CH 112

"Hurry up! This way, misters!"

That evening, Simon stopped by in Rochest with Benya to meet Gelen Eclipse, the one who made Simon's subspace.

'But why do we have to run??'

Benya was far too full of energy.

Even though they were in a hurry, Benya greeted each and every Rochest resident that they passed while laughing loudly. All the villagers knew Benya from the Vanilla family.

"By the way, senior."

"What is it, mister?"

"It's prohibited to go out of Rochest on weekdays. Is it really okay to go out while revealing your identity like this?"

In order not to be noticed by school officials, they changed out of their uniforms and put on hooded robes, but Benya was waving at and greeting everyone passing by.

Benya smiled, her teeth shining white.

"Of course it's not okay!"

"…?"

"If we get caught, well, let's consider the suspension a vacation and then come back after!"

Simon wondered if it was the easy-going nature of the second-years that made her act like this, or if this was just how she was. Still, she was a difficult person to comprehend with Simon's common sense.

Thankfully, they arrived at their destination without incident.

The meeting place was a small cafe in the city. As they ordered drinks and went up to the second floor, they saw a middle-aged man wearing an out-of-fashion evergreen coat and a fedora sitting at a table.

He noticed Simon and Benya coming up the stairs and stood up with a big smile.

"Hey Gelen!"

Benya waved first and greeted him. The man took off his fedora, placed it neatly on his chest, and bowed his head.

"Long time no see, ma’am."

"…"

Simon and Benya went speechless for a moment. When Gelen took off his fedora, the center of his head was revealed to be completely bald. His long sideburns only reinforced the emptiness.

Perhaps Gelen didn't notice it, as he put the hat back on and looked at Simon.

"Could it be? You're…!"

"Yes, I'm Simon Polentia from Kizen."

"Ahh, nice to meet you!"

The two shook hands.

"I heard about you! I was gobsmacked to hear that the person who bought my masterpiece was Kizen's Special Admission No.1! Haha! For a man of my craft, it is such a crowning glory!"

"My pleasure. I'm using the subspace very well."

The three sat down and started talking in earnest.

"I heard it from the lady. You want to order a dedicated subspace this time?"

"Yes!"

"I want to see what kind of undead it is. Would that be okay?"

"Of course."

There was no one but the three of them on the second floor, and there was plenty of space. Simon immediately took out the Overlord.

"Oh… So this is the one!"

Gelen couldn't hide his excitement. And even though Benya saw it yesterday, her eyes were also glistening in anticipation.

Simon slowly shifted the Overlord’s tentacles and pretended to strike an enemy.

"Like this. I want to attack my opponent by moving only its tentacles out of the subspace."

"Haha, impressive. Very impressive!"

Excited, Gelen returned to the table and pulled out a sack from his pocket.

Then, he poured its contents on the table. It was filled with accessories such as rings, earrings, and necklaces.

"This one! Or how about this one?"

Simon, who became curious seeing Gelen choosing accessories, approached him.

"What are these?"

"Ah, all these products are subspaces!"

Simon's eyes widened. It was as if someone put several dozen mansions on the table.

"To be more precise, they are works in progress that haven't been officially released. I never make the same product. When new inspiration strikes, it's made and then withheld due to issues in practicality."

He picked up a smooth ring and looked at Simon.

"I heard that you don't have much time either, Student."

"Yeah, I have an important evaluation soon, so…"

"I can only stay in Roke Island for around four days, too. To create a subspace within that time, it'd be better to modify one of these works in progress rather than craft a new product. Then it would be far more affordable and can be produced in time."

Simon's eyes became even bigger.

"Is it really possible in four days?"

"I shall try my best. However, there are some terms you must agree to."

Gelen continued,

"First, the exclusive subspace is a thoroughly customized product, so I don't recommend using it outside of its intended purpose. Second, as it'll have to emit an abnormal output far above the normal usage, there may be risks caused by overload. I cannot know what the risk would be until it is completed. Would that be okay with you?"

The item that Simon would receive wasn't something available on the public market. And if that mentioned risk wasn't from a defect, but from the overload, then it was understandable.

Simon nodded.

"Sure thing. Then may I ask about the price…?"

Simon glanced at the subspace ring on his right hand.

Since the regular subspace cost 5,000 gold, how much would this customized one be? Simon only had 1,000 gold.

Gelen also closed his eyes as though he was a little troubled with the pricing.

"You'll be kind to us with the pricing, right Gelen?"

Benya suddenly intruded with a loud thump! She slammed her elbows down on the table before propping up her head and smiling.

"For my sake, at least."

'Holy shit.'

Simon sighed inside.

'Stop, senior, please… In this kind of business, that's not a way to wor—'

"Ahem."

Surprisingly enough, Gelen smiled like a proud father.

"Actually, even if you didn't say that, ma’am…"

Gelen turned his head to look at Simon.

"A Kizen Special Admission No.1 using my product would greatly advertise my works, so I decided to take that into account."

"Good job!"

Benya smiled and offered Simon a high-five. Simon excitedly accepted it before looking at Gelen once more.

"The deposit will be 500 gold."

Said Gelen.

"After that, depending on the materials, magic effects, and cost, the price could rise by several hundred gold. Let's set the maximum total at 1,000 gold. Would that be alright?"

It wasn’t just ‘alright’. It was an exclusive subspace that Gelen was making for Simon. It was also within budget, if barely.

Simon nodded quickly before Gelen could change his mind.

"Let's do it, Gelen."

* * *

Reaper Scans

Translator - Ramen

Proofreader - Artethrax

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* * *

The conversation ended smoothly.

Gelen decided to get to work immediately, and Benya returned to Kizen after taking care of the remaining errands in Rochest.

Simon walked down the night-time road by himself.

"The weather is nice."

Filled with anticipation for a new subspace, even the chilly night breeze felt great to Simon, and the leaves rustling in the wind sounded breezy.

Now, he just had to be careful of the Keepers and return to Kizen safely. Perhaps, because this was far from his first time sneaking out, he had gotten used to these roads.

[Boy.]

Pier spoke up.

[You willingly paid a large sum of money to someone you had never met before. Can you trust that person called Gelen?]

"More than anyone else. It was Senior Benya's arrangement, after all."

Since the meeting was directly arranged by the daughter of the president of the Vanilla Group, Simon thought the man was guaranteed to be reliable.

And since Gelen was also a well-known big-shot in that industry, the probability of him pocketing the 500 gold while ignoring a Kizen student was practically 0.

'Putting the price aside, the key is whether it'll be made in time.'

There was a reason why the subspace had to be completed quickly. Because the next Duel Evaluation opponent was Malcolm, the 10th S.A..

It was the first special admission student that Simon would face. Simon became No.1 due to the recommendation of Nefthis, but in fact, only those who had certain achievements or skills were selected as special admissions. Not to mention strength.

To top it off, he had heard some interesting information about Malcolm from Rick.

“Among the second-years I know, there's this famous senior who runs a betting business, you see. The truth is, second-years are very interested in the first-year Duel Evaluation, so they bet quite often just for fun, but it was a bit shocking to see the odds.”

Rick wore an extremely stiff expression on his face.

“The odds for Malcolm winning were over 80%. This is a really, really odd case. The seniors haven't directly seen your skills yet, have they? If there's no information, of course it's common sense that the S.A. 1 would beat the S.A. 10, but judging from how the odds are so weird, there must be something making everyone convinced of Malcolm's victory.”

Simon thought that the bets made by students for fun weren't very reliable, but it wasn't a story to be shrugged aside. It seemed that this Duel Evaluation wouldn't be easy.

A mud golem or skeleton archer would be enough to beat Malcolm. Simon had to up his operation level of the Overlord a lot by the day of the duel.

'After going back, I'll train with the Overlord for just three more hours—'

[Kssssshhhhh!]

It was then. One of Elizabeth's corpse spiders appeared in front of Simon, who was heading toward Kizen.

Simon crouched down and looked at the corpse spider.

"What's wrong?"

[Shk! Ssshhhk!]

The corpse spider scribbled an X on the ground with its two frontal legs.

Seeing the sign, Simon's heart sank.

There was only one thing that code meant.

'…A priest appeared!'

Simon still remembered that night where the moon was bright and full.

The memory of running away from the Keepers with Camibarez, accidentally witnessing a worshiping priest, and almost getting killed.

He'd never forget those creepy eyes underneath the hood.

'Pier!'

[I just received the report! I'll head toward the forest!]

'I'll go too!'

Simon stepped on his jet-black and ran to the Forbidden Forest.

Sprinting through the bushes, Simon recalled a story Nefthis had told him.

“Do you remember that Cyclops Evaluation last time? The reason why the cyclops that your group faced at that time was particularly strong wasn’t because of the side effects of drugs or curses during the capture, but because someone deliberately took some measures.”

Even Simon felt that the Priests were slowly exerting their evil influence.

So, he decided to release Elizabeth's corpse spiders in the Forbidden Forest so they could immediately notify him if a priest appeared.

The plan for if one appeared had Elizabeth transform into an official of the priest to extort information from them.

If she got caught or the plan failed, they’d subdue the priest or retreat and tell Lorain so she could investigate all the routes back to Kizen.

He wouldn’t let them escape again.

"Huff! Huff!"

The moment Simon went to catch his breath and entered the middle of the Forbidden Forest…

Crrrrrrraaaaaaash!

Trees fell in the distance as a huge explosion rang out.

Things got tricky.

The encounter had already begun.

"Stay safe, Eliza!"

An opponent as strong as a professor.

Simon called forth his jet-black and ran with all his might.