Chapter 171
Chapter 171. The Mystic Merchant’s Secret (1)
“It seems we cannot find the way properly. It feels as if we are going around the same place in circles.”
Eluna said that while looking outside through the carriage window, and I agreed.
“That is understandable. The Underworld of the Royal Capital is an extremely wide and complicated place.”
The Carriage had already entered the Underworld. The Coachman drove the Carriage carefully according to what I had told him, but he kept taking wrong turns.
I opened the box placed at one side of the Carriage.
Inside was the Mana Pistol that could be called my signature weapon. The treasured sword I had received from the duke alone was not enough to put me at ease, so I equipped the pistol at my waist.
Eluna, who had been watching me, also picked up her bow and arrows.
Her Archery was S-Rank. On top of that, she was a descendant of an Elf, so her vision was good even at night. In a situation like this, it was as reassuring as me using a pistol.
Eluna seemed to have noticed my intention.
“It would be better to walk, wouldn’t it?”
“It would. There is no need to get the Coachman hurt for no reason.”
“As expected, Master, you are kind.”
“Please look at the situation before praising me.”
I shouted to the Coachman and had him stop the Carriage. With the sound of the horses snorting, the Carriage slowly came to a stop.
When I got down from the Carriage, the Coachman repeatedly bowed his head.
“I am truly sorry! My Lord. I seem to have a poor sense of direction and keep circling around the area.”
“Shh. Quiet. Raising your voice is not a very good idea in this place.”
When I raised a finger and told him to be quiet, he pressed his mouth shut. Cold sweat was streaming down his face.
“It seems better for me to simply walk than for you to keep driving the Carriage, so take the Carriage to the entrance of this district and wait there.”
“I truly have no excuse, my lord......”
“It is fine. I walked here the last time I came as well. It is enough that you brought us this far. Hurry and return.”
“Yes, my lord!”
The Coachman bowed his head and turned the Carriage around. Eluna and I confirmed that the Carriage had safely disappeared from sight, then began walking.
A short while later, I arrived at the place from my memory.
“Is this it?”
“It looks like there is nothing here, right? There is something that could be called a Secret Entrance. Something like that.”
After giving a rough explanation, I moved toward the firmly closed Iron Door. To someone looking from the outside, it would seem like nothing more than the door of a warehouse that was rarely used. I knocked on it.
A moment later, with a sharp scraping sound, the gap between the Iron Bars opened.
Then two eyeballs appeared.
Just as the man who had come here with me before had done, I took out the Metis Token and held it before those eyes. The two eyes, which had narrowed for a moment, blinked once, and then the Iron Bars closed.
CLANK!
Then the door opened. I stepped inside first. A large, bald man whom I had seen once before greeted us.
“What brings you here this time? To stop by right after finishing a banquet... You must be in quite a hurry.”
With that one sentence, I realized that information about my every move was flowing to this side. This is getting more and more interesting.
“I came to buy information, not to exchange idle chatter.”
“You are impatient. Come this way.”
The giant man led the way, and I entered the dark space. Today, the Mystic Merchant’s seat was empty, and only the Crystal Ball was placed on the table.
“It seems he is away.”
“He is preparing, so wait a moment.”
“Very well.”
The giant man prepared one more chair for us to sit on. We sat down and waited for the Mystic Merchant to appear.
“I can feel Mana.”
Eluna, who had been looking around, threw out that remark. Unfortunately, her Mana Rank had not been rising easily. It was probably because the Elf blood in her had thinned considerably.
I pointed with my chin at the Crystal Ball in front of us.
“It is probably because of that.”
“Ah!”
Eluna recognized the Crystal Ball’s true value at a glance. A Mana User could feel Mana and could also appraise Magic Tools. She had sensed that Mana was flowing out from the Crystal Ball.
Come to think of it, it was somewhat strange that an old man who was not even a Mana User possessed a Magic Tool.
In that case, it would be normal for even a trace amount of Mana to be felt from him, but from the old man, I had truly sensed not even a speck of Mana. He was too clean.
That was why I had been thinking it was strange.
There was also a question that suddenly came to mind.
“You waited a long time. Congratulations. I heard you received a Barony from the ducal house this time.”
“The information has already come in.”
“It would be embarrassing to call such a story information.”
The Mystic Merchant appeared wearing a black Hood. Beyond the Hood, I could faintly see a nose and mouth full of wrinkles, but strangely enough, he did not particularly give me the impression of an old man.
Normally, if a person were old, his back would be somewhat bent and his height would have shrunk, but his body looked as good as a young man’s.
If he had not been wearing a Robe, I might have been able to see him in more detail, but that seemed impossible.
On top of that, his voice was ambiguous, neither clearly male nor female. He was concealing his original voice with an artificial one.
If I had not been wearing a Face Mask, I would not have been able to think this way.
In this world, concealing one’s identity was easier than expected. It merely cost some money. Because of that, I had already abandoned my prejudice regarding the Mystic Merchant.
“I heard you were preparing to leave the Royal Capital soon. Why did you suddenly come here?”
“There are a few things I want to confirm before I leave.”
At that, the Mystic Merchant swept his gaze near me. His eyes were still hidden in shadow, so like someone wearing sunglasses, I could not tell exactly where he was looking.
“You seem to have come too empty-handed for that.”
“I am none other than the Master of Metis. If you need a payment guarantee, I can even leave behind the treasured sword I received today.”
“Then let us hear it. I can roughly guess what question will come.”
Considering the operating policy of the Mystic Trading Company, there was one blind spot.
High-Grade Information was assigned a high price.
In other words, if the urgency or value of information was evaluated highly, the cost to access it would rise.
That meant if a high price was assigned to what I asked, there was a high chance that it would actually occur. I intended to use that blind spot.
“I would like to ask about the possibility of Young Master Hamel and Young Lady Sapiela of the Adeline House being attacked on their way home.”
“Hmm.”
The Mystic Merchant let out a groan, placed his hand on the Crystal Ball, and began moving his hand busily as if performing a Trick. Sparks flew, and a mysterious sight unfolded as they moved along his hand.
But looking at it again, something was strange.
A person who was not even a Mana User was handling a Magic Tool that freely? It would be normal to feel even a small amount of Mana from him.
Before long, the estimate came from the Mystic Merchant’s mouth.
“......Three hundred thousand gold.”
“I see. Understood.”
When I smiled and ended the conversation, the Mystic Merchant’s voice lowered.
“What are you plotting?”
“It means I will not access it because the unit price does not match.”
“......That sounds like a lie. If the unit price does not match, is it not a merchant’s duty to bargain?”
If it was three hundred thousand gold, then an attack was as good as scheduled. It meant there was enough information to fill three hundred thousand gold’s worth. Now we only had to prepare thoroughly for the attack and return home.
I looked at Eluna and asked,
“Chief, do you think this information is worth bargaining for?”
“No. I think it would be better not to access it either. Three hundred thousand gold is not a small sum, and I think it would be better to use that money to hire an entire Mercenary Corps for the journey.”
“Exactly. That is precisely what I think. Even with just ten thousand gold, we could hire skilled people, so there is no need to pay thirty times that.”
“Of course.”
The Mystic Merchant, who had been silently listening to our banter, laughed. However, it was certainly not a pleasant laugh. So I changed the subject.
“Putting that aside, there is one last thing I would like to ask.”
“It seems today is not the day. Please return now.”
The Mystic Merchant took his hand off the Crystal Ball and rose from his seat. However, I knew a way to prevent him from leaving. I stretched out my hand and raised my Mana.
CRACKLE!
Sparks rose inside the Crystal Ball.
“What are you doing!”
The Mystic Merchant was startled.
The Crystal Ball reacted with the Mana I had raised. However, I was different from other Mana Users. The Mana Circle located in my heart poured out purer Mana.
The Mystic Merchant, who had been staring blankly, realized the situation far too late.
“Stop, stop it!”
The Mystic Merchant’s scream burst out, but I had little intention of doing so.
CRASH!
In the end, the Crystal Ball could not withstand my Mana and shattered into pieces.
“Nooooooooo!”
At that instant, Escort Forces sprang out from all directions. Sharp blades came at me from every side, but...
“Stop!”
At the Mystic Merchant’s sudden order, the blades did not dig into my body.
Not that they would have anyway. I had already realized there were people hiding, and I had wrapped myself in a powerful Protective Aura refined through repeated training.
“You are trying to kill someone over a mere Crystal Ball?”
I no longer used polite speech. From now on, I would take control of the situation.
“A mere Crystal Ball? What the hell are you scheming? How did you break the Crystal Ball?”
“Your real voice is finally coming out.”
It was a man’s voice. A very young man’s voice at that. As expected, only the shell seemed old.
He seemed to be someone with a story.
Then again, who in the world did not have a story? Even I, who had been working as a Butler Apprentice in a Marquis House, had an extraordinary story, so a Mystic Merchant who had established himself in a place like the Underworld would have even more of one.
“Send your men away. If you want to know why I am doing this.”
“You cannot! We do not know what these people might do! We must capture them immediately!”
The Bald Man appeared. I glanced back and snapped at him.
“It seems intelligence is proportional to the number of hairs on one’s head. If I intended to harm your Master, I would already have done so and then some. But right now, I am trying to talk. Do you fail to think because you have no hair, or do you simply choose not to?”
“Ghk......”
The Bald Man, whose weakness had been struck precisely, could not continue speaking. Eluna let out a soft laugh, seeming amused.
After sinking into thought for a moment, the Mystic Merchant removed his Hood.
A face filled with wrinkles appeared. It was the face of an ordinary old man, but it was a mask. Before long, he removed the mask as well. Only then was his true face revealed.
“As expected.”
My intuition had been correct. The feeling that he might not actually be an old man.
However, there was one thing I had not expected.
His real face held a twist.
In a word, he was a very beautiful young man with fine silver hair, the sort rarely seen even in the Royal Capital. From his intellectual gaze and firmly closed lips, I could tell that his refinement was not ordinary.
Was he perhaps the descendant of a noble? Considering the era, it would not have been easy to grow up so finely.
He waved his hand.
“Everyone, put away your weapons and leave. I need to speak with the guests. Know that we will be unable to receive clients for the time being. It seems we will need to reorganize.”
“Yes, Master.”
Everyone went outside. I checked to see whether anyone was still hiding, but no one was caught by Thermal Detection.
The beautiful young man before me crossed his arms and glared at me.
“Now then, I sent everyone out as you wished. What do you want to say? I will tell you in advance that if you came here for some trivial purpose, you will not return alive. You are the first outsider to see my face.”
“Rather than explain at length, it would be better to show you once.”
After finishing those words, I formed a Hand Sign. When the blue trajectory fluttered beautifully and formed a single law, the Mystic Merchant’s eyes widened.
“A... Mage?”
FWOOOSH!
The Fire Spell brightly illuminated the dark room.
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