Blood Nemesis-Chapter 123: Gaze

Once it was done, the map was handed over to Oliver. He immediately paid and looked at it in detail.

The map showed hundreds of scattered islands, small and large, with weird names like Fish Head Island, Fin Island, Yellow Frog Island, Goldy Island, etc.

Oliver glanced over it quickly, making sure it was the same one he knew of. After he was sure, he moved his eyes to the large island at the center.

It was named Temple Island.

It was the island they were standing on—the one with ancient temple ruins and the permanent gate.

Nearby, he could see many small island clusters and marshy areas, marked with mangrove images.

’It’s a good map.’ Oliver silently nodded.

Then his eyes glanced at the red circles marked on the map, showing places where dangerous mana beasts usually appear. According to the rank of the mana beast, the danger level is marked with the specific letter inside the circle.

’Has common dangerous areas marked. That would be a great help. Most large mana beasts like to remain in their own area. They will not travel and intrude on other beasts’ territory.’

’Common fishing areas are also marked with green circles. This is great.’

Although the man only showed a small portion of the explored area, Oliver was very satisfied with it. He folded it and placed it neatly into his jacket pocket.

"Can we get three more?" He asked the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper nodded again and went back inside to print more. He seemed to have some kind of aversion to talking. So he quickly printed it out and returned, giving the maps to Oliver without saying anything.

Oliver accepted them, folded one given to Root before keeping the rest in his tracksuit jacket. Then he moved on to the auction area.

As they walked, they saw fish-type mana beasts the size of a fist to the size of a truck being carried into the action stands.

A large crowd could be seen clamouring around it, raising their hands, bidding for the fish. Oliver avoided them and went to the market that was selling the fish at a fixed rate.

The fish in this market were the smaller kind, which were abundant in the lake and thus considered less valuable.

"Root, do you see anything interesting?" He asked.

"Is this the supplies?" He asked back.

"Not really, I was just looking around to see if there was something useful. You never know what kind of fish you will find here."

As he was speaking, he noticed a stall selling a large eel the size of a human thigh. He quickly moved to it and crouched beside it.

The stall was small. The giant eel displayed on the counter took almost all of the area they could use.

Oliver crouched near it and smelled it. Along with the fishy smell, the odour of blood wafted into his nose.

"Huh, Customer, would you like to buy it?" The shopkeeper was a young woman in her twenties. She noticed Oliver’s interest in the eel and added, "This is a rock eel found on rocky islands north of here. It is difficult to catch and is considered a rare delicacy."

Meanwhile, Oliver glanced over the Rock Eel and breathed in the scent of its blood.

He scrunched his nose.

"It had been dead for more than a day." He said.

Though the eel was surrounded by ice, it couldn’t prevent him from accurately estimating its time of death.

The young shopkeeper’s face darkened. She awkwardly smiled when Oliver glanced at her.

"It would not be worth that much," Oliver added, nailing down the shifty lady shopkeeper and her thoughts of overcharging.

"Still, it’s a rock eel. It is considered a panacea for men who have..." She paused, then shyly said, "...Ahm...that problem."

Oliver smirked when he saw the young woman blushing slightly. The woman seemed less experienced at her job.

Then, Oliver shifted to Root, glanced back at the young shopkeeper, and said,

"My friend over there, though young, has some problems. I would like to buy the eel, but only if you would give me a fair price."

The young woman smiled brightly, her cheeks flushed. Then she gave a brief look at Root, who was nearby, and said with pity:

"Of course, our stall is known for giving a fair price. Let me weigh the eel for you."

She promptly pulled the eel, twisted its long body into a bundle, and placed it on a weighing platform while giving Root a knowing smile.

Root sighed in dismay and gently kicked Oliver.

Oliver ignored it and gave the woman a gentle smile.

"53.5 kg. Let’s round it to 53 kg. The heaviest Rock Eels grow to more than 1000 kg. But those are the best ones. These days, the ones we catch are between the weight of 20 and 100 kilograms. We usually charge 5 creds per kilogram, so that would be 265 creds. Considering everything else, I can give you a discount of 20 percent. That would be a total of..." The woman said and quickly punched in the numbers on a calculator.

"...that would be 212 creds in total. Would you like to pay with a card or by scanning the QR code?" She asked with a pleasant smile.

"Let me scan it," Oliver replied.

The woman was honest this time. She charged the right amount. So he took out his phone, scanned the QR code of the stall through his virtual wallet app, and paid.

*Ding*

A message popped up on the woman’s phone, signalling that the payment had been processed.

While he was paying, Oliver sensed someone looking at him. He kept his face calm and slowly turned around, naturally.

The gaze was weak and almost impossible to pinpoint. Oliver didn’t know for sure if he sensed it or if it was his imagination.

"Here you go." The woman packed the eel into a thick plastic bag and handed it to Oliver.

Oliver grasped the large bag.

However, the gaze he felt disappeared immediately.

’What was that?’ Oliver asked in his mind and handed over the plastic bag to Root.