𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟑𝟔
━Congratulations, Rudin-nim.
“Congratulations for what?”
He was probably congratulating me on becoming a hero. However, since I didn’t become one on purpose, I couldn’t genuinely accept the congratulations and responded curtly.
“Is that why you contacted me?”
━No. I contacted you to try the B-rank quest again.
“B-rank……”
Since the B-rank quest was the one I failed ridiculously before, I did have a desire to try it again. However, if I moved now, I knew I’d be bothered by the guild members about the hero topic, so I couldn’t easily decide.
‘Oh, right. How much money do I have now?’
Thinking that it wouldn’t be bad to take on the B-rank quest despite the hassle if I was short on money, I checked my funds and soon confirmed a significant amount had been deposited.
[184 Gold 12 Silver 81 Copper]
‘Huh? Did Beksha give me 150 Gold?’
No, with this money, I don’t need to do the quest with Aizen, do I?
The B-rank quest requires 100 Gold to proceed. A few days ago, I didn’t have that 100 Gold and received help from Aizen, but that’s not the case now. Moreover, I could clear the B-rank quest alone, so there was no need to do it with Aizen.
‘Then I should refuse.’
Surely they wouldn’t fail a single B-rank quest just because I’m not there?
In addition, I had activated my second Intuition after the battle with Beksha, and I had to participate in the guild quest soon. Considering all that, I thought it wouldn’t be bad to rest for now.
“No, I’m tired today. I’ll do it next time.”
━Understood. Then please take care.
[Exiting Guild Chat.]
Unexpectedly, Aizen ended the chat without asking about the hero matter. Thanks to that, I could avoid the hassle, but I couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of unease.
‘Well, let’s go back for now.’
Anyway, after ending the guild chat, I decided to return to the mansion and took out a Return Scroll to use.
[Using Return Scroll.]
‘Besides……’
I thought it would be best to sell the leather armor I got from Beksha on the Real-Time Auction House. Since it was rare armor and a complete set, I figured it would fetch at least 100 million won, so I gathered the saleable items besides the armor and went outside.
“Where is the Auction House?”
I heard that there’s an Auction House in the capital of each country, so there should be one here as well. However, I didn’t know the exact location, so I grabbed a player who was wandering around nearby and asked.
“Excuse me, do you know where the Real-Time Auction House is?”
“The Real-Time Auction House?”
Even though I just asked about the Auction House normally, the player glanced at my attire and then responded with an impressed expression.
“Go straight up from near the east gate and you’ll find it.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“But where did you get that armor?”
“I received it as a quest reward.”
“A quest? Then what quest……?”
“A royal quest.”
I headed towards the east gate, avoiding the player who seemed to want to ask more questions. Fortunately, the player didn’t follow me, and since I was covering my face with a helmet, I thought I could reach the Auction House relatively safely, but an unexpected interruption came from a completely unexpected place.
“Oh?! Vice Master-nim!”
“It’s Rudin-nim!”
‘What?’
Suddenly, players who seemed to be from the same guild recognized me from the guild emblem on my chest and immediately revealed my identity. Moreover, their shouts, pointing fingers at me, drew the attention of other players nearby.
‘That crazy b*stard!’
“Rudin?”
“Rudin-nim!”
“How did you become a hero?!”
“Can we talk for a moment?! I’m writing an article on the Twilight homepage……”
Looking around, there were at least dozens of players gathering. Should I get out of here? Without hesitation, I scanned the area for a space with fewer people.
“Elsyke’s Phantom Shift.”
Fwoosh━
‘Damn it.’
If they knew it was me, they could have just approached me quietly and asked.
If that guild member hadn’t shouted, I would have arrived at the Auction House without any issues. But since things turned out this way, I decided to slip away unnoticed and ran towards the Auction House as soon as I entered stealth mode with Phantom Shift.
Dash!━
Maybe it’s because I changed my title to Hero of the Present World? My Agility is 782. No, with the 49% movement speed added, my feet, running at a speed close to 1200, reached the east gate in an instant. Then I turned north and ran.
‘High Agility is good in situations like this.’
Frankly, who could keep up with a speed of 1200 Agility? Excluding Dein from the Emperor Guild, there might be very few.
“Phew, did I arrive?”
Even though I followed the directions given by the player who told me the Auction House location, there was no building that looked like an Auction House. Moreover, while I was looking around, my stealth duration ended, but thankfully no one recognized me here.
‘Surely they didn’t lie to me…… Huh?’
While looking around and thinking, I suddenly spotted a place where people were coming and going frequently. Is that the Auction House? It was a simple two-story building, unlike the Auction House in the capital, but I decided to enter just in case.
Click━
‘Hmm.’
It seems like this place has the same system as the Quest Guild. Even though I clearly saw people enter, I was the only player inside.
“Welcome to the Auction House hosted by our Golden Trading Company.”
Then, a woman presumed to be an NPC stood up and greeted me. She had her red hair tied back and was dressed neatly. She gave off a tidy impression at first glance.
“This is the Real-Time Auction House, right?”
“Yes, it’s also called that.”
It seems I came to the right place. But do they hold auctions in a place like this? Feeling puzzled, I looked around to see if there was an entrance like the Luxury Shop, but no matter how much I looked, I couldn’t find one.
“What are you looking for?”
“No, I was just wondering if they hold auctions in a place like this.”
“The auction is held in a separate area accessed through the entrance seats. If you’re here to purchase an entrance seat, it’s 1 Gold.”
‘1 Gold?’
That’s quite expensive.
1 Gold just to enter?
“What about registering items?”
“You can show them to me.”
Nodding at her response, I approached the NPC to take out the items I wanted to register for the auction, and the NPC stared at me and then opened her mouth with a surprised expression.
“Are you perhaps Rudin-nim?”
Huh?
“Ah, yes. That’s right.”
“Thank you for visiting. I didn’t expect Rudin-nim, who is called the Hero of the Harpe Empire, to come here.”
[Favorability with Adella increases by 5.]
‘What did I do to increase my favorability?’
Anyway, it wasn’t bad to have my favorability increase. I first took out Beksha’s Leather Armor Set from my item window and showed it to her, and she appraised the leather armor and then made a surprised expression once again.
“Such an item…… As expected of Rudin-nim.”
[Adella is impressed by the item that could stir up the Auction House.]
[Favorability with Adella increases by 2.]
“Rudin-nim. If you don’t mind, would you like to meet our branch manager?”
“The branch manager?”
“Yes. Of course, I can register this item under my authority, but if you meet and talk with the branch manager, he might be able to offer better advice.”
Why meet the branch manager just to register an item? But seeing her earnest expression, I just nodded, and Adella expressed her gratitude.
“Thank you, Rudin-nim.”
[Favorability with Adella increases by 1.]
My favorability is increasing rapidly.
I just came to register an item at the Auction House, but my favorability has already increased by 8. Perhaps it’s because of the hero title and the rare set effect. Anyway, she pressed some kind of orb and tried to talk to someone, and as soon as the conversation ended, I heard the sound of someone coming down from the stairs on the second floor.
It must be the branch manager.
“Oh! I couldn’t believe it, but it really is Rudin-nim.”
‘Is that guy the branch manager?’
I looked at the middle-aged, obese man who I presumed to be the branch manager. He noticed me and approached me quickly, speaking in a friendly manner.
“I heard that you have a very valuable item and came down here. How about we go upstairs and talk?”
“Sure.”
Following the branch manager’s guidance, I entered a room on the second floor and sat on the sofa in the center at his suggestion. The branch manager also sat on the opposite sofa.
“Ah, I apologize, but I only heard about it and don’t know what the item is. Could you show it to me?”
“Yes.”
It wasn’t difficult. I took out the rare Leather Set I had shown Adella earlier and placed it on the table.
“Oh, this is armor made from Beksha’s leather. And it’s a complete set. Amazing.”
‘Huh? Does the NPC know about that too?’
He seemed to know about the raid boss Beksha as well as the set item. Is it because he’s an NPC in charge of the auction? While I was watching him with curiosity, he spoke in a slightly regretful tone.
“But it’s a shame. You need to have Intimidation to use this armor, and since it’s a very rare ability, I don’t think there will be many people who can use it properly.”
He’s even making calculations.
‘Oh, did the system say it determines the ranking of items back then?’
I thought that this branch manager NPC might be the system mentioned in the announcement.
“Anyway, how much are you thinking of selling this for?”
“In cash?”
“Gold is also possible. If you choose Gold, you can earn at least 1,000 Gold. But there aren’t many people who have that much Gold, so it would be better to trade in cash.”
I nodded at his explanation.
‘As expected, he wasn’t an ordinary NPC.’
Come to think of it, this guy didn’t have any favorability points. Even though he saw me and I took out an item that would be beneficial to the Auction House, his favorability didn’t increase by even 1 point. He must be a special NPC different from the usual ones.
“I think it would be okay to set the starting price at 50 million won.”
“You can decide the starting price too?”
“It’s up to the person registering the item. However, you can’t set a ridiculously high price compared to the item’s value. For example, you can’t set the starting price at 100 million won for a single Magic-grade item.”
“Then what’s the maximum starting price for my item?”
“60 million won. I don’t think you can go higher than that. If you also have a skill book that grants the Intimidation stat along with this set armor, you could set it at 70 million won.”
“Skill book?”
“Yes, do you have one?”
He’s quite perceptive for an NPC. Instead of answering, I took out the Strike of Fear skill book from my item window and showed it to him.
“Oh, it’s a B-rank skill book. You could sell this leather set and the skill book together. How about it? If you decide to sell, I’ll raise the starting price to 70 million won.”
“Wait a moment. Let me think about it.”
70 million won. It’s definitely a huge amount. And since the starting price is 70 million won, there’s no telling how much it will actually be sold for. However, with rare items being released one by one, if a set armor appears, the price would definitely reach at least hundreds of millions of won.
‘And what he’s saying is, if I’m going to sell it anyway, I should sell it with the skill book and get a higher price, right?’
After a brief moment of contemplation, I made my decision and nodded.
“I’ll sell it.”
“Thank you. I’m sure you won’t regret it.”
We’ll see once the results are out.
Of course, even I thought it would sell for more than 70 million won. There’s no way a rare set armor and a B-rank skill book bundled together would end at just 70 million won.
“In addition, since Rudin-nim has registered this item, the top spot for registered items is practically guaranteed. It’s currently in first place.”
“Is there any benefit to being in first place?”
“You can watch from a better seat. You’ll probably understand when the time comes.”
The branch manager gave a somewhat vague answer. Besides, if that’s the only benefit, there might be no need to be obsessed with being in first place.
Anyway, after registering the leather armor and skill book I obtained from Beksha, as well as the +10 Reinforced Steel Shield, for the auction, I left the place and thought about what to do next.
‘Should I raise my crafting level and work on Random Skillbooks?’
Moreover, there are quests to do, so I don’t know why I have so much to do. However, since my second Intuition was activated unintentionally today, I was thinking of excluding crafting and Random Skillbook work. And excluding those two, I thought I could have a leisurely play for today.
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