Chapter 219

Had he changed in the middle?

Unlike when looking only at his lower face, Roan’s face, with the upper portion combined, was more ominous than that of an average black mage.

Another subordinate black mage spoke in a dazed voice.

—L-Looking at the jawline, it does seem to be him… honestly, there was no opportunity for him to change midway.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, you pathetic fools. How could you bring someone who looks so dangerous, even if you did bring him?”

—Still, it’s certain that he has money and precious items! The ring and the dagger are truly amazing, boss!

Despite his subordinate’s assurance, Oslo clicked his tongue.

Aside from his subordinate’s pathetic behavior, his instinctive gut feeling unique to old black mages was telling him.

That although he looked young, Roan did not seem to be an ordinary person.

However, since they had already brought him to the hideout, they couldn’t just say, ‘Sorry, but could you just leave?’

“Tsk, you pathetic insect-like bastards…”

—We are sorry, boss…

Oslo shook his head, making his subordinates feel embarrassed.

Meanwhile, looking at the black mages whispering among themselves and leaving him alone, Roan.

‘I hope they didn’t figure out the purpose of my visit?’

Somehow, he felt uneasy.

He didn’t think he had done anything particularly suspicious to get caught.

His acting seemed decent enough as well.

Just then, Oslo, having finished the conversation, turned around and approached Roan.

The smile on his wrinkled face grew even deeper.

Roan instinctively grew suspicious.

‘There’s something fishy going on.’

Generally speaking, it was hard to find a black mage who smiled like that and wasn’t scheming.

Of course, that included Roan himself.

[There is indeed something fishy.]

Bell also snorted and spoke, whether because he truly thought the same or was just copying Roan.

As Roan’s expression naturally became even more menacing, Oslo hesitated for a moment, but thanks to the years he had lived, he acted naturally.

“Haha, I was praising my subordinates for bringing such a precious guest. So, what kind of items are you looking for?”

Roan shrugged and spoke.

“Nothing in particular. But I heard there are good items if I come here.”

“Good items! Of course, we have plenty of good items! First, let’s go inside.”

Oslo chuckled heartily and led Roan into the cave.

In the process, he scanned Roan here and there so naturally that most people wouldn’t even notice.

Oslo’s eyes widened slightly.

‘Th-That is a Heavenly Sword Peacock King?! And there is another spiritual beast inside his bag?’

Like an experienced black mage, Oslo accurately recognized Charlotte’s identity.

Just one Heavenly Sword Peacock King was already a massive jackpot, but in addition to that, he had lots of money and precious items?

Oslo asked in a slightly trembling voice.

“By the way, excuse me, but which family do you hail from?”

“Is there a merchant who asks such things at a campsite?”

Roan retorted sharply.

Although the momentum was highly threatening, Oslo had already anticipated that much.

…Honestly, it wasn’t more threatening than Roan’s face.

“Ah, of course, you don’t have to answer. Certainly, it doesn’t matter at all at the campsite.”

Still, this was a reaction that a prickly young master could show.

In any case, as Roan followed Oslo inside the cave, a few more black mages came into view.

They seemed wary of the outsider who had appeared after a long time.

Whether they were wary of an outsider, or wary because that outsider was none other than Roan, was unclear.

‘There are about ten visible right now… Their level isn’t high, but there are quite a few of them.’

Just as Oslo had scanned Roan, Roan also roughly assessed this group.

The only black mages Roan had to worry about were Oslo and, at best, two or three others besides him.

Even so, judging by the fact that they maintained this kind of numbers and their appearance was quite neat, they seemed to make a pretty lucrative income from the Balance of Light and Dark.

‘Well, if items are being duplicated and they’re still poor, that would be the real problem.’

Once Roan was fully inside the cave, the black mages lit torches on the walls to illuminate the place.

Glide—

And then, they very naturally shifted their positions to the entrance of the cave.

It was a movement that made it clear they would exercise force if things went wrong.

Roan smiled silently.

‘Sure, go ahead and try.’

Meanwhile, Oslo gestured to a black mage who was inside the cave.

It meant to bring the first bundle first.

‘If he’s satisfied with this level, it just means he’s a prickly transient.’

Then, the transaction would end there.

The young master would pay the price for acting rudely to the leader of the Oslo crew.

Before long, the black mage who had run inside the cave rushed back carrying a bundle that looked quite heavy.

Oslo clapped his hands and spoke to Roan.

“Now, take a look! These are the items we pride ourselves on!”

Unroll—

Oslo displayed the items with practiced movements after opening the bundle.

Indeed, most of them were one grade higher than the items the two black mages had shown earlier.

Naturally, they each had a pair, as if advertising that they were items extracted through the Balance of Light and Dark.

“Hmm…”

To an ordinary freshman, it would be useful to use right now.

‘But I didn’t come to get this kind of garbage.’

Roan frowned and shook his head.

“Is this all?”

“Uh… do you not like them?”

Oslo asked cautiously.

The level usually expected at the campsite was resolved within this range.

Roan clicked his tongue once and picked up a gauntlet.

“Ah, that has dark mana—”

Oslo hastily tried to stop him.

To a noble family handling holy power, a dark mana gauntlet was incompatible.

What was he going to do—

Rumble— crack—!!

“!?!?!!??!!!”

Roan instantly pushed in magic power and crushed the gauntlet.

Clatter—

The gauntlet, which had absorbed too much dark mana for its capacity, shattered into pieces and fell from Roan’s hand.

“Uh…”

Oslo momentarily wondered what he had just seen.

‘Is this a dream?’

Of course, there was no way it was.

Roan dusted off his hands and spoke to Oslo.

“Too crude. Don’t you think so?”

As Roan sent Oslo a sharp look, the old man felt sweat running down his spine for the first time in a very long time.

‘It, it’s not that difficult of a task. But…’

As long as the amount of magic power was sufficient, one could destroy a magic tool.

Oslo himself, as well as a few black mages of the crew, could do it right now.

But that was exactly like saying ‘you can kill a person if you stab them with a knife.’

No matter how much of a black mage someone was, they wouldn’t go out of their way to do that.

And it was even less of a thing for a young noble family master who had entered a black mages’ den to do.

Meanwhile, before Oslo’s shock could fade, Roan took out a heavy money pouch from his robe and laid it on the cave floor.

Thud—!

It made quite a loud sound due to its weight.

Several black mages flinched yet fixed their greedy eyes on the pouch.

“This is the money I brought to spend today. It seems even if I buy everything here, it wouldn’t equal this value? Ah, of course, I’ll pay for the gauntlet I broke.”

Oslo stole a glance inside the pouch.

At a glance, there were dozens of gold coins.

“Ah, oh my! My apologies! What are you doing! Hurry up and bring the next one!”

—Yes, yes!

They had already abandoned the idea of Roan being a naive young master long ago.

When Oslo shouted fiercely, one of the subordinate black mages hurriedly went inside and came back out.

On his shoulder was a bundle that looked slightly more luxurious.

‘It feels like visiting a knockoff market.’

Roan found the reaction quite amusing.

Smuggler hideout events usually followed this flow, but doing it in person felt different.

It felt like the feeling of travel YouTubers bargaining at a so-called ‘knockoff market’ abroad.

Spile—!

This time, equipment that was clearly suitable for intermediate users and above poured out of the bundle.

Among them, herbs and reagents that priests or black mages would consider quite precious were also mixed in.

At this level, most players would be satisfied.

But not Roan.

Roan picked up a necklace that looked quite decent this time as well.

Crunch—!!!

And once again, he shattered the necklace using only dark mana.

“Deduct this one from the pouch as well.”

“He-Heuuuk—!”

Oslo couldn’t take it anymore and took a couple of steps back.

The sight of Roan laughing coldly while repeatedly shattering every item that came out made him look like a great demon king from a fairy tale.

It was even more so since they relied solely on torches inside the cave.

…If Acherandir students had heard Oslo’s thoughts, they would have sympathized deeply, black mage or not.

Slam—!

Wiping away his cold smile, Roan slammed the colorless, crude staff he was holding onto the floor with a loud sound.

“Are you trying to rip me off now? I clearly laid out all the money I have.”

Roan glared not only at Oslo but also at the other black mages one by one.

—Hieeeek!

—S-So scary…

Although they were likely formidable fellows at the campsite, they were all busy avoiding the gaze of Roan, who was much younger than them.

Roan had completely cornered the Oslo crew psychologically with just two acts of destruction!

Oslo was now sweating cold sweat not only down his spine but all over his body.

‘I-Is he no ordinary guy?’

Being no ordinary guy didn’t just refer to skill.

That courage, presence, execution ability, and so on.

Oslo’s senile instincts were telling him.

That avoiding a crazy guy like him was the right answer!

…However, this was Oslo’s home, and there was no way he could avoid him.

Gulp—

Oslo eventually swallowed hard and called another black mage.

“Br-Bring that.”

—Do you mean… that?

“Yes! Bring it quickly!”

The black mage ran off in a hurry.

Since he brought it from quite deep inside, it took some time.

It was a bundle made of silk, which was a specialty of the eastern empire and highly expensive in its own right.

—H-Here it is…

The black mage set the bundle down nearby and backed away, as if he was too scared to even get close to Roan.

“Tsk…”

Oslo’s job once again was to untie the bundle.

This time, high-grade items like holy marks, dark magic totems, goddess statues, and demon statues poured out.

“How is it?”

Oslo asked with a trembling gaze.

This bundle was a collection of only the most valuable items among those owned by the Oslo crew.

He was confident that this level would dare open Roan’s money pouch.

‘No, even if it doesn’t open, I just hope he doesn’t break them…’

The items in this bundle were things the Oslo crew had spent considerable effort to collect.

They would rather not sell them, and nothing was more wasteful than having them shattered.

“Hmm…”

Roan picked up a dark magic totem.

—Gasp!

—Is, is he going to break that one too?

The black mages who saw this went into a frenzy.

It seemed their hearts would ache significantly if he crushed even that precious dark magic totem.

But instead of crushing it right away, Roan spoke in a low voice.

“It is a totem of Diprotan.”

—Uh…? He’s not breaking it?

—It seems so this time?

—Thank goodness…

Meanwhile, Oslo tilted his head.

“Pardon?”

Did a noble family master just identify a dark magic totem?

Diprotan was the Devil of Cold and Rupture.

Although he was quite famous, he wasn’t a devil that haughty holy nobles would memorize.

“How did you…?”

‘This one is quite decent… but for the sake of the greater cause, I have no choice.’

Roan raised his dark mana mercilessly.

Woooong—

As it was a fairly well-made dark magic totem, it seemed to resist a bit, unlike before, but.

Crack— crumble—

Still, it could not withstand Roan’s dark mana indefinitely.

Oslo watched the totem of Diprotan fall into dust with hollow eyes.

‘How heartless… Ah, he was from a noble family.’

Oslo, who had somehow begun to think of Roan as a peer!

In fact, if caught by priests, it was only natural for a demon totem to end up like that.

Roan spoke in a regretful tone as if realizing late.

“Ah, my apologies. Seeing a demon totem just triggered my instincts.”

‘With that face, he’s calling himself devout right now…?’

Oslo was utterly flabbergasted, but he managed to nod his head anyway.

“I see… That can happen.”

“I will pay for the demon statue too.”

…In truth, unless the Balance of Light and Dark suddenly appeared, Roan intended to do this no matter what came out.

Roan shook his head once and grumbled.

“Still, trying to trade with such garbage. Truly disappointing.”

And then, as if the transaction was really over now, he packed his things and turned around sharply.

“Uh, y-young master!”

Oslo hastily called out to Roan.

Roan turned only his head slightly while keeping his body turned.

“If you leave like this, what about us?”

“Hmm? I said I’ll pay for the broken items.”

Roan answered as if to ask if there was anything else needed.

Oslo swallowed hard and spoke.

“We, we have even better items! Please take a look just one more time!”

“Even better items?”

Roan turned his body fully as if his interest was piqued.

“Yes. But showing you that level of goods in a place like this is a bit… would you like to go inside?”

Oslo proposed cautiously.

If they let Roan go like this, trouble might brew later.

In any case, they had to close a deal to have a clean resolution.

Hearing Oslo’s proposal, Roan smiled subtly.

And then.

Draw—

He suddenly took out and held Jelsroin’s dagger.