Chapter 67

The man's front teeth were shining gold.

“What is it, Gloriosus?”

Kifkos was a man whose two upper front teeth and three lower molars, a total of five gold teeth, stood out.

His attire was also peculiar.

He was dressed in a long, wide piece of cloth draped in an archaic style, like the nobles of the early Empire.

His desire to reveal himself elegantly seemed desperate.

“I told you not to come near the inside for a while. And who's the kid behind you?”

Aside from his strange attire, his eyes were fierce.

Looking at his thick neck, he seemed to be quite strong, and looking at his wide jaw, his greed seemed extraordinary.

That's why he was acting like a big shot in the Sillemol Free Market, where money from Hobel Bay gathered.

Kifkos pulled out a thick cigarette and lit it.

Both the cigarette and the lighting tool were very expensive items.

The gold-toothed man, puffing out smoke, fixed his gaze on Gloriosus's wrist.

“What's wrong with your wrist?”

“I, I fell……”

“Ha! Are you telling me to believe that?”

Anyway!

Kifkos got angry and rummaged through the table drawer.

He easily found a small bottle and threw it to Gloriosus.

The sideburns man looked dazed even after receiving it.

“Drink it.”

“…No, why the golden medicine.”

“Don't worry about it, I was going to discard it anyway. Your wrist will heal quickly.”

“This expensive thing……”

“Honestly. Do you think I'd be at ease after sending you to the streets? Drink it quickly before I demand payment for the medicine.”

“……”

Gloriosus brought the medicine bottle to his mouth.

It was thick, yet it had a strange refreshing sensation, so it must have been golden medicine.

It was their main product, effective in curing not all illnesses, but about a hundred.

As the medicine flowed down his throat, vitality soon returned, and the pain in his wrist subsided.

“Why that face, Gloriosus?”

Gloriosus had a strange expression.

Even though his wound was healed by the expensive medicine, why did he have such a face?

Kifkos chuckled, puffing out smoke.

“It's as if he's feeling guilty after receiving warm treatment from the person he sold out, isn't he?”

He laughed, pa-hahaha.

“It's a joke, a joke! What kind of people are we!”

“……”

“Why are you silent? You, who talks so much.”

“……”

“…Gloriosus, you… don't tell me……”

Kifkos's gold teeth flashed as he shouted.

“You sold me out again!?”

“Again!?”

I also cried out in surprise.

I had only been watching until now, but I couldn't help but ask and looked at Gloriosus.

“You, this isn't your first time doing this, is it?”

“No. There are circumstances. Last time, well, it was a mutually agreed upon betrayal, something like that. This time is the only real one.”

“Can a mutually agreed upon betrayal even exist……?”

I tilted my head blankly.

Gloriosus waved his hand and said to Kifkos.

“Brother. Today is different from usual.”

“Huh……?”

“This kid really blackmailed me.”

“…It's certainly different from usual.”

I, who was listening to their conversation, muttered softly.

“I'm curious about your 'usual'.”

It was an organization whose workings were unfathomable.

I gave up on understanding and gestured to Gloriosus to step aside.

There was a more important matter.

“Anyway, you're Kifkos, the gold-toothed one, right?”

“Kid, you're calling an adult's name too carelessly.”

Kifkos touched his fist, making a sound of cracking bones.

His clenched fist was the size of my face.

“Or should I call you a parvenu instead?”

“You're surprisingly good at knowing the nickname I hate the most. There are not even three people in Sillemol who call me that and are still alive.”

I constantly maintained an unyielding attitude.

The gold-toothed man, on the contrary, became interested.

He was barely in his mid-teens, so what was he relying on to be so confident?

“You're no ordinary kid. What's your purpose?”

“A deal.”

“What do you want to buy?”

“It's obvious.”

I snorted.

“Your main product.”

“Golden medicine? Why don't you buy it upstairs? It's good quality, even if it's a bit expensive.”

“No. Not those counterfeits.”

He said without hesitation.

“I need Horem Amrita.”

“Horem Amrita?”

“The unrefined version.”

“…Ha, hahaha!”

Kifkos burst out laughing.

“Kid. What do you plan to do with that? Reviving a dead person?”

The world is different from fairy tales.

Kifkos laughed, baring his teeth.

“Above all, it's a top-secret forbidden trade item. You'd be chased by the Security Bureau for the rest of your life just for possessing it, let alone selling it.”

“That's why I'm looking for it here, in the Sillemol underground market.”

“Hmm……”

Kifkos looked into my eyes.

My blue pupils were unwavering.

“…It seems you really know what you're talking about.”

Amrita was an elixir of immortality often featured in fairy tales.

But a man named Horem had created a medicine that was infinitely similar to the one in fairy tales.

It cured illnesses, healed wounds, and prevented aging.

Though it had some side effects, it was an elixir among elixirs that could even bring back a severed breath for a few seconds.

Horem Amrita was incredibly expensive and rare.

It couldn't be compared to golden medicine and the like.

But the fact that it existed was true.

The fact that Kifkos's gang was secretly trading it was also true.

“It's not an item I sell to just anyone. I only discreetly hand it over to very carefully selected trading partners.”

And the price was self-evident.

Golden medicine was named so because it was as expensive as gold of the same weight.

And Horem Amrita was at least 120 times more valuable than golden medicine.

“To buy a single drop of Horem Amrita, you need a gold nugget the size of a fist, and you… don't seem to have that kind of money.”

I was dressed in rags.

It was because I had been constantly chased by Amethus from the Rubeko Valley.

So I wasn't particularly angry or anything when I was misunderstood.

“Even in this state, I have money.”

“From my perspective, just getting rid of you is easier.”

“Even if I offer a good price?”

“If I get rid of you, then that good price would naturally become mine, Kifkos's, wouldn't it?”

“If you say so much, then, alright……”

I, Shion Pollinglight, opened my eyes sharply.

“…I guess I'll have to start negotiating.”

***

“Gloriosus.”

“Yes.”

The sideburns man straightened his back at my call.

“Since I've been guided this far, you can step out for a moment.”

“Thank you.”

Gloriosus quickly ran out of the room.

However, he didn't fully close the door and kept peeking in, as if it was his last act of loyalty.

Kifkos found his actions ridiculous and expressed his bewilderment.

“What are you doing, Gloriosus?”

“Brother, let's just sell the item and be done with it……”

“You idiot! There's a limit to being all talk! To a kid like this!”

An ashtray flew.

Gloriosus hastily dodged his head.

Kifkos, even after hearing the loud noise, was not appeased and stretched his neck.

“Phew… alright, kid……”

Kifkos slowly took off his clothes.

Both his forearms and torso were extremely thick, like tree trunks.

Not only that, but he had a different kind of aura than ordinary people.

“You want to challenge me, Kifkos, don't you.”

He began to loosen his hands.

The surface and inside of his hands were covered in calluses.

It wasn't just a simple brawler's hands, but those of someone who had trained for a long time.

He looked at me with fierce eyes.

“Sillemol is a place where, no matter how good your connections are, you can't survive even a single night if you don't have strength.”

“You talk too much.”

I trudged over and returned the ashtray to its place.

It seemed like an expensive item and seeing it rolling on the floor bothered me for some reason.

I had a meticulous personality.

“Next, are you going to talk about your background? Asking if I know you were the centurion of the 11th Legion, and playing coy?”

“…You, you really know a lot……”

Kifkos's gold teeth flashed.

He was starting to get curious about my identity.

What was this young kid that he knew all about his business and background?

“I'll rough you up a bit and then ask you where you heard all that from.”

He strode over and glared at me.

He wasn't tall, but he was solidly built.

Kifkos thrust his jaw out.

“Hit me first, kid.”

“Mister, you're overly confident.”

“I consider myself rather humble.”

I shook my head at his ludicrous bluff.

“I won't refuse.”

My body was still eleven years old.

My swollen build was due to Mana Armor Valziart.

Since my forearm was made from a monster of the shadow dimension, my punch could not be light.

It landed precisely on Kifkos's jaw.

“Hmph.”

The gold-toothed man snorted.

“As expected, it tickles. Like a kid's punch.”

“Oh?”

It was a punch thrown with the intention of making him lose his consciousness for a moment.

But Kifkos was showing his gold teeth with a perfectly normal face.

He wouldn't mind a few more hits.

I, again, did not refuse and punched Kifkos's jaw.

A thump sound was heard, but the gold-toothed man was unaffected.

“You look bewildered.”

Kifkos said with an air of self-importance.

In fact, my punch was not light.

However, he had a power that prevented him from falling.

A mysterious soul ability that no one could even hear about, and even fewer could use.

“The world is wider than you think, kid.”

The Ars of gold-toothed Kifkos, Stalwart Guts.

As long as he had guts, no impact would bother him.

As long as he had guts, he could turn steel into dust.

As long as he had guts, even a deep wound would not harm him.

As long as he had guts!

“Have you heard of Ars……?”

“Yes. I know it well.”

“…What!”

Kifkos's body was pulled up sharply.

He tried to shake it off with guts.

However, unfortunately, he didn't know what he was supposed to shake off.

Something was gripping his neck with immense force, but he couldn't see what it was.

It was regrettable, even though he had guts.

“Your resilience is amazing, but what will you do if that's all you have, mister.”

“Keuk……!”

The ‘Fantasy Finger’ pressed down on the gold-toothed man's neck.

The struggling limbs had considerable strength, so I held them one by one.

I ended up using five ‘Fantasy Fingers’.

Of course, there were still over thirty left.

“Don't struggle. Your neck will break.”

“…It's not magic, it's not……. It's an Ars……!”

Ars could not be obtained through ordinary means.

Its very existence was not public knowledge.

Kifkos couldn't help but be surprised.

Using an Ars meant that this kid had lived an equally extraordinary life.

I took a step.

“Let's do this amicably. I'll pay a price you won't be dissatisfied with.”

I put my hand in my pocket.

Pretending to look for something in my pocket, I took out a few jewels I had swallowed into Valziart.

The most precious ones among those whose origin would be difficult to trace.

Since they were from the Cordis Imperial Family, their value was immeasurable.

“This much for a small bottle.”

“Oh……!”

Kifkos, hanging in the air, opened his eyes wide.

It was because he had noticed the value of just a few jewels.

“Should we check the price, brother?”

“You bastard……”

Kifkos's anger flared up when he saw the sideburns man, who had already returned and was whispering beside him.

However, the sparkle of those jewels was too dazzling to stay angry, and he was still hanging in the air.

He nodded his head, commanding.

“…Go on and count it, traitor Gloriosus.”

“Understood, you petty parvenu brother Kifkos.”

They were on good terms.

I held out the jewels.

Gloriosus, wearing a magnifying glass from who knows where, looked at the jewels.

His eyes widened in an instant.

“…Brother, brother.”

“What?”

“…It seems they're worth twice, no, three times our selling price.”

“What!?”

Kifkos shouted.

“Kid! Put me down!”

I released the ‘Fantasy Finger’.

The gold-toothed man strode over and grabbed both of my hands.

“You should have told me sooner! We fought for nothing!”

“I said I would be generous.”

“Ah. I didn't know you would be this generous. I need to improve my discernment. To not recognize such a precious guest!”

His face was beaming.

“How many bottles do you need?”

“Four… no, five bottles.”

“We don't have that much in stock, so that's difficult. I can sell up to three bottles.”

“Then all of that.”

I put my hand in my pocket again and pulled out more jewels.

Kifkos and Gloriosus's eyes sparkled brightly.

“I brought him well, didn't I, brother?”

“Yes, your reed-like loyalty is sometimes helpful.”

They hastily packed the jewels.

Kifkos subtly slipped one into Gloriosus's pocket.

He was a man who, despite his appearance, was very affectionate.

“Three bottles will take five days to prepare. Rest until then. We'll prepare all your lodgings and everything else.”

“I'll do that.”

Kifkos raised his voice.

“Gloriosus!”

“Yes, brother!”

“You've brought a precious guest, so escort him to the end!”

“Understood!”

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