Chapter 27: Instance Dungeon
"No."
[C’mon, what do you plan to do with all that stuff? You can just throw some my way.]
"I plan to sell them, of course. What the hell do you want them for?" Arc asked Lilith, baffled. He couldn’t understand what the primordial needed his gear for.
[Exactly! To sell them. We’re on the same page here.]
[But you see, you can’t just list those items on the Trade Market, or some really bad guys will crack down on your ass.]
[So I’m asking you to leave it all to me, because I know the exact place to auction—not sell—them for twice the price you can get on the market, without any questions being asked.]
Lilith sounded convincing, but Arc could sense the desperation in her voice, which only baffled him more.
She wasn’t wrong, though. Arc was fully aware that if he listed the items on the Trade Market, his identity could be exposed and he’d be tracked down. He had planned to use Lilith to sell the items from the start, but he wasn’t about to pass up a bargaining chip now that she was taking the initiative to ask.
"When you say ’some really bad guys,’ are you referring to Goddess Zemira and the Great White Faction?" he asked sharply.
Lilith fell silent for a moment.
[How do you know that?]
Arc smirked internally.
"Let’s make a deal. I’ll give you one item for free and let you handle selling off the rest. Then I’ll tell you everything I know... but only if you tell me everything you know first and answer all my questions. How about that?"
She was silent for another moment, deliberating the offer.
[Five items for free.]
Arc’s lips twitched. That was literally asking for everything.
"One," he countered.
[Four items for free.]
"One."
[Arghh—fine. Two items for free, or NO deal!]
"One."
[Goddammit, Arc. Why so stingy?! Do you realize I’m your only hope of laundering your hot items without risking your identity?]
"Or I could trade them on the black market where even the middleman doesn’t know the seller," Arc replied smoothly. "I know quite a few locations to drop them off, and it’d only take me a few weeks to get there if I start moving now."
[W-What? How do you know so much? Who are you?]
[Are you a Regression? Y’know, I looked that word up after you mentioned it to me.]
"It’s called a ’Regressor’ when you’re referring to a person," Arc corrected dryly. "And I’m not saying anything until we have a deal."
[Tsk. Fine. We have a deal—only if it’s Gaea’s Judgment, AND I get a commission from every item sold!]
"Tch. You sneaky... sasquatch." That was his favorite item.
[W-What did you just call me?]
"It means pretty and powerful... ancient woman."
[Oh, okay. I guess I’m a gorgeous sasquatch then.]
Arc coughed in an attempt to stop himself from laughing.
"Fine. I’ll hand everything over to you when we have our deep conversation."
[What? Don’t you trust me? After everything I’ve done for you? I can’t believe this.]
Arc ignored her. "But before then, I’d like to take my long-deserved nap now. So leave me alone." He made himself comfortable on the bunk bed, which had hardened with age.
The moment his head hit the pillow, Lilith started saying something, but Arc fell into a deep slumber.
Boom—
The island suddenly shook to its core, and Arc’s eyes snapped open.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d slept, but he quickly got off the bed and went straight for the latch door. When he caught sight of the rags on his body, he paused.
Luckily, only his blazer was utterly terrible and unwearable. His tank top underneath was still in good shape, and his trousers weren’t badly beaten. So he quickly took off—or rather, tore off—the blazer and exited through the latch door.
He was about to open the map to check for directions to where the island had been impacted when Jack appeared from the trees.
He paused to stare at Arc before nodding his head. "Come on. It’s this way," he said as he jerked his head in the direction he had come from.
Was he here to call him?
Arc followed the Archer, and the two men dashed through the forest at a steady pace, with neither lagging behind.
They shot out into a clearing where the rest of the party was already assembled and ready for whatever might charge out of the island docked against theirs.
The party turned to look at them, their eyes lingering on Arc for a moment.
"Jack..." Felix didn’t need to say anything before the young man stepped forward.
"I’ll need to get closer than this," Jack said as he cautiously approached the island’s border.
He didn’t need to step on it, but simply crouched and dug his fingers into the soil of the island. He closed his eyes and remained still for a bit, his expression shifting.
When he stood and walked onto the island, the party was surprised and called out to him. But he didn’t stop and walked straight for a tree, plucking a low-hanging fruit and taking a bite from it as he turned to the party with a smile.
"This one’s empty. No enemies, but plenty of good stuff," he said, waving the fruit in his hand.
The party let out a sigh of relief and crossed over, running toward him and the trees with plush fruits hanging from their branches. Except for one person.
Joan looked behind to see Arc unmoving from his spot as he stared at the island. She immediately halted in her tracks.
"Arc, aren’t you coming?" she asked sharply.
He was the most mysterious person of them all, and if he suddenly decided not to step on the island even after Jack had said it was safe, then she herself would have to consider staying back as well.
Arc put on a smile and stepped onto the island. After all, he had no reason not to go when there was the high-risk, high-reward possibility of encountering an instance dungeon.
