CHAPTER 146: CHAPTER 146:BLACK MARKET [2]

"The artifact does not require mana to stay activated...instead, it requires blood."

Pausing and letting out a cough, the assistant paused before wearily continuing.

"Specifically not...your own blood."

Gesturing for me to touch the crimson-red handkerchief, he casually said.

"It requires blood of the source of scent you intend to suppress. For example, if you want to suppress the scent of a beast, you would need to feed blood from that beast into the handkerchief."

Perhaps, noticing my true intent with the scent-blocking handkerchief, the attendant added.

"If it is a human scent you wish to block off, it cannot be your own. You must...somehow obtain blood from another human."

Slightly confused, but intrigued by the artifact which met my basic requirements, I curiously asked.

"What if I want to block off the smell of inanimate objects or living beings without blood, like an onion or plants?"

Ashamedly looking at the ground, the attendant shut the chest, blocking the hankerchief from my sigh, and responded.

"That...is where the artifact falls short. Unfortunately, as far as our appraisers know, it can block the smell of animate objects containing blood or some type of similar life force."

Preparing to turn around with the box, he sighed and continued.

"I understand if the artifact is not up to your standards, cu-"

Interrupting the attendant mid-sentence, I reached my hand, grasping his shoulder, and confidently said.

"I’ll take it."

The artifact was easy to enable and disable, simply requiring me to unfold the handkerchief to deactivate it, and it could block out human scents.

That was all I needed.

Doing a complete 360, the attendant turned around, the chest with the handkerchief in his hands, and practically beamed while smiling at me.

Feeling good, I also pointed at the crimson-red watch through the glass and asked.

"The watch, I understand it hasn’t been tested, but does the appraiser know if it passively draws mana from your body when worn?"

Setting aside the box, the attendant paused before replying in a soothing tone.

"I’m not sure if an appraiser can find out about its abilities in such a short period of time, but I can definitely try to check if it draws mana!"

Nodding my head, I replied as the attendant leaned down toward the showcase block.

However...when he reached his hand forward, it simply passed right through the thick bulletproof glass as if it were a hologram.

Grabbing the red velvet pillow under the watch, he smiled and answered my confusion.

"The showcase blocks are all mass-manufactured artifacts that accept our mana."

Pointing at the glass, he walked back off to the backrooms and added.

"You can try for yourself; it won’t accept your mana to pass through."

Letting my curiosity get the best of me, I reached my hand toward the glass, and instead of simply halting upon hitting the glass, my hand rebounded off it like a bouncy ball.

A storage artifact that would allow my and only my hand to pass through...the perfect vault.

Opening my chest, I finally peered at the price tag, which sat to the right of the camouflaged handkerchief.

[Rank C] / [Accessory Artifact (Smell)] / [7 Gold]

Ten gold coins...that was already almost half of the coins in my pouch.

Though as I recalled the horrid smells I had been forced to put up with for the past three weeks, my decision was instantly made.

It was an...investment!

A couple of moments later, the attendant returned with the watch and a passive expression, not revealing anything like last time.

Had Evangel somehow rubbed on him, through me?

Leaning downward and preparing to put the watch back in the showcase block, the attendant announced.

"Unfortunately, I cannot help with discovering whether it requires mana or not...for the time being, all our appraisers are occupied."

Titling my head, I responded.

"I can wait."

"You’ll have to wait an extremely long time...perhaps two to three days, cuckoo bi-"

Checking the time, ironically through the crimson-red watch the attendant was putting back, I realized that the time until my meetup with Zeke was running out.

Honestly, where else was I going to spend this money when I returned to the academy?

I, sure as hell, wasn’t giving any money to Glaive.

Taking out my pouch, hiding the Glaive phoenix symbol on it with my hand, I peeked within and responded.

"You know what, I’ll just buy it."

Worst comes to worse, I’ll have a cool watch to put in my room for deceroation.

Pausing, the waiter stood back up, hesitantly glancing at me, and reminded.

"The price on this artifact is ten golden coins."

"...ten?"

That, added with the handkerchief, was basically all I had in my pouch.

How could an unresearched and unknown C-ranked watch be worth that much?

Again, though, when I returned to Glaive, there would be nowhere for me to spend my money, so there was no point in saving.

To the attendant’s shock and...dismay, for some reason, I answered.

"Deal."

Looking around anxiously, the attendant opened his mouth, gripping the watch tightly.

Yet, before he could respond, another attendant, this time with a silver mask, appeared.

Looking over his subordinate’s shoulder, he asked in a sharp tone.

"Is there a problem here?"

Is there?

At this point, my curiosity was peaking.

My obsession with this watch had started with its design, but, upon seeing my attendant’s mysterious transformation after going to the shop’s backrooms, my complete and utter attention was on it.

If this was some sort of marketing tatic by the attendant, hell I didn’t care if I fell for it.

This guy had gone from completely showing all his emotions, including excitement and sadness, to trying to hide his expression.

Not allowing my original attendant to speak, I immediatly pointed at the watch and instantly responded.

"Yes, I’m trying to buy that watch and the handkerchief on the table. Could YOU ring me up?"

Greed was a powerful thing...I knew that best.