Chapter 109 - Chapter 18: Auction
There were two protagonists in Knight Saga.
The protagonist of the Demon World was Zephyr Ragnaros, the strongest and worst demon king in history.
The other was the warrior, Locke, protagonist of the Human World.
The story had begun in the Demon World in year 513, when Zephyr Ragnaros received a new mission from the Merits Department.
Whereas Locke’s adventure had started in the summer of Year 514, when Locke left the temple he had grown up in to go on an adventure.
At the beginning of winter in Year 512 that changed to Year 513, Zephyr had left for the north to carry out a mission.
So, what was Locke doing now?
In Knight Saga, he had invaded the Demon World with an army and eventually killed the demon king.
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In-gong closed his eyes and searched through his memories. Then the appearance of a big bookshelf popped into his head.
There was a total of five books. Compared to the large bookcase, the number of books was embarrassingly small, but In-gong didn’t care. Anyway, it was a bookcase that no one else could see.
All five books described the elder dragons. They were the books he had borrowed from the library and read once.
He thought about one of them, then the part he wanted automatically came up in his head. It was vivid as though he had photographed the book.
It wasn’t the so-called ‘photographic memory’ ability. It was a little bit different, but the end result was similar.
In-gong had ‘conquered’ the books he borrowed from the library.
Thanks to that, he could recall them any time he wanted.
‘I read all of it roughly, but... it really is a fraudulent skill.’
A Conquest Knight could conquer and dominate all things. This applied to books as well as techniques, so he was eager to test out the applications.
What else could he conquer? Could he apply the power of Conquest to everything?
However, first, it was time to look at his memories.
The five books in the library varied from simple storybooks to history books. Each had a different story about the elder dragons, and according to the books, there were many more stories not present.
However, there was one thing they had in common.
In-gong simultaneously recalled different pages of the five books.
The disappearance of the elder dragons...
The Great Enkidu, who had lived in the Jishuka Mountains, had suddenly left his treasures and dungeon for another place.
It had occurred approximately 1,000 years ago. One of the dwarf keepers had left a record of this behind.
The time when Violent Kaltein had last been seen was also similar. It couldn’t be guessed precisely as to when because the record left behind by the dwarf and the storybook were created at different times, but it was close to 1,000 years ago.
There were no records related to Watcher Ainkel, but because of Green Wind, In-gong knew that Watcher Ainkel had been murdered 1,000 years ago.
The rest of the elder dragons were in similar situations. The witness reports, such as for the Brutal Talia, were cut off long ago, and it was important that they hadn’t appeared anywhere in the last 1,000 years.
'The only exception is Guardian Queian.’
There were no records found in the books of the library, but In-gong knew about him thanks to Knight Saga’s setting.
During the past 1,000 years, Guardian Queian had acted several times in the Human World.
Five of the six elder dragons had disappeared from this world 1,000 years ago.
Watcher Ainkel had been killed and Violent Kaltein’s dungeon had been violently destroyed by someone.
If so, perhaps the others were the same. There had probably been a big fight 1,000 years ago that wasn’t revealed on the surface of the history records.
The Four Knights of the Apocalypse...
And the four people who selected them—
In-gong recalled some information that might be helpful in the present situation.
‘Guardian Queian’s lair is hard to pass through... but is it possible to guess the location of the Brutal Talia?’
If he looked at the places where the elder dragons’ legends were based, he could guess the locations of their lairs.
The records of Brutal Talia were concentrated in the northern cold zone.
Considering that Talia had the power of the cold, it was an interesting combination.
'It isn’t too far right now... My next target should be obtaining Talia’s equipment.’
Queian’s lair was in the human world, while the lair of the last elder dragon, Record Keeper Torres, was hard to pinpoint due to the records talking about the entire Demon World.
After he finished thinking about the elder dragons, In-gong put away the virtual books and opened his eyes.
Even without his sight, he could tell the location just through hearing and scent. In-gong was in the middle of a grassland with dry wind.
Just like Thunderdoom Fortress, Evian didn’t have a transportation formation, so he had to move to the closest area with one.
As always, there was a guide at the transportation formation. Fortunately, this one was a man. The party and their supplies moved on carriages towards Evian.
One day after their departure...
In-gong was riding Maybach, whom he had not seen in a long time. White aura and green magic power were tangled together and rotating in each of his hand.
‘Okay.’
Even while he had his eyes closed and mind occupied with other thoughts, In-gong could operate aura and magic power as naturally as breathing.
Moreover, it was not simply operating; the aura and magic power in front of him were pushing at each other and creating a synergistic effect.
When using Gigantic Piston and Dragon’s Bane, he had been unconsciously using aura and magic power simultaneously.
In-gong didn’t use mana for specific skills but added magic power to the aura itself.
The result was successful. All actions that used aura, as well as Divine Sura Authority, had become faster and stronger.
‘It is a pity that I didn’t meet the sword duke again.’
The sword duke had promised to meet again during his stay at the Demon King’s Palace, but he unfortunately had to leave the next day.
He didn’t know any of the details, but it seemed like the sword duke needed to leave in a hurry.
The demon king had mentioned the sanctuary.
Perhaps there was something wrong with the sanctuary that the sura were guarding.
“Shutra.”
“Huh?”
He had thought he was alone when he heard a voice next to him. In-gong looked around to see Caitlin approaching him on a stunning black horse.
Caitlin looked down at In-gong’s hands and asked,
"That— What are you doing? Are you operating aura and magic power at the same time?”
“Yes.”
Caitlin’s golden eyes lit up at In-gong’s answer. She mumbled, “Amazing” a few times, then asked again with an excited face,
"Shutra, do you have any tips?”
Originally, aura and magic power would push against each other.
In-gong shrugged at Caitlin’s question.
"There is no such thing... I just do it.”
In-gong’s words were unfortunate, but it couldn’t be helped. He really just did it.
Caitlin frowned at In-gong’s answer, then closed her eyes and activated her aura. Caitlin’s blue aura and white magic power gathered on her right hand, but both of them disappeared instead of tangling together like In-gong’s.
Aura interfered with the operation of magic power while magic power destroyed the aura’s flow.
After several more attempts, Caitlin sighed and opened her eyes. She stared at In-gong and grumbled,
“Shutra is too much.”
“What?”
“Too much.”
Her grouchy expression was cute. In-gong tried to stop his laughter, but it was inevitable that a small smil formed.
On In-gong’s other side, a new voice was added,
“That’s right, Shutra is too much.”
It was Felicia who was riding on a draco. As In-gong looked back, the voices continued,
"Right, too much.”
"Way too much! Too much! It is too much!”
The last voice belonged to Amita who was riding on a horse with Daphne. Daphne became confused as the waving tail hit the horse.
He could understand why Amita was upset, but why was Felicia— no, Carack upset as well?
‘Shouldn’t I be the one saying that Carack is too much?’
In-gong looked at Delia, Seira and Karma who were beside Carack, then he looked back at Carack. It was because he suddenly had an ominous premonition.
‘Surely, Nayatra won’t like Carack as well?’
He felt anxious. Despite there being no basis for this,, he couldn’t help the ominous feeling.
In fact, he didn’t even know why Seira, Delia and Sepira had started liking Carack in the first place. It seemed like he was a aide killer.
‘N-no. Nayatra can’t be the same.’
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Locke had a harem around him, however, Zephyr was different due to his grim nature. Therefore, his only hope in the Demon World was Nayatra, who was like a flower blooming in a desert.
While thinking about Nayatra, In-gong was reminded of something... There was one more problem.
‘What excuse can I use to go to the auction?’
If he were alone, then he would just go with Carack. However, right now, In-gong wasn’t alone. In order to avoid Caitlin’s and Felicia’s cold eyes, he needed a good reason to visit Takar’s slave auction house.
‘Well, there are a lot of assets to process right now.’
There were the goods from the dungeon and the ruin.
Even the dwarf weapons that he found in the dwarf cave hadn’t been processed yet. This was a chance to obtain Nayatra, but he should also use it to organize his things.
‘Slaves aren’t the only things sold at the auction house.’
There were various types of artifacts as well as various magic tools that could be used in battle.
There were valuable ingredients like elixirs and dragon hearts that could luckily be obtained if they had enough money.
In-gong looked at Carack’s shield for a moment. Thanks to Amita joining them, the party could receive the best equipment, but it was still lacking. Right now, Carack was the only one who had received a shield from Amita. Weapons were still needed.
‘Moreover...’
The materials that Amita could use currently were the leather, bones and scales from the black dragon and the sea serpent. Both were top quality materials, but there wasn’t a variety of material.
If a variety of material were added, then Amita would be able to produce better and more unconventional equipment.
In-gong looked at Amita who started trembling. They felt something like a ominous feeling.
‘I should go to the auction house to liquidate the assets and see if there are any good items.’
Just thinking about it convinced In-gong, and he nodded with a cheerful expression. Meanwhile, Caitlin was grouchy as she tried to join aura and magic power together a few more times.
As In-gong was thinking about how to comfort her...
'Master, a group of people are approaching from the front.’
Green Wind’s voice entered his ears, and In-gong focused aura on his eyes. As Green Wind had said, a group of people were rushing towards them from far away.
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“I just need to stop them here.”