Sovereign of the Ashes

In the vast territories of the Magus World, the status of human knights and mages was unparalleled.

Humans were the predominant group, with other races—be it demihumans, aquatic races, or magic beasts—largely at the mercy of the knights and mages of Magus World.

However, the dynamics in the Monique Black Market were rather different.

The influence of the divine towers and the orders of the knights were nonexistent here.

At least during the black market season, the privileges typically enjoyed by human knights and mages were not evident.

In this gray area, status was irrelevant. Everyone was on equal footing.

To put it bluntly, the aquatic races could get away with killing a few knights and mages here.

The divine towers and the orders of the knights would be unable to intervene in such cases, as the presence of these knights and mages in the black market itself indicated that they were operating outside legal boundaries, and thus were beyond the protection of their institutions.

The figure currently in front of Sein was an aquatic creature resembling a frogman, striding confidently and followed by a line of filthy humans with their arms bound and legs shackled.

These were not ordinary humans—the faint energy particles around them suggested they were either junior magic initiates or squires.

Yet, no mages intervened on their behalf.

Even the brown-robed mage who had disembarked with Sein merely glanced in their direction, before waving to Sein and walking away.

As a Rank One mage, Sein felt no obligation to intervene for these captives.

Firstly, it was none of his concern; secondly, there was likely a reason these junior initiates were bound and captured.

Without much more than a glance, Sein continued deeper into the black market with Yuri.

During his exploration, he overheard hushed conversations between a few magic initiates that the captured human knights and mages hailed from the Blackhaven of the Western Archipelago.

Black magic initiates and squires from Blackhaven were considered unregistered entities in the Magus Continent, which explained their captivity by the aquatic creatures.

Such initiates and squires were not rare in Monique Black Market.

With this period being the last auction season of the year, it was anticipated that more magic initiates or squires from the Blackhaven would be auctioned off as merchandise.

***

Since being renamed Swell City, the Monique Black Market had expanded beyond a mere marketplace.

It was a unique city on an island, and as Sein moved toward the center, he observed that the shops became increasingly lively.

Upon his arrival at the black market, Sein intentionally radiated his aura as a Rank One mage.

It was necessary in a place that was not exactly safe.

Sein had noticed more than a few surreptitious glances directed at not just him, but also Yuri.

Besides hiding themselves under their hoods, Yuri also radiated her aura as a Rank One being.

Though a gray area, Monique Black Market operated under a set of agreed-upon rules that everyone adhered to, unlike the corrupt Blackhaven of the Western Archipelago.

While magic initiates or squires below Rank One might find themselves at a disadvantage here, those above Rank One generally saw their rights and interests respected. After all, this was a world where strength reigned supreme.

Sein spent two days exploring the Monique Black Market.

He saw most of the market areas in the city, though he avoided certain private grounds and special auction houses that required an entrance fee.

Established far out in the sea, this black market was indeed a den of darkness and sin.

Beyond encountering magic initiates and squires of unknown origin being openly sold at high prices, Sein also stumbled upon undead chimeras.

The chimeras he was familiar with were the creations of Master Collance, a Rank One black mage from the Black Magic Academy of Mystralora City who had been killed by mages from the Divine Tower of Dawn.

While Sein had seldom encountered such creatures since then, he observed some initiates from the Divine Tower of Shadow with similar knowledge during the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War.

However, the Divine Tower was located to the east of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, which did not lie on Sein’s planned route.

Moreover, he was certain that the undead chimeras he saw in the market were not the work of ordinary divine tower mages.

The chimera, bizarrely shaped with three heads, was a grotesque fusion of forms. One head and part of its torso clearly belonged to a Rank One knight from the Magus World. The other two heads appeared to belong to a Rank One titan and a ranked magic beast.

Only the black mages from the Blackhaven would transform a human knight into a chimera without any remorse.

Additionally, the presence of the few enslaved magic initiates Sein saw upon his arrival on the island strongly suggested the presence of black mages within this black market.

“Based on my observations over the past two days, the biggest auction in this black market will be the Imperial Pearl Auction, scheduled for five days from now. I should be able to attend it.

“I didn’t expect to find a short-distance teleportation array here that directly connects to hidden areas south and west of the Divine Tower of Dawn. I guess Master Morsidor and other black mages who traveled to Gloomhaven from the Western Archipelago didn’t rely on primitive flight methods. They must have used a teleportation array.

“Likewise, Faye, Leena, and others probably used the teleportation arrays within these black markets to reach the Western Archipelago,” Sein mused to himself.

The required fee to use the teleportation array at the Monique Black Market was not cheap—merely one or two magicoins less than those set up by the divine towers and the orders of the knights.

The divine tower’s higher costs were due to the major divine towers in the Magus World monopolizing the teleportation field. Since the price was set by the divine towers, it was naturally higher.

While the teleportation array within the Monique Black Market offered a slight cost advantage, it had its drawbacks—it was only one-way, usable only when leaving the Black Market but not for entry.

Furthermore, the stability of this teleportation array was significantly inferior to that of the ones in the divine towers.

Even deviations of several kilometers from the final destination could occur during the teleportation.