Something Beyond Appraisal
Artifact Appraisal Shop.
“Nyang? Didn't you hear something like a thing slamming into the wall just now, nyang?”
Was this the entrance to a labyrinth or a dungeon? The moment I reached for the door of the suspiciously opulent artifact appraisal shop, our veteran guide Sion started trying to scare us again. Come to think of it, that story about turning into a golden statue if you touched the wrong thing in the Golden Nest was probably just medieval-flavored nonsense from a cat's mouth. Given how she'd already messed with us once over maseok in the dungeon, it was entirely possible.
This is why image management matters, whether you're human or a cat. Of course, I'd completely tanked my first impression the second I set foot in the dungeon city by walking around reeking of corpses, but I wasn't a person—I was a demon. Demons started with negative image from the moment they were born, so there was nowhere left to fall.
The contractor gave Sion a suspicious look and spoke up.
“Hmm. I didn't hear anything.”
Just like the contractor, I hadn't heard it either. We didn't have cat ears on our heads, after all.
“Hey, thief. You know, cats and humans—”
“You damn crow! Shut your mouth, nyang! That's racial discrimination, nyang!”
The look on Sion's face suggested she was about to demand why we couldn't hear it and whether our ear holes were all clogged. When I tried to kindly explain the physical differences between cats and humans, she exploded in anger.
So calling a cat beastman a cat was racial discrimination? It was probably on the same level as calling a human a monkey. Since I was a polite demon, I'd have to be careful about that in the future. I'd only use it when I felt like teasing her.
Still... walking around with those cat ears fully exposed and then forbidding anyone from calling her a cat? That was... I shook my head slightly, feeling a pang of sympathy for Mr. Hongmo, who couldn't call his father “father” or a cat “cat.”
‘Still, what was that sound she heard?’
Those real-time twitching gray cat ears might have actually picked something up, but the high-end headset built into my Plague Doctor Mask hadn't caught any noise at all. Maybe she'd just heard a giant medieval cockroach crawling across the ceiling before it had the misfortune of falling. I decided not to think about it too deeply. Even if I wanted to, the constant noise beside me made it difficult.
Tap.
Sion's voice continued lecturing me on just how rude it was to call a Felis (cat beastman) a cat. Fighting the urge to cover my ears, I approached the massive double doors and reached out... only to freeze right before my hand made contact.
Come to think of it, they'd said not to touch anything. Did that rule apply to this door too?
As that thought crossed my mind—
The door is opening automatically.
“...?”
“Eh?”
The door I'd been about to push open with brute force slid smoothly to both sides with a majestic rumble, opening by itself.
What the hell?
The design looked like a hinged door from every angle. So why was it opening like a sliding door? And why was it automatic again? Was this a department store?
“Ooh... Raven-nim. What exactly did you do?”
“I didn't do anything.”
It had opened on its own. For a door, it was surprisingly considerate. What was its relationship with the ferryman, anyway?
‘First a self-driving ferry, now a medieval-style automatic door?’
I'd heard from the ferryman—until my ears nearly bled—that the golden dragon Aurion was a great inventor, but I hadn't expected anything on this level. There wasn't even a motion sensor in sight, so what principle was it operating on? It was genuinely intriguing....
“Hek... hek... Welcome, visitors....”
“Please, come into the appraisal shop...!”
“....”
“....”
“You guys really have it rough, nyang.”
I'd almost gotten excited. But the instant the door opened and I saw the sweat-soaked uniforms of the beastman staff appearing from both sides, the curiosity that had surged up instantly went cold.
They'd probably been waiting inside and turned a pulley when they heard footsteps. If that was the case, wouldn't it have been better to make it a hinged door instead of a sliding one?
‘Well, this is medieval, I suppose.’
Seeing this long-awaited, sensible(?) sight actually felt strangely reassuring. Yes, medieval should have this kind of analog charm.
“Uhek, uheeeek! I ate too much for lunch... I think I'm going to throw up....”
“It's a relief there aren't many customers today...! Yesterday I really thought I was going to drop dead after my shift!”
“Dear me.”
“Does slavery still exist in Bastion?”
“Even if they look like that, they earn way more than your average adventurer, so there's no need to feel too sorry for them, nyang!”
I bowed my head in thanks to the staff members who were panting as they closed the door again, then followed Sion while carefully taking in my surroundings.
‘Whoa, this place is huge.’
Beneath the soaring ceiling lay a vast, refreshingly open chamber. Thud...! Each step sent heavy footsteps echoing throughout the wide space.
“Wow... Are all of these artifacts?”
“That's right, nyang! From what an acquaintance told me, they're part of the master's collection who runs the appraisal shop. I don't know if it's true, nyang!”
On display stands scattered as if someone had tossed them there on purpose, countless relics trapped behind glass cases gleamed with a mystical aura under soft lighting.
Portraits of a blond man with a fatally charming smile hung alongside paintings of a dragon covered in golden scales. Golden statues resembling the handsome man from the pictures stood naked, glowing as they struck every bizarre pose imaginable.
‘It's like walking into an art exhibition.’
But.
“What the hell is this?”
Why was there a statue in a cat pose? And of a ridiculously well-built handsome man, at that.... Wait, what was that one? Holy shit. Was that a jack-o pose?
Oh, the sculptor's mental state was highly questionable. If not for that suspiciously large leaf sculpture covering the important area, I might have unconsciously hurled a knife at it. Was that oversized leaf the sculptor's last shred of conscience? Even so, unforgivable. Someday I'd extract some male phobia and inject the sculptor with a fear vaccine. I made the quiet vow.
“Hmm.”
“Looking at stuff like this will ruin your eyes.”
I covered the eyes of the person—him or her—who stood with arms crossed, wearing a strange expression while appreciating the statues, then pushed them forward by the back and quickened my pace. This wasn't good for mental health if seen at a young age. It didn't look particularly healthy even as an adult.
We hurried through the chaotic yet strangely consistent suspicious exhibition hall. Sion frowned and picked up her pace as well, apparently finding the statues just as unpleasant to look at as I did.
“Thief, when the hell are we going to arrive?”
I clicked my tongue at the exhibition hall's seemingly endless size and asked Sion.
“We're almost there, so stop rushing me, nyang!”
What returned was a cat's sharp hiss, probably aggravated by the self-illuminating statues.
Covering the contractor's eyes while continuing to bicker with Sion, we finally reached the end of what had seemed like an endless mental corrosion labyrinth. After leaving the unnecessarily spacious exhibition hall with its red carpet, a hall densely covered in murals greeted us.
In the center, beneath a massive chandelier casting a gloomy grayish light, stood a counter reminiscent of a hotel reception desk. As we approached, we saw adventurers who appeared to be receiving artifact appraisals.
“T-twenty-five million dallants!? Not ten million—twenty-five million!?”
“Kugh! Leader! Does this mean our clan can finally get a clan house!? Is that it!?”
“Aah, farewell to our long life in inn rooms.”
“Hmm, six hundred... Not bad.”
“But not good either. Damn it, after all that suffering in the Red Zone, and we only get six hundred!”
One word from the appraisers could elicit cheers or regretful sighs. The atmosphere was so heated it was hard to tell whether this was an appraisal shop or a casino. Swept up in that hot wave of emotion, our party swallowed nervously and exchanged quiet glances.
“Whew... I'm suddenly getting nervous.”
“Same here, nyang! The last time my hands sweated this badly was when that crazy weirdo was chasing me in the Red Zone. I'm so excited and tense, nyang!”
Watching my fidgeting, excited party members, I quietly clenched my slightly trembling hands. I wasn't showing it outwardly for the sake of my demon RP, but—
‘Haah, shit. At least ten million or more would be nice.’
In truth, I was extremely nervous. Excited. If I'd still had a heart, the pounding probably would have been audible to everyone around me. The fear born from the anxiety radiating off the others only amplified my own excitement as time passed.
For a survivor of the ruined world who'd been forced through dopamine detox, artifact appraisal was just as intense a stimulus as opening a random box with guaranteed rewards.
Thus...
“...Interesting.”
The honest thought that slipped out unconsciously as my black crow beak clicked.
At that, the black magician cosplayer and the nekomimi thief turned their heads. Seeing me awkwardly clear my throat, my companions gave light smiles before speaking with tense expressions.
“...Then.”
“Shall we go, nyang?”
“Yeah.”
Let's go.
We nodded simultaneously and walked toward the tired-looking white-haired handsome man.
“Hmm?”
That is....
[Unable to Determine Value.]
What could it be?
...How interesting.