Ars Magna (2)

“… will you give it for free?”

“You idiot! Do you even know how much it cost me?”

Siegfried stayed silent.

What the hell was she trying to say? Bring that thing and still pay a price?

Jamie knew the value of the Shadow Sheep.

Shadow Sheep existed during Diablo Volfir’s time too.
It was shocking that the beast still existed after 60,000 years, but thinking about it, if elves, rans, dragons and Valkyries were alive, then this beast could be alive too.

Well, the Shadow Sheep was a spirit type beast which only stayed in the shadow and came out only on full moon nights.

The world of shadows was connected, so it came out when it wanted to.

Because of that, there was no specific hunting area for it, so its value could be high.
Especially since it didn’t have a heart.

The reason was that the Shadow Sheep’s heart was the material which could open the door to the ‘Shadow World’.

‘The thing Siegfried wants is more valuable than the heart of Shadow sheep.’

Even if Kiriel cut the price she had no intention of just handing it over.

Jamie couldn’t hold back and asked the old woman.

“What is the 7th elder trying to buy?”

“Moon…”

“Ah! You can’t tell!”

Siegfried hurriedly stopped her from answering.

Kiriel burst out laughing with a grin.

“Hahaha.
You are nasty too,”

It seemed like Kiriel and Siegfried were well matched people.

Jamie had a childlike expression on his face.

“Do you know that if you make such a face the adults will tease you even more?”

All that came back was ridicule.

“Anyway.
Just get it.
And you’ll get your stuff cheaply.”

“Okay.
But are you sure that the heart of Shadow Sheep is up for auction?”

“Probably.”

“Probably?”

“If it isn’t up, don’t worry I will just hand it over.
But it will be up.
I have accurate information on it.
If it’s a lie, I’ll cut out that bastard's neck.”

Kiriel casually spat out cruel words.

Siegfried just accepted the offer.

“I have nothing to say then.
So, will you give me a ticket to the secret auction? You won’t tell me to go get it by myself right?”

“I am not without conscience so don’t worry.
I’ll give you money to buy it too.”

“Then why not just go and buy it by yourself?”

“You don’t need to know that.
Enough of this, just leave.
The money and the ticket will be sent to your accommodation.”

“We haven’t picked a room…”

When Jamie said that, the old woman smiled.

“Everything here is within my control, so don’t worry about it, Welton kid.”

Annoying old wench.

In terms of age alone, this woman was thousands of years younger than him.

Of course, Jamie here was like a kid.

“Leave if you are done.
I am a busy person.”

“I’ll see you later.”

“If you can’t get it, there is no need to come meet me.”

Jamie and Siegfried walked out of Ars Magna as if they were kicked out.

“Such a difficult person to deal with.”

Siegfried looked tired.
He seemed like a different person now.

Jamie looked at the signboard and asked.

“What does that woman do?”

“As you see, she owns this place.”

“Lie.
No matter how I look at it, she isn’t an ordinary person.”

“Definitely not normal.
Shall we talk as we walk?”

Getting accommodation was urgent, so the two decided to talk while walking.

Tying his hair back, Seigfried said,

“Miss Kiriel is an alchemist.”

“Alchemist?”

Alchemist.

Those who could turn ordinary metal to gold.

Artefact production was typically a part of alchemy.

“But she has a modifier as a front.”

Siegfried raised his finger and said.

“The greatest alchemist.”

At least in the human world, there was no one better than her.

Siegfried added,

“She seemed great.”

“Aside from that, she’s a great business woman.
Did you see how she negotiated earlier?”

“That, 7th elder…”

“Ugh! Anyway! She is known to have the business acumen to the extent that she has branches of the store all over the world.
And all the branches are connected by warp tunnels.”

Jamie’s eyes widened at those words.

He was surprised at the Great Alchemist title, but even more shocked at the warp tunnels.

“It is said to be made by hand.
Well, as an 8th class great magician, there is nothing which cannot be done.”

8th class?

There were only two official 8th class magicians in the Seldam Kingdom.
With Count Simon, who was unofficial, it had to be 3.

Saint-Dermain wasn’t bad but it had another 8th class magician?

Jamie seemed puzzled.

“Ahh.
There must be something you aren’t getting right.
Kiriel isn’t a citizen of Seldam.”

“Ah.
A foreigner.”

“It isn't like she is from a foreign nation either.”

Seeing that Jamie didn’t believe that part, Siegfried tried to explain.

“She doesn’t belong to any nation.
But can exist in any nation.”

“How does that work?”

“If you have her ability, it works.”

No power could deal with her.

Not because of her power, but because of the high value things she had.

“I don't know the details so the young lord should ask her the next time you meet her.”

Siegfried turned ahead and said nothing more.

‘I didn’t expect to know this much.’

The world was really big.

And different from the past.

In the past, everything was governed by logic.
But what about the current world?

The logic still applies, but that doesn’t have a major influence.

Either way, if one’s ability is recognized, it’s a world of powerful force.

‘A world developed in a different direction.’

Jamie didn’t think this world was bad, apart from the 12 Gods.

“The secret auction is the day after tomorrow.”

In the gloomy darkness, four signs were set in a circle.

“Location?”

“The basement of the Redum Museum.”

“Ha.
Stupid bastards.
A secret auction under the museum?”

No matter how dark it was under the lamp, doing such things under museums was too much.

“Those people know nothing about business.”

“Still, we need to be there, so be patient.
Anyway, are you sure the item is there?”

The first person who opened their mouth answered.

“We have information that the item was included.
Still, I can’t be sure.”

“Well.
All items inside are treated with utmost confidentiality.”

As far as dealing with illegal things went, security was a priority.

Just getting this much was great.

“You will let me know if you get your hands on it, right?”

“I never thought that the old books would lead us here.
This must be God’s will too.”

These people sounded excited.

At that moment, the man who was quiet till then said,

“If only we could steal it successfully.”

The lively air subsided.

Either way, the man continued talking.

“Even if our lives need to be risked, we need to get it.
We need to succeed.”

“Of course.”

“The captain has a lot of worries but our skills are enough.”

Even a secret auction wasn’t unbreakable.

In fact, what if the same thing was done over and over again? How perfect would one be?

“The two of you will rest until then and Alex will continue to collect information.”

“Don’t worry captain.”

The one that was called captain nodded and disappeared into darkness.

The rest, like him, vanished into darkness.

Late at night, Jamie left the room.

Since he and Seigfried had separate rooms, there was no need to tell him.

‘It was a good thing that I didn't have an escort along with me.’

When he left the house, his mother was telling him to take it.

Jamie didn’t care, moving into the dark alley, he opened Gremia.

“Woah!”

A pink-squirrel came out.

It was Venna.

With a contorted face she took a deep breath as she was in human form and looking at Jamie she said,

“I thought I was going to die, Master!”

“But you didn’t die.”

“You are too much.”

Venna stretched her body after being in that small place for so long, her body turned stiff.

“Since it is a magic stone city, I thought the entire city would be made of them.
Doesn’t seem like it.”

“… you need to have common sense, no city will be made that way.”

“Y-you never know.”

You never know.

How much would it cost to have a city carved out of magic stones?

“Anyway, you’ll be in Gremia tomorrow too so take some air.

“Eh… Again?”

“Seigfried is that talented.”

And there will be better magicians than Siegfried too, but for some reason Jamie wanted to be cautious.

“It doesn’t matter if you are discovered, but if we have the chance to hide, it is better to hide.”

Only a few people knew about Valkyries.
And included in the few people, people like the Frontier knew about it.

And Siegfried whom Jamie was with till now didn’t seem like one of those, but as long as the word ‘if’ existed, it was better to be careful.

“Still, once the work here is done it will be alright.”

After the work here, they would head to the magic world.

“Until then, stay in the room.”

“Yes.”

Venna responded weakly.
She knew things, so she didn’t bother grumbling.

“What about Philion?”

“The same as usual.”

[The same as usual! This body is so stuffy that I might die.]

As Jamie couldn’t understand him, Venna helped.

“Says it is nice to be outside.”

[Venna!]

“He likes it so much.”

“That is good.”

[You bastards!]

Venna walked on the streets with Jamie.

Since the magic stone market was opening tomorrow, people were busy preparing things.

Thanks to the lights on the street, it wasn’t too dark.

“Oh ho! So nice.”

The magic stones displayed were amazing.

Despite being only visible, Venna liked it.

“Must be low grade ones.”

“How do you know that? They can’t be known from an outside look.”

“Such talls things cannot be moved otherwise.”

Venna nodded as if she understood.

Grade B or higher, especially A, are not things which would be openly and easily handled.

“But even in Gav, we were never allowed to touch grade B or higher stones.”

“Because it wasn’t something kids can deal with.”

“Kids!”

Venna’s cheeks puffed.

Jamie poked it with his finger and the puffed cheeks went down.

It was then.

“…!”

The bracelet on his left hand, ‘Perfect Cell’ began to resonate.