However, perhaps because it was still just a replica, I felt a slight regret that my own value couldn’t be confirmed.
“Remarkable. To spend 400 million gold on the very first day of the auction!”
“Am I not first place?”
“This is my first time seeing you. From which city did you come?”
People gathered around Hudson.
They were all participants of the auction.
Since he alone spent 400 million gold on the first day, causing a commotion was only natural.
To the right side, where the outsiders sat, Hudson stood at the center.
And among the imperial nobles, there were Lord Darkan and Lady Dersian.
But even they were secretly stealing glances at Hudson.
“Four hundred million gold on the first day…”
“Where did he get that kind of money?”
“Isn’t he being reckless for no reason?”
Their words mocked, but even that mockery was born of curiosity.
Imperial nobles did not even glance at someone they had no interest in.
Naturally, they wondered whether this man could maintain his momentum.
Above all else, they wondered which city he had been invited from.
This banquet was a social hall to get to know one another after the auction ended. Naturally, the attention revolved around those who stood out during the auction.
‘Who the hell is that guy?’
Lady Dersian was smiling outwardly, but inwardly her expression was twisted beyond recognition.
No matter how wealthy one might be, there was no way anyone could spend that much money without hesitation.
Where on earth had he gathered such wealth?
And he was from the city of monsters, from the Labyrinth.
She believed the protagonist should be herself, yet now all attention had moved to that man.
‘Number 1 isn’t visible.’
Ignoring their gazes, I looked around for Number 1.
The person with the seat number before Lord Darkan or Lady Dersian.
More than anyone else, I was most curious about who Number 1 was.
But he was nowhere to be seen.
“Ah, I’m truly curious about what will appear in tomorrow’s auction.”
“At this rate, I’ll need to register some items myself if I want even a chance to participate tomorrow.”
“Number 55, you registered an auction item as well, did you not?”
“Ooh, I’m very much looking forward to seeing what item you’ve submitted.”
Hudson drew attention and led the conversation.
Just as the atmosphere was reaching its peak—
《The city ‘Delphia’ has fallen.》
《‘Fourth Evil Baal’ sinks ‘Delphia’ into the abyss.》
······Suddenly, a message floated before my eyes.
“Mmm!”
At that moment, a man let out a low groan.
It wasn’t a big reaction, but he made a sound the moment he saw the news of Delphia’s fall.
‘Number 68.’
Perfect timing.
If it wasn’t coincidence, Number 68 was a player.
Fortunately, Hudson showed almost no reaction.
Aside from me, almost no one noticed Number 68’s response.
······Anyway.
‘Delphia has fallen.’
Baal had captured Delphia.
Just yesterday the rumor had spread that 3,000 warriors had gathered at Delphia.
And now it had fallen in just a single day?
Bang!
Soon the banquet hall opened, and several knights rushed in.
They whispered quietly into the ears of the nobles enjoying the banquet.
They were likely relaying the same news of Delphia’s fall.
“······What? Is that truly factual?”
“Yes, my lady.”
Lady Dersian’s expression subtly shifted.
Half delight she couldn’t hide, half bewilderment.
The nobles who heard the news showed similar expressions.
Although bewilderment dominated, Delphia was unrelated to the Empire anyway.
“Ha ha ha!”
The banquet hall quickly regained its original atmosphere.
***
The next day, the second special-grade auction began.
But one thing had changed from the previous day.
The number.
‘Number 2.’
I had risen from 55 to 2.
I had been moved to the seat among the imperial nobles on the left side.
‘So the seating is rearranged according to how much money one spent the day before.’
Perhaps this could be considered a form of privilege.
Lady Dersian sat at seat number 3.
‘Yesterday’s Number 68 is······not here.’
All participants had gathered, yet the only one missing was Number 68, who had reacted yesterday.
Did someone notice he was a player and eliminate him?
Or did something else happen?
“···A black goat, huh.”
Then it happened.
The man seated at Number 1 slowly spoke while looking directly at me.
He wasn’t looking at Hudson, but precisely at me.
Number 1 had not bid even once in yesterday’s auction.
Despite me being the one who spent the most money, he still retained the seat of Number 1.
A man fully covered in a tuxedo and a white mask.
He sent words directly into my mind.
—Yesterday’s Number 68 was a player. You knew that as well, didn’t you?
A wide-area provocation.
A voice echoing inside my head.
It felt as if he were speaking from within my skull.
It wasn’t a whisper skill. It wasn’t even close to something like ‘telepathic transmission.’ Had it been, I would have noticed it first.
‘The Line of the Golden Rule.’
Between him and me stretched a golden thread.
A conversation through the ‘Golden Rule’ that only those connected by the thread could hear.
So it was possible to do something like this with a Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule?
Hudson had only told me about its ‘auto-translation’ ability, but this went far beyond that.
Well, Hudson had lived shut away in his castle, so of course he wouldn’t know about this hidden function.
‘So you can embed messages into the thread and send them.’
I didn’t immediately send the thought that popped into my mind.
Before me, the words I thought appeared like text, and I could choose which ones to embed into the thread.
Like a string telephone.
‘······He knows about players.’
If I hadn’t misheard, he had clearly spoken of players.
Not only that.
He likely knew the reason Number 68 vanished.
He was even asking if I knew he was a player.
Why?
Why ask me?
‘One thing’s certain—he’s someone above Lord Darkan.’
Lord Darkan, who hosted the auction in his own territory, was naturally first in line for the special-grade auction.
Yet this man sat before even Lord Darkan, and the imperial nobles didn’t question it.
Yesterday, I saw enough to know that imperial nobles could never tolerate anyone beneath them sitting above them.
Thus, four possibilities came to mind:
A highest-rank noble, a royal, someone from the reaper church, or—an exceptional player.
‘Controlling the Golden Rule isn’t something only players can do. Pangaenians also entered the Abyssal Labyrinth in droves. It’s possible, but still one possibility.’
Even monsters could use the Fragments of the Broken Golden Rule.
You couldn’t be certain someone was a player just because they wielded Golden Rule powers, but you couldn’t rule it out either.
—Who was Number 68?
I acted shamelessly.
Number 1 remained focused on the auction.
He sent his reply as if he had no interest in me at all.
—Do you truly not know? Or do you mean you simply don’t need to know?
His tone was like asking whether I was ignorant of something I should clearly know.
Internally, I considered it.
And reached a conclusion.
Number 68 was dead.
He hadn’t vanished somewhere, nor fled from the territory—he was dead.
—There’s no need to defend someone who isn’t here.
Meaning, I had no intention of defending someone absent.
Then Number 1’s voice spread again inside my mind.
—I am a player.
I frowned inside.
······What is this bastard saying?
Suddenly claiming to be a player?
Was he trying to test my reaction?
He asked if I knew about Number 68 being a player, then now he was throwing out random claims that he himself was a player.
Did he think I’d react if he threw nonsense like this?
But what he said next nearly made me truly flinch.
—Ah. I must say it this way for you to understand. I am ‘Mintchocoisdelicious.’ Pleasure to meet you.
***
Delphia has fallen!
Everyone who heard the news was unable to hide their shock.
More than 3,000 people.
And despite many transcendents participating, the city had fallen in a single day!
—Darkstar official statement yet?
—Silent
—Darkstar didn’t run away?
—If even Runkst couldn’t escape, did they all get slaughtered?
—Holy shit… how does a whole city disappear in one day?
—Wasn’t Delphia a fairly stable neutral city?
—It’s one of the three major blacksmith cities, of course it’s stable… And I heard they made a ton of siege weapons just in case.
Players on Player Talk were also in shock.
Just yesterday, the players participating in the hunt for the Four Evils were brimming with confidence.
Given the scale and the participants, losing would’ve been stranger.
And this was Delphia.
One of the three most famous blacksmith cities!
They had offered high-grade equipment to recruit participants, and had even transformed the entire city into a “siege city.”
The shock was enormous.
—No, what the hell happened? Did everyone die? Someone please say something. My friend joined and I’ve lost contact.
—Speak
—You bastard, do you think this is funny? Want to die?
—lol go ahead kill me
—Where do you live?
Some players even started threatening others.
It was chaos itself.
—This is weird. At this point, shouldn’t someone have said they survived?
—Seems like everything sank into the abyss
—Someone go check
—How the hell are we supposed to check something that fell into the abyss;;
—What is going on
—Uh…
—Wait, did I see something wrong…..
And then—
Posts written in panic started appearing simultaneously.
—Did you guys get the announcement?
—If the five cities connected to the Mountain of Trainees all sink into the abyss, the Four Evil becomes ‘the one who is the abyss itself,’ right?
—What does ‘the abyss itself’ even mean?
—That’s not the whole announcement.
—Who the hell messed with the announcements?
—This can’t be real.
—It says… it’s coming to Earth…
—......Fourth Evil Baal is coming to Earth?
—Where on Earth?
—It doesn’t say
—3,000 people including transcendents couldn’t stop it, how are we supposed to stop it if it comes to Earth?
—Nuke it the moment it appears
—Monsters that cross through warps can only be harmed by attacks using the Golden Rule transformation. Nukes won’t do shit
The sudden notice threw everything into deeper chaos.
The possibility that Fourth Evil Baal might cross over to Earth.
A monster that even Pangaenia couldn’t stop—if it came to Earth, the result was predictable.
Worst of all, nobody could tell where it would attack.
—This is really bad.
—Isn’t the corruption rate almost at 20% already?
—First invasion was Ahram the King of Dead, second one should be stronger…
—Ahram was stopped by Randolph, but we can’t assume that’ll happen again.
—If the Four Evils and the Demon Realm invasion overlap, Earth could really be doomed;;
—Where are Gracia and Master? What about the other heroes?
—Both are missing
—Runkstar, we’ll even accept you running away this time, just show up and explain something
—Nothing from Pangaenia? Didn’t other cities support Delphia?
—Everyone’s in confusion. As far as I know, no survivors.
—Before more cities fall, players need to gather…
—Who’s gonna take the lead?
—GRACIA JUST APPEARED!!
—What? Where?
—YouTube Live! She just went live!
Everyone rushed into Gracia’s livestream.
But those who saw her could only tilt their heads.
—She looks… bad?
—Yeah… why is her hair suddenly white?
—What’s she saying?
—She says if someone brings her the ‘Soul of the Hydragon,’ she’ll go defeat it?
***
······Mintchocoisdelicious?
A nickname only players would know.
A name no Pangaenian could possibly know—and Number 1 mentioned it.
And he claimed he was that person.
‘Mintchocoisdelicious is connected to the Empire?’
The Empire openly despised players.
So was he infiltrating in secret?
Or was this all another bait?
I kept my expression unchanged.
Thanks to the hidden trait ‘Heart of the Eternal Monarch.’
An unshakable, absolute calm.
At that moment—
《A new ‘announcement’ has been registered.》
Just like yesterday, a message appeared again.
Perfect timing.
If he really was a player, he would mention it.
—···They say Fourth Evil Baal may cross over to Earth. How are we supposed to stop this?
Surprisingly, Number 1 directly mentioned the announcement.
There was no way he could have known the announcement ahead of time.
This meant Number 1 was indeed a player?
That he was truly Mintchocoisdelicious?
But I couldn’t avoid responding forever.
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