The Truly Intelligent Create Their Own Opportunities
The Black Market’s food alley was a tapestry of carnage. Scars from blades and remnants of fierce combat marred every surface. Unfortunate bystanders who hadn't managed to flee were caught in the crossfire of the three-way battle and slaughtered, while the parasitic trees that had crawled into the area only added to the chaos.
-Thud, thud, thud...
"Killian!! Pick up my head already!!!"
"You crazy bastard!!! How is your head so damn independent?!"
Killian and Henry had been desperately trying to stop Ramec from reaching Jojun. While they had succeeded in landing a few meaningful blows, the cold truth was that they couldn't win. As a testament to that, Henry’s head had been severed by Ramec, and Killian’s left arm was dangling, pierced through by a laser pistol.
-BOOM!!!
"Shit!!!" Killian dodged a kitchen knife thrown by Ramec and scrambled to scoop up Henry’s rolling head. Henry’s headless torso had entered a berserk state, and Ramec, with a steel stake driven into his shoulder, was calmly and methodically plunging kitchen knives into Henry’s body.
"Gaaah!! It hurts!!!"
"This is insane... Henry! The two of us can't do it. We can't hunt that guy."
"You want to run?"
"Is there any other way? We bought enough time!"
"Ugh...!!"
Just then, Ramec, having successfully embedded nine kitchen knives into Henry’s body, began to chant.
"Erode."
-Thump.
"GAAAAAAH!!!!"
Henry’s body collapsed. The knives embedded in him began to grow from within his flesh, triggered by Ramec’s incantation.
"Hey!! Pull yourself together, Henry!!"
"It hurts!!! The senses are still connected, you idiot!!!"
Killian was torn. Should he take Henry’s head and run, or fight knowing they would die? Killian made his choice. He had to run. Otherwise, they were both going to die for nothing.
"Hey."
Just as Killian narrowed his focus on escaping with the head, Ramec called out to them.
-Squelch!!!
Ramec pulled the steel stake out of his own shoulder, tucked it away, and spoke. "Hand over that head."
"W-what..."
"Trophy."
"What...?"
Killian and Henry couldn't comprehend Ramec, who had approached them silently to demand the head. Right, Ramec had an old habit—the habit of taking trophies from defeated enemies. He had already taken the steel stake from Killian. Now, it was Henry’s turn to pay up.
"Y-you crazy...!"
"Give me the head, and I’ll let you live."
Ramec’s proposal. Killian agonized over it. They hadn't known each other for long, but Henry was a comrade who clicked with him. They had the bond of fighting together. Finally, Killian steeled his resolve and opened his mouth.
"Take it."
"W-wait!!! Killian, you dog-like bastard!!!"
"I’m sorry. I have to survive to pass on the information. And unlike you, I die if my head is cut off."
"Hey!!!"
Killian handed Henry’s head to Ramec. Ramec braided Henry’s hair, hung it on his belt, and walked past the slumped Killian. Having realized there were no more targets in the food alley, it was time to move elsewhere. "The central plaza should be good."
Ramec vanished in an instant.
"Ugh... damn it..."
Killian dragged his heavy body up and pulled the kitchen knives out of Henry’s torso. Blood sprayed out, but since their bodies were hard to kill, he didn't pay it much mind. "Hey. Follow me. Over here. This way."
Killian led Henry’s headless torso to the poacher’s shack at the end of the food alley.
-Jingle.
"Hmm? You two... aren't players."
The poacher, who had been reading an unidentifiable magazine, looked at the blood-soaked Henry and Killian as if asking who they were. Killian took off the bread bag he had been wearing over his head and spoke.
"It’s been a while... I wonder if you remember me..."
The Beast Hunter greeted the Poacher. The Poacher frowned and tilted his head.
"That voice... I’ve heard it somewhere..."
"Don't you remember me? It’s me, Killian..."
"The Magic Gunner, Killian?"
"Yeah! Magic Gunner Killian! The young guy who used to say let's grab a drink sometime!"
"Oh... right, I remember. But why are you here... I thought you were going to become the Great Forest’s gamekeeper..."
"That... it’s a long story... things got really twisted, so please, help me out."
"Huh? Things got twisted?"
"The person I serve right now... their life is in danger."
"What are you talking about? No, 'the person you serve'... If this is about the World Tree, I’m not taking it. I don't get along with those guys."
"Ah, that’s not it..."
Killian whispered the story of Ramec, Jojun, and Cheshire to the Poacher as if he were snitching.
"...That damn bastard... dares to touch my daughter?"
The Poacher’s face burned with demonic fire. An absurd killing intent engulfed the entire shop. Several glass bottles shattered, and small animals trapped in iron cages vomited blood and died. In the suffocating atmosphere, Killian, having lost the strength to even stand, was forced to drop to one knee and look up at the Poacher. The man began to gather his hunting tools one by one. Objects never before seen in his life emerged from everywhere. Killian realized that the monster favored by the God of the Hunt was truly, genuinely enraged.
"Killian. Where did that guy go?"
"H-he said he was going to the central plaza..."
"I see. Go clean up the shop."
"Y-yes, sir...!"
Killian instinctively used formal speech. He knew the guy was strong, but he didn't know he was *that* strong. He had never even seen him this angry before. Killian’s cunning act to survive had become a snowball, setting the most insane monster among the Black Market merchants into motion. The Poacher was moving to kill a hitman.
Meanwhile, at the central plaza. While Ramec was beating Killian and Henry into a pulp, the low-level demons had all fled at the news of a dragon, and the underground guards with their severely low intelligence had mostly been wiped out by the parasitic tree hosts, gradually stabilizing the situation.
-WHAM!!!
"GAAAAAAH!!!!"
A scream rang out in the central plaza, which had been slowly settling down. The clown slave trader, dragged there by Hilde, was being trampled by Jojun while bound.
"You dog-like bastard!! I! Damn it! Because of you! Yeah! I’ve had a really hard time, you know!!!"
"GAAAAAAH!!! You damn heretic bitch!! Do you think you’ll be safe after doing this to me!! Don't you want to buy slaves anymore!!!"
"Shut up!! Your mouth smells like shit!! You stinking clown bastard!!"
Jojun, who had been planning to eat the entire Black Market, thought that since he was taking it over anyway, he might as well kill the clown and replace him with one of his own slaves.
"Phew. You don't seem to grasp the situation. You’re finished. I was going to demolish that shitty circus anyway, so this works out well. Right?"
"W-what..."
"Listen well, clown bastard. You have exactly two choices right now."
-Gulp.
The clown was nervous. The gaze of the heretic looking down at him was not ordinary. Having dealt with countless slaves, the clown already knew what kind of people had eyes like that. Those were the eyes of a criminal about to commit something.
"Ugh... w-what are the choices..."
"First. You get offered up nicely."
"T-that is!!"
"Shut up and listen. Second. You become my slave."
"W-what... have you finally gone crazy!!! How dare you do this to a merchant NPC protected by the System!!"
"System? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You stupid clown! Did you forget who my sponsor is?"
"T-that is..."
"The Manma-jeon is my sponsor. If I take over the entire Black Market through this incident, massive causality will flow into the Manma-jeon. Do you think they can't remove someone like you? Me? No, it’s not me. It’s our Evil Gods."
"Ughhhhh!!!"
Thanks to this incident, Jojun had gained quite a bit of leverage with the Evil Gods. Because of that, he had requested permission to replace the most unlikable clown in the Black Market, and his request was approved. He was able to replace the slave trader by sacrificing a little causality. It was a completely legal procedure, with no issues from the System’s perspective.
Of course, just because he replaced or enslaved the trader didn't mean he could claim all the slaves bound by the System as his own. That would be breaking the rules. Even so, it was a tremendous achievement because he could prevent the slave trader from playing tricks with contracts, neglecting the slaves to the point of death, or bringing out rotten merchandise. It meant that normal trading would become possible. In the Black Market, this alone was a significant gain. Since the place was full of nothing but lunatics...
'Crazy guy... he’s for real... he’s really going to get rid of me and give the slave trader position to someone else... No... I worked so hard to get to this position... I can never give it up... I haven't even gotten an elf slave yet...'
The clown realized this was the biggest crisis of his life. His precious life, which he had lived by scraping and clawing without caring about others just to collect slaves, was about to be toyed with by some crazy Earthling who crawled out of nowhere.
"P-please... we... we were pretty close, weren't we..."
"Close? You’ve been playing tricks to stab me in the back at every turn. Close? Then, since we’re so close, why don't you be generous and die by my hand?"
"Ugh...!!"
"Stop flapping your mouth and decide. Whether you’ll bow down naked right now. Or whether you’ll end your life nicely right here."
"D-damn it... damn it, damn it, damn it..."
The clown decided. He couldn't die here. He still had too much left to do. Furthermore, reinforcements were coming soon. He had to survive and stall for time as much as possible until then.
"I... I submit..."
"'Sir'. You have to add 'sir'. Are you trying to act up again? Do you want me to just cut you and pick someone else?"
"Damn it... I will submit..."
"Right. Good. Then the first step is finished."
"T-the first step...?"
"Right, submitting is just the basic etiquette. Now, explain why I should keep employing you. If you can't give me three reasons, you’ll have your throat slit right here."
"Ugh..."
The clown racked his brain.
"F-first of all... I’ve been managing the slaves, so I know exactly where the products are..."
"Okay. Next."
"Uh..."
"What? That’s it?"
"Ah, no!! S-second!! I’ve built up a certain connection for receiving slaves until now, so I’m useful!!"
"Last one."
"T-that is..."
The last reason he had to survive. If he couldn't say it... he would die at the hands of the heretic before the dragons of the Man-gwi-jeon came to kill Jang Jojun and Brynhildr. 'Recall it... the last reason I must live...'
However, the clown couldn't think of the last reason to convince Jang Jojun. He thought, he was going to die here for sure. If he had stalled for just a little longer, he would have been able to dance while watching Jang Jojun die. He would have been able to enter the Man-gwi-jeon and capture and own blind slaves. The clown squeezed his eyes shut. At this, Jang Jojun opened his mouth.
"Can't you think of the last reason?"
"....Yes..."
"Then I’ll tell you."
Jojun looked down at the humiliated clown and pressed his thumbprint onto his forehead. At that moment, the slave trader became a slave.
"Now that you’re a slave, I guess I can tell you. The last reason you have to live... Right, where is Enkidu?"
"Yes?"
The slave trader was flustered. How did this lunatic know of Enkidu’s existence? No, he could know. It was a name recorded in Sumerian mythology. But the fact that the existence was real and that the clown himself knew the location of the seal should have been a strictly kept secret... The clown didn't know that such classified information had all been exposed as an achievement reward.
"T-that is...!"
"Hurry up and tell me!!"
Jang Jojun beat the stuttering clown. Only after being stabbed by the Ghost-Crying Blade, kicked, and having his eyes, burst by surging flesh, healed several times, did the clown finally open his mouth.
"Ch-chains!!! You have to use the chains to go there!!! GAAAAAAH!!!"
"Right. I knew it. Hand over the chains."
"Hiiik..."
Taking the old, crude chains handed over by the slave trader, Jang Jojun thought. He no longer received achievement rewards. Now, he created them. "Good. I’ve found the location of Enkidu’s seal. Then, last question."
"A-another...?"
"Right. You, what kind of scheme did you cook up?"
The clown felt a chill down his spine. Jojun was asking with a tone of certainty. What are you cooking up? How on earth did this human notice? The secret was simple. It was because the clown had smiled like an idiot. The moment Jojun made eye contact with the clown, who was still smiling despite being caught by Hilde, he felt something was wrong. Jojun already knew the fact that this damn clown bastard only smiled when he was causing trouble for others.
'D-damn it... I’m... finished...'
The clown broke into a cold sweat and opened his mouth. He didn't want to say it. But if he didn't, it was death for disobeying orders.
"Th-the truth is...."
The dragons are coming.
The clown realized this was his grave. Indikron smiled as she watched the clown fall into despair.