Chapter 178 - King of the Unclaimed Land (4)
Chapter 178: King of the Unclaimed Land (4)
Exactly a week after he received the invitation, Yong-ho took over the dungeons of Stravadi and Sargatanas then stood at the entrance to the dungeon of the Nagaraja master. Kaiwan and Catalina, fully dressed up, stood on his left and right side while the rest of his dungeon spirits saw him off, standing at the entrance.
The Dungeon Market kept their time, as always. Over the sky where the sunset began to set, a flying wagon of the Dungeon Market appeared.
“Wow!”
Catalina, who unwittingly gave an exclamation of surprise, flapped her ears and tail because the flying wagon of the Dungeon Market was so beautiful.
It was a white streamlined carriage resembling a shining moonlight, but what drew her interest, in particular, was the six Pegasus pulling the carriage. She felt like it was even holy thanks to the bright moonlight behind the carriage stepping down from the sky.
The carriage safely landed on the ground. Sitting on the coach box was an incubus well dressed in a neat suit. Half the subordinates of Samael with the fastest wings were Mares, and the other half were Harpies. Those in charge of external affairs were mostly Mares among them.
The incubus, who jumped gently from the coach box, expressed due manners to Yong-ho by deeply bowing then opened the carriage door. There was a familiar face inside the almond-like flat oval carriage.
“Dear client, it seems you have a thicker skin now. Never did I think you would have a big shot like me come over here like this.”
Wearing an alluring red evening dress, Sitri spoke quite sharply. But she had a smile in her eyes and lips.
Yong-ho also smiled at her and replied slyly, “Thank you for your help, Sitri.”
“Well, you’re welcome because you are my dear client. By the way, you have a cool cheek. Don’t look innocent. I liked you better when you were more fresh and cute.”
Yong-ho had nothing to say this time other than smiling bitterly.
Even Tigrius and Eligos, who knew how to be politically correct, didn’t blame her rudeness. It wasn’t because she was one of the five directors of the Dungeon Market. She was once Mammon’s lover, the great King of Greed. In some respects, she was doting on him as if he was her grandson, so they couldn’t blame her.
“Uh... Sitri?”
Kaiwan, who was standing next to Yong-ho, carefully called Sitri.
Although Kaiwan didn’t bat an eyelid typically, she was nervous this time, with her eyes trembling already. It was because she was worried that Sitri might not welcome her.
Sitri saw her. Then she opened her eyes wide and opened her arms in no time.
She said kindly, “Oh, cute client, it’s been a long time. Can I hug you?”
Kaiwan couldn’t stand it anymore. She jumped into the wagon even before she was done greeting her. Then she hugged Sitri suddenly.
“Sitri!”
“You are still acting like a spoiled child.”
Sitri stroked Kaiwan’s head and back over and over again, who was held in her arms like a child. Although all the dungeon spirits of the House of Mammon were watching her, Kaiwan wept, rubbing her cheeks against Sitri’s chest.
Sitri was like an older sister and mother to Kaiwan as a child who had been earnestly looking for an “adult” she could follow. Moreover, she met Sitri today after several decades.
Sitri hugged her tightly as if it was inevitable then glanced at Yong-ho, signaling to him to get into the carriage quickly.
“Okay, let me leave now. See you back at the house.”
Yong-ho was going to return to the House of Mammon right from the auction house.
Since he got all the large dungeons in the eastern area and cashed out all the extraordinary items at the Dungeon Market, he had no reason to stay there anymore. It was important for him to develop the dungeon of the Mammon family before confronting the King of Gluttony.
“I hope you have a pleasant journey.”
Tigrius spoke on behalf of the dungeon spirits while Eligos and Ophelia saw off Yong-ho with a smile.
Fluffy cushions were arranged in an oval shape inside the carriage. Since Sitri and Kaiwan were sitting right across the door, Yong-ho sat with Catalina on the left side of the door.
Kaiwan wore a black evening dress that highlighted her white skin so much that she could be even said to look pale, and Catalina wore a white evening dress as if she wanted to be in contrast with Kaiwan in costume color.
As soon as the carriage door closed, Sitri said, “Let me tell you this for caution’s sake. Don’t leave me at this auction. Avoid using the power of greed as much as possible. Got it?”
“Yes, I hope I’m in your good hands.”
Yong-ho answered cheerfully. It was natural he did so because she was right here after accepting his request.
“I don’t think Samael invited you with bad intentions. She’s too sincere for that.”
He was very satisfied with Samael’s invitation itself. He was also pleased that Samael, one of the five directors, officially recognized the House of Mammon.
However, Yong-ho did not let his guard down. Normally, he would have accepted the invitation, but the situation was different now.
‘The King of Gluttony will visit you.’
This was the warning from Embrio.
The special auction organized by the Dungeon Market was attended by lots of influential figures in the demon world. It was very unlikely that the king would come to this occasion directly, but it was possible that the king’s close aide would attend.
Yong-ho did not want to expose himself to them.
He thought that Samael had two reasons for calling him.
One of the reasons was that she invited him with pure motivations. The House of Mammon was no longer a collapsing small family. It was an unrivaled powerful family that they could equate any comparable family with, let alone an adversary, in the southern area.
Yong-ho might be conceited about this, but even Sitri agreed on this point.
And the other reason Samael called him was because of Sitri, as he thought.
“I think she did it out of curiosity. She might have been curious because Samael, who was always stuck in her house, showed interest in a man. For example, she might think like this, ‘What’s so special about this man that this big shot of our Dungeon Market has to deal with?’ That’s my guess.”
Yong-ho smiled bitterly, and Kaiwan, still held tightly in Sitri’s arms, wouldn’t move.
At that moment, he felt a sense of floating and speed at the same time. The six Pegasus pulling the carriage began to speed up ferociously.
“Oh my God! Make sure all of you wear this on your arms because you have to hide the power of Brigada.”
Sitri pulled out three silver bracelets from her cleavage and gave them to the three. It was a plain bracelet with the same shape as one on Sitri’s arm.
Brigada, also called “God’s Metal,” was special. However, it was only when it came into the hands of the ‘king’ and his dependents that its special power was in motion.
If anyone wore accessories made with Brigada, it was most likely that he was a king or his dependent. Brigada itself is a fairly hard and light metal, so it was common to make spears without knowing it was Brigada, but it was very rare to make jewelry with it.
Wearing Brigada accessories was like wearing metal trousers.
So, Yong-ho needed to hide his Brigada first in order to conceal the fact that he was the King of Greed. At first, he thought about not wearing a Brigada at all, but it was unreasonable because of the ‘heart of the Demon God’. Unlike the ring, the heart of the Demon God was not something that could be worn or taken out freely.
“If you wear this bracelet, Brigada’s performance will be weakened. So, be sure to unfasten the bracelet when necessary. Got it?”
Yong-ho and Catalina wore the bracelets with a nod.
Kaiwan asked, “How about you, Sitri?”
“It will make me look weird if I don’t wear it when you guys are wearing it, right?”
With a chuckle, Sitri pinched Kaiwan on the cheek. At first glance, it was like an older sister, and her sister was playing friendly.
‘If I did so, she would be definitely mad at me,’ Catalina thought.
In fact, Kaiwan liked to pinch her cheeks and touch her tail or ears, but when she tried to do the same, Kaiwan always reacted sharply. But now she just smiled shyly when Sitri touched her. She was like a cat asking for a little more petting.
Sitri said again, “This auction is a little bit bigger than the auction you participated in the other day. In addition to the official auction organized by Samael, we have also prepared exhibition-style free auctions.”
“Exhibition-style?” Catalina asked, flapping her ears.
Sitri responded kindly as always, “To put it more directly, I would say it’s like a market. We put several items in the auction house at the same time and sell them. If you find an item you want to purchase, you can bid higher than the maximum price of the item at that time. It is an auction style that allows the person bidding the highest price within the deadline to take the item. If you don’t want to wait until the bidding ends, you can buy the item at the seller’s price directly.”
The flying wagon jumped into space. Just like the cat carriage did the other day, this one also narrowed a huge distance at once.
“Here are the masks I prepared.”
After peeking out the window for a moment, Sitri opened the box that was located between the cushions. Before handing them out, Sitri put on a lioness mask on her head.
Yong-ho received a male lion mask with a mane while Catalina and Kaiwan received a dog and cat mask, respectively. Somehow, the three masks befitted them very well.
“As you already know, since you visited here last time, there are many ways to identify the person even if you cover your face with a mask. Please keep that in mind.”
After giving them a gentle reminder, She buried her body deep in the cushion as if she had nothing to say anymore.
Yong-ho looked out the window of the carriage. Like he did last time, he had a panoramic view of the gorgeous auction house in his eyes.