Chapter 357: Fairy of the Night Sky
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 357: Fairy of the Night Sky
Walpurgis Night.
Also known in German as ‘Hexennacht’ (Witches’ Night), this festival is celebrated in Central and Northern European regions like Germany and Sweden to pray for the arrival of spring and a bountiful harvest.
From late April to early May, people gather in town squares to light bonfires, singing and dancing before them to drive away evil spirits and pray for the new season’s prosperity.
Furthermore, for the Germanic peoples who have long suffered at the hands of dark mages, it is also a kind of requiem. They throw the corpses of dark mages hunted during the cold winter into the bonfires to honor the souls of their murdered family and neighbors.
—Excerpt from Into the Cultures of the World, Germany Edition.
*
“I'll check your ticket, sir.”
When I arrived at Arkwell Hall, where the auction was being held, a man in a clown mask approached me.
It was a strange getup, but I figured it was part of the auction's theme and paid it no mind.
I showed him the QR code Shin Yuna had given me.
“...Thank you very much for attending our auction. Please, right this way.”
After checking the code, the staff member's attitude changed completely.
He became much more cautious, you could say.
I followed the man into the building and down an empty corridor when, this time, a female employee without a mask approached.
Stunning blonde hair, sharp features, and a voluptuous figure that was noticeable even through her suit.
She was a classic Western beauty.
“My name is Rachel, and I will be assisting you today.”
Rachel bowed politely and began to guide me in place of the male employee.
It seemed to be a VIP-exclusive passageway, as there was no one else in the corridor besides her and me.
As I walked behind her in silence, my eyes were naturally drawn to her swaying hips.
For a moment, my gaze nearly fixated on them, but then a strange sense of unease flickered through my mind.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes? Is something wrong?”
Rachel turned her head with a refreshing smile.
An ordinary man might have hit on her and asked for her number.
But to me, something about Rachel's demeanor felt 'off'.
“Have we met somewhere before?”
It was a cheesy line that might have worked in the eighties, but Rachel’s expression didn’t change.
“I'm sorry, but for security reasons, we are prohibited from exchanging personal contact information with guests during work hours.”
Thinking I was just trying to hit on her, she politely turned me down.
I watched Rachel for a moment before slowly nodding.
“My apologies.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
After that, I followed her down the corridor without another word.
A short while later, we arrived at a place that looked like a reception room.
“Do I participate in the auction from here?”
“Yes, if you wish to bid, please enter the amount on the button in front of you. Please let me know if you need anything at all.”
After finishing her explanation, Rachel took a step back and skillfully erased her presence so as not to disturb me.
I nodded inwardly at her skill; she seemed to blend into the wall in an instant.
Just as I'd expected, she was no ordinary person.
But I wasn't particularly surprised. After all, the auction being held in England was called 'Walpurgis Night,' and it was hosted by the major German guild, 'Nachtwolf'.
I figured all the auction staff, including Rachel, were probably Hunters belonging to Nachtwolf.
Plop.
'Though, it seems that's not the only thing they're hiding.'
Sitting on the sofa, I reached for the bottle of champagne on the table.
The label was in German, and a quick search online revealed it was a luxury item that cost several million won per bottle.
Pop!
With a cheerful sound, I poured the champagne into a wine glass.
There were ordinary soft drinks available, but since I was here on a VIP ticket, I wanted to have a variety of experiences.
But perhaps my expectations were too high.
'...Tastes like bitter sparkling water.'
My tolerance for alcohol was so high I could probably drink a bottle of disinfectant and be fine, so the high-proof champagne was nothing more and nothing less than sparkling water to me.
Sure, the aroma was a bit more complex and it had a deeper flavor, but that was it.
Honestly, I would have been much better off with a Coke.
Pssht-
As I opened a can from the fridge, I thought about the items I needed to win at today's auction.
First, 'Euphrasia' for crafting a staff. Second, an 'elixir' that could help with Cheon Yeo-hwa's internal injuries. And third, a detoxification artifact to replace my broken rosary.
Finally, there were the gifts for my women back in Korea.
Of course, if I ran out of money, I'd have to buy the gifts at a department store.
'It's a bit tight.'
My current budget was 90 billion won under Shin Yuna's name, plus 20 billion of my own, for a total of 110 billion won.
In pounds, that's roughly 62 million.
Of course, I planned to buy the gifts for the girls with my own money. Buying gifts for other women with Shin Yuna's money would be a scumbag move.
However, if an item I needed came up at the auction, I would use Shin Yuna's money.
That's what she gave it to me for, after all.
'Didn't they say Euphrasia would be around 20 million pounds?'
That's about 35 billion won, or 30 percent of my available budget.
And that was the minimum estimate.
If a bidding war started, there was no telling how high the price would go.
'I'll prioritize the elixir for Yeo-hwa, and buy the Euphrasia if I have enough left over.'
It would be a lie to say I didn't covet a staff made by a Master Smith, but Cheon Yeo-hwa was tens, no, hundreds of times more important to me than that.
“Sir.”
Just as I was mentally calculating the emergency funds I could pull together, Rachel, who had been quiet all this time, spoke to me.
“The auction is about to begin.”
The clock on the wall read 10:59 p.m.
And the moment the minute hand twitched to 11:00 sharp...
Rumble-
With a light vibration, all the furniture except the table and sofa vanished.
Even the walls, ceiling, and floor disappeared.
Tap, tap.
But they hadn't actually disappeared.
'An illusion?'
I turned my head and looked around.
Other auction participants were floating in mid-air, seated on sofas just like me.
Every one of them was obscured by static, their faces hidden from view.
'...Is this some kind of barrier? But maintaining such a high-level illusion magic would require a significant amount of magic power.'
I closed my eyes for a moment and placed my hand on the spell formula that formed the barrier.
Vmmm-
Judging by the jumbled flow of magic being supplied to the barrier, it seemed more than ten mages were pouring their power into it.
The unfamiliar structure began to pique my interest.
The problem was the desire to meddle with it, which was slowly rearing its head and tempting me.
'Tsk, this is a chronic problem of mine.'
If I accidentally broke the barrier, I could end up making an enemy of the entire Nachtwolf guild.
I suppressed the urge with my magic power.
To distract myself, I shifted my gaze elsewhere.
Looking down, I saw a rather impressive stage.
And on it stood a slender man with a distinctive beard.
'Who's that?'
I'd definitely seen that face somewhere before.
“I would like to thank everyone for participating in Walpurgis Night. I am Heinz, the vice guild master of Nachtwolf.”
'Ah.'
I finally remembered.
Heinz Reike, the second-in-command of the Nachtwolf guild, Germany's resident casanova who was always caught up in scandals with women.
“We will now begin the auction.”
*
“Five million pounds! Ah, we have six million pounds. Any more bids?”
Bang, bang!
“The beautiful painting from France goes to participant number 47!”
I rested my chin on my hand and watched the stage.
An hour had passed since the auction began, and I hadn't bid once.
The reason was simple.
'It's all just luxury goods.'
Of course, there were some useful magic tools and artifacts from time to time, but they were all ridiculously expensive.
The bidding wars inflated the prices, but the starting bids were absurd to begin with.
The painting that just sold started at 1.5 million pounds (about 2.7 billion won).
“The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, I guess.”
Crunch.
I popped a peanut into my mouth and recalled the items that had been sold so far.
An enormous purple diamond, a watercolor by a famous artist, a 200-year-old bottle of wine.
Each one sold for tens or hundreds of billions of won.
Meanwhile, the slums of London are overflowing with people starving to death.
'What an unfair world.'
The world is neither fair nor equal.
That was a law of the world that would never change.
I drank the champagne.
The moment the bitter taste filled my mouth...
“Now! You can look forward to our next item! It's the inner core of a spirit beast, all the way from China!”
“...An inner core?”
The words "inner core of a spirit beast" finally caught my interest.
“As many of you know, the inner core of a spirit beast cannot be stored for long. Unlike elixirs, its energy dissipates quickly once it leaves the spirit beast's body. However, thanks to the hard work of Nachtwolf's mages, we were able to transport it safely!”
Snap.
At the snap of Heinz's fingers, staff members carried a glass case onto the stage.
“Now then, allow me to introduce the item.”
Inside the case was a pill glowing with a vivid red light.
“This is the inner core of a carp said to have lived for ten thousand years! While it may not have a significant effect on women, there is nothing better for restoring a man's vitality. In fact, there's a story of a wealthy man over a hundred years old who ate this very core and impregnated his young wife.”
Heinz made a hip-thrusting motion with a lecherous expression.
Laughter erupted from all around at his vulgar display.
“Alright, the bidding will start at 5 million pounds (about 8.9 billion won)…”
Beep-
Before Heinz could even finish his sentence, the sound of a bid echoed through the auction hall.
10 million pounds.
That was the amount displayed on the screen above the stage, roughly 17.8 billion won.
'That's mine.'
For the record, I was the one who bid.
“...Haha, it seems participant number 71 is in quite a hurry.”
Laughter broke out again, but I was too busy observing the inner core to spare any attention for them, nor did I have any reason to.
'Is that guy, the vice master of a major guild, really that empty-headed?'
I know that in this world, only the cores of high-level magical beasts are considered valuable, but to think he'd treat that thing like a mere vitality tonic.
Even from this distance, I could feel the intense yang energy and see the brilliant red color, untainted by any impurity.
That was undoubtedly the 'Inner Core of a Millennium Hwari'.
For me, who could no longer build up internal energy with elixirs, I had to have it, no matter what.
Beep-
“Ah, participant number 4 has bid 11 million pounds…”
Beep-
I raised the price to 20 million pounds (about 35 billion won).
The murmuring around me grew louder.
In Europe, where knights who trained in mana cultivation instead of martial arts were the majority, this was a natural reaction.
It might be a different story for a magical beast's core, but even for the most vainglorious nobles, 20 million pounds for a spirit beast's core would be an excessive amount.
I, too, was wondering why such an item had appeared at a British auction instead of one in China or Japan.
If it had been sold there, it could have easily fetched hundreds of billions.
I didn't know the exact reason, but one thing was certain.
Beep-
“Participant number 4 has now bid 21 million pounds…”
That this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Beep-
“Participant number 71 has bid 25 million pounds!! You seem to be in quite a hurry!”
-Hahaha!!
Vulgar laughter echoed through the hall.
It was mocking laughter, but I didn't care.
Because they were the ones losing out by just sitting there, not me.
“Alright, we're at 25 million pounds! Any more bids?”
Silence fell over the auction hall.
Even after the 30-second timer on the screen ran out, no one else placed a bid.
Heinz looked around, then grabbed the gavel and swung it.
Bang, bang, BAAANG!!
“Congratulations! The inner core goes to participant number 71!”
*
Around the time the clock struck 1 a.m., I left the auction hall with a satisfied smile.
Not everything had gone according to plan, but the gains were overwhelmingly greater.
I slipped into a deserted alley and took the glass case out of my inventory.
Ting-
[Information on the newly acquired item is being collected.]
[Inner Core of a Millennium Hwari
Grade: Epic
The inner core of a Millennium Hwari.
It contains an immense amount of yang energy.
※If absorbed by someone who has learned a Yin Art (陰功), they may suffer from Qi Deviation.]
Inside the specially treated case was the inner core of the Millennium Hwari.
“Damn, look at that shine.”
I couldn't help but marvel at its brilliant appearance.
Having obtained the inner core of a Millennium Hwari for the paltry sum of 44.5 billion won, I was the winner of this auction.
And I had also succeeded in obtaining the Euphrasia I had originally targeted.
Ting-
[Information on the newly acquired item is being collected.]
[Euphrasia
Grade: Epic
A flower that blooms from the crown of an A-rank magical beast, the Alraune. When brewed and consumed, it has a powerful aphrodisiac effect.
It is also used as an ingredient in alchemy.]
The light pink petals shone beautifully in the moonlight.
Due to the bidding war, I had won it for 22 million pounds (about 39 billion won), a higher price than expected.
Still, I could call this a successful outcome.
“...In the end, I couldn't get the elixir.”
But since no elixir that could help with Cheon Yeo-hwa's internal injuries had appeared, I couldn't be completely happy.
Of course, I had anticipated this to some extent.
In Europe, where the Church's influence was immense, it would be strange for an elixir containing demonic energy to be openly traded.
As for detoxification artifacts, a few decent ones did come up.
But they were all so ridiculously expensive that I didn't even bother bidding.
The cheapest one sold for 30 million pounds (about 53 billion won).
Of course, for nobles constantly under the threat of assassination by poison, it was practically a necessity for survival, so the high price wasn't unreasonable.
“So, 44.5 billion for the Millennium Hwari's inner core, and 39 billion for the Euphrasia... a total of 83.5 billion, was it?”
For the record, I didn't buy any gifts.
The nobles drove the bids for any decent-looking rings or jewels to insane heights, so I couldn't do anything about it.
I couldn't bring myself to burn tens of billions on a single ring with no special effects.
'I'll pick out the gifts at a department store tomorrow. For now, I should head back to the hotel.'
I put the items I'd won into my inventory and did some light stretching.
There was no way a taxi would be running this late, so I planned to run back to the hotel.
Just as I calculated the distance and direction to the hotel and was about to leap onto a building...
Click-clack.
The sound of high heels echoing through the alley froze me in place.
'...'
I couldn't even make a sound.
Even breathing was no longer under my control.
My instincts, honed through countless life-or-death battles, were screaming alarms.
As if my sweat glands had broken, my entire body was drenched in a cold sweat.
Squeeze-
I clenched my trembling hands into fists.
'...Who the hell is behind me?'
I didn't know.
The only silver lining was that it wasn't an enemy.
I couldn't feel a shred of hostility or killing intent.
In fact, the person was just walking slowly, and I was the one overreacting.
But I couldn't help it.
I was standing with my back completely exposed to someone so powerful I wasn't even sure I could escape if I gave it my all.
It would be stranger to remain calm in this situation.
“Hey.”
At that moment, a cold voice, as if devoid of all emotion, brushed past my ear.
It was a woman.
And a stunningly beautiful one at that, which I could tell from her voice alone.
“I'd like to have a word with you.”
“...”
Ting-
[Change Title?]
[Devil Slayer > Virgin Killer]
[Y/N]
[Y]
[Use Unicorn's Gaze on the target?]
[Y/N]
Know your enemy, know yourself, and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles.
Now that I knew my opponent was a woman, if I could find out her name, I might be able to figure out a way to get out of this situation safely.
There couldn't be that many people in the world who could exude this level of pressure.
I slowly nodded and turned my body.
After what felt like an eternity, I was finally able to see the woman's face.
And I realized.
I didn't need to use my ability to find out her name.
Skin as white as midwinter snow, a gaze colder than ice, and a beauty that brought to mind a fairy from a storybook.
She was known by countless names.
Some praised her as the master of the White Magic Tower that stood tall in Moscow.
Some revered her as the Witch of the Snowfield, who had single-handedly defeated a demon.
And some called her the most beautiful mage.
Her name was Valentina Sasha Danilova.
The 8th Circle Archmage of Russia.
