“Yes, Teun... relaxing...”
The two of them are in their own world as Jack walks out of the roped area, he nods towards the two other players in this region and they return friendly gestures in return. The group of players in the distance are watching his actions closely but Jack ignores them joining into the crowd of people leaving the auction hall, he easily slips into the crowd and feels safe between all these people who are filing out in a large mass out the single door. Jack takes one last look around the room and spots the small player group still watching him, their gazes still filled with hostility returning the gaze.
‘Hmm, are they missing some people?’ he mutters in his mind as the crowd pushes through the doorway into the lobby. The groups of people are going about their business with some heading to the counter to collect their goods, they’re not VIP so they don’t get the service on the floor forcing the queue to become large quickly. These people would have to deposit their money yet they have to come collect it afterwards since they’re not VIP, Jack has entered the crowd of people who are pushing to get out the door or enter the large queue.
The amount of people in the room do not allow him easy movement, forcing him to be stuck in this spot until more people file out the front, completely unlike the entrance that was smooth and almost without incident.
Jack’s gaze stops on a particular point where he spots someone before walking towards them, as he walks over to them while the crowd of people continues to rush about him. Very few people are leaving the lobby as it gets more and more filled with people filing out from the auction hall that is filled with noise.
Jack stops two people standing in a private corner of the lobby, the crowds move about behind them.
“Hey you two, you got out much easier than me since you’re already here, did you get everything?” Jack asks.
“Yes Lord, I suggest we leave as soon as possible though,” Albert speaks with a hushed tone.
Jack nods and looks to Amber, “How’d you go?”
“So so... you have an admirer...” Amber brings forward the brown-haired girl who was hidden somehow, she is trying not to look Jack in the eyes as her eyes dart about occasionally looking towards his face.
“Oh, why?” Jack smiles at the two girls.
“It’s nothing like that, I just would like to represent the younger generation of the Faestin-family that you will prefer to do further trade with us... and me” the girl says, muttering the last part as she hides behind Amber blushing.
“Well you heard her, is that alright?” Amber says standing before the girl trying to hide her.
“Sure, we’ll have to let Albert handle most of us cause I’m rather stupid in trade but we’ll work something out. One thing I need to ask about though, is there a councillor that has blonde hair? He sent his nephew out to the plains area...”
Jack feels a sudden tug on his sleeve as the girl thinks for a moment. He feels startled as he didn’t sense this person before they got close even with his divine sense. He turns his head and looks at this person and can see a hooded figure; he jerks backwards when he hears a faint voice in his ears, yet he doesn’t have much room in this corner.
“Your pill, give me, please.”
Jack looks down to see the hooded and masked pill appraiser from before. She is here alone where she seems much shorter than previous appearances. Jack can relax upon seeing that it’s her and no one else. He quickly checks his storage rings before settling on one placing it in his hand.
He passes her the storage ring with the pill inside it, he isn’t sure which one she is talking about but he trusts her, as well the auction house is still holding a lot of his money. Jack, Albert and the village have made a lot money today and spent not very much comparatively. It’s all thanks to Lunamarie and her strange pill recipes that she’s somehow able to produce mass quantities of, his thoughts get distracted upon thinking about how much of today was thanks to the bunny-eared girl.
The masked woman takes the storage ring and stands there for a moment looking through it, “Thank you... come back here soon, after.”
She turns around to leave, Jack watches her turn around to leave trying to catch a glimpse of how she showed up in the first place when he fells another tug on his other shoulder.
Jack turns his head to look at who it is, “Huh?”
He instantly leaps forward pushing all the people around him forward onto the ground, many people are knocked over while Amber, the brown-haired girl and the masked woman are held by him on the ground as Albert is knocked in to the distance safely as something happens.
*SOOOOSSSS*
A large dark sphere appears where Jack was standing, a black-hooded person is standing there with his hand out unconcerned that his moves just now put many people in danger within this very public space. The black-hooded person’s face cannot be seen shrouded by the hood but Jack can recognise these people, they were the ones that were sitting by the players during the auction.
“What do you want?” Jack asks as he signals the bunny assassins hidden in amongst the crowd, they silently take the people on the ground away as Jack draws everyone’s attention to himself and away from the people with him.
“NO ONE CAN DISRESPECT US!”
The hooded figure lunges forward with a punch, Jack looks at this slow-moving fist and lets out a soft sigh.
He calls out his spear and lunges forward, wondering where the security is for the auction house, when another figure dashes forward through the crowd yelling out.
“DIE EVIL DOER, BRINGING ILL-REPUTE.”
A sword flies through the air cutting the black-hooded person in half, everyone is looks in admiration towards the new figure who didn’t stand out previously.
The black-hooded figure silently bubbles away into a puddle of black goo then evaporates into nothing, Jack looks at the person who cut it.
“Thank you for saving me, I have to leave now” Jack says nodding his head choosing to leave for now, his people are safe and the situation is deteriorating quickly as the crowd looks on.
“Wait a moment...” the blonde-haired man’s hand reaches for Jacks shoulder.
Jack looks at the hand that has a firm grip on his shoulder, as he’s forced to look at the person talking unable to break free. It’s an old man that Jack cannot identify nor know which faction he’s apart of, the situation is still tenuous but he tries to hold back his emotions and respond plainly as the man continues.
“Why were they targeting you?”
“I don’t know” Jack puts away his spear and tries to shake off the grip firmly on his shoulder keeping him here.
“Well, we should talk about that further as I think your voice sounds kind of familiar...”
Jack frowns upon hearing this line, he thinks back to this person’s voice then looks at his appearance closely, using his divine sense to look beyond the surface.
‘Shit.’
Jack immediately tries to break free of the grip on his shoulder, this sudden reaction causes the pent up qi within his body to revolt and shimmer, a glimmer of grey moon-qi appears as his body shimmers silver for a moment. The hooded and masked woman gasps momentarily as she looks at him from a quickly retreating distance, the bunny assassin has taken her to a secure location within the lobby and left her with other workers.
“AHHHHH”
Jack jumps away as the man screams, he doesn’t care what happened as he walks to the doorway. That wasn’t his fault as while he’s involved, he doesn’t feel safe dealing with it now, especially within this crowd of people standing around the lobby still.
The crowd makes way for him as he walks towards the door to the outside, Jack looks around trying to watch out for the other black-hooded person as there were two of them.
He’s a few steps away from the doorway when two people stand there before him. Jack stops a step before them and squints his eyes at them, they return in kind causing a stand-off to develop as they’re able to pierce through his disguise.
