Chapter 258

Tatsuro first addressed the familiar face among the newcomers who had interrupted.

"Long time no see, Beverly-san. I heard 36 years have passed, but you look unchanged. Are the people behind you new party members?"

One was Beverly, the leader of Fornacis.

Beside him stood a nearly two-meter-tall, burly man in blue armor with two oni-like horns sprouting from his head.

Slightly behind was an elderly lizardman in a black robe, wearing narrow-lensed glasses, looking nervous.

"Been a while. I'd say 'you're' the ones who haven't changed, but… As for these guys-"

"I'm Ekoarichi, leader of Kettcherika."

"I'm Sanjiv, leader of Narentnis."

"…I'm Tatsuro. We don't have a party name or anything, but uh…"

Caught off guard by the sudden introductions from other party leaders, Tatsuro quickly pieced it together.

They'd called out the armored man for being unfair, but in truth, they likely wanted to monopolize the dungeon's information for their own teams.

"Let's get to it. Are you planning to make this place your base going forward?"

"No, we're not. We want to travel and see different places."

"That's great! In that case…"

"We'd like you to sell the information to one of our parties."

Upon learning Tatsuro had no intention of staying, the three pressed closer.

But the armored man, sent by the kingdom, wasn't backing down either and stepped forward to confront the powerhouses.

"We'd also pay some coin for the information."

"You lot wouldn't know how to use it properly. Plus, we don't want the info spread carelessly. That'd be a problem for us."

"Exactly. And we have no intention of settling for the pittance you can offer!"

"Tch."

The kingdom likely aimed to publicize the information to attract adventurers, but the amount this man could offer was limited.

Tatsuro's group had no obligation to wait for the kingdom's decision.

The armored man quickly yielded to the trio's pressure.

Feeling a bit sorry for him but weary at the thought of dealing with these eager people, Tatsuro spoke.

"For now, whether we share the information depends on the conditions. Are we discussing this standing here?"

"Oh, right. Use our place, then."

"What? Ours would do just fine."

"It won't affect the deal, so let's go with Beverly-san's."

"Settled, then."

Deciding it was better than being taken to an unfamiliar base, Tatsuro led everyone to the mansion where Fornacis was stationed.

The armored man hesitated about following but was brushed off by Beverly and trudged back to his defense duties.

Fornacis's base was a ten-minute walk away.

It was a grand mansion, more fitting than calling it a house, surrounded by sturdy metal fences, with a garden and six stories.

"This way."

Following Beverly through the entrance, they were led to a spacious parlor to the right.

Directed to a large sofa, they sat from left to right: Athena, Ai, Tatsuro, Leah, and Nana. Jeanne, not wanting to show her [Child Form], stayed in [True Form] and stood behind.

Across a metal table, the oni-man Ekoarichi, Beverly, and the lizardman Sanjiv sat spaced apart.

Beverly, the host, spoke first.

"First, I need to know one thing. How far did you dive?"

Tatsuro hesitated briefly but decided quickly.

"We cleared it all."

"What!"

"As expected."

"Impossible."

Only Sanjiv cast a doubtful glare, lowering Tatsuro's opinion of him.

Judging by appearances and doubting from the start made him less trustworthy.

Perhaps sensing this, Ekoarichi and Beverly smirked, while Sanjiv briefly grimaced before returning to a neutral expression.

"Sorry to make this tedious, but we'd each like to talk to you one-on-one. The deal terms won't be shared with the other two, and we won't know what they're offering. Pick the party with the best offer. How's that?"

Tatsuro had expected a group pitch, but they clearly wanted to keep every detail, cards, funds, everything hidden from rivals.

This avoided an auction-style escalation, preventing overspending or disputes, Tatsuro reasoned.

But it put them in a tough spot, blindly guessing their rivals' offers to outbid them in a high-stakes game.

(Well, we just agree to a deal if we want something. No need to overthink it—makes it easier for us.)

Glancing at the others, Tatsuro saw no objections.

{Should we take it?}

{I'm fine with it.}

{Got it.}

After confirming with Ai via telepathy, he replied.

"No problem."

"Alright. What's the order? Any preferences?"

"None. We'll share with whoever offers the most appealing deal. Of course, if none are appealing, we'll decline them all."

"Fair enough. By the way, six other parties don't know about you kids with the info. If our offers don't suit you, you can take it to them."

(—Tch. Didn't need to spill that.)

Sanjiv shot Ekoarichi a brief glare for casually revealing that.

"But no guarantee they'll offer better terms."

Renegotiating with these three after going elsewhere could sour impressions and weaken their position.

Rather than getting greedy, it was smarter to grab what they wanted here.

Tatsuro nodded to show he understood.

"Any preference for order between Kettcherika and Narentnis?"

"Doesn't matter to me, but I'll go first."

"Hm. I'll take second, then."

"Then we're last. So: first, Kettcherika's Ekoarichi. Second, Narentnis's Sanjiv. Third, Fornacis's Beverly - me. That work?"

"Yes, fine."

"Then Sanjiv and I will step out. Use this room."

"Understood."

"Got it."

Beverly and Sanjiv left, and the sound of them entering another room nearby followed.

Ekoarichi got straight to the point, revealing his offer.

"First, I'll pay 1 billion. Plus, I'll show you items and equipment. Pick up to five you like."

"Understood. Can you show us the items first?"

Mildly shocked by the sudden 1 billion figure, Tatsuro hid it and urged Ekoarichi to continue.

Nodding, Ekoarichi began pulling items from his [Item Box], lining them up on the table.

From Tatsuro's left: something resembling a human skull.

A folded piece of what looked like animal hide paper.

A ten-centimeter green flute.

A cardholder with about twenty cards.

A pentagonal black glass plate inscribed with strange characters.

A Japanese-style sword with a one-and-a-half-meter blade.

A two-meter-long staff.

A thirty-centimeter silver rod with eagle-foot-shaped ends.

A forty-centimeter square white stone tablet with overlapping circles, triangles, and squares.

A stylish ten-centimeter glass vial with a mysterious red liquid.

A twenty-centimeter pocket watch, its exposed face showing only an hour hand, stuck at 8 on a 1-to-13 scale, with no second or minute hands.

A full-body armor, likely too big for Tatsuro, made of Emerald Sacred Stone, probably the base for Ai's Jewel Sword.

A slender, diamond-like, transparent staff for stick fighters.

A black metal gauntlet for the right arm.

These fourteen items seemed to be the full offer.

Once the table was filled, Ekoarichi began explaining each briefly.

"This skull, called [Necro Skull], lets you control a nearby corpse by infusing it with magic until the magic runs out. It works on humans or monsters, but performance worsens with decay."

"An item that weaponizes corpses. Ethically, we'd avoid humans, but it could be useful for monsters in certain situations. Can the zombies use their original skills?"

If so, storing a strong monster's corpse in [Infinite Item Field] with time stopped could make a powerful weapon, Tatsuro thought.

But the answer was a no.

"All skills are unusable, so they fight purely with their original stats' strength. One exception: using it on a clean, bone-only corpse turns it into a new skeleton monster, not a zombie."

"Can you control that permanently?"

"Nope. Even with magic flowing through the [Necro Skull], if the original was stronger than you, it won't obey and attacks all living things nearby. Plus, it gains skeleton monster skills, making it a potential hassle. But if you were stronger than it in life, it'll obey while you use the [Necro Skull]."

"Sounds kinda creepy. So, the moment you stop using the [Necro Skull], it attacks, right?"

"Exactly. If you make a skeleton monster with it, etiquette is to kill it yourself afterward."

It seemed rare but questionable in practical use, so Tatsuro's group deemed it iffy.

With no more to add, Ekoarichi picked up the folded animal hide-like paper.

"Next, this [Labyrinth Map] is a dungeon-only item. Infuse it with magic, and once per dive, it displays the full map of one floor."

"That's impressive. The [Map Function] is useless in dungeons, right?"

Tatsuro implied no one had the [Map Function].

In low-level dungeons, it could map somewhat, but in the Level 7 dungeon, it showed nothing, utterly useless.

"Yeah. The [Map Function] works a bit in low-level dungeons, but it's useless in high-level ones. This, though, works in any dungeon."

That was genuinely impressive, but it seemed vital for dungeon diving, something Ekoarichi would need for future conquests.

So, Tatsuro asked bluntly if he'd part with it.

"Simple. We have a better item, so this is a spare."

"I see."

Satisfied, Tatsuro dropped the question, sensing Ekoarichi wouldn't reveal more.

Next was the glass vial with the mysterious red liquid.

"One sip of this temporarily doubles all stats—supposedly."

"Supposedly? You haven't used it, Ekoarichi-san? Doubling stats sounds handy."

Ai's honest question drew a wry smile, but Ekoarichi, unbothered by the name mix-up, answered.

"The effect's strong, but when it wears off, you're bedridden with fever for three days and nights, with a fifty percent chance of death. It's a deadly drug. You wouldn't use it on allies unless it's a do-or-die situation with no retreat."

"…Yeah, that's unusable."

"But some want it anyway. We've kept it stored, but it's good for trade if someone's interested."

Tatsuro figured those "some" were likely intended to use it on others.

"We'll pass…"

Seeing Tatsuro's distaste, Ekoarichi laughed, saying he'd just thrown it in, and moved to the large pocket watch.

"This watch is wild. Another dungeon-only item. Press the button, and everyone else's time flow slows temporarily. But it's single-use per activation, and after thirteen uses, it turns to sand and vanishes."

"So, the number on the dial shows uses or remaining uses?"

Tatsuro noted the lone hour hand pointing at 8.

"Yep. We've used it five times, so it's got eight uses left."

"Cool."

It sounded interesting, but was hindered by being dungeon-only and having limited uses.

"Now, the next one—"

Tatsuro's group listened to brief explanations of the remaining items.