Chapter 59
The merchant with the jade-colored earrings left a strong impression.
She introduced herself as “Bejiana.”
Just as Aquila had expected, she was from the East, and she explained that because she loved traveling so much, she had come to Portplum to sell off the items she had accumulated.
Even though no one had asked for the reason, her bright voice chattered incessantly, and she showed no sign of stopping even after realizing Aquila was a noble.
Of course, the coercive nature of class grew stronger the farther west one went and weaker the farther east, so Bejiana’s reaction was not particularly strange.
It also seemed that Aquila’s apparent lack of concern made her feel even more at ease.
“I really thought I’d reached the end, but when a salamander showed up, I seriously thought I was going to die, you know?”
Bejiana shook her head vigorously as she spoke.
The one enthusiastically responding to her story was not Aquila, but Cahena.
The sociable vice-captain of the Resenhardt family and the merchant Bejiana quickly grew friendly with each other, like old friends reunited, as they navigated through the tightly packed crowd.
“Wow, a fire spirit. I hear there are a lot of mutated spirits in the eastern dungeons—guess that’s true?”
“Oh, don’t even get me started! I nearly burned to death. The tips of my hair all got scorched, so I had to cut everything off like this.”
Bejiana lifted the white hair that was barely tied into a small tail and vented her frustration.
As their conversation suggested, beings commonly called spirits tended to dwell mostly in the East.
They resided in the vast and powerful lands of the East—specifically in the Washed Forest, which covered a third of the region—where they maintained a sort of peaceful coexistence with the elves.
Because of that, eastern dungeons were known to contain many corrupted souls, especially named monsters that used magic.
That was also why eastern dungeons were notorious for being difficult.
‘If she went in there and came back alive, she might actually be quite skilled.’
Aquila walked slowly, listening to their conversation.
The thief whose face Cahena had utterly wrecked had already been handed over to the guards.
Because of the commotion caused when he shoved people aside while running, the guards had been investigating the area anyway.
The only thing the thief had stolen was the single piece of black metal.
Aside from injuring people by pushing them aside, there were no other crimes, so after brief questioning, the thief was immediately taken away.
Since disturbances during the Old Dust Discharge were punished severely, the thief who tried to steal black metal might not see the outside of a prison cell for a very long time.
In any case, since the guards had been nearby, they still had to walk a bit farther toward the central area to reach Bejiana’s stall.
They had spent the morning circling the outskirts, but it was still midday.
Perhaps because of that, there were even more people than before.
“I’m going to get crushed by the crowd at this rate. Young master, shall you hold my hand so you don’t get lost?”
As expected, the closer they got to the center, the denser the crowd became.
Pushing through the throng, Cahena winked playfully and held out a hand.
Aquila merely shot her a glance.
“No.”
“Oh, come on, it’d be a disaster if you got lost. What if our frail little young master got swept away by the crowd and vanished? Especially when you’re this weak-looking.”
“I said no…”
***
After Cahena made another teasing remark, Aquila refused again, and Bejiana nearly got knocked over by the crowd—
Despite all that, they eventually managed to reach Bejiana’s stall without too much trouble.
“…Bejiana!”
A man shouted urgently the moment he spotted her.
A blond man with a white cloth wrapped around his head like a turban.
Like Bejiana, he was dressed in eastern-style clothing, and a single blade in a leather sheath hung at his waist.
“Ridim!”
Bejiana waved at the young man she called Ridim and ran toward him.
“Did you sell anything?”
“That’s not the issue! Why did you chase after a thief when I was right here?!”
Ridim poured out his words the moment Bejiana reached him.
It seemed that as soon as the thief ran off with the black metal, Bejiana had left Ridim behind and chased him herself.
“Should I have just stood there while he stole my goods? That’d be even stranger! And I caught the thief! Look—my black metal came back safe and sound!”
Bejiana pulled the black metal out of her pocket and placed it on the display.
Seeing the pitch-black square object, Ridim furrowed his brows in disbelief.
“What? How did you even…? Where’s that bastard thief now?”
“He got arrested! Look—these people helped me!”
As she said that, Bejiana turned around and gestured at Aquila and Cahena with both hands.
Cahena met Ridim’s gaze and gave a brief nod.
“The guards were nearby, so we handed the thief over immediately. The young master here was curious about the items being sold, so we brought him along. Since we were helped, I say we give them a big discount!”
“You didn’t bring them because they were curious—you suggested it yourself…”
Ridim snorted.
Then he stepped back slightly and bowed deeply to Aquila and Cahena.
“Thank you for your help. I should have gone myself…”
As he spoke, Ridim quickly scanned Aquila’s appearance, then bowed even deeper, looking troubled.
“If this one dragged you here to overcharge you, I sincerely apologize. Even more so if she was rude. She travels a lot, but she’s not very interested in people, so her manner of speaking toward a noble might have been disrespectful—”
“What are you talking about, Ridim?! I never did that! They were kind to me first! Right?”
Bejiana snapped at him, then turned to Aquila and Cahena with a gentle smile.
Just listening to their exchange made it clear they were very close.
“He’s just some insignificant minor noble with too much time on his hands, so please don’t worry. She hasn’t been rude.”
Aquila spoke in an indifferent tone.
Since his hair was no longer red and he carried no Resenhardt insignia, he had casually set up that excuse.
A flicker of disbelief crossed Cahena’s dark brown eyes, but she only shrugged once.
“Our young master was curious about the goods Miss Bejiana is selling, so there’s no need to apologize.”
“The goods Bejiana is selling?”
“Because the thief stole black metal.”
Ridim’s eyes widened.
He, too, seemed surprised that Aquila recognized black metal in its raw form.
Bejiana placed both hands proudly on her hips and grinned.
“I brought them because I thought they’d understand the value of what we’re selling. Come on! Take a look!”
Bejiana shouted as she squeezed through the gap and took her place behind the stall.
Ridim stepped back slightly and shook his head in exasperation.
Aquila closed the distance he had kept and approached the stall.
Sure enough, besides the black metal that had just been returned, there were various other items on display.
‘So the salamander story wasn’t a lie. A severed salamander tail… oh, a Huntwald cocoon. And these arrowheads are mixed with black metal… what’s in this bottle?’
When Aquila picked up a small vial, he saw it was half-filled with a white liquid.
Bejiana noticed and added cheerfully,
“That’s basilisk tears. Quite a rare material, too.”
“…Did you obtain all of these by personally entering dungeons?”
“Yes, of course! I’m a dungeon explorer.”
Bejiana placed her hands back on her hips and puffed out her chest proudly.
The pride unique to dungeon explorers was evident in her posture.
And just looking at the items on display, she had every right to be proud.
None of these materials were easy to obtain.
‘…There’s no need to go anywhere else. This is a treasure vault.’
After setting the vial down, Aquila picked up a branch lying at the edge.
‘…A spirit tree branch. The bell-shaped flower at the tip is pink, so it must have fallen from a young tree.’
As Aquila examined it carefully, Bejiana eagerly explained,
“Do you use magic by any chance? That’s something I picked up from a spirit tree. It’s in fairly good condition, holds mana stably, and is recommended for people just learning magic!”
She claimed to be a dungeon explorer, yet her tone was no different from a merchant’s.
Cahena, clearly interested, let out a sound of admiration.
“All of these are high-quality items. But with goods like these, you could sell them through the Adventurers’ Guild or in Labyrinth. Why Portplum?”
At Cahena’s reasonable question, Bejiana shot Ridim a glance.
Then she shrugged and made a gesture as if flipping long hair that wasn’t there.
“Because those guys are all idiots.”
She snapped irritably, then quickly grew awkward when there was no hair to grab.
“…Well, I’ve got my own reasons. Anyway, I collected all of this myself and had it stored away, so it’s not against the spirit of the Dust Discharge.”
“Oh. I wasn’t trying to pick a fight.”
“I know.”
Bejiana smiled at Cahena.
Aquila spun the spirit tree branch lightly in his hand while glancing at Bejiana and Ridim behind her.
Ridim’s expression wasn’t very good.
‘They probably got expelled from the Adventurers’ Guild. There are plenty like that.’
If someone acted against the Guild’s will, they had to surrender their certificate and were expelled.
Once that happened, they were banned from trading through the Guild.
They were no longer considered adventurers under its authority.
‘Well, no place is as petty as that one.’
Aquila pointed one by one at the items he had just inspected.
The severed salamander tail, the Huntwald cocoon, basilisk tears, and the branch of a young spirit tree…
“Then I’ll take all of these.”
“…What? All of them?”
“Yes. You said you’d give a discount anyway.”
“Oh—well, that’s true, but if you add all of this together, it’ll be expensive—”
Bejiana suddenly stopped talking and blinked a few times.
The fact that the young man in front of her was a noble flashed through her mind.
Nobles had money.
Realizing that obvious truth like a bolt of lightning, Bejiana bowed politely.
“Of course! How would you like to pay?! We can deliver them as well. Ridim, here—!”
“Bejiana…”
“He’s buying them! The least we can do is this!”
Cahena leaned closer to Aquila and whispered quietly.
“…What are you planning to do with all this? What will you use it for?”
“They all have their uses.”
“And the payment?”
“We’ll bill it to the estate.”
Aquila raised an eyebrow as if to ask what the problem was.
Even though it was isolated in the North, the Resenhardt family was wealthy.
There were countless sources of income.
Crops grown in fertile lands, materials harvested from monsters defeated in the Frost Forest…
Especially since the monsters of the Frost Forest all carried rare materials, they took what they needed and sold the rest—there was no way they could be poor.
‘This time, before the world ends, I should really squeeze some expenses out of Resenhardt.’
Cahena scratched the back of her head, conceding the point.
Aquila turned his attention back to the goods on display.
‘Hm? That’s a slime bell…’
Just as he reached out to pick up an item encased in transparent glass—
Someone snatched it up before him and thrust it toward Bejiana.
“This. Sell it to me… not to the person next to me—to me.”