Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Ruffian (1)
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Yuri's quiet mutter made the woman who called herself the canteen owner blink in surprise.
"You're here on purpose? Do you even know what kind of place this is?"
"They said you could buy good stuff here."
"……!"
The woman looked shocked.
In the meantime, Yuri drew closer to the display case.
A large display case filled with countless items.
Yuri examined a few of them.
-Gnome Clan's Advanced Slash Wound Recovery Potion 300,000P
-Low-grade Mana Enhancement Elixir 2,500,000P
-Gold Dragon Badge 5,000,000P
-White Dragon Badge 15,000,000P
Yuri's eyes darkened as he looked at the items and prices.
'This isn't the special discount sale.'
Judging by the price range and items, it was clearly just a regular special sale, not the discount version.
Yuri turned his head.
"Canteen lady."
"Coco."
"……?"
"My name is Coco."
"Got it, Coco lady."
"……."
"Lady?"
"……."
"…Coco?"
"You called?"
Yuri let out a faint sigh as Coco finally answered with a beaming smile.
"Haa… So, are these all the items you have? What about the special discount sale items?"
"You really… came here knowing exactly what you're doing?"
A glint flashed in Coco's eyes.
'This kid… how?'
Right now was peak time for the Dragon Badge frenzy.
Yet a probationary knight who should be in the Starting Forest had come all the way to the mainland—and knew about the special discount sale?
It was bizarre and astonishing.
Swoosh-.
Coco, who had a half-smoked cigar in her mouth, extended her hand.
Seeing Yuri tilt his head, she smiled and wiggled her fingers.
"Dragon Badge."
"……?"
"Show me your Dragon Badge. I need to check if you're really a first-year before deciding whether to sell or not."
"Ah!"
At her words, Yuri fumbled out his Dragon Badge.
The moment she saw the badge from his pocket, Coco's eyes widened again.
"…Black Dragon Badge?"
A Black Dragon Badge engraved with the number 50.
Seeing it, Coco realized who the boy before her was.
"You're the one……."
The disciple of that grumpy old man.
Coco swallowed the rest.
"This proves it, right? Identity confirmed."
"Yeah, that's confirmed."
Nodding, she pulled out a watch from her pocket.
Click-.
"23:55… A bit early, but whatever."
After checking the time, she smiled at him again.
"The special discount sale normally starts sharp at midnight and ends in 10 minutes, but shall we open a little early today?"
Truth be told, there was no need to say "today."
As far as she knew, this was the first time a first-year had shown up for the special discount sale.
She winked at Yuri and pulled the golden rope again.
Rumble-.
A loud noise echoed as the special sale display receded.
Rattle rattle rattle-.
A new display case slid into place.
If the previous one had been a plain wooden case, this one was made of metal.
Shiny, lustrous metal at that!
Yuri's eyes widened as he stared at it and asked,
"That's… all gold, isn't it?"
"Good items deserve fancy, expensive packaging, don't they?"
That was Coco's way of describing the dazzling golden display case.
"Now, you have exactly 15 minutes. Pick what you want!"
At her words, Yuri sprang into action.
How much had he suffered for this very moment?
He had no intention of wasting even a single minute or second.
He hurried to the display case and scanned the items.
'Not many items here.'
While the special sale case had been packed tight, the special discount case held only about ten items.
And their grades varied wildly.
'If the special sale items were mostly mid to high-grade… the discount ones range from low to top-grade.'
The discount sale items had a wider grade spread than the special sale.
But the biggest difference between special sale and discount sale was the price.
-Gnome Clan's Low-grade Slash Wound Treatment Potion 300P
-Gnome Clan's Top-grade Slash Wound Recovery Potion 5,000P
-Gnome Clan's Top-grade Fracture Recovery Potion 5,000P
-Low-grade Mana Enhancement Elixir 30,000P
-Gold Dragon Badge 49,999P
-White Dragon Badge 99,999P
Recalling the prices of identical items from the special sale, Yuri stuck out his tongue.
'No wonder everyone raves about the special discount sale.'
The discounts were beyond imagination.
At this rate, it was practically giving them away.
'And if you could buy like this every year…….'
As if reading his thoughts, Coco smiled and said,
"For reference, you can only buy these at these prices during the first-year special discount sale. From now on, you won't even get to look at them for this price."
Yuri nodded with a 'Figures.'
As he quickly scanned the items, something caught his eye.
-Gnome Clan's Secret Transmission 300,000P
An item with an extra zero compared to the others on the discount sale.
It was a single pendant.
A silver metal chain.
A transparent, rectangular crystal the length of a thumb.
And inside the crystal, a sloshing emerald-green liquid.
Yuri asked,
"What's that?"
"Who knows? What could it be?"
Coco shrugged at Yuri's question.
But Yuri saw it.
The faint quiver of her lips.
Sensing there was something special, Yuri casually broached the topic again.
"Mind explaining what it is?"
"I'm just the seller. I don't do explanations."
"…Don't sellers usually hype up their wares?"
"That's for stuff that's hard to sell. I don't need to—I can just not sell it."
She had a point.
Probationary knights were the ones who wanted the discount sale items.
Even if the Cradle never held another one, they couldn't complain.
Knowing that, Coco could afford to be so nonchalant.
She tossed her spent cigar into the ashtray, took out a fresh one, put it in her mouth, and lit it.
Siiiip-.
Sizzle-.
"If you're curious, buy it and find out yourself. That's what Cradle knights are supposed to do."
Hooo-.
"Ten minutes left."
She glanced at her watch and urged him on, exhaling thick smoke.
Ignoring it as best he could, Yuri fell into thought.
"Hmm……."
Whether special sale or discount sale, all the items had straightforward names.
What injury they helped with.
How effective they were for recovery.
How much they boosted mana, and so on.
Grades and names were all intuitive.
As if to prevent any mix-ups in usage.
But this 300,000-point item was simply labeled "Secret Transmission."
'Secret Transmission…….'
A secret handed down in secrecy.
Yuri stroked his chin.
'Gnome Clan… the Gnome Clan's secret transmission, huh?'
The Gnome Clan, descendants of ancient dwarves.
Compared to other ancient descendants, they were relatively well-known even to ordinary folk.
Or rather, the skills they possessed had made them famous.
The four skills that spread the Gnome Clan's name far and wide.
Metallurgy and alchemy.
Poison-making and pharmacology.
Recalling that, Yuri's eyes cleared.
'So the pendant itself is the secret transmission?'
A crystal pendant crafted with Gnome metallurgy and alchemy?
'Or…….'
Yuri's gaze shifted to the liquid inside the pendant.
'Is it that liquid?'
His instincts told him.
That liquid might just be the Gnome Clan's secret transmission.
But what troubled him was what that green "secret transmission" liquid actually was.
'Poison? Or medicine?'
The poison of legend from dwarves who slew even dragons.
That legacy became the Gnome Clan's poison, and endless research turned it into their medicine.
'Even if the legend isn't true, Gnome poison is undoubtedly valuable. And if that's medicine…….'
He didn't know the effects, but medicine made by the Gnomes.
Especially one labeled a "secret transmission."
It would be astronomically valuable.
'No need to hesitate, then.'
Yuri reached out.
"I'll take that one."
Coco snorted.
"You read the price right? This is a whopping 300,000 points. Or do you even know what points are first?"
300,000 points.
No mere probationary knight would have that much.
At her mockery, Yuri silently set down the wooden box.
The wooden box he'd cherished from the Starting Forest.
Yuri…
Crack!
Ruthlessly crushed it.
As if he no longer needed it, smashing it decisively.
The wooden box shattered into pieces.
Clatter-.
Yuri pulled out the sack from the wreckage and placed it on the table.
"Everything in here totals 230,150 points. And……."
Yuri took out ten 10,000-point sticks from his pocket.
Thin wooden sticks strung with 10,000 points each.
He tossed them onto the sack.
Thud-.
Clatter-.
"With this, it's a total of 330,150 points."
"…Huh?"
"The Low-grade Mana Enhancement Elixir… and the Gnome Clan's Secret Transmission."
With that, Yuri took three 50-point items from the sack on the table and pocketed them.
Thrifty to the end, not wasting a single point, hitting exactly the amount.
He held out his hand to Coco.
"Hand it over."
"……."
"Come on."
Coco was speechless for a long moment, staring at his boldly waving hand demanding it quickly.
Ten minutes later.
"See you again."
Watching Yuri wave and leave, Coco muttered,
"Duran, Duran… you fool, why'd you take that one in. Tsk tsk."
At her scornful words, someone far away in the depths of the Starting Forest sneezed loudly.
Achoo!
* * *
Hoooouuuu-.
A long breath escaped his mouth.
In the cold weather, the exhaled breath turned white and scattered around.
At the same time, Yuri's half-open eyes snapped wide.
Flash-.
His golden tiger-like pupils gathered the light.
A moment later, Yuri rose and rolled his shoulders.
Crack crack-.
His shoulders turned smoothly.
He hopped in place, and his body felt light enough to soar at any moment.
That wasn't all.
His heavy, overworked head felt refreshed, as if after a deep sleep.
His condition was smile-inducing.
The reason was simple.
"Whoa, this potion hits hard."
It was because he'd consumed the Low-grade Mana Enhancement Elixir from the special discount shop.
The effect was truly astounding.
'Perfect for fatigue recovery.'
Of course, the elixir's effect wasn't limited to mere fatigue relief.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be called "Mana Enhancement."
Yuri gently touched his navel area.
'It's noticeably bigger.'
If his mana core used to be walnut-sized, now it was egg-sized.
That made it all the more astonishing.
"This… is just low-grade?"
What if it were mid-grade, or high-grade, or even top-grade?
How much larger would the mana core grow?
'The old man said more mana isn't always better.'
He'd emphasized that output—mana power—was what mattered.
Mana power: the force one could produce from a given amount of mana.
Johan had said that doing 100 units of work with 100 mana was inferior to doing 100 with just 1, offering infinite potential.
Yuri agreed.
But that didn't mean total mana quantity was unimportant.
Johan wouldn't deny that either.
'In that sense… I need to keep scarfing down these elixirs from now on.'
The refreshment, fullness, vitality after taking one.
And the sense of accomplishment from increased mana!
He wanted to feel it again.
"Haa… It's addictive."
No, maybe he was already hooked.
'If a mere low-grade enhancement elixir does this much…….'
Clink-.
Yuri pulled out the pendant from around his neck.
'What will the Gnome Clan's Secret Transmission taste like?'
His eyes gleamed dangerously as he gazed at the sloshing emerald-green liquid inside the transparent crystal.