Two days had passed since the labyrinth closed.
Had he really slept more than thirty hours...?
Although the hidden event at the end of this month's quest was exhausting, I hadn't put much effort into the maze otherwise, so thirty hours of sleep was more than enough to feel completely refreshed.
Hoooooonk!
When I went down to the first floor, I found Ainar still lying on the couch fast asleep in the same position she was in before I fell asleep myself.
He is very good at resting...
My first stop was the kitchen to satisfy my hunger. Luckily, all kinds of dishes were already cooked and ready for us to eat. Did Auyen prepare them in advance knowing that we would all go to the kitchen to eat something as soon as we woke up?
...Forget about being adventurous, that guy was born to be a butler.
I filled my mouth with the food he handed me, amazed by Auyen's talent. Then I walked out the front door to check the mailbox, only to discover that a mountain of mail had arrived while I was sleeping.
What is all this...?
Examining the letters one by one, I discovered that most were invitations full of flattering rhetoric and profuse praise for my achievements, asking to meet with me. It reminded me of old times. When I started to gain fame, something similar had happened.
...There are also quite a few applications to join our clan.
People had shown a sudden interest in joining our clan. Reviewing their resumes, I was surprised to see that some of the applicants were unexpectedly skilled. The most impressive was an older man who had reached the ninth floor in his prime. He was even a high enough rank adventurer to have his own nickname.
What a pity. If it wasn't a tank, I would have accepted it on the spot...
I planned to expand our clan in the future, but at the moment we only had one group and were not looking for more tanks. Furthermore, when we added our second team, Sven Parav and Kaislan were already prepared to fill the tank positions.
I should probably contact him when I want to form a third team later.
In any case, I was proud that such a high-ranking adventurer had taken an interest in our clan. I hadn't even needed to explore it. At that moment I realized how far I had come since my days on the Losing Team working under that dwarf's orders.
...Well, although I didn't have much then, it was a lot of fun.
I continued reading the email with a smile on my face. Unfortunately, it seemed that there was no priest among the applicants.
I've reached this level of fame, and yet they don't plan to make the offer themselves, huh? It's as if they want to tell us that if we want a priest, we have to go to them and make an official request.
It was mind-blowing to think that, despite going through so much and gaining so much reputation, I had never once officially had a priest on my group's list. Since potions were no longer of much use to me, it would be nice to have a healer.
«...Eh?»
I was still outside, enjoying the refreshing morning breeze as I looked at the mail, when suddenly a letter caught my attention.
Count Alminus...?
As soon as I saw the familiar golden sealing wax seal, I opened the envelope to see what it contained. The letter began with the typical too long introduction of noble houses, but what mattered was the essentials.
I would like to resolve the misunderstanding that separates us. Please visit me as soon as possible.
The count had laid an olive branch.
«Misunderstanding...»
Why had it suddenly changed? If I had to guess, it would be because of the Stone of Honor. Seeing my fame skyrocket at a rate I could never have imagined, he must have decided that antagonizing me would do him more harm than good. After all, the Riakis affair was not a question of money for him. It was purely a matter of pride. However, there was still a possibility that it was some kind of ruse.
So I guess I should make an appointment to meet him...
Since I had nothing to do until nightfall, I went up to my room to sleep. Then, when it started to get dark, I left the bedroom only to find Amelia waiting for me. «Can't we really go together?», he asked me.
«Nothing happens. It will be easier if I go alone».
«Okay then».
I put on an iron helmet and went out under the cover of night so as not to attract attention. My path took me down Main Street until I finally reached a pub at the end of an alley on the outskirts of Kommelby.
«It's not even a construction per se», I said quietly. The building was old and about to collapse. The tavern was closed and the sign hanging outside was rusty and looked like it was about to fall.
Disgusting.
The interior was even worse than the exterior. There were all kinds of building materials scattered around, and the whole place was covered in dirt and dust, except for a clear path leading to the back.
Those are footprints.
I entered the building following them until I found a staircase leading to the basement. At the bottom of the stairs, there was an iron gate with no guard or doorman or anything in front. A place like this didn't need protections like that anyway.
Now, what's behind that door?
It was something I had been curious about since I started playing Dungeon and Stone. I approached the door and used all the force I could to open it.
Crunch! Clang!
The door fell completely off its hinges. However, despite what he expected, the only thing behind the door was another wall.
What a pity.
The fact that there was no hidden area behind the door disappointed me. Still, without letting it get to me, I quickly took out the magic stone I had brought with me and inserted it into the small slot next to the door.
Flash!
Suddenly, I found myself in a completely different place. The black market could only be reached by teleportation, which is why it had hundreds of entrances leading to it throughout the city.
I have finally arrived.
Now I was in a small stone room. Inside said room there was another door that connected to a hallway, a sign with the number 217 screwed on it.
Shit. 217 is quite far from the main street.
I figured I should start exploring and took a step towards the door.
Hit.
Suddenly, the door slammed open from the other side, and three large, burly masked men burst into the room.
That? How strange. There was no escort service at the game.
«What can I do for you?»
«...Have you damaged the door before coming here?»
«Oh, that?» I never imagined they would have realized that by now, but I answered honestly. «I was curious to know what was behind it».
«...You have to come with us.»
«What if I don't want to?»
«I haven't asked you. I was telling you.» When Big Type A raised his voice at me, the other two behind him began to approach. I felt a pang of regret.
Maybe I shouldn't have broken the door. I just wanted to take a look at what was behind it while I was there...
Well, what could I do? I would have to adapt.
Hit.
I moved my arms, pushing the two men coming towards me. I didn't need much strength; In fact, it was like scaring away a mosquito. However, even after being rammed into the wall, the two of them didn't seem eager to pounce on me in retaliation. Instead, they cautiously kept their distance. «Are you an adventurer?»
«Do you have a problem with that?»
«The only problem here is you. Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way».
«Oh, really now?»
As I wiped my ear with my little finger, the Great Type A's tone became deeper and more threatening. «Judging by your constitution, you must be a barbarian or a beast. Is this your first time here?»
«How do you know?»
«Because if you knew anything about this place, you wouldn't have done something so reckless».
That hurt my feelings a little. Was there anyone out there who knew more about the black market than me?
Hit.
Before starting, I decided to take off the tight, suffocating helmet that was bothering me. There was no real reason to continue hiding my identity.
«...So you were a barbarian».
Surprisingly, however, they didn't recognize me. Not that it mattered.
Shiiink!
The Great Type A quickly drew his sword, displaying his elegant aura. Luckily for me, our current location was nothing like the cave I was trapped in in the maze. Since I now had access to my abilities, something like an aura posed no threat to me.
Fwit!
Maybe because we were in a small space, he tried to stab me instead of stabbing me. I had no room to dodge, so I simply reached out to grab his sword. The reaction of those bastards who used the aura was always the same: an expression of surprise and confusion on their faces and a slight tremor on their swords. I smiled as I pulled the sword.
A punch!
I slammed my fist in his face.
Very good, one less.
«...Reinforcements!»
As soon as he fell, the other two tried to retreat and call for reinforcements. I quickly ran after them, grabbing them by the back of the head in unison and pushing them against the walls on either side of me.
These two weren't that impressive.
I shook the blood off my hands. Along with the blood of the Big Men Trio, there was some of mine mixed in. I ended up getting a pretty deep wound when I grabbed his sword, probably because I didn't use gigantization. Well, it didn't matter. With my Natural Regeneration, the wound would heal over time. It wouldn't even leave a scar.
«Now, let's take a look».
Before leaving, I squatted down and took off the Great Guy A's mask. Well, I rather pushed aside the remaining pieces of mask. Unfortunately, it was impossible to distinguish his features, as his entire face was shattered and covered in blood.
«...I never imagined the security of this place would be so high», I murmured quietly.
Suddenly, in a weak voice, he cleared his throat: «B-Bjorn... Yandel...?». Apparently the punch to the face had made him see reason enough to recognize me. «What is someone like you doing... here...?»
«Again, any problem? I only came for a few reasons. Since you're awake, let me ask you a few things. Where is the boss of this...?»
What...?
He fainted.
After leaving him there on the floor, without feeling guilty in the slightest, I went out into the hallway. Some curious people had gathered in front of the stone room, and were startled and took a step back when I came out. Their clothes indicated that they were customers and not employees.
They wouldn't know it even if I asked them...
«Hey, there! What's happening?» Another big man appeared around the corner. He ran towards us after noticing the crowd and headed towards the open door, only to find bodies lying on the ground. «What is this?
His reaction made me feel like the culprit of a thriller.
I quickly grabbed him by the back of the head and lifted him off the ground. «Ahh...!»
«Where should I go to meet the boss of this place?».
«I can't tell you...»
«Even if it kills you if you don't?».
I tried to threaten him, but he just closed his eyes as if accepting death. «M-Kill me, then... That would be many times better than becoming a traitor...»
«Oh, is that so?»
Thud!
I let him go, letting him fall to the ground. Getting information through bullying wasn't going to work as well, then. But there is no problem.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
The frantic sound of alarm bells ran down the hallway, announcing an all-out war. «Intruder! Intruder!» All kinds of guys pounced on me.
«Behel-aaaaaah!»
Well, if he hit them all, the boss of this place would have to show his face at some point, right?
***
[You have launched gigantization.]
[You have used a transformation skill. Due to Evolutionary Shell effects, the amount of Soul Power consumed by the ability has been halved, and your highest stat increased by 1.5x].
***
The black market supposedly existed somewhere underground, but no one knew its exact location, as most people considered it more of a tall tale than anything else. After all, if there was an underground building the size of three football stadiums together somewhere in the city, wouldn't it have been discovered much sooner?
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Ahh, there's too much noise here. When the hell are they going to turn that thing off?
How much further do I have to walk to get to the main area again?
This place is disgusting big.
However, the fact that the building was huge also had its advantages. Unlike the narrow stone room from before, the height and width of the rest of the place was amazing, allowing me to launch the gigantization without any problems.
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.
People who suddenly found themselves in the same hallway as a runaway giant were divided into two categories.
«C-Run away...!» One was the customers, who only came to buy and ran away as soon as they saw me.
«Stop him...!» The second category encompassed the group of burly men who ran directly towards me to stop me.
I realized earlier as I faced the aura user: the level of the people down here was much higher than I expected.
I'd say they're on par with most fourth-floor adventurers...
And that was just the average: some of them would probably be fine even on the sixth floor. Although it had an almost infinite healing factor, it was still objectively dangerous for me to face such a large number of unsupported opponents. But strangely, all this seemed as dangerous to me as a relaxing walk in the park.
Because whatever I did, I knew they couldn't kill me, not for my strength, but for a completely different reason.
«...Stop! We have orders from above! They told us to capture him alive and avoid injuring him as much as possible!».
«That? Do we have to capture him alive?»
So the news of my presence had reached those above.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
I continued running forward, destroying everything in my path. A small, trembling voice behind me made its way into my ear.
«How?! How are we supposed to capture a monster like that...?!»
Unfortunately for them, their hands were tied by the mediocre orders of their superiors. I took the opportunity to create as much of a scene as possible. The few who did not retreat in fear dropped their weapons and ran forward to subdue me. However, they were easy to deal with. A charge at full speed was enough to send them flying against the walls.
Crush!
His willingness to obey his boss's orders was admirable, but also extremely short-sighted. Even if they attacked me with all their strength and all the troops at their disposal, they could never subdue me without wounding me first.
«B-Baron Yandel! Q-Please stop! The higher-ups want to have a conversation with you...»
What are they talking about? There's no way I'm stopping now. This is too much fun.
Since I was untouchable, I decided to put even more force into my rampage.
Stomp! Stomp! Piston!
None of his attacks made a single scratch on my body. It was a religious experience. Even though I was just running, I felt like I was expertly deflecting each blow, without even having to blink.
This must be what it feels like to be a martial arts master in Murim.
«Hahaha!» I happily continued my walk trampling around the building.
«Shield wall!» At some point, they built a shield wall in an attempt to stop me on my way. This must have been another order from above. If he ended up dying, it would be the end of the black market, after all. According to rumors, this place was believed to be above the laws of the nobles, but in reality, an organization like this could not function without the support of the nobility.
«We have received more orders! Don't attack him no matter what!»
At least now he knew what the higher-ups in this place were thinking. They knew that if they hurt me, their market would be doomed. Their only hope of confronting me would have been to kill me behind the scenes, but there were already too many witnesses for them to carry out a silent murder at this point.
«Hiding behind a shield, cowards? Who is the leader of this evil lair? Get out! I, Bjorn Yandel, will punish you on behalf of the royal family».
«H-That's what we've been saying! Our leader wants to talk to...»
«Behel-aaaaaah!»
I ran wild for a while longer as the number of people deployed on his shield wall increased, reinforcing the solidity of the wall. They even brought wizards and special ability users to cast support and weakening spells. Little by little, I was overwhelmed by their number.
Hit.
When I finally stopped running for the first time, I looked behind me and discovered that I was surrounded by an identical shield wall made up of dozens of people. Even I would have a hard time getting through them all.
I sighed.
But if they corner me like pathetic prey, he's going to look at me badly when I meet him...
As he pondered, the man who seemed to be in charge of security made his way through the shield wall. «...Baron! Please calm down for a moment so we can...»
«It would be a waste to try to reason with evil bastards like you!»
«...But you have nowhere to run!»
What was he talking about? Didn't these guys really know how barbarians worked?
Alright, enough thinking.
I hit my hammer as hard as I could, not at the people holding their shields, but at the wall to my left.
Craaash!
When you found the road blocked, you just had to make a new one.