Raam parked his motorbike outside the market where it was allocated for the motorbikes and entered the market with Gideon.
Jaice was sitting on Gideon's shoulder as he didn't want her to be flying around when they were in the wild as he was afraid of her getting attacked by wild flying monsters.
"Fweeeet .. Fweeeet" Raam whistled twice continuously and looked around for a second and smiled as if he met an old friend after a long time.
Gideon looked at where Raam was looking and saw a Lightning Leopard rushing towards him.
The Lightning Leopard jumped at Raam making him fall backwards with a smile on his face while the leopard was purring and rubbing its face on his chest.
After patting its head with one hand and rubbing its side and underbelly with his other hand for a few seconds, the leopard stepped down from Raam who stood up and said "Gideon, meet my monster partner, Lenny" Introducing the Lightning Leopard to him while it was purring at Jaice.
He then bent down and whispered in its ear something that made it stop purring at Jaice.
"Come on, we got to eat something and rest for a while before starting the hunt." Raam said and started walking into the market followed by Lenny without waiting for a response from Gideon.
Gideon looked at him perplexed thinking 'He came here so fast, and wants to eat and rest?'
He looked at Jaice, who was now standing on his left shoulder looking at Raam's back tilting her head as if trying to figure what he was doing. He caressed her head softly and started to follow Raam quickly as he knew nothing about this place and was afraid that he might get lost if he didn't follow him.
Raam entered an inn called 'Open Hands' which looked like a 2 floor building, making it taller than the other shops around it which were just ground floor buildings.
Looking at the large inn, Gideon was a little confused as the other shops were mostly made of wooden boards and steel bars that could be dismantled easily, this inn was made of bricks and stones making it look like a permanent structure which couldn't be dismantled easily in case of emergencies.
He was confused to see such a luxurious building in the market, but followed Raam into the inn without any delay only to be greeted by a woman laughing which he couldn't differentiate between friendly or cruel making him flinch, but maintained his expression as neutral when his heart was beating faster and faster.
He looked around to see 8 tables with 4 chairs each, arranged inside like a restaurant for family and the people eating there looked at the woman laughing as if they were annoyed, but no one moved or said anything to her.
"Welcome back Raam. You have brought a newbie to my inn for the first time. How is Nila doing?" Gideon heard a woman speak after the laugh ended to which Raam replied "She is good as ever. This is Gideon, my mission is to protect him."
This made Gideon's eyebrows go crooked as he realized Raam said 'mission' instead of usual 'task', but he kept it to himself as the woman looked scary and her aura was stronger. He sensed her and found she was someone who had gone through the first bottleneck and reached Tier-3, level-2.
The woman was short, chubby and looked more mature with her fair skin when her age should be around late 30's, similar to his foster parents.
She looked at Gideon up and down for half a minute and his monster pet a little longer with curiosity before nodding her head with a smile that made her look a little friendly.
"Welcome to the Hanjaan Market, kid. I am Aaravi, the owner of this finely established inn." Aaravi said to Gideon and turned toward Raam and asked "What are you hunting today?"
"Just some Swift Tail Monkeys." Raam said to which she just nodded and replied "Good for you. There have been a troop sighted a few kilometers away and the market is assembling a group of adventurers to hunt them down."
"A troop?" Raam asked in a serious tone with an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, just about a 100." Aaravi replied immediately which made Gideon look at her in shock, opening his eyes and mouth wide which made her chuckle. Gideon didn't care about her expression as he thought while looking at her 'A 100 monsters are roaming close to the market and she says it is just a 100 with such a calm expression? Is she really a human?'
"Don't worry kid. Swift Tail Monkeys are easy targets to handle if you are a medium or long range fighter with good dodging skills." Aaravi said, looking at his shocked face.
"He is a close combatant. What is the strongest in there?" Raam said followed by a question to which she just said "Just a Tier-2, level-4 one. It has been gathering low tiers for 2 days now. But it will meet its end by the end of the day."
This made Gideon feel excited and scared at the same time. When there is a Tier-2, level-4 monster leading a bunch of monsters, there are definitely chances for a few monsters to be at Tier-2, which will be the most difficult battle he has fought till now.
After this short exchange of information, Raam grabbed Gideon's hand and dragged him to a table that was just cleaned after its previous occupants left paying for their meal.
Raam explained about the Hanjaan market which was established by the Adventures Association to provide a safe place for the adventurers who take on tasks in the Hinam mountain range. This is a place where they can rest before or after their hunt and also can purchase anything they need to complete the tasks they had taken, starting from simple traps, first aid kits, even weapons and armors, if needed and all at the price set by the Adventures Association which is 20% less than the usual price they are sold in nearby villages, towns or the cities.
This market also has a hospital that is in equal standards to a hospital in a town and security force that would rival most of the towns that are around Kamisk which Gideon could understand as a hospital is important to anyone who enters the mountain range to hunt or for a task as they can't wait till reaching a town or a city for getting even a first aid.
The security is also high as there is always a possibility for the gathered monsters to attack the market at any time. That is also the reason for the group of adventures to be assembled as the security force cannot leave the market as they not only have to defend against monsters, but also to prevent any illegal activities that may or may not happen inside the market.
With such defence, Gideon was a little confused when he remembered that the fence of the market did not look formidable as it was just steel bars that were struck to the ground around the market and could be easily removed if they were to move away from here.
But he did not say it as he was pretty sure that the monsters which would try to enter the market would be killed even before they could reach 10 meters close to the fence as most of the security guards he had seen patrolling the market were armed with bow and arrows while only a few had spears and swords.
This market can be considered as a safe haven to adventurers who are hunting monsters in the mountain range as he noticed that all the guards in the market are at Tier-2 and he was sure that the people giving them orders would be at Tier-3 or higher which would make any adventurer have a sound sleep without worrying about the monsters that roams just outside the fence.
He realized that his mind was also relaxed and calm with no sign of threat even though he is outside the defence wall of his village and closer to a mountain range which is famous for many aggressive monsters.
This is truly a safe haven for adventurers who venture into the wild.
After having their lunch, they left the Open Hands and roamed around the market for a while where Gideon made note of many shops that he might come back to, to sell the harvest he takes from the hunted monsters and to purchase a few tools and kits that are necessary for any adventurer who ventures into the wild, alone or as a group.
They reached the far side of the market by 12:30 PM where there was a group of around 50 people who had gathered around a desk where a guard was sitting and writing something in a notebook that the people were telling him.
Most of the people here were at Tier-1 while a few were at Tier-2, looking very serious as if they were about to fight immediately.