Three days after his passage through Eaglewind, Vicente entered another city in the Chutha Dynasty.

Following the instructions in the letter he had received earlier in Eaglewind, he went to the group of investigators he had hired to follow Casey's father's trail.

This was the last point the investigators had reached, and they were waiting for him or new investigators on site to continue or complete their mission.

So, Layla and Vicente soon found themselves face to face with the Mazzanti men.

...

In a tavern in a small city in the central area of the Chutha dynasty, Vicente and Layla sat side by side, facing three men, Low-level Mages.

The place they were in was dark, lit by a few windows and lamps. The smell of food was mixed with the smell of smoke, alcohol, and other scents common to similar places.

There weren't many people around at the moment, but there were enough for the sound of several mixed voices to cover the area.

Amid it, groups like Vicente's could converse without fear of being overheard by onlookers.

"So?" He asked as he looked at the three people in front of him.

"Don, we've reached a point in our journey where we can't continue investigating, or we'll get into trouble." Said the man in charge of this group.

"What happened?" Vicente asked.

A bald man answered. "Several things. First, Casey probably advanced in level and became a Mid-level Mage. His father is a High-level Mage, so it was already becoming increasingly difficult for us to follow them. With Casey's advancement, the two have increased their movement speed."

"That's... That's strange." Layla said. "As you put it, it sounds like his father intentionally increased his speed after Casey advanced."

"That sounds like what happened." A blond man said. "We get the impression that Casey's father knows his son is chasing him. But we're not sure if our groupmate is aware of it..."

A brown-haired man, the leader of the group, continued. "Anyway, Casey's father stayed in this city for a few days. That gave us time to wait for you but also to try to find out what he was doing or where he was going.

But we weren't that successful in understanding this person's situation. I don't know. His movements are pretty strange, Don." The man looked at Vicente strangely. "He did some local shopping but spent a lot of time on the black market.

He'd often just look at the products and not buy anything. If there was a big deal, it was very discreet, and we couldn't see it."

"What about Casey?"

"We first saw him a week ago when his father was leaving the city. We tried to contact him, but it didn't work. We were 'accidentally' blocked by a group of drunken troublemakers who made us miss our only chance."

"Accidentally?" Layla narrowed her eyes as she looked at Vicente.

Vicente asked. "You think someone got in your way on purpose."

"Yes, his father probably knows about us too." The brown-haired man said before adding. "That makes us think he's plotting against Casey."

The bald man added. "It seems to me that Casey hasn't found any trace of his father as we thought. He may have been guided by this man all along."

"Why?" Layla asked. "Casey hates his father. Why would such a man attract him?"

"We don't know that." The head of the investigators said with a doubtful expression. "But we believe that this man is trying to lure not only Casey but us as well. If you follow his last tracks, you'll probably end up at the same place as Casey."

"All right," Vicente said. "I want one of you to accompany me to the local black market. I want to see the places Casey's father passed through before he left the city. Maybe there's a clue to what he's planning that you haven't picked up on."

"All right."

...

Later that day, Vicente and the brown-haired, apparently middle-aged man entered an area where there was a small harbor.

The Chutha dynasty didn't have access to the sea. Still, it did have a complex river system with several rivers that could accommodate ships and connect many parts of the state.

The city Vicente was in today had a large port, although it was a small place, where many crews passed through to rest or broker cargo exchanges.

On one of the docks in the area, there was a large building with few windows, where shabby people stood around, and people of good social standing came and went.

This was the local black market!

Vicente followed in his subordinate's footsteps, leaving Layla and the others behind and coming to this place with as few people as possible.

As he entered the building, he saw a large open area, with several cells in the center of the area where humans and special magical creatures were chained, but he also saw shelves along the sides of the building.

There were small trading rooms in some parts of the building, while in others, business could be conducted in daylight.

Vicente focused on what was most prominent in front of him: the trade in living beings and black market slaves!

"So there is this possibility locally..." He muttered to his subordinate.

"Yes, the Chutha Dynasty allows the trade of living beings, so the black market in this state doesn't hide its operations like in the Seidel Kingdom."

In the Seidel Kingdom, the black market also sold living beings and slaves to anyone who wanted to buy them. But it was much more discreet.

Someone new to a city wouldn't be able to walk into such a place in the Seidel Kingdom as Vicente had just done. In his homeland, someone interested in trading humans would have to make contacts and eventually move to private places where such negotiations occurred.

Such places changed hands frequently, so it wasn't easy for someone to gain access to such black market deals.

Debt bondage and some variations of it existed in the Seidel Kingdom. However, the parallel slave trade was forbidden in the kingdom.

The Chutha dynasty was very different. There were no restrictions on the slave trade. The only major obstacle that made the black market the biggest player in the local business of selling living beings was taxes.

There were official living being shops that sold slaves in noble places without any shame. But the prices in those places were high.

Anyway, as soon as they entered this area, one of the black market officials approached Vicente and the young man's subordinate.

"Young master, what are you looking for today? We have some beautiful women with us here. We also have some special magical creatures that can do a lot of interesting things."