Deals in the Black Tower's Shadow Forum
After crazy psycho Albert left the house, Luna and I channeled mana into the red book just as he had instructed. Paaat!
The moment Luna's mana touched it, the pages—which had been blank just moments ago—began rapidly filling with posts bearing the most outrageous titles, jostling for attention.
"Whoa...?"
Luna's eyes spun at the barrage of wildly sensational and provocative words crammed into those posts as she frantically tried to click on them. I hurriedly stopped her and directed her to one that seemed relatively normal.
"Aw... those look boring though..."
Pouting, Luna nonetheless entered a post recruiting party members for a hunt.
The third son of the border count got killed by the barbarian chief monkey-fuckers, so the whole county's gone batshit crazy lol. That's why they're taking anyone—criminals, black mages, doesn't matter. North's so depopulated they can't be picky anyway.
They chatted excitedly among themselves until the party filled up, at which point the author must have deleted the post—Luna's screen suddenly scattered into the air and vanished.
"Whoa... how do they even do that?"
Luna's eyes sparkled as she asked.
[Well, couldn't say for sure, but the one who made these books probably isn't a fellow contractor.]
Amid the endless flurry of appearing and vanishing posts, ink scattering into the void, a faint, unfamiliar mana lingered.
[Anyway, not important right now. Let's browse more.]
"Okay!"
After rummaging through the community for a while with Luna, we got a rough grasp of its rules and the types of posts that popped up.
There were two main features worth our attention here.
First: requests. Secret commissions from criminal organizations or other shady groups in the Black Tower dimension get posted publicly, and folks form parties with their buddies to take them on—or go solo if they wanna stay anonymous.
Second: the shop. No idea how they source it, but the sheer volume of stuff for sale from the Black Tower was insane. From basic rations to... well, people. Other races too. If you've got the gold, pretty much anything you can think of.
What caught our eye most was the shop's selling function. Like some old-life flea market for secondhand goods—side loot from requests, junk that's lost its value, or stuff the Tower doesn't provide. Easy peer-to-peer trades.
And conveniently, we had those heartless mysterious remains, now useless to us.
"But... is it really okay to sell it like this? Seems like you could make a ton of stuff with it..."
[Hmm, fair point. But it's in rough shape, and we don't need any magic tools right now.]
Luna's gaps were covered by her contract with Cheshire anyway, and aside from ritually significant bits like the heart, that hunk of meat held no real value for us. We'd snag more mysterious flesh doing requests soon enough—what we needed now was cash to set up a workshop.
"Then... I'll post it?"
Now familiar with the community, Luna scribbled on a blank page and posted in a flash.
Mysterious flesh for sale. No heart. Outer parts a bit charred.
The moment Luna posted, the red book started shaking like mad.
Wooong wooong wooong!
Luna urgently flipped it open, and her post was already swarmed with comments.
"Whoaaa..."
Luna, who had never gotten this much attention so fast, trembled—though she seemed secretly thrilled.
As various users timidly upped their bids to snag Luna's item, a familiar name popped up.
Freeze!
The bidding heat that had been building screeched to a halt when this Katrina user dropped a bombshell bid.
"Huh...? Does that mean it's sold?"
The other users grumbled like they'd been burned before and backed off from the aggressive bid.
Katrina sneered at them all, then messaged Luna directly.
The venom and prickliness oozing through the page made Luna shiver as she replied okay.
Luna closed the book with a sigh.
"Phew... scary person..."
I asked the drained Luna,
[But what's the time now?]
Glancing at the small wall clock, Luna answered,
"Time now... let's see. 5:45...?"
Uh oh?
"Eek! No time!!"
Luna bolted up, threw on some clothes haphazardly, and dashed toward the clock tower.
Clinging to her waist as she ran, I pondered slowly.
Hmm, Katrina, huh. Rings a bell from somewhere...
A shrill woman's voice crackled from the orb.
Even through the crystal, her bitchiness came through crystal clear, but Albert kept his serene expression.
A necromancer who could've made it big as a priest...
"Uh, Miss Katrina. This is Albert. A new mage is curious how you pinpointed her identity, so I had no choice but to contact you."
Oh right! She was the grimoire user who briefly greeted Luna via orb when we met Albert! That explains the familiar snarky tone.
"Huff... huff..."
Thankfully, the clock tower wasn't far from Luna's place, so she barely made it just before the appointment.
In the dimming dusk on an empty street devoid of people, Luna caught her breath.
[Hmm. Luna, that prickly Katrina... seems like the mage we chatted with briefly via orb.]
Catching her breath, Luna mulled it over and let out a small gasp of realization.
"Ah... that psycho. I mean, unique person... yeah, the voice sounded familiar..."
As we chatted while waiting for Katrina, footsteps echoed from the opposite alley.
Thud, thud.
The source emerged from the shadows, silhouette illuminated by faint moonlight.
Red hair cascading to her chest. Shorter than Luna, with pronounced curves. And those venomous eyes.
[Hmph. That's gotta be Katrina.]
"Right?"
"What're you muttering about... oh?"
Hearing Luna's mumbling, Katrina stormed toward her with a pissed-off glare—then her face lit up the instant she saw Luna's, and she bounded over beaming.
"Oh, hi sis!"
"Uh, hi."
"Wait! That voice!"
Katrina's face exploded with excitement at Luna's voice.
"You're the one who talked to me on the orb with Albert, right?!"
"Y-yeah..."
"Eeee! No way!"
Unlike Luna, who was shrinking by the second, Katrina bounced around hyperactively.
"L-let's just trade first!"
Sensing she'd get swept up in Katrina's pace and end up exhausted, Luna squeezed her eyes shut and blurted it out.
"Aw~ sure?"
The second Katrina finished, Luna whipped out the red book's remains from her shadow storage.
Grrrglurk...
With an ominous gurgle like a corpse surfacing, the remnants floated up. Katrina inspected them seriously, ditching her prior flippancy.
"Hmm, direct cause of death flame magic? Nah. It contributed to the fatal blow... but the actual cause seems different..."
Muttering to herself for a while, she reached a conclusion and gave Luna a meaningful look.
"Nice! This'll do great."
Katrina pulled a hefty pouch from her bosom and handed it over. Luna tried to play it cool, but I caught her lip twitching upward.
Wondering how Katrina would haul the big chunk, I watched as she sliced the air with her ringed finger—a rift tore open along the path, and she tossed it in.
Satisfied with the deal, Luna tried to bail.
"W-well, I'll be going then..."
"Wait."
Katrina grabbed Luna's arm as she turned.
"Wh-why...?"
"Sis, we met for a reason—wanna do a request with me?"
Her eyes gleaming, Katrina pressed Luna.
Wait, is Katrina maybe... nah, no way?
I alternated uneasy glances between bold Katrina and shrinking Luna.
The polar bear's done for!