Chapter 13

[Customer #770 has won the bid with two hundred gold coins!!]

Tang tang!

Applause followed, and Callius clenched his fists involuntarily.

‘They don’t know.’

To ordinary people, a dwarf slave was just a dwarf who didn’t listen.

But to Callius, he was more valuable than any other treasure.

“You can sign here.”

“Alright.”

He hid his excitement and signed, and a dwarf slave tied in chains appeared along with the documentary evidence.

“The handcuffs are actually artifacts, so you don’t have to worry about him escaping.”

“Right.”

It was proudly described as an artifact, but happened to be only slightly harder than regular handcuffs.

‘It’s worse than I thought.’

There were small scratches here and there, of course, and the nutritional status was not very good.

Maybe it’s because you didn’t listen to orders.

Or because they didn’t know how to deal with dwarves.

“His name is… Dexter. Dexter, that should be correct.”

Then the dwarf’s eyes, which now seemed more stagnant, turned towards him.

Dexter.

Callius recognized the name.

A character who wandered from place to place as a slave by nature.

Because of his strange fate, he could not fully utilize his abilities, and lived as a slave for the rest of his life. Only in his later years did his wish come true.

He was a being with quite useful traits, and was essentially a golden goblin-like being for the player.

Great luck if you met him.

But something that was hard to come by.

Dexter, a wandering slave blacksmith.

I was lucky to have met him here.

“Dexter. Don’t you want to make a hammer?”

Startle.

Dexter’s body trembled slightly.

“I can get you a workshop and supply the minerals you will need. That’s my courtesy and respect for the Hammer God, Tundra.”

Eyes trembling more and more.

A quite surprised face.

Sharpness returned to Dexter’s eyes.

“In return, if you help me once when I want, that’s enough.”

Just like the Pilgrims of Valtherus were looking for their own swords.

The dwarves dreamed of making a hammer to dedicate to their God.

Dexter.

I didn’t know how he came to this place, but even after he became a slave, he can’t deny the instinct engraved on his bones.

Dexter narrowed his brows.

I knew it wasn’t with the intent of refusal. He must have been judging the truth behind my words.

First of all, give grace.

Second, show respect.

Build trust like that.

That’s the way to recruit dwarves.

“The decision can wait till later. The next auction is going on.”

When Callius blinked at Bruns, he cleverly guided Dexter away to somewhere.

It seemed that various other procedures were being followed. Thanks to that, Callius took part in a few more auctions with ease.

[A cloak that the great enchantress Eldora made before she came of age. It’s a Cloak of Twilight!]

Twilight Cloak.

‘Really, was it an artifact created by imitating the Holy relics of the gods?’

The Cloak of Twilight is an artifact that blocks heat and cold just by putting it on.

In addition, it is not easily torn by any attack and mitigates the impact of falling, an indispensable artifact for Pilgrims traveling to various dangerous places.

The famous Spirit Crafter of the Empire, Eldora.

A limited-edition piece with only thirty pieces ever made!

[The starting price is five hundred gold coins!]

The price for one cloak was absurdly expensive. Five hundred was an amount of money sufficient to build several buildings. However, the bid for the Cloak of Twilight quickly skyrocketed.

[Ah! Six hundred gold coins came out from customer #466! Seven hundred! Eight hundred again! Oh, oh! Customer #466 is bidding a thousand!]

The price quickly doubled.

“It’s terribly expensive.”

After winning the bid for the Holy Water supplements and Dexter, about two thousand four hundred gold coins were left.

I thought for a moment and raised my hand.

[One thousand two hundred! Customer #770 gave a price of one thousand two hundred!]

More than a thousand gold coins.

By that time, no one raised their hand any more.

No, they couldn’t.

Time went by.

Tang tang!

[The Cloak of Twilight has been successfully won by customer #770!!]

It was awarded with only one bid.

‘… … .’

The Cloak of Twilight was definitely a good artifact, but whether it was worth a thousand two hundred gold coins, made me tilt my head.

My stomach hurt because I thought I might have been squeezed, but what can you do?

‘There is nothing bad about it.’

Besides, I obtained a dwarf slave.

Dexter.

If you could convince him well, you may even be able to raise the various artifacts obtained here by one more level.

‘It’s a necessary expense.’

Gold coins were painful to lose, but the golden light that the Tricolour Eyes showed me will fix that.

“You just have to sign it.”

After signing the paperwork for the employee who brought the Twilight Cloak, I put on the cloak right away.

“It’s light.”

I didn’t feel any weight at all.

The auction house was underground and there were many people, so it was a little humid and hot, but the discomfort disappeared as soon as I put on the cloak. Just like this, spending 1,200 gold coins felt a little less painful.

“Good.”

It covered the entire body without feeling uncomfortable or heavy.

It was very satisfying.

Startle. Then, suddenly, I felt an aura from somewhere among the auction house seats below.

I took a peek, and there was a person with particularly pale and shining hair among the people on the first floor.

‘Periwinkle hair?’^[1]

Even from under a black half-mask, those eyes were clearly pointing towards me.

It turned out that to be the one who bid for the Cloak of Twilight in the beginning.

Perhaps she was short of gold coins.

‘Still, with that aura she’s releasing…’

It seemed like she’d been looking for it for a while.

I looked down at her and showed a triumphant smile.

Then the aura got darker.

If she was hoping I’d be scared, tough luck. This wasn’t some other place, this was Tristar. There was no reason to be afraid.

Looking at her aura, she seems to be quite talented, but what could she do?

Go back and raise more money?

Naturally, the Cloak of Twilight is mine now.

There was no returning it.

You couldn’t even get a refund.

Heh. For some reason, the smile didn’t leave my lips.

“Let’s see, next…”

The next few items were completely useless.

Some famous pottery from a renowned country now in ruins, or some statue, things like that.

And finally, the last items of the auction.

As soon as I first saw the list, I knew I had to get it.

[Sarira in the East. Relics in the West. And in this place, sacred stones, created by the divine power of a Saint!!]

‘Sacred stone.’

A sacred stone is found where a Saint who could no longer ascend higher is cremated.

A sacred stone is an aggregate of divine power.

It contains the divine power of a Saint, so it is a stone with energy above even the first grade.

The sacred stones of Saints are originally managed by the Churches of their respective faith, but sometimes stones seized in battle or similar are sold as auction items.

‘It’s small.’

The size of a candy egg.

However, the energy and quality of the divine power emanating from it is exceptional.

‘If you practice with that, the quality of your energy will greatly increase.’

In case of an emergency, you can use it to draw divine power, or to increase the power of the soul contained in a Carcass.

Not only that, it can be used in various ways as it helps to repair or strengthen artifacts.

‘The only flaw is that the stone is a little small… …. Still, I can’t get it anyway because I don’t have enough money left.’

[Start with a thousand gold coins.]

Thousand, from the start.

It’s a sacred stone, after all.

Since no other explanations were attached, it seems difficult to identify the source, too.

Well, no one here cares about that. The only thing they care about is this being indeed a sacred stone.

There can be no justification for such a sacred object to appear in an underground auction house.

As the sacred stone appeared and its divine energy spread wide, people’s eyes changed.

Eyes glistening with greed.

‘What should I do?’

If you can win the bid, it’s definitely good.

Because there are innumerable uses.

It is possible to greatly increase Arsando’s energy right away, and it can also be used as a training aid for Six Flowers Technique.

It can also be used to craft Holy Water and enhance artifacts.

But the problem is –

[Came out! Two thousand gold coins!]

It’s too expensive.

Lack of money.

I wondered what would happen if I tried to use Cedric’s name, but it probably won’t succeed.

‘That woman seems to have a lot of money.’

The water-haired woman who had glared at me earlier was competing with another guy.

The price was constantly rising, and we were on the verge of 3,000 gold.

‘It seems that she gave up on the cloak because of this.’

I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.

If it’s not urgent, you’ll have another chance someday.

The stone was eventually sold for three thousand and six hundred gold coins.

‘That woman didn’t win the bid this time either.’

The blue-haired woman lost her bid again.

The person who won the bid was an overweight nobleman, who sat in the same room as me on the second floor.

The woman glared at the second floor again and left the auction house in anger.

‘Too bad for you.’

But it wasn’t me this time.

I soon bought a long cloth bag for six hundred gold coins from the final auction items. This was also a kind of artifact, and the space inside was larger than it looked, so you could put a lot of things in it.

“Are you done?”

“Yes! I got everything.”

These were the poisonous herbs I had ordered in advance and the items needed to make Holy Water.

I saw Bruns holding them and Dexter, tied in chains, following after him.

Tuk.

I threw the cloth bag I had just bought to Bruns.

“Ouch!”

“Put it there. Everything will fit in.”

“Yes? No, I can’t put everything in here… oh, they’re going in.”

“Bruns.”

“Yes!”

“Come quickly.”

The exit was crowded with people already leaving.

Ttt.

When I clicked my tongue, the employee who was in charge of me approached.

“I’ll take you to another exit.”

“Is there another way out?”

“This is an exit that can only be used by VVIP members.”

“Guide me.”

The exit appeared when the staff with their heads bowed removed the curtains on the 2nd floor wall.

It was a hidden passage that only the VIPs on the second floor could use.

“Come this way.”

“Alright.”

I led Bruns and Dexter out of the black market.

“Chief, we checked all the people who escaped from the Trish underground auction house…”

“No result?”

“Yes, Callius wasn’t among them.”

“Hmm.”

Ryburn took off his glasses, took out a handkerchief and rubbed it.

‘It would have been easier if Sir Cedric gave a little help.’

If he, who was Tristar’s second-in-command, had used his strength, things would have worked out easily.

All we would have had to do is lock down Tristar and conduct a checkpoint.

But Cedric turned it down with a happy face.

So, it just makes my heart clench.

“Now what?”

Delruin asked with a sullen face.

Ryburn was silent for a moment.

‘He has no connections here.’

So, if he entered the auction house, he had to come out here.

Although he can change the way he wears his clothes and the overall impression, he cannot deceive his unique divine power and his eyes.

In particular, the gray eyes, one of the characteristics of the Jervain family, cannot be covered by anything.

‘But why can’t we find him?’

We searched everywhere we could have found him.

Now all that was left, was here.

“There is no choice but to strengthen the checkpoints. Ask the guards of Tristar for help. Strengthen the checkpoints at the entrance and ask for an increase in manpower.”

“Yes!”

Oh, and –

“Did you see her?”

“Yes, she was at the auction house. She looked very angry.”

“I see…….”

Ryburn, who was preoccupied with something, immediately gave an order to Delruin.

“Inquisitor Delruin. If you can, keep track of Pilgrim Esther from time to time in secret. Don’t let her find the apostate first.”

“All right!”

Ryburn, looking at the back of Delruin running away, tilted his head as if in doubt.

“But why are you so excited?”

He didn’t understand.

Thump thump.

Callius was walking on a narrow path covered with glass on either side.

On the right and left side, were the nobles who were together with him on the second floor.

The figures of aristocrats walking leisurely with a graceful gait.

‘The one on the right is the person who won the bid for the monster, and the one on the left is the person who won the sacred stone.’

Inwardly, I was curious about their identities, but decided not to care.

Other than that, there were many other things to do.

I had to go ahead and build a manufacturing facility to make Holy Water, and I had to experiment with the formulation.

‘Creating Holy Water is also a matter of injecting divine power, so you have to suffer a little for a few days.’

No matter how moderately the Holy Water was made, the divine power was mandatory.

Although Callius’ divine power was only at level 4, it was still correct to make Holy Water while injecting divine power.

The more insurance, the better.

“The cloak looks good on you. Congratulations.”

A thought-provoking voice hit on Callius’ eardrums.

“Ah, yes. You also won the sacred stone. Congratulations.”

It was the fat nobleman who had won the bid for the sacred stone. He looked impressive with a handsome moustache underneath the half mask.

“Haha, it was a rare opportunity, so I got a bit overenthusiastic. But… sir, do you by any chance use a sword?”

“… Yes. How about that.”

“I’m a little observant, so I can see a little of the Lord’s right hand. The calluses are impressive, characteristic of swordsmen. Besides, you bought the Cloak of Twilight and immediately wore it, so I thought you could be a Wandering Knight, but that doesn’t seem likely.”

Wandering Knights were people that wandered in search of their master. They didn’t have the wealth or honour to win the Cloak of Twilight, and sit in the second floor VVIP seats.

“……”

“Excuse me. It’s my bad habit.”

He spoke again, fiddling with his moustache.

“But come to think of it, I remember seeing those eyes a long time ago. Eyes resembling ashes and hair dark as jet black. Or, maybe you weren’t a son of Jervain?”

“… It’s been a long time since I left the family.”

“Oh, excuse me… I didn’t ask with any bad intentions.”

An aristocrat who was wealthy enough to win a bid for a sacred stone.

Judging from his knowledge of Jervain’s characteristics, he was a fairly high-ranking nobleman.

Callius activated the Tricolour Eye.

The colour of the man was gold.

“Then, how can I help?”

Thump.

The nobleman’s footsteps stopped.

Callius also stopped walking.

“Don’t you want the sacred stone?”

“What do you mean?”

“I can give it to you.”

The nobleman took the jewellery box from his arms and opened it in front of Callius.

As soon as it opened, a divine energy that seemed to purify the air spread out.

Sacred stone.

It was the item that had just been auctioned off.

“There must be conditions.”

“I want to borrow the power of Jervain.”

Callius’ eyes shone brightly.

Editor’s Notes:

[1] This has been a mistranslation till now. Esther’s hair is not light-coloured, it’s water-coloured i.e. pale indigo in Korean. The previous chapters have been updated accordingly and this will continue to be translated as water-coloured or periwinkle from now on.