The Legendary Arcane Master

5. Lost.

Dragx cringed as he looked at the wares of a vendor in Crestell's marketplace. Several small strange looking critters were being roasted on sticks, outside a large beast skin tent. The critters had double forked tails and didn't seem to have much meat on them.

The vendor was a hairy, sweaty, pot-bellied man who kept rotating the sticks over the grill. His sweat rolled from his face down his crusty beard and dripped onto the meat, producing sizzling sounds, but he didn't seem to care as he still kept on roasting them.

Upon closer inspection, the critters were actually flutter tailed bush Rodents. The man had obviously skinned the rats and removed the hair. However the large yellow, buck teeth and the long, forked tails gave their identities away.

Dragx turned his face away in revulsion and even Tillen seemed a bit grossed out by the situation.

"Who in the name of the forge is that guy!" Dragx gaged as they turned away and continued on their way as they tried to forget the nasty sight.

"Hey Dragx, at least he doesn't have to put any salt on the meat hehe!" Tillen elbowed Dragx as he tried to lighten the mood.

Dragx grimaced at the joke as he tried to smile. Unfortunately his expression looked like an ugly cross between a fake grin and a frown.

As the two shuffled their way through the clustered cage that was the marketplace, Dragx's eyes scanned the strange looking goods displayed a stalls.

Crestell was akin to a capital of sorts to the small mountain villages. A nexus point, where they could barter, buy, sell and steal goods. Precious materials such as salt, tempered iron and medicine could only be found here.

Of course most of these goods were imported from larger, more prosperous cities beyond the countryside region and were now being resold at startling prices, sometimes putting the poor countryside villagers in desperate situations by swindling them!

Why don't they just travel to these other cities themselves you ask? Well mostly because they don't dare to! They would rather die of Hyponatremia than become the food of the terrifying monsters they'll certainly encounter on the way.

Dragx had grown up hearing of demonic beasts that possess insurmountable physiques and abilities, slaughtering entire villages and even cites! Only small, well protected caravans or a veteran mercenary groups dare to traverse wicked forest that separates cities.

Thus, the marketplace was polluted by the shouts of furiously haggling villagers. The booths of the vendors displayed strange alien-looking plants and caged animals, further cementing the fact that this truly was another world.

The deeper they went, the noisier it became. The crowds became denser as well. Just as Dragx and Tillen were walking they saw large group of people surrounding a platform.

"Rare Magical creature for sale! Don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to command a powerful forest demon!" A loud voice boomed, exciting Dragx.

'A live Magical creature!'

The duo looked at each other before rushing over to the crowd. Unfortunately both of them were too short see the platform as the adults towered over them. The gathering was so thick that they couldn't even look around them.

'Sh*t!' They both thought as encountered the large obstruction.

"Come on Dragx! Let's force our way through!" Tillen grunted as he used his burly body to squeeze himself into the crowd.

Dragx stood with a blank look on his face. Tillen had a burly and robust physique that he inherited from his father. However as a skinny nine year old, Dragx would only be squeezed like a lemon if he attempted to fight his way through.