Chapter 54: Would this do? A trade.

Moments later, Kai was seated on the edge of the bed, his mask safely placed beside him on the mattress.

While Carlotta stood at his side like a statue of darkness, Leo and Sofia were seated on the floor. From the way they were huddled together, one would think they wanted to sink into the floorboards and disappear.

If anything, Kai had not hoped to run into them in Rambosa. Especially since after they completed the task he gave them, selling the loot from the Red Players, he had freed them. He had only ordered them with his powers that they not spread his secret or do anything that would bring harm to the Nameless Dungeon.

With that, he assumed they would have fled the city or retired to a farm.

Instead, he ran into the two of them helping an old woman with her small shop at the side of the road.

To be frank, his initial thought was to avoid them, but after seeing that they were trading, he figured there was no harm in using them one more time.

“You can relax. I have not come here to harm either of you. You have my word.”

Though they took his words for it—after all, he had no reason to lie, since if he wanted to end them, he could easily do it with no consequences whatsoever, yet, they could not calm themselves down. Not with Carlotta standing right next to him.

Kai was stronger, which was no debate. He was the Master, after all.

But she was far scarier.

Finding the strength to speak, Leo asked, “W-what brings you to Rambosa, sir?”

’I have been called many things, but being called sir is definitely one of those that makes me feel weird inside.’

Kai ignored it and pushed on.

“I came here for business, if you will. But first, where are the rest of your party members?” he asked a question of his own.

“Ah yes. I do recall there being about three more humans with you, no?” Carlotta pointed at them only slightly as she twirled her finger in a circle.

As the question landed, so did the sudden saddened look that played on their faces right after.

“The party disbanded,” Leo started, looking to the ground.

“After you allowed us our freedom, we argued about whether to remain in the Kingdom and continue our adventuring. Of course, we were still shaken by what we had been through. Eventually, everyone made their choice.”

There was a slight pause before he continued.

“Sofia and I decided to remain adventurers. But rather than attacking monsters like we decided, we take quests that only deal with helping around the city.”

Kai narrowed his gaze at the comment. He could pretty much guess why that would be the case.

However, he chose not to interrupt and instead allowed the boy to continue.

“After Sofia and I made that decision, Alex got furious. He said something about wanting to be stronger and cleanse the world of monsters. He ended up joining the Royal Army so he could get the title of Knight. As for Rachael, she joined another Guild, while Sam left the city.”

After calmly listening to what Leo had said, Kai sighed out loud, finding the entire thing ridiculous.

’If Alex joins the Royal Army, then it probably also has something to do with his character’s origin story. That said, his hate for monsters is something I predicted, hence why I used my All Master skill on him. Did he find a way to bypass it?’

The All Master skill was a Blessing, meaning it was nowhere as certain as an Authority could be. It could still be broken, canceled, or dispelled even.

Once again, Kai sighed in his mind, his gaze turning towards the two former adventurers before him.

“Very well. This was to be expected. Should I take it as you have no reasons to kill monsters?” Kai’s voice echoed throughout the entire room.

“Yes, Shadow sir,” Sofia replied this time. “Even if we wanted to, we are still weak, and seeing as how dangerous the game has gotten, we would rather not take the risk again.”

’Hmm, they don’t want to die in the game. Valid argument. Damn, makes me wonder why I got over the fact that if I die here, I die in real life so quickly. Maybe it is because I had so many strong people around me. Oh well. This works even better for me.’

Kai then reached into his inventory to pull out something, all while his gaze never left the duo.

Without saying a single word, he pulled out a small red marble-like item and stretched it towards Leo and Sofia.

Leo, not hesitating, took the orb from him and placed it on his palm.

“What is this?” he asked.

“It is an artifact. A Third-Grade, if you will,” Kai responded calmly.

Leo and Sofia looked at it. The orb was so small one could easily mistake it for a pill.

“Open stats,” Sofia spoke out loud.

And then the window popped up.

[Name: Eye for Eye]

[Rank: Third Grade]

[Passive Attribute: This artifact allows the user to hide their stats and information from the public eye upon use.]

[Passive Attribute: This artifact can never run out of mana as long as the wielder remains awake.]

They both blinked with confusion.

Slowly, Leo looked at Kai.

“I used to be a huge whale in the game, so I studied most of the artifacts in case I were to buy them in-game one day. I have never seen an artifact capable of doing this…”

Leo paused, looking above Kai’s head to see that the information was indeed not there.

“Incredible. Where did you find it, Lord Shadow?”

“You hold in your hand an artifact I made myself. If you are already impressed by it, then it goes to show it will do well when traded, yes?”

Kai replied to them.

The words that came after the first sentence were merely an echo to them. After all, Kai had just said something about making an artifact, something that had never been heard of.

“Impossible. You are able to make artifacts, Lord Shadow?” Sofia asked with growing excitement.

Unlike Leo, who knew much about the game hence his shock, Sofia barely knew anything, so to her, this feat was truly something to praise him about.

“Pfft~ why of course. My Lord can do anything. It is insulting that you would even doubt that,” Carlotta spoke from the side, a proud look on her face.

’Yeah, except I didn’t make it. I only bought it from the Dungeon Shop. There are a shit ton of items there for cheap EXP. Normally I would have offered to sell a First-Grade item or Second-Grade weapon, but that would be me merely dishing out ammunition to my enemies. This will have to do for now.’

Kai finally spoke out loud.

“What do you think? I would like to hear your thoughts on whether or not an item like this can be sold.”

Leo frowned a bit.

“Lord Shadow, forget about being sold. I know many people that would kill to get an item like this.”

He then looked at Kai, gripping the marble tight.

“In this city, the Icon system dictates everything. If you have a low level, you get bullied. If you have a high level, you get targeted. An item that hides your stats? Every thief, every spy, and every weakling who wants to avoid a beating would pay a fortune for this. This is not something anyone would easily ignore.”

…

[A/N]

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