Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: Final Preparations Before Entering the Mansion
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After meeting the peddler, I thanked him for the items I'd bought last time, telling him they'd been incredibly useful.
Without the body odor remover or the man-eating insect repellent I'd gotten from him, I might've died of stress in the Missing Persons' Forest from all the bugs and beasts that kept showing up out of nowhere. On top of that, the Necklace of Shared Rest let me reunite with my group quickly, and the large-capacity magic bag allowed me to pack plenty of food.
The beast-taming rope hadn't seen much action, but I was using it now to tame the sacrificial dragon I'd bought from the poacher, so it had still come in handy. Thanks to Hee-sun Noona's undine, the purifier I'd picked up back then was the only item I hadn't really used yet—but since I'd be entering the Shiver Mansion alone this time, I planned to bring it along. Everything had been useful in its own way, and I was satisfied.
"Hahaha. Glad to hear they helped. Worth preparing them, then."
The peddler laughed heartily as he laid out his stall. He also set aside a separate section for staple goods. Those were always helpful, so even if you didn't need them right away, it was smart to stock up. Cheap prices and solid effects made it a no-brainer.
The staples came in three types: three bottles of Goddess's Tear (Replica) for wound healing, five Ghost Ward Talismans to repel ghosts, and Dawn Seven, the ultimate fatigue recovery potion. I couldn't say enough about Dawn Seven—it had been a lifesaver during those all-night marches in the Missing Persons' Forest.
"I'll take all of these, then..."
"Haha. You don't mess around. Got a big crew, so you spend big, huh."
I snapped up all the staples in short order, and the peddler clapped in approval.
"By the way, weren't you gone last week?"
"Ah, yeah. That's right."
I'd been in the Missing Persons' Forest and missed him. Merhere had bought everything from him in my place back then.
They were six items with middling performance, nothing too crucial. My women and the regular slaves were making good use of most of them.
I figured it was because Merhere's Luck stat was 0 that he only offered meh stuff. I hadn't fully figured out how Luck worked, but it definitely influenced the quality of goods merchants put out.
Anyway, the items Merhere had grabbed for me last week were, in order: the "Solar Light Lamp" that stored sunlight and only worked at night, "Manti's Book" that let you learn the two-legged folk's language with 10,000 hours of investment, the "Comb for Hair" that improved hair quality, the "Universal Power Switch" that could turn any appliance on or off, the "Ultimate Mosquito Net V.5" that completely blocked bugs, and the "Fresh Flower Maintainer" that kept a single flower from wilting forever.
The "Solar Light Lamp" supposedly emitted real sunlight, but I had no idea what to do with it yet. No enemies weak to sunlight in particular. The rooftop night guards were using it as a ghost repellent for now.
"Manti's Book" froze your body the moment you opened it, forcing you to spend the full 10,000 hours. Perfect for sealing away asshole types... For the record, I could chat with two-legged folk from the demonic realm just fine without it.
The "Comb for Hair" was useful. I used it myself, and everyone loved it. The "Universal Power Switch," though? No real use yet. Our base's only appliance was the generator-powered fridge.
The Ultimate Mosquito Net won't see action till summer... And without some badass flower worth preserving forever, the Fresh Flower Maintainer is out.
Outside the comb, nothing really clicked. Kinda disappointing.
"Since you were gone last week, I stuck around late today just in case I missed you again."
"Ah~ So that's why you showed up today..."
Made sense why he was late. He'd waited to show me his wares.
"Yeah... Word is, the jewel merchant put out a commission for you."
"Yeah. Something about fetching an item from the Shiver Mansion."
"Hmmm... You know who's taking part in that commission?"
"Huh? No, not at all..."
The peddler gave a knowing smile before continuing.
"You know by now we're not the only merchant NPCs, right?"
"Yeah... Heard there are over ten jewel merchants alone..."
"Exactly. At least one per server, up to five. Northeast Asia server's got a whopping four peddlers. I'm in charge of Korea... One in Japan, and two in China since so many survived there."
"Ah, got it..."
Bunch of useless extras, just padding numbers.
"Anyway... We've got our own little community. Call it the 'Merchant Guild.'"
"Oh... So you merchant NPCs banded together?"
"You could say that. Last Sunday, the jewel merchants had a competition event. Friday night—just last night—the list of their proxies dropped."
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The peddler started laying out items on his stall as he spoke.
"Your rival's probably on that list."
"What? W-Wait. Rival...?"
"Shh... Can't say more. Eyes everywhere."
"Ah... Okay..."
"Losing a valuable customer like you would hurt bad. Plus... I'm betting on you. Hope you pull through and we meet again."
"Yeah... Thanks..."
My rival... Only one possibility.
The hero from the divine faction's heading into the mansion... The Luck 777 monster...
Could I even kill him if we crossed paths now?
He might kill me instead. Or...
No way we're grouped together...
I felt a twinge of unease as I checked the items the peddler had laid out.
Earth Emperor's Universal Key: Replica of the original. Unlocks most locks just like the original. Usable 10 times total. Auto-destroys after 10 uses. Price: 10,000C
"Heard the mansion's full of locked doors."
"Ah, got it..."
A universal key that worked ten times for any lock... 10,000 coins, but I bought it without hesitation.
Random Seed Pouch: Plant them to grow random plants. Contains 100 seeds. Most are weeds. Price: 3,000C
Sanity Goggles: Witness sanity-draining foes without losing mental strength. Great for spotting malevolent entities' true forms. Frequent use cracks the goggles. Destruction damages eyes. Price: 4,500C
Noise Generator: Emits human voices. Contains 5 units. Activates 15 seconds after power-on, screams for 3 minutes. Can switch to laughter. Price: 3,300C
Location Compass: Designate one spot; always points there. Never lose your way back to base. Price: 6,500C
Double Helix Pocket Watch: Returns you to your timeline axis. Essential for time travelers lost in tangled timelines. Don't misuse like a time machine, or you'll get dragged to the backworld. Price: 12,000C
"Whoa..."
"The mansion's a jumbled mess. Twisted space and time inside will mess with your head."
"So that's why..."
"Picked the most useful ones. Hope they serve you well."
I bought everything he showed me. Couldn't turn down the gesture.
"Alright, business done for today. See you alive!"
"Yeah! Take care!"
The peddler vanished in a flash of light soon after.
Space-time jumble... in the mansion... Damn.
My heart was already racing thinking about what I'd face inside. And with rivals too... Well, just kill 'em all.
I shook off the worries and headed to the sports field, where Hee-sun Noona and Plant Farmer Joo In-hye were hard at work. Handed the seed pouch to Joo In-hye. Figured she could grow anything from it. Sure, it might sprout some horrific otherworldly plant... But Hellas had checked it out—no issues—so I wasn't too worried.
Next, I inspected the mushroom humans grown from crushed zombie corpses.
Actual mushrooms...
The mushroom humans looked just like big clusters of mushrooms. Except their caps were blue instead of brown. They had eyes, but half-lidded so you couldn't really see the pupils. No mouths either—instead, they absorbed moisture from water sprayed on their heads, reached into corpses to rot them into liquid, then slurped it up through their skin membranes.
"Fuuu..."
"Yeah... I'll give you water every day, so obey."
"Fusss..."
Oddly, I could communicate with them. Being from the demonic realm, they spoke in spore-like hisses. Kinda... cute. Squishy too... The kids at the school loved 'em. Felt like playing with someone in a costume—they were hugging, hitting, total chaos.
I worried the mushrooms might snap... but they didn't react. Just stood there dumbly no matter what the kids did. Perfect. Affectionate, almost. Even Hee-sun Noona, trimming trees on the field, took notice.
"Jun-ah... You understand them?"
"Huh? Yeah. They want water every day. Give 'em that, and they'll work hard."
"Ah... Gentle guys, huh... Cute..."
They really were docile. Obeyed without any threats.
And all they wanted was clean water... Cheap, top-tier slave race. Hee-sun Noona volunteered to water them every morning. Felt like tending plants... except they were two-meter-tall giant mushrooms.
Only two for now... Breed more for workers, and they'll be perfect...
With time to kill, I tested them out. Strong enough to lift cars. Felt almost no pain even if damaged. They said as long as they got clean water and corpse nutrients, broken parts regrew. Caveat: too dry or intense sun could kill them, so watch that.
Handy workers all around. If numbers explode, might summon their queen goddess or whatever—but just disable breeding, easy fix.
"Ugh... Uwaaaaaah!!!!"
Our peaceful time with the mushrooms shattered by a woman's scream from the infirmary.
"What the—!"
Rushing in, there was a one-armed, one-eyed beauty groping herself all over.
"W-What is this... My lord... Why am I in a woman's body... What..."
"Ah... Uh..."
How to explain?
Tell her I slipped her the gender-swap whiskey? Nah, couldn't.
"H-How did this happen!! You're Palus, right?!"
"M-My lord... Don't you know why I'm like this...?"
"Huh? No idea! You passed out after a drink yesterday... So I moved you here!"
"Aah... What the..."
Play dumb it is.
"Woke up... suddenly a woman... No clue what's going on. Why me..."
"O-Oppa..."
A-reum, who'd followed me in, poked my side while staring at the flustered Palus. Ignored her. She yanked my ear and whispered.
"Not gonna say anything?"
"Uh... Just play dumb. If she knows I did it... she'll try to kill me. You stay quiet too, A-reum."
"Ah... Oppa... You ditched me alone when Unnie was bullying me yesterday... Coward!"
"Sorry about that... But A-ram mad scares me too."
"Hey! I ain't scared of Unnie?!"
Palus called out suspiciously as we whispered.
"Hey... you two... Why whisper excluding me...? You know something..."
"N-No!! Just freaked out too!!"
"Y-Yeah... Turning into a woman suddenly... Palus, you didn't catch some disease, did you...?"
A-reum flipped it, implying Palus brought a contagion. Palus panicked, waving her hands.
"N-No!! I'm innocent!!! This is... slander!!!"
"C-Calm down!! Palus...! Could be saliva-borne!!"
"M-My lord... You think it's my fault too...?"
"W-Well... You're the only one who changed... Suspicious. Quarantine for a week."
"W-Wait...! I'm fine!! This is unfair!!! Believe me!!!"
"No!! Stay here, Palus!! We're leaving!!"
"Wait!! My lord!!! My loooord!!!!"
We ditched Palus in the infirmary and bolted.
"Haa... Haa..."
"Oppa... Really gonna hide the truth?"
"Truth... doesn't matter. Reality does."
"Jeez... What if she finds out later...?"
"Gotta show her the joys of womanhood first..."
"You psycho...! Gonna sleep with Palus? She was a dude!"
"Nah, not sleeping with her. Finding her a match."
"A match...?"
"Yeah... Hook her up."
No matter how hot she got... couldn't bed an ex-man. So I'd find Palus a suitable partner.
"Surely... someone's a perfect fit..."
"A p-perfect fit...?"
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The Palus fiasco wrapped up for now. Hellas cleared her—no issues—so she was back in action. One downside: gender swap fixed nothing else. Just sex change; chronic issues persisted. Glass cannon sans dick, basically.
Late evening, the weapons merchant showed. Silent dwarf type. Sold a bow, two-handed sword, and shield. Hellas and Merhere vouched for top quality, so I bought 'em. Non-magical, fair prices...
Honestly, we had so many weapons stockpiled already, nothing blew me away. I looked bummed; he promised better next time. Gruff but not nasty.
"Oh, right... This."
"A letter?"
"Yeah. Zeke asked me to deliver."
"Zeke... Thanks!"
"Next time... better stuff."
"Sure...!"
I tore open the letter from the weapons merchant. Ancient script Zeke used was illegible, but Merhere decoded it.
Roughly: He'd drop by sometime soon.
A man... to introduce to Palus...
To prep for Zeke, I ordered Ha Jin-seong to raid nearby booze stashes.
With the last merchant met, I finally relaxed. All prep done. Just pack for the Shiver Mansion and wait for Monday.
And so the second week of March passed.
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