Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: The Black Market of Bellaton
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The Decartes Mountains in the northern Azelan Continent were an uncharted territory, unconquered by man.
For that very reason, some risked their lives to enter this place known as the Land of Monsters.
Herbalists and hunters were prime examples.
The rare herbs found only in the Decartes Mountains offered herbalists a chance to strike it rich, and the same was true for hunters.
“It’s been quiet lately.”
The rampart, known as the Barrier of Vigilance, stood a kilometer away from the forest where the Decartes Mountains began.
Monsters wouldn't spend their entire lives in the mountains, so a line of defense was naturally necessary.
The Barrier of Vigilance, built for this purpose, was the longest structure in history, and one built on the sacrifice of many lives.
“So the herbalist who left yesterday isn’t coming back after all?”
“Forget anyone who leaves the walls. If you remember every single one, you won't last here.”
“But didn’t they say he’d made it back three times already?”
“That was the miracle. Damn money, I tell you.”
A veteran soldier was passing on the know-how for survival to a newly assigned recruit.
*Dong!*
A drumbeat echoed from the watchtower, built even higher than the wall itself.
It was a signal that someone was approaching.
The soldiers stopped their chatter and stared out over the rampart.
Before long, a blurry shadow came into view, soon resolving into the figure of a well-built man.
“Huh? He’s dragging something.”
“Incredible. He made it back alive this time, too.”
“Do you know him?”
“He’s a legend around here. This must be his fifteenth time. He’s passed through the gate more than anyone else. Left about two months ago and is only just now returning.”
“You mean he survived in the Decartes Mountains for two months?”
“That’s why they call him a legend.”
The man soon arrived at the gate and looked up.
It was part of the identification process.
“Pass!”
A small door set into the side of the wall opened, and the man entered.
“A Decartes Bear and a White-Horned Deer. Truly impressive.”
As the man stepped through the side gate into the inner wall, soldiers naturally gathered around.
This, too, was part of the identification process.
The man dropped the ropes tied to the two animals and presented his identification and hunting permit from his coat.
“Confirmed.”
A middle-aged man, his beard tracing the outline of his jaw, checked the documents and handed them back.
“Sik. Have you thought about my last offer?”
Sik.
The name Wang-sik used on the Azelan Continent.
“My apologies. I haven’t caught him yet.”
Wang-sik’s reply was dry, as if devoid of all emotion.
“A shame. But I must offer the same advice again. Give up this dream of catching a dragon. I understand you wish to avenge your father, but a dragon is not a creature mortals can challenge. Especially not the gold dragon of the Decartes Mountains. Why not put your talents to use under my command? It would be better than trekking through the Decartes Mountains alone.”
What the captain was referring to was the cover story Wang-sik had fabricated to hide his identity and justify his trips into the Decartes Mountains.
It was a necessary lie, as the research lab from which he had crossed dimensions was located there.
“I must kill Decartes.”
The Decartes Mountains were rumored to be the location of the lair of a gold dragon who slaughtered for sport.
The mountain range itself was named after that gold dragon, Decartes.
“Revenge comes first.”
Wang-sik's reply was so firm it was difficult to press the matter further.
“I see. Will you be using the Gate again?”
“Yes. I’ll use this to cover the fee.”
Wang-sik pointed to the White-Horned Deer.
Its horns alone, used for medicine or decoration, were worth at least ten gold. With the meat and hide, it could fetch twenty gold.
The Gate toll was one gold.
There was no reason to refuse a payment worth more than ten times the fee.
Wang-sik’s offer didn’t end there.
“I’ll donate this one.”
“Always appreciated.”
As this was a familiar routine, the captain held out his hand to his adjutant.
The adjutant handed him a leather pouch containing twenty gold coins, which the captain then passed to Wang-sik.
He called it a donation, but it was really a sale of the Decartes Bear for twenty gold.
A Decartes Bear was worth thirty gold at the very least.
This was why the soldiers’ meals became much more luxurious after Wang-sik’s visits.
“Show him the way.”
A soldier heard the command and led Wang-sik to a large building on one side of the barracks.
Passing the guards stationed at the building, they entered to find a green Gate.
Wang-sik gave a brief nod and stepped into the Gate.
He arrived in Bellaton, a Gate city not far from the imperial capital.
It was a transportation hub, home to Gates connecting thirty major cities and forty military bases across the nation.
Gates had first appeared fifty years ago and were originally used for transport and travel like this.
As research on Gates advanced, they eventually enabled travel between dimensions.
After exiting the Gate, Wang-sik had his identification checked once more before he could leave the building.
The Gate building was a conspicuous white structure, originally built in a circle on the city's outskirts.
Naturally, the center had developed into a commercial district where the headquarters of major merchant guilds were concentrated.
But as commerce boomed and people flocked to the city, the commercial zone expanded beyond the walls behind the Gate building, its scale now surpassing that of the capital.
The empire’s largest metropolis.
This was another name for Bellaton.
Wang-sik headed not for the center of Bellaton, but outside the city walls.
Administratively, it was the area known as Bellaton's Second District.
Entering the commercial area of the Second District revealed a scene quite different from the First.
Still, being close to the walls, it was a bustling commercial zone. A young girl approached Wang-sik.
“Hello, sir! Would you like to try some freshly baked bread?”
The girl, in her late teens and covered in freckles, offered a piece of bread to Wang-sik.
But upon seeing his face, she recoiled in embarrassment.
She had seen his displeased expression.
“I’m sorry.”
Wang-sik left the flustered girl behind and continued on his way.
The scene in Bellaton as noon approached was vibrant and peaceful.
Just ordinary people.
Their culture was different, but they toiled to make it through the day, no different from the people on Earth where Wang-sik was from.
Yet, Wang-sik felt a sense of hostility from them.
—Wow! Their blood is the same color!
—Look at that! Scared like a puppy!
—Should I have it stuffed and hung in my house?
—I should buy one of the cheapest ones!
—That woman would make a perfect gift. You can play with her however you want, and it doesn't matter if she dies.
The memory surfaced of being dragged into a square, his body bound like a captured animal.
The ones who had spat such viciously cruel words were not special people.
They were ordinary citizens who had come to spectate upon hearing that strangers from another dimension had been captured.
Men and women, young and old, all gathered there hurled curses at the three hundred abductees.
If only he hadn't been able to understand them.
Because of the tattoo etched onto his body, he could hear their curses with stark clarity.
Wang-sik was only ten years old when he endured those curses.
His friends were around the same age.
At that moment, Wang-sik had thought:
—Why? What did we do wrong?
They were the ones who had invaded first.
They had always been the aggressors.
And yet, they were the ones who were angry, filled with rage.
—It’s so unfair.
That sense of injustice was an indelible scar etched upon his heart.
It was why Wang-sik's personality changed whenever he came to the Azelan Continent.
“Calm down.”
Wang-sik pushed aside the memories and resumed walking.
His destination was the most avoided place in the Second District, an area five times the size of the First.
A foul stench permeated the slums, where planks and tents blotted out the sky.
Past a line of beggars with outstretched hands, he came to an area where half-naked women tempted men.
Appearing at such an early hour, Wang-sik was more than enough to draw the women's attention.
But Wang-sik ignored the women who approached him brazenly and stopped before an old woman sitting in front of a creaky wooden door.
“I’m here to see Bella.”
“Go in.”
The old woman knocked twice on the door with the club in her hand, and a young woman opened it.
She was in her mid-twenties with a cute face, but her figure was more than enough to entice any man.
“Welcome.”
As he stepped inside to the sound of her bright voice, Bella linked her arm with his and led him to her room.
“Why don’t you stay and rest for a while today?”
“Next time.”
“Aren’t you curious why I’m so famous in this area? Just lie down on the bed and you’ll find out. I’ll take care of everything.”
Bella seemed determined today; she pulled down what should have been up and hitched up what should have been down.
Just as her decadent smile reached the peak of its allure, Wang-sik held out a gold coin.
“Will you open it now?”
Bella frowned at his words, spat out without a hint of emotion.
“Tch.”
Bella opened a wardrobe in the corner of the red-decorated room. She pulled on the floor of the empty wardrobe, revealing a staircase leading down, and Wang-sik stepped inside.
“I won’t let you go so easily next time. It’s a matter of pride. I have to see you smile at least once.”
Wang-sik ignored her and descended the stairs, but even at the bottom, he had to pass through another iron door.
Only after showing a parchment with a black emblem to the guard could Wang-sik see the scene inside.
It was an astonishing underground world, no matter how many times he saw it.
In the center was an arena where combatants fought to the death inside an iron cage, surrounded by people cheering for the one they had bet on. Beside it, there was a place for rat racing, and elsewhere, people gambled with dice.
The underground fighting pit and gambling den were already packed, with shouts so loud one would want to cover their ears.
Wang-sik passed by even this and, at a large door at the end of the gambling den, presented the parchment again.
The burly guard checked only the emblem before opening the door.
Behind the large door was a black room containing nothing but a clean desk and two facing chairs.
A man was already seated in one of the chairs. He gave Wang-sik a silent nod.
He was a man in his early fifties, characterized by his small, sharp eyes and a thin smile that seemed permanently etched on his face.
Despite his small frame, his demeanor toward Wang-sik was relaxed.
“It’s been two months. Welcome.”
Before sitting down, Wang-sik first took out two gold bars and placed them on the desk.
“Always straight to business.”
“You’re still worth the money.”
The place Wang-sik had entered was the black market of the Azelan Continent. The man before him was known as Jackal, though whether that was his real name was unknown.
“What’s the rush? If you’d spent a little time with Bella, I would have had everything ready.”
“Sounds to me like you have nothing prepared.”
“Of course not. We are always prepared.”
Jackal reached for the gold bars with an arrogant expression. But his hand froze at Wang-sik’s next words.
“The Peradora. I assume that’s ready as well?”
“You still remember what was said a year ago? I thought I told you to forget it.”
“I made it clear it was mine.”
“An item like the Peradora cannot be bought with gold. You’ll have to bring something of greater value, or…”
“Bring one of those special items you mentioned. Correct?”
As Wang-sik finished his sentence, Jackal understood his intention.
“Don’t tell me…”
“What if I told you I found Nekris’s Tears?”
The black market had long offered several special requests for items they couldn't acquire even with their resources. As time went on, the bounties for them inevitably rose.
Among them, Nekris’s Tears had been classified as a top-tier item for three years.
“‘Exchangeable for any item in the black market’s possession.’ That’s what you said, as I recall.”
Since Wang-sik had never lied before, Jackal had no choice but to believe him.
“Let’s verify it first.”
His voice trembled unknowingly as he spoke.
“The Peradora first.”
“The Peradora is not something that can be brought here immediately.”
“Then tell me when I can see it. You can see what you want then, too.”
Wang-sik’s confident demand made Jackal’s eyes sharpen.
“If you’re lying, you will pay the price.”
“That won’t happen.”
“You can see it in ten days.”
With the negotiation settled, Wang-sik tapped the gold bars on the table.
“Now, shall we get to the real business?”
Jackal took a piece of paper from his coat and placed it on the table.
Drawn on the paper were the faces of people. While not as clear as a photograph, the sketches were detailed enough to be easily recognizable.
They had changed a little, but as he searched his childhood memories, two names came to mind.
“Where are they now?”
“Deceased. Would you like to see the bodies?”
Wang-sik’s face hardened as he nodded.
“I’ll have someone guide you.”
Jackal rose from his seat, and a moment later, a guide entered the room.
“I will guide you.”
Wang-sik followed him out of the black market.