WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈

Chapter 93: Black Market

──────

The Black Market's location and operating hours changed constantly. Thieves' guilds, informants, and Black Market lackeys across the land quietly spread the word to attract customers.

Even as an experienced player, I would have needed to go through a few rounds of trial and error to find it.

But with Darnen guiding us, we arrived in no time.

"Welcome, my lords. We've got some pretty good goods today, hehe."

It was an ordinary restaurant serving meat dishes. Normally, it was a secret place you could only reach by ordering a specific dish and giving a password.

Yet the staff member took one look at us and opened the door to the secret staircase without asking a single question.

"Is this the dark elf free pass?"

Well, we had two dark elves with us.

'Dark elves and vampires run the Black Market.'

"Why do I have to paint myself again..."

Elena, now a dark elf, grumbled.

I had put on a basic disguise as well, concealing the Magic Tower crest, and smiled.

"Because an elf walking into the Black Market would look strange."

Shouldn't she be used to it by now?

Honestly, it suited her.

"Accept your fate already, Elena. You're perfect as a dark elf."

"Shut up!"

"Ghk!"

Elena choked me.

"To think there's a place like this beneath a restaurant..."

Gimlius and Hans looked around in amazement.

The bedrock, carved out within a section connected to old underground waterways, was studded with luminous stones found in the Salt Cave.

Below that, old tents, stalls, and uneven stone buildings carved into the walls stood in chaotic disorder.

Fwoooosh!

Clowns and strongmen performed tricks while breathing fire.

There were houses spilling strange, colorful smoke and hooded figures whispering as they bargained. It felt less like a grim place and more like a mysterious night market.

Of course, once you looked closer, it had the filthy feel of an illegal marketplace.

-Move it! Hurry up!

We saw slaves displayed in collars or being led somewhere, smugglers secretly transporting goods or living creatures, and people exchanging whispers as they arranged assassinations. Sights rarely seen on the surface unfolded before us.

"We had no choice but to come because of the Secret Society... but I can't say this feels good."

Hans, who had his own sense of justice, frowned at the sight.

"If the guards catch us, we'll be thrown in prison. No, we might be exiled to the western district... Ian! Is this really right?"

Gimlius, who had no trouble smashing monster skulls, hid his face beneath his robe and trembled.

"If Sister Agape finds out, she'll scold me. They'll whip my back and the soles of my feet, then make me confess before the nuns while naked..."

Daisy lowered her head, feeling guilty that she had to stand by and watch all this despite being a priestess.

'They're whining like crazy.'

I frowned as I watched them.

Ha, this was why the real version was so damn hard.

If this were a game, messages like [Gimlius is terrified] and [Affection has decreased] would pop up, and that would be the end of it. Here, there were all kinds of interactions to deal with.

Still, I was the party leader, so I had to account for this too.

Taking care of party members was part of a leader's job.

Rights came with responsibility.

"You all came here prepared for this, didn't you?"

"..."

Were we really in a position to be picky?

"Right, right."

Elena, who never backed down from anything, nodded.

"Daisy. Want me to scold those priests for you?"

I took a gentler approach with Daisy, a fellow member of the Orphan Gang.

"No, it's okay... Just understand how hard I'm trying for you, Ian."

"I know. I'm always grateful."

I patted Daisy on the shoulder.

She flinched, then broke into a soft smile as some of her tension faded.

Gimlius and Hans clicked their tongues as they watched.

"You're truly a bad man."

"I agree."

"Huh?"

As I wondered what they meant, Elena smacked my hand.

"Ow!"

"Stop screwing around and let's go."

We began walking through the stalls, looking over the merchandise.

First were the slaves...

Slavery wasn't illegal in the Labyrinth.

If someone couldn't repay a debt, they signed a contract and worked it off with their body until everything was paid back. Dark elves couldn't recruit normal parties in the Labyrinth, so they either formed parties with their own kin or used slaves.

'We're already a five-person party, so we'll pass.'

We needed equipment more than slaves.

I turned my gaze away from the collared barbarians and pretty female slaves, then examined the goods spread across a stall run by a man with some kind of skin disease. Strange potions hung all over him.

"Hehe, welcome~ We've got lots of good items~"

There were fragments of unknown bone, eyeballs floating in bottles, rusty chunks of metal, and leather inscribed with ominous writing.

"I can feel an evil presence."

Most of them were ominous items of unknown origin, enough to make Daisy uncomfortable.

Then something caught my eye.

'This is?!'

"How much is this?"

I pointed at a rusty lump of metal with a faint pattern visible on it.

"Oh, are you a mage? You certainly have a good eye~ To think you identified an item with mana so precisely~"

Despite his words, the merchant's eyes held only the gleam of a man who had spotted an easy mark.

"Four gold coins, please~"

Identifying an item through mana was a mage's privilege, but if magic items could be identified that way, the Black Market would have gone bankrupt long ago.

Most were just junk.

They crushed Mana Stones and scattered the dust around, or deliberately placed the junk beside magic items to coat it in traces of mana.

'Traces of mana that disappear a few hours after you buy them!'

But that didn't apply to me.

I was an experienced player who could identify most equipment just by looking at it.

"Too expensive."

"If you don't want to buy it..."

As the merchant tried to chase us off, I pulled aside Darnen's robe and squeezed her cheeks.

"Look at this, you ignorant fool."

"Do you know what this is? Huh?"

"A, a dark elf?"

The merchant's eyes widened in shock.

"One gold coin."

"Y-yes..."

The merchant immediately accepted, cowed by the dark elf's notorious reputation.

He had been bargained down, but he didn't seem upset, probably because he still thought he was making a profit.

"..."

Darnen looked at me calmly, but her expression was full of displeasure.

"Here."

"Thank you~"

Ignoring her, I paid with Daisy's money and handed the item to Daisy.

"Hold on to this, Daisy."

"This... has a curse on it, though?"

Once we were far enough from the stall, I told her the item's secret.

"No, that's a holy relic."

It was cursed, but if the curse was lifted by a special method, it would regain its original splendor.

It amplified a priest's power. The temples hunted for items like it with desperate zeal, and even money couldn't buy one.

'Jackpot!'

This one item alone made the entire trip worthwhile.

'This is it! This is the thrill of random Black Market gacha!'

Bwahahahaha!

"Whaaaat?!"

"Th-this thing?!"

My companions were shocked.

"Shh, you're too loud."

"How did you identify it?"

Darnen asked curiously, amazed that I had recognized an item even she hadn't.

There was only one thing I could say.

"Because I'm a genius."

"I see."

Maybe because we had scored such a huge find from the start, there was nothing else particularly special after that.

As we reached the depths of the market, we saw more lavish stone buildings and enormous awnings alongside guards.

Darnen, who had pulled her robe low over her face because she didn't want her kin to recognize her, explained.

"Further inside is an underground auction house. Dark elves from eight families and vampires from four families run it themselves."

The families that managed the western district took turns operating it, each pocketing the profits.

Hadn't Darnen said there were noble customers with bizarre tastes among its visitors?

'That place is the real deal.'

The prices rose, but so did the value of the items available.

Naturally, given the nature of the Black Market, there were plenty of mysterious items whose value couldn't be known until they were revealed.

For example...

"Random Grace Stones."

Grace Stones with worthless abilities, like making your eyebrows thicker or increasing kobolds' affection for you. Sometimes, though, a jackpot was mixed in.

"What do you think?"

Since I had already found a jackpot once, everyone's eyes gleamed with greed.

That was the frightening thing about gambling.

"That does sound interesting."

Still, I had no intention of recommending that my companions buy Grace Stones.

"Can you identify Grace Stones in advance too?"

"No."

"Tch, then that's useless."

Even I couldn't do that.

'And an auction house will have plenty of other wealthy people.'

With gambling, you had to know when to quit after winning.

Of course, most people couldn't, so they ended up ruined.

"Hmm... In that case..."

As we hesitated at the entrance, someone approached and spoke to us.

"Hey, are you coming in or not?"

A dwarf in a suit, holding a wineglass, appeared with several burly men.

His sinister eyes and mean-looking face gave off a different impression from Gimlius and other dwarves.

'That guy... is a mage?'

"If you don't have money, get lost. Shoo, shoo!"

He seemed to be an employee running the auction house.

When we stepped back slightly, Darnen explained who the dwarf was.

"His name is Grimball. He works for the Kazak Family. He's quite capable."

I see.

He wasn't a famous NPC I knew.

But I recognized the equipment he was holding.

That was definitely...

While I was thinking, Gimlius looked around and shook his head.

"I think we should leave. Something feels wrong."

"Why? Let's look around more! It's fun!"

Elena seemed to have developed a taste for the Black Market and wanted to keep looking.

"Won't we be in serious trouble if the city guards come raiding this place?"

I understood the concern, but nobles were among the Black Market's customers.

Many people in the City Administration took bribes from them as well.

Too many interests were entangled here, so unless someone was completely reckless and insane, this place was safer than it seemed.

"You're all worrying over nothing."

...

That was what I thought.

Crash!

Until fireballs and Molotov cocktails suddenly flew near us and ignited a blaze.

Fwoooooosh!

-Waaaaaah!

-W-what is this?!

Cheers and explosions rang out.

The ones who had suddenly burst in and begun cutting down the startled guards and customers were nimble elves with long ears.

-In the name of Mother World Tree! Burn every last one of these evil creatures!

Unlike the dark elves, whose skin was dark and hearts just as black, these were real elves, boasting peach-colored skin and kind hearts.

Huh?

-We're under attack!

-It's those pointy-eared bastards!!!

-For justice!

The elves had raided the Black Market.

[Heads/Tails]

'Heads.'

[Tails]

[Failure]

[Excuse me, but you're on fire.]

Fwoooooosh! The flames grew fiercer.

"Fuck! Aren't they worse than the guards?!"

Gimlius recoiled from the heat.

Damn it, why couldn't I ever shop in peace?

'What bullshit bad luck.'

I sighed and shook my head, but calmed my companions.

"Everyone, calm down."

It was sudden, but not entirely unexpected.

'Elves and dark elves are at war.'

Of course, it was fucking annoying that we had been hit by such a low-probability event...

Ironically, we could use this to escape the situation easily.

'We've got both black people and white people!'

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried