After leaving the club, Shade returned to the Blind House and asked Ms. Michelle about the location of the local black market. Then, holding the travel map of Midhill Castle, he wandered around the city and headed towards the black market.
It was conceivable that before truly rescuing Father Augustus, Shade would need to go through many adventures in this city. Therefore, he wanted to get familiar with the place as soon as possible, or at least know which roads would be convenient for him to escape.
Unlike Tobesk and Coldwater Port, which Shade was more familiar with, Midhill Castle, as an inland city on the old continent near the mountains, was more modern and industrialized. It did not have the long history and political role of the capital, nor was it constrained by ocean trade like Coldwater Port, so the city's development tended to be more dock-oriented.
After the advent of steam industry, Midhill Castle was able to develop industrialization wholeheartedly. Relying on its important transportation position and the rich mineral resources on the northern foothills of Mount Sikar, the urban area of this mountain city has become larger and larger in recent years, and its economy has become better and better. However, correspondingly, although it is close to the mountains, the degree of air pollution is only slightly better than that of Tobysk.
The history of the tall yellow-walled buildings facing the street is mostly no more than a hundred years old, and the further north you go, the more you can see that the municipal infrastructure is getting newer. This is particularly evident in the uniform steam and gas meters at the street corners, and the metal pipes climbing on the walls are mostly not rusted.
After all, the city of Midhillburg does not have the conditions to expand to the south towards the Rommel Mountains. Therefore, although the steam factory and the traditional city center are both in the south city, the living conditions in the north city are actually better.
Black smoke spewed into the sky, making the noisy city look gray, but this was also the norm in this era. As one of the most important transportation hubs in the central and eastern parts of the Old World, this city not only had various languages spoken on the streets, but also had many resident and passing ring sorcerers, which gave birth to a huge underground black market.
Similar to the situation in Coldwater Port, among the black markets, big and small, there are always some that have a good reputation because of their good credibility. The one that Ms. Michelle introduced to Xia De is one of them.
The black market that Shad remembered was usually a tavern or hotel, which was used to cover up the strange phenomenon of strangers coming in and out frequently. However, the one that Ms. Michelle introduced to Shad was inside the Midhill Castle train station.
Following the map, Shade turned at the intersection of Hankwood Street. At this time, he could already hear the train whistle coming from inside the station. The capacity of the Midhill Fort Steam Train Station was extremely large. Trains coming and going went south through the Rommel Mountains into the Carsenrick United Kingdom on the southern plains of the Old World, and north through the interior of the Delarion Kingdom in the north of the Old World.
When the stranger appeared at the station entrance with his head down and a newspaper in his hand, no one paid any attention to him.
"It's even bigger than Tobysk Railway Station..."
Xia De sighed softly, then entered the station with the passengers around him who were carrying suitcases or backpacks.
Midhill Castle Railway Station is located in the southeast of the city and is responsible for both freight and passenger transportation. The interior of the station is extremely noisy and crowded, the buzzing sound is particularly annoying, and there is a strong choking smell of burning coal in the air.
Amid the noise, Xia De first found the ticket office and, according to the information provided by Ms. Michelle, bought a second-class ticket for the steam train No. B823.
After waiting for twenty minutes, Xia De, who was reading the news about the Big City Players Championship in a newspaper, got on the train at the station entrance.
His ticket indicated carriage No. 2, but when the train started moving, Shad walked towards the front of the train. The first three carriages of the train were for freight, and the last were for passengers. There was a metal fence door and a wooden door between the freight and passenger carriages to prevent passengers from wandering around.
Xia De held the ticket, newspaper and map between his fingers, and knocked on the wooden door through the gap in the iron fence. Three short and one long, then three long and one short.
Then the wooden door opened a crack:
"Who introduced you?"
the voice behind the door asked.
This train is a short-distance train, running between Midhill Castle and the rural town in one hour. Only trusted ring sorcerers and organizations in the city can obtain information, so the introducer must be mentioned:
"The nun from the Blind House also asked me to tell you not to forget to deliver the goods you ordered last time."
"I won't forget it."
The voice behind the door answered, holding out a mask.
After Xia De put on the mask, a key was handed out from behind the door. Xia De used the key to open the gate, and pushed the gate to one side with a harsh metal friction sound. After returning the key to the gatekeeper, he officially entered the black market at the station.
The first three carriages are all black market areas of the station. Carriage 1, which is closest to the front of the train, is where large transactions take place and requires permission to enter. Carriages 2 and 3 are arranged like a pub, with a bartender in each carriage who is responsible for maintaining order and updating the transaction details on the small blackboards hanging on both sides of the carriages.
Of course, if you don’t want to make the transaction public, you can spend a large sum of money to have the bartender keep the transaction information privately and wait for the right trading partner to appear.
Xia De walked around the carriages and didn't see anyone selling coins or other relics. He wasn't interested in other information either. So he first found the bartender in carriage number three and explained his long-term reward for coins. Then he asked him if there were any other unusual events in the area in the past half month since the beginning of autumn.
The bald bartender charged Shad 3 shillings for the information, and then said:
"Does the Orthodox Church count as an anomaly? They seem to be planning some major action in the fall or winter, and they have been preparing since last year. If you are a foreign ring sorcerer, don't provoke the church in your local area recently, otherwise you will definitely be in trouble."
"I've also heard about the church's anomalies in the local area. What exactly do they want to do?"
But the bartender just shook his head:
"In addition to the anomalies in the church, there has been a sudden increase in strange disappearances in the local area since the end of summer this year. We don't know the reason, and we can't investigate it at all. It's like an urban legend in the tabloids."
“Has this kind of thing happened in this area before?”
The bartender glanced at Shade:
"Yes, but the frequency is very low and it doesn't attract much attention. This kind of thing mostly happens to ordinary people. I have never heard of it happening to a ring wizard."
It seems that Father Augustus is unlucky this time.
"Also, do you have any commissions to sell special coins? There's none on the blackboard over there."
"Indeed."
The bartender nodded, and Shade smiled behind the mask. Sure enough, in a city he had never been to, the possibility of finding special coins was greater:
"Where is the trader..."
He suddenly remembered that when he bought the coins at the Seven Broomsticks Tavern in Coldwater Harbor, it was the first time he met Darkness. The two even played a game of Rhodes. Therefore, Shade suddenly became nervous:
"Wait, the trader isn't right here, is he?"
"Yes, I am the trader."
The bartender pointed lazily at himself:
"In addition to being brokers, we also purchase some less dangerous relics and sell them. I only have this one. If you want to buy it, you can trade it now."
As the train swayed, he pulled out a stack of documents from under the counter, rummaged through it for a long time before pulling out a piece and handing it to Xia De.
After thanking him, Xia De found a round table by the window and sat down with the paper, carefully reading the introduction of the new relic:
Poet-level relic - an upright coin, which looks like a copper coin slightly larger than a shilling coin. One side has a pattern of purple flowers, which is considered the reverse side; the other side has the letter "一" written in a text that is suspected to be from the Quaternary era, which is considered the obverse side.
Features: No matter what the circumstances, if this coin is thrown, it will always remain vertical when it lands. If the concept of "down" does not exist in the space, the coin will flip infinitely. The holder of the coin, when tossing other coins, will greatly increase the probability that the coin will remain vertical when it lands.
"What is this feature?"
Behind the mask, Xia De thought suspiciously, and then noticed that two strangers sat down across the table and talked in a low voice.
The method of storage is to place the coin upright on a plane with an angle of no more than 12 degrees to the ground. Slight vibration will not cause the coin to fall over.
Negative characteristics: if one side of the coin is pressed on a plane with an angle of no more than 12 degrees to the ground, or if the above problems are caused by strong vibration, then - when the front side is facing up, the coin needs to be passed on through a transaction within 24 hours. The trader who obtains the coin will definitely fall from a height and die within 8 hours of touching the coin; if the transaction is not completed, the holder of the coin will be forced to vomit out one-third of his internal organs after 24 hours.
If the coin lands on the back, the owner must consume at least 10 pounds of dried azalea petals (about 4.53 kg) within 4 hours, and then pass the coin to someone else through a trade. If any of the conditions are not met, the coin holder will disappear into a field of azalea flowers within 24 hours.
"This is probably the weakest relic I've ever encountered."
Xia De flipped through the documents in his hand, then looked at the final price:
"15 pounds 3s?"
Although it was a bit higher than he expected, it was just below the highest price he could psychologically bear:
"It should be fine."
He stood up and went back to the counter, telling the bartender that he wanted to buy the coin. The bartender had to go to the front carriage to pick up the goods, so he asked Xia De to find a place to rest first.
Someone happened to be talking about the "Big City Players 1853" in Tobesk, so Shade joined in. Afterwards, after getting the coin, he even played two rounds of Rhodes cards with the stranger to pass the time before the train returned to Midhill Castle.
Although everyone didn't know each other, playing cards was still fun, and Shad could learn more about the city from the conversation.
By the time Shad passed through the dense forest of Sicar Mountain and returned to No. 6 St. Teresa's Square through the abandoned tower, it was already dark outside. Dorothy and Luvia were still there, the former writing in the study and the latter debugging her stargazing equipment on the third floor.