Chapter 257

Chapter 257

"A baby deimos, the core of the famous netherwhale, starting at 100 gold!"

The auctioneer's shout was followed by boos and jeers from the quickly gathered crowd.

"Why didn't you say it's defective?! It's missing the most important part, the heart!!"

"Who's going to pay 100 gold for something that can't even be used as a netherwhale?"

"Yeah! Yeah!!"

Amidst the angry shouts, someone held up a hand.

"100 gold."

Contrary to what the jeering were saying, another hand shot straight up.

"110."

"120!"

Simon was still waiting for Benya's answer as the prices rose steeply.

The question was whether he could use a deimos as a skeleton.

She closed her eyes, seriously contemplating.

"Well, it would be unprecedented. Ignoring the perfectly successful formula for a netherwhale, you want to make a skeleton out of its bones? Hmmm..."

"Well, it can't be helped. They took the most important part: the heart."

Of course, if it was an intact baby deimos, the price would have gone up to tens of thousands of gold in an instant.

"By the way..."

She opened her eyes slowly.

"A skeleton version of a deimos... I think it's worth a shot."

"That's more than enough."

Simon prepared to join the auction.

"What do you think it's worth?"

"At least 2,000 gold, I suppose?"

Her reply was instant.

"If you're going to buy it, I can pay about half of that on the condition that you give the rest of the byproducts—everything but the bones—to us, Vanilla."

"Really? Sure! Then let's do it!"

"Alright. But does a student like you even have 1,000 gold to spend?"

Simon nodded.

He had received 2,000 gold from Princess Mollie during the recent mission evaluation.

"290!"

"300!"

It was already up to 300 gold. The auctioneer interrupted,

"Okay, from now on, We're going to increase the bidding by 50 gold. If anyone wants to buy it for 350 gold, you may—"

"1,000 gold."

The crowd became so quiet that even a pin dropping to the ground would be heard by everyone.

Simon raised his arm and entered the auction.

"...Who was that?"

"Did I hear him right?"

"Is he the kid of a duke or something?"

"He looks rich."

You don't have to waste time when you realize the bid will go to 2,000 gold. You better get right into the game, force the rabble out, and race to 2,000.

Of course, another hand came up.

"Ahem. 1,050."

"1,300."

"Hmph! 1,350."

"1,600."

The man who called 1,350 gold stiffened as Simon quickly defended. Fervent whispers filled the crowd as everyone else watched on in confused awe.

"Looks like the owner was decided from the beginning."

"He looks persistent. He's going to keep racing higher and higher."

"Why don't you try challenging him?"

"What if I call 1,650 and then he gives up?"

As the crowd grew louder, Simon felt the world go quieter as he stared at his only rival.

The man looked a little flustered, and Simon looked extremely calm.

Simon saw the man's will crumble.

"1,600 gold! Anyone else?"

The auctioneer looked slightly bewildered.

He'd expected the price to go up, but the heat had cooled too quickly.

He gave a few comments to try to draw more customers in, but he eventually declared,

"Sold! For 1,600 gold!"

'Nice!'

Simon felt a grin going up to his ears. He'd expected the other party to fight back more, but apparently, they had other things to buy besides the deimos.

800 gold when split with Vanilla.

That was a lot of money saved. He still had 1,200 gold in his pocket.

Soon, the flock of people who had gathered at the auction dispersed, leaving only Simon and Benya.

Benya was calling someone with her communication crystal ball.

"Our people will be here soon to move the goods to the warehouse."

Said Benya.

"We'll dismantle the corpse in the warehouse, do some minor processing, and then carve the magic circle into the bones so it can be summoned as a skeleton. I'll do it for free for you, comrade."

"Thank you, senior!"

'P-Professor Walter?'

Why was he here?

"It's in good shape."

Said Walter, pushing up his glasses.

"What about the plan?"

"On track. We'll make sure we don't miss the deadline."

The two began to talk about details that Simon lacked context to understand. He was terrified, but he listened intently.

"Let me explain, Sir Judas."

Judas.

There it was again. That name!

It was written in Walter's favorite fountain pen.

Until now, Simon had noticed that Professor Walter always carried that fountain pen in his breast pocket, no matter where he went or what clothes he wore.

When he first met him in Langoustine, he told Simon that he had inherited the fountain pen from someone else. But sure enough, his subordinate here now called him 'Judas'.

'Professor Walter lied.'

But for now, the name didn't matter.

Judas. Judas... That name kept on bugging him. He was sure he'd seen it somewhere else, but his memory was too fuzzy.

Just then, he heard a step outside, and another person—this time a woman—entered the room.

"Sir Judas! Count Caron has arrived."

"I'll be there right away."

Walter pressed his hood down and started walking. The new woman and Walter left the warehouse, closing the door behind them this time.

"..."

Now, it was just Simon and Walter's subordinate in the warehouse.

Simon assessed the situation using the light of the solitary, flickering mana bulb that seemed like it could go out at any moment.

The man sat on a crate overturned into a chair, fiddling with the magic circle that managed the hearts.

'What should I do?'

Using the Legion power or bringing out Prince would do the trick, but he didn't want to alert Walter to the fact that someone had come to the warehouse.

By increasing the jet-black in his feet, Simon pushed himself up on shaky legs. Then, he lay flat on his back against the ceiling and brought his arms in front of him.

His target was the largest heart.

Above it, he remotely drew a new magic circle.

'Th-This is tough.'

It was hard enough to maintain the circuit that stuck him to the roof, but now he had to remotely draw a magic circle on top of that.

Drip. Drip.

In an instant, his forehead filled with sweat. Beads of it rolled down his skin and splatted down on the floor.

For him, every drip felt as loud as a lightning strike, but fortunately, the man hadn't noticed. The man was simply humming as he worked on his magic circle.

'I-I need to make sure I don't leave too much sweat, either.'

The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became, and the sweat drenched his hair.

He shouldn't sweat too much, he shouldn't ignore the spell that's sticking him to the ceiling, and he needed to draw a magic circle from a distance.

'Concentrate, concentrate.'

Simon drew a faulty magic circle. It had no effect on its own.

It was a magic circle with a formula that was guaranteed to fail. When the circle was activated, it would break itself.

He didn't think he'd ever make something like this on purpose, but today was the day.

'Now!'

Simon activated the spell. A loud sound, like fingernails scratching on a blackboard, reverberated throughout the warehouse. It showed no sign of fading.

"What?! Pant! Wh-What's going on?"

The man—once utterly focussed on fixing up the circle keeping the hearts beating—jumped to his feet in surprise, and the heart Simon had drawn on the circle gurgled and began to bleed.

"Did I make a mistake?!"

In a panic, he fumbled with the formula, afraid that he might damage the other hearts.

The moment was now.

Using the chaos, Simon nimbly descended from the ceiling and moved to the doorway.

Creeaak.

When he pushed the door open, a loud creak filled the room, so he expected to be noticed. But the noise from the faulty circle was so intense that the man didn't show a single sign of noticing. He seemed too preoccupied with fixing the circle.

Simon darted out the door and slammed it shut behind him.

Then he ran.

"Pant! Pant! Pant!"

Sweat was pouring down his face, the taste of iron filled his mouth, and his heart was pounding like it was about to explode.

Simon wanted to leave this place immediately.

"Oh, comrade!"

After running for what seemed like forever, he finally saw the auction house where he bought the netherwhale. In front of it, he found Benya, who was looking for him.

"I was worried when you didn't show up! Where have you been?"

When he saw Benya's face, he calmed down, tears welling up in his eyes.

Simon grabbed his hood and pulled it over his head to hide his face. He was still gasping for air.

"Let's... go, senior."

"H-Hm?"

"Let's go to that... Vanilla warehouse you said you'd bring the netherwhale to. Pant. Pant. Right now."

"A-Alright. It'll take a while by carriage from here. Is that okay?"

Simon caught his breath and nodded.

"Yeah."

All he could think about was getting out of here.

——