Bait
That lunatic…
At the sudden new voice that had never been heard before, the auctioneer nearly dropped the gavel in his hand, and the entire hall flooded with shock.
“Th-thirty thousand gold!!! Is there any higher?!”
The auctioneer’s trembling voice rang out, echoing against the ceiling of the auction house.
It’s common for competition to heat up and prices to skyrocket when a good item appears, but even for a near-calamity-grade weapon, thirty thousand gold is ridiculous…
Even if I hadn’t bought those pieces of equipment just now—no, even if I scraped together every last coin I owned—it would still have been nowhere near enough.
In the moment when everyone held their breath, the wooden gavel came down on the auction block with a heavy crack.
Thud—
“Sold! Despair’s Fang is sold for thirty thousand gold!”
Gazes mixed with astonishment and curiosity poured over her like a storm. Yet the woman in the mask and robe remained unmoved by any of the noise.
She simply walked over to the staff with unhurried steps and received the item.
Was there a character like that in the original?
While I was digging through my memories, the auctioneer, having calmed the earlier excitement, opened his mouth again.
“Now then, the next item we will show you is… ahem, also a sword!”
What rose onto the platform was an old longsword caked in thick, bright-red rust. The blade was chipped and twisted, looking for all the world like perfect scrap iron.
Even the fist-sized red gem set into the pommel held not a shred of luster. Rust water had seeped in and dulled its light, and the surface was covered in cracks like a spiderweb.
Sighs of disappointment and mocking snickers filled the hall.
“What fallen house’s warehouse do you have to dig through to find something like that?”
“If you could hand it over to a blacksmith as scrap and get even one gold for it, you’d be doing well.”
But the moment I saw that sword, I instinctively swallowed my breath.
Huh? They’re even putting that up for auction?
A sword that resonates with the user’s will and materials and grows endlessly stronger.
A growth-type Ego Sword.
“Starting bid is… a mere fifty gold!”
I barely held back the laugh that tried to burst out, put on the most bored and indifferent expression I could manage, even forced a lazy yawn, and reluctantly raised my hand.
“…Fifty gold.”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Sold! Sold for fifty gold!”
I received the sword with a perfectly calm face.
Thanks to the masked woman drawing everyone’s attention, I had snagged a “juicy harvest” at a bargain price.
Leaving the auction house, I headed straight for the magic shopping district.
To awaken this thing, I would need a great many mana stones.
In other words, it was something money could solve.
And right now, thanks to being outbid on Despair’s Fang, I still had a fat purse left.
The magic shop that came into view was small, yet an unusual aura flowed from it.
When I opened the door, a tinkling bell rang, and a strange medicinal smell mixed with the scent of hot metal stabbed my nose.
“What business brings you here, student?”
From behind the counter, an older man with sharp eyes behind his magnifying glasses looked me over.
“I’m looking for the highest-purity mana stones. As many as possible.”
“Student, this isn’t a toy shop. Do you have any idea how hard highest-purity mana stones are to come by?”
“Yes. That’s why I came to this shop.”
“Hmm, so you’ve heard the rumors about our place. Then you must know the market price as well?”
When I handed over one of my coin purses, the shopkeeper’s brow twitched as he scrutinized me through his glasses.
He carefully picked up the purse, and at its weight his eyes instantly narrowed.
“Oho, you must be the child of someone quite high-ranking. But even our shop doesn’t keep a large stock of high-purity mana stones all at once.”
When he opened a safe fitted with multiple locks, three mana stones radiating a brilliant light appeared.
“I’ll deliver the rest as soon as I obtain them.”
“Thank you.”
“Keh-heh-heh, I’m the one who should be thanking you. Thanks to you I’ll be drowning in drink tonight!”
As I left the magic shop, one still-plump coin purse remained in my hand.
Should I just buy a ton of high-grade potions with the leftover money?
I was walking along, laying out my next plans, when—
“Cough, cough…!”
In the bustling main street full of lively laughter, at the mouth of a dark alley where the light cut off as if it were a lie, came a dry cough that sounded like scraping metal filings.
Drawn by that sound, my gaze turned into the alley without my meaning to.
A man was crouched against the wall. Clothes so tattered they were beyond shabby, a body reduced to skin and bones. His face, gasping for breath, was black with despair.
I was about to pass him by as just another common beggar of the city when a scene flashed through my mind like lightning.
Ah… this man.
An NPC who only appears when certain conditions are met in the original game Melting Recipe.
If you gave him money, he would thank you with tears, saying he would use it for his sick daughter’s treatment, and later bring a modest reward.
What was the reward again? A few low-grade stamina potions, a bit of good reputation, and a handwritten letter from the daughter after she recovered?
To me right now, it was a “trash” reward that offered no real help.
My judgment as a gamer was cold. In a difficulty-hell game like this, ignoring quests with no return on investment was the obvious strategy guide.
I had casually bid fifteen thousand gold just a moment ago, but that had been a sure “investment.” This, however, was closer to pure “waste.”
“Please… my daughter… cough! Hack!”
The man’s plaintive voice reached me faintly. In that instant my feet stopped as if glued to the ground.
For some reason Basil’s face flashed through my mind.
That guy would have stripped himself of everything he owned to help, wouldn’t he?
I turned around. Without a second’s hesitation I tossed the remaining coin purse whole in front of him.
The leather pouch hit the ground with a heavy sound.
The man stared blankly back and forth between me and the purse that had fallen at his feet, as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Th-this… what on earth….”
With trembling hands he picked up the purse. At its weight his eyes went wide.
The moment he opened it, a sharp intake of breath escaped him. Inside was enough gold for a family to live on for years.
“Miss! Th-this huge sum…! B-but I have nothing I can give you….”
The man scrambled up, about to kneel before me. I stopped him and spoke quietly.
“Use it for your daughter’s treatment. You have debts too, don’t you? Pay those off, then buy your daughter a present with whatever’s left.”
“……!”
His eyes filled with shock. As if wondering how I knew his circumstances, he could only open and close his mouth without forming words.
Hot tears streamed endlessly from his eyes.
I turned away without looking at him any longer.
Behind me the cries of “Thank you! Thank you so much!” continued, but I did not stop walking.
I hadn’t done it expecting thanks or some grand reward.
I had simply done what I wanted to do.
A sense of relief washed over me, and at the same time a bitter aftertaste.
With the money I had just thrown away, how many high-grade potions could I have bought?
…As expected, I’m not cut out to be a pure-hearted protagonist. If it had been Basil, he wouldn’t even have felt this kind of regret.
I clicked my tongue and started toward the dormitory when—
Clunk.
A black carriage pulled up beside me and stopped; the window slid down with a soft hiss.
“What a tear-jerking act of charity.”
Along with the cold voice, the face of the masked woman emerged from the darkness.
The very woman who had won Despair’s Fang for thirty thousand gold at the auction.
“Pouring money on someone who can never repay you. I had heard there was a candidate for sainthood running a charity project at Solaris Academy—so that was you?”
Open mockery colored her voice.
“I’m not anyone that impressive. I simply did what I wanted to do.”
The masked woman looked at me for a moment before speaking.
“I cannot understand your actions. They are irrational and inefficient. Just what is your goal?”
“Does a person need a reason to help another person?”
She fell silent at my answer. Then a low laugh slipped out from behind the mask.
“Heh. Very well. Then will you help me this time?”
She reached out, opened the luxurious bag beside her, and tossed the black sword she had won for thirty thousand gold—Despair’s Fang—at my feet.
Thud.
A near-calamity-grade weapon of disaster rolled pitifully on the dirt, raising a cloud of dust.
“Wh-what is this….”
“Didn’t you want it?”
What the hell is going on?
Part of me wanted to snatch it up into my hand right that second,
but this was clearly bait.
Throwing a thirty-thousand-gold item at someone meant a price greater than that would follow.
No matter how hungry you were, you shouldn’t bite the hook carelessly.
Tsk, but the bait is way too broken to just walk away from…
“…What is it you want from me?”
“Will you marry me?”
“Excuse me?”
For a second I doubted my ears.
“M-me… and you?”
She let out a small laugh and shook her head.
“No. Will you marry my fiancé?”
“….”
Ah, what kind of carefully crafted nonsense is this now?