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Chapter 14
Elshunain continued walking without stopping and glanced sideways at the two people who had just been talking.
The young man and woman in flashy clothes were whispering while pointing at her. No, rather than whispering, it would be more accurate to say they were deliberately speaking loudly enough for her to hear.
‘Nosy people.’
Elshunain immediately turned her head away and walked briskly. There was no need to pay attention to the words of such rude people.
There was no point in wasting emotion on shallow people who only cared about appearances and easily looked down on others.
She simply shrugged her shoulders and stood in front of the teleportation device.
“Which floor are you going to?”
The teleportation mage standing in front of the device asked her.
“The basement floor.”
She answered clearly.
The mage paused in surprise for a moment, then skillfully drew a spell in the air with practiced gestures.
Red light formed strange patterns in the air, glowing brightly. Then, with a slight lurch, the scene in front of her changed.
What caught her eye first were the yellow boxes stacked to the ceiling. And next to them, mismatched shoes scattered about.
It was a very messy room.
‘Ugh… I think the original novel did describe this as dirty, but I didn’t expect this level.’
There even seemed to be a musty smell in the air. Elshunain wrinkled her nose and tiptoed cautiously across the floor.
The floor was so stained it was hard to tell its original color, and the junk everywhere made it difficult to find a place to step.
So it was only natural that Elshunain came to a stop.
“Just step on it already, oink.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t just stand there like a fool, oink.”
That’s when she heard a flapping sound and a grunting voice coming from deep within.
‘It really looks like a baby pig.’
White, round baby angel wings and a plump pink body.
The creature, shaped like a winged piglet, was scribbling something on a large piece of paper that took up half the room.
“A guest after so long, oink. Welcome, oink.”
“Oh, hi?”
“Hello, oink.”
The piglet, who hadn’t even turned its head while scribbling furiously with its tiny feet, finally looked at her once she came closer.
“What’s the auction item, oink?”
The one she had come to see at the Golden Tower.
The Goldmaster.
✦ ✦ ✦
The Goldmaster was a famous figure throughout the empire—no, the entire continent—but shrouded in mystery.
Everyone wished to meet him, but no one ever said they had. Even within the Golden Tower, only a select few knew of his existence.
That was the very Goldmaster now in front of her.
“Heheh. Sit, oink.”
The piglet—no, the Goldmaster—plopped onto the parchment and spoke.
He pointed to a spot on the ground with his little foot, seemingly telling her to just sit there.
Looking around, there were no chairs or other places to sit, so Elshunain crossed her legs and sat on the floor.
“You’re the masked person, oink? What’s the item, oink?”
The Goldmaster asked with interest.
Most people—and even most of the Golden Tower staff—believed this basement floor was for disposing of trash, but that wasn’t the case.
When an appraiser couldn’t determine the value of something, or if the accuracy of the appraisal was questionable, the Goldmaster himself would decide the item’s worth.
The stone Elshunain brought was the latter.
So…
‘The appraisal value was 0 shillings, but if someone brought it to the Golden Tower, there had to be a reason… maybe it’s a mineral they don’t recognize.’
Since it was covered in the original story, Elshunain had brought the stone with confidence.
In the original, it was Arwen who brought the stone after receiving a divine revelation.
‘Doesn’t matter how—whether by road or detour, the goal is to help Killian.’
Through this, Arwen met the Goldmaster. When he found out she was a saint and had received divine revelation, he became her ally and supported her.
Why did he help her?
Because she was the female lead—simple as that.
‘But I don’t have that kind of protagonist buff.’
So, she planned to use him in a different way.
“This is the item I want to consign to auction.”
Not the stone she submitted in the lobby earlier, but the real auction item.
Inside a small leather pouch was…
“Huh? Huuuuh?”
The Goldmaster eagerly undid the strap with his tiny feet and took out the contents, then rubbed his eyes.
He opened his mouth in disbelief and turned his head from side to side, as if unable to bring himself to touch it. Finally, he spoke.
“This is… a Silver Dragon’s scale…! Impossible! Dragons are all extinct, oink!”
The Goldmaster trembled and began spinning rapidly in place.
‘…That’s adorable.’
Elshunain stifled a laugh. He looked like a piggy bank rolling around.
But now was a critical moment, so she steeled her face behind the mask.
“Wh-where did you get this, oink?”
“Hm.”
Elshunain replied in a serious tone.
“Does the Golden Tower pry into clients’ privacy too?”
“P…privacy, oink?”
Oops. She accidentally used English while trying to sound impressive.
“Ahem. I mean, are you trying to know even the client’s personal matters? That’s obviously confidential. If you knew that, wouldn’t anyone be able to get their hands on this?”
“……!”
The Goldmaster clapped his tiny hands over his mouth and nodded furiously.
Sweating nervously, he muttered,
“R-right, oink. Sorry, oink.”
As he said, dragons were a species that had already gone extinct in this world. More precisely, pure dragons were extinct.
‘Because Ashray is the last one with dragon blood.’
Dragons were created by the main god Aethern as guardians of the continent.
To prevent the continent from falling to darkness at the hands of the demon god.
When the demon god tried to seize the continent, the dragons were the biggest obstacle.
So he schemed for centuries, and his first step was to wipe them out.
Caught off guard, the dragons faced extinction.
But they didn’t go down easily—they used their own bodies as offerings and managed to seal the demon god.
‘But they didn’t know that was part of the demon god’s plan too.’
Anticipating his own seal, the demon god passed his soul to the Demon King, who would later seek a suitable vessel.
‘That vessel is Killian.’
While Elshunain thought about the extinction of dragons, the Goldmaster seemed to have regained his composure.
“You want to put this up for auction, oink?”
“Yep.”
“…Really?”
“Really.”
The Goldmaster suddenly flew up and flitted around anxiously.
“S-sell it to me, oink!”
“What?”
Elshunain pretended not to hear. She already knew he would want this scale—he had a good reason.
“I’ll pay the highest price! Oink!”
“Hmmm.”
Elshunain stroked her chin as if considering it… then firmly said:
“No.”
“Wh-why not, oink?”
The Goldmaster asked pitifully, bowing his head. But Elshunain remained unmoved. He might look cute, but he wasn’t called the Goldmaster for nothing.
He was a merchant to his core.
If she made a private deal here, she’d probably be the one getting ripped off.
Momentarily distracted by his pleading eyes, she quickly composed herself again and said flatly:
“I want to sell it at auction.”
Of course, you’ll end up buying it.
But for a proper price.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Ow, it stings.”
Ashray leaned on the table, scratching his thigh.
He was still polymorphed as Elshunain, so Mikhail, who was sitting across from him, might’ve been taken aback…
“…”
But Mikhail wasn’t even in the right state of mind. In just a short time, something had happened—he sat there with his mouth agape, staring at his massive, empty hands.
His hands were completely empty. Ashray mumbled to himself as if it was no big deal.
“Does she think peeling off dragon scales is as easy as fish scales?”
Especially ones from the inner thigh. Ashray rubbed the stinging skin.
“One more round…”
“Huh?”
“One more round, Elshunain-nim!”
Ashray flinched at the sudden loud voice, as he had been grumbling internally.
“What? Don’t you have no more coins?”
“Just wait a bit!”
Mikhail darted outside and returned holding a cute piggy bank in his large hand.
“Just one more game, Elshunain-nim!”
What the heck? Ashray looked at Mikhail with a drained expression.
Something told him this was going to be a pain.
