Chapter 156: Loot! 2

“My lord! My lord, I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”

The middle-aged man collapsed to the floor the moment the cold water drenched him.

“The truly valuable goods are all kept personally by the Chief Steward. I—I only know where they’re stored!”

He begged desperately for mercy and quickly revealed the location of the auction house’s most valuable treasures.

Kent wasted no time.

He immediately hurried toward a fortress-like structure behind the auction house.

The moment he arrived, he understood just how heavily protected the place normally was.

For several hundred meters in every direction, there was absolutely nothing.

No houses.

No trees.

Not even the smallest piece of cover.

The entire area had been deliberately cleared, leaving the fortress standing alone in the middle of an open killing ground.

In such an environment, anyone attempting to attack the building would be completely exposed.

Unless the attackers included a ninth-rank expert, Kent doubted ordinary forces could take the place no matter how many people they sent.

They would simply die one after another.

Fortunately, there was no one left to defend it now.

Kent raised his head and studied the structure before him.

The fortress was nearly as tall as a ten-story building.

Its walls were constructed entirely from obsidian, while the seams between the enormous blocks had been reinforced with refined iron.

The entire structure looked unimaginably solid.

Kent walked toward the entrance.

This time, he didn’t even need to say anything.

The Dragon Turtle raised one massive foreclaw and struck.

BOOM!

The entire fortress shook violently.

The reinforced gate shattered under the blow, fragments of metal and stone exploding inward.

Even the walls seemed to tremble from the impact.

“Daphne, stay outside with this fellow.”

Kent pointed toward the Dragon Turtle.

“I’ll go in first. I want to make sure there isn’t any danger inside. I’ll be back soon.”

With that, he hurried through the ruined entrance.

Daphne obediently nodded.

The Dragon Turtle, however, shook its enormous head unhappily.

Clearly, it wasn’t pleased about being left outside.

Unfortunately for it, the master-servant contract meant it had little choice but to obey.

The moment Kent entered the first floor, he froze.

His eyes widened.

The chamber before him covered several thousand square meters.

Rows upon rows of storage racks filled the enormous space.

And stacked neatly upon those racks were ingots.

Mithril.

Adamantine.

Thousands upon thousands of ingots.

Nearby, enormous chests had been packed full of purple-gold coins and diamond coins.

Other containers held vast quantities of low-quality magic crystals and low-level magical beast cores.

Judging from the way everything had been arranged, these were clearly materials the auction house used frequently.

That was probably why they had been stored on the first floor, where they could be accessed quickly.

“Holy hell!”

Kent cursed aloud.

Then he immediately began sweeping everything valuable into his spatial ring.

Mithril.

Adamantine.

Purple gold.

He took all of it without hesitation.

As for the diamond coins, low-level beast cores, and inferior magic crystals—

Kent barely even glanced at them.

He had no time to waste on things of comparatively little value.

After collecting the materials that interested him, Kent rushed toward the stairs.

From the height of the interior, he estimated that despite the fortress’s towering exterior, the storage area itself probably consisted of only three enormous levels.

And if the first floor already contained this much wealth...

Kent could hardly imagine what was waiting for him above.

Kent took one glance around the second floor and immediately headed for the third.

There was nothing there that truly caught his interest.

The entire floor was filled with weapons forged from refined iron, magical beast hides, furs, and various other materials.

To ordinary adventurers, every one of those items would have been worth a considerable fortune.

Kent, however, barely spared them a second glance.

Compared with the mithril and adamantine piled throughout the first floor, these things simply weren’t worth mentioning.

Of course, there was a reason the auction house treated mithril and adamantine so casually.

Alchemy was poorly developed in the Underdark, and skilled alchemists were exceedingly rare. Without someone capable of properly refining and using such materials, even precious metals like mithril and adamantine were far less valuable here than they would have been on the surface.

“Holy shit... Why are there so many boxes?”

The moment Kent reached the third floor, his excitement turned into frustration.

The entire floor was packed with chests.

Hundreds of them, at the very least.

If he had to open and inspect them one by one, who knew how long it would take?

Still, there was no helping it.

With a groan, Kent rushed toward the nearest chest and threw it open.

“A high-level magical beast core? Taking it.”

He opened another.

“Top-grade moonstone!”

Kent’s eyes immediately lit up.

“This is good stuff. Set one into a light-element magical weapon and it can nearly double its power.”

Another chest opened.

“Is this... magic silver?”

Kent stared at it for several seconds.

“Am I seeing things?”

He quickly moved on to the next.

“A low-level magical item?”

Kent’s enthusiasm vanished at once.

“Trash.”

He picked it up, examined the enchantment, and tossed it aside.

“Only increases attack power by thirty percent? Don’t want it.”

And so it continued.

Chest after chest.

Kent complained constantly as he worked, but his hands never stopped moving.

To his surprise, nearly everything stored on the third floor could be considered high-quality merchandise.

He even discovered several magical materials that had supposedly vanished from circulation long ago.

That alone made the trip worthwhile.

Still, there was one thing that frustrated him.

Most of the chests contained either low-level magical items or high-level beast cores.

Truly rare gemstones and exotic materials were surprisingly scarce.

Even so, Kent was already more than satisfied with what he had collected.

After finishing his search, he prepared to head downstairs.

Yet just as he turned to leave, a strange feeling came over him.

Something wasn’t right.

Kent stopped and frowned.

He thought about it for a moment but couldn’t immediately figure out what was bothering him.

Eventually, he gave up and headed downstairs.

He had barely reached the first floor when the answer suddenly struck him.

“Damn it!”

Kent slapped his forehead.

“This is one of the biggest auction houses in Salt City. How could they possibly not auction magical pets?”

His eyes widened.

“And magical beast eggs! There should definitely be magical beast eggs!”

He had been careless.

An auction house of this size couldn’t possibly possess only the goods he had just seen.

There was only one reasonable explanation.

The truly exceptional treasures weren’t stored in these three floors at all.

They had to be hidden somewhere else.

“Then where the hell are they?”

Kent immediately began searching the interior again.

He examined the walls, the floor, the corners, and every suspicious-looking section of the fortress.

But he quickly dismissed the idea of a simple hidden compartment.

The auction house would need to move large magical beasts, cages, eggs, and bulky treasures in and out.

Whatever secret storage area they used would have to be much larger than an ordinary concealed room.

A cellar?

An underground vault?

Perhaps some kind of hidden chamber beneath the fortress?

And the entrance certainly couldn’t be too small.

Kent searched the entire first floor again.

Nothing.

He checked every wall and every section of flooring that looked even slightly unusual.

Still nothing.

“Where could they have hidden it?”

Kent frowned and muttered to himself, increasingly puzzled.

Kent was beginning to grow impatient.

He had searched all three floors of the warehouse over and over again.

He had tapped along every section of wall, swept the entire building with his mental power, and tried virtually every method he could think of.

Yet the hidden vault he was convinced must exist was nowhere to be found.

Kent forced himself to calm down.

After taking a few deep breaths, he sat quietly on the floor and began thinking the matter through from the beginning.

There was no way he was giving up now.

The treasure was practically already in his hands.

How could he possibly walk away from it so easily?

Outside, Daphne was becoming increasingly anxious.

Kent had been inside for quite some time, yet there was still no sign of him.

Even so, she remembered his instructions and resisted the urge to follow him in.

She had a vague idea of what Kent was doing inside, after all.

Besides, the Dragon Turtle was still waiting beside her.

Unfortunately, the enormous beast had simply closed its eyes and remained perfectly still, showing no concern whatsoever.

With nothing else she could do, Daphne paced back and forth in front of the fortress.

More time passed.

Kent still did not appear.

Daphne’s worry only grew stronger.

Eventually, she walked over to the stone steps beside the entrance and decided to sit down for a moment.

She quietly made up her mind.

If Kent still hadn’t come out after she rested for a little while, she would wake the Dragon Turtle and make it go inside with her to look for him.

Daphne had only just sat down when—

Click. Click. Click.

A strange grinding sound suddenly came from beside her.

Startled, Daphne immediately sprang to her feet.

Then her eyes widened.

A large opening had appeared beneath the fortress-like building.

Inside the opening was a stone staircase descending deep underground.

Daphne was still staring at it in astonishment when she suddenly sensed someone appear beside her.

She turned her head.

It was Kent.

“Daphne, you really are my lucky star!”

Kent’s eyes lit up the instant he saw the hidden passage.

“You stay here. I’ll go down first and take a look.”

While sitting inside the warehouse, Kent had felt the faint vibration caused by the mechanism opening.

He had rushed outside immediately, only to discover the concealed underground entrance.

And the instant he saw it, everything became clear.

The person who had designed this secret passage had been a true master.

They had understood human nature perfectly.

Anyone searching for a hidden vault would naturally focus on the inside of the fortress—its walls, floors, corners, and concealed compartments.

Who would think that the mechanism controlling the entrance was actually outside, disguised as nothing more than an ordinary stone step beside the main gate?

Kent didn’t even have time to ask Daphne exactly what she had done.

Voices were already approaching from the distance.

Apparently, the dark elves had grown worried that something might have happened to their Honorary Elder after he had remained inside for so long.

Kent glanced toward the approaching sounds, then back at the dark stairway.

There was no time to waste.

Whatever the First Auction House had hidden beneath this fortress—

he intended to find it first.