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Translator: penny
Chapter: 256
Chapter Title: Hassan at the Auction House #4
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“Hassan, have you seen this? The auction you went to yesterday is all over the papers!”
Luna fluttered the newspaper, giggling as if she’d spotted something hilarious.
Luna reading the newspaper.
It felt strangely touching to see her at it again. After that shady conspiracy about potions got splashed across the headlines last time, she’d sworn off them for a while.
Looks like the custom newspaper I slaved over all night had done the trick.
Not that I hadn’t strolled around with Kyun Kyun on my shoulder myself. The human mind might just have the grit to conquer trauma after all.
Not that Luna was your average human to begin with.
“Wow, elf prices shot up to 400 gold. You were there, right, Hassan?”
“Something like that.”
“I see.”
Luna nodded in that vague way of hers and flipped the page. I was racking my brain over what that “I see” even meant when she added,
“But a white elf slave? I kinda want one.”
“What?”
I was genuinely shocked, like she’d spouted some hentai protagonist line. Shocked enough that I felt myself lift a full centimeter off my seat while still sitting.
“Luna, why would you want an elf slave?”
“Slaves mean legal labor! A magic-using white elf—I could use their hair or nails and stuff for potion ingredients. Perfect.”
“Oh—well, don’t we already have Paranoy for that?”
“Paranoy? She’s been slacking off lately. Ever since she joined that STN Foundation or whatever, she won’t shut up about nymph labor rights and survival rights. Driving me nuts.”
Luna seemed a bit fed up with Paranoy these days. I’d thought they got along like sisters, but apparently there were tensions I didn’t know about.
More importantly, what was this STN Foundation? Sounded like some human rights group from the labor rights talk.
Human rights group. Hard to imagine something that soft existing in this world.
Paranoy had always been weird about it, ever since we met—ranting about rights for those creepy tree monsters, the stomps.
And she was an opportunist obsessed with grabbing more hell shares, authoritarian to boot.
I’d been a little worried lately since she hardly showed her face at the house.
Maybe she was hurt from getting exiled to the forest for sneaking wildling potions. But nope—she’d joined some odd foundation and was busy with activities.
I pictured a bunch of Paranoy-like nymphs waving pickets in protest. Chattering away noisily.
Toss ’em in a pot of boiling water and they’d scatter. Boiling water nymphs.
I was chuckling to myself at the image when Luna spoke up.
“Anyway, I could really use a compliant elf slave. If I had the money, I’d have bid at the auction myself. How much you got right now, Hassan?”
“Me?”
I thought of the gold pouch stashed at Luna’s place. 30 gold from escaping the abyss, plus 10 from various gigs. About 40 gold total. Not chump change.
Enough to buy a house with a yard in a mid-tier city like Calcutta and stock the pantry with flour.
But Luna furrowed her brow slightly.
“I’ve got about 10 gold I can scrape together. That’s 50 total. No chance for an elf slave. Ugh, I want a slave too—!”
Wanting a slave sounded pretty creepy from a modern sensibility.
But Luna ran a little workshop, right? Made sense if she just wanted a reliable part-timer.
Heck, in 21st-century Korea, every small business owner dreamed of slaves. Plenty treated their part-timers and managers like one—and don’t get me started on the Defense Ministry.
Even my dad.
He’d grumbled more than once about handing off the sauna to someone and vacationing for a few years.
Probably planned to dump it on me for a comfy retirement. Guess that made me the designated sauna slave.
So what now? He must’ve figured I’d take over, planning his golden years with Mom. Now that I’d vanished, did he hire help?
Or start training my little sister as successor? She hated saunas with a passion.
They’re probably fine without me.
The thought left me a bit down.
I miss Mom.
Seeing me suffering in this bizarre world, burned head to toe, she’d probably sob her eyes out.
Not that it wasn’t all my fault...
To shake off the gloom, I looked out the window. The rain had eased, but it was still dark and chilly outside.
After days of gloom, I almost missed the sun for a second. Then I remembered the scorching heat and was glad for the rain again.
Rain harder, damn it. Wash away the heat.
Lost in thought, I heard Luna say,
“Gotta walk Kyun Kyun, but this endless rain is a pain. Nemea skips lessons on rainy days too.”
“Walk? I took her out yesterday.”
“Yeah, but... Hassan, you didn’t feed her anything extra while you were at it, did you?”
Her question jogged my memory of tossing two or three rats her way yesterday.
“Dunno. Why?”
“Kyun Kyun’s gained weight! Look!”
Thud thud—
Luna dashed downstairs and came back with a iridescent spider perched on her palm.
Thump, thump—
“What the—damn it. What was that noise?”
“Kyun Kyun’s too fat to bark properly now! It’s more thump-thump than kyung-kyung!”
Thump thump—
A spider gaining weight didn’t seem like a big deal. But changing her bark like that? I was honestly shocked.
Was it my fault for giving her three rats at once? If her beloved pet spider got some adult-onset disease and shortened lifespan because of me, I’d feel guilty.
“No food for a week starting today, got it? Nothing, Hassan!”
Eeeoooong...
“Got it.”
“Anyway, isn’t it about time for your bandage change?”
“Yeah, guess so.”
At her words, I eyed the bandages wrapped tight around me. Memories flooded in of striding into the flames to calm burning Elfride.
Looking back, I wasn’t in my right mind.
How did I even think to walk into that fiery pillar? Full-body burns were par for the course.
Skin ruined, airways clogged, fingers fused—no surprise. Surviving at all was a miracle.
Rustle, rustle—
My hands shook more as I unwound the bandages. Burns leave massive scars.
Imagining my charred body was nightmare fuel.
What if I looked horrific? My breath hitched at the thought—then Luna placed her hand over mine.
“Looks aren’t everything, Hassan.”
She’d read my mind. She said no more, but it was enough.
“...”
I stayed quiet too.
That night—why I got burned, what happened with Elfride—I hadn’t told her. She hadn’t asked.
The papers painted me as a heroic firefighter, but Luna sensed there was more.
As always, I owed her big.
Rustle, rustle—
I unwound the hand bandages. The bitter salve had soaked in well—no major scars on palms or backs.
Even exposing arms and shoulders, the burns were faint. If anything had changed, my skin looked darker, glossier than before.
“Hassan, your skin’s tanned!”
Spot on.
My sun-beaten skin had always been on the darker side for a Samaarian—no, a Korean damn it—but now it gleamed like I’d hit the tanning salon on purpose.
What gives?
I’d braced for twisted scars, but maybe it was thanks to Venus’s “Tanned Skin” blessing? That tracked.
What did it do, anyway?
The name suggested just the looks, nothing else.
Though my skin did feel smoother. Beauty goddess Venus—probably a skincare buff.
The next day, as the downpour cleared and blistering sun beat down again, I got a hint of my new “Tanned Skin” perk.
*
*
*
Scorching heat, then floods. Floods, then scorching heat—Sodomora’s skies flipped like mad.
Rain hammered like you’d never known swelter. Then clouds parted, and everything dried to a crisp.
Worse, the prior rain left it humid. No AC or dehumidifier in the cabin—pure hell.
“Ugh. Feels even muggier than Ideophe—”
Ideophe Island was a tropical swamp. Luna grew up there young, so I figured she’d be used to humid heat.
“Hot—”
Post-rain, she was listless, sprawled on the cool floor like a frog hiding from the sun in shade.
“Too hot. You not hot, Hassan?”
She peered up at me from the floor, cooling her sweat.
I’d been staring outside. Oddly, the muggy heat didn’t faze me. Burned once, fireproof now?
Then it hit me—my new “Tanned Skin” blessing. Must grant heat resistance.
Nice.
“Hassan, heading out in this heat? For Hippolyte’s lesson?”
“Gotta. Staying cooped up just stiffens me.”
“Then grab some ice on the way back. Need to make a heat-repelling totem or something.”
Heat-repelling totem? Whatever—ice wasn’t hard. I nodded.
Outside, glaring sun and cicada shrieks assaulted my senses.
My steps aimed for Hippolyte’s place by the east gate. Not long since east gate, but her house felt like ages.
Knock knock—
A weary face answered. Sun-tanned skin, graying hair. Pipe in mouth. Antiope.
“Hey, Antiope.”
“Oh, Hassan. Come in.”
“You good? Haven’t seen you much—been busy?”
“Inspectors from the palace next week. Dying here. What’s up? Here for me?”
Puff—She blew smoke right in my face. Secondhand on a non-smoker, then face-blast?
I scowled hard; she cracked up like it was hilarious.
“Guy who’s fearless around fire hates smoke, huh?”
“What’re you on about?”
“Heard all about it. Walked into the flames? Place was buzzing for days.”
“Yeah?”
“Anyway, perfect timing. Had something to tell you. Come in.”
Antiope stepped aside from the door.
Without a word from me, she flopped face-down on the bed, shrugging off her leather top to bare her back.
There was the lightning tattoo I’d drawn, plus new unfamiliar ones: people battling a winged giant.
“This the story from back then?”
“Yeah, nailed it, right?”
“Showing this off?”
She kicked the bed with her legs at my question.
“Nah, no way. Rub my shoulders already. Hurry.”
“Suddenly?”
“Why play dumb? All your doing. Made my body crave your touch. Training me like that, huh?”
Her words dripped innuendo; I glanced around.
If Hippolyte overheard, she’d pop out yelling, “Antiope, did I teach you to—?” and spark a sister spat.
“Sis is out on fire cleanup—back late.”
“Damn, then no reason to be here. Supposed to learn aura.”
“Who cares. Rub my waist. Shoulders, back. Hurry, hurry!”
Antiope whined like an impatient Korean. Was she always this bratty? Felt familiar, though.
Back in Calcutta’s sewers, tweak-heads in withdrawal acted just like this—whiny kids.
Is my massage addictive?
Damn, even I thought that was hilarious. Anyway, I moved to her waist, digging my thumb into her tensed erector spinae and pushing up.
“Nnghaaa—!! Th-this feels so gooood—!!”
Hippolyte took massages quietly; Antiope screamed like a banshee. What if neighbors misunderstood?
“Feels like... reward for all the grind—!!”
Reward, huh.
What sinks into a weary body like massage? Mid-thought, lightning flashed in my mind.
“Reward—”