Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Hero Slayer (2)
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009
3장. Hero Slayer (2)
4.
The era of the Mystic Gates was an age of opportunity for adventurers.
Conversely, it was an age of chaos for those who were not adventurers.
Those who couldn't open a circle could no longer survive with the old ways.
Merchants were no exception.
Earning money the conventional way was no longer possible.
'No big money can be made through common sense methods.'
Evis knew that fact all too well.
That was why.
'One million mesos.'
When El Pam asked to borrow that fortune, Evis managed to hold back his furious outburst.
Of course, that didn't mean he accepted it.
'This guy's insane.'
El Pam's demand was such utter nonsense that even the most unconventional person would curse at it.
'That's why it has value.'
It was precisely because he was such a madman that Evis felt drawn to him.
Adventurers had always been like that.
'You can't get adventurers who are good with calculators to take on tough jobs.'
The first adventurer had said it.
The greatest romance of an adventurer is to venture into the unknown that no one else knows.
Yet, in reality, only a handful pursued that romance.
Most adventured in what they already knew well.
They chose safety over recklessness.
And that was normal.
After all, you have to be alive to enjoy wealth and fame, right?
The Mystic Gates, in particular, sharpened adventurers' calculating skills.
They could gauge difficulty based on gate color, entry limits, and wound counts.
In many ways, it made it easier for adventurers to play it safe, and thus playing it safe became the norm.
'Though there are madmen.'
Of course, there were still those who adventured like true adventurers.
'They either died or rose to the top.'
However, they weren't in Evis's grasp.
That was one reason Evis was drawn to El Pam.
'No madman capable of tackling Red-grade gates is under my control.'
Mystic Gates were graded by color.
Entry circle requirements were determined by that grade.
For Red-grade Mystic Gates, adventurers with 3rd Circle or higher couldn't even enter.
In such a situation, a madman who could enter a Red-grade Mystic Gate?
That made him a very appealing card.
'He reached 2nd Circle, but that's thanks to luck. I still don't know what abilities he has. Besides, circling up and hunting ability are separate things. Plenty of people have high circles but suck at hunting.'
Of course, El Pam's abilities hadn't been properly verified yet.
'One million mesos.'
That was why Evis hesitated, then made his decision.
5.
“One million mesos.”
With those words, a check appeared before El Pam. It was a check for an amount he'd never seen in his life.
A contract was placed beside the check. This one wasn't new; he'd seen it before.
“It's a debt contract.”
Before returning to the past, El Pam had seen the exact same contract at the Gapor Merchant Group.
He had signed it, and that moment was etched vividly in his long memory.
“Let me explain…”
The lengthy explanation given by the Gapor Merchant Group employee while holding that contract—every word was crystal clear in his mind.
That was why.
“No need.”
“Pardon?”
The moment El Pam confirmed the contract was identical to the one he'd seen, he signed it without hesitation.
He then picked up the check and walked out of the Gapor Merchant Group building.
'Evis, you placed your bet.'
For now, El Pam was grateful to Evis.
'Well done.'
El Pam knew full well how absurd his own words had been.
He wouldn't have said them without knowing Evis's situation.
In other words, El Pam knew Evis needed a madman like him, at 2nd Circle or below.
'The 100-man gate has appeared.'
The 100-man gate—a Mystic Gate that allowed exactly 100 entrants, as the name implied.
100-man Mystic Gates weren't rare. There were even those boasting over 1,000 entrants.
'For Red-grade, 100 is the maximum.'
But no Red-grade Mystic Gate allowing more than 100 had ever appeared.
The entry limit also indicated the gate's difficulty.
The higher the entry number, the greater the difficulty inside.
Thus, a 100-man gate was the hardest possible among Red-grade Mystic Gates.
'The greater the risk, the greater the reward.'
And its value was immense.
That was why 100-man gates were the top priority for all merchant groups and guilds.
The problem was that Red-grade gates only allowed 2nd Circle or lower adventurers.
They wanted to send in 5th Circle adventurers, but they couldn't.
Nor was it easy for a single merchant group or guild to clear it on their own.
One misstep could mean losing their top prospects.
That wasn't all.
'Plenty of people are after it too.'
Even a normal adventure was tough, but with rival interference?
A real headache in every way.
That was why Lith Harbor's top ten merchant groups had reached an agreement.
'They had no choice but to tackle it together.'
For 100-man gates, no one would monopolize; the top ten would pool their strength.
Some tried to hide them, but no one recognized their claim.
Anyway, a 100-man gate had now appeared, and the top ten were assembling their best members.
The Gapor Merchant Group was doing the same.
'Ebob's party is going in for Gapor.'
El Pam knew exactly who from Gapor would enter.
It wasn't due to exceptional memory.
A 100-man gate raid was a big event in the adventurer world, but in El Pam's life full of massive events, it wasn't that huge.
Yet, the reason it stuck in his mind was simple.
'They all wiped out anyway.'
It had been a historic disaster.
'And even after.'
They attempted it three times and failed each time.
That's why he remembered.
Of course, his memory ended there.
He didn't recall what happened to that gate afterward.
He hadn't cared back then.
But now was different.
'Whatever's in there, we'll clear it this time.'
El Pam intended to conquer it.
And he was confident he could.
He was now 2nd Circle and could use Telekinesis and Fire Arrow magic.
With that alone, he could outperform dozens, even hundreds.
Decisively, he had the experience of the Last Adventurer, who had hunted more monsters than anyone.
'More reliably.'
Even so, El Pam wasn't overconfident at this moment.
He couldn't afford to be.
If he died for some unavoidable reason, the world would face an even more miserable doom.
'I don't know the purpose of whoever sent me back. But it wasn't to die a dog's death.'
He needed to prepare as best as possible in every way.
That's why he borrowed the one million mesos.
Obviously, it wasn't to pay off his own body price.
That would be meaningless from the start.
Repay a debt to Gapor by borrowing from Gapor? Utter nonsense.
Nor was it to buy items.
The Fire Arrow and Telekinesis skills he had were classified as regular Rare-grade, and even Epic-grade items above them were worth around a million mesos.
The Unique-grade items El Pam wanted—ones unique in the Maple World—couldn't even be bought with mesos.
The one million mesos itself proved that.
It was a fortune beyond dreams for ordinary people, but not huge for adventurers or merchant groups.
Hadn't they just "bought" El Pam as a slave for exactly that amount?
Precisely, it was the Black Blood Disease cure priced at that, but anyway, a million mesos could buy that much.
'What this money can buy is slaves, at best.'
El Pam knew that.
So he borrowed it.
'Then buy slaves.'
Adventurers were the same.
No matter how they dressed it up, they were people risking their lives for money.
A few adventured freely without caring for mesos, but they were a tiny minority.
For those reasons, the slave market thrived.
“Welcome to the manpower market.”
Under the fancy packaging of a “manpower market.”
“You're an adventurer, I see.”
Adventurers frequented such markets.
“What type are you looking for? Bait, perhaps?”
The most common were bait slaves.
But not everyone sought bait slaves. In fact, aside from Gapor, few dealt in them.
Most slaves in the market were those who failed to open circles but had various skills.
“Looking for warriors.”
Among them were those skilled with weapons in combat.
“How much are you budgeting?”
The good ones commanded high prices.
Even in Red-grade gates, they provided solid combat power without skills.
“Looking for Dibo.”
But El Pam wasn't after just "pretty good."
“Dibo?”
The Lith Harbor manpower market employee's face stiffened at El Pam's request.
Not in a good way.
It was a look of worry and concern.
That was enough.
“Um, do you know who that is?”
What kind of person this Dibo that El Pam sought was.
“I do.”
Of course, El Pam knew exactly who he was seeking. Why else would he come here in person?
But the employee didn't believe him.
“You know and still came? You want to hire that lunatic?”
If he really knew, he wouldn't hire Dibo.
At the employee's expression, El Pam nodded.
“Yes, I plan to hire that lunatic mad dog.”
He knew full well.
'Dibo. Looks like we're meeting this time.'
No, he couldn't not know.
'The Hero Slayer who killed the polearm hero Aran.'
Dibo—his name was something El Pam could never forget.