-"Cars, cars good, cars cheap, come come, cars good."

I followed the merchant, all the time maintaining an iron grip on Rin's hand.

She tried to pry her hand loose.
-"You are going to break my hand. I'm not a child."

I spoke to her in Japanese, to make sure our merchant wouldn't pry.
-"Under no circumstance leave my side. They smile a lot but would sell you to a flesh trader in a heartbeat."

She finally managed to break my hold and crossed her arms.
-"I appreciate your worry for my wellbeing, but I am a very capable Magus."
After eating and drinking at a cafe, her spunk was back with a vengeance.

The merchant led us to a lot full of rustbuckets. I started to worry about my tetanus shots from only looking at them.
-"Lada, show me."
My language skills weren't my sharpest tool.

Yasir's smile brightened.
-"Lada, this lada, good lada, good car."
He patted the roof of a car that probably saw action on WW1 and the front fencer came loose.
Both of us looked at the fencer but he recovered first.
"Cheap car, only 5 million."

I blinked. I mean, even haggling and knowing that used card salesmen infamy, but I wasn't ready for him asking the price of a new car in working condition.
-"100.000 pounds."

He knelt on the sand and pressed both hands on his hearth.
-"You kill meeeee...Children many children...4 million."

Rin got bored of our haggling and started to wander over the place. I spoke to her in Japanese again.
-"Don't get out of my sight. This can get ugly really fast."

Her lip curled in disgust and she marched towards me. She put her face directly in front of me and forcefully grabbed my marked hand.
-"Even an apprentice knows that these pacts can be used as guides. I will take my leave of you, betrothed. Let this the last time you even think of treating me like a babe."
She turned around and stormed out.

Yasir patted me on the shoulder.
-"Wife?"

I hung my head and nodded.
Better for Rin if they think us wed.
-"Horse, camel?"

-"Great horses, good horses, best horses, come come."

Well...turns out he wasn't lying this time. Among the lot, there were some magnificent beasts. One of them had a pearly coat, eyes full of intelligence. We haggled as tradition demanded and Yasir even gave me the saddlebags for free.
With our new means of transportation, I started to look around for Rin. A bit of dread started creeping into the pit of my stomach.
She can Gandr like the best of them...Don't be so pessimistic...
Minutes shifted into hours and my panic led me to try doing as she suggested. But for the life of me...I couldn't use the damned thing! Being a melee specialist sucked 99% of the time.
Fuck this, muggle style it is!
I tied up the horse to a post and started scaling houses, running across roofs. Reinforcing my senses, my ears picked up the traffic below, a drill a couple of blocks away...

A cry and the sound of flesh meeting flesh. Sobs.

I pumped my legs with Reinforcement, strengthened my muscles and bones, and using Baz's special technique, improved my lungs. An Olympic athlete would cry foul but I didn't care, leaping across roofs towards a five stories building.
More sobs... ..Oh.
I angled my jumps and dug my hands in the railing of the third floor. Vaulting over the window, rolled inside, the comforting weight of Tizona on my palm.

-"Be quiet! Don't make me hit you again."

Poor choice of words, my friend.
I kicked the door open and my eyes found several armed gentlemen. Against the far end of the wall, there was a jail with rusted iron bars.

The closest one to me spat on the floor.
-"Who are you?!"

My response was Steel. Steel this and Steel that. They didn't get to shoot once, sliced to ribbons with their hands reaching for their guns. After I dispatched them, I approached the shivering forms in the jail. The thick iron bars wouldn't buckle with kicks alone, but they weren't a match for a legendary blade the likes of which haven't been seen for centuries.
-"Are you okay?"
My eyes roamed over the captives, none of them in dire risk, yet blue from beatings. Their clothes were far too revealing for comfort and on each of them, I saw my mum's face.
Tizona roared with just rage and that fury leaked into my soul.

The eldest among them, who couldn't be older than 12 years old, uncovered her face. There wasn't a speckle of joy on her eyes, but abject terror.
-"Pleaaaase, don't kill...we goood...pleaase..."

My ears captured raucous applause from the floor above and I kept moving.

Two guards armed with tactical gear were outside the stairs, packing submachineguns and heavy armor.
-"The auction already commenced, no one is allowed."

Steel left and Steel right, their bulletproof armor doing jack shit against Tizona's wrath. I leaped over the stairs, shouldering my way across the door.

In the middle of the vast floor, there was a steel cage with had several shapes. Human, non-human. Red, white, blue, and in between, the flesh was in display for all the public to bid.
-"I hear 60 million for the Sphinx, 60 million for the Sphinx, 65! 65 million for the Sphinx!"

I froze.
From mom's tales, I knew places like this existed. Where rare flesh was auctioned, magi, hybrids, and the occasional spirit. But to see with my very eyes, it broke something in me.

The man with the microphone on the stage swirled around, his diamond-covered fingers twirling the microphone. He affected a congenial smile and pointed to me. All the prospective clients turned their heads at once.
-"Oh, a late arrival. Want to bid higher than 65 million? This Sphinx is fresh, certified unspoiled!"

Sometimes, being a melee specialist is worth it.