The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss-Chapter 268: Payment

After everything had been sold, the buyers were able to go and collect their purchases. The most common items could be picked up at pre-designated locations, so those who had bought earlier could just go and leave.

However, those who had stayed until the end could go directly to Serena to pick up their items, which was not a big deal, but it allowed them to speak face-to-face with the owner of the black market, which was a minimal opportunity to connect with someone powerful.

Several of us were guided by servants to a location where our things were. Of course, the golden cage was one of the things that stood out the most because of its size, and it’s a bit disappointing that this is all I obtained.

I guess in the end, you can’t expect much from mere humans. I wonder what the demons’ "black market" is like. I know they have one, but I question what they consider illegal.

I mean, I know that literally kidnapping weaker demons and turning them into test subjects is legalized. For a race that legalizes kidnapping, what the hell is considered illegal? Even in marriage, it’s common to kidnap the wife as long as she’s not already married.

This makes me curious to visit such a place, but I’ve had enough of auctions for now. I just want to resolve this matter and go home to get some sleep. I need to be in top shape to fight against Mikael.

Unfortunately, this is going to take a little while. I see Serena talking to various people, and while she’s doing that, I just wait. Amiya has decided to go see the slaves I purchased.

She’s over there talking to them, but avoiding most of the questions or things, since she knows what we’re going to do with them. I can’t wait to try it out just thinking about it already makes me feel hungry.

"..." I’ve been idle for so long that when I notice, almost everyone has already left, and Serena is coming to talk to me about her payment. I start to move the Celestial Stone from the castle’s vault through the shadows to give it to her.

"Here’s the payment," I say as a large block of Celestial Stone appears. It’s very convenient to be able to move things through the shadows.

"Oh, amazing, I’ve never seen this amount," Serena says with shining eyes as she looks at the ore. This quantity is so large that when they refine it, they can literally make an entire armor set, along with a weapon, and still have some left over.

This would give such items incredible value, as a well-made armor and weapon of Celestial Stone would be something of extreme value after being refined. An armor made with this could withstand my blows without denting in the current situation.

"If you waited until now to pay me, I believe you want to talk to me, Lady Dragon Mask," she says ironically, as if she knows exactly who I am and is just making that clear.

"Yes, I have some questions, and I’m willing to pay well for the answers," I’m sure she has more information that she didn’t sell at the auction, as the information sold at auctions has a one-time sale.

But in regular deals, more than one person can buy the same information, which can exceed the auction value, especially if it’s valuable information in some way.

"I believe it’s about the Church, the King, or the Castle, since you’ve shown interest in the first sale of information at the auction."

"That’s correct, I want information about the Church or the Pope," Either one will work, and even without knowing anything, I can discover everything on my own later.

"I understand, okay, I have some things to sell, of course at a friendly price for you!" She speaks in a rather unprofessional tone, it’s even negligent.

’A commoner... I wonder how she obtained her position,’ Everything about her screams commoner. I can judge by every part of her body she is not someone who has practiced etiquette, as her body shows no signs of it.

Even if she stopped using etiquette, there would be signs that she had used it before, but she has no such signs. She also has considerable strength, and I notice some scars.

Her skin, although well-cared for, seems marked and rough due to constant physical effort, although many of her marks are older. The bodies of many are like books that speak of their lives.

She is undoubtedly a commoner who has been through a lot, and deserves praise for becoming the leader of the black market.

Of course, my body is one of those that deviate from the standard to indicate my life, simply because it remains almost stagnant in the state it’s in. My body does not grow or shrink regardless of how much I eat or exercise.

Scars are never permanent, regardless of the type, because my regeneration always finds a way, and the only method so far that has made me change physically was when I became a teenager, and my body first shrank and then grew.

"Okay, I’m willing to pay a lot, so tell me what you have that’s good for me? And could you set up a torture room for me? I want to teach my ’companion’ how to torture people," I’m really curious to see if she’ll get another magical girl uniform.

"Torture? Was that why you wanted the two slaves? You paid so much just to get rid of them? Hahaha, nobles are really crazy. You must really like your companion to give such high-quality items just to kill them."

"...Maybe, but let’s get down to business. Tell me everything you have for me."

"Alright, I want 50 billion in pure gold for the information," Serena says, getting down to business without any beating around the bush.

’50 billion in pure gold...’ She doesn’t want coins, but the gold itself, so clearly she doesn’t want the gold for the coins, but for some other reason.

"That’s a lot of gold, it’s just over 138 tons of pure gold," The purity of gold is closely linked to its magical absorption capacity, which is obviously higher than that of common gold.

Of course, 138 tons of pure gold is easy to obtain, even if it’s pure gold. The real problem is what Serena plans to use so much pure gold for.

’I won’t question it, it doesn’t matter.’ Gold is a good magical conductor, but it doesn’t even come close to the capabilities of magical ores.

’Wait...’ I remember the 3 highest grades of a weapon.

Grade 10 = Weapons made with Celestial Stone, an ore that is the crystallized blood of a goddess. Weapons made with this ore are extremely durable, being very powerful weapons with a high capacity for absorbing ambient mana.

Grade 11 = Void Weapons, are armaments that were directly generated from the power of the Primordial Goddess. These weapons are completely unbreakable, have an absurdly high rate of ambient mana absorption, and have high magical capacity.

Special Grade = Any previous grade weapon can become a Special Grade. Special Grade weapons will have their own life, consciousness, or personality. This fact does not necessarily guarantee that the sword will be powerful, it only indicates that the sword has its own consciousness.

Of course, this grade is used by mortals who do not have all the necessary knowledge to judge a weapon, so some things are wrong. So it happens that Grade 11 weapons are actually Special Grade weapons that have not yet displayed their consciousness.

But what matters are not the armaments made from the physical body of the Primordial Goddess, as I have knowledge of them given to me by Delphina.

What matters is Grade 10, incredibly, they are weapons made with the same ore I am offering, and now Serena has asked me for a lot of pure gold. Obviously, creating Grade 10 weapons is not easy.

There must be a special process, probably involving a lot of magic, and that’s why the gold, which has good magical conductivity, especially the pure kind, would be a good choice as it’s a mineral that can be obtained in abundance.

’Hahaha, that’s it, she wants to make weapons with the ore I’m giving her, how clever.’ She really has a good business mind. If she starts manufacturing weapons, her military power will increase greatly.

Just 5 Grade 10 swords would make her a huge threat to several kingdoms. She’s thinking of using me to get the rest of the material.

But I’m smarter. This ore will soon be consumed by the shadow bacteria, and she’ll lose everything.

Of course, this is just a theory. She may have another purpose that I don’t know about, and frankly, I don’t care.

"No problem, I’ll deliver all the gold you need in exchange for the information," I accept with confidence. Celestial Stone, as a magical ore, although valuable, has its limitations.

It is a very hard ore even in its raw state, refining it must be terrible, and shaping it into a weapon, and then still having to enchant it, would make it a great challenge that is very costly.

And that’s exactly why I don’t try to make such armaments, even though I can manufacture Celestial Stone with my own blood, because the cost would be too high for just a few swords.

"Great, I’m glad I have such a good negotiator. Come to my office to talk about the Church. Your slaves will be taken to a special torture room for you to use after our conversation," Serena says enthusiastically as she tries to guide me.

"Come, Amiya," I call Amiya, who was talking to the slaves, probably trying to make them less nervous. Amiya says goodbye and comes to me.

"Amiya, don’t be stupid. Didn’t you know that giving false hope is more cruel than any normal psychological torture?" I tell Amiya, who wasted time trying to be nice to the same people who are going to die soon.

False hope is one of the most painful things they can feel, and that’s exactly what Amiya is doing while trying to be kind.

"I-I didn’t know..." Amiya says, a bit disappointed.

"It doesn’t matter, it’s totally your fault," I never told Amiya to try to calm the girls, it was her own choice.

"Amiya, don’t worry too much about it. After this, we’re going to the academy, so get ready. I just have a few things to take care of before we finish off the two girls," I inform her without caring that Serena is listening to everything.

I just want this long night to be over with already. It’s better if those girls have a good taste. I don’t care if Amiya sees me eating a person, I trust that she won’t say anything, and even if she does, no one would believe it or be able to do anything about it.