Daylight had already given way to the darkness of night in the city of Hadia.
But even so, the city was bustling at the moment, specifically in a particular part of the old part of the city.
There was a large building with six floors in that place, having a facade that looked a lot like the facade of a fighting arena. Several lights illuminated the high walls of that structure in different colors, giving a feeling of nobility to anyone passing by.
Aside from the different look that the Black Market in Hadia looked like, many people were around this place right now.
There were people of varied backgrounds present at the scene. At the same time, there was a significant line on one side of the building and a red carpet on the other, where well-dressed guests walked by, coming in their private carriages from time to time.
In the standard line, there were those people who came to observe and try to get one or another item of lesser value, while at the other entrance, the nobles and representatives of prominent families passed by, people who came here to make big deals.
Some unaffiliated merchants and cultivators were not here for the slave auction but for what happened after this event.
The Black Market not only sold slaves at its biweekly auction. After all, the number of slaves in the market was not significant, and it was not enough for them to organize this entire event just for that.
Of course, the slave auction was still the main point of these events, and that's why it had its name. However, once the slaves were auctioned off, there were usually some auctioned objects such as spiritual weapons, unique arrays, medicines, and other stuff stolen by pirates from noble families in the north of the Central Continent.
As for the interest of nobles in these items, in general, it was not very high, which gave the common public the chance to buy some things.
However, sometimes when important objects from great noble families appeared around here, then nobles would waste no time and take these items to their respective families.
After all, great noble families always had some items of significant value by regional standards.
With that, when a group of pirates or bandits looted the headquarters of a noble family, which was overthrown by others, there were always some items, information that arrived in places like the Black Market, where other powers struggled to get these things.
Anyway, as people gathered in front of the Black Market's building, actively talking, a carriage with a symbol of a black star, with a skin-colored circumference in the middle of this figure, stopped beside the red carpet that was there in the second entry.
Obviously, this was the carriage of the Chambers family's young meter, Kevin Chambers.
As he climbed out of his transport, Kevin had a confident look on his face. He wore a silver robe and had a black hat on his head.
Beside him was bodyguard Clive, who wore the same armor as before, with a disinterested look on his face.
There weren't many dangers in a circumstance like the one Kevin was in at the moment, but as a bodyguard, Clive had to keep an eye out at all times.
Therefore, this man did not care about the event that would happen soon, as it would make no difference to him. His job would continue to be to protect the young Kevin, regardless of the circumstances.
And it didn't take long for the two to go inside the Black Market's building, which by now was almost full.
...
Inside the building, in the part where the auction was going to occur, there was a large grandstand that occupied the first four floors of that place, leaving the last two floors where the VIP rooms of this place were.
In the bleachers of this place, there was space for around 8,000 people to sit, while 20 VIP rooms were allocated on the top two floors of that building.
On the opposite side of the bleachers and the VIP rooms, there was a stage with more than a thousand square meters of the area where the products of the auction would be displayed.
And at this point, almost all the seats in the stands were already taken. At the same time, most VIP rooms already had properly allocated nobles, eagerly waiting for the auction to start.
Anyway, in a room on the 6th floor, which had enough space for 20 people and was decorated to a very high standard, two people were there. A young woman was sitting on one of the sofas inside that VIP room, while a middle-aged man was standing on the side of the balcony of that place.
The young woman had brown hair and was wearing a green dress this time, giving a noble and refined appearance that would catch the attention of anyone who looks at her.
She then looked to the side of the balcony and thought. 'I didn't think so many people came to a place like this...'
And indeed, the Black Market was a viral organization in the north of the Central Continent, particularly in the Cromwell Kingdom.
Several features that could be very difficult to find in ordinary stores could be seen around here. The only thing someone needed was to have large amounts of crystals because the prices charged by the Black Market were really salty...
But overall, it was worth it. For example, seeds of spiritual plants that large families typically held were not impossible to find in places like this branch of the Black Market.
It was not uncommon for some smuggling to take place...
After all, most subordinates of large families were very underpaid, with humble origins, who lived with the rope around their necks.
Sometimes the people involved weren't even dishonest. Still, when a desperate situation came before these individuals, few decided to remain honest, sacrificing themselves, sometimes their loved ones.
Because of things like this, the trafficking of spiritual seeds existed, making it possible to sell these items in places like the Black Market in the city of Hadia.
Obviously, if someone wanted to buy something like that, of high value and rarity, that person would have to make a big sacrifice. However, as long as one had the crystals, buying unique items like seeds was something possible.
Because of items like these, even ordinary people, who did not want to buy slaves, nor could do such a thing, were still interested in this place where Vivian was.
Minos's own father, the late General Albert, had obtained a copy of a Black-grade cultivation technique from the Black Market in the Brown Kingdom.
Hence the origin of that cultivation technique that Minos had inherited and passed on to his soldiers in the Black Plains Army!
Finally, a few minutes passed, and it was almost time for the fortnightly auction of the Black Market in the city of Hadia to begin.
At that moment, both Vivian and Kevin were already sitting in their armchairs, on the platforms of their respective VIP rooms, awaiting the start of the auction.
The entire space inside the building they were in was already darkened, with only moderate lighting on the side of the bleachers and VIP rooms. In contrast, the lighting arrays were concentrated in one area of the stage, leaving most of that place in darkness.
The thousands of people there in the stands were actively talking, covering up the metallic sounds that could have been heard behind the stage if not for the noise of the audience's conversations...
In that place, there was a big red curtain separating the back of the stage from the front that was in direct contact with the stands.
Behind that curtain, many employees of the Black Market were now transporting several captives to that place, which had several silver cells fixed there, new and flashy, worthy of an auction like this one.
Each of them had four large metal wheels on top of a pair of rails that ran towards the opposite side of the curtain at the front of the auction stage.
The captives had been transported from where they were being stored to here a few minutes ago. And at this point, almost everyone was already subdivided into several cells, with groups of different numbers of people.
The larger groups had 30 to 50 captives inside the most significant cells there. In comparison, the smaller groups had 4 to 5 individuals who were in the smaller cells.
Each of them had handcuffs around their necks while wearing a gray jumpsuit, which didn't draw attention and was relatively neutral.
In this group of slaves, most of them had been those who Del had sold, but there were also others of different origins.
However, they all had an appearance that, while not good, was considerably better than what the captives had when they were with Del.
They didn't look dehydrated or hungry and had no apparent injuries on their bodies.
But that wasn't because the Black Market cared about their welfare, but because they were interested in selling them for the highest possible price!