novelKing of the Unclaimed Land (2)
| ← Ch.176 | Ch.178 → |
Gold and silver coins that could be called cash were not found much, compared to other goods. However, it was only a relative evaluation. Actually, they were several times as much as the amount of cash that the House of Mammon possessed now.
It was Stravadi's personal safe that caught the attention of Yong-ho the most among the treasures in the dungeon. If Yong-ho and Lucia had not taken control of the dungeon, they would have never known its existence itself.
Although Yong-ho couldn't be sure what was inside it because he hadn't yet visited the dungeon, just a mere glance at the list of Stravadi's possessions astonished him.
'Are these pictures?'
Yong-ho, who did not know more than five artists in the human world, could not determine the value of the booty. Besides, paintings were one of the items that were quite difficult to convert into cash. Therefore, he turned his attention to those things that he intuitively found it easy to understand.
A fire dragon's teeth.
Jin's necklace.
Black Mamba's armor set.
Chantier collection no. 116, 91, 240.
Mandarake.
Yong-ho was silent for a moment. And he humbly admitted that he couldn't understand their value at all. Like his father advised him, he decided to leave it to Ophelia, an expert in the field.
When he put aside the secret safe, there appeared extravagant places such as wine cellars and enormous bathrooms. He once again expressed regret about his decision to dispose of the dungeon when he looked at its huge bathroom, but he stopped at the next place.
He said before he knew it, "The door of space?"
[It was not used for a long time. It looks like it was built more than a hundred years ago. ]
Listening to Lucia's additional explanation distractedly, Yong-ho was seated on the throne.
The reason why he momentarily stopped at the door of space was because he recalled something suddenly.
'Come to think of it... '
"Kaiwan?"
"Uh?"
After pondering over something, he called her immediately. He looked at the sofa, which he had ignored, then flinched for some other reason. It was because he saw Kaiwan pulling Catalina's tail with some kind of menacing look while holding her with a long face.
Luckily, Salami's sullen face in the back helped him wake up to the reality. He slightly turned away from Catalina's desperate glance, which he thought was cute, then asked Kaiwan, "Why did you stop making the door of space in the middle?"
"Uh? Oh, that stuff..."
Currently, the door of space in the House of Mammon was not newly built by Yong-ho from start to finish. He finished it after picking up where Kaiwan had already built half of it.
Why did Kaiwan make the door of space?
She didn't answer right away and then puckered her lips. She then leaned against the sofa.
Rubbing Catalinas' tail, she barely opened her mouth, "I was a little lonely. I also wanted to get some help."
"Uh?"
"Because I knew about your family. What I mean is the descendants of another Mammon family who exist in the human world."
She hid her loneliness with a smile. Then she continued in a lively tone, "I saw it in the record. I also heard some from the previous masters I met at the arena."
She needed help. She needed somebody she could rely on, somebody different from those trapped in the arena. She needed an "elderly" who could help her directly. Someone who will lead her, not just her deputy.
"Well, who knows, your relatives in the human world may live well? I was thinking of getting some help from them, " she said jokingly.
Because of her mention of his family in the human world, Yong-ho could also recall some funny episodes.
'I guess you would have stuffed yourself with chicken there. '
His grandfather ran a chicken restaurant. Yong-ho heard that it was the best one in his neighborhood. Fortunately, Yong-ho only thought to himself about it.
As Yong-ho laughed, Kaiwan, who laughed along with him, touched Catalina's tail again.
"The reason why I suspended the construction of the door of space in the middle was simple. It took too much more resources and mana than I thought. So, I stopped the construction, thinking of resuming it sometime in the future."
'Good job, ' he again thought to himself.
It took tremendous resources to construct the door of space. If the only reward she got after constructing the door so hard had been just chicken, Kaiwan would have fallen down with a fit of anger.
Kaiwan laughed again and looked at him gently.
"I suddenly have a bit of regret now. If I had completed the door then, I might have met you earlier..."
Kaiwan didn't finish her words because she felt somewhat out of place at the moment.
It was as many as thirty years ago that Kaiwan served as the master of the House of Mammon. Since she had been held up in the arena during the whole period, she might feel it looked like only yesterday, but it was just a long time ago to others.
Suddenly, Kaiwan realized there was a big age difference between them. Going by age in the human world, it would not be strange for people to call her his grandma.
Catalina, who quickly found out why Kaiwan was now on the defensive, realized that she had a chance to strike back. She got out of Kaiwan's arms then said a bit brazenly but timidly just like her, "Hmmm. I'm only in my late 20s and early 30s."
Nobody knew exactly how old she was, but she was around that age. If so, she was almost the same age as Yong-ho.
"Master?"
The 21-year-old Yong-ho turned his eyes away from the two with an effort. Suddenly, she thought of Sitri.
Right at that moment, Lucia changed the topic as if to save Catalina, who was tilting her head blankly, and Kaiwan, who was in confusion.
[Master!]
[Someone from the Dungeon Market is here. ]
[Currently, butler Eligos is going out to meet him. ]
"From the Dungeon Market?"
Tilting his head to the side, he looked at Ophelia.
She shook her head right away when he glanced at her quizzically as if to ask her if she bought anything.
It wasn't Yong-ho himself who bought stuff there. Since he accessed the dungeon of the Nagaraja master last time, he had never entered the virtual space of the Dungeon Market.
[Eligos directly met an employee of the Dungeon Market. ]
[He doesn't look like a courier. It's a Mare in a black suit. ]
[He sent a letter to Eligos. ]
Speaking to him in succession, Lucia created a new screen in the air. It was a video that greatly enlarged the outer envelope of the letter Eligos received.
Yong-ho didn't recognize the luxurious outer envelope and the seal stamped in the middle. However, he recognized the pretty, thin letters on the bottom of the outer envelope.
"Samael."
She was one of the five directors of the Dungeon Market, who had the fastest wings.
It was her letter.
***
Since Stravadi's dungeon structure was so complex, it took more time than expected for Eligos to return.
Since he wanted to hand the letter to Yong-ho as soon as possible, Eligos even turned beastly and ran fanatically.
"Thanks, Eligos. You don't have to overwork yourself like this next time."
Eligos deactivated his beastly mechanism and greeted him, a bit embarrassed, because he felt he made a big fuss over it.
He had no intention of embarrassing him at all, so he didn't say or ask him anything for fear that things might get complicated. So, he expressed gratitude to him again sincerely then headed to the sofa instead of the throne because there were a lot who wanted to know what was written in the letter.
Kaiwan and Catalina naturally arranged a seat for him in the middle. Ophelia was already seated behind the sofa. Only Tigrius, who just returned after being summoned, was in his seat politely. Skull was also seated in the same spot but felt comfortable because it was the floor he was sitting on.
When Yong-ho sat between the two women, Ophelia politely held out a knife. It was only for the purpose of opening envelopes.
"Whew!"
As he was about to open the letter, Yong-ho got a bit nervous because he felt a bit of mana inside, although the outer layer of the letter was nothing special.
In case of an emergency, Yong-ho wrapped the envelope of the letter with mana. He could do it because of his excellent ability to control mana.
Watching him doing so from behind, Ophelia smiled happily. There were two reasons why she did not examine the letter first this time like she did when he received a letter from Tigrius, requesting a duel.
One of the reasons was that it was unlikely that the Dungeon Market would harm Yong-ho, and the other was her trust in him. Her owner and master of the House of Mammon was no more a green boy. He was a mighty monarch who unified the whole unclaimed area in the south. Finally, Yong-ho opened the envelope and took out the letter. It was a small black paper in the form of a card that he didn't even need to open.
"Special auction by the Dungeon Market... Is this an invitation?!"
While reading the golden letters on the top of the card carelessly, Kaiwan was astonished.
Startled, she raised her upper body leaning on Yong-ho.
"Samael, the lady with the fastest wings... Oh my gosh! Do you really mean Samael, one of the five directors of the Dungeon Market?!"
Surprise as much, Ophelia also made a big fuss over the invitation letter from Samael.
Even the gentle Tigrius opened his eyes wide with his jaws dropping.
"Five directors?!" Eligos responded belatedly.
Catalina, who was embarrassed by the situation where everyone was astonished, pretended to be startled, too, because she didn't really know what the five directors meant.
Fortunately, nobody noticed Catalina's awkward action because everybody fixed their eyes on the invitation in his hand.
"Inject mana in it. I think it's a video card."
| ← Ch. 176 | Ch. 178 → |