Rozi Never Became a Slave
It was a shame Rozi had died before he could be made a slave, but it hardly mattered. Yujun already had his first and last slave: Paranet.
He began to ransack the king's bedchamber, turning the place over from one end to the other. He couldn't afford to forget why he had come. Somewhere in this room was the item Tapagol had spoken of, and he needed to find it.
Where could it be?
Searching on his own might take a while, so he summoned Tapagol at once.
"Tapagol!"
"...What are you doing?"
It hadn't been Yujun who called the name. Tapagol had revealed himself and shouted his own name with his own mouth.
Yujun stared, dumbfounded, and hot steam blasted from the golem's face.
"What was that?"
"I apologize."
"...I'm not trying to scold you. I just wanted to know what you were thinking."
"I do not know why I did that either."
He hadn't expected Tapagol to pull something even Paranet wouldn't. Watching a golem squirm with embarrassment was novel enough — but did golems even have emotions? When Tapagol had talked back to Paranet before, Yujun had let it pass. Showing up in a burst of his own name, though, was worth a second thought.
Tapagol's quietly unhinged too.
Right. That wasn't the point. Yujun asked him where the item was.
Tapagol nodded and began to move, one deliberate step at a time. He approached the bed and came to a dead stop.
"Master."
"Yeah. What."
"There is a small space beneath this bed."
"A space?"
"It is locked fast. A key will likely be required."
"Move."
Yujun shoved the bed aside on strength alone. It sailed off like a scrap of down. Thud!
Startled by the noise, the king jerked upright. Yujun used Flash, and the flat of his sword cracked down hard, dropping the king unconscious once more.
He checked the floor Tapagol had indicated and found a lock set into it.
"It is an ore of a material I have never seen. It will not break under ordinary force."
"Yeah?"
Yujun poured Chaos into his sword and swung, light as a flick of the wrist. The lock sheared through in a single stroke, with a clean slice and a metallic clack.
"Cut just fine."
"...I failed to account for Master's offensive power. The error is mine. I apologize."
"Nothing to apologize for."
Yujun lifted the wooden panel, now slightly ajar. In the space beneath sat a single box, no bigger than a grown man's fist, all on its own.
"This it?"
"Yes."
"So that's all there is."
"Yes."
"Hmm..."
Yujun wasn't disappointed. Why hide one small box in a place like this unless it was worth hiding? The odds were high that it was something precious. If anything, this was a moment worth getting his hopes up.
He opened the box.
"...Huh?"
What he found inside startled him. Why was this here?
There were two things in the box: a marble, and something like a grape of dark crimson. He checked the crimson item first.
Upon consumption, the grade of one random skill rises. The magnitude of that rise is heavily influenced by Luck. However, there is a chance the user will become short-tempered.
Demon's Blood was the opposite of an Angel's Tear. The effect was excellent, but the side effect was just as severe. A temperament that flared too easily was a serious liability in a fight. In the game, the same effect made a character refuse to respond as it should, and the inconveniences piled up fast.
There was, however, a trait that could cancel that side effect out: Equanimity. In short, it wasn't a harmful item for Yujun.
And then there was the other item. A transparent marble, shot through with a blue light.
Option: No information available.
A Synchronization Marble.
Demon's Blood I can accept. But why is a Synchronization Marble here?
A windfall, granted — but it nagged at him. The places Synchronization Marbles turned up had no consistency to them. The first had been the laboratory in Sourtul Forest. The second, the belly of a Predator in the tunnels. The third, the king's bedchamber here in the Underground Kingdom. If the three shared anything at all, it was only that each lay in Sourtul Forest, or somewhere beneath it.
Yujun thought for a moment, then stepped up to the king and slapped his cheek. Smack!
"Huk—!"
Calton sucked in a useless breath, and his eyes flew open.
"Good to see you. It's me."
"...What happened? I have no memory of anything after the moment I saw you."
"There were intruders here to assassinate you. You know what Demon God Worshippers are, don't you?"
"...Demon God Worshippers? You mean they infiltrated the kingdom?"
"Infiltrated? They'd already taken a seat at the table and drawn up a plan to kill you. You were about to die, and I saved you."
Yujun laid the lie out with a perfectly shameless face.
King Calton shook his head hard.
"My head still aches. In any case, you have my thanks for aiding me. What became of the Demon God Worshippers?"
"I killed them."
"...Those lying dead over there?"
"Yes. Thorough bastards. One of them even transformed into your likeness."
"So it would seem."
The ones collapsed in Calton's bedchamber were Rozi and Shontie. Colchi was sealed inside the Absolute Sealing Orb.
"But how did you come to be here? Did you not say you were leaving?"
"That was the plan... but I happened to overhear the Demon God Worshippers talking. It sounded like something serious was about to happen, so I pursued them, and this is where I ended up."
"...I see."
Calton swallowed a groan. He had grown complacent. After his victory over the Noble Faction, he had let his guard down completely — and Demon God Worshippers, of all things. He knew their danger well, and still he had prepared nothing. He was disappointed in himself.
"What would you have done if I hadn't been here?"
"Quite so. You have my thanks."
"So I'll be taking these."
Yujun held out his palm, showing Calton the Demon's Blood and the Synchronization Marble.
"...Those."
"You can spare me this much."
"Giving them is no matter. But Demon's Blood is, quite literally, a demon's item. I have never seen anyone keep their right mind after consuming it."
"I know."
"You know, and you still mean to take it?"
"Yes. That's fine, isn't it?"
"Take it."
The king told him to take it without resistance. In any case, the man had all but saved his life again, and the items were of little use to him.
"But why show them to me at all, when you might simply have taken them in secret?"
"Ah. There's something I wanted to ask."
Yujun pocketed the Demon's Blood and left only the Synchronization Marble on his palm.
"This. Where did it come from?"
"That marble?"
"Yes."
"I did not obtain it anywhere... It was given to me by a man, when I was young."
"A man? What race?"
"He seemed human, like you."
"Human?"
Yujun's eyes went wide. Humans had crossed onto the Continent five years ago at most. Even Sim Sanghoon, the Irregular, only went back about nine. Which made King Calton's age suddenly very interesting.
"If I may ask, how old are you?"
"You ask my age?"
"Yes."
"I have lived past half of a hundred years."
"So over fifty?"
"That is so."
"Didn't you just say you received the marble when you were young?"
"I did."
"That doesn't add up. Humans were summoned to the Tower of Infinity only five years ago. That wasn't when you were a child."
"I know. I too find it strange, but unless my memory has been warped, it is a plain fact. The one I saw then was unmistakably human."
"Not an elf?"
"Elves and humans are alike, yes, but their appearances differ from the start, do they not? Elves have that distinct feature — the pointed ears."
The king's words left him unsettled. Reason from them alone, and a human had come thirty or forty years ago, handed him the marble, and left.
Was Sim Sanghoon not the only Irregular?
And had that person known what a Synchronization Marble did when they gave it to the king?
"This marble. Why did you keep it?"
"Because it left an impression. That human was tremendously strong. Not a soul in the kingdom could stand against his blade. It was a gift from such a powerhouse. Nothing more than a marble with no effect at all, but when I was young and longed for strength, no treasure meant more."
"No effect at all?"
"None."
"...Right. It really doesn't do anything."
"If it is of no use to you, might you return it to me?"
Yujun's face went perfectly straight.
"No? I'm keeping it?"
"...Very well."
The king seemed not to know what the Synchronization Marble did. Which was only natural. The item's options carried no real description, and even Yujun had thought it useless until he put it in his inventory.
It can't be an item that only works for me, can it?
The moment a Synchronization Marble entered his inventory, it synchronized with No-Pay Casual Gamer's. Simply obtaining one wouldn't grant just anyone that effect, or that privilege.
I have to be the only one who can take No-Pay Casual Gamer's items.
Call it a mean streak if you liked, but No-Pay Casual Gamer was a character he himself had made. Anything No-Pay Casual Gamer obtained had to belong to him.
"This marble. Have you ever put it in your inventory?"
"From time to time, when I was young."
"And there was no change at all?"
"None."
So the king, it seemed, had never obtained any of No-Pay Casual Gamer's items. The synchronization message must never have appeared.
Good.
Yujun tucked the Synchronization Marble into his inventory with great care.
Synchronization is resuming.
Time remaining until perfect inventory synchronization: ??? minutes in total.
Current synchronization rate: (104.2%)
One marble probably won't hand over an item, will it?
Last time, an item had transferred when he obtained the second Synchronization Marble. The odds of receiving one now were against him.
I'd better find another Synchronization Marble, and soon.
Yujun looked at King Calton. Who was this human he claimed to have seen? Someone who had existed in the Tower of Infinity — in the Underground Kingdom — at least several decades ago. Anyone like that would be anything but ordinarily strong. And the chances were good they were tied to him. They were, after all, the one who had given the king a Synchronization Marble, an item that worked only for Yujun.
Who?
Nothing came to him. Surely it wasn't No-Pay Casual Gamer? That was the least credible hypothesis of all. No-Pay Casual Gamer was a character he had made. The idea that a character had come to the Tower of Infinity before it was even created defied common sense.
"Understood. Get things in order. I'll be on my way."
"A moment. I have a question."
"A question? What is it?"
"What is that golem?"
The king pointed at Tapagol.
"My summon."
"A golem summon. I find myself coveting it."
"Not giving him up. He's expensive."
"What would it take?"
"Why do you even want to buy him? He's small for a golem."
"That is precisely why. I have never seen a golem so small. He must possess some special ability."
"He doesn't. Not for sale."
Tapagol's Gigantification was rare, and exceptionally strong. Even if Yujun used another Guide Golem summoning stone, nothing guaranteed he would obtain a golem like this again.
"A pity."
"I'll be going, then."
"You have my true thanks for dealing with the Demon God Worshippers."
"Don't mention it. Once I decide to help someone, I see it through."
Having pulled off a perfectly legal theft, Yujun slipped out of the bedchamber with a satisfied smile.
Afterward he dismissed Tapagol and used Flash to move to the item storehouse beneath the king's bedchamber. He still had work left: using the Demon's Blood he had just obtained.
He took it from his inventory. An item that raised the grade of one random skill, with the magnitude of that rise swayed by Luck. His Luck sat higher than any precedent. Anticipation burned in him.