The Bizarre Cash Shop (2)

Cash shopping.

In Tales of Legend, it was an indispensable element — the single easiest path to power.

From the start, the game's insane difficulty felt deliberately engineered to push players toward spending real money. A vicious design among vicious designs. That relentless monetization was one of the biggest reasons Teore slid into the ranks of broken, predatory trash games.

And now, having awakened to my past life in that world, I found myself completely cut off from any possibility of paying to win. The injustice of it burned.

Come on — the game was hard enough with cash shop purchases. How the hell was I supposed to clear it without them?

I could beg all I wanted for a chance to spend money. No shop ever appeared. Ever since I'd remembered my previous life, not a single day had passed without that suffocating frustration.

Then I realized something.

The Aberration Market exists.

Calling it a "market" was generous. It was more of a bizarre phenomenon — aberrations buying and selling grotesque things according to criteria no human could comprehend.

If you really thought about it, stepping inside was no different from crawling into the belly of creatures whose sole purpose was to enslave or devour humanity.

In a normal playthrough, this is a place you would never, ever come to.

One wrong move and you die.

That wasn't a figure of speech. It was literal fact.

Even during regular gameplay, bad luck could drag you here — so a rough strategy guide did exist. It went something like this:

A universal strategy that applied to most places like this.

In other words: don't go in.

And if bad luck dragged you in anyway, pray your way back out.

But right now, I couldn't afford to be picky about cold leftovers versus a hot meal.

The risk was insane — which meant that, under the right conditions, the return could be overwhelming. Items with absurd options. Something that could restore a missing body part. That kind of thing.

"……."

I looked around.

A dark, damp space. Faint green and violet phosphorescence shimmered from every direction, weaving a grotesque atmosphere. Something like blood pooled stickily across the floor, and stalls were laid out around it.

Pulsing hunks of living flesh. Ornaments woven from bone. Things whose nature I couldn't even name — and □□ that seemed to contaminate the mind just by looking at them.

In the distance, glittering relics caught my eye…

So the weapons dealer was here.

Even among the various black markets, this merchant was especially hard to find. Weapons that looked usable by humans were rare among aberrations, after all.

Not that I know whether a human can actually use them.

More likely they were the kind of objects that ate the wearer's mind. I was confident I could pick out the usable ones from the lot, but…

I had no money.

The value system here was nothing like the human world. Performance and worth rarely scaled together, and sometimes a trivial-looking object demanded an outrageous price.

If this were still a game, a bad trade that cost you your life could be undone with a cash purchase. Not anymore.

Hoo.

No greed. Careful. Make the deal clean and get out.

"……."

With every step deeper inside, a nauseating fishy stench stabbed at my nose. It felt like I'd dropped straight into the middle of a horror game.

…And what the hell is that.

The nearest stall. Red chunks of meat were strewn across it at random. That long one… an organ? Some of them were still twitching faintly.

Where had they harvested these from?

Which species had the aberrations most recently "reaped" in bulk? The answer was obvious.

Urgh…

Bile rose in my throat. I forced it down.

Was there anyone who could keep their sanity in a place like this?

…No. There had to be. I had to walk out of here alive.

The key was simple: never offer human currency. Here, the Empire's coin — the René — was worth less than scrap paper.

I patted the things I'd brought along inside my coat. With these, a "safe" transaction should be possible.

My plan was to get only what I needed today and leave ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this place as fast as possible. Very carefully.

That was when it happened.

"Aaaagh!"

Thud!

With a clattering crash, the space behind me rippled — and someone slammed onto the floor.

I ducked into a narrow passage at once.

…Who? Is there another human who knows about this place besides me?

The face that emerged from the darkness was a familiar one.

Thick neck. Mean-spirited features. James — a fellow student in the Territory Management Department, and one of Lionel’s lackeys. One of the three who'd tormented me worst at the Academy.

"Shit… where the hell is this?!"

James spun around, eyes going wide. The grotesque scenery and the horrors laid out on the stalls seemed to hit him all at once; a stream of rough curses poured out of him. His face had gone paper-white.

"W-what is this… this insane place…!"

He stumbled backward — then his gaze locked onto one particular stall.

There, weapons that almost never appeared before human eyes were on display, radiating a dazzling light. Swords, spears, bows — the kind of relics you could believe belonged in legend.

Better not take an interest.

Greed was a privilege reserved for those qualified to hold it. In this place, a human was less than a speck of dust. Survival instinct alone should have been enough to stop his feet.

"Th-that's…!"

Fear surrendered without a fight before greed. As if entranced, James staggered toward the stall glittering with magnificent weapons.

I turned my head away.

I had no reason to save him — but no reason to savor his suffering, either.

And then.

"Kyaa!"

Thud!

Another scream, another crash — and this time a different figure dropped near where James had appeared.

Golden hair. A familiar Academy uniform.

Roella Amelia.

"Wh-where is this… what…"

She looked around and froze solid with terror. Gone was the usual haughty, prickly demeanor. She glanced about anxiously, on the verge of bursting into tears.

…How did she end up here too?

I was about to ignore her as well. Then the small mutter spilling from her lips forced me to change my mind.

"Ian… where is Ian? I have to tell him. I really have to tell him…"

She was clearly in full panic. And still, she was talking about needing to tell me something.

How was I supposed to just leave her?

I didn't know how she'd gotten here, but leaving her like this was dangerous. That raw anxiety and fear would draw the aberrations of this place straight to her.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I approached carefully, clapped a hand over her mouth before she could scream, and pulled her into the nearby darkness.

"Mmph! Mmmph!"

Roella thrashed. I whispered against her ear.

"Shh. Calm down, Roella. It's okay. It's me."

Recognizing my voice, her struggling eased. I slowly took my hand from her mouth. She still stared up at me with eyes full of terror.

"Ian…? Why are you here… where even is this…?"

"A place where aberrations gather… something like that. How did you get in here?"

"I-I followed James. I thought he was going to find you… and then suddenly, at some weird fountain… uugh!"

She couldn't finish. Her whole body shook.

"It's okay. Just calm down for now."

I was patting her shoulder when—

— Thud. Thud.

A spine-crawling sound of footsteps approached.

Joints bent at grotesque angles. Could you even call those joints? The half-peeled, skin-like surface raised the nauseating question of why something like that needed to exist at all. Empty eye sockets gleamed with greed.

Roella's intense fear had drawn it.

Damn it!

I covered Roella's eyes with one hand, pushed her behind me, and stepped forward to face the aberration.

"She's my prey."

I made my voice as cold and oppressive as I could. Bluffing — a trick I'd learned in the game that worked on this particular breed of aberration.

"Get lost."

It looked me up and down for a moment.

It hesitated, then turned away as if it had lost interest.

Whew.

I let out a silent breath of relief — and looked at the chic young lady of a rival house, tears streaming down her face.

"Roella."

"Hhk… hhik."

"I know you're overwhelmed, but keep the emotions in check as much as you can. If you want to live."

Even through her tears, she hurriedly bobbed her head up and down.

"I-I'll buy this! How much? I'll give you everything I've got!"

A commotion rose from farther off. James. He had already reached the weapons stall and was pointing at a splendid longsword with greedy eyes. He pulled a pouch stuffed with gold coins and jewels from his coat and shook it.

But the massive aberration seated behind the stall — a creature with countless arms — only shook its head, unmoving.

"Wh-what?! This is enough money to buy a whole house! Hand over that sword right now!"

James shouted impatiently.

The aberration slowly raised one of its many arms and pointed at James himself.

"…Me?"

James looked confused for a second — then greed blinded him, and he decided the creature's meaning for himself.

"Fine! Sure! A body like mine is more than enough value! Deal!"

Overflowing with joy, he grabbed the longsword from the stall without a moment's hesitation.

That was the exact instant.

"Kraaagh!"

The monster's countless arms shot out like lightning and coiled around James's body. He couldn't even scream properly. In a blink, his body was sucked into the creature as if absorbed — and a moment later, all that remained were the clothes he'd been wearing and the longsword he'd coveted, sitting alone on the ground.

The price.

It had been James's existence itself.

"…Hic!"

Beside me, Roella made a choked sound. Her eyes were huge; she was trembling violently.

Impressive.

Not screaming even in a situation like this. Honestly, I had to reassess her. With a little adaptation, she might become a real asset.

Might even be worth getting her out of here alive.

With that thought, I checked the time. The flow of time here was different ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from reality. Staying too long was not an option.

"…Let's go."

I took her with me and started walking deeper into the black market, deliberately ignoring the horrific sights and grotesque stalls, toward the shop that had been my original destination.