Djen watched the low-Noble walk into his “Hiring Hall”. The man didn’t seem to know where he was going. That was exactly why Djen had acquired the large property near the edge of the market area; people who didn’t know where they were going were the easiest to fleece.

Djen grinned internally but put on a helpful smile outwardly as he walked up to the sheep. “Sir? Are you looking for something specific or are you simply looking?”

The noble turned to Djen and smiled thinly. He seemed nervous, fidgeting with the cloth of his shirt as he spoke. “Yes, ah, I need a bodyguard. Probably Tier Three or Tier Four.”

Djen tried not to frown. The man’s aura felt like someone who’d seen combat, and he didn’t feel like a Tier Two or Three that might get value from a Tier Three guard. He felt like a Tier Four or maybe even Five, though that was stretching it. Tier Fives were very, very unusual on Zon, after all. They headed Courts or killed liches, they didn’t come to the market and look for a lower-Tier bodyguard. “Forgive my forwardness, but you do not seem like someone who needs such a low-ranking guard.”

It was always better to imply that the client was higher than you knew they were.

The noble seemed to frown for a moment, then realize what Djen was implying. “Oh, the bodyguard’s not for me. Female would be preferable, but a good fit is more important than that so I’ll need to interview anyone you have?”

Female, hmm? A bodyguard for a wife then, probably. A lower-tier spouse was common, after all. “May I inquire as to which House you’re with?” When the noble hesitated, Djen pushed a little. “It’s simply that we have arrangements with certain of the Houses; they give us general support and we provide them with workers at a lower fee.”

The specifics varied from Court to Court, but they were all lucrative in either money or slaves. Djen didn’t think the noble was actually a Court member, since he appeared to be a noble, but appearances could be deceptive. Djen’s certainly were.

“Ahh.” The noble nodded in understanding. “I am not with a Court; my family is of Lowpeak.”

Djen forced his face to stay pleasantly welcoming. Lowpeak was at least half the reason this was a “Hiring Hall” and not a proper slave market, though the building served both purposes.It was all politics, of course, but for the past four generations the Dukes of Lowpeak had argued for an end to legal slavery.

They would never succeed, but the most recent one did manage to get some very annoying limits enforced. They weren’t new, but they hadn’t been enforced for a very long time. Long enough that he and the other slave traders had argued that they didn’t exist because the laws hadn’t been used in centuries.

Argued and lost, at a great cost.

Lowpeak was going to be charged extra and given as little as possible.

In fact, why didn’t he unload that new slave - er, worker - on Lowpeak? It wasn’t like he’d been entered in the slave books yet anyway, and his other options were to either kill the man or release him. He’d probably go for the second option; after all, disposing of a body in Zenith wasn’t hard, but disposing of an unregistered body was annoying. This would be the same as releasing him, except that he’d also get to fleece Lowpeak.

A good outcome all the way around. If he was lucky, the man might even be a problem or decide not to help Lowpeak. It wasn’t like a Flex would make a good bodyguard anyway.

Djen’s polite smile grew a little wider. “I believe we have someone who fits those criteria; a Tier Three mercenary. I can arrange a meeting, but that is all. There will, of course, be a nominal consultation fee for arranging the meeting.”

That was how the Hiring Halls worked; both parties paid the Hall for each interview. If the worker was hired, an additional fee went to the Hall. It was far less lucrative than the slave trade, even with the cost of housing the slaves, but it made an excellent “primary” business. There were ways to take advantage of it, but few of Zenith’s Halls did much of that. It wasn’t worth losing the business.

The noble seemed to frown at the mention of the fee. He probably wasn’t looking forward to the price; he’d like it even less when he found out what it was, but for a Tier Three Djen could charge a premium even before he added the amount he was going to for being from Lowpeak. “The consultation fee is three hundred kopek or five Etherium, whether or not you suit.”

As a noble, the man would probably pay the Etherium; he had access to the Royal Dungeon, where it came from, after all. Anyone else would pay kopeks; Etherium was simply too valuable.

The noble started to say something, but Djen cut him off before he could argue. “It’s the best deal you will find in Zenith today. Probably the only one. There are not many Tier Three people who are willing to be a bodyguard and don’t already have a position.”

On any other day, the statement would probably not be entirely true. For a Lowpeak, however? It would be true as soon as Djen put out the word. No one in the business liked the Lowpeaks, and all of the Hiring Halls had ties to at least one of the slave dealers, if they didn’t operate as one themselves. Getting people into debt-bondage was simply another way of hiring them, after all.

The man shook his head. “Not what I was about to ask, but very well. I assume that you will be able to have this man meet me soon?”

No bargaining. He was from the countryside. Probably damn near the Wildlands. Of course, Lowpeak was supposed to be; Djen had never been there and he never wanted to go.

“An hour or so, likely. You may wait here or I can send him to you, whichever you prefer.” It didn’t hurt to offer hospitality, even to a Lowpeak. He was getting almost as much as a slave would bring, after all. Not a Tier Three slave, but a Tier One like the man should have been.

“I will wait.” The noble glanced around and Djen directed him to a seating area before taking the payment. There was no point in being laggardly about these things, after all. Money was money.

It was hours before Serenity heard movement again. He was fairly convinced that he was the only person currently on the entire floor of whatever building he was in; if there was someone else, even someone sleeping like he was supposed to be, he’d surely have heard them. A simple shapeshift would get him out of the cell, but that would break the effect that changed his appearance. He could get it back, but he wouldn't be able to hold it. Serenity checked the door first.

It was indeed both closed and locked; at least, the lock was engaged. The latch that actually held the door in place wasn't, however; the lock wasn't securing anything. Serenity shook his head and pushed the door open.

He checked around the floor he was on, paying careful attention to the possibility of someone coming down the stairwell; he wanted to be back in the cell before anyone came, but he couldn't miss the opportunity to look around. There were several other cells, all in similar poor repair. They were indeed all empty; none showed any evidence of recent use, but the place was clean enough that he couldn't be certain.

Once he'd seen as much as he could, Serenity settled himself back in the cell he'd started in. He couldn’t practice magic; he knew himself and he was entirely too likely to become absorbed in it, miss someone coming, and give himself away. He couldn’t work out for similar reasons; he was more likely to notice someone coming, but he was also more likely to look like someone who had been exercising instead of sleeping.

He tried sleeping, but it didn’t work for him. The stone floor wasn’t comfortable and he couldn’t relax enough even though he was tired.

Instead, Serenity ended up playing time-wasting phone games on the phone in his head. They were truly pointless, but at least they passed the time.

When he finally heard someone come back to the floor, it was both of the men from before. The one who seemed to be in charge was already talking when they became audible. “...back in his pack. Wait for him to wake up with the door open, then escort him upstairs. No rough stuff; all he should know is that he appeared here and we’ve arranged an interview with an employer, since that’s what we do. Repeat that back.”

“Get him upstairs, tell him nothing.” The subordinate’s summary sounded lacking to Serenity.

“No. That’s … never mind. Stick his stuff in his pack, then go keep an eye on the slaves. I’ll deal with this one.” His voice sounded frustrated.

While the subordinate stuffed Serenity’s things back in his pack, Serenity felt the mana flows supporting the Sleep rune in the ceiling fade. The man was gone before they were, but the door was left open. Serenity stirred and tried to look like he was waking up.

“Ah, you’re back with us? Tell me, how are you feeling?” It was the superior’s voice, but he sounded much more pleasant than he had with his subordinate.

Serenity looked up and got his first look at the man with his eyes instead of Eyeless Sight. He was relatively short and slight, probably barely five feet tall, with dark hair and eyes and a golden tinge to his skin. On Earth, Serenity would probably have guessed that he was some variety of Asian, but in the larger universe he could be from any number of places.

The other man was projecting his aura a little. Tier Three at a guess, probably mostly from things other than combat which meant he might even be low Tier Four; noncombat people were harder for Serenity to evaluate.

Serenity had gotten used to restraining his aura on Earth; it wouldn’t do to scare the locals, after all, and most didn’t know aura management at all. He let it leak a little but kept it nearby, trying to make it seem weaker than he was without being nonexistent. He was grateful that he’d played the aura games with Katya, Ita, and Raz while they tried to teach Rissa; it had given him an appreciation for just how much he needed to restrain his aura to feel “Tier Three”.

“I’m fine.” Serenity paused, then decided that he should say more if he wanted to keep the act up. “Not sure why I was so sleepy, I’m usually not this early. Where am I? This isn’t where I expected to be.”

The other man grinned. It almost looked genuine, but there was no warmth in the man’s eyes. “You’re at Djen’s Hiring Hall, the best Hiring Hall in Zenith! I’m Djen, of course. Now, if this isn’t where you expected to be, may I ask where you did expect to be, and how you arrived here?”

Serenity shrugged. He’d tell the truth, but he’d tell it in a way that might help, as if he’d noticed something wrong but not known what it was. That way, the man wouldn’t be suspicious; Serenity was confident he was involved in whatever was going on. “I wasn’t sure where I was going to end up. The teleport wasn’t right, but that didn’t tell me why.”

Serenity carefully watched Djen’s body language and thought he’d relaxed a little. That was good.

“That sounds unpleasant. I suppose you will be looking for work, then, while you figure out how to get back home? This is a Hiring Hall; you should take advantage of my services!”

Serenity had to hand it to the man. He’d somehow made that sound reasonable, even helpful, without committing himself to anything that would cost anything. On the other hand, that might be useful; one of his two major goals in going offplanet was to find out where the other Earthlings ended up, and that meant finding out about this man. “What exactly are your services?”

If anything, Djen’s grin grew slightly wider. “Anything you’d expect of a Hiring Hall! Individual tasks, day labor, or permanent employment, we broker them all. What do you do? That is, what are your specialties?”

They already knew he had a Mercenary Guild tag, so he might as well go with the obvious. He deliberately shrugged. “I fight, it’s what I’m good at. Mercenary work, usually. Done a lot of dungeons lately.”

Djen nodded encouragingly. “You won’t find many dungeons here, but there is definitely fighting work. Do you happen to have done any time as a bodyguard?”

That was an odd question.

“It’s been a bit, but I have. A little. It’s been a while.” While it was mostly informally, Vengeance had done every type of job the Mercenary Guild offered, and bodyguard was one of them.

Djen nodded. “That’s perfect. I actually have a customer that’s looking for a bodyguard right now; would you be willing to talk to him?”