Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 85: Ch83. Pain as a teacher (7) - The Black Market

Chapter 85: Ch83. Pain as a teacher (7) - The Black Market

The streets were quieter than usual, but Miles and Sarissa moved with urgency, navigating through the maze of ruined buildings and dimly lit alleys. The air was thick with dust and the lingering scent of burning ozone, a reminder that the world outside was still unstable, still changing.

After Sarissa’s initial – mild – shock at the news Miles had given her, she knew they needed answers as badly as Miles himself did, and she knew, also, that there was only one place in town that they could get that kind of information from.

Mara’s workshop was not far now. Nestled between reinforced buildings unmarked by the [Safe Zone] system tag, the shop stood untouched by the game, yet well-guarded by forces that no player had dared to challenge.

The neon sign flickered against the darkened sky.

Mara’s Crafting & Enchantments.

Miles was the first to step inside, and Sarissa followed, her sharp gaze scanning every inch of the cluttered space.

Mara was hunched over her workstation, goggles perched atop her silver-haired head as she worked on something delicate, a new enchanted blade or a custom-imbued trinket. At the sound of the door chime, she glanced up, her sharp, knowing eyes locking onto Miles.

"Well, if it isn’t the devil himself." She smirked, darkly. "Was thinking about you just now."

"Good to see you too, Mara." Miles rolled his eyes.

"I assume you’re not here to buy something. Or is this a social visit?" She pushed her goggles higher onto her forehead, then leaned back in her chair, arms crossing over her chest.

"We need information." Sarissa, ever direct, stepped forward.

Mara arched an eyebrow but didn’t reply immediately. Instead, she tilted her head slightly, studying Sarissa.

"Huh. You Union Guild types usually don’t come around my shop unless you’re desperate or running low on options. Which is it?"

Sarissa didn’t react, her expression as unreadable as ever.

"Before we get into that," she looked at Miles, not hiding the daggers she glared at him. "Diego stopped by recently, how’s he doing?"

"He’s fine... mostly." Miles ran a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply. "We ran into some... Things earlier tonight. Don’t worry, he’s fine, just a little bit spent. But that’s the reason we came here for, actually."

"What happened?" Mara’s reddish eyes sparked at him with a mix of reserved, angry concern, and curiosity.

Miles looked at Sarissa and, as she nodded, he began telling the craftswoman everything from when Diego disappeared, to when they fought the [Undead Ghouls], and about the new power Diego had unlocked. Of course, he left the detail about Shinji being a traitor to the players out of his retelling, because Sarissa’s unreadable glare was telling enough for him to know that, if he did, he’d be a corpse before he could even finish his tale.

After he was done telling what Mara needed to hear, though, the craftswoman pulled her goggles down, letting them hang like a necklace on her neck, her gaze lingering on him for a moment before she gave a small, serious nod.

"I thought that the [Fallen Puppets] and the other few were enough, but undead? You’re the first ones to tell me about such thing." She then gestured vaguely. "Alright, now spill it. What’s this information you need?"

Sarissa was the one to speak, bluntly and sharp.

"We’re looking for someone called The Archivist."

Mara’s expression darkened for a moment, and there was a cold pause.

"Now that’s a name I haven’t thought I’d hear from such a goody-shoes. Where’d you dig that up?" Her fingers tapped against the counter, rhythmically, as if weighing something.

Miles exchanged a glance with Sarissa before he spoke again.

"We unlocked the clue for the first [Hidden Piece]," he said carefully, choosing his words. "But... It’s in the hands of something of a rank way higher than we can fight at the moment."

"And what rank is it?" Mara’s eyes twitched ever so slightly.

"A [Lesser Demon]."

Miles’ words made her blink.

Mara wasn’t easily rattled, but that caught her off guard. Her fingers stopped drumming, and for the first time, she looked between Miles and Sarissa with something akin to genuine surprise.

"You’re serious..."

"Dead serious." Miles nodded.

"Damn it, I knew you were something when Diego told me about you the first time, but a [Lesser Demon]?. You really don’t know how to stay out of trouble, do you?" Mara exhaled, rubbing a hand down her face.

"Not really, I’m sorry." He admitted with a yellowish grin that Mara could not quite perceive.

"What’s with your face, though?" She asked, frowning. "I’m sorry if I can only be polite for so long, but are you so damn ugly to be hiding behind an item that disguises your features or what?"

Miles looked at her with a deadpan expression, feeling a bit flustered.

"What?" He shook his head. "No, yeah, I mean... Anyway, it doesn’t matter. How can we find this Archivist guy?"

Mara muttered something under her breath before pushing away from the counter.

"You’re lucky I like you, because I like Diego." She grabbed a coat from a nearby hook and motioned for them to follow. "Come on. I’ll take you to her."

Miles and Sarissa exchanged a quick glance before trailing after her as she led them out of the shop.

Instead of heading into the open streets, she stopped right beside the ruined building next to her workshop.

To anyone else, it would seem slightly abandoned. Just another crumbling husk swallowed by The Glitch’s unstoppable hunger, guarded and reinforced by players who could not find [Safe Zones] to secure themselves into, or were cast out from their previous safe spots for some reason.

But when Mara knocked on the door several times, rhythmically, in a code that not even Sarissa could remember by heart after just the first time, a small, metallic window opened, revealing a pair of eyes hidden behind shades.

"Password!" The owner of the eyes behind the shades asked in a gruff tone.

"Veni, vidi, vici." Mara spoke, pausedly.

The door opened, and when Miles crossed the threshold, his eyes widened.

"Huh. You’ve been sitting on this the whole time?"

A few flights of stairs descended underground, and when they arrived at the bottom, it was nothing like Miles had ever seen.

It was a city within the city, a labyrinthine underworld hidden beneath them. A vast underground network of tunnels, dimly illuminated by flickering neon signs and enchanted lanterns.

The air was thick with the scent of oil, damp stone, and untraceable alchemical concoctions. Merchants peddled forbidden goods – artifacts, cursed weapons, illicit information – all under the watchful eyes of masked enforcers clad in dark armor. Strange pets ran around, playing and guarding their owners, whispers carried secrets, and deals were struck in hushed tones.

Here, everything seemed to have a price, never truly free.

"You don’t get to be the best craftswoman in the city without knowing where to find the best materials. And sometimes, that means knowing the right people." Mara smirked.

"And what is this place?" Sarissa’s expression was unreadable, but there was a keen edge to her gaze.

Mara turned to them, the faint glow from below casting shadows across her face as she walked backwards, as if she knew the place like the palm of her hand.

"Welcome to the Black Market."

Miles and Sarissa followed, stepping into the unknown.