Final Boss

Chapter 12: Steinbeck Suzerain with Disaster-Ridden Future Prospect on the Path of Taking Office Part 2

The underground black market of Adelaide Kingdom, a member of “Clark Alliance”

Taking on the guise of being a mercenary looking for a task, Clyde put on a white demon mask. Like this, he could avoid anyone looking straight at him and dying on the spot. Currently, he needed at least 500 gold coins to build a bridge. If the other hidden expenses were considered, the cost wouldn’t be lower than 1,000 gold coins.

All the missions issued in the underground dark market leaned toward the illegal or immoral. Assassination commissions were the most common. There were also many missions hiring thugs to beat people. Clyde didn’t even think about these two types of missions. He was unfamiliar with the topography of this different world; thus, looking for a certain person would be incredibly difficult. Other than these two types of missions, the slave trade was the fastest way to earn money. Many slave traders wantonly hired manpower to invade hostile nations and capture slaves. While with low level slaves, the price per slave was rather slow. There was no pay ceiling since traders paid according to the number of slaves.

Most of the mercenaries who came to the underground black market were daredevils brazenly walking between life and death. Scars from old weapon wounds were engraved into their tough bodies, but these daredevils retreated and made way on their own initiative upon seeing Clyde. In this dark environment, Clyde unconsciously emitted his evil aura, making these daredevils feel an inexplicable fear.

Clyde ignored these miscellaneous fishes. As long as no one looked for trouble, he was too lazy to take the initiative to seek trouble himself. At the service desk of the underground dark market, he met a few silent maids. These maids wore black attires and resembled nuns. Their faces couldn’t be seen because they wore masks. The only difference between them and actual nuns was that the necklace resting on each of their bountiful chests didn’t have a cross, but rather a skull, the symbol of the underground black market.

“May I ask how we can help you?”

“Is there any mission to earn more than 500 gold coins in a single go? I will not accept the mission if the reward is too small.”

“This... please wait a moment. I will immediately check for you.”

After hearing Clyde’s requirement, the maid responsible for the reception desk was clearly stunned. At present, within the missions in their hands, the highest reward did not exceed 100 gold coins. This dark mercenary, however, required a mission with a reward of over 500 gold coins. Handling this mission was quite risky and could end up being a rather tricky situation. Although dark mercenaries didn’t need to pass qualification authentications, and they lacked mercenary ranks unlike regular mercenaries, employers still examined the relevant records before hiring. This person before her had clearly just entered the profession since he lacked any awareness of the mercenary norms.

“Mister, I’m really sorry. I don’t have any mission for more than a hundred gold coins. How about trying the mission to capture slaves? Those missions are paid according to the number of slaves. Naturally, if the quality of the slave is high, then not to mention 500 gold coins, over 10,000 gold coins is also possible.”

“That’s fine. I will go to some other places and take a look.”

Clyde was not interested in capturing slaves. If he truly wanted to enter this trade, the Princess Saras sitting beside him was worth over 100,000 gold coins. There was no need to capture other people, but the integrity of the underground black market was seriously too much. In the high-value slave list, the name and value of every princess from every empire, kingdom and principality of “Clark Alliance” could be found; they didn’t even spare the people of their own side. The dared to clearly mark the price of princesses on their side who could very well shut down their operations.

“Extreme Night Princess” Princess Ophelia of Augusta Empire was worth a million gold coins, ten times the worth of Princess Saras, despite there being no obvious gap in their attractive indexes. However, Princess Saras didn’t have any combat or magic abilities, so it was understandable why she was not worth so much. Princess Olia, who had given Clyde ten gold coins, was worth 500,000 gold coins. She was worth just half of her big sister.

Clyde seriously doubted whether this list was realistic. If someone truly captured them, would the underground black market dare to sell them? Ophelia was not even the princess with the highest worth in “Clark Alliance.” She merely held fourth place. There were three princesses worth more than her. This world was truly too crazy. Just when Clyde was preparing to leave, he saw a person hiding in a dark corner suddenly wave at him.

Although Clyde didn’t recognize the other party, since the other party took the initiative to invite him, Clyde chose to accept the appointment. His strength was so horrifying that even if this other party dug a pitfall for him, he would still fearlessly jump in. Clyde followed this figure, and after taking a turn, he noticed a hidden door nestled in a corner. There was a dimly lit restaurant behind the hidden door.

In this mysterious restaurant, there were very few guests, but this didn’t affect Clyde’s decision. The person who had led him here was sitting on an open seat located at the foremost position. In front of this woman were two cups of steaming coffee sitting on the table. One was for Clyde, and the other was for herself. Clyde could smell a very alluring fragrance from the coffee. It seemed to be very expensive.

Although the other party wore a black cloak that concealed her true appearance, from her exposed slender little hands with her fair skin and exquisite fingers, one could easily tell that she was a girl without a doubt. Clyde even saw rings and bracelets on her hands. This girl who was hiding her identity was definitely a very rich girl. Her every finger had a ring, each adorned with a different colored, expensive gem. From those rings, Clyde could sense a strong aura of different attributed magical elements, proving that they were high-grade magic rings.

“Don’t be so nervous. This coffee is on me. It only costs 20 gold coins per cup, nothing more.”

Clyde quickly realized that this hidden mysterious restaurant was actually a gathering place for billionaires. Almost all the other guests also wore black cloaks to conceal their identities. Between tables were transparent sound insulation barriers, so no one could hear the discussion contents of other guests sitting at their own separate tables.

After that mysterious girl invited Clyde to sit down, a waiter brought out some fine dishes. All were exquisite foods. According to the menu, these dishes made with rare ingredients were worth over 500 gold coins. The world of the rich was really hard to understand: they could easily toss out the cost of building a bridge.

The remuneration offered to those of the magician profession was very big. This girl was a magician, so it was not hard to understand why she was rich. Just the rings on her fingers were priceless.

Considering that Lucifer and Princess Saras waiting for him outside had not eaten yet, Clyde didn’t start to eat. He was considering whether he should pack some for them, but asking for take-out in such a high-grade restaurant would be throwing away his face!

“You must have some purpose in seeking me out. If you don’t make it clear, I will not bother you.”

“Eh, you want to struggle for less than 20 years... Cough. Cough. Excuse me, I will change my wording. You seem to be in dire need of money, I can help you solve it, but you have to protect my safety.”

“Excuse my frankness, but you can easily hire other people. You certainly don’t need to look for me. If you have enough money, you could even hire a Mercenary King.”

“This... I have my own special reason, so I cannot hire people of Mercenary Guild. If you accept my task, I can pay you 1,000 gold coins upfront.”

“Fine, I will accept the task, but you have to heed my arrangements.”