Chapter 20
Chapter 20 – Our Sunbae-nim Did This? (4)
"As expected, you finished this floor in couple days. The Anywhere company always…. Huh?"
Mycenae made her entrance as she gave a lively greeting. However, her eyes turned round when she realized the Dungeon looked entirely different from before. There were no stairways leading up or down. There was only a square, and the Dungeon’s ceiling, which was slowly descending. And…..
She saw the two brats taking a shower inside the fountain placed in the middle of the square.
"….did a curse perhaps lower your mental capacity?"
She wondered if they had lost their minds. She wanted to ask the question in the most tactful manner she could manage. Of course, it was worthless bringing it up with Artpe. He let out a snort as he looked over Mycenae with scorn in his eyes.
"W…what is it, customer?"
"Huh? Kyahhhhhhhk!"
"I want soap and clean underwear. I want it for Maetel and I."
When Mycenae appeared, Maetel screamed as she hunched to hide her body. Artpe remained unbowed. He was confident as he threw the silver coin towards Mycenae. He gave a list of what he needed.
Since they hadn’t been able to get out of the Dungeon for the past year, Mycenae understood why Artpe and Maetel were familiar with each other’s nude form. However, she never expected him to be so bold in front of her! Mycenae’s face slightly reddened.
"You are a really rude customer. One silver won’t cover it!"
"Yes, that is why I’ll give you a second one."
"Wait a moment, customer."
Artpe used a very weak form of Hyper Rubbing. It was on the level of Soft Rubbing where it merely felt as if the spell was scrubbing him. He applied soap, and it automatically scrubbed his body. When Maetel saw this, she pestered him until he used the spell on her.
"Tsk. It can’t be helped. Here."
"Ah-hee. This is ticklish. Hee-hee-hee-heek."
"There really is nothing you cannot do with magic….."
For a moment, Mycenae thought about heading back, but the sight of the broken body of the Death Knight weighed heavily on her mind.
Even if it had met its death, Mycenae could get a rough idea of its record, and Mana that had remained behind in the corpse. The Death Knight had the potential of being a big jackpot compared to any other monsters within this Dungeon.
Moreover, if there were no stairway leading downwards, it meant that they had reached the end of the Dungeon. In other words, this monster was the boss of the entire Dungeon. It was the Dungeon Boss!
"Are you going to sell something to me?"
"Wait until we clean ourselves."
"I think the fountain will become polluted before you can clean yourself, customer."
In truth, they hadn’t been able to properly wash their bodies for past year. Thankfully, the buildup of grime on their bodies were swept away every time they leveled up. They had survived relying on this mechanism.
Artpe and Maetel were thorough in washing their body. It took them exactly two hours to complete the task. It felt as if they were reborn. They even used the soap to wash their equipments made out of cloth. They washed it with a vengeance as bubbles formed. Artpe wore the underwear handed to him by Mycenae, and he dried his robe with Mana before putting it on. Then he sat down on the floor.
"Hoo. I finally feel like I’m human again."
"Now that you’ve washed yourself, you look a bit…. No, you are very handsome. If you grow a little bit more, you are going make many women cry."
Artpe snorted as he dismissed Mycenae’s words. He checked on how Maetel was doing. As expected, she had already put on all her clothes. She was growling as she glared at Mycenae.
Did she think Mycenae was targeting Artpe? Maetel always acted daft. Artpe let out a sigh, and he lightly flicked her forehead.
"Let’s loot."
"Yes!"
The gazes of Artpe, Maetel and Mycenae headed towards the corpse of the Death Knight. Artpe didn’t hesitate as he shot his Mana towards the corpse.
A bright light rose into the air, and as the light dimmed, three Artifacts revealed themselves. When Maetel saw one of them, she let out a shout with a bright light in her eyes.
"It’s a long sword!"
"It’s yours."
"Yay!"
The long sword looked similar to the one used by the Death Knight. However, this one looked sharper and more durable. It even had the ability to spike the user’s Mana in an instant to shoot it towards a single location. It was an unbelievably great Artifact. It strengthened Maetel’s weakness of not having a long range attack.
The only downside was the fact that the level needed to equip it was quite high. One needed to be level 150…..
[Maetel]
[Level: 154]
"Excellent, Maetel. I have no more words to describe your cheat-like status."
"Ee-hee-hee. If you praise me so much, I’ll be embarrassed."
"It wasn’t a compliment."
Artpe looked at his own reflection on the surface of the water. He checked his own level.
He was level 145. He had almost achieved a miracle by raising his level to 145, but he was clearly inferior to Maetel, who had climbed over the level 150 mark. He didn’t compare favorably to her.
He thought this from the beginning, but he didn’t see how it was possible for the Demon King to take over this world. The probability was less than 50%. In his past life, what were they thinking holding such a shining beacon of talent within the palace?
"Customer. The helmet…."
"I knew ajumma would covet it."
On the other side, Mycenae’s eyes were fixed on a helmet that looked similar to what the Death Knight had been wearing. It looked incredibly sturdy, and it was an Artifact that was very well suited to carry out its original goal of protecting the user.
Yes, if he
[Revengeful Death Knight’s Helm]
[The curse will turn the wearer into a high rank Death Knight. When one equips the helm, all emotions and thought process will be amplified. The wearer’s Mana, skills and spells will be changed into having Darkness attribute, and it will be amplified. The wearer will grow by sucking in the energy of death.]
This was the quintessential cursed item. It was a ridiculous cursed item that could bring down an entire city if one wasn’t careful. Artpe was aghast as he turned to look at Mycenae. He asked her a question.
"Do you really want to buy this, ajumma?"
"We, in the Anywhere company, firmly believe that items aren’t capable of possessing sin. That is the purview of people."
Mycenae’s eyes refused to leave the helm. She knew it was a cursed item, yet she was sure it was an item that could bring her profit. Her eyes were the eyes of a merchant.
Of course, Artpe knew about the greed that one felt for good items and wealth. It was what made a merchant a merchant…. Still, he had seen the world through his Read All Creation ability in his past life. The world always flowed with blood, because of treasures.
He had always been surrounded by sea of blood thanks to his ability. This was why treasures didn’t hold much appeal to him.
"There might come a day when you will regret this."
"Do not worry about me, customer. I might not look it, but I’ve lived a very long time."
Yes, it seemed his words weren’t registering with her, because he was young. She was the sort of person that won’t come to a realization until she experienced a big ordeal.
Artpe shrugged his shoulders as he handed her the helm. Mycenae put on a welcoming smile as she took the….
"780 gold."
"Eek!"
"I know you’ll be selling it for over 1,000 gold. Don’t make a big fuss about this. Just give me the money."
"You are young, and you’ve been stuck in this Dungeon for a year. So how are you so knowledgeable about the market prices!?"
In the end, she took the helm from him. Her hands shook as she handed over the pouch containing the gold.
"A large dimensional magic spell was placed on this pouch. The price of this pouch is 50 gold, so I’ve place 730 gold within. You probably don’t want to carry around the entirety of the 780 gold. Please do me a favor by taking this deal!"
"All right. I’ll overlook it."
It was a plain looking leather pouch, yet it was worth 50 gold! Maetel’s eyes spun, but Artpe didn’t show any surprise. He took the pouch.
In truth, he possessed another dimensional pouch. There was around 400 gold within that pouch. Their party now possessed money approaching 1,200 gold.
"So, there is only one thing left. Isn’t this just an egg?"
"Ajumma. Does this really look like a normal egg?"
The long sword and the helm were artifacts that was well-matched with the Death Knight. However, everyone had a hard time accepting that the last item was dropped by a Death Knight.
It was an egg that was small, black, and oval-shaped. When one touched it, one could feel the pulse of life from within it. Maetel’s mouth salivated as she looked down at it.
"Do you think this will be tasty, Artpe?"
"I want you to think of it as something given birth by the Death Knight. Do you want to eat it when you know that fact?"
"I’m hungry!"
Did she really want to eat it? Artpe let out a sigh as he flicked Maetel on her forehead. Then he put away the egg.
"It is a Chaos Egg born artificially by the Record Link. It is ridiculous to think that death was able to give life, but…. Since the Record Link had rarely been used throughout history, it is tough to come to a definite conclusion."
It would be funny if a Death Knight popped out from the Chaos Egg. However, he didn’t that would be the case.
He had thoroughly checked it with his Read All Creation ability, but the only information he could glean was its name. Basically, he won’t know what will be born until the Chaos Egg hatches.
"What will be born from it? If Artpe and my love can….."
"I don’t know what you are thinking about, but that won’t happen."
"Heeng. Artpe, stop being mean to me."
He had no idea how he should incubate it. Artpe decided to put it within the inner pocket of his robe. If it broke, that was its fate. At that point, he’ll just make scrambled eggs with it!
All the items left behind by the Death Knight was collected. Their levels had increased, and their skills had developed. Now they equipped their equipment over their clean bodies. Artpe felt refreshed as he waved his hand towards Mycenae. He was saying goodbye to her.
"You can go now, ajumma. You bought everything you wanted."
"Why would I go? The most important Dungeon reward is still to come."
Mycenae kept staring at the fountain placed in the middle of the square.
Artpe and Maetel had wasted a lot of water by washing themselves in it, but the fountain kept pumping out clear water from some unknown place. It looked as if Mycenae believed that there was a secret kept within it.
"I won’t give that up."
"As always, I just want to purchase items at a fair price….."
"Ajumma."
Artpe smiled sweetly. Mycenae had remarked on this fact before, but his charming smile wasn’t something that should exist on the face of a thirteen year old.
"I’ll see you again next time."
"Heht….."
For a brief moment, she had been mesmerized by his smile. However, she recovered her wits when she heard the cold voice that slipped out of Artpe’s mouth.
Her cheeks puffed out, and she banged on her blameless cart. She shouted towards him.
"Ha. I really can’t win against you. All right. I just have to leave, right? Please look kindly on the Anywhere company in the future! Tsk!"
Mycenae disappeared from where she had been standing. Maetel grumbled as she stared at the spot where Mycenae had disappeared.
"I don’t like that ajumma."
"That ajumma is neither good or bad. She is only a merchant, who puts profit above all else. We were able purchase supply without much fuss thanks to the ajumma. Moreover, we were able to get decent price for the items we sold."
Actually, he had received a very generous amount, but Artpe didn’t want to get into that topic here. He slowly walked towards the fountain.
Yes, Mycenae’s hunch had been spot on. It was likely that everything left within the Dungeon was gathered at the fountain. This was probably the true reward given to the hero, who overcame all the tests.
They had used a rotten method to pass the test, but they had passed it. It was time for them to see the fruit of their ordeal, which had lasted for a year.
"The fountain was put there to fool us. The entrance is below it. The reward is also placed underneath it."
"There is something below? Shouldn’t there only be the ground below?"
"Where do you think the water is coming from?"
Artpe smirked as he gave instructions to Maetel.
"Let’s destroy the fountain."
"Yes!"
Maetel was confident only when it came to destroying stuff. She gave an energetic reply as she raised her newly acquired long sword. She focused her Mana within it.
Her level was above 150, so she possessed a sufficient pool of Mana within her. She didn’t need to be linked with Artpe.
"Wow. I can feel my Mana gathering at the tip of my sword."
"Ready, aim….. Fire!"
"Eh-eet!"
The long sword was black, but when she gathered her Mana into the sword, it let out a bright golden light. It was the same color as Maetel’s hair.
The energy shot out from the tip of the sword, and it flew in a straight line towards the fountain. The energy impacted on the fountain, and it was destroyed easily. A hidden hallway was revealed.
They hadn’t expected another underground space, but it was a large space where people could reside. The clear underground water encompassed and flowed around the space. A clean and refined stone surface covered the hallway.
There was a single altar placed in the middle.
"…..Artpe, what is that?"
Maetel found two books placed on something that looked to be an altar.
One book had a red leather cover, and the other one had a blue leather cover. Of course, Artpe immediately knew the identity of the books when he saw them.
"Those are Skill Books….. Ha."
It wasn’t just normal Skill Books. These were Unique Skill Books that could be learned only by ‘Heroes’.
When he realized the implications of this, Artpe felt electrified. He had kept his expectations in check, but this Dungeon had really been made for a hero. At that moment, what he thought was a coincidence turned into destiny!