After the Ferris wheel made a loop, Shea and Abel headed back to the dorm together.

She usually went home alone. Tagging along with a Hunter made her feel awkward all over.

Still, she swallowed the weird feeling and went home.

"I'm going to cook. You can wait here for now."

Shea had lived alone for years, so she was used to it. She’d also carried over her cooking skills from her past life, so she’d been doing okay.

After all, this world has no delivery guys. If you can’t cook, you starve.

"No need to make me a meal. I’m heading out."

Abel had escorted Shea home, then planned to leave again. Tonight he would check if his belongings were moving through the black market.

Shea didn’t try to keep him. She waved goodbye, not even meeting his eyes. She looked very cold.

After Abel left, she muttered, a little puzzled.

"What’s he doing out this late? Wait... he’s not going to a brothel, right?"

She thought of a very bad possibility. She quickly calmed down and said,

"Whatever. Even if he goes off the grid, it’s none of my business."

She said that, but she still felt a little disappointed.

Besides, are the women out there that pretty?

Wouldn’t it be better to give that money to me instead?

She was just feeling sore about the money, that’s all.

As for Abel, he definitely wasn’t out carousing.

As a well-bred noble, he had no interest in preening women. Gray had invited him out to have fun many times. He refused every time.

Many men demand women be chaste, while forgetting to demand the same of themselves.

Abel didn’t consider himself one of those.

Once he got the Lost Empire royal crystal back from that damn cat, he would find someone to bring home and give his father an answer.

Then his family would stop assuming he was into men.

"I just hope that damn cat hasn’t sold the crystal."

Abel walked into the Slums under the night sky. The silence was eerie. Only rats scurried, and his footsteps echoed.

There were almost no magic lamps in the Slums, so it was pitch-black. An ordinary person couldn’t see their own hand. Abel was a Hunter, so it didn’t matter.

Following the route Gray described, he found the black market below the Slums. It was a room in the sewers, the darkest place in the city.

He stepped inside. The big room was lit only by dim candles. A gaunt black-market dealer sat behind the counter and didn’t greet him.

A few Tide Cultists were here, buying some unknown powder. When they saw Abel, their scale-patched eyes turned wary.

Abel’s guard went up too.

But the black market had a rule. Whoever came here had to lay down their weapons. No fighting inside.

"Heh... if you’ve got a problem, settle it outside. Don’t stain my floor."

The dealer’s hoarse voice made both sides back down. The Tidal Cult people didn’t want to linger. They finished buying and left in a hurry.

"I’ve got a question. Got anything from the Lost Empire?"

"Plenty. What exactly do you want?"

He pointed with fingers like dry twigs toward a shelf beyond the candlelight.

"Over there."

"So many."

Abel frowned a little. He expected some Lost Empire items to end up here, but not this many. Judging by that shelf, many had already gathered dust.

"No one dares buy that stuff. Nobody wants to die."

The dealer let out a strange laugh. His voice scraped like glass. "Besides, most Lost Empire artifacts, no one knows how to use. You and I included."

Abel ignored the sneering laugh. He searched the shelf for a while. None of his own things were there.

"Anything from the Lost Empire sold in recently? Artifacts, weapons?"

"Yeah."

The dealer placed a strange-looking disk on the counter.

"Lately, this is the only one left."

It was one of the items Shea had fenced. The dealer had studied it for a long time and still didn’t get it, so it hadn’t sold. The rest, mostly swords and the like, had moved. At least people knew how to use those.

"How much?"

The disk gave Abel a flicker of surprise, but he kept his face blank. He wouldn’t let a sly dealer take him for an easy mark.

"One thousand gold."

"For something no one understands? If it’s a thousand, forget it."

He put on regret and theatrically went back to the dusty shelf to rummage. He looked a lot like Shea when she haggled.

The dealer said nothing. He just watched Abel pick.

In the dusty shelves, Abel found a pretty good item. A bracelet-shaped thing. It looked like a trinket, but it wasn’t that simple.

He held up the bracelet. "And this?"

"One thousand."

"You really gouge here. Nobody wants either of these, yet you want a thousand each." Abel clicked his tongue, then bargained. "How about this. I’ll take both for fifteen hundred. You won’t lose. Better than letting them sit here collecting dust, right?"

"..." The dealer hesitated.

He had bought that disk from Shea for five hundred, not knowing its origin. Leaving it here was losing money.

The bracelet was even more baffling. It had sat here for over two years. Selling now was best. He’d recoup and even profit a bit. He knew that, so he nodded.

"Fifteen hundred. Cash for goods."

"Deal."

Abel kept a straight face as he set the coins down and took both items. He’d made a profit.

One of them had been his, but that bracelet wasn’t simple.

Leaving the market and stepping into the Slums, Abel activated the compass.

Most items and machines in this world run on mana. Lost Empire tech isn’t that simple. Most of it is soul-powered.

Like this soul-tracking compass.

It’s a single-use tool. Once activated, it points to the person you want.

Of course, there’s a condition. You need something from the target.

He happened to have a band-aid left by the Phantom Thief Lico.

"Get ready for a spanking, Phantom Thief Lico."

Abel set the band-aid on the compass and waited for it to respond.

"Searching for target... beep! The user you’re looking for is out of service."