One Last System

"You really shouldn\'t draw attention to yourself as a contractor," Lucius said, gritting his teeth. He appeared like someone who tried to teach their disciple the basics, only to see them commit the same fundamental mistake over and over again. "It\'s only going to come back to bite you in the ass later!"

The next few moments that we spent in the market looked just like that. Lucius complained about my behavior while freely sorting through the items displayed. A few moments later, he finally calmed down and turned silent.

A bit later, he finally shook his head.

"Just treat it as a precious learning experience. One of a social nature," Lucius sighed as his shoulders sunk. "In the end, you can\'t achieve much in life if you focus your entire self on cultivation alone," he said, a deep nostalgia striking from his words.

\'Is he speaking from experience or something?\' I asked myself, sending a glance at the man\'s face.

And then I noticed them. The same group from before continued to tail us. While they didn\'t hide their intentions at all, they also refused to approach us either.

\'Did they change their tactics?\' I thought, only to roll my eyes and throw them out of my mind. \'There is no point trying to figure out what they are thinking. It\'s just a waste of my time,\' I decided before focusing on the items displayed on the stalls.

And there was quite a lot of cheap stuff that I was in desperate need of.

Just like Lucius said, just by raising my strength, I wouldn\'t be able to achieve much. Yet, while he pointed my attention towards social studies, I had plenty of other jobs that I wanted to focus on instead.

As such, in just an hour, I managed to obtain two complete sewing kits along with some materials to use them on. In the next hour, my bags increased with a portable stove, oversized pot mistakingly called a cauldron, and some basic alchemy ingredients.

By the time our three-long run of the marketplace was over, I could barely walk with how many things I had decided to buy and take with myself.

\'It\'s all good,\' I thought as my back cried out in pain due to the massive burden on it. \'It will be gone as soon as I get my hands on a storage ring,\' I thought, desperately pushing forward with my stuff.

"I think I will go to the brothel now," Lucius said just as we were about to leave the marketplace area. "We don\'t have a lot of chances to get some fun like that," he added, clearly trying to justify himself before me. "Do you want to come as well?" he asked.

\'So first he is looking for an excuse and then for someone to encourage him?\' I asked, holding back a smirk from appearing on my lips.

I didn\'t know how people approached the topic of paid sex in this world. I knew brothels existed; I made great business with one of them. But whether it was a private matter that one wouldn\'t like to bring up in public? Or maybe it was something that people would openly brag about?

I didn\'t know. And as such, I committed myself to not making the same mistake of using earth standards in this world.

"I think I will go get a beer instead," I said, shaking my head with a gentle smile.

While I wasn\'t going to judge Lucius for his decisions, I wasn\'t going to do the same.

I already felt like someone unworthy of Mia after being raped. In my situation, going to a brothel would mean literally asking for trouble.

Trouble and a lot of shame, as I highly doubted I would be able to stand up to the task with those memories still lingering in the back of my head.

"Where should we meet, then?" I asked, shaking my head to shake off all those unnecessary thoughts.

"If you want a beer..." Lucius muttered, raising his hand to his chin and rubbing it as he thought. "How about Drunken Calm?" he suggested a name I had never heard about before. "They have a great booze... but you will need to stay silent and calm out there," he explained.

"I think I will take you up on your offer. Are we going to sleep there as well?" I asked.

Since it took an entire day to travel to this place, there was no way I would deny myself the right to rest in a proper bed.

Even if I was going to pay with gold for it.

"Yeah, you can book us some rooms for tonight as well," Lucius said before turning around. "As for directions... Just ask anyone in the crowd. That place is quite popular," he added before walking off.

\'How can it be popular yet silent at the same time?\' I asked myself, only to shake my head.

\'No, this isn\'t what I\'m going to do now,\' I thought. \'Not yet.\'

With a plan already forming in my head, I approached the first of the many random passersby walking all over the place.

"Excuse, sir, but could you please tell me where to find the auction hall?" I asked.

This was the place that I had to visit as soon as possible. Not only to get my token renewed in this zone but also to store all my luggage there and check whether I still had some money!

"The auction hall?" a man turned around, almost making his belly kick down two of the displayed boxes with food nearby. "Oh dear, just go straight and turn at the jewelry shop to your right," the man said before nodding his head, waving his goodbyes, and leaving.

"Forward and to the right it is, then," I muttered to myself, quickly forcing my tired body to drag itself along the directions.

Once again, I was surprised to find the auction hall so near the gates of the inner city. Even after accounting for all the roaming, we did while on the market, this place was still relatively close to the main street, proving just how important they were in the city.

Thankfully, this time, their building wasn\'t as imposing as it was back at the Skyladder sect, allowing me to enter with a little bit more confidence than usual.

"Welcome to the Nauaxi Trading Hall," a young woman was quick to approach me the moment I stepped through the doors. "How may I be of service?"