009 – The Shoulder Mark # 4
“Why is a thief-class skill book coming out at a magic university?”
Hermit passed me the red book he’d been holding.
“You can’t read a skill book unless it suits your aptitude. If it’s you, you’ll probably know what’s written here.”
Ugh, I hate books.
But he gave it to me, so I took it.
The squiggly, earthworm-like characters that had been difficult to read straightened out and changed into something I could read.
『Shadow Treading』
That was the book’s title.
Flap—.
When I opened the page, I saw densely packed letters.
『A movement technique said to have been devised by the Emperor of the Sewers.』
『Greatly reduces the sound of footsteps for a short time.』
『Will you use it?』
“It’s a skill that reduces footstep sounds.”
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
I could feel the eyes of the other three going back and forth.
I was curious about this side of things.
“How much do you think this is worth?”
“A red cover starts at ten million at least.”
It wasn’t hard to understand, since it was basically a superpower that any house-breaking thief would have dreamed of at least once.
But to me, who had once traded with Asibar, it felt like an extremely inflated price.
The 『Black Foot』 that Asibar sold cost 100,000 ether and had a better effect.
Hadn’t he said it didn’t just ‘greatly’ remove footstep sounds, but removed them ‘perfectly’?
So it would be stupid for me to use this.
I may hate math, but I could obviously do this much calculation.
“I’ll sell it.”
My deliberation was brief.
At my words, Mister Hammer rushed right over.
“…Is that true? Yor! A thief skill came out and you’re going to sell it?”
What? What’s with this reaction?
“Would it be better for me to just use it myself instead of selling?”
“No, if you can sell it, selling is better. I’m just surprised, that’s all. Look at this! Didn’t I say Yor was completely different from other thieves!”
“Really unexpected. Any other thief would have swallowed it up without a second thought.”
Hermit added his own comment.
It seemed they had all assumed I would unconditionally use this skill book.
“What are other thieves usually like?”
“No matter how much quota they have left, if a thief-class item or thief-class skill book comes out, they devour it all. They’re too busy shoving it into their own mouths.”
I recalled that Aekku guy I’d met earlier.
If he’d seen this book, he would have digested it immediately.
“Are you really going to sell it?”
Hermit slightly lifted his conical hat with his index finger and looked at me.
I hadn’t noticed before, but his irises were brilliant like the aurora.
“Are you really going to sell it? If you sell it, it’ll be divided equally among the four of us.”
If this sold for ten million ether.
That meant each of the four of us would get 2.5 million ether.
“Then today’s quota is completely finished?”
A daily wage of 1 million won.
I had wondered if I could even earn that.
But I’d earned 2.5 million won.
I felt incredible!
“But how do we sell this?”
“We just need to put it up at the auction house. They’ll take a small commission, but the item will sell quickly enough.”
“Yor, I don’t know much about life on the streets, but a skill that reduces footsteps seems like it’d be useful everywhere. You’re saying you’d sacrifice that for the party? You brat….”
Mister Hammer grabbed my shoulder and shook me vigorously.
“You’re a guy who knows loyalty!”
Drip, drip, drip—.
Water was flowing from beneath Mister Hammer’s helmet; it seemed he was shedding tears.
I was rather amazed that a person could have so many tears.
But being praised made me feel quite embarrassed.
“Hehe, I am pretty good when I put my mind to it.”
“Then, I’ll take that book. I’ll put it in my hat.”
Hermit took off his conical hat and placed the book inside.
Shwoop—.
Then something amazing happened.
The hard, thick book disappeared completely inside Hermit’s hat.
It was total magic.
Even for me, it was my first time seeing actual magic, so my mouth hung open on its own.
“How much can you fit in there?”
“About one large box.”
Magicians were truly amazing.
Even in this world, scam jobs were thriving.
“Then we’ve filled our quota too, so shall we head back?”
Mister Hammer looked around.
“We made a racket with those Handrix guys earlier, so the Order bastards might come patrolling. According to the map, the exit is nearby, so we can get out quickly.”
So there’s a separate exit.
But I was curious about this ‘Order’ they’d been talking about.
I’d stayed quiet because I was afraid asking too many questions would make me seem tactless and ignorant.
As if reading my mind, Felix explained first.
“The ones occupying this Miscanic University are the Star Order bastards. They gave up their humanity to survive in the Land of Night. They’re filthy heretics; you’ll know them at a glance.”
“So they’re religious?”
“They worship the doctrine of the Sailing Star. They believe that on the day the celestial bodies spread across the sky align as one, a new era will come. Led by the Pope—.”
“That’s enough! Felix, our Yor can’t memorize it if you talk that long!”
Mister Hammer cut off Felix’s lengthening story.
Nice, Mister Hammer.
I’d started getting sleepy when he began talking about stars sailing or whatever.
Mister Hammer explained simply and clearly.
“In this Land of Night, there are four traitors who dare falsely claim the title of Emperor. This place belongs to one of them. A seriously bad guy.”
Now that was easy to understand.
Mister Hammer wasn’t the party leader for nothing.
Felix, perhaps embarrassed, cleared his throat with an *ahem*.
“Rather than escaping right away, since we still have some time, how about hunting some Actopuses to gather ether? It would be good to get new equipment and enhance it as well.”
Hunt more monsters?
I thought it was an extremely good idea.
That guy knows a thing or two!
Mister Hammer clicked his tongue.
“Anyway, this Felix guy, despite being a young master, is incredibly greedy for money. What do you all think? Hermit, you first.”
“I’d like to continue exploring too. We came all the way to Miscanic University; it feels wrong to leave without acquiring a single magic book or magical tool.”
Hermit’s opinion.
Now everyone’s gaze gathered on me.
“Let’s wipe out those octopus bastards today!”
# # #
『+300 Ether』
『+300 Ether』
『+300 Ether』
『+300 Ether』
A wide clearing on the 3rd floor of the university building.
We slaughtered the octopus monsters, Actopuses, that were pouring out!
Falling coins!
Writhing tentacles!
“Hehe. Hehehe.”
As I busily picked them up and stuffed them into my bag, Hermit, who had been brushing bodily fluids off himself with his hand, asked.
“…Why are you picking up the tentacles?”
“Don’t you think you could grill and eat them?”
“Ugh.”
“So, Hermit, how much have we earned?”
“We’d have to go back and calculate, but I think we’ve earned at least another 2 million ether?”
2 million!
Soon, Mister Hammer, who had been tending to his armor, chimed in.
“Hiya, if it’s like this every time, we don’t even need to raid treasure chests!”
Crimson glow—.
At that moment, the sun visible through the university building’s window blazed red with sunset light.
Seeing that, Mister Hammer clicked his tongue.
“Already? Night comes earlier than I thought.”
“What’s bad about nightfall?”
“Everything just gets worse. More monsters appear. It becomes hard to breathe. If we’re exposed to the night for long, we’ll devolve into demons too. We’re only enduring because we’re Blessed.”
They had said that only the Blessed could enter this land of the old empire.
If ordinary people set foot here, they couldn’t endure even during the day and would become monsters.
“Since it’s come to this, let’s change plans. We’re going back. We filled our quota a while ago anyway.”
Mister Hammer picked up heavy chunks of ether all at once.
Felix grabbed a few pouches, and I took a few as well.
My body was heavy, but my heart and steps were as light as feathers.
I should drink a cold cola when we get back.
While wandering around looking for the exit with that thought, a problem occurred.
“Nara, Unde. Beldar?”
“Aroho. Mats, Nardra.”
“Bilgolsal.”
I ran into humans spouting some strange language.
No, they weren’t human.
They wore robes like magicians, but what extended from beneath were not hands and feet, but tentacles.
They wore flat masks made of stone on their heads.
They were clearly not normal.
“Damn, it’s the Order bastards. It’s not even night yet and they’re already patrolling?”
Mister Hammer hid in a corner and observed their movements.
“They’re just like bees. If one senses danger, a swarm comes. Let’s move quietly without clashing with them if possible.”
It seemed like a good idea.
But things don’t always go the way you think.
“Aaaaaah—! Uwaaah!”
Someone was running from the other corner, shouting loudly.
My eyes, relatively used to the darkness, saw his face first.
“Isn’t that Aekku?”
“Aaaaack!”
“Narhagra!”
“Didtimon!”
“War. Gavale!”
Perhaps because Aekku was causing such a commotion.
Those religious zealots who had abandoned humanity were madly pursuing him.
The problem was—
“Hey, hey hey hey, he’s coming this way!”
A flustered Mister Hammer.
The cold-headed Felix drew his sword.
“Damn, I should have killed him earlier after all.”
Felix stepped forward and slashed Aekku’s neck.
Swish—.
Aekku went quiet in an instant.
His one remaining eye looked at me.
“I told you. That Felix is a thief-hater.”
“Felix, Hermit, Yor! Prepare for battle!!!!”
Battle broke out in an instant.
The combat prowess of the religious zealots was no different from the Actopuses, but there were occasional exceptions.
“Nargulable!”
“Hey hey hey! That one’s using magic! Hermit!”
“Mana Barrier!”
Tentacle monsters that use magic?
Is this really reality?
“Damn, Mister Hammer, we can’t keep this up! We need to find another exit! The mucus is so sticky that my blade is getting dull!”
“I need to catch my breath and meditate to refill my mana!”
“Fuck, there are still so many of these bastards! Follow me!”
“Kyaaaak!”
At that moment, Hermit screamed.
When I turned my head, the body of Aekku, whose head had just been slashed off, was moving and grabbing Hermit.
How could a decapitated man move—
The answer lay in Aekku’s head, rolling on the floor.
“Aaaah, I see the stars—. The mothers of distant stars will descend upon this land! Walu walu—waaluu—! When the spinning stars stop, finally, the era of stars will come!”
Tentacles squirmed—out from between Aekku’s broken jawbone and his eye.
I thought I’d seen every kind of craziness in my life, but at this spectacle, my legs trembled.
“…Ugh, what the hell is all this!”
Aekku, who had become an octopus monster, lunged—at Hermit.
Luckily, I was next to Hermit and yanked him—aside, so the attack was somehow avoided.
“M-my hat!”
The problem was that the conical hat Hermit had been wearing had fallen to the floor.
The head-only—remaining Aekku snatched the hat—whisk—and disappeared straight into the darkness.
“Fucking hell! That bastard causes harm even when he’s dead!”
Mister Hammer clicked his tongue.
“My hat! My haaat!”
Hermit kept repeating the same words as if his mental state had completely broken.
Felix slapped Hermit’s cheek—sharply.
“Shut up. If you keep making noise, more will swarm. You want to die here?”
“…….”
It was fucking brutal, but Felix was right.
Of course, I could understand Hermit’s feelings too.
That hat had all the ether we’d gathered and the skill book in it!
“…The hat is abandoned. Over there is the underground prison. It’s full of traps and crawling with Order bastards. You’d be better off sticking a honey-smeared head into an angry hornet’s nest.”
“I will.”
My mouth opened.
Whether it was because I regretted the ether and skill book left in the hat.
“Shall I go? Looking at them, those religious zealots only react to loud noises. If I walk very quietly, it might somehow work out.”