Chapter 85 | Black Market
Dexter head was almost exploding with all the information she was dropping.
He ignored her and simply ran his hand across the surface. It was smoother than most things he had touch.
But never smoother than Mira...
"This bed has been extremely popular among licensed heroes,"
The assistant continued. "In fact, it is the same model used by Blitz, the speed star herself. She endorsed the Cloudweave line after our parent company became one of her sponsors."
Dexter glanced to the side and saw the advertisement mounted on the wall beside the bed.
It showed Blitz, the renowned female Ultra hero, seated on the edge of an identical Cloudweave Sovereign, her silver hair catching studio lighting, one hand resting on the mattress with an expression of casual satisfaction.
The caption beneath read, "Even the fastest need the best rest. Cloudweave by Celestine Home."
Dexter was not particularly impressed by celebrity endorsements. But the bed itself was another matter. He could already imagine how the girls would react to sleeping on something like this.
They would love this bed.
"How much?" Dexter asked.
The assistant smiled but did not answer immediately.
She tapped something on her tablet, scrolled, tapped again, and then looked up at him with the particular expression that salespeople wore when they were about to deliver a number they knew would provoke a reaction.
"Thirty thousand dollars," she said.
Dexter stared at her.
"Thirty thousand," he repeated flatly.
"Yes, sir."
"For one bed."
"The Cloudweave Sovereign is a premium product, sir. The materials alone..."
"Is it made of heavenly clouds?" Dexter asked, his voice perfectly calm but his eyes slightly wider than usual. "Because I genuinely do not understand why a single bed costs thirty thousand dollars."
The assistant covered her mouth with one hand and shook her head as though Dexter had made the most charming joke she had heard all week.
Dexter sat on the edge of the Cloudweave Sovereign and said nothing.
He was not joking. In a world where people could manipulate fire, bend the earth to their will, and tear holes in the fabric of space, it was not unreasonable to wonder whether someone with the ability to shape the sky could fashion a bed from actual clouds.
He kept the thought to himself, however, because explaining it would only prolong a conversation he did not want to have.
He calculated Two beds would cost sixty thousand. It would drain his money as he still needed to prichasw a lot of things like foodstuffs, ingredients and jewelries for the girls., but it was workable.
He made his decision.
"I will take two," he said.
The assistant’s smile widened. She tapped furiously on her tablet, her earlier laughter replaced by the brisk efficiency of a closing sale. "Excellent choice, sir. If I may ask, will you be taking them with you today, or would you like them delivered?"
"Delivered," Dexter said. "What is the timeline?"
"Standard delivery is next day. However, we do offer an expedited option for an additional five thousand dollars, which would have them at your address within four hours."
Dexter shook his head. "Next day is fine."
The assistant nodded and guided him through the purchasing process. He provided his address, confirmed the delivery details, and signed the digital receipt. The total came to exactly sixty thousand dollars.
The assistant printed a physical copy of the receipt, placed it inside a sleek Celestine Home folder along with a care guide for the Cloudwool mattress, and handed the package to him with both hands.
"Thank you for your purchase, sir. We are certain the ladies in your life will be very pleased."
Dexter took the folder, tucked it under his arm alongside the medicine shop packaging, and left the store.
The walk to the black market took just under an hour. Dexter followed the directions the jewelry clerk had given him,
He found the iron door at the end of a narrow alley between two warehouses.
’I hope this isn’t some organ trafficking thing.’
Dexter opened it and stepped inside.
What he found was not what he had expected.
He had imagined something dark. Something dangerous. An underground marketplace lit by flickering torches or bare bulbs, where shadowy figures conducted illicit business in hushed tones and everyone watched everyone else with suspicion.
What he got was a thrift market.
It was a massive complex. The interior was open and well lit by overhead fluorescent panels, with wide aisles that crisscrossed between rows of stalls and tables and makeshift display areas.
Traders sat behind their wares, calling out to passersby in the same loud, casual voices that vendors used in any open air market anywhere in the city.
Come look at this. Best price in the complex. You will not find this anywhere else, my friend.
The goods on display were where the difference lay. On a table near the entrance, a woman was selling type one relics, small trinkets and minor enchantments laid out on a faded cloth.
A few stalls down, a heavyset man with a thick beard had arranged a collection of type two weapons on a rack, each one tagged with a handwritten price card.
Further in, Dexter spotted type three items, including a set of gauntlets that faintly hummed with stored energy, and a shield that seemed to absorb the light around it.
But it was the stall near the far wall that made Dexter stop.
A man sat cross legged on the floor. His eyes were closed as though he were meditating rather than selling goods. In front of him was a blade.
It was a type 3 blade. Dexter could tell from the way the air around it seemed to bend slightly, the faint distortion that indicated a high concentration of refined mana sealed within the weapon’s structure.
Dexter was stunned, but not because of the blade.
He was stunned because the blade was sitting out in the open, unguarded, on a cloth mat on the floor of a black market, with the seller’s eyes closed and his attention clearly elsewhere.
A type 3 blade was worth a fortune. In the hands of a capable fighter, it could dramatically alter their combat capabilities.
There were people in this very complex who would kill for a weapon like that, so why exactly was he puttingvthebwepaon out there just like that?