An unpleasant incident that occurred during the auction.
Fortunately, thanks to the appearance of Serinu, who was in charge of the banquet, it was wrapped up quite neatly.
When he said he would take responsibility and compensate me, I gladly accepted.
Strictly speaking, it had been a rigged setup by the trading company, but I hadn’t really suffered any losses, so I decided to simply accept a modest bit of compensation.
And what I demanded as that compensation was—
“…Do you truly have to take everything?”
Serinu asked again in a trembling voice, but there was no way I was backing down.
I demanded every item that had been scheduled to appear in the auction.
Among them were the two priests and the elf.
Of course, it went without saying that I also demanded all the items the Arch Lich and Azmo had previously bid on.
“That is correct.”
I answered his question impassively.
I even deliberately lowered my voice a little to seem somewhat dignified.
“……”
At my answer, Serinu’s expression stiffened in real time.
But wasn’t the trading company the one that had acted wrongly from the start?
I had every right to demand this much as compensation for damages.
“I intend to maintain a good relationship with the trading company going forward.”
I answered bluntly, hiding my emotions as much as possible.
Looking around the banquet hall, it seemed there would be plenty to squeeze out of the trading company in the future.
I had no desire to make an enemy of a trading company that laid golden eggs, so this was all I was asking for.
And with that sentiment, I expressed that I wanted to maintain a good relationship going forward.
Strictly speaking, this level of expense wasn’t that big from the trading company’s perspective, was it?
Even I spent 5,000 at a time on gacha pulls that only spat out one-star monsters in a row.
And the Demon Realm Trading Company wasn’t an individual, but an organization. A massive one, at that.
In that case, surely my demands were nothing much.
Serinu pondered for a moment, then ultimately agreed to my request.
“…Understood. We shall do as you say.”
“Put the items in an inventory, if you would.”
Since I was taking them anyway, I tried asking for an inventory artifact too.
“……”
Seeing as he didn’t say anything in particular, that meant he agreed, right?
He seemed to be accepting it reluctantly, but that wasn’t my problem.
Thanks to that, we were able to conclude the deal with smiles.
Ah, was Serinu’s expression stiff?
The situation had ended well, so it was fine.
Serinu instructed a subordinate below him to bring the goods, then turned his head toward me.
“By the way, since this too is a kind of fate, allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Serinu, a member of the trading company’s operations committee.”
As if he had resigned himself to something, the other party held out his hand once more.
Since he had introduced himself, I had no choice but to introduce myself as well.
But that was where a problem arose.
‘What should I introduce myself as?’
If this had been an ordinary meeting between people, it wouldn’t have mattered.
But Serinu was a monster.
Although he had a humanlike appearance and was dressed in a suit, he had fangs protruding sharply inside his mouth and blackened hands.
His appearance could never be considered human.
‘Introducing myself with my real name here seems dangerous…’
The only monster who knew my real name was Celia, but she was my subordinate, so it didn’t matter.
But this situation was different.
My name, Lee Ganghyeon, was clearly an out-of-place name on the Eldorad Continent no matter who heard it.
With the trading company’s capabilities, they might infer information from that name alone.
Mm.
After thinking for a moment, I soon recalled one fact.
When the game had first been installed on my smartphone.
When I named the dungeon, the name the game had changed it to on its own.
‘The Evil God’s Nest.’
Looking at the name alone, it was certainly rather grandiose.
But I was certain no one would take it at face value.
They would probably just take it as a joke.
“Others call me the Evil God.”
It wasn’t a lie.
After all, the game had called my dungeon the Evil God’s Nest.
“……”
After hearing my answer, Serinu fell silent for a moment.
Even the hand he was shaking with mine trembled faintly.
‘What’s with him?’
Was he speechless because the answer was too absurd?
Still, Serinu quickly regained his composure.
“Haha… I see.”
Seeing Serinu’s reaction, I was able to feel relieved.
It seemed I had hidden my identity appropriately, and Serinu had also taken the answer “Evil God” as a joke.
‘As expected, the right move is to be shameless.’
Just as I thought that, a window appeared before my eyes.
- You have successfully completed the auction.
‘Is it because I don’t have my smartphone?’
Currently, my smartphone was at my home on Earth, not on the Eldorad Continent.
Perhaps because of that, the alert that would normally have rung on my smartphone appeared before my eyes instead.
- As a reward, you may select two of the items you bid on at the auction.
- The selected items can be taken to Earth.
Oh!
At the unexpected reward, my eyes lit up.
* * *
Serinu’s current expression was not good.
‘To think there exists someone who introduces himself as the Evil God…’
The black mask before him had introduced himself as the Evil God.
Serinu had occasionally seen those who claimed to serve the Evil God, but this was the first time he had seen someone introduce himself as the Evil God.
The Evil God.
A god said to have existed in the very distant past.
But it was an extremely old story, and there were practically no surviving records passed down.
It was different from the goddess served by the White Order.
There were occasionally those who served the Evil God, but this was the first time Serinu had encountered a being who introduced himself as the Evil God.
‘Absurd.’
It made more sense to see him as someone impersonating the Evil God.
Perhaps he was simply playing a joke.
‘Though surely he wouldn’t dare play a joke on the trading company.’
If Serinu had his way, he would have wanted to punish him severely.
But the other party’s aura was far too powerful.
There was nothing he could do but nod.
“Haha… I see.”
All he could do was go along with the other party’s words.
‘Hah…’
For now, aside from what the other party had said, there were several troublesome matters at hand.
First of all, the goods that had been scheduled for auction would now fall into the hands of that black mask.
For free, at that!
Since it was ultimately the karma Serinu himself had brought upon them, there was nothing he could do, but the loss was greater than expected.
In truth, the auction goods themselves were not a great loss from the trading company’s perspective, but the important thing was that the auction had been halted.
It was effectively the same as being canceled, so the expressions of those who had participated in the auction were not good.
The reputation of the banquet hosted by the trading company would likely fall.
‘I’ll have to compensate them properly.’
Serinu immediately instructed a subordinate to compensate the others.
This, too, was essentially an additional loss.
But without even that compensation, the trading company’s reputation would fall even further, and in the long run, they would likely suffer an even greater loss.
When Serinu gave the order to compensate them, the black mask in front of him tapped the Arch Lich beside him once.
Then the Arch Lich opened his mouth.
“Clack, clack.”
(We will receive compensation as well.)
The Arch Lich demanded the compensation being given to the others.
“…?”
Serinu felt as if his insides were burning, but he did not show it openly.
“…Understood.”
He simply decided to let it be.
To be this unrestrained toward the trading company…
Whether they had no fear or confidence in their own strength, Serinu decided that for now, he would let it pass.
Then Serinu asked carefully.
“By the way, what is the relationship between you two?”
The one who answered that question was the Arch Lich.
“Clack, clack!”
He heard the answer that he was a servant who served the Great One.
“Clack clack clack-clack!”
And the Arch Lich added that because that person was the Great One and could not be met often, Serinu should consider it an honor to receive him like this.
Serinu felt his head grow dizzy.
At least he had discovered that they did not live in the same dungeon, so he considered that fortunate.
‘Since they don’t live in the same dungeon, their dungeons must be different. I’ll have to investigate that black mask separately.’
As he had thought before, the Arch Lich was indeed the master of a dungeon. It was just that he seemed to belong to the black mask’s faction.
‘I’ll also have to look into which other dungeons are included in that faction besides the Arch Lich’s.’
There was a lot to do.
Serinu subtly gestured to a subordinate and gave an instruction.
Then he immediately smiled and looked at the black mask.
“I will explain briefly. First, the goods will be delivered to your dungeon as soon as the banquet ends.”
But the black mask raised a hand and stopped Serinu from speaking.
“No. The Arch Lich here will take them right away. Prepare them accordingly.”
At some point, even the incubus had approached and stood beside the Arch Lich.
“……”
Serinu was slightly flustered by the request to prepare them immediately, but in a way, this was an opportunity.
It might be more comfortable to send them out and continue the banquet.
“Haha… I see. In that case, we will transport the slaves with the trading company’s carriage. We will specially lend you a carriage. The items will also be placed separately in an inventory and handed over.”
Now that it had come to this, Serinu hurried his subordinates along, wanting to get them out quickly.
If there was one fortunate thing, it was that the Arch Lich’s dungeon was located in the mountain range bordering the Demon Realm.
Since the distance was close, transporting the slaves would not be a major issue.
“Then I will briefly explain the goods.”
Serinu began explaining the items that had originally been scheduled to appear in the auction.
“First, this item is armor made from salamander hide.”
At a glance, it was armor made of red leather.
“Though it may look crude on the outside, it possesses the fire attribute. It has a certain degree of resistance to flame attacks, and one of its main features is that it is also strong against the cold.”
“This item is a sword made from the tooth of a young wyvern. Its hardness is beyond compare.”
Among Serinu’s explanations were goods that seemed useful.
“This is an air freshener made from a basilisk’s poison sac. If you open the lid of the freshener, it will grant you a pleasant death.”
On the other hand, there were also items that made one wonder why such a thing even existed.
“This is an electric heating mat that operates on mana. If installed in a dungeon, it can roast intruders whole.”
Among them were traps that could be installed in a dungeon.
Explanations of various items passed by, and finally, only the last item remained to be introduced.
That item was a cloak, made in black and white, with an unknown pattern embroidered on it.
Some sort of alien power could be felt from the cloak.
But it was of a different nature from mana or divine power.
“This is the Corpse Harvester’s Cloak. This cloak is not something as simple as armor. In truth, it would be more accurate to regard it as a living creature. If you wear this cloak and kill your opponent, the cloak will swallow the opponent’s corpse on its own. Of course, it can also spit that corpse back out intact.”
It was an item that sounded impressive in words only.
In reality, it had no characteristics as armor, and all it did was store the corpses of opponents one had killed.
Well, if one needed corpses for black magic research or intended to consume fresh corpses, it could be a decent item.
But if that was truly the goal, one could simply procure corpses directly.
This cloak was merely an item to decorate a dungeon, and it would not be wrong to say it had no value beyond that.
Of course, Serinu was not foolish enough to reveal that.
In any case, there were plenty of other equipment and items that were far more useful, so it would not be purely a loss for the other party either.
But this was Serinu’s misconception.
‘This is a jackpot!’
Because the black mask covered his face, Serinu had no idea what expression he was making right now.
* * *
The auction was completely over.
My original purpose in coming to the Eldorad Continent had been the auction, so it could be said that my business here was finished.
After telling the Arch Lich to move the slaves and items properly, I returned to Earth.
Since the auction had ended and the next banquet event proceeded, I naturally returned to Earth.
- As a reward, you may select two of the items you bid on at the auction.
- The selected items can be taken to Earth.
And now it was time to choose my rewards.
I already had the items in mind, so I was able to decide quickly.
‘The Corpse Harvester’s Cloak.’
- You have selected the Corpse Harvester’s Cloak as your reward.
At the same time, a cloak appeared above my smartphone.
A cloak that allowed one to store corpses if they wore it and killed their opponent.
‘I’ll have Maru wear this.’
Maru was currently a five-star monster.
If I put this cloak on him and set him to auto-hunt, it would be the same as sacrifices rolling into my hands on their own.
‘And next…’
No matter what anyone said, it was the elf.
At present, when moving the monsters in my dungeon to Earth, one-star monsters were the limit.
On top of that, the elf I obtained from this auction wasn’t originally a monster belonging to my dungeon.
There seemed to be no other way to move such an elf to Earth right away besides this.
So I chose the elf as my reward without hesitation.
Still, since the elf was a living being, I was nervous about whether I could select her as a reward.
- You have selected the elf “Ciel” as your reward.
Fortunately, I was able to choose her as a reward.
‘Her name is Ciel?’
As soon as I selected the elf, a woman bound in chains appeared in the room before my eyes.
Pointed ears and an incredible appearance.
It was indeed the elf I had seen at the auction.
At the same time, one change occurred.
[Monster Summoning] - (3/5)
- Maru (★★★★★)
- Ciel (★★★★)
- Skeleton Soldier (★)
In the monster summoning window, Ciel’s name had been added alongside Maru and Koko.
She was an elf with a rating of no less than four stars.
“Now this is what I’m talking about!”
Even if that elf had been a monster belonging to my dungeon, I wouldn’t have been able to bring her to Earth.
I immediately rose to approach the elf named Ciel.
But then new alerts appeared one after another.
- The unique monster “Half-Goblin” has been born.
“Half-Goblin?”
It was an alert type I had never seen before.