolan looked at Harley, and they nodded at each other.
Harley took another silver tael out of the belt of his hanfu and passed it to the waiter.
"How do we get in contact with the Black Rose organization?" Nolan asked.
Hearing this, the waiter looked at them seriously.
The chatter in the tavern instantly stopped, and with grim expressions on their faces, everyone turned toward Nolan and Harley.
"Why do you want to get in contact with them?" The waiter asked.
"I don't think that concerns you," Nolan replied calmly. "So, do you have a way to contact them?"
"Are you spies trying to infiltrate the organization?" The waiter carefully examined Nolan and Harley.
Nolan and Harley did not reply.
"Do you have a way to contact the Black Rose organization?" Nolan asked again.
"They are trying to infiltrate our organization!" The waiter shouted suddenly.
The people sitting and drinking instantly jumped on their feet.
Harley instantly took a defensive position, putting his hand into his sleeve to take a knife out of his hidden knife pocket.
"Stop," Nolan whispered, grabbing Harley by the hand.
Harley stopped and pulled his hand out of his sleeve. He didn't take a knife out because he trusted Nolan and trusted that he knew what he was doing.
"We are not spies!" Nolan shouted. "But I know no matter what I say, you will not trust us. So come here and take us to where you intend." Nolan stretched both his hands forward.
Harley followed Nolan and did the same.
The people did not hesitate and immediately grabbed them by the hands.
Two men grabbed Nolan and two Harley.
They started forcibly pulling them toward the exit of the tavern.
"Hey, hey!" Nolan shouted. "We can walk, so there is no need to pull us. I assure you, we will not try to escape."
The two men holding Nolan by the hands nodded at each other and lessened their grip, and instead of pulling them toward the exit of the tavern, they started leading the way while weakly holding Nolan by the hands.
Seeing this, the two men holding Harley did the same.
They got out of the tavern.
Outside, dark clouds have fully covered the moon, making the night pitch black.
"We will blindfold you, so don't try anything funny." A man said.
Then another man carrying two black linen blindfolds came out of the tavern.
The next thing Nolan and Harley knew was darkness. They have been blindfolded.
...
Time passed. Nolan and Harley didn't know exactly how much time passed, but they knew a lot of time passed.
In the time that passed, they had walked, they had traveled in a carriage, and now they were walking again.
Creakkk!
A crude sound reached Nolan's and Harley's ears.
It sounded like an old rusty iron door opening.
Nolan felt the men holding him by the hands untie the blindfold, so he slowly opened his eyes.
Since he had been blindfolded for too long, he could barely see anything.
Thud!
Before he even came to himself, he felt a hit on his back, pushing him forward.
Creeeaaak!
The crude sound sounded again, indicating that the iron door has closed.
Through a blurry vision, he could see Harley beside him, recovering his vision as well.
"Aghh!" A headache followed Nolan as he slowly regained his vision.
"Where are we?" Harley asked.
Nolan looked around.
They were in a small room lighted by a little oil lamp. But he didn't need to carefully examine the surroundings. The fact that they were behind iron bars told him everything.
"We are in prison," Nolan said.
"What?" Harley asked, a little panicked. "What will happen to us? We don't have much time left."
"Only time will tell," Nolan said calmly. "If it looks like we will not be free in time, we will have to break out."
"But how are we going to break out? We are in prison?"
"We will think about it if the need to break out arises. For now, let's rest a little. We will need every bit of energy for the following day."
As Nolan said this, he laid on his back and closed his eyes.
It bothered Harley how calmly Nolan took the situation, but he didn't continue to argue. No matter how much he didn't want to lay and sleep, he knew what Nolan said was true. For the following day, they will need every bit of energy.
...
"Sir, sir. This way," Nolan heard a voice.
He slowly opened his eyes.
"We have new products," Nolan heard the voice again.
He raised and looked around.
Harley was soundly asleep.
The oil lamps in the prison had burned all the way.
However, it was not an issue as the prison was now full of daylight.
Tap, tap!
Footsteps echoed through the whole prison.
Sitting in the back of the cell, Nolan looked out of the cell through the gaps between the iron bars.
For now, the only thing he could see was the empty cell opposite his, but the footsteps drove closer, so Nolan anticipated that he would soon see an important person.
As the footsteps drove closer, Nolan's heart raced. In just a few moments, everything will become clear.
It will become clear whether they will need to break out of prison, it will become clear whether they can get the help of the Black Rose organization, it will become clear what will happen to them, everything will become clear.
Then, in just a short moment, a large figure accompanied by two smaller figures passed by Nolan's cell.
Nolan saw the large figure for just a short moment, but for some reason, he found it familiar.
'If I didn't see it wrong, that large figure was a fat man. Also, he was dressed well. His fingers shone... This familiar style...' Nolan struggled to remember.
'Is it him?' A person clicked in Nolan's mind.
PAM!
Nolan instantly jumped on his feet and dashed toward the iron bars, hitting them with full force.
"WAIT!" He screamed, pushing his head between the gap between the iron bars. Even when pushing his head between the iron bars like this, the fat man had gone a little further from the cell, so he was having trouble seeing the fat man.
However, his voice echoed through the whole prison, making Harley jump out of his sleep and taking the fat man's attention.
The fat man turned toward Nolan's cell. He walked back to the cell.
"It is you!" Nolan recognized the fat man. "You are the slave trader."
The fat man stood in front of Nolan's cell, face to face with Nolan.
"You are..." The slave trader had trouble remembering Nolan.
"I bought five slaves from you," Nolan tried reminding him. "I also bought that building from you."
"Ahhhh!" The slave trader finally remembered. A wide smile spread on his face. "You are the man who is hard to bargain with."
"Nolan, what happened?" Harley stood up and walked to Nolan. "Ohh, it's you, the slave trader." With just a glance, Harley instantly recognized the slave trader.
"I see you two are together," Meeting Nolan and Harley put the slave trader in a good mood. "Anyway, yesterday I visited your restaurant. Honestly, I can't believe what you did with that old building. And the food in your restaurant is divine. It fits the name of the restaurant, Food Paradise." The slave trader lost himself in talk.
"But, what are you doing here?" Harley asked.
Hearing this, the slave trader looked around himself. It took him a moment to remember he was in prison. "What are you doing here!" He shouted.
"Well..."
"What are they doing here!" The slave trader shouted at the two men guiding him through the prison, interrupting Nolan from explaining.
"W-Well, sir, they are the new products," One of the men said nervously.
Slap!
"Hmph! New products? They are my friends. Release them immediately!"
"Yes, yes, yes!" The other man nervously inserted the key into the padlock that locked the iron bars together.
Clack!
Creakk!
The padlock unlocked, and the man opened the door of iron bars.
Nolan and Harley came out of the cell.
"Hahaha!" The slave trader placed his hand on Nolan's shoulder. "Friend, last time we didn't introduce ourselves. I am Gulliver." Gulliver stretched his hand for a handshake.
"I am Nolan," Nolan shook his hand.
"I am Harley," Harley shook hands with Guliver too.
"Nolan, my friend, I must ask you." Gulliver's face turned serious. "How did you end up here?"
"I would like to tell you everything about how we ended here, but it is a long story. I am sure you didn't come here for nothing. Why don't you finish your work first and we will talk after you finish. We will wait outside." Nolan suggested.
"Hmm," Gulliver thought for a while. "You are right."
"You!" Gulliver pointed at the man he slapped a moment ago. "Guide them outside, and don't let anything happen to them. If anyone looks for trouble, tell them they are under the protection of the Endless Gluttony Gulliver. You understand?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" The man bowed a few times.
"Alright. You!" Gulliver pointed to the other man. "You lead me to the products."
"Yes," The other man took the lead and led Gulliver deeper into the prison.
Nolan stared at Gulliver's back as he walked deeper into the prison.
'Inspect,' He used his skill as it was too long ago when he saw Gulliver's status window.
[Name: Gulliver]
[Age: 46 years, 7 months, 19 days]
[Personality: Money lover, Greedy]
[Occupation: Slave trader- In use, Excellent businessman]
[Martial arts: Thief Martial Arts- Mastery: Very good]
[Skills: Sticky Hand- Active]
[Strength: 14]
[Stamina: 8]
[Agility: 4]
'System, give me more information on Thief Martial Arts.'
[Inspect skill level insufficient]
'Give me more information on the skill Sticky Hand.'
[Sticky Hand- Rare and logic-defying skill]
'Is that all?'
[The level of the skill Inspect is insufficient, the host can not receive more information about the skill Sticky Hand]
"Sir!" The man waved his hand in front of Nolan. "Sir, let's go. Sir."
However, Nolan was in deep thought. 'Logic-defying skill? Just what does this skill do?' Nolan thought. 'Also, this slave trader, Gulliver, is connected with the Black Rose organization. And his status within the organization is not ordinary.'
"Nolan!" Harley shook Nolan, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"W-What?" Nolan asked, a little confused.
"Sir, let's go outside," The man, which Gulliver previously slapped said.
"Ahh, right, let's go,"
Taking the lead, the man led Nolan and Harley out of the prison.
"Man, you really are lucky," The man said. "How did you gain his favor?"
"What do you mean? Is he someone important?" Harely asked.
"You are kidding me. You don't know?" The man asked, shocked.
"Please tell us," Nolan said.
"I heard why you were locked up. You wanted to get in touch with our organization, right?"
Both Nolan and Harley nodded, but since they walked behind the man, it didn't matter whether they nodded or not. The man could not see them anyway.
"Well, the Endless Gluttony Gulliver is second in authority only to the Boss of the whole Black Rose organization." The man continued. "The reason why he has such authority is that his business alone brings in about seventy percent of the monthly income of the organization. If not for his business, the Black Rose organization would not be where it is today. It would most likely not be one of the Four Underground Organizations of the Womvale City."
"I understand. But why is he called the Endless Gluttony Gulliver?" Nolan asked.
"The reason he is called that is because he always bargains to raise the price of the products he sells. He doesn't miss any opportunity to raise the price. Most of the time, if a product is worth about three taels of silver, he will manage to sell it for six taels of silver. He never loses when it comes to bargaining for the price." The man explained.
After the man finished explaining this, their conversation ended.
They walked in silence for a few minutes before finally leaving the prison.
Outside, it was early morning. But though it was early morning, the sky was cloudy. It looked like it could start raining at any moment.
'I hope they finished building the storage,' Nolan thought, looking at the weather. But he didn't remain long at this thought. He quickly dispersed this thought and focused on the situation before him.
The street they were on was unfamiliar to him and Harley.
If Nolan had to guess, this street belonged to the Black Rose Organization. Just like the street where only Rosalia's people lived.
However, unlike Rosalia's muscular people, this street had people of every kind. Some were small, some big, some beautiful, and some ugly.
Along the sides of the street were set stalls, some selling food, some clothes, and some jewelry.
"You must be hungry, right?" The man asked.
Nolan and Harley nodded simultaneously. They could not deny the fact that they were starving. The last time they ate was yesterday morning when they left the village with the women.
"Wait here for a minute. I am going to get you some food." The man said this and then disappeared into the crowd, searching for a stall selling food.
Harley looked around, examining his surroundings.
However, Nolan just stared at him.
"What?" Harley noticed Nolan staring at him. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
"Well, do you remember when we brought the slaves and the building from Gulliver?" Nolan asked with a little grin on his face.
"I remember. So?" Harley still didn't understand.
"I remember someone saying: 'Giving away ten taels of silver as a gift, isn't it a bit too much? Why would we need his help anyway?'" Nolan reminded Harley of what he said when Nolan wasted ten taels of silver because he wanted to form a good relationship with Gulliver.
Harley smiled. "Alright, alright. You were right. You never know when you will need someone's help."
"Oi!" A rough, deep voice sounded from behind Nolan and Harley, making their expressions turn grim. "Who let you two out?"