Because They're Pretty

"How long has it been!"

"I know, right? About three months?"

"Master said you were still figuring out your path."

"I joined the Drake Guild."

"Drake? Mr. Geeks?"

A name far too familiar.

"Yes. Of course, I'm not a full member yet. I'm only attached to an affiliate guild in District 8."

"I put in the recommendation. If it's Geeks, he won't block a guild member's prospects just to feed his own greed."

Master Jerik cut in as he spoke, clapping Kirk on the shoulder. Pride sat naked on his face, so I decided to pile on.

"That tattoo on your right arm. You didn't get it just for show, did you?"

"Ahem. Of course not. Can't you see it moving?"

I couldn't tell whether it was actually writhing the way he claimed, but the vivid tattoo of a green giant was striking all the same.

"An ogre?"

I'd heard that a Special Class earned at the first class advancement came with the largest tattoo of all. Unlike Geeks's, this one nearly covered the whole of Kirk's right arm.

"Yes! When we hunted the ogre on Floor 10, I logged sixty percent of the contribution. Out of a four-man party."

"Oh... So what's your class?"

At that, the kid broke into a wide grin.

"Vanguard Spearman. A Special Class! And a rare-grade class, no less!"

Behind the boy's brimming confidence I caught Master Jerik's awkward smile. He'd already told me about Kirk's class.

"Oho. Sounds impressive just from the name."

"Yes. The class effects are even more incredi—"

"Ah, enough. Didn't anyone teach you not to go blabbing that sort of thing to other people?"

"Come on. Master and Hyung aren't other people."

"Even so, you brat!"

I already knew, having heard it from Jerik, but I shut him down anyway—half to drill a little caution into a little brother who didn't seem to own any.

Only then did I notice the earrings. A matching pair, one on each ear: long dangling gold chains, each set with a small blue crystal.

"...Earrings?"

This walking slab of a man, going around in earrings.

"Ah. They look a bit much, I know. But they're essential gear, so I don't have a choice."

"Essential?"

"Yes. Voice-filter artifacts. Pretty much every decent guild uses them these days."

"Voice filter?"

First I'd heard of it.

"Right. In a fight, it makes a designated commander's voice come through clear as a whisper in your ear."

"Oh?"

Even at a glance, it sounded like thoroughly practical magic. Past Floor 10 you stopped meeting only Bartus's own adventurer factions. Parties from the other nine cities showed up as well, and wars broke out inside the Labyrinth all the time—so often that people said the ten kingdoms and four races of the surface world rarely fought because they were already at war down there.

But something else about those earrings had caught my attention.

"If it's standard issue for most guilds, it must be cheap."

"...Well, I heard around fifty silver. Cheap, for an artifact."

"For a pair?"

"Yes. They only work as a pair."

"Oh..."

"If you want a set, Hyung, just graduate from Novice already and join a guild. Ours is pretty good."

"Ah. Well. I'll think about it."

It was good to see Kirk after so long, but I was already hooked on those words: cheap artifact.

"So besides the voice filter, no other functions?"

"If there were, they'd cost more, right? But these things are seriously useful. Just the other day on Floor 13, I messed up and nearly died when—"

I let the rest of Kirk's story go in one ear and out the other. Honestly, synthesizing a voice-filter function wasn't likely to spit out some incredible option.

Cheaper than Klinsmann's panties!

That single fact was more than enough to set my buying impulse on fire.

Anything with mana changes when you synthesize it. Try it first. Who knows if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it'll hit big?

The moment the thought struck, my feet were already carrying me out the door.

"...Uh, Hyung. Where are you going?"

"Just remembered something I forgot. They sell those at the Magic Tower?"

"Yeah. I mean, they take bulk orders from the guilds."

"Okay. Thanks!"

"Hyung!?"

I ignored Kirk's desperate call and ran straight back toward District 1 at the heart of the city, and the Magic Tower.

"So... an order for four hundred pairs of voice-filter earrings?"

"Yes."

"Which guild are you with?"

"Just me."

"...Just you?"

"Yes."

The apprentice mage I'd dealt with before wore a thoroughly confused expression. I kept mine blank.

"...If I may ask, why are you buying so many of these earrings?"

"Because they're pretty."

"...Pardon?"

I couldn't explain, so I'd answered at random, and his face only grew stranger.

"Because they're... pretty?"

"Yes."

"Pretty. Four hundred pairs..."

"Do you have them or not?"

"Ah, no—I mean, yes! One moment! I'll check. These are bargain artifacts the Tower sells cheap, so even a large purchase doesn't come with a discount..."

"That's fine!"

"...So it really is fine."

The apprentice kept stealing glances, his expression warping further, but I didn't particularly care.

Hmm. High-grade. A bit of a shame. No—this isn't the time to be disappointed. Raise it two grades and it's Rare. Where else do you get a Rare item for two hundred gold?

I shook the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠regret off, remembering that the Storm Axe I'd sold earlier had gone for three hundred gold on its own.

"With two hundred gold, you could buy a highest-grade artifact weapon, you know..."

If anything, the apprentice seemed more regretful than I was. He looked ready to cling, so I reached for a line that would cut him off clean.

"It's fine. I'm still a Novice. My mana is low."

"Ah... Oh dear... Ah, I'm sorry."

"No. It's all right."

Another reason mana mattered. You needed at least 1 just to use a high-grade artifact. Over 10 for highest-grade. Over 20 for Rare. Over 30 for Super Rare. Above that, from Unique grade on, the scale itself jumped into another unit entirely. The only artifacts someone without mana could use were consumables.

Like Klinsmann's panties.

Fall short of the required mana, and an artifact either failed to work or could actively harm you. The demand climbed even more sharply at the grades above, but that was far beyond anything I could contemplate now.

Not that I could just pile on a heap of low-grade artifacts, either.

An adventurer could wear ten. Size and grade didn't matter. Once more than ten flows of mana affected the body, they interfered with one another, and anything beyond that became meaningless.

"Um, we don't have enough on hand. Gathering four hundred would take about a week, I think..."

"A week. Yes. Well, I'll wait. I just come back in a week?"

"...Yes."

An unfortunate snag, but not a serious one.

I needed to train anyway.

Both my spear art and my footwork had hit their skill-level caps.

Butchery I can raise just by working...

I'd still need to train both skills, but what interested me most was the Valgar Spirit Training Method.

...Even now, handling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mana and training has gotten so much easier.

But if Vartus was right, its true worth wouldn't show until I finished a Perfect Clear and earned a class. Which meant the thing I needed to focus on right now was the highest-grade skill newly registered to me: Piercing Strike.

I don't even know why it showed Max the moment I learned it. Not even Lv. 10.

I'd used it exactly once, when I took down Grash, but the aftermath was so brutal I hadn't touched it since.

Or is that the stranger part?

Either way.

Master Jerik would know.

With that thought, the moment I'd placed the reservation for the voice-filter earrings, I headed straight back to the martial hall.

Kirk was still there.

"Oh, Hyung! That was fast."

"You didn't go back to the guild lodgings?"

"Come on. There's still affection here. How could I just say hello and leave?"

"Kirk's been looking over the kids' spear work."

"Oh..."

"So, Hyung, what was it you forgot?"

"Uh. There was something. That kind of thing."

"Come on, what!"

"It's a secret, brat!"

"Aww. That's cold...!"

Had he always been this clingy? A hollow laugh escaped me, but it wasn't a bad feeling. Not that I particularly wanted to indulge him.

"Master, could you take a technique of mine?"

"A technique?"

"Yes. I picked up a violent one by chance, and it's a bit..."

"Ah. I know what you mean. The kids will be dismissed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠soon. We'll look at it right after."

"Thank you!"

"Hyung, can I be the one to take that technique?"

"Do that and you'll die."

"Come on. No way."

"I'm telling you, you'll actually die."

I wasn't joking, but Kirk didn't look like he believed a word of it.

"Fine. Try it on Kirk first."

"Master!?"

"The boy's gotten cocky now that he's got a Special Class. Knock some sense back into him."

"Come on. I am a Special Class, though..."

Watching Kirk grin and shrug, I felt a strange competitive fire start to boil in my chest.

"Master, do you have a potion that can recover a critical wound?"

"...It's that bad?"

"Yes."

"Come on! Hyung, the bluster—!"

At those words, Jerik's expression and mine changed in exactly the same way.

"...I'll watch closely and step in if I have to. Let's fix that brat's habits."

"Yes. Absolutely."

"He ordered four hundred pairs of voice-filter earrings? Why?"

"He... said it was because they're pretty."

"What?"

The man seated at the desk stared in sheer disbelief. The knight only bowed his head lower. Only then, realizing he hadn't misheard, did the man let out a hollow laugh.

"Last time, underwear. This time he's obsessed with earrings... He is a man, yes?"

"Yes. A man."

"Don't tell me he's... that way?"

"I can't be certain, but perhaps..."

In this barbaric world, there wasn't a single nation that acknowledged such diversity. Man and knight reached the same conclusion, and for an instant the same look of disgust crossed both their faces. Baseless rumors were born exactly like this. Seeing that their opinions aligned, they quietly grew certain.

"Heh. I've seen plenty of mad Summoners, but this is the first one mad in so many different ways."

"Yes. Even his personality is unquestionably a special case."

"For now, he clearly has a talent for making money. You still haven't pinned down how?"

"We... attached a Summoner who had a connection to him, but that one hasn't reported in."

"No contact?"

"No."

Neither of them could imagine that Kim Hyun-shik—an Assassin who had already obtained his 1st Class—might have been taken down by a Novice. The conclusion they reached was, naturally, a different one.

"Don't tell me he..."

"He never returned to the Royal Palace either. It seems he vanished after that. We'll give it a little more time, and if he doesn't come back, I'll issue a wanted order."

The knight's expression went cold in an instant. The man receiving the report was no different.

"Tsk. Summoners, every last one of them. Hardly any worth liking. Rotten in the head, the lot of them..."

"Still useful tools, though, aren't they?"

"...Yes. That much is true. And there's that peculiar power they call a trait. His—was it an information type?"

"Yes. It was judged a useless trait, but looking at things now, there seems to be a hidden ability."

"You think he's become able to find treasure?"

"If that were the case, I'd expect a major change in his equipment. As far as we know, there hasn't been one."

By an adventurer's nature, the best treasure was usually kept for oneself.

"Then?"

"Rather than treasure, I suspect the trait developed toward finding things that make money. As I understand it, he lived as a beggar for quite a while after he was driven out."

At the knight's words, the man snorted a laugh.

"A beggar..."

A Summoner's trait could change according to its bearer's wishes and growth, and wishes followed one's circumstances. The words beggar's life only planted a deeper prejudice in the man.

"Changed by a beggar's life, toward finding what makes money. Yes. That would be it. That makes sense."

The same guess about the same situation. Once again the two confirmed that their opinions matched, jumped to a conclusion about Cheol-woo's ability, and grew certain all over again.

"Well, it's certainly a useful ability, but..."

Since the Labyrinth's appearance, had any royal house ever truly lacked for money? Even the knight could see the man's interest cooling. In truth, it was their own faction that had branded Go Cheol-woo deadweight and driven him out. A mind already stacked with prejudice upon prejudice had no flexibility left to offer.

"He's on Floor 5 now, was it?"

"Yes. Through Floor 4 he was on the slow side, but he cleared Floor 5 in a single day."

"One day? Hmm..."

Tap. Tap. The man drummed the armrest of his chair, and the silence stretched a little longer.

"...Well. We'll watch until he obtains a class. If he has something special beyond our expectations, it'll show on the surface by then."

"Yes. Then our measures..."

"Just keep an eye on him. Anyone who doesn't come back, put out a warrant."

"Yes. Understood."

And so the conversation ended in the inner depths of the royal palace.

Elsewhere, another group had followed the same line of reasoning to an entirely different conclusion.

"An ability that finds what makes money? That's a jackpot, isn't it?"

"Indeed. If he can pull in that kind of income in the Novice stretch, then on the upper floors..."

"If it's true, it's a jackpot. But it needs to be confirmed."

"That goes without saying."

"In that case..."

People who lived for money. The conversation had come from inside the Merchant Guild.