Chapter 143 – Reverse Scale (1)
"Here, the balance payment and the items you have successfully bid on."
In the underground of the auction house, Verden received the money and the goods.
Maybel's Earrings, Amulet of Thunderwing, Set of Gravity Magic Tomes. They were genuine, with no doubt of being switched midway.
'Well, of course.'
Without hesitation, Verden put on the earrings.
They were detachable, so there was no need to pierce his ears. As he wore the magical items on both ears, the inherent function, unification, activated.
The earrings, completely assimilated with his skin, vanished without a trace.
It was merely a function to conceal the exterior, but frankly, Verden had no interest in adorning his appearance, nor did he particularly like the design of the earrings, so it wasn't a bad function for him.
Next was the amulet's turn.
The moment he hung the talisman on the necklace, Center of the Three Primary Colors, a faint spark flickered before disappearing into Verden's body.
The earrings, Expanded elemental magic range.
The amulet, enhancement of lightning-type magic.
It wasn't something he could visually confirm here and now.
Yet Verden's senses vaguely recognized it. What kind of change these two magical items had brought to him as a Mage.
'It was worth coming to Roafra.'
Feeling satisfied, Verden opened his spatial bag.
Along with the gravity magic tomes, he stored away the money, a little less than three hundred million. Finishing his business at the auction house, he stepped outside.
The unchanged night streets of Roafra spread before him.
Since the scenery hadn't shifted, there was no sense of time passing visually.
"So you're finally out."
"Greetings, Sir Asher."
Turning toward the direction of the voice, Verden saw Galliark walking with Samwell.
Verden's gaze moved to the massive double-edged axe strapped to the butcher's back.
"So it was you who bid for Hwihwol."
"Ah, this? How is it, looks fine, doesn't it? Ha, honestly, I wasn't expecting much, but for something like this to suddenly appear. I really must be lucky."
Galliark pulled out Hwihwol and gave it a light swing.
Even that alone carried a heavy sense of weight, stirring a small breeze. Seeing it like this, it was indeed a weapon befitting Galliark's build and strength.
Loosening himself lightly, Galliark slung Hwihwol over his shoulder and asked,
"So, what did you get? From the look on your face, you must have snagged something useful."
"Who knows."
"Knew you'd say that. Well, with that much money, wherever you got it, of course you'd have won something at auction. Unless you were an idiot."
Verden replied with silence.
A Mage talking about what equipment they possessed was as foolish as declaring one's tier and attribute aloud.
"But what are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you."
"Reason?"
Meeting Galliark was a coincidence.
He had no plan to continue traveling together, unplanned as it was.
"You know, that guy, Ruin Costa or Pasta or whatever. Of course he's got eyes on you, but turns out I've got tails on me too."
"Tails?"
"From the casino, all the way here to the auction house. No doubt about it. Probably mistook me for one of your party."
Samwell, who had long been a guide in Roafra, would not have been confused.
But the butcher was different.
Galliark had only recently arrived in Roafra, and meeting Verden just as he stepped foot in the city, it was an understandable mistake.
"Indeed, easy to misjudge."
"Well, mistake or not, it's already done. Following me around, getting on my nerves, that's reason enough to get beaten. And besides, I want to test out this new weapon of mine."
The latter seemed the real motive... whatever the case.
'It doesn't matter.'
Verden also intended to test his magic.
Since there was no request or commission at hand, having one more companion wouldn't change the outcome. And someone like Galliark wouldn't be a hindrance anyway.
He had just finished that thought when—
As the bustle of the auction house subsided, a man approached from afar.
He wore an eyepatch over one eye, and even from his gait, it was clear he wasn't some ordinary thug.
Verden's gaze cooled.
'Thought they'd send an assassin.'
The man was alone.
Moreover, he gave off neither killing intent nor even hostility. Not the attitude of someone sent by Beken's bastard to kill Verden.
Soon, the man came closer.
With his remaining black eye, he looked at Verden.
"Asher, Galliark, Samwell."
Calling out the three names, he spoke in a low voice.
"Lord Ruin Costa summons you."
Not assassination, but invitation.
The first to react was none other than Samwell.
"...Eh? Me too?"
***
Ruin Costa had requested a meeting.
Thinking simply, the aim must be to lure Verden's group into a trap.
'But that's not it.'
Verden shook his head inwardly.
Samwell had once mentioned Ruin Costa as a minor power who wielded influence in the west.
Yet the place Costa's subordinate was guiding them to was the restaurant where Verden had met Derick four days ago. Not the west of Roafra, but the east.
Why would he step outside his own domain to meet Verden?
Several reasons came to mind, but none were certain.
Still, it was clear, it was a matter that required conversation.
'So I should find out.'
If he refused conversation, assassins would come anyway.
In that case, it was far simpler to meet directly and settle things all at once. For Verden, that wasn't reckless, but rather an efficient decision. And Galliark thought the same.
Following the one-eyed man, Verden's party arrived before the restaurant and entered.
The central hall, devoid of guests and staff, was seized by over a dozen fully armed men.
At its center stood a long table, with three chairs prepared at the left end.
And at the right end, a man with short golden hair sat alone, leisurely dining.
His peculiar appearance was adorned with an excess of dangling ornaments, and with makeup so thick his skin looked almost white.
"As you ordered, I have brought them, Lord Costa."
"Well done, Moknen."
Ruin Costa rinsed his mouth with wine.
When he laid eyes on Verden, he broke into a wide smile.
"Oh my, you're far better than I'd heard, yes, yes, this makes it worth finding you myself."
Costa turned his palm toward the opposite side of the table, it was a sign to sit.
Among the three chairs, Verden sat in the center, Galliark dropped into the one on the right, resting an arm lazily on the backrest, while Samwell quietly took the left seat, as if trying to make himself small.
The gazes of Verden and Costa, sitting across from one another, crossed.
"I am Ruin Costa, and you are Asher..."
"What is the reason you called me here?"
Costa's eyes twitched.
"Interrupting before greetings are finished? Normally I'd kill you for such arrogance... but I'll forgive you, since you haven't been in Roafra long, and besides, you're handsome."
Anyway.
"You seem more impatient than I thought, so I'll be direct, how about working under me?"
***
It was a sudden proposal.
Verden narrowed his brows and asked,
"Weren't you asked by Beken's bastard son to take revenge?"
"Oh, so you know that much? Faster with information than I thought, well, that's right, he gave me a jewel box to kill you, Asher. But look in a mirror, even you'd agree it's too much of a waste to let a corpse rot away looking like that, so I changed my mind."
Costa pointed both palms at Verden.
"That face, that skill as a Fourth Tier lightning Mage, as a signboard, there's no talent like you, not just in Roafra, but across the Kingdom, and yet they ask me to kill you? Ridiculous!"
"I heard you were paid."
"Which is why I have no reason to do it, I already have the jewel box, it's not like keeping the promise will earn me another one."
It was a hard way of thinking to grasp, but Costa spoke as if it were the most natural thing.
And his tone carried the thick arrogance of one who held power in Roafra.
"And you, you're worth far more than some jewel box, so..."
"Lord Costa!"
At that moment, a voice called from outside the restaurant.
Interrupted mid-sentence, Costa's eyes trembled, and he gestured to his men, then a man burst through the restaurant entrance, rolling across the floor.
"Lord Costa...!"
The man who called to Costa locked eyes with Verden.
Biting his teeth with eyes full of vengeance, Beken's bastard son crawled across the floor, shouting toward Costa.
"Lord Ruin Costa! Didn't you promise me, you would avenge me! Then what is this...!"
Because of Verden, he had lost his position.
He had ridden on Beken's back, making others shed tears of blood, but when it was he who suffered loss, when it was he who was wronged, that was something he could never accept, and so his eyes had rolled mad.
He had poured immense wealth into Costa, even offering up a jewel box, and yet here Costa was, sitting at one table with the very man who had destroyed him.
Costa frowned.
"Ugh, noisy, yes, I promised."
"Then why..."
"Promising doesn't mean I must keep it, does it?"
"What...?"
"Am I wrong?"
Costa's eyes turned to the bastard son.
There was no emotion in them, it was the gaze one might give not a man, but a lowly beast.
"And you dare interrupt me now, while I'm speaking of something important? You?"
"N-no, Lord Costa, think of all the wealth I've offered until now..."
"So what, you gave it, and that's that, why cling like this? Hey, Moknen."
"Yes, Lord Costa."
"Kill him, he's useless now."
"...What?"
At the cold words, the bastard son's eyes widened.
And before that, Moknen swung his arm, the spiked metal whip wrapped around the bastard son's neck.
"Co, Cosss... taaaghk...!"
The barbs tore flesh apart, and the crushing pressure squeezed his throat, he thrashed to free himself, but only more pain followed.
Then Moknen twisted his waist and yanked, with a cracking sound the bastard son's head tore free and rolled across the floor.
"...!"
At such a brutal murder, Samwell lowered his head.
Verden and Galliark watched with expressionless faces.
With just a word, Costa had killed Beken's bastard son.
With a sadistic smile, he turned to Verden.
"Now that Beken's bastard is dead, that request no longer exists, does it?"
"Oh, f**k, you're insane."
Galliark grimaced in disgust.
Costa glared at him, then gave a small cough.
"Hmm, hmm, let me say it again, come under me, Asher, and I'll give you whatever you want, anything Roafra has to offer. Ah, perhaps that sounds too vague? For example..."
Costa gathered his thoughts a moment, then continued.
"Money and power, of course, but also women... though perhaps women would be begging to throw themselves at you, and if you prefer men, that's possible too, and if you wish, you can even kill for fun."
A man above men.
In other words, a noble of the underworld, where no ethics or morals existed, Roafra was a place where all pleasures a human could experience were at hand.
"No matter how virtuous, every human carries their own evil, but most hide it, fearing the eyes of the world. Here, that's not needed, no need to care for others' gazes, only one thing matters, power."
Costa extended his hand.
"Join me, and you can reign as one of Roafra's powers, of course you'd have to act within Vintert's unspoken rules, but even then, it's freedom beyond anything outside. Well? Doesn't it tempt you?"
"I refuse."
Verden answered at once.
From the start, he had no intention of accepting anything, but more than that, there was a fundamental reason.
The standard of the world is power.
'Yes, I know it.'
Verden had realized this truth long ago.
Until just last year, he had been oppressed, sacrificed, and dying as the weak, but now he was breaking those chains, building strength for vengeance.
Freedom.
It was one of the foundations of Verden's being, and it was the opposite of the freedom Costa described, so he could never accept Costa's offer.
It was utterly revolting.
A firm rejection.
But Costa believed it was simply because the reward wasn't enough, stroking his chin with a smirk as if he had expected it.
"Is that so? Well, I figured, what I mentioned was the most ordinary thing, so I've prepared something else."
Costa flicked his fingers.
At his command, four guards entered the kitchen.
"A special gift prepared for you, especially as a Mage, you'll find it impossible not to be satisfied, I guarantee it."
Did he mean magical items or artifacts?
Moments later, Costa's men wheeled out two large wooden crates, wedging blades into the seams and prying until one side fell off.
Snap!
Costa clapped his hands.
"Come out now, Aiden, Charlotte."
Clank, clank.
From inside the crates, with the sound of chains, two humans appeared.