At Fragrant Manor, Abner had just returned from Folklore Herbal Shop and was about to continue studying and pondering Closia's reinterpretation of the "Doctor Strange" persona when he received word that "Sea Serpent" Weave had come calling.
—"Sea Serpent" Weave was his agent at Scented Leaf Bar and was now a Sequence 9 Hunter.
Abner found this somewhat surprising. To conceal Weave's connection to him, he had already instructed the man to visit his manor as little as possible, lest he attract attention.
While he was not particularly afraid of exposing that connection, any trouble that could be avoided should still be avoided.
Because of the Contract, it's unlikely he'd disobey my orders... Hmm, perhaps there has been progress on the matter I asked him to investigate, which is why he came to report in person?
With that guess in mind, Abner had Helene bring him to the study.
After entering, Weave first respectfully greeted Abner before taking out a document and handing it to Helene, who placed it on the desk beside Abner.
Abner glanced over it and discovered that it was a list of items that might appear at tomorrow night's gathering, along with their corresponding requests.
To improve the chances of successful transactions, Weave had refined the format of the gathering. Drawing inspiration from certain auction houses, he had set up a public mailbox in the bar where customers could anonymously submit written descriptions of the items they wished to sell and what they wanted in return.
Weave would then arrange for some rumors to be spread in advance, allowing those who wanted to purchase the corresponding items to prepare early.
Of course, since transactions might be completed before the gathering or someone might simply be deliberately causing trouble, the rumors were not necessarily true, and the