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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Mistaken Identity
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The guard at the entrance to the underground auction scanned us up and down with a tense gaze. His eyes darted between the invitation and us before he handed it back and bowed.
“You may enter.”
Isaac snatched the invitation back with an unnecessary growl.
“How dare you stand in my brother’s way. If this were the Sirasia Kingdom, the likes of you wouldn’t even dare to look at him…!”
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down. We don’t want to cause a scene.”
As if on cue, Yulia intervened, and Isaac clicked his tongue with a ‘tch,’ pretending to barely cool his temper.
The guard, who had been picked on for no reason, trembled as he glanced nervously at Edmond. Edmond lowered his chin, peering at the guard over his sunglasses, then spoke with an air of indifference.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, brother!”
“Yes, brother!”
Yulia and Isaac followed him happily.
“……”
My face was burning with secondhand embarrassment. I suppose I should be grateful the mask hid it.
‘Yulia and Isaac insisted I go with a concept where I had a bandaged arm, claiming I’d sealed the Black Flame Dragon or something inside it…’
I just couldn’t bring myself to do that, so I decided to act as a maidservant instead. I even dressed in clothes that looked like a uniform.
And since I’d heard Sirasians don’t even dare to step on their master’s shadow, I made a point to follow at a slight distance.
“Wa-wait a moment.”
Just as our group was about to pass through the door, the guard stopped us.
“I apologize, but from whom did you receive this invitation?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Ah… well, we gave this invitation to the Don Family of Sirasia. And as far as I know, the Don Family stated they would not be attending the auction.”
Oh, no. It seemed there was a problem with the invitation Donald had made for us.
“Excuse me, but could you please verify which member of the Don Family you are?”
What should we do…? I looked at Edmond with nervous eyes. He twitched an eyebrow, clearly displeased.
“I thought protecting one’s identity was the top priority here. The way you treat your guests is abysmal.”
Edmond retorted in the common tongue, tinged with a Sirasian accent. The guard flinched at his sharp, cold tone.
Seizing the momentum, Isaac and Yulia took it a step further.
“How dare you treat our Don Family like this. You must have a death wish!”
“Whoa, calm down, Blade of Infernal Darkness. It’s not yet time for you to cry out…”
From my perspective, it was an incredibly cringey act, but it must have looked different to the guard. He swallowed hard and raised his voice once more.
“This is a necessary measure for the security of this event. I ask for your understanding.”
But his voice was trembling uncontrollably. Even I, a complete novice in that world, had heard of the Don Family of the Sirasia Kingdom; they were a famous mafia.
They had a widespread reputation for being second to none when it came to cruelty.
Edmond tilted his chin up arrogantly, looking down at the guard. The oppressive aura unique to one who has ruled over others his entire life bore down on him.
“What’s your name?”
“……”
His gaze flickered to the man’s name tag.
“Marvin. I’ll remember that.”
“I-I’m just doing my job…!”
“Repaying kindness twofold and vengeance tenfold is also the Don Family’s duty.”
Marvin’s face turned pale. Edmond turned away without a second glance. Isaac and Yulia followed, making a huge fuss.
“No, are you really leaving just like this? What about the item the big boss asked you to get?”
“The big boss will be furious…!”
At times like these, their teamwork was better than that of most con artists. As I was inwardly clicking my tongue, Marvin surrendered.
“I-I’m sorry! I have been terribly rude to such esteemed guests. That was not my intention!”
As Marvin bowed deeply in apology, Edmond made a show of contemplating with a ‘hmm.’
“Please, calm your anger…”
“There’s a saying in Sirasia. ‘One mistake is enough.’ My mercy, too, will be granted only once.”
I could guarantee he just made that up on the spot.
“Yes, yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”
But Marvin, who had no way of knowing, nodded his head vigorously. In the end, we were able to enter, treated with the utmost courtesy by Marvin.
*I’m sorry, Marvin,* I mumbled to myself.
As I was about to follow them inside, Marvin blocked my path.
“This is the guest-only entrance.”
“?”
“Go this way.”
Before I could even ask what he meant, I was pushed toward the staff entrance next to it. I looked back, but Marvin was already busy dealing with another guest.
‘What… is this?’
As I stood there, dumbfounded, another staff member passing through the corridor tapped my shoulder.
“What’s this? Are you the new hire who was supposed to come today?”
“Pardon?”
“Follow me. You’re earlier than expected.”
Before I could ask what he was talking about, I realized the mask the staff member was wearing looked incredibly familiar.
“…Huh?”
It was almost identical to the one I’d bought, just with different colored feathers. It was different if you looked closely, but at a glance, it was very similar.
‘He must have mistaken me for a staff member because of this mask!’
It suddenly seemed plausible.
“Um, I’m sorry, but I think you have the wrong person…”
“You’ve been assigned to the auction item storage. You’ve already been briefed, right?”
“……”
My decision was swift.
“…I was, but could you explain it one more time?”
***
“Huh?”
Yulia glanced back, tilting her head as she looked at the empty corridor.
“Where on earth did she go?”
Isaac turned around to follow her gaze.
“What? Where’s Emily?”
“I know, right? She was following right behind us just a moment ago…”
“Maybe she went to the restroom?”
Thinking that might be it, Yulia nodded. Soon, the lights in the audience seats dimmed, and brilliant spotlights focused on the stage.
“Thank you for your long wait!”
The emcee, dressed in a sparkling suit, shouted loudly.
“Let the auction~~ begin! Our first item is the so-called cursed diamond…”
Once the auction started, there was no time for other thoughts.
***
“Is item number 13 not ready yet?! It’s about to go on stage, what do you think you’re doing!”
“Item number 27 is ready!”
“Get it to the emcee, quick! Tell him we’re swapping the order of items 13 and 27, so he needs to adjust his announcement!”
“Yes, sir!”
As is often the case, backstage was, in a word, a warzone. Shouts and screams filled the air as people, each busy with their own tasks, rushed about.
As I was looking around, the staff member who had spoken to me earlier approached me again.
“You changed into your uniform? Yeah, it suits you.”
“What should I be doing?”
“Let’s see. What can a new hire do… Ah, right. Could you do another inventory check? I already checked it once, but double-checking is standard procedure for this kind of thing.”
With that, the staff member handed me a long list of auction items. It wouldn’t be easy to check the quantity of over a hundred items one by one, but for me, it was perfect.
‘Auction item number 183… a grimoire.’
This was the very grimoire we were looking for.
“Yes, I’ll check it.”
“As you can see, I’m too busy to explain anything right now. Hope you understand.”
“We need one more person over here to display item 88!”
“Yes, coming~! Here’s an access card, show it if you need to. Come find me when you’re done!”
And with that, the staff member scurried off toward the person who had called for her.
I tossed the palm-sized card she’d given me in my hand. Thinking how incredibly lucky I was, I headed toward the storage area for item 183.
Perhaps because it was the highlight of this auction, the storage for item 183 was, unlike the others, guarded by a security officer.
“Who are you?”
A large, burly man asked, looking down at me. I showed him the access card I’d been given and answered in the most business-like tone I could manage.
“I’m here to check the item’s quantity.”
“Hmm.”
The man held the card up to a verification device he was carrying to check if it was a forgery. When it beeped, he nodded.
*Click.*
“Go in. I’ll give you exactly one minute.”
With a crisp sound, the storage door opened. As I hesitantly stepped inside, the door closed behind me as if it had been waiting.
‘It’s too dark to see anything.’
I fumbled along the wall with my fingertips. Following the wall, I felt something like a switch and flicked it.
*Flick.*
The lights came on, brightly illuminating the interior.
The storage room was larger than I expected. In the center of the all-white space, a transparent glass box was placed.
“Wow…”
The glass box floated about a meter off the ground. There were magic circles drawn on the floor and ceiling of the storage room, which I assumed would sound an alarm if anyone approached.
Inside the glass box was another glass box, set at a diagonal angle to the first. The grimoire was floating inside, nested within about five such layers.
The grimoire was shut tight and wrapped in several layers of thin cloth. A faint divine power emanated from that cloth.
‘They said it came from a saintess’s tomb. It seems it was really sealed.’
It was right in front of me, but I didn’t dare try to take it. The security was even tighter than I had thought.
‘But I confirmed one thing. That grimoire is real.’
I couldn’t tell if it was because the white cloth was partially unwrapped or because the divine power absorbed into it had faded with time, but I could feel a distinct magical energy from beyond it.
More than anything, I knew for sure that this couldn’t fall into the hands of another warlock.
But the door, which was supposed to open again after a minute, showed no sign of doing so.
*Thump, thump!*
“I’ve finished the quantity check.”
I knocked on the door and called out, but there was no response.
*Thump, thump!*
“Hello?”
Did they forget I went in? Or maybe they went to get dinner? That didn’t seem likely.
Just as I was thinking how strange it was, the door silently slid open.
“…? The check is done. Now, you need to return the access card……”
I couldn’t finish my sentence.
The moment the door opened, I saw the man who had been tightly gripping the access card I’d given him collapsed on the floor.
“……”
I looked around and saw it was the same everywhere. The floor was soaked with pools of blood.
Something was clearly wrong. I slowly backed away. Thinking it might be safer inside the storage room, I was about to go back in when…
“Now what should I do with this.”
A low, laughing voice echoed from my side.
I turned my head to see a man in a robe standing there, holding a blood-soaked dagger.
“Tough luck, miss.”
Beneath the robe, a pair of indigo eyes gleamed.
It was the same man I had seen before.
