CH 42

It was a gem.

A red gem with seemingly nothing special about it.

It even lost its luster and it looked like it only seemed like a jewel after additional workmanship.

No one else in the auction house expressed interest in the auction item, as if they were thinking the same thing as me.

‘How can you make a fortune out of that gem?’

I didn’t understand at all, so I asked Raeyan, “Is that really it?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Believe me.”

Raeyan said that, so I couldn’t continue doubting him.

‘Maybe it’s a classic cliché of a genre novel that says trivial items actually have enormous value……!’

Badump, badump. 

Thinking about it like that, I suddenly felt my heart beating pleasantly.

Soo, the auction house announced the start of the auction through the voice-amplifying magic tool.

“It is said to be an heirloom of an extinct family, and the starting price is 500 lalit!”

Feeling Raeyan’s gaze on me, I quickly raised my paddle and said.

“510 lalit.”

First of all, I raised the price by only 10 lalit with the thought to watch it and see if anyone else recognized its value.

“510 lalit! We have 510 lalit!”

The auctioneer exclaimed.

I nervously clasped the paddle and waited for someone else’s offer. Maybe there would be someone else besides Raeyan who recognized the value of that gem.

Then there might be a huge competition.

‘How much money can I afford right now?’

I was so nervous at the thought that an unexpected rival might appear, but……

“510 lalit. Sold!”

‘Rival?’ I scoffed. ‘Uh, I don’t have one.’

I was ready for a bidding war, totally in vain.

Raeyan looked back at me, as I sat in a daze, holding the paddle with a sense of dejection.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Huh? Yeah.”

Could it really be this easy?

A heart-racing competition that made your hands sweat! There was no such thing.

Still devoid of a sense of reality, I followed Raeyan out of the auction house.

After being led to a room, an auction house attendant entered and held out an enchanted piece of paper.

“You just need to sign the contract.”

Contracts must be meticulously followed. I read it from beginning to end, but there was nothing special.

Only obvious provisions such as fees and rights of relationship of the winning product were written.

I wrote my name on the contract, pressing down the hood again to prevent the employee from recognizing my face.

Lili Arcel.

It was my pseudonym that I was quite used to by now.

After paying the price in a lump sum, the employee handed me a jewelry box containing the gem.

“Then be careful on your way back.”

After nodding my head, it was still broad daylight when we left the auction house. I felt like I had come out after watching the black-market auction unintentionally.

Raeyan reached out to me, as I stood dumbfounded with the jewelry box in my arms.

“Can I give you a detailed explanation at the headquarters?”

I nodded and grabbed his hand to escort me.

“All right. Let’s go quickly.”

I was dying to know what the hell this ugly gem was.

***

We arrived at the office of the Earth Hawk Mercenary Corps.

Raeyan and I sat face to face with the wide-open jewel box between us.

The gem seen up close was more terrible than what I’d seen from a distance.

There was a crack on the surface of the gem, which made me wonder what happened to it.

‘510 lalit is honestly a waste.’

After glancing at the jewel with suspicious eyes, I looked up at Raeyan.

“How can I make money with this?”

“You can use the gem’s ability.”

“Does this jewel have any power?”

I was surprised and looked carefully at the gem, but it was still only a cracked gem in my eyes.

‘Maybe I was scammed by Raeyan.’

Actually, Raeyan might be the consignor of this jewel.

…….By all means, it was a ridiculous idea. There was no way that the head of the Earth Hawk Mercenary Corps would cheat me to earn 510 lalit.

“It’s not an ordinary gem.”

“Then?”

Looking down at the gem, Raeyan replied in a low voice, “It is the sealing stone of one of the 7 deadly sins.”

“The sealing stone of a sin?…….This?”

It was hard to believe that this gem, which looked like it would crumble if you stepped on it once, was the sealing stone of a sin.

If it was a sealing stone, I knew about it. Because there was also one in the Perdia family.

I learned that the sealing stone of a sin was an heirloom that was kept in the basement of the mansion, where only the family head and the heir could enter.

Certainly, I’d never seen the sealing stone kept by Perdia.

‘Come to think of it, Isis, the Master of the West Magic Tower, was aiming for the sealing stone of Perdia.’

It was a coincidence that I obtained the sealing stone of another sin at this point.

“But why is a sealing stone freely being sold on the black market? It’s supposed to be kept by the four major families.”

The sacred duty of the five families, including the imperial family, was to monitor the seal of each sin.

It was because the priests of the Ishtar Temple said that the seal could be broken at any time and the world would fall into ruin, and eventually could soon be destroyed.

Therefore, it was safe to say that there was no possibility that the tightly managed seal stones would enter the market.

Raeyan calmly began to explain as if he expected my question.

“There were seven families that sealed the sins, including the imperial family. But now there are only five families left.”

“That’s right,” I nodded.

“Then where are the sins sealed by the two families that have disappeared now?”

“Ah.”

It was 7 sins, originally.

However, there were only five remaining families, so it was unknown what happened to the two remaining sins.

But why have people never questioned the whereabouts of the other sins?

‘They must have thought that the imperial family would be watching over the seals.’

No one would care about the extinct families.

I couldn’t believe an important sealing stone was on the market like this.

I rested my chin on my hand and looked down at the red seal. When I looked closely it seemed like something was shaking in the gem.

“So what can I do with this sealing stone?”

I knew it was the sealing stone of a sin. But it was still unclear how to make a lot of money from this.

Raeyan answered without hesitation.

“I will summon the sin.” 

“………what?!”

I was startled and looked at Raeyan.

Summoning a sin meant destroying the world.  

Even after making such a huge statement, Raeyan looked calm.

“It doesn’t mean that I’m going to break the seal. If you make a deal with a sin, you can use the power that sin has. But you have to pay for it. What it costs depends on the demands of the sin.”

“Do you mean that you can make money by making a deal with a sin?”

“The results are the same, but the process is different.”

Raeyan, who looked at the doorway once, lowered his voice and continued.

“There is an unknown fact about the sins. The owner of the sealed stone can use the power of the sin without paying a price.”

“What, you only need to own a sealing stone?”

“Yes. But not only do the heads of the current 4 major families not know this, but also the imperial family does not know this fact.”

If that was true, it was a huge secret that one couldn’t just pass up. It meant being able to use the power of a sin that tried to destroy the world.

But apart from that, there was a question that came to mind.

“How come that Raeyan knows that secret?”

“………”

How could the heads of families who have guarded the sealing stones of sins for generations not know?

I couldn’t help but point it out.

Raeyan didn’t answer for a long time. An uncomfortable silence followed, like the dampness of a sticky summer.

I endured the silence silently. I couldn’t just move on without hearing the answer.

Amid a series of a silent tug-of-war, it was Raeyan who eventually opened his mouth first.

“I made a deal with the sin of pride in the past.”

The one who sealed the sin of pride was the Apellite family. It was one of the long-lost families.

Then, was this red seal stone in front of me sealed by another extinct family, the Vietan family? 

“Mhhn, then this must be Greed.” 

Raeyan nodded at my question, and then continued, “All I can say is that I made a deal with Pride.”

I wasn’t sure if he was hiding it or really couldn’t say it, but it was clear that I couldn’t find out even if I asked.

Because Raeyan’s will seemed firm.

“Do you have any thoughts of telling me about it one day? What Raeyan is hiding.”

“Yes. ………Someday.”

“Okay.”

Just hearing that he had made a deal with Pride was an important piece of information about Raeyan.

‘He is wrapped up in a veil.’

I sighed lightly and looked down at the sealing stone again. This was the sealing stone of Greed. 

“What should I do to summon it?”

I was thinking of summoning it while the iron was hot.

Raeyan returned the jewel box to me and began to explain.

“First, hold the sealing stone in your hand.”

“All right, hold it in my hand.”

As Raeyan said, I reached out my hand toward the sealing stone.

And the moment my fingertips touched the sealing stone of the sin–

“…….!!”

Crack-!! 

My field of vision turned black.

***

I had a splitting headache. Not only that, but I felt nauseous, enough to make me vomit at any moment.

“Ugh…..”

I opened my eyes, holding my mouth with one hand and my throbbing head with the other.

The sight that greeted me was the middle of a collapsed temple.

I didn’t know if it was someone’s temple, but the pillars of the badly destroyed building were scattered everywhere.

And I woke up there…….

In the middle of the ruins of the dim building, I raised my upper body stiffly.

“Where am I..? Who am I….?”

We were talking about the sealing stones of the sins in Raeyan’s office, but after losing consciousness for a moment, I was moved to a strange place.

I pinched my cheek thinking it was a dream, but–

“Ouch.”

The pain was vivid.

‘First, hold the sealing stone in your hand!’

Doesn’t that mean there’s another step? You never said that I would fall into such a weird place out of nowhere!

The suddenness of the situation was ridiculous.

The headache and nausea had barely improved.

“What the hell is going on here?”

It was when I was sitting and looking at the remains of the building to find out where I was.

A little fox appeared out of nowhere and stood in front of me. What was unusual was the color of the fox. It was pitch black.

“Fox…….?”

Where did this fox suddenly appear from? Then maybe there was someone else here besides me.

It was the moment when I stood up from my seat and staggered.

The black fox snorted.

[Fox? No. Greed.]

“……..?”

The fox speaks?

When I looked bewildered at the black box from a distance, he stared at me with sharp eyes.

[What look?] 

“…..But why are you talking like that?”

That strange way of speaking made people almost as puzzled and bewildered as the fact that the fox spoke, not to mention that the fox introduced itself as greed.

The fox answered, raising one corner of his mouth.

[I don’t like to talk at length. It’s a waste of energy.]

“Still, wouldn’t it be better to say what you want more properly? In longer sentences.”

The fox answered me firmly.

[The economics of language.]

“………”

Was I crazy…….?

***

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