Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 7

by Hiro Ainana

  With that, the ship turned west and soared away toward the setting sun.

  “Well, there he goes.”

  “Yeah.”

  Arisa watched the ship until it disappeared.

  I didn’t know when we would meet again, but I decided to support him in any way I could if he ever needed my help.

  I owed him a favor for teaching me all those skills, but more importantly, he was my friend.

  Dark Auction

  Satou here. Once, when I needed help with my homework, I asked my great-grandfather about his experience in the war, and he told me lots of made-up stories to tickle my fancy, about things like deep-fried frogs and boiled crayfish. I enjoyed our chat a lot but ended up having to redo the homework.

  “An escort for an auction?”

  “That’s right. I’m told it will be held in the black market across the God’s-Crossing Bridge.”

  The day after Hayato’s departure, Princess Menea visited me again.

  Accompanying her were Yui, Aoi, and her usual escort knight.

  The God’s-Crossing Bridge was a large bridge across the big river near the city. It was only labeled as Large Bridge in my AR display, so I hadn’t known it had such an impressive nickname.

  “Sir Knight…”

  “What’s the matter, Mr. Sebaf?”

  The old butler Sebaf approached me with a concerned expression.

  He was normally exceedingly polite, so if he was willing to intrude on a conversation with a guest, it must be something important.

  “The black-market district, Muraas, is a rather dangerous area. The auction Your Highness mentioned is known as a dark auction that trades in illegal goods, not an officially sanctioned auction.”

  Princess Menea put a hand to her mouth to cover her surprised reaction to this explanation.

  “With your prowess, Sir Knight, I doubt you would have any problems with ruffians and their ilk. However, Muraas is home to many disreputable businesses, so it might lead to unfavorable gossip if you were seen there. If you do intend to go, I would encourage you to bring a recognition-inhibiting magic tool.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Sebaf.”

  Having relayed the necessary information, the butler bowed humbly and withdrew without judgment.

  No wonder his family had served upper-ranking nobles for generations.

  “What do you wish to do, Your Highness?”

  I didn’t know what she needed at the auction, but I wondered whether it was important enough that she’d risk going somewhere unsafe for it.

  “Why don’t you just get Mr. Satou to find someone to sell us some?”

  “Yui!”

  At first, Princess Menea got angry with Yui.

  However, she must have decided she didn’t have much choice, so she explained why she wanted to go.

  “It’s not that I have no money whatsoever, but if I’m going to study abroad in a major power like the Shiga Kingdom, I’m afraid I find myself a bit short…”

  Basically, she needed to raise some money.

  What she intended to sell was the soul grass from the dragon mission the other day, as well as some things she’d brought from her hometown, including a large lump of dark stone, fragrant wood, tea ware, art, and two memo pads.

  “Is this Japanese?”

  “Yes, it was given to me by the third person who was summoned.”

  No doubt about it. It was a perfect match for the pottery notes I had.

  “Have a look at this, if you would.”

  I took the memo out of Storage by way of my pocket and showed it to the group.

  “Hey, it’s the same!”

  “Yeah, I’m no expert, but this looks like the same handwriting to me.”

  Yui and Aoi compared the notes and nodded in agreement.

  “Sir Satou, wherever did you acquire this memo?”

  “From a gray ratfolk friend of mine. I haven’t met the person who wrote it, but…”

  I trailed off then.

  Princess Menea was starting to cry as she clutched the memo.

  “Thank goodness…”

  Aoi and Yui comforted her from either side.

  At first I thought she might be acting, but it looked like she really was relieved that the third person was alive.

  In the meantime, I skimmed over the notes she’d brought. One was Raising Shellfish and Culturing Pearls, while the other was A Table of Alloys and Their Mixture Ratios.

  My “Estimation” skill put them at about one gold coin apiece, but I guessed they would sell for more than that to the right statesman.

  I wouldn’t have minded buying them myself, but I was interested in seeing this “dark auction,” so I agreed to accompany her.

  “Recognition-inhibiting magic tools vary in price by grade. We deal in grades one through six, and the inhibition rate increases with each grade. In addition, grades four and higher can only be purchased by nobles of the old capital.”

  I took Princess Menea and her escort knight to the magic-tool shop in the noble district to buy recognition-inhibiting magic tools. Yui and Aoi were waiting back at the mansion, where Arisa and the others were keeping them company.

  As it turned out, the grade levels indicated what skill level of “Analyze Person” the item could block.

  For example, a grade-1 tool could prevent someone with a level-1 “Analyze Person” skill from analyzing the holder.

  As I learned later, an original Yamato stone’s level of “Analyze” was equivalent to grade 10, while replicas like the ones found at city gates were around grade 7.

  There were a few guides for making recognition inhibitors in the magic-tool books I read in Marquis Lloyd’s library, but it would be a pain to gather all the materials. Besides, I wanted to know how good the ones sold in stores were.

  I actually had plenty of recognition-inhibiting magic tools—which must have belonged to the Wings of Freedom members—from grades 4 to 9 in my spoils from the demon lord battle in Storage. However, I wasn’t going to use them this time for the same reason.

  “Even a grade three would also make it more difficult for someone without the ‘Analyze Person’ skill to notice who you are, so…”

  So it was a different type of item than Nana’s Amulet of Humanity.

  “…it should be more than enough for a little trip to the black market.”

  “How did you know?”

  The shopkeeper chuckled. “Whenever there is a tournament in town, you can be sure that visiting nobles from other kingdoms and fiefdoms will want to visit the black market.”

  So that was why they seemed so well stocked.

  The escort knight and I chose the mask type to hide the upper half of our faces, while Princess Menea chose the veil type.

  “Grade three are three gold coins apiece, so I’ll accept seven gold coins for three of them.”

  “That’s quite affordable for magic tools.”

  “Well, grade three and below will lose their effectiveness after a few years, and they require the wearer to refresh the magic power supply every few minutes.”

  I pulled out enough money to pay for all three as I chatted with the shopkeeper.

  “Wait a moment, Sir Satou. I think my guard and I will buy grade-one tools instead, please. Grade one would be a bit cheaper, correct?”

  “Yes, that would be one gold coin apiece.”

  Evidently, that was still too expensive for Princess Menea.

  For someone raised in a royal palace, the princess was awfully frugal.

  In the end, I settled things by buying three of the grade-three tools and letting them borrow the extras.

  I was sure I could find plenty of uses for spare recognition inhibitors.

  When we returned to the mansion, the butler had prepared a small, plain-looking horse-drawn carriage to take us to the black market.

  “We’re higher than I expected.”

  “Indeed. The height of a ship’s mast, perhaps?”

  Partway across the long, long brid
ge, Princess Menea drew away from the window and pressed against me, trembling a little.

  The breeze felt nice, but I guess it might’ve been difficult for anyone with a fear of heights.

  Since it was a toll road, there was a relatively small number of passersby despite the convenient location.

  Just as I was starting to get bored of the scenery outside, we finally made it across the bridge and entered the black-market district of Muraas, on the opposite bank from the old capital.

  Most of the inhabitants were beastfolk, and I saw quite a few people wearing weapons and armor made with monster parts.

  These individuals were apparently in the dangerous-sounding business of “mon hunting.”

  Searching my map, I discovered there were several of them distributed among the woods and mountains to the east. Most likely, they were hunters who specialized in monsters.

  “It’s quite crowded here.”

  “Your Highness, please don’t show your face at the window.”

  The escort knight sitting beside the coachman chided Princess Menea.

  Eventually, the carriage stopped on a street lined with warehouses. The one in front of us appeared to be the site of the auction.

  A group of middle-aged human men were filing inside.

  …Oh?

  Something was strange about them.

  Their appearances were transparent, and underneath I could see the faces of white-furred tigerfolk.

  According to my AR display, they were covered with some kind of illusion.

  The staff checking people at the door didn’t say anything, so either they didn’t notice or a recognition-inhibiting magic tool was covering them.

  As I was following the men with my eyes, the staff noticed our approach.

  “Well! It looks like we have an esteemed guest here!”

  Seeing my noble clothes, a short, stout man in a fancy outfit of his own approached me.

  “Would you like us to prepare VIP seating for you?”

  “That would be great, thanks. This is my first time here, so I’d appreciate an overview of the auction process as well.”

  “Of course. You, guide this gentleman to the nobles’ seating, please. Be sure to give him a thorough explanation of the auction process, as well.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  At the short man’s command, a rather scantily clad woman who looked like a promotional model came over to escort us to the auction site in the basement.

  The circular area, reminiscent of a college auditorium, was larger than one would expect a basement to be. The highest stage even looked big enough to play basketball on.

  We were led to an area a bit to the right of the main stage, separated by a partition. There was a small table and a sofa that looked like it would fit about four people.

  The screen was probably set up so that we couldn’t be seen from the other seats.

  “Now allow me to explain. When you wish to bid on an auction, please raise these tags so that the auctioneer on the stage can see them. The white tags denote silvers, and the reflective bronze tags denote gold coins. They are used to indicate how much you would like to offer above the most recent price stated by the auctioneer.”

  With this explanation, she handed me four white tags and five copper tags.

  Each of the tags was labeled with the number three. That was probably my seat number.

  I appreciated the explanation, but I wasn’t sure why she was so close to me. And at an angle that seemed designed to show off her cleavage, no less.

  Maybe she was angling for a tip?

  I would have considered folding a bill and slipping it between her breasts, but not in front of Princess Menea.

  “Might I ask how one can submit an item for sale?”

  Princess Menea’s eyes and voice were rather cool.

  “Anyone can submit an item by paying the exhibition fee of one silver. A seventh of the winning bid will be charged for handling and taxes to the duke. Incidentally, amounts less than one silver will be considered a donation to the less fortunate.”

  Fourteen percent? That seemed pretty steep. And fractions rounded down, too.

  “Unidentified items can be sold, but appraised items tend to sell at a higher price. For two silvers, an expert appraiser of grade five or above is also available to write an evaluation, if you would like.”

  “Thank you, but they’ve already been appraised in my home kingdom. May I submit these items?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  The woman rang a bell located at the edge of the VIP seats, and a waiting staff member appeared and took the items for sale in exchange for deposit receipts.

  There was about an hour to wait before the auction began, but there was a show on the stage in the meantime involving beautiful girls dancing and beastfolk doing acrobatics, so I never found myself bored.

  If anything, I felt like they might make more profit if they sold tickets for this show.

  “Thank you for waiting, ladies and gentlemen. The auction will now begin!”

  Once about 70 percent of the seats were filled, the auctioneer appeared and started the auction.

  The items for sale were incredibly varied, including magic potions, mysterious old documents, art, armor, and textiles.

  In addition to the goods, there were rare birds and livestock and eggs of demi-dragons like wyverns, nagas, and even a creature called a lamia.

  Incidentally, there was one ancient document with the fascinating title Secrets of the Underwater City Nenelier, so I bid on it and won for seven gold coins.

  It was written in a completely unfamiliar language, but Tolma or someone might be able to introduce me to a scholar who could read the text.

  In addition, I got a Ghost Magic spell book and a handbook by a shady alchemist who cut magic potions with water.

  There were some other items that interested me, like a unicorn horn and a lesser dragon scale, but the other bidders got furious and the prices ended up many times higher than the “Estimation” price, so I quit bidding partway through. A so-called youth-restoring potion even brought in over three hundred gold coins.

  Technically, I could’ve afforded it, but it wasn’t like I wanted it that badly.

  The lesser dragon scale was the only real dragon scale, with the rest being a load of fakes. My “Analyze” skill told me they were the scales of creatures like scale turtles, scale sharks, and nagas.

  From what I overheard with my “Keen Hearing” skill, there were more fakes than usual this time because of rumors about the black dragon from the east.

  “Next we have two memos, written in Nipanese, the mysterious language of the hero’s country. These precious articles were discovered hidden in the treasure trove of a certain royal family! Let’s start the bidding at one gold coin!”

  At last, the bidding began for Princess Menea’s items.

  “Number fifteen, two white tags—one gold coin and two silvers.”

  Unfortunately, the bids were going up pretty slowly.

  “Number forty-three, one white tag—one gold coin and three silvers.”

  After the bid went up by two more white tags, I decided to place a bid of my own.

  “Number three, one bronze tag—three gold coins! Any other takers? Going once, going twice… Sold to bidder number three!”

  I was trying to liven up the bidding a little, but I apparently raised it too high.

  “Did you do that for me, Sir Satou?”

  “No, no, I was already interested in them.”

  As I talked to Princess Menea, the scantily clad model brought me the exchange tickets for the items I won.

  During two periodic intermissions, these could be exchanged along with money for items won.

  Among the rest of Menea’s items, I bought the batch of dark stones for forty-three gold coins. My “Estimation” skill placed the market price at sixty gold coins, so it seemed like a good bargain.

  The fragrant wood and the tea ware sold at high prices, but t
he withered bundle of soul grass and the art ended up going rather cheaply.

  In the end, her items sold for a total of 102 gold coins, but after commission and taxes, she would probably get about eighty-seven gold coins and two silvers.

  There was still time before the intermission, so I sat with the pleased-looking Princess Menea to observe the auction.

  “Next we have a Magic Sword called an Antwing Silver Sword crafted by an artisan in the Labyrinth City Celivera. We’ll start at an astoundingly low ten coins!”

  The dull-gray sword on the stage could hardly be described as “silver.”

  The auctioneer called it a Magic Sword, but unlike my Magic Swords that I forged with magic circuits inside, this one’s magic seemed to be added with “Transmutation.” That was probably why the blade was shaped like an insect’s wing.

  Searching through the books in Storage, I found a guide to make a sword of the same name among the materials I’d acquired from Trazayuya’s study in the Cradle. It looked to require rather large-scale equipment to make.

  I was definitely interested, but the mon hunters were all bidding like their lives depended on it, so I decided not to get in their way.

  There were other weapons, like a broadsword made from praying mantis monster parts and a steel fan-shaped ax, which the mon hunters snatched up as well.

  These monster-part weapons made in Labyrinth City seemed to be quite popular with that group.

  There were some mercenaries bidding, too, but strangely, none of the knights or nobles seemed interested. I guess they probably preferred the mithril-alloy swords made by the dwarves.

  Incidentally, the monster-part weapons sold for an average of forty gold coins, about a third of the price of one mithril-alloy weapon.

  “Now, this is the final item for sale before the break!”

  Up on the stage was a white tiger cub— No, wait. It was a white-furred tigerfolk child.

  “According to the seller, this is a former princess of the White Tiger Kingdom, which was destroyed by the Weaselman Empire!”

  The crowd at the auction heated up at the host’s explanation.

  “White Tiger Princess, give ’em a few words!”

  “? Raahrr… .”