Chapter 37 : Chapter 37
Chapter 37. Lotus's Gift
Three days passed.
In that time, investigators investigated the events that occurred in Sylvester.
No, it was a scene of ‘tightening the gladiators’ discipline’ and ‘incitement and fabrication’ under the guise of an investigation.
The result of the near-torturous investigation conducted on the surviving gladiators was concluded as ‘deaths due to the mistakes of the gladiators who participated in the request,’ and it spread throughout the arena.
…As Hyunwoo had expected, it was a relief that a genuinely formal investigation was conducted on me.
Thanks to that, just as the arena intended, the grim atmosphere from the deaths of many gladiators subsided.
Requests heading to Sylvester also reappeared with double the commission fee.
Since the arena's investigation seemed to be completely over, it was now time to go to Lotus.
Hyunwoo immediately went to Lotus.
‘She said she had a gift prepared.’
I also had separate business with Lotus.
When it was Hyunwoo's turn, an employee came directly to guide him.
“Please follow me.”
I was guided to a new place, not the small consultation room I had been guided to before.
Following the employee's guidance, I headed deep into the building.
Just as I was wondering if there was some other scheme, the employee opened his mouth.
“We apologize for the inconvenience. Our Lotus has a separate consultation room for those who sell information.”
“Aha.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s nothing.”
Hyunwoo, having grasped the situation, let out an exclamation without realizing it.
‘As expected, the gift must be that. An official member.’
To Lotus, an ‘official member’ meant a member who sold information.
It seemed the information I sold last time was quite useful.
“You can enter this room. Well then.”
As if his job was done, the employee bowed his head in front of the ornately decorated door and turned back.
Various demonic beasts were embossed on the door in bas-relief.
Instead of opening the door and entering right away, Hyunwoo stood still and looked at the door.
The doorknob had a blue tint.
‘If it's blue… is it Grade 2?’
I could tell how Lotus treated its members by the color of the doorknob.
There were three colors in total.
Yellow was Grade 3.
Blue was Grade 2.
And red meant a Grade 1 member.
Each grade was the same as the grade of information the member could buy.
In other words, a Grade 1 member with the highest red grade could trade Grade 1 information.
Hyunwoo checked his membership grade and opened the door.
Swoosh―
The well-maintained door opened smoothly without any noise.
The one who greeted him this time was again the Dark Elf, Verian.
“Welcome. Please come this way.”
She stood up from her seat and guided Hyunwoo to a table where simple refreshments were prepared.
As soon as Hyunwoo leaned his body into the plush chair prepared in front of the table, she held out a small card.
“Please take it.”
“This is…?”
“It is a card that signifies an official member of our Lotus.”
“Oh, you give these out too?”
Even though he knew full well, Hyunwoo examined the blue card with a continuously amazed expression.
‘Seeing as they even give out a membership card, I guess I'm really Grade 2.’
Verian began to explain step by step.
“From now on, Mr. Hyunwoo, you are a Grade 2 member of Lotus. You can purchase all information of Grade 2 and below.”
“It seems there are grades for information too.”
“Yes, that's right. For reference, the information on item prices that Mr. Hyunwoo sold last time was Grade 1 information.”
“Was it that useful?”
“It was more than just useful. That's why we're giving you a membership card. It's not something you can get easily, you know.”
Verian smiled brightly and lifted her teacup.
I did feel like I had sold the information cheaply since it was my first transaction with Lotus.
But since I got a membership card in return, it wasn't bad.
“Did you come because of the gift I mentioned?”
“No. I came because I have something to ask.”
“What is it that you need? Information? An item? A person? We can get you anything.”
“I need a small subspace pocket and a Corruption Resistance Artifact.”
Acquiring information from all over the Demon World was also closely related to distribution.
‘If there is something you need, knock on the doors of Lotus.’
It was a famous maxim in ‘Masal’.
Verian immediately stood up from her seat.
“If you'll wait just a moment, I will inform you of the market price.”
Becoming an official member certainly made the information transaction flow like water, on a completely different level from the previous one.
Verian turned, approached the wall of the consultation room, and knocked on it a couple of times.
Swoosh―
A shadow emerged from the wall, handed her a small booklet, and disappeared.
She approached again and opened the booklet.
“A small subspace that can hold a Goblin is 30,000 Mana Stones, and the price of a Corruption Resistance Artifact varies depending on its level.”
I had expected the small subspace to be around that price.
The problem was the Corruption Resistance Artifact.
The price of artifacts varied wildly.
To grasp the market price, I asked about the most expensive one first.
“By any chance, how much is one with a permanent effect?”
“The ones with permanent effects… prices start at 500,000.”
“……That’s expensive.”
“It's not a very commonly used item.”
Verian shrugged.
For instance, an artifact to block a specific skill like corruption was an artifact with both low demand and low supply.
‘It’s even more expensive than I thought.’
Hyunwoo checked the pouch of Mana Stones inside his clothes.
In the meantime, he had sold some of the items he had collected through Pierre.
Adding this and that, the amount I had now was roughly 60,000 Mana Stones.
I thought I had been scraping together Mana Stones like crazy all this time….
It was far from enough.
“How much are the cheap ones?”
“An artifact with a one-time use resistance spell costs between 10,000 and 15,000 Mana Stones.”
Hyunwoo shook his head.
A single-use one wouldn't do.
I didn't know what variables might exist in the Anesta hunt.
“It needs to be usable at least 3 times.”
“How about this one? It's rechargeable and can be used 5 times a day.”
As it seemed the conversation would get longer, Verian moved closer to Hyunwoo, showed him the booklet, and pointed to each one.
She looked just like an insurance salesperson presenting a catalog.
If you excluded her excessively beautiful appearance, that is.
Hyunwoo put a little distance between them and opened his mouth.
“I don't mind if it becomes unusable after 3 uses.”
“Not rechargeable, but a disposable artifact usable 3 times… here it is. It's from the Keokeulleoseu region, so including everything, it's about 40,000 Mana Stones.”
“…40,000?”
I couldn't easily nod at her explanation, given with a bright smile.
I had about 60,000 Mana Stones.
If I bought the small subspace for 30,000 Mana Stones, I would be 10,000 Mana Stones short to buy the artifact.
Verian saw Hyunwoo's troubled expression and pointed to the card in his hand.
“If you're just a little short on Mana Stones, you could use your membership card.”
“…Are you talking about a loan?”
“You know well. In the case of a Grade 2 member, you can take a loan of up to 20,000 Mana Stones.”
Is this what they call scraping the bottom of the barrel?
The interest on a loan from Lotus was no joke.
‘Should I sell off all my remaining items… or, should I sell one more piece of information?’
For a moment, I was tempted to sell information, but I soon stopped.
Just by Hyunwoo releasing the information that item prices would rise, the speed at which the prices rose became unbelievably fast.
I thought it was just a small piece of information, but the butterfly effect was not to be ignored.
‘…I can't just sell information thoughtlessly anymore.’
His advantage was that he could predict, to some extent, the events that would happen in advance from ‘Masal’.
Deviating from the flow of the game was the same as throwing away his advantage.
Hyunwoo let out a deep sigh and finally nodded, holding out the card along with the pouch of Mana Stones.
“I will purchase both the subspace and the artifact. Please cover the shortfall with a member loan.”
“Thank you. The subspace will be delivered to you right on your way out. The artifact will take some time, so we will deliver it directly to your dormitory as soon as it's ready.”
Verian smiled and tucked the Mana Stone pouch into her pocket.
I got everything I needed.
Thanks to that, Hyunwoo was once again broke.
Whenever he gathered Mana Stones, they disappeared, and when he gathered them again, they disappeared once more.
It was no different from pouring water into a bottomless jar.
As Hyunwoo shook his head and got up from his seat, Verian also stood up and spoke.
“Seeing that you're preparing artifacts, I assume you're going on a request again?”
“…Yes, well. That's right.”
I answered obediently, thinking that Lotus would find out this much even if he didn't say anything.
“Do you happen to need information on the Sylvester area?”
“It would be nice to have it. But… as you can see.”
Hyunwoo shook his empty Mana Stone pouch and shrugged.
She smiled and handed him a small note.
“Check it when you go outside.”
“This is…?”
“It's a service.”
When I peeked inside the folded note, it was filled with information about the Lafre Forest.
Detailed information on the current battle situation was valuable even to Hyunwoo.
“Thank you.”
“Don't mention it for something like this.”
Hyunwoo expressed his gratitude for her favor and headed outside.
Click―
As I grabbed the doorknob to leave, I heard her muttering to herself.
“Ah, there was a really important request.”
Hyunwoo paused and pricked up his ears.
“Baron Modric asked me to find someone…”
As if for Hyunwoo to hear, the small voice came through to his ears clearly.
Baron Modric.
He was the demon who sponsored the gorilla guys I ran into at the bar.
‘And I'm in a state where I've refused his sponsorship.’
It was unlikely he'd hold a grudge over something like that, but Verian didn't seem like the type to speak without reason.
If so, that meant she had intentionally left a hint for me to hear….
If I had to guess, it would be Lucas, who killed the gorillas he sponsored.
Hyunwoo had a connection with Lucas.
‘It’s also unlikely Verian would warn me about Lucas, who isn't even here.’
The one she was trying to warn was clearly me.
‘Does it mean I should watch my back…?’
Even though I was bound to Lucas by the Blood Pact, I couldn't say we had a deep relationship yet.
However, from Baron Modric's perspective, it seemed he couldn't just let it slide.
‘I got roped in.’
Even a no-name baron among the nobles was a big shot to Hyunwoo.
Well, I had expected it.
From the moment I thought of accepting Lucas as a companion, it was my fate to meet Baron Modric as an enemy at any time.
The problem was that I hadn't expected him to be targeting me already.
‘I need to hurry up with the Anesta hunt.’
I had to deal with Anesta first, before the variable named Baron Modric interfered.
Hyunwoo took the subspace pocket, the size of a small lucky pouch, from the Lotus entrance and left.
I needed to prepare before heading to Sylvester to hunt Anesta.
He headed straight for his dormitory.
While on his way to the dormitory, Hyunwoo checked the things he got from Lotus.
‘A subspace pocket, information on the Sylvester region, and….’
Hyunwoo smacked his lips while shaking the empty pouch.
“An empty Mana Stone pouch, I guess?”
I hadn't even received the most expensive item, the Corruption Resistance Artifact, yet.
Moreover, the information on the Sylvester region was a service.
In the end, all that was left right now was one subspace pocket.
‘In a way, this is all my fortune.’
Receiving a service was one thing, but if there was any defect in the subspace, I was planning to go right back and raise hell.
Hyunwoo placed the subspace pocket on his palm and looked at it wordlessly.
A subspace the size of a small lucky pouch.
A subspace pocket was, simply put, a backpack with ‘space expansion magic’ cast on it.
If the space inside the subspace was sufficient, a living creature placed inside could even reproduce without issue.
The reason Hyunwoo bought the subspace pocket was because of the golden beetles.
He put his arm into the subspace and gauged its size.
‘They said it could hold one Goblin? This size… is it about the size of a ramen box?’
It was even smaller than what Lotus had described.
Did they just stuff a Goblin in there?
Hyunwoo grumbled and pulled his arm out again.
Having finished checking the size of the subspace, Hyunwoo took the glass bottle from his clothes and put it into the subspace.
Inside the glass bottle were the golden beetles and Lafre seeds.
Now, as time passed, the number of golden beetles would continue to increase.
‘And then I can just transfer them little by little into the glass bottles Pierre will bring.’
I tried to think if there was anything else to put in the subspace, but there wasn't really anything.
‘And, the note.’
Hyunwoo took out the note Verian had given him as a service.
The moment he was about to unfold the note to examine its contents in detail, Hyunwoo narrowed his brow and put the note back in his pocket.
The dormitory door was wide open.
‘What is this?’
I clearly remembered locking the door before I left.
There was only one guy who would come in as he pleased.
“Van?”
“…You're back?”
Van stood up from the sofa with his arms crossed.
His face looked like he had some complaint.
“Why did you leave the door open?”
“I was in the middle of chasing away an unwelcome guest. He wouldn't listen even when I told him to leave.”
‘An unwelcome guest?’
Hyunwoo moved closer to the sofa.
The person sitting on the opposite sofa, who had been hidden by Van's large frame, belatedly came into view.
Slurp―
The unwelcome guest slurped his tea, not even giving me a glance.
‘…What is this situation.’
Hyunwoo stared at the unwelcome guest in front of him, bewildered.
There sat the long, black-haired vampire, Lucas.