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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“How do I look? Cute, right?”
Milia smiled at me while wearing a white rabbit mask made of who knows what material. The red eyes suited the mask well.
“I, I too…”
“A cat, huh.”
A mask with impressive black cat ears caught my eye. It was the mask Elisa had carefully chosen after much consideration.
“It’s cute, right…?”
As Elisa looked up at me with slightly expectant eyes, her ears turned red.
“Yeah. It suits you well.”
“Hehe…”
“Be quiet.”
“Pardon?”
“Not you, I’m talking to the grimoire. It keeps jabbering on and on.”
“Johann! We should go in soon!”
“Got it. Wait a moment.”
As Rue said, with my droplet-like mana, I couldn’t maintain it for long, but it was still much better than a stuffy mask.
I frowned at the damp and sticky sensation clinging to my face and touched my cheek with my hand.
“…It would be better to just wear a mask.”
“Wow, you look like a monster. I don’t know about anything else, but no one will mess with you.”
At Sif’s words, I looked at Milia. Milia also looked up at my face with a subtle expression and added,
“Why are you wearing a kraken on your face?”
…Is that how it looks?
“E-even so, I, I think it’s c-cool…”
“There’s no need to force a compliment.”
I dispelled the magic.
Rather than wasting mana on this, I might as well wear an uncomfortable mask. I looked at the masks on display with my face back to normal. However, they were all cute in size and appearance, somewhat inappropriate for me to wear.
After browsing for a while, I found a costume head in the corner. The costume head, which was quite large in size, had a rather familiar appearance.
Should I choose this?
“Hey, how much is this?”
“That would be 5 silver coins, sir.”
“That’s cheap.”
“It hasn’t been used by anyone for a long time because it doesn’t fit well. It’s hard to sell old things at a high price…”
Considering that the children’s masks were 1-2 gold coins each, it was definitely a low price.
Without hesitation, I picked up the costume head and asked the mask seller,
“Can I try it on?”
“By all means.”
With the shopkeeper’s permission, I dusted off the costume head and put it on.
It felt a bit uncomfortable. It was also a little hard to breathe. It felt stuffy in many ways.
However, this was the only size that fit my head, so I took out five silver coins from my wallet and placed them on the counter.
“Use it well.”
“Johann, Johann, are those horns real?”
“Of course they’re fake.”
“Can I touch them?”
At Milia’s words, I knelt down and lowered my head. Along with a sound that tickled my ears, my head felt slightly sore. The costume head’s leather seemed to be pulling on my hair.
“What, it’s soft and squishy. How boring.”
“It kind of looks like a doll…”
“It seems like a high-quality material?”
“Take your hands off now. People are staring.”
Three beauties attracted attention, whether in a good or bad way. As soon as the three of them removed their hands from the costume head, I stood up.
The field of vision visible through the eye holes was narrow. It was unavoidable since it was an item made in the form of a costume head, but it was still inconvenient. Still, thanks to the intimidating appearance, it should be able to ward off the moth people to some extent.
While slightly adjusting the costume head, I spoke to Sif.
“Sif. From here on, let’s call each other by nicknames instead of names.”
“Call me Black Tail. That’s what they call me here.”
“Then am I Dullahan?”
Isn’t that too blatant?
No one would be suspicious, but still.
I glanced at the band around Milia’s neck. I couldn’t help but look at it when she brought up the topic of Dullahan. Looking at it this way, the crude design was a bit annoying.
I should consider making it with higher-quality materials. Although I couldn’t say I had a good aesthetic sense, I should be able to make something suitable for a girl.
I engraved ‘make a new neck-connecting band’ in my mind.
“I, I’ll go with… Rose…”
Rose, huh.
Elisa’s face was slightly flushed as she said that. Was she embarrassed?
I rolled the word around in my mouth like candy for a moment before saying it out loud.
“Rose. That’s a good nickname.”
“Hehe…”
“What should we call Johann?”
“…Call me Mino.”
Since nothing else came to mind, I decided to use a shortened version of the Minotaur costume head’s name. It was a name that would be used a few times and discarded anyway, so there was no need to put much effort into choosing it.
“Mino?”
“Yeah.”
“It seems like you chose it really halfheartedly…”
“Y-you’re right…”
“Johann has no talent for naming things, huh?”
Their reaction was too subtle.
I sighed, looking at the three kids whispering to each other.
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“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Rovlone auction house! I am Calibra Rovlone, the manager who runs this auction house! We have been operating this auction house for three generations!”
A middle-aged man with a flattering appearance announced the start of the auction from the stage with exaggerated gestures.
I stood behind the three kids who were engrossed in the auction, like a bodyguard, and looked around, I could easily see people in luxurious clothes at a glance.
Since the prices of the items up for auction were not cheap, it was noticeable that they had brought escorts. Thinking that some influential figures I might know could be mixed in among them, I couldn’t help but look at the masks covering people’s faces.
Crow, peacock, wolf, bear, cat, pig, tiger… There are tigers here too? There was even a plague doctor mask.
Each one was unique, with almost no overlap, so it seemed to be a way to express individuality. As I was looking around with interest, I made eye contact with a blue butterfly mask with blonde hair sitting in the corner.
The butterfly mask hurriedly turned away as our eyes met.
…It seemed familiar. The hair color seemed to have changed too.
Since I couldn’t go and ask directly, I should ignore it.
There was no need to pretend to know them.
“…The first item is none other than! A griffin’s eye!”
A griffin’s eye, huh. What was it used for in the game?
I think it was used to make wind-attribute specialized staffs in magic… As I was trying to recall my memory, people started evaluating the revealed griffin’s eye.
“Oh, it looks quite intact. I heard it’s hard to obtain an intact griffin’s eye…”
“It seems to have been caught by a skilled hunter.”
“I happened to need materials to make a staff, so this is perfect.”
Most of it was nutritionless evaluation. Perhaps because it was a dull item for an opening, there weren’t many people talking.
With a disinterested face, I looked down at Milia, who was tugging at my sleeve. Perhaps because she didn’t know much, Milia asked me with a face full of curiosity.
“Is a griffin’s eye a big deal?”
“It’s quite a good item for mages who mainly use wind magic.”
“I see~”
“You seem to know a lot…”
“One needs a lot of knowledge to make tools.”
I responded to Elisa’s praise with a vague answer and watched the somewhat dull auction proceed. The first auction was almost over. There were only three or four people competing because few people raised their hands.
“300.”
“300 gold coins have been offered! 300! Anyone willing to go higher?”
Was this the end? Personally, I was not sure if a griffin’s eye was worth 300 gold coins.
Maybe it was because I was steeped in game logic. In the game, any decent material could be obtained through grinding.
“300 gold coins! The griffin’s eye has been sold for 300 gold coins! Not a bad price!”
I wondered what the second item would be.
I hoped it would be a more exciting item than the griffin’s eye.
“The next item is… a drake’s heart!”
This one was a bit dull too. If they kept bringing out items like this, there was no point in coming to see the auction. There needed to be something unique to make it worth watching.
As items were sold one by one, it wasn’t until the fifth item that quite interesting items started to appear.
“Many of you seem disappointed with the items that have come up so far! But this time, it’s different! The fifth item that will meet your expectations! It’s none other than!
The magic sword Salamander, made by the dwarven craftsman Eitri!”
…Oh.
I didn’t expect to see that magic sword here. It was difficult to purchase early on, but it was treated as a nuisance because it was awkward to use later.
It’s a unique weapon, right? It would be more useful here since this is reality.
“Wow, Johann-”
“Call me Mino.”
“Mino! That sword is shining so brightly!”
“Oh, it seems to have tremendous magic cast on it…”
“I think it’ll go for over 1000 gold.”
“1000 gold, huh. That’s expensive…”
If I had the materials, I think I could produce a similar level of performance. Although it would be difficult to imitate the magic engraved on the weapon, I had my own way of reproducing it.
To be precise, it was closer to conceptualizing it.
First, I needed to have the materials to imitate it or not.
So there were materials I needed to acquire as much as possible in the black market.
“1300!”
“1400!”
“If it goes well, it might even exceed 2000, right?”
“If it’s Eitri’s work, it’s worth that much. Eitri’s greatest magic sword, Frost Breath, was once sold for 5000 gold coins, right? That’s how enticing it is to sword collectors.”
“When you think about it that way, it’s quite ironic. Weapons that should be rolling around on the battlefield have been reduced to mere collectibles.”
Half-heartedly listening to the serious conversation of the guests, I watched the fifth magic sword being handed over to a man wearing a pig mask amidst sighs filled with regret.
It was still a bit dull so far.
It was when I couldn’t contain my boredom and yawned.
“I wonder if you were satisfied with the fifth item! Perhaps some of you have already lifted your bottoms from your chairs, disappointed with today’s items! But it’s still too early to lift your bottoms! Because the last item of this auction is none other than a ‘grimoire’!”
“A grimoire…”
“I heard no grimoires have been discovered recently…”
At Rovlone’s words that reversed the atmosphere, the auction hall, which had been filled with silence, began to buzz with whispers.
Rovlone grinned as if he had been waiting for this moment and clapped his hands.
“However, the main dish comes after the appetizer! The appetizer isn’t over yet, so please wait a little longer, just a little longer!”
In the end, he was telling us to keep watching until it was over.
“Dirt, you say…”
Compared to you, a grimoire of unknown identity, that would be the case. Still, a grimoire… Since it was a bigger item than I thought, I called the waiter, ordered a drink, and leaned back in my chair.
“Now, it’s time to introduce the sixth item! This time, gem collectors might be delighted! The item we’ll be introducing this time is! ‘Lava Crystal’!”
“What is that?”
“It’s the first time I’ve heard of it. Do you happen to know?”
“I’ve heard it for the first time too…”
“It’s not very pretty for a gem. The purity seems low too. The collectible value would be low.”
“Still, since it’s a gem they’re seeing for the first time, won’t collectors rush in with fire in their eyes?”
“Well… It looks like bait. It’s obvious they intend to bring out something big after this, don’t you think?”
…Why was that gem appearing here?
An item that could only be obtained in the mid-to-late game?
I stared blankly at the Lava Crystal, unable to hide my bewilderment at the appearance of an item I thought I must acquire someday.
I have to buy this!
The god of impulse buying descended upon my pocket.
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