52. The City’s Earthbound Spirit

“I apologize for my disgraceful behavior. I’ve been feeling rather lonely lately.”

“You’ve lived alone for about a thousand years, and you’re still lonely?”

“For sentient beings, the emotion of loneliness never fades until death comes. And stop bringing up my age. It makes me feel old. Do you want a knuckle sandwich?”

Wait, if you’re a thousand years old, doesn’t that mean you are old?

The thought crossed my mind, but I kept it to myself.

If I teased her any further, I’d probably end up with a real knuckle sandwich.

“Anyway, Rafnel-nim, please do something about this ring. I can’t use it properly in its current state.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll adjust it for you. And as compensation for this incident, I’ll give you a half-price discount coupon.”

“A half-price coupon?”

“Yes. You can buy any one item in this shop at half price. Here, take it. You’re the only one in this city who has this coupon.”

“Whoa!!”

A coupon that lets me buy anything in Rafnel’s Atelier at half price?

That’s seriously incredible.

Half price. If I can get anything at half price, I should buy the most expensive thing here.

What should I choose? Most of the displayed items were potions.

If it were an Elixir, maybe. But I didn’t want to waste this coupon on a one-time-use potion.

The best option would be an accessory.

Rafnel mainly deals in potions and accessories.

Among them, there are quite a few with bizarre effects.

But if I look carefully, there might be artifacts-things you’d never find on the market.

I’d like to ask Olivia what’s good, but…

Even Olivia, who’s practically a walking labyrinth guide, didn’t know much about Rafnel’s Atelier.

No, it seemed like she barely knew anything outside the labyrinth. Whether she forgot or genuinely didn’t know.

The game Olivia played was probably hyper-focused on the labyrinth.

She knew almost everything about the labyrinth, down to the types of monsters in each version, but she had almost no information about the storylines or the Labyrinth City itself.

It felt like she just focused purely on the game’s mechanics and skipped all the story.

Anyway, since I couldn’t expect any info on Rafnel’s Atelier, I had to find something good myself.

“What’s the most expensive thing you have?”

“Hmm. The most expensive? Well, there’s the Yeouiju.”

“Huh?”

Yeouiju?

Wait, why is a Yeouiju here?

“You don’t know what a Yeouiju is? If you’re from the East, you should know. It’s like a dragon’s Mana Heart. You don’t know? It’s similar to a dragon’s core.”

“No, I know what a Yeouiju is. What I meant was, why is it here?”

A Yeouiju is that thing, right?

The round gemstone a dragon holds in its mouth.

“I got it as a gift from a dragon when I was traveling long ago. It was before I settled in the Labyrinth City. Quite an old memory now. I should’ve wrangled that guy before he ascended. Tsk.”

“Wait, you wrangled a dragon? Were you species-blind? There’s a pretty big size difference.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?! Size difference? Hmph. This brat.”

Rafnel raised her fist to deliver a knuckle sandwich.

I quickly stepped back and covered my head.

“As long as they can take a form similar to mine, it’s fine. If they can bear children, that’s all that matters, no?”

“Dragons can polymorph?”

“Polymorphing is a privilege of higher lifeforms. Most long-lived beings, if they’re spiritual creatures, can do it.”

“Ah-ha.”

One surprise after another.

Talking to her makes me realize that the world I’ve fallen into is much broader than I thought.

“Anyway, among the things I have, that’s the most expensive. The price is roughly 13,000 platinum coins. Just so you know, half of that is 13,000.”

“That’s more than the Empire’s budget for ten years.”

“Indeed. It’s that precious.”

The fact that even something that precious has a price tag is astonishing.

Platinum coins aren’t even something ordinary people get to see.

Gold coins are commonly used, but once you reach platinum, it’s too large for an individual to handle.

It’s a unit used by large merchant groups, nobles, or those of equivalent status when measuring budgets.

“Is there anything else? Something in the gold coin range?”

“Hmm. Among the expensive things in gold coins, there’s the Magic Pouch. But you already have a Dimensional Pouch, so that’s pointless.”

After pondering for a while, Rafnel rummaged around and pulled something out.

“How about this?”

“A… finger?”

“It’s called a Monkey’s Hand.”

“Uh, no thanks.”

A Monkey’s Hand that grants wishes.

I already know about that old, cursed urban legend.

I’ve never seen anyone come out ahead after using it.

It’s better not to touch that thing at all.

“You can sense the danger of this item? Is it your Spirit Eye?”

“No, I just know roughly what it is.”

“As expected of someone from the mysterious lands of the East. So knowledgeable.”

Rafnel grinned.

She probably handed it to me to test whether I knew about the Monkey’s Hand or not.

“Well, that’s about it for the expensive stuff. With the money you have now, you’d only be able to buy things with ambiguous performance.”

If I went straight for the platinum-tier items, there’d be no side effects.

But the ambiguously expensive ones come with drawbacks.

To mitigate those, you’d need another item to counteract them, but…

I don’t have that kind of money right now.

Besides, I haven’t even received the full compensation from the young lady yet.

The family’s retainers are supposed to bring the compensation to the Labyrinth City within this month, so I’ll have to wait until then.

“Got it. It doesn’t seem like the right time to use the coupon yet.”

“When the time comes, there’ll definitely be a moment to use it. If you hold onto something long enough, a use will appear. You can use it then.”

“Alright. I’ll use it when I find something good next time.”

Since I don’t need to use it right away, I’ll just stash it in my inventory for now.

It’s not like the coupon has an expiration date, so if I keep it, it’ll surely come in handy someday.

“Oh, right. I should’ve told you about the ring’s side effects.”

“Ah, right. We didn’t talk about the side effects. So, what were they?”

“Well, I saw about three strange female ghosts.”

“Female ghosts? Three? Hmm. Tell me more.”

I told her about the three lustful spirits I saw that day after being accused of being a monster-possessed individual and detained.

“A gray-haired woman with bandaged eyes, a black-haired woman covering her eyes with her hair, and lastly… a woman with pitch-black eyes, a dark crimson one.”

“Do you know them? They even mentioned your name, Rafnel-nim.”

“Those are… the Three Evil Women.”

Rafnel adopted a grave expression as she spoke.

The three evil women, passed down like legends in the Labyrinth City.

Alongside the Labyrinth Master, they’re the boogeymen that keep the city’s children up at night.

“They’re closer to spirits than lustful ghosts. They’re called Loa-ambiguous beings that are neither gods nor ghosts. It’s hard to explain, so just think of them as the city’s earthbound spirits.”

The earthbound spirits of the Labyrinth City.

Quasi-divine beings called Loa.

“They wander around looking for fun. Playing nasty tricks. You know the kind-no matter how much you search, one sock always goes missing. Or something you clearly put away just vanishes. Things like that.”

“That’s all their doing?”

“That’s what people believed in the old days. Whenever something inexplicable happened in the Labyrinth City, all blame was pinned on those three evil women.”

“Wow…”

“It seems the ring’s side effect attracts their attention.”

“Wait, isn’t that side effect way too severe? I thought it’d just be some weird sexual side effects. But the infamous evil women of the Labyrinth City are interested in me?”

“The side effect I expected was just ghostly harassment. It seems your Spirit Eye and the ring’s side effect caused some inexplicable interaction.”

Rafnel’s expression turned very serious.

Being marked by the city’s infamous earthbound spirits?

I thought they were just some random lustful ghosts, but hearing they’re named earthbound spirits sent a shiver down my spine.

“Hmm. They spoke to you three days ago?”

“Yeah. I haven’t seen them since.”

“Did you feel fear from them?”

“Uh, more like a ‘I’m screwed’ feeling. I was worried something weird would happen…”

“So they themselves weren’t frightening?”

“Huh? Uh, well…”

Thinking back, no, those spirits didn’t feel scary.

“Yeah. They didn’t seem particularly frightening.”

“I see. Hmm. Interesting. Maybe your wavelengths matched…”

Rafnel looked surprised.

What, was I supposed to be scared of them?

I just thought their bodies were lewd.

I assumed they were lustful ghosts because of their provocative outfits and perverted remarks.

“The fact that the three sisters just teased you and left is quite unusual. They didn’t break your mind or take anything. They just showed off their bodies and spouted obscenities. Fascinating.”

“Is that… good?”

“Can’t say yet. But it means there’s something about your Spirit Eye. Did they appear when you were alone at night?”

“Well, uh… I haven’t slept alone for the past two days, so…”

“What? You-you brat! Running around seducing women, huh? Just because you’re cute, you think you can charm anyone… Why won’t they come for me…?”

“No! I didn’t seduce anyone! It wasn’t my choice!”

“Typical Casanova excuse. Damn it. I’m stuck in this dingy room all day… Ugh. Fine. Wait a moment.”

Rafnel took out a piece of paper, wrote something, and handed it to me.

“What’s this? A talisman?”

“Think of it as a letter of recommendation. Take this to the black market.”

“Where in the black market should I go?”

“Look for a voodoo specialty shop. The owner is a voodoo shaman from the southern regions. Show him this, and… you’ll probably be allowed in.”

“Wait, hold on. Voodoo? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Voodoo shamans are the ones who understand Loa the best. He’ll grasp your situation better than I can.”

My situation.

Even I don’t fully understand what’s happening to me.

The thought of meeting a voodoo shaman, an expert on Loa, made me a little nervous.

“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. I should get going now.”

“Sure. Come back for the Ring of Etherealization in about a week. By then, I should’ve fixed most of its issues and side effects.”

“Got it. I’ll come back then.”

“Oh, and don’t be alone at night until you meet the voodoo shaman. Understood?”

“Yes, understood.”

I left the hole-in-the-wall shop.

I came here hoping to squeeze out some compensation, but I ended up entangled with something strange.

Of course, the past two days were uneventful.

According to Rafnel, it’s because I was with someone.

The moment I’m alone, the Loa are highly likely to reappear.

Guess I’ll have to cuddle with Yuria again tonight.

Can’t be helped.

Now I have a legitimate reason to hug Yuria while sleeping.

With a happy heart, I returned to Yuria’s place.