The Spider Queen

(Unova Syndicate- Planet Xerciam Prime)

(Nameless Port City)

"Over here! Over here!" a loud voice yelled near Sophie's location.

Sophie turned around to see a handsomely dressed merchant wearing an outfit made from rare silks and embedded with precious jewels.

His skin was a yellowish-red colour, and his body was skinny to the point where Sophie suspected that he starved himself.

This thin physique contrasted sharply with his large bulbous head that contained two enormous eyes the size of dinnerplates.

Rows of dull teeth were found inside a small mouth that contained a fat tongue that flicked outward every few seconds.

Sophie was a little bit creeped out by his looks, but her expression did not waver as she walked over.

There were many different species scattered across the universe of all shapes and sizes, so it was unfair to judge someone purely by their outer appearance.

"What are you selling?" Sophie asked politely.

There was a sign next to the stall but Sophie was not too familiar with the written alphabet of the common language in the Unova Syndicate so she couldn't understand what was on the sign.

The merchantly seemed surprised that someone had approached his stall, so he paused for a few moments to collect his thoughts.

"Allow me to show you my dear customer," the merchant grinned and pushed a batch of goods on the countertop.

Sophie saw three vials filled with a pinkish liquid that bubbled and popped in their glass container.

Next to the vials were several strange relics that were contorted into mysterious shapes.

She could not detect if there was anything extraordinary about these goods but as her curiosity had been aroused, Sophie decided to stay a bit longer.

Sophie picked up one of the relics and examined the details more closely.

It was around the size of her fist and thin stalk-like tendrils grew along its length at regular intervals.

She didn't have to worry about touching the relic as Sophie was wearing gloves to protect her skin from having any contact with dangerous materials.

There were strange lumps and bumps at the ends of the relic whose purpose Sophie could not tell.

"Do you like that one?" the merchant's eyes lit up as he saw Sophie handling the goods.

"It was bought second-hand, so the price is only twenty dollars! Plus, the seller said that it had only been used a few times before."

"I haven't cleaned it because I know certain customers with heavy taste might enjoy the used product."

"Used?" Sophie asked with some confusion.

Were these relics some kind of devices that could be activated more than once?

"Well as long as the overall shape isn't broken then they should be able to be used as long as you want!" the merchant assured her.

"Why don't you check out some of the other items to see if anything else catches your fancy?"

Sophie agreed and held the strange relic in one hand as she examined the rest of the goods on the countertop.

The shapes of the other relics varied quite greatly but Sophie noticed some common traits in all of them.

Each relic was roughly the size of her fist and all contained bumps or raised sections along the base or length of the relic.

Sophie was getting more and more perplexed as she scanned the goods on the counter.

What on earth was the function of these relics?

Finally, unable to resist, Sophie decided to ask the merchant,

"So, what are the purpose of these relics?"

"Relics?" the merchant's facial expression suddenly worsened as an awful thought entered his mind.

"Madam… this is a sex toy shop."

Sophie froze in place and immediately turned to look at her right hand that was currently holding what she now knew was a dildo.

And…. didn't the merchant say that it was used?

And more importantly….

Didn't he say that it wasn't cleaned???

Sophie calmly placed the sex toy back down on the counter and turned around to leave as if nothing had happened.

The merchant realized that his customer had misunderstood so with an ugly face he watched Sophie leave without stopping her.

Sophie waited until she was out of sight before quickly tearing off the glove and flinging it away on the ground.

Oh my god.

Oh my god.

OH, MY FUCKING GOD.

What was worse was that she had to maintain her outward appearance, so Sophie was forced to keep her raging emotions under control.

She searched storage bag for some disinfectant and immediately got to work by scrubbing down her right hand until it was numb.

The glove should have protected her from any skin contact, but Sophie was not reassured until she properly wiped herself.

There were extra clothes inside her storage device so Sophie found herself a new glove and put it on.

Sophie took a few deep breaths to calm herself down and continued on her journey to get two boat tickets.

Now she completely ignored any merchants calling out to her location and did not even take a second glance at any ordinary goods on display.

Sophie still kept note of any interesting sights and there were quite a few stalls that caught her attention.

Such as a pet store owner who kept his animals inside tiny cages that made Sophie's rage almost bubble to the surface.

The animals inside were not well cared for and their fur showed signs of being caked with dried blood.

Another stall owner was selling leg-less alien worm creatures that reeked of rotting flesh and decay.

Sophie frowned in disgust, but several wealthy customers were bidding fiercely for the hapless worms.

There was clearly an inside matter to the story.

Sophie was a bit curious but the event at the sex shop that happened earlier had completely cooled her urge to explore so she just left the scene.

Plus, the money being offered for one of those worms was far beyond what she had in her pouch.

Sophie had not gotten the time to… 'borrow' money from any unfortunate thugs so her storage bag only contained what she had taken from the mining town.

Hopefully, it would be enough to buy two tickets otherwise Sophie would need to steal some more.

It was not a good feeling to be a thief but there was really no other choice, so Sophie forced herself not to think about it.

Finally, she came across a stall with a large signboard that had the details of every ship entering the leaving the port city.

It was time time to take the first step on the long journey home.

"Hey boss, do you all sell tickets to King's Island?" Sophie asked casually.

The merchant behind the counter was a marine lifeform with a medium sized fish-like head that was trapped in a helmet filled with water.

His arms and legs were extremely scaly with thin needles poking out of his joints. Unlike the previous merchant, Sophie could feel that this seller was particularly dangerous.

There was a small speaker attached to the side of the helmet that allowed the merchant to project his speech.

The voice that came out of the speaker was surprisingly quite clear and did not sound robotic.

"The next ship leaves tomorrow," the merchant spoke briefly and then resumed staring at nothing.

He seemed completely uninterested whether Sophie would buy a ticket or not.

"Let me get two tickets," Sophie quite liked his no-nonsense attitude and stated her request.

"What class?" the merchant replied.

"What are the options?" Sophie countered as she wanted to make sure to know what her choices were.

"Basic means that you stay on the deck and are allocated two meals per day."

"Second class means that you have to live in a room with three other people and are given two meals per day plus a light snack."

"First class gives you one private room per person and the meals can be requested whenever you want."

"You don't look like you can afford the special class ticket so I'm not going to bother to explain."

Sophie was undeterred by his unpleasant remark and simply asked for two first class tickets.

She quickly understood why the merchant felt she was too poor as both tickets ended up costing nine hundred dollars.

That meant that the remaining money in Sophie's hands was now less than two hundred.