Chapter 257
“That’s a baby Deimos, the famed primary material of the Underworld Whale! We’ll start the bidding at 100 gold!”
At the auctioneer’s shout, jeers erupted from the crowd that had gathered like clouds.
“Why didn’t you mention that it’s just an empty husk without the most important part, the ‘heart’?”
“No one’s going to pay 100 gold for something that can’t even be used as an Underworld Whale.”
“Yeah, no way.”
Just then, someone raised their hand.
“100 gold.”
Though they had just been jeering, hands started shooting up right after.
“110 gold.”
“120 gold!”
As the price climbed rapidly, Simon was still waiting for Benya’s answer.
His question was whether the Deimos could be used as a skeleton.
She had her eyes closed in deep thought.
“Well, it’s something that’s never been done before. Ignoring the perfect success formula of the Underworld Whale and using just the bones to make a skeleton... hmm.”
“They took the most important heart, so it can’t be helped.”
Of course, had it been a fully intact baby Deimos, the price would have soared to tens of thousands of gold.
“There’s that too.”
She slowly opened her eyes.
“I think a skeleton version of Deimos is worth trying.”
“That’s enough for me.”
Simon prepared to enter the auction.
“What’s your price estimate?”
“Around 2,000 gold, at minimum?”
She answered immediately.
“If you’re going to buy it, we can split the cost. If you hand over the by-products excluding the bones to our Vanilla, we’ll cover about half.”
“Really? Yes! Let’s do that!”
“Sure. But do you, as a student, really have 1,000 gold?”
Simon nodded.
He had received 2,000 gold as a commission fee from Princess Molly after his recent mission evaluation.
“290 gold!”
“300 gold!”
The price had already reached 300. The auctioneer stepped in.
“From here on, we’ll raise the bids by 50 gold increments. Anyone for 350 gold…?”
“1,000 gold.”
The crowd fell silent, so silent you could hear a pin drop.
Simon had raised his hand and entered the auction.
“…Who is that?”
“He just jumped straight in.”
“A high noble’s kid maybe?”
“He looks loaded.”
Since he knew the item’s value was 2,000 gold, there was no need to waste time. He’d go all in and drive out the small fry, ready to push all the way to 2,000.
Naturally, another hand went up.
“Hmm, hmm, 1,050 gold.”
“1,300 gold.”
“Ahem, 1,350 gold.”
“1,600 gold.”
As Simon countered quickly, the man who had called out 1,350 gold stiffened. The crowd murmured.
“So the winner was decided from the beginning.”
“Ruthless. He’ll keep matching no matter how high it goes.”
“You gonna go in?”
“What if you say 1,650 and he just pulls out?”
While the crowd buzzed, Simon focused his gaze on his only rival.
The slightly flustered man met eyes with the extremely calm Simon.
Simon felt his resolve falter.
“1,600 gold! Any other bids?”
The auctioneer looked slightly surprised.
He too had expected the price to go higher, but the excitement died out faster than expected.
After stalling several times, he finally declared,
“This item is sold for 1,600 gold.”
‘Nice!’
Simon felt like his smile would reach his ears. It was pure luck. He thought the other side would raise the bid further, but apparently they had other things to buy besides Deimos.
With Vanilla covering half, it was only 800 gold.
He saved a significant amount. Even after paying, he still had 1,200 gold left.
Soon, the crowd that had flooded the auction began to disperse, leaving only Simon and Benya.
Benya was on a call using a communication crystal.
“Our people will be heading to the storage soon to collect the item.”
She said,
“Once we’re at the warehouse, we’ll disassemble it, process it briefly, and immediately engrave the Summon Skeleton magic circle. I’ll do the work free of charge for my junior.”
“Thank you! Senior!”
Simon cheered inwardly with joy.
“You’re a direct junior in the club, so I should do at least this much. But you’ll have to take care of the freshmen who come in under you someday, alright?”
“Yes, I will!”
Of course, Vanilla had several warehouses and operations in Ballot Port as well.
Benya said she’d go check on the situation and left, and the item was kept safe by the auction house until Vanilla took custody.
‘I’ve got time to spare.’
In high spirits, Simon decided to browse the market a bit more.
He still had plenty of money left. The thought that he could actually buy the things here sparked interest in everything.
Simon ventured deeper into the market.
‘Ah! So this is where it was!’
He belatedly found a shop selling an intact Poloran bone set. The condition was good and the number of bones was complete.
‘Why is it that you always find these kinds of items after buying something else?’
He briefly considered buying it as Plan B in case the Deimos Skeleton failed, but that felt like overspending.
Simon, nearly falling into impulse buying, shook off the urge and walked elsewhere.
Countless aquatic-type monsters were displayed in ice cases. There were giant octopus-like creatures and ones resembling sea crocodiles.
At first, their appearance was viscerally off-putting, but thinking of them as undead helped ease his discomfort.
There was more to see than expected. The more he saw, the more fascinating the place became. Simon felt a strange sensation—he was truly becoming a necromancer.
‘This is fun. But…’
As he walked aimlessly, Simon looked around.
‘Where am I?’
At some point, all the people had vanished. He had gone too deep into the market.
Calmly looking around, Simon moved toward an alley.
‘!’
And the moment he stepped past a certain point—
Suddenly, the stench of blood thrust itself into his face.
He had assumed his nose was already desensitized after arriving here, but the stench was so pungent it cleared his sinuses.
‘My head’s spinning.’
This was a fish market, after all, selling goods to customers, so the hygiene wasn’t too bad. But the further he walked, the worse the blood stench became.
‘That’s the source of the stench.’
A place that looked like a warehouse.
Its old door was ajar.
‘……’
It looked dangerous. So he was about to just walk past.
As Simon was about to follow reason, this time, intuition urged him on.
Something was definitely happening inside.
Could he really ignore it?
Wouldn’t it haunt his thoughts every night?
He’d regret walking past it.
Just peek through the open door crack, then leave.
It was strange. Pulled by a powerful, inexplicable sense, Simon walked forward like he was possessed. His nose felt like it would fall off, but his feet carried him into the warehouse.
And there, in that warehouse—
“……!”
He witnessed a mountain.
‘Urgh!’
Simon dropped to one knee and dry heaved.
They were hearts.
Truly, an enormous mountain of hearts. The floor had a magic circle drawn on it, and though it seemed like it had been exposed for a while, the hearts were still beating—thump, thump.
‘What the hell is this? Why just the hearts…?’
Even if necromancers were insane, this didn’t look like anything normal.
Step, step, step.
Just then, footsteps sounded from outside the warehouse.
Simon finally snapped out of his mental daze.
“You’ve acquired a fine heart.”
“Yes. Seeing a baby Underworld Whale here was a coincidence.”
Two male voices. The footsteps drew nearer.
Simon quickly moved to hide. Moments later, he heard the men stop walking.
“The door’s open.”
“Ah, I left it open briefly when I came to escort you. Besides, there’s a ‘Perception Disruption Spell’ cast over it anyway.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s seen, but be more careful next time.”
“Haha! Who’d even come this far in, anyway?”
Soon, two men in robes stepped into the warehouse.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Simon was clinging tightly to the ceiling near the entrance, covered in Darkness.
His heart pounded like mad at the thought that if they turned around and looked up, he’d be exposed immediately.
If he were caught, there’d be no brushing it off with a simple “I took a wrong turn”.
Fortunately, the overwhelming stench of blood and the heavy Darkness filling the warehouse made it impossible for even a necromancer to detect him.
“Let’s check the item one last time.”
The man who appeared to be the subordinate carefully opened a box. Inside the glass case, a heart could be seen.
From the information he had gathered so far, Simon roughly guessed what kind of heart it was.
‘They’re the ones who bought the Underworld Whale and took just the heart.’
Then, the man in the warehouse took off his hood. Brown hair flowed out, and shiny glasses came into view.
Recognizing who it was, Simon nearly cried out.
‘P-Professor Walter?!’
Why was he here?
“The condition is perfect.”
Walter said as he pushed up his glasses.
“How are the preparations for the plan?”
“They’re going smoothly. We’ll be ready in time for the appointed day.”
The two began talking about various things. Despite being terrified, Simon listened carefully to every word.
“I’ll explain it to Judah, sir.”
Judah.
There it was again. That name.
It was the name written on Walter’s cherished fountain pen.
Based on Simon’s observations, Walter had a habit of always keeping that pen in his chest pocket, no matter where he went or what he wore.
When they first met in Langerstine, Walter said he had received the pen from someone else. But there was no doubt, the man had just addressed Walter as Judah.
‘Professor Walter lied.’
But for now, that name wasn’t the most pressing issue.
Judah. That name. It kept bothering him. He felt like he had seen it somewhere before, but the memory was too hazy.
Just then, the sound of footsteps came from outside again, and another person entered. This time, it was a woman.
“Sir Judah. Count Caron has arrived.”
“We’ll depart now.”
Walter pulled his hood back up and started walking. The two left the warehouse, and the door closed behind them.
“…….”
Now only Simon and Walter’s subordinate remained in the warehouse.
Simon clung to the ceiling, relying on a single dim, flickering mana lamp to make out the situation.
The man sat on an overturned box like a chair and began tinkering with the magic circle managing the hearts.
‘What should I do.’
He could use the power of the Legion Commander, or summon Prince, and make it through somehow, but he didn’t want Walter to know anyone had even been in this warehouse.
Simon pressed his back tightly against the ceiling, legs trembling, and raised both arms.
His target was the largest heart down below.
He began drawing a new magic circle remotely, over that heart.
‘T-This is hard.’
It was insanely difficult just to maintain this position, and on top of that, he had to draw a magic circle from a distance.
Drip. Drop.
In an instant, his forehead was soaked. Drops of sweat fell to the floor.
To Simon, the sound seemed deafening—but thankfully, the man below didn’t notice at all. He was humming as he adjusted the magic circle.
‘I-I wish I didn’t sweat.’
The more he thought about it, the more nervous he got, and the more sweat drenched his head.
He couldn’t sweat too much, couldn’t forget he was stuck to the ceiling, and had to draw a remote magic circle from this position.
‘Focus, focus.’
What Simon was drawing was a defective magic circle. Completely useless.
It was filled with broken formulas, and once activated, it would break itself apart.
He never thought he’d have a day where he’d deliberately create something like this, but that day was now.
‘Now!’
Simon activated the magic circle.
A screeching sound, like nails scraping across a chalkboard, echoed throughout the warehouse.
“H-Huh?! W-What?!”
The man, startled, jumped up from where he’d been fixing the magic circle.
Then, from the heart where Simon had drawn the circle—squelch!—a sound rang out, and blood began to stream out.
“What went wrong?!”
The man seemed to believe he’d made a mistake while fixing the magic circle.
Panicked, he frantically corrected formulas, terrified that other hearts might be damaged too.
Now was the time.
Before the bizarre noise stopped, Simon agilely descended from the ceiling and moved toward the door.
Creak.
Expecting to get caught, he opened the door slightly—but the noise from the defective magic circle was so loud, and the man so overwhelmed with shock, that he didn’t notice a thing. He was completely absorbed in fixing the magic circle.
Simon quickly slipped out and closed the door behind him.
Then, he ran.
“Huff! Huff! Huff!”
Sweat poured down, and a bitter taste filled his mouth. His heart pounded so hard it felt like it might burst.
Simon wanted nothing more than to get away from this place.
“Hey, Je-gun!”
He had run for who knows how long, and finally, he saw the auction house from earlier.
There stood Benya, who had been looking for him.
“I was getting worried! You didn’t come back! Where were you?”
At the sight of Benya’s face, relief flooded in, and Simon felt like he might cry.
He clutched his hood tighter to cover his face and caught his breath with several ragged exhales.
“Let’s go. Senior.”
“U-Uh?”
“To Vanilla’s warehouse, the one you said would handle the processing. Quickly.”
“O-Okay. We’ll need to take a carriage from here. Is that okay?”
Simon nodded, catching his breath.
“Yes.”
Right now, he just wanted to get as far from this place as possible.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters