Chap 21: black market
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[User status]
Name: Takumi Nejima
Level 5 (0 free points)
Strenght: 61.9
Perception: 47.1
Agility: 31.9
Endurance: 61.8
Energy: 47.0
Luck: 45 (+10 ) The blessing of the gacha goddess.
[Gacha pulls available: 21]
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Walking down the street with cold evening air setting down, plenty of people roaming the streets; exhausted salary woman go back from work; groups of young teenager girls frolicking between bars in bright collorfull outfits; among them is a few shadier individuals.
One covered themself in a dark hooded long coat which shield him nicely from the cold weather, he also wore a fox mask. That ganner some attention from those walking beside him but that is all.
Wasting no time among the street, they headed into a deserted alley. The narrow alley wasn’t hard to find, marked by a hard to miss graffiti right on the wall.
Ten step into the first alley, turning right and take five more step, stopping at a metal door with a bird graffiti plaster over it. Right at the bird eyes is a slit where you could slide open to see from the inside.
Fishing out a piece of paper from his pocket, he gave it a glance briefly before knocking at the door.
Knocking it once, pause for three seccond and then knock twice.
The slit of the door open up, letting a pair of eyes examine the masked man.
"Password ?" A gruff femine voice spoke to him.
"Abierta." Spoken in a monotone voice, the sound came out of the mask is muffled. Masking even his own masculine tone, Takumi repeated the words from tge card.
The slit shut with a loud clank, then came the sound of mutiple metal locks being open can be heard. Soon the door creack, revealing a older looking woman. A silouet of a metal object near her feet, Takumi doesn't need to look closer as even without his perception, he could tell what a shotgun look likes.
"First time?" She asked. To which he nodded.
"Can you use jujutsu or not ?" The question came a bit out of the blue for him but Takumi nodded again in confirmation.
"Here, take this with you." She handded him something.
'A medal ?' Holding the bronze disc object in his palm, Takumi curiously looking at it. Then it suddenly glowed a green color. "What's this for ?"
"Our boss said 'Having a new sorceress mean having a new custormer'. And being able to discern them make the job easier. Next time when you came here again just show the guard that medal and we'll let you in."
She stepped aside to let him through a hidden secret passage that led down a dark stairway. Which then lead to a tunnel and then another set of stairs.
Going to the black market isn't the first thing in Takumi mind as he desended into the bottom of the what should be the third set of stair.
In the original work, it was only lightly implied of a place for people that can use jujutsu but does not belong to any of the three clan or jujutsu society in general. They could be cast out for being too weak, doesn't like being under any organization or for more personall reason.
Takumi only throught about coming down here due to his memory hidden inventory arc, with the hired soccerer. He actually don't know much as Gege never make it clear, or maybe he did and Takumi completely skimmed over it at some point.
Once he got to the bottom Takumi could see what this place look like. The first thing that hit him was the air, noticably thicker than from above, it's like smoke coming from a factory. But not too unbearable, just very uncomfortable to be in.
Despite being called "black market" it was more akin to a underground city with alot of illegal business going un-checked. Vendors were selling every illegal things money could buy on the open streets, while several bars with pink and red neon lights had beautiful men wearing barely any clothe waving at people on the street, smiling flirtatiously.
Takumi wander through various establishments, making sure that he avoid any bars and only looking through the vendor items on sell but none has the thing he's in the look for.
The road is paive in cobblestone, with people from all sort of life walking down here. Unlike the common folk of the above, where there's a mix of person from every conner of life. Here through he could only see the one with wealth or in search of it. Above men could be seen walking along with woman but down here it is only woman that Takumi saw.
Glancing up, the sky is pitch black for obvious reason. He is in underground afterall, all the light Takumi could see in this place is from buildings and the massive tower in the middle in here. Which he presume to be the center of the city and where the person running this place would be.
'How did they even managed to all of this underground.' He throught, there was a cerrtain feeling of amazement in it.
Walking throught a place that could only exist in fiction. Takumi stopped by a stand that has it's item laid out like a display for passerby eyes to see. But Takumi only need one glance to see that almost all the item here is useless. Sitting on some boxes, the girl inviting with smile and shout like many black market merchants in attempt to pull in customer.
Leg of a dragon that if eaten would let you breath underwater for a day, monkey paw that granted wishes, a few piece of meteorite use to forge a magical sword and more fraudulent items that meant to entice your greed over them.
Sound all so exotic, yet. Only a blind idiot would actually buy them, or a normal person with no knowledge on jujutsu. They stand ogling at it, cursious, skepticle, suspicion. It only take someone with the least amount of knownlage on jujutsu to realize they're being scammed.
Speaking of which, this is the first time he could see them. Curse energy that ran an outline of a person, not chaotic or loosely pouring out like a normal human but in a controlled manner. Badly controlled but they're controlled nonetheless.
Takumi could spot these people walking around, in small number. Some walk alone, some travel with company, there's even a group surrounding one of them serving as body guard. Their own curse energy was small, smaller than him even. Like a cup of water compared to a bucket.
Interest flutter through Takumi eye as a smile formed behind his mask.
'They could just be hidding.' He through, it was a obvious thing to do when you don't want to be noticed.
He was doing it as well, thanks to managing many body at the same time. Takumi has learn to be sensative with his curse energy and how to use them carefully.
Leaving the stall behind him, Takumi went in search again. Now heading in the same direction as the other curse user, to the center city where the giant tower stood tall, shinning brightly with all it's lights like a beacon.
"Let's see what is in this place."