Markets and Multiverses (A Serial Transmigration LitRPG)

Chapter 203: The Old Market

With Old Mo on board with helping us set up Anise’s ‘ability potion,’ the four of us went to bed for the night. Anise quietly crawled back into the tent with her parents, Sallia did the same, and I quietly tended to my mother, who, according to Old Mo, had stirred a few times during the night, but hadn’t erupted into a full on withdrawal seizure - although it seemed like she might, if a few more hours passed. After returning to the tent I shared with my mother and Felix, I immediately dumped a bunch of healing magic into her.

After that, I laid down and got ready to sleep for night, but a few thoughts started to intrude into my mind as I prepared to go to sleep. I couldn’t help but wonder if Old Mo knew we were hiding things, or if he knew anything about the rest of the Multiverse.

I wouldn’t have considered it before we had entered the ruins, but now that we had seen someone else from the Market on this world. If one person from the Market had set up an ‘inheritance’ on a planet we had visited, perhaps other people from the Market had done the same? I found myself wondering if people from less dimensionally aware worlds might still be aware of the Market. And if they were aware of the Market, I wondered how hard it would be for them to put two and two together if they observed us for long enough. Old Mo certainly knew that something was weird about us, and he had also spent nearly two years acting almost like a parent for me. If anyone was in a position to put everything together, it was him.

Of course, there was also a good chance that Old Mo didn’t know anything about the greater Multiverse at all. I had no idea what the governments of this world knew about other dimensions, and I only had my speculation and imagination to go off of. It was food for thought, though.

Eventually, after thinking about the Market and Old Mo for nearly an hour, I gave up on getting to sleep. I just couldn’t turn my brain off and go to sleep for the night.

I asked through the communication bracelets.

said Sallia, after a few moments.

said Felix, wriggling slightly on the other side of the tent to let me know he was awake.

I asked, after a few moments.

said Felix.

I hesitated, and then sighed, and nodded. It didn’t sound like Sallia or Felix could put my worries to rest. I hesitated for a moment, before I changed the topic a bit.

I asked the two. I hadn’t been able to tune into the conversation as much as I might have liked, since I had been so focused on Anise. I had still heard a few snatches of conversation between them, though, and was more than a little eager to know what Felix and Sallia had managed to figure out. Even if it was in a fragmented form, this was the first time we had actually been able to talk with a real member of the Market, since the Market itself was in ruins.

I was more than a little excited to know what information the two had managed to dig out.

said Sallia. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I could almost hear her frowning.

I frowned.

I asked.

asked Sallia.

I asked.

said Sallia.

I did my best to keep putting it out of my mind, as Old Mo slowly coached ‘Felix’ through how to create an illusion of a Coalition army scout. The coalition army was composed of several different nations working together, so Old Mo opted to coach ‘Felix’ on setting up an Ennalian scout camp, since they were the backbone of the coalition army. Old Mo seemed to know every detail of what their uniforms and campsites should look like, from what kind of tent they used to what an Ennalian Scout’s campfire looked like. 

Of course, Felix didn’t actually do much of anything during Old Mo’s coaching. Instead, I quietly warped nearby rocks, plants, and patches of snow by plastering illusions on top of them, all to create the illusion of a ruined Ennalian scout camp.

Once I was done dressing up the campsite, we stuck an ‘ability potion’ into the pockets of teh ‘corpse’ - as well as Anise’s orb, and a few books from the ruin. Old Mo’s background as an assassin lent a lot of his words some level of credence, especially when it came to more valuable objects such as ability potions. So the plan was for Old Mo to verify it was a real ability potion, before giving it to Anise.

Of course, the ‘ability potion’ was actually just colored water, but after drinking it, Anise would be able to openly use her magic missiles, and we would also have an excuse for Anise to openly carry her orb and magic books around.

With the orb and books added to the campsite as well, it would look like the scout had been trying to get Zelyrian artifacts and send them back to the coalition, and had frozen to death before returning home. At least, that was the hope.

With everything set up, we returned to camp, and prepared for our big discovery the next day - as well as the chance to finally get Anise the ability to use her potions out in the open.