In Game: Survive or Be Killed

12: TOWN'S BLACK MARKET

Ashtria was waiting for Sanya to answer when suddenly Lucas get out of the bathroom dressed which made the two look at him. "What?" he ask and Sanya just looks away while Ashtria was now fixing herself up and take the towel from Lucas and quickly goes to the bathroom. 

'It is already wet,' Ashtria thought to herself while looking at the towel in her hands. 

Sanya, on the other hand, just shrugged her shoulders when her brother was looking at her. Lucas shook his head and ask to take a leave of the room to breathe fresh air. 

Moments later, Ashtria finally finished taking a bath. She looks at Sanya who was busy brushing her long hair, she looks around and didn't see Lucas. She hang the towel on the chair so it would dry and quickly goes to Sanya. "Where's your brother?" she asks. 

"He said he will take a leave to breathe some fresh air. I'm getting bored here, the two of us are supposed to be hanging outside. What is he trying to do?" Sanya responded still brushing her hair while keep on staring at the wall in boredom. She then let out a heavy sigh and stops from brushing to take a look at Ashtria.

"When do you want to play a game, miss?" Sanya asks again. Ashtria sat on her bed and closes her eyes before responding to Sanya's question. 

"Tomorrow or tonight, I guess?" Ashtria responded while closing her eyes. Sanya was shocked after what Ashtria has said. 

"Tonight? That's too much, miss. Are you not even tired even a little bit? You need to rest even just for a day," Sanya said while looking at Ashtria but then she notice that she's already fallen asleep. "She didn't even tell me first, we're still talking yet..." Sanya didn't continue what she wanted to say and just let out a heavy sigh. 

. 

The day has passed and it was already afternoon, Ashtria felt something so hot so she slowly opens her eyes and gets up from the bed. She felt her sweat dripping down, she doesn't know what happened but she just takes a look around and saw a fan that was steadily focused on her. Sanya wasn't even in the room which made her worry. She looks at her sword who's still in the same place where she left it. 

She was about to get up when Sanya suddenly showed up from the door and looks at Ashtria wiping her sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief she bought a while ago at the market. "Miss! You're already awake," Sanya exclaimed with a bright smile on her face again. 

"What hour is it?" Ashtria asks while still wiping the sweat from her body. "It's hot," she murmured. 

"It's already two in the afternoon, miss. At this time, I heard the town was always hot at this hour I don't know why. Maybe because of climate change, I heard this town is near to the famous city," she answered and sits beside Ashtria. 

"Where's your brother?" Ashtria once ask again and tied her hair properly but Sanya immediately take her hair tie which made her surprise. She helps Ashtria to tie her hair which made her blush a bit. 'This is embarrassing,' she thought to herself. 

"Brother was still a town. He went back a while ago but then he saw you still sleeping he just decided to take a look at the town again alone to take some information about the upcoming game at the Underground Battle," Sanya answered and smiled after she tied Ashtria's hair. 

"Thanks," Ashtria said softly. They both look at the door when someone suddenly opened the door, it was Lucas. 

"You're awake. The Game will start at 6 in the evening, you should eat a lot first before we go to the Underground Battle," he said and take his sword. Sanya gets up from sitting and takes the bag. "Let's go," Lucas added. 

Ashtria stands up, puts on the sword belt, and takes her swords. She also took the gun and the dagger and placed them in her dagger belt on her waist on the left side, and the gun on the right side. "Why do you always carry that gun without a bullet?" Lucas asked, causing her head to move and her gaze to shift to him.

She places the cloak in her body first and speaks. "It is very important to me," she responded and walk first to get out of the room. Sanya just shrugged her shoulders a bit when Lucas looks at her and follow Ashtria. "Miss! wait for me," she exclaimed. 

They found a nice and cozy small restaurant nearby. Sanya took their orders, and after a few minutes, one of the waitresses placed their orders at their table, and they began to eat.

"I heard the game at the Underground Battle near the town is not that hard to do. We can win it with just the two of us," Lucas abruptly speak which made Ashtria's eyes drawn to him. 

"What? I want to go as well!" Sanya exclaimed and pouted looking at her brother. Lucas just glared at her sister which made her look away. "It's unfair!" she murmured and just continue to eat her food.

"That's good then. We just need to play a game to get money and let's get out of here immediately," Ashtria said and spoon food and eat. Lucas nodded while Sanya still pouting eating her food. 

They decided to leave immediately after eating and were now at the town's black market. Ashtria noticed someone selling guns and bullets and walk closer to it to buy some bullets for her gun. Sanya wanders her eyes around and heard loud voices of people selling their items to people who pass by. The place just looks like a normal place, selling ang buying items but the truth is these people have already k*lled people countless times.  

The Kings of the Archains Countrial established rules to ensure that people do not act recklessly and to keep people under control. 

One of the rules states that people are not permitted to sell or make weapons unless they have a permit. However, only a few chosen blacksmiths were permitted to make weapons, and only a few chosen scientists and inventors were permitted to create something extraordinary. Especially since they already notice that people can make their weapons because of natural things that evolve caused by scientists. 

Long ago, the Kings held a game for scientists, but it did not go well. One of the scientists who joined the game made a mistake, causing the plants and animals to evolve and become monsters. That happened years ago, and as a result, people's lives became more difficult and dangerous.

Still, human experimentation is legal, so it has become normal for humans who believed they will gain benefits from it, to make them stronger. Little did they know, that 80% of humans who volunteered for human experimentation died without announcing it to the public. 

Poisons, potions, lethal weapons, bombs, and other such items can be found in black markets. They were selling these in a hidden location where only a few people were aware of it. Lucas was able to locate this location after learning about it by chance when he overheard people discussing it. He brought them here to prepare for their battle tonight.

While Ashtria was putting the bullets she had purchased from the person, she noticed someone she recognized. She noticed a woman dressed in black with black hats and two people in her back holding swords around their waists. She walks slowly toward the woman, which drew Lucas and Sanya's attention to her and followed her when she immediately walks away. Ashtria ran after the woman, but Lucas and Sanya were unable to catch up because people were blocking their path.

Ashtria hides at the wall when the woman stops walking and enters the wooden house. She was talking to a guy and they held each other's hands. When the woman take off her hat Ashtria was surprised after seeing the woman's face. 

"Aunt Miranda?" Ashtria murmured still her eyes widen staring at the woman. She immediately hides again when one of the woman's bodyguards looks at where she was hiding. Her heart was pounding very fast and touches her chest. 

Miranda is her mother's friend and the person who always visits her mom in the past with gifts. What made her surprised is that why's the woman in the Xenthral Kingdom? And that, she saw her mother's favorite necklace on her neck. Is Miranda knows her mother's whereabouts?