Chapter 97: The Auction House
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 97: The Auction House
The deeper you go into the Labyrinth, the fewer plunderers you find.
On the 1st floor, all sorts of riffraff run wild, which is how you get scum like Sally. But as you descend, only the "proven" adventurers remain.
Which, in turn, means this:
‘It’s rare for a 5th-floor level adventurer group to turn to plunder, get wiped out, and have all their belongings hit the auction house at once.’
The Public Security Headquarters, the Labyrinth Union, the Adventurer's Guild, and the Magic University, where Caleb's party had their magic equipment appraised—all these institutions are run by people, so word got around.
‘This is a secret, but I heard a huge haul of low- to mid-tier magic equipment just came in!’
‘They say the plunderers were running a replica business, so there’s a ton of stuff.’
‘And it’s all coming out at once.’
‘Over twenty items!’
Thanks to these rumors, by the time Caleb's party arrived at the auction house, it was already packed with low- and mid-floor adventurers.
‘It’s Caleb’s party.’
‘They’re here!’
‘The magic equipment!’
Was it Lilweed who said it?
That he would replicate magic equipment and make it available to the masses.
Though it was nonsense born from a misunderstanding of Gobniu's hammer, and his true goal was different, it seemed his vision was now being realized, albeit on a small scale.
‘Twenty-one pieces of magic equipment.’
On the higher floors, magic and skills are a dime a dozen, but on the lower floors, every single one is precious.
A single good piece of magic equipment can become a core component of a party's entire strategy. Take Aimus's steel parasol, for example.
How much harder would our journey be without it?
Usually, when magic equipment goes up for auction, wealthy party leaders snatch them all up to secure their party's competitiveness and prevent talent from leaving.
But it wouldn't be so easy this time.
Even they would lack the funds to absorb a whopping twenty-one items, giving more modest parties a chance.
Among them were many familiar faces.
"Hello, Birtanen."
"Caleb! It's been too long!"
It was good to see him after so long.
"This time, I'm planning to get my hands on a few pieces of magic equipment and finally break through the 3rd floor."
The dwarf hadn't given up on his dream.
"Did you find a wizard?"
"Ah, yes. Found one. He should be here soon. I'll introduce you then."
Birtanen was fired up.
"A four-person party, reinforced with a skilled wizard and magic equipment to ward off the cold. If we can maintain that, I believe we can take on the 3rd floor. We'll definitely make it this time!"
"I'll be rooting for you."
Besides Birtanen's party, other familiar faces were waiting for us.
"It's Caleb's party! Haven't seen you since the 1.5th floor. Been well?"
"Your exploits are becoming something of a legend among the low-floor adventurers these days."
It was the dwarf wizard Astin and the halfling crossbowman Remus, who had been with us during the great escape from the Sanctuary of Souls.
"Wizard! Long time no see!"
The barbarian warrior Greg was there too. He was the one who had caught people like an outfielder outside the earthen wall as Aimus threw them over.
And…
"Caleb! It has truly been a long time. To think you've already become a 4th-floor adventurer in the short time we haven't seen each other—I am truly curious as to how you could achieve such rapid growth. As a fellow adventurer, watching you is a great source of motivation. However, we are now 3rd-floor adventurers ourselves, Caleb. We plan to challenge the 4th floor soon."
The talkative lizard paladin, Bernard, appeared, effortlessly filling every silence with the sound of his own voice.
"Monk! I have heard much of your great deeds as well. It reminds me of the time we competed for the vanguard position in Caleb's party. It was a truly fierce contest. It was impossible to say who was superior!"
Sorry, but talking to this lizard is just too draining. I'll have to leave him to the Monk. My apologies, Aimus.
"Caleb."
Someone poked me in the back. I turned to see more welcome faces.
The Fox Spirit Soyul, the giant Dokkebi Gildal, the swordsman Hijikata, and the Kappa rogue Gadozumi were standing there.
"We went down to the 4th floor recently," Soyul said.
"You did?"
"Yes. We have Gildal now!" she said, linking her arm with his.
Hijikata's three-person party had already been top-tier on the 3rd floor. With the addition of Gildal, their combat power had skyrocketed.
"The 4th floor was manageable!"
This party was certainly growing by leaps and bounds.
Hmm.
Seeing all our past allies like this, one by one, warmed my heart.
I found myself watching them with the heart of a mother—no, the heart of a turn-based master. It was quite gratifying…
"But the brass golem production suddenly stopped."
Ah.
"So we went back to the 3rd floor."
Sorry. That's our fault.
I'll apologize on Yernil's behalf as well.
"Wizard."
The Dokkebi held out his hand as if to shake mine.
"I was too injured to greet you properly before. Thank you, truly."
When I tried to shake his hand, it was so large and thick that it looked awkward. I ended up just grasping his thumb.
"If you ever need our help, just say the word!"
"Would Caleb ever need our help?" Hijikata asked playfully. Gadozumi shrugged.
"You never know. Maybe if he travels to the East."
Speaking of which, I did need help.
"Do any of you know of a Spirit Race member named Bipa, or a Tigerfolk named Mugol?"
The Spirit Race and Tigerfolk were rare, even among the Eastern races. Rarer than Dokkebi.
I would understand if they didn't know, but since they were from the same region, I thought there was a chance. Maybe one of the four—Soyul, Gildal, Hijikata, or Gadozumi—would know something.
"I only know that they're Deep Layer adventurers," Soyul said.
A bust. That was the same information Isel had given me.
"Never heard of them," Gildal said.
Another bust.
"He was the one who taught me swordsmanship."
Hijikata knew something.
"The Tigerfolk, Mugol. He served for a short time as a sword instructor at the Eastern Barracks. That's where I learned from him. He's built almost as big as Gildal, and he's unbelievably strong."
That made sense for a Deep Layer adventurer.
The fact that he knew Hijikata might come in handy someday.
"But they have a bad reputation."
Gadozumi's eyebrows furrowed.
"Why's that?"
"Because…"
His answer sent a chill down my spine.
"They kill Possessors for fun."
What?
"They're murderous psychos, but killing people is against the law, right? So they hunt down Possessors and kill them in all sorts of cruel ways."
Gadozumi shook his head as if the thought was repulsive.
"The laws in Wyndham are a little different from here. If a Possessor is exploring the Labyrinth as an adventurer, it's illegal to attack them. But they aren't guaranteed the same human rights as freemen, so you just end up paying a small fine."
The 3,000 gold that had been my price tag.
"To a Deep Layer adventurer, that's pocket change. So they kill indiscriminately. According to them, they have a reason. They claim that because they go around killing all the Possessors, the Wyndham Labyrinth will never erupt."
Cut from the same cloth as Meldini, then?
The thought of them coming here became even more unsettling.
At the same time, another thought occurred to me.
What if they were the ones who killed Hyedam, the Eight-Tailed Fox Spirit adventurer, and not me?
"Caleb."
Aimus got my attention. The auction house administrator had come out and was waiting for our items.
"Druid's Boots of Breath."
"Jellyfish-shaped Brooch."
"Lower-Floor Barbarian Champion's Helm."
"Ceremonial Cloak."
…
We handed over everything we'd farmed last time, except for the items our party could use.
Even the damaged ones.
"Broken Necklace of Ethereal Projection."
I would have liked to keep using this necklace if possible, but I couldn't. When I tested it outside the Labyrinth, it turned out to be broken. It would be recycled for its magic components now.
"Ring of the Vampire Bat."
It had saved my life once, but it wasn't particularly useful anymore. With the Watcher, having a redundant detection tool was just extra weight.
And I handed over one of my old items as well.
"Hooded Cape of Dense Fog."
It was obsolete now.
I had switched my cloak to Ingelam's coat. Besides me, the rest of our party had also upgraded all their gear.
What remained was now being put up for auction.
"The Blacksmith's Hammer and the Golden Core."
Both were byproducts from a special boss.
"And the Convergence Core."
Indeed.
I was excited to see how much gold this would bring in.
Typically, a four-person party could expect to earn about 200,000 gold from a week of adventuring on the 4th floor.
That's excluding a Convergence Core.
So, what was our party's profit from this Labyrinth run?
"Two hundred and seventy thousand… gold?"
Aimus looked like he was about to faint as he took the check.
That was 270,000 gold per person, after a 25% split.
Including the proceeds from the magic stones we had already sold, a single Labyrinth run had netted us over a million gold.
"…"
The amount was so large that all three of them just stared blankly, as if it didn't feel real.
Looking at them now, they really were just a bunch of low-floor rookies.
‘We got lucky.’
After a series of near-death crises from some insane bullshit, the return was just as intense.
The haul from stripping Ingelam and Lilweed clean had been substantial. And crucially, the Convergence Core had been a home run.
"350,000 gold."
That was the price of a single Convergence Core.
"I see now why Ingelam was so obsessed with it."
Truthfully, it's hard to make this much from a Convergence Core under normal circumstances.
That's because by the end, there are usually at least three parties vying for it.
By that point, everyone is exhausted and sizing each other up, eventually reaching a compromise.
Your party can have the core. We'll give up and leave. Just give us a little something for our trouble.
That's how it usually goes.
So the proceeds from the core tend to be split among about three parties.
"But we monopolized it this time. Plus, the supply had completely dried up, so the fact that one finally appeared probably drove the price up."
"I see."
"We won't make this much next time. Don't get your hopes up."
Frankly, I'd be fine with not making this much profit if it meant avoiding the kind of crazy unfair situations and pandemonium we went through last time.
"But Caleb, don't we need to give a share to Neko's party?" Yernil asked innocently.
"Constables can't claim spoils when they eliminate plunderers in the Labyrinth."
It's similar to how violent crimes detectives can't just take the gold necklaces off the gangsters they arrest.
Besides, Neko was on the verge of a promotion. Trying to give her a cut might inadvertently screw her over.
"They'll receive a bonus instead."
And that bonus originates from the taxes taken from things like our auction fees.
"So, you can all spend the money you just received however you like."
"Wow!"
At last, all three of them looked genuinely delighted.
I felt good, too.
With this, plus what I'd already saved, I could afford the Memory Book expansion procedure.
It was one of the most crucial steps in my wizard build.
"Come forth! Vampire Bat!"
We weren't the only ones excited. The entire auction house was buzzing.
"Spirit of the Resistance!"
"Sphere of Flame!"
"Aah! It's on fire!"
"Watch where you're casting!"
"Everyone! Please take your magic tests outside, not in here!"
Watching the ecstatic atmosphere, I felt a strange sense of pride.
"Caleb."
Birtanen's party approached me. They had won the bid for a Brazier Bracelet.
It was similar to a Torch Helm, but without the confusion resistance, it offered cold resistance and a fire-starting spell instead.
"Thanks to you, we should be fine on the 3rd floor now! This is great!"
It seemed they planned to use Emma's magic to block confusion.
"This is our team's new wizard!"
Birtanen introduced a young man from his party. He looked to be about my age.
"Go on, say hello."
Birtanen had always had bad luck with wizards. Avison, who died twice in a row, and Antonelli, who tried to scam him.
I sincerely hoped this one would be a decent person.
"Hello."
The young man extended his hand.
"My name is Teramond. I'm a first-year wizard at the Magic University."
"Hello, I'm Caleb, also a first-year."
"Actually, you two have met before," Birtanen said with a grin.
I'd never heard the name before, so how could I know him?
…As I thought that, I took a closer look and realized his face was familiar.
Who was he? Where had I seen him?
Since I have no knowledge from before my possession of this body, I must have met him after I arrived.
"Ah."
I remembered.
The slave wizard from the Magic University.
I recalled the memory from when I was creating my Memory Book.
At the main building's admissions office, there had been four other slave wizards besides me.
The ones who entered the Labyrinth in the same cohort as me and survived.
At the time, I was the only one who had been freed from slavery.
"This fellow is a freeman now, too. I heard that among your cohort, Caleb and Teramond are the only two wizards who became freemen."
It seemed the other three had died. But there was one thing the dwarf said that needed correcting.
"There's also Yernil, so that makes three of us."
Even if she wasn't a wizard.
"Aha! Right you are."
But the fact that he was a former slave wizard made me a little wary.
He was a criminal, after all.
Of course, so were Yernil and I, but in my case, the crime was committed before my possession, and Yernil was more a victim of a scam.
The Labyrinth City was a place where you could get screwed if you had no money, no connections, and let your guard down. I wondered what this guy's story was.
"I was a war slave."
As if reading my mind, Teramond briefly shared his past without being asked.
"In the Western War, it was common for civilian prisoners to be traded as slaves. I was sold and brought all the way here to Sohen."
He originally lived in a small village in the west.
He was an orphan, abandoned as a child, but was taken in by a kind general store owner and raised like their own son.
‘We only have a daughter, so we always wanted a son!’
The kind couple's only daughter was a year younger than Teramond.
Maria.
She was a girl who loved to be doted on in the morning.
Teramond repaid the couple's kindness by looking after Maria.
He protected and cared for the girl who was one year his junior.
Teramond, who was almost the adopted son of the general store, became their son-in-law.
Then, one morning, when he opened the store earlier than usual, he came face to face with fully armed knights. They were all former adventurers, hardened in the Labyrinth.
The Labyrinth, a vital resource, breeds territorial disputes among nobles.
It was a ticking time bomb that could erupt at any moment, but it was also a symbol of wealth.
The country folk, ignorant of complex politics and war, were slaughtered overnight without knowing why.
The general store couple met the same fate.
Teramond and Maria were dragged away as separate slaves.
Teramond didn't know where she was taken.
He was just sold from place to place, his life gnawed away like a mouse on a sinking ship, until he finally ended up in Sohen.
"To be honest, I had almost given up on life, but seeing you, Caleb, gave me courage again."
He was wearing the cape I had sold.
The Hooded Cape of Dense Fog.
"I bought it because I'm a fan. The Dense Fog wasn't popular, so it was worth bidding on."
"It's a difficult spell to use."
"I want to grow strong quickly like you, Caleb, and become a powerful wizard."
Teramond turned back to Birtanen and smiled brightly.
"And I'm going to find my wife. I'm going to live the second act of my life with a purpose now."
I hoped Birtanen's party wouldn't lose their wizard this time and would manage to push forward.
The second act of his life was cut short.
Late that evening, as I was resting in my dorm room, a fourth-year wizard, Clorence, came running, pounding frantically on my door.
"Caleb."
Clorence, his face pale, delivered the staggering news.
"A first-year student has been murdered."
Something deeply unsettling was happening in Sohen.
"Teramond, the slave-born wizard like you, has been murdered."
He had gone out at night, wearing my hooded cape, and his body had been found.