Chapter 78
Chapter 78
‘Good. Now no one’s going to bother me. I’ll just buy the Gray Sacrificial Book, keep my head down, and go home.’
I had no worries about losing the auction.
I ran my fingers over the card I’d received from the King of Defying Heaven.
A card that allowed an unlimited payment, but only once.
Considering the King of Defying Heaven’s true identity, the amount really would be unlimited.
Thinking of the King of Defying Heaven’s true identity, I swallowed hard.
The most frightening of the Ten Demons wasn’t the Lord of the Abyss, the Black Tower Master of the Dark Magic Tower, or the Cult Leader.
It was the King of Defying Heaven.
And it wasn’t simply because of how powerful he was.
It was because of his true identity.
He was different from ordinary villains.
An existence more powerful, more dangerous, and more hypocritical than anyone else.
When the King of Defying Heaven’s true identity was revealed in the scenario, the whole world was thrown into an uproar.
‘Damn it, how did I end up getting involved with the King of Defying Heaven? Katrinne was supposed to be the one who dealt with him as her specialty. I’ll just endure it by thinking about the house I can buy with the commission. Once this job is over, I’m really going to live quietly.’
Just then, a black magician wearing a clown mask stepped onto the stage.
[Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. The long-awaited, long-awaited Dark Auction is now beginning! Fanfare~! Please welcome it with thunderous applause!]
Nobody so much as clapped.
At the chilly response, the clown mask scratched his head.
[Hehe, it seems we have a lot of taciturn guests this time. But will you still feel that way once you see the items coming up for auction? We have some very, very rare treasures on offer today.]
I listened to the announcement without much interest.
There were probably things like legendary demonic swords, elixirs, and Grimoires, but I wasn’t interested in any of them.
‘An elixir might be useful to me, but I don’t have the money. This card has an unlimited limit, but I can only use it for one payment.’
I couldn’t help giving a subtle look of regret.
Of course, thanks to my Mana Insensitivity, even if I took an elixir, I’d only get about one hundredth of the benefit an ordinary mage would.
It would be a terrible value for money, so I’d hate to buy one with my own money—but if it were free, I’d obviously be grateful.
‘Maybe I’ll get a chance during the “event.” Things are going to get chaotic, after all.’
The auction got underway in earnest.
[And the Sword of Dawn goes for two million pena! The winning bidder is the one wearing the Messenger mask!]
[Anyone else? The Death’s Rest Amulet goes for three million one hundred and fifty thousand pena!]
The sheer amounts of money changing hands were dizzying just to hear.
‘A decent house in a good neighborhood in the Free City costs somewhere between fifty and a hundred thousand pena, so how many apartments could you buy for those prices?’
Even more astonishing was that this was only a taste.
The ‘real treasures’ hadn’t even appeared yet.
The attendees, too, looked unimpressed.
“Is this really all there is?”
“This Dark Auction is a disappointment.”
“I heard on the Dark Board that they had an incredible treasure coming up. Something unique in all the world was supposed to be going on the block.”
For reference, there were several virtual communities that used the Philosopher’s Stone as their server, just like the Academy’s Mirror Board.
The Dark Board was an anonymous message board where villains gathered.
[Hahaha! Thank you for waiting. You’ve all heard the rumors on the Dark Board, haven’t you? This time, the genuine treasure you’ve been waiting for is going up for auction! It’s a treasure unique in all the world, so you can look forward to it!]
The attendees’ eyes lit up, but I remained unimpressed.
It didn’t sound like they were talking about the Gray Sacrificial Book, so whatever the treasure was, it had nothing to do with me.
But the moment I heard what the auctioneer said next, even I couldn’t help widening my eyes.
“Now, I’m sure you all know the legend of the Jewel-Kin. It’s a very sad legend. They held the most beautiful gems in the world, yet were wiped out because of human greed.”
It wasn’t a legend. It was actual history.
And recent history, at that.
The Jewel-Kin were a variant of the Fairy Folk. As the clown had just explained, they were born with a special gem inside their hearts called a Heart Essence.
It was the most beautiful gem in the world.
“Why bring up the Jewel-Kin all of a sudden? Could it be…?”
“Was that rumor true?”
The clown spread his hands with exaggerated excitement.
“Now, coming soon! The one and only rarest gem in the world. I present the last Jewel-Kin!!”
Whoosh!
The cloth was pulled away, revealing a girl inside a cage.
Her appearance was so beautiful she looked as if she couldn’t possibly be human.
More than anything, her eyes looked as though they had been carved from gems.
She really was Jewel-Kin!
For reference, the Heart Essence nestled inside a Jewel-Kin’s heart determines the properties reflected in their eyes, causing them to shine in such a variety of colors.
The auction hall erupted into a commotion of astonishment.
Greed filled the attendees’ eyes.
There was only one person—
Only I reacted completely differently.
‘Good heavens. Why?’
My mind went blank.
‘Why is she here?’
One of the sixteen protagonists.
The protagonist with the Alchemist class in the Support Faculty, and a girl who would later become the worst villain, known as the Massacre Maniac, had suddenly appeared as an auction item.
“Is she really Jewel-Kin?”
“Come on. Hunters have been searching for Jewel-Kin for ages. How could one just suddenly show up now?”
Several people expressed their doubts, and the clown gave a little chuckle.
“I thought you might say that, so I prepared a demonstration. Everyone, watch closely.”
The clown raised the lever attached beside the cage, and something horrible happened.
Crackling!!
“Aaaaaagh!!”
High-voltage electricity surged through the cage. The Massacre Maniac, bound inside it, screamed—and then an astonishing change took place.
Her eyes filled with brilliant light.
“When you inflict pain on a Jewel-Kin, it stimulates the Heart Essence inside their heart, causing their eyes to glow. Just as you’re seeing now.”
“!!”
“If it’s you, you should be able to tell whether this glittering phenomenon has been faked or not. Now, you understand just how rare this item is, don’t you?”
Gulp.
The attendees swallowed hard.
“Then we’ll start the bidding at 10 million Pena!”
“15 million Pena!”
“No, 17 million Pena!”
“20 million Pena!!”
The bids shot up to staggering amounts, incomparable to the earlier ones—enough to buy an entire decent-sized castle and still have money left over.
‘The Jewel-Kin’s Heart Essence is the greatest treasure in the world, after all.’
And not simply because it was beautiful.
It was because of its usefulness as a Magic Tool.
It was the finest mana conductor there was.
If you cut open the heart while the glittering phenomenon was at its peak, the Heart Essence’s mana conductivity increased.
That was why so many people had captured Jewel-Kin, tortured them, and killed them, until they were eventually driven to extinction.
‘But why is the Massacre Maniac suddenly being auctioned here? Could this have been deliberate?’
Silphinne, the Massacre Maniac, had a cheat ability. She wasn’t someone who would be caught by some mere hunter.
‘She came here looking for prey, instead!’
I clenched my fist tight as I looked at Silphinne, sitting inside the cage with vacant eyes.
That sorrowful expression was only an act.
As she gazed at the people attending the auction, Silphinne was secretly savoring the thought of them.
‘In the early days, Silphinne only went on killing sprees against evil people. Everyone gathered here is her prey.’
Most of the sixteen protagonists were late bloomers.
They started out insignificant, then grew stronger at an exponential rate as the story went on—but Silphinne was the exception.
She was strong from the very beginning.
‘What should I do? Should I just pretend I didn’t see her?’
No matter who bought her and suffered a terrible fate, it would only be the consequences of their own actions.
Meanwhile, the bidding grew insanely heated.
“23 million Pena!”
“25 million Pena!”
“28 million Pena!”
“30 million Pena!!”
An absurd amount.
All because of its rarity as the last Jewel-Kin in existence.
Still, once the bidding passed 30 million Pena, the competition narrowed down to two people.
One was an elder from Sky Island. An evildoer who would be better off dead.
But the problem was the other one.
‘Damn it. Why him of all people?’
My eyes went dark.
‘That’s the Ran Republic president’s secretary. Why have people from the Ran Republic come to the Dark Auction? And the president’s secretary, of all people?’
Along with the Demon Realm, the Ran Republic was one of the Empire’s greatest enemies.
‘Could it be that the Assassination of the President scenario happened because of Silphinne?’
Hero Academy had countless scenario branches.
Some branches were determined by the protagonists’ choices, but others occurred randomly, for no apparent reason.
‘Assassination of the President’ was one of them: a scenario in which an unidentified person assassinated the president, leading to war between the Empire and the Republic.
‘Please, let the elder from Sky Island win the bid. The president isn’t someone who can die just yet.’
But contrary to my wishes, as time passed, the elder from Sky Island began to fall behind.
There had never been any way for him to compete with their financial resources in the first place.
‘The Republic is looking for the greatest mana conductor because of a project on which the nation’s very survival depends. That’s why they’re willing to win the bid at any price.’
“Now, we have a bid of 40 million Pena! Are you giving up? I’ll count to five!”
Even the big shots gathered here gaped at the astronomical sum.
The elder from Sky Island slammed his cane down, looking frustrated.
“Anyone willing to bid more?! I’ll count to five!”
The auction hall fell silent.
‘Damn it, what should I do?’
In just a few seconds, the winner would be decided. And once that happened, there would be no way to overturn the result, no matter what.
“One, two, three…!!”
Just then—
Without anyone noticing, Silphinne’s expression changed.
A grin.
A smile of delight.
She was excited for the catastrophe she was about to unleash.
In that moment, she must have already calculated everything in her head, from the assassination of the president to the flames of war that would spread between the Empire and the Ran Republic as a result.
And the instant I realized what she was thinking, I did something I absolutely should not have done.
“50 million Pena.”
“?!”
A silence as deep as death descended over the auction hall.
Everyone was stunned—even me, who had just run my mouth.
‘What the hell are you doing?! Are you insane?’
But once my mouth had gone on a rampage, it wouldn’t stop.
“Here’s the Infinite Card. I’ll pay at least 10 million Pena more than that bid, no matter what. So hand that Jewel-Kin over to me.”
That was right.
I’d impulsively bought the Massacre Maniac.
…And I’d done it with the King of Defying Heaven’s card.
I’d done it now.
It was a huge blunder, unlike any I’d ever made before.
‘Aaaah! Why did I do that?!’
In one corner of the lodging the Dark Magic Tower had prepared for us, the Massacre Maniac sat quietly.
As a Jewel-Kin, a variant of the Fairy Folk, she was beautiful as a sculpture.
She even wore a sorrowful expression, making her the sort of sight that could captivate anyone, man or woman alike—but to me, she was nothing but terrifying.
‘She’s probably savoring the thought of how to cook(?) me right now.’
The Massacre Maniac mainly killed evil people because it was more convenient to deal with them without any repercussions—not because she was choosy about her targets.
The way she looked at me seemed like she was savoring the thought of when and how she could kill me deliciously(?), and I shuddered with goosebumps.
And aside from the threat of being murdered by the Massacre Maniac, there was another problem.
An incomparably bigger problem.
‘…What if the King of Defying Heaven finds out what I did?’
The 50 million Pena I’d used to buy the Massacre Maniac had all been the King of Defying Heaven’s money.
The Dark Auction was completely cut off from the outside world, so he probably hadn’t heard the news yet. But once the five-day period of isolation ended, he would find out immediately.
He wouldn’t kill me gently.
‘There’s only one way I can survive. I have to steal the Gray Sacrificial Book before then.’
Fortunately, all hope wasn’t lost.
There was a way.
I swallowed hard, then went and stood in front of the Massacre Maniac.
“Master?”
The Massacre Maniac looked at me with a frightened expression.
I’m even scarier than you are, so don’t make that face.
That was right.
There was only one way to resolve this situation.
I had to use the Massacre Maniac as a sucker—no, as my secret weapon.