Chapter 32: Decanus Is Here!
When Dean arrived the next day, he had started researching specific topics on the forum.
Perhaps that was why he hadn’t been able to find the posts about himself.
To put it bluntly, he needed money in real life.
He had some money at the moment, but it wouldn’t last him more than half a year.
If he could manage to find an anonymous way, he might somehow manage to earn some pounds or dollars and his life could take a turn for the better.
This was a bit... actually, quite a greedy desire; to tell the truth, Dean didn’t really need to do this.
Even now, there were loads of people looking for him, curious to know exactly who he was.
High-ranking figures might figure out who he was if he were to make a sudden windfall.
The only thing Dean wanted was not to be exploited.
Apart from that, one could say he was perfectly fine with everything else.
That’s why he’d had to carry out a lengthy investigation.
In the end, he had actually managed to find something.
Apparently, every country in the world with a connection to Cosmic Terror held a monthly event.
Players had managed to devise a way to sell the items they’d earned from dungeons at this small market event organised by governments, and convert them into real money.
This... was a good thing.
Dean hadn’t particularly expected his own government to do something like this.
With a little research, he’d managed to find out where and when this market would be held.
It seemed he would have to go to Durham.
Once he arrived in Durham three days later, he would be able to enter the venue using his ’forum’ identity.
Players had been given the option to wear masks and conceal their identities.
In short, the state itself had done everything in its power to ensure the players maintained maximum anonymity.
For this reason, the young man had done something he’d never done before: he’d created an identity for himself on the forum.
The ’Decanus’ identity was now fully established.
Meanwhile, Dean had come to the conclusion that he, too, needed to prepare.
He wondered just how valuable the single coin he held was in the real world. So, to find out, he had to go to the market and see for himself.
Furthermore, as government officials were using a machine in the market area to tag players’ items and reveal their values, Dean had found a way to work out how much money he could make.
There was plenty of time before the market, scheduled for the evening of the third day, so he could make his way there.
Consequently, he had prepared thoroughly and was certain he had everything he needed.
Then, on the morning of the third day, he set off from London, where he lived, towards Durham.
After a slow journey by train, which took nearly four hours, he managed to reach the area and finally booked a room in a hotel to rest.
The young man waited until evening, then hailed a taxi to go to the planned location.
The place he reached by taxi was a large mansion in Durham.
After paying the fare, Dean got out of the taxi and looked around.
When he saw that everyone was wearing suits or smart casual attire, he realised his own outfit wasn’t really appropriate for the occasion.
Still, there was nothing he could do about it now.
Dean walked towards the doormen and, as they stopped him, he opened his phone and showed them his forum ID.
Both doormen swallowed hard when they saw the name on the ID.
"Welcome, sir," said one of the doormen, opening the door and gesturing for him to enter.
The moment Dean stepped inside, he saw that the interior of the mansion was filled with stalls stretching all the way from the vast hall to the far end, that is, the back garden.
There were an enormous number of items for sale here.
The young man kept looking around, but even with the system’s help, he couldn’t find anything that caught his interest.
To put it bluntly, it was incredibly frustrating.
There was nothing he could do; after all, many people here were BETA players, just like Dean.
It could be said that GAMMA players had networks extensive enough that they didn’t need to sell their items here.
Even so, Dean still thought he might be able to gauge the value of his own coins, which was why he’d started making his way from the hall towards the back garden.
At that very moment, however, up in the upper part of the mansion, in that area off-limits to other players, a servant was practically pounding on a closed door with his fists.
The door swung open quickly, and a shout came from inside: "Don’t you know we’re in a meeting?!"
"I’m sorry, my lords and ladies. I would never have done this if it weren’t a serious matter," replied the maid.
Yet the shouts from inside did not stop them.
Perhaps the outbursts continued for forty seconds, until the woman once again brought everything to a halt:
"Come in."
The moment her voice rang out, every sound ceased instantly, and the maid entered, bowing her head.
"My lady, Decanus has visited the manor; he is currently in the back garden," said the maid.
At these words, everyone in the meeting room looked at the maid in astonishment.
One could even see the woman’s eyes widen slightly behind her mask.
The woman sprang to her feet at once.
The information that had been reposted on the forum just three days earlier had spread so widely regarding the deeds of this man called Decanus that the woman herself had been eager to see him.
Besides, this was her home. She was hardly going to send someone else to see Decanus.
Wasn’t that so?
Seeing the woman jump to her feet, the others had risen just as she had and left the room with her.
As each of them hurried downstairs, they saw that every stall was empty.
In the back garden, however, it was as if the apocalypse had struck.
An incredible din was tearing through the air.
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