“So, what do you think of my proposal?”
“……”
Necros remained silent for a moment at Malcolm’s proposal.
The offer Malcolm had made a short while ago was simple.
To go into the monster arena business together.
He did not know why Malcolm had suddenly proposed a business venture.
At the same time, he knew nothing about this man called Malcolm.
Necros had merely drifted here in order to carry out Celia’s orders.
His instruction had been to investigate who was buying zombies and why, and by using a ghoul as bait, he had managed to discover this man named Malcolm.
‘Precisely…’
Necros, who had been tilting his head slightly as he looked around, took note of the luxurious decorations in the reception room and the presence of the armed guards.
Though it was called a reception room, the interior carried a dark and gloomy atmosphere.
Furthermore, just by looking at the state of the guards, it was clear that Malcolm was no ordinary human.
A moment later, Necros nodded and began writing in his notebook.
- I accept.
For now, there was still a need to investigate Malcolm further.
Necros had absolutely no desire to make money through the monster arena Malcolm had suggested.
It was merely loyalty in accordance with his orders.
Necros wrote the next line in his notebook.
- How will the profits be divided?
It was absolutely not because he liked money.
His intention was to naturally talk business and avoid suspicion.
At Necros’s answer, Malcolm cheered like a child.
After all, it was practically the same as agreement.
“Khehehe! I knew someone like you wouldn’t refuse an offer like this! As for the split, let’s talk about that later.”
The other party was a skilled individual who had brought in a ghoul without a single scratch on it.
Such talent was not easily found even in the underworld.
Though zombies and ghouls were low-grade, they were still undead monsters. Since their flesh was basically in a state of decay, it was rare for anyone to bring them in as intact as this.
‘Yesterday’s adventurer was one thing, but there really are a lot of remarkable talents.’
Malcolm admired Necros’s abilities.
At the same time, he felt relieved that he did not have to kill such a capable individual.
If Necros had indicated that he would refuse the business, Malcolm had intended to kill him and silence him.
This was an area where Malcolm’s influence was immense, even within the underworld. He might not be in other places, but here, he was king and law.
Above all, Malcolm liked Necros’s attitude.
‘Money is always right. Hehe!’
When Necros openly asked about the division of money, Malcolm felt at ease.
Malcolm was the type to always be wary of kindness without a price.
He much preferred the sort of person, like the one sitting across from him, who openly talked about money.
At the very least, such people would not stab you in the back when money was on the table.
Malcolm set aside his pleasant mood for a moment and straightened his posture.
“I feel like good things will start bursting out one after another if I’m with you!”
Malcolm had gone through countless twists and turns to reach his current position.
In the process, there was one thing he had come to realize: the power of intuition.
If he had a good feeling, something good always happened, and conversely, if he had a bad premonition, something bad would occur.
Some might dismiss it as superstition, but to Malcolm, this intuition was a precious sense.
And right now, he had a good feeling.
Thanks to that, he was confident everything would go well.
“Let’s have a cup of tea and talk about our future.”
Malcolm gestured with his head to the subordinate beside him, and one of them soon entered carrying tea.
However, Necros was an Arch Lich.
He was even wearing a white mask to hide the fact that he was a monster. Thus, Necros did not touch the tea.
Even at that moment, Malcolm began talking about himself.
“By the way, do you know why I’m so obsessed with zombies? There’s a reason for everything.”
Malcolm spoke as he tapped the ash from his cigarette into the ashtray on the table.
“It’s because they’re undead. Undead monsters are simple. They’re easy to manage, and they don’t cost much either, hehehe.”
He grinned broadly as if sharing his own secret and looked at Necros.
“So, Necros, it might look strange that I’m fixated on zombies, but it’s actually all calculated. Hehehe.”
Malcolm’s answer was simple.
He collected zombies simply because they were cost-effective.
Because they were simple, they were perfect to use, and above all, undead required no food, clothing, or shelter.
They did not need to sleep, nor would they die if they did not consume anything.
In short, for an early-stage business, there was no monster as cost-effective as the undead.
Necros gave a slight nod at Malcolm’s answer.
He had heard that people outside called him a zombie fetishist, but as it turned out, he was a fairly normal human.
If anything, he was smart.
“Ah, I do have other businesses too, and I’ve thought about whether people might relieve their lust on zombies instead of humans. Kiki.”
“……”
Necros withdrew his thought that Malcolm was a normal human.
He was indeed a strange bastard.
Still, since this was someone he had joined hands with for the sake of business, if only briefly, Necros did not show it.
Thus began a long conversation between Malcolm and Necros.
* * *
Even after Jeong Yerin left, I was still at home.
That did not mean I was continuing to laze around without any plan.
After all, I now officially belonged to the Firebird Guild—more precisely, I was an adviser to the team led by Jeong Yerin.
“Yeah, it wouldn’t make sense to turn down that offer.”
I did not know what Jeong Yerin had been thinking when she made me the offer, but the conditions were extraordinary.
She had offered me a position as an adviser in the Firebird Guild.
That alone was good enough, but she had attached shocking conditions to it as well.
First, it was remote work with no labor.
There was nothing I had to do.
I did not need to go to work, nor did I have any tasks to handle.
She had simply said that she would come to me directly when she needed my help.
‘Am I not just taking all the sweet benefits here?’
Next, the second point was that I would receive all the benefits of the Firebird Guild while doing absolutely nothing.
Since she said the Firebird Guild would take care of any taxes attached to the purchase or sale of items, there was no reason for me to refuse.
Who would refuse when they could save that much money?
In short, I could do nothing, receive a salary, and enjoy all the benefits of the Firebird Guild.
They even said they would have business cards made for me.
“I feel kind of guilty.”
Jeong Yerin had presented such exceptional conditions and obtained my acceptance, but…
Since I was not actually doing anything, it weighed on my mind for no reason.
To begin with, I knew Jeong Yerin was overestimating me, so my conscience pricked at me.
On the other hand, another thought occurred to me as well.
‘Then again, if I think about it, they were the ones who made the offer first, right? Wouldn’t it be enough to just visit the Firebird Guild briefly when I have time?’
In any case, this was more or less the scout’s fault.
That must be the extent of Jeong Yerin’s eye for talent.
Still, I felt bad doing absolutely nothing, so I planned to visit the Firebird Guild at least once.
That alone should be enough to fulfill my role.
That did not mean I was going right now.
Just because I was sitting still did not mean I was truly doing nothing.
I had to handle special matters that only I could do.
First was dungeon management using my smartphone.
Since Celia mainly managed this as well, there was not much for me to do, but it was important for me to give orders from time to time.
Not long ago, the range of activity for the dungeon monsters had expanded as far as the Seil Kingdom. I had immediately ordered Celia to clear out the surrounding dungeons.
‘A situation where my dungeon is threatened must never happen.’
My number one concern was the safety of the dungeon.
It was only right to clean up even the surrounding regions and eliminate the buds of danger.
Not only that, but I also made use of a system I had tried before because I was bored.
It was [Dungeon Support & Dispatch].
Through it, I dispatched monsters to dungeons that needed help, but this too did not bring me much enjoyment.
“Tsk, there aren’t as many good rewards as before.”
The only proper rewards were more or less the offerings Celia presented.
If they were simply items, it did not matter, but if they were offerings whose abilities I could absorb, I had her collect them all and offer them at once.
The reason was to minimize the six-hour unconscious state that occurred when I absorbed the abilities of an offering.
Since that gap was fairly significant, it was an order I had specifically given Celia.
Of course, when I fainted, Maru stayed by my side, so there was no problem, but I needed to keep building the habit.
Aside from that, I consumed gems by doing monster draws and miscellaneous goods draws.
But that too soon became boring.
“Isn’t there some new mission or something?”
Maru, Ciel, and Coco handled the housework, so there was nothing for me to touch.
Meals also came out on time, so all I had to do was stay still.
“Wow, I really feel like I’ve become an unemployed bum who does absolutely nothing.”
As I yawned and killed time in boredom like that—
Ding—
An alarm rang from my smartphone.
‘What is it? Did Celia upload a report?’
Or could it be that a special mission had appeared?
I immediately opened my smartphone and checked the notification.
“Huh?”
The contents of the notification were neither an offering sent by Celia nor a new special mission.
If anything, it was more accurate to say a new piece of content had been unlocked.
- A new system, [Monster Arena], has been unlocked.
“Monster Arena?”
It was a new kind of system.
I tapped the screen at once.
- [Monster Arena] preparations have not been completed, so it cannot be used yet.
What is this?
If I could not use it right away, why did it say a new system had been unlocked?
My doubt lasted only a moment before a new alarm appeared.
- Please set the rules for the Monster Arena.
- Please select the arena’s match format.
(1) [Monster vs Monster]
(2) [Human vs Monster]
(3) [Human vs Human]
(4) [Mixed]
“Oh, this is pretty full-fledged, huh? Am I the one choosing the settings?”
Being able to choose even the arena settings made me feel as though I were operating an arena myself.
“Anyway, an arena…”
It reminded me of the atmosphere of gladiators from ancient Rome that I had seen somewhere before.
I remembered reading in a book that, in those days, aside from humans fighting humans, they also made them battle all kinds of animals.
However, there was one thing I could not overlook here: this was absolutely not something like a game.
It was undeniably reality.
That being the case, it would be right to choose option 1, which would not harm people, but would that really be the best choice?
Would there be any value in people going out of their way to watch monsters fight monsters because it was entertaining?
“No, there wouldn’t.”
The same went for human versus human battles.
If that were the case, it should not be called a monster arena.
Above all, people who wanted to participate might appear.
It did not seem right to trample on the future of such participants, so my choice was clear.
“This is obviously number 4.”
In order to open up all choices, I selected option 4, Mixed.
Aside from that, I chose options for the number limit of participants entering the arena, the time limit, the match format, and so on.
“There obviously shouldn’t be a limit on the number of participants.”
Would it be fun if they only fought one-on-one?
Would it be fair if humans and monsters fought with the same numbers?
This was the sort of thing that became fun only when there were no limits on numbers.
“Time limit? The time limit is a bit tricky.”
Setting a time limit was not easy.
A time limit was needed to heighten the tension of the match, but it also could not be too short.
On top of that, if surrender was allowed in the match format, the time limit itself could become meaningless.
After all, if they thought their opponent was strong, they would surrender immediately.
“That wouldn’t be fun.”
After thinking it over, I decided on fifteen minutes.
That seemed like a length where the fighters could fight desperately while the audience would not get bored.
At the same time, instead of allowing surrender, I set the principle as a battle staked on life and death.
If the match was not decided within fifteen minutes, it would be a draw.
Victory would be decided only through the death of the opponent.
A sight where they fought to live—or fought like mad.
That was the kind of arena I wanted.
Aside from that—
- Please set the betting amount.
- Will you permit the use of magic items or legendary-grade equipment?
- Please set the level of basic armaments provided.
- Will you train scouts to recruit participants for the arena?
And so on…
Many notifications appeared, and each time, I chose the option I thought was best.
“This is pretty good, isn’t it?”
The sight of gladiators risking their lives to fight monsters, the bloody, brutal matches, even the cheering crowds… Just imagining it made my heart pound.
Most importantly, this arena system had one huge reward for me as well.
- A portion of the profits from the [Monster Arena] will be paid to Master Lee Ganghyeon in gems.
In other words, there was now another way to acquire gems besides spending real money.
Ultimately, the more successful the arena became, the greater the rewards that would fall to me.
“I have to make this succeed, no matter what!”
This time, it was content with a guaranteed reward.
* * *
Malcolm and Necros’s discussion continued.
Necros’s opinions, in particular, were utterly uninhibited.
【Remove all restrictions on participants.】
A voice echoed inside his head.
Necros realized that the voice was the will of the Great One.
【Select people capable of training the participants.】
Even as he continued speaking with Malcolm, the Great One’s commands kept resounding in Necros’s mind.
Interpreting His will was the very reason Necros existed.
While listening to the Great One’s voice, he wrote His intentions down in a notebook.
- The time limit will be fifteen minutes. Let the match end only when one side dies.
“Oh, that’s an excellent idea. The audience will get to see even more thrilling matches that way. Necros, you really are a clever one. Hehehe.”
- We will train specialists in recruiting participants.
“Good, good! If that happens, people will be completely hooked on our arena. Its success will be guaranteed! Kuhahaha!”
Necros was merely following the Great One’s will, but to Malcolm, who knew nothing of that, he seemed extraordinary.
When Necros smoothly voiced ideas even he himself had not expected, Malcolm couldn’t help but feel pleased.
‘As expected, I’ve got a good eye for people!’
Perhaps this partner was even more capable than he had thought.
Necros even said he would bring in monsters of various races, not just undead monsters.
He claimed it was possible thanks to his personal abilities, and Malcolm simply accepted that without trying to dig too deeply.
Why would he needlessly cut open the belly of the duck laying golden eggs?
Instead, Malcolm decided to do what only he could.
“I’ll recruit the people! I can start by tempting the bastards who borrowed money from me. Kekekek. As long as we put up enough money, sons of bitches willing to risk their lives will line up one after another.”
Malcolm was greedy.
This business was an item that was guaranteed to succeed.
If it did, then his influence within the Pitch-Black Hand would undoubtedly become overwhelming.
‘When that time comes, I can get rid of that bastard. Kiki.’
Malcolm smiled at Necros.
But there was not the slightest trace of warmth in that smile. Only cold calculation dwelled within it.
He had never intended to share the business from the start.
All he needed was to confirm how Necros was bringing in the monsters.
Once he figured out that secret, he planned to eliminate him immediately.
‘As expected, I really am smart.’
Malcolm let out an unpleasant laugh and opened his mouth.
“Now then, let’s work out the arena rules in a bit more detail.”
It seemed he would be getting no sleep tonight.