Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 157
Chapter 157: Chapter 49. The Fifth Auction of Devildom (5)
The Spirits of Water strongly denied it. Of course, nobody would admit that they were the cause of the problem. However, Krithli did not care much for their denials; she did not expect an answer in the first place.
The purpose of her visit was to hear more about Arshilla. Out of all the stories that she heard about Arshilla, her connection with Kerpy surprised Krithli the most. Arshilla gave birth to Kerpy, one of the most important spirits in this area.
Kerpy was a beautiful female spirit. When she materialized herself, just like how the Spirits of Fire did, the spirit transformed into a gorgeous female figure with beautiful light blue hair. Wearing a dress made out of water, the spirit spoke elegantly.
“I am a spirit who was born in a lake. Arshilla named me.”
Krithli asked the spirit if anyone made a contract with Arshilla.
Then Kerpy shook her head.
“I do not know who made a contract with Arshilla. All I remember about her is the fact that she named me. Although spirits enjoy extreme longevity, they do fade away after about three thousand years. When I was still the lake and did not have an ego as a spirit, Arshilla named me and gave birth to me. That is all I remember about her.”
Spirits were born in slightly different ways than elves. Elves were born naturally from various elements, which had survived a tremendously long time. On the other hand, a spirit could be born from an object, when another spirit gave it a name.
Of course, giving a name was just one of the requirements. The named object also needed to stand the test of time. In that respect, both elves and spirits have that in common.
Based on the information that Kerpy gave, she did not seem to know Arshilla very well, too.
When Krithli told her that the Spirits of Fire were very mad and that they might even start a war, Kerpy became rather angry and claimed that they were the victims.
“If they want to go to war, let them! Those filthy spirits stole our sacrifices for God! That was twenty thousand years ago, though. However, I heard that they shamelessly put out our sacrifices in an auction. We will never forgive them.”
The pieces of information that she told me sounded very similar to what Deboron had told me; Deboron got the item two thousand years ago and put it out in this auction.
With that, the meeting with Kerpy, the Spirit of Water, ended.
When I was about to open the door and walk out, Kerpy asked me a question.
“Wait, demon, what is your name? For some reason, I feel somewhat uncomfortable. I cannot remember clearly, but I think I had the same feeling when I met with Arshilla… Somehow this feeling is very familiar to me, and it makes me very confused.”
The Spirits of Water could penetrate the essence of others. Of course, such an ability varied from individual to individual, but in general, they were much more sensitive than any other spirits or demons.
Kerpy’s level was high compared to those of other highest spirits. If she could feel something different, she would probably be correct.
“My name is Randalf Bruciel.”
I answered shortly and closed the door.
Now, I have heard two sides of the story.
“Do you have any conclusion?”
As soon as I closed the door, I asked the question to Krithli. I had decided to let her take charge of this issue, so I would follow her decision.
Krithli gave me her clear answer.
“I learned that spirits are much simpler than I expected.”
“Spirits, in general, are dumb. The Spirits of Darkness are unusually clever.”
No one could match the Spirits of Darkness when it came to devising tricks and executing them. They were very similar to demons in that they were very greedy and driven by their instincts. Perhaps such a similarity was the reason that the Spirits of Darkness offered me a deal in the Auction of Devildom.
“It is clear that Deboron is pulling the strings here. The other spirits must have known about it. However, we have solid pieces of evidence now, and I don’t think any Spirit of Darkness could intervene in this process. After all, this event took place twenty thousand years ago. I guess that Jeeves and Kerpy stopped their investigation at that point.”
“The bad relationship between the two must have also contributed to the halt in the investigation. The more they dug, the angrier they must have gotten.”
Although spirits were simple, they still knew how to think. However, the Spirits of Fire and the Spirits of Water had bad relationships with each other, and each believed that the other stole their sacrifices for their God.
Despite the possibility of a third person hijacking the sacrifice, the spirits believed what they wanted to. They were very emotional beings, too.
The Spirits of Fire had hot tempers, and the Spirits of Water could be very irrational like tough tsunamis.
It was clear that they would soon collide with each other if no one mitigated the two.
“My Dungeon Master, we need to make a decision.”
“Between the Fire and the Water Spirits?”
Krithli shook her head.
“We need to choose between the Spirits of Darkness or the Spirits of Fire and Water.”
Krithli seemed to be sure that the Spirits of Darkness, including Deboron, were the culprits. And she also implied that our decision to investigate this issue would affect the conflict between the spirits later.
I took some time to think about the gains and losses of each choice.
I thought about what would happen if I teamed up with the Spirits of Darkness. By helping them, I would provoke the Spirits of Fire and Water, and they would soon start fighting with each other. While they were fighting, the Spirits of Darkness would get stronger and discover more valuable items, which would increase the quality and number of items put out in the Auction of Devildom.
Then I considered the second option, which was helping the Spirits of Water and Fire.
“The Spirits of Darkness would then be more obsessed with points,” I thought.
I preferred the latter option. Instead of helping Adonis, the Spirit King of Darkness, I wanted to corner him, so that he would have to ask help from me.
After all, the Auction of Devildom was a luxury for me now. I did not care too much about the quality and number of items in the auction. What interested me more was the items that the other demons purchased. I needed to keep them in check.
On the other hand, if Adonis got cornered, he would not have any other option but to ask for help from me. He would not perish so easily because of the blessings of the Demon God, but he would be in desperate need of points; spirits used points from demons to get stronger and enhance their grades.
All Adonis could do was fight other spirits with this power, which came from the points that demons paid him. Of course, he had accumulated a lot of points so far, and he would not collapse dramatically any time soon.
Adonis ruled most of the World of Spirit in the previous life. I wanted to change this.
Even if Adonis did find out that I manipulated everything behind the scene, he would not be able to easily forsake me.
Out of all the demons, I paid the most points to the Spirits of Darkness. He could neither forsake me nor trust me.
“I would like to tell the truth to the Spirits of Water and Fire.”
I did the math, and I was inclined towards this option.
When I gave my answer, Krithli nodded as though she expected that I would choose this option.
“Then, all we have to find out is who sold the sacrifice. Pandemonium put out the essence of fire for sales, and we need to find evidence that the item was stolen in the first place. For the godly energy of water, we need to find who stole it. Once we find this information, everything else would be straightforward.”
“The spirits are bound by the contract of the Demon God. It might be hard to find their weaknesses.”
“My Dungeon Master, the demons were the ones who offered the contract. When they offered the contract to the Spirits of Darkness, they were not quite ready yet. Therefore, a guide took the item himself, and the demons guarded him. In other words, we can ask the guide who was in charge of Pandemonium.”
What Krithli suggested made sense. Had the demons been fully prepared, the exchange process could have been much simpler, and the guide would not have known anything about the contract. However, the Spirits of Darkness changed the auction items so abruptly, and the demons did not have much time to prepare before executing their plans. Without any careful plans, the demons had to run errands and physically get the item.
The gist of Krithli’s plan was to carefully investigate this process by asking the guide to see if there were any evidence we could gather.
“Is it going to work?”
Asking the guide for the information would be very dangerous.
If Adonis found out that we were trying to get the information from the guide, I did not know what the consequences would be.
Secretly asking the guide was an act of offense. If Adonis discovered our attempt, we would become hostile at best. The consequences could only be worse.
It was a rather peaceful time, and Adonis was not interested in getting stronger at the moment. Although he wanted to earn more points, he was not in a hurry. The spirit believed that everything was going as his plan.
Krithli told me quietly.
“I have gained the power of Ganak, the King of Death. He was a crazy dark wizard, who wanted to completely control death and darkness. However, the area of his expertise lied in ‘manipulation.’ With his power, I may be able to manipulate the mind of a Spirit of Darkness. Of course, the spirit has to first be completely knocked out…”
“That I can do easily. The guides will be around the reception area anyway.”
“My Dungeon Master, my uttermost concern is the other demons. I am afraid that if they get involved, everything will get complicated.”
The Spirits of Fire and Water were far away from the location where the auction was held.
The organizer must have put them in such locations because they might fight with each other and interrupt the auction.
Furthermore, there were very few Spirits of Darkness around.
On the other hand, the demons were close to the center of the castle.
If the demons started to move, the Spirits of Darkness would get nervous. Then they would change their paths and the guides would move accordingly.
However, I shook my head.
“I think it will be okay. If the demons step in and create a mess, no one will notice even if a guide or two disappear.”
“Then… before we start moving, we need to find out the exact locations of the guides.”
“That is a simple matter.”
After all, I was the one who was going to execute this plan.
If I hid, no one in this castle could find me.
Krithli bowed quickly. The look she gave me was one of utmost trust.
If I remembered correctly, guides gathered at a separate place. They shared information about the demons that they served, and they boasted their achievements in front of the others.
And I was correct.
“It’s alive for real? Huh!”
“Maybe there is an error with the system. Even Deboron is very surprised.”
“Oh, wow. I won’t be surprised if we get promoted next year!”
“And the items that will come out in the separate auction are great, too. I heard that they will have the Tree of the World and the Quintessence of Origin… And I heard rumors that even our king might participate, too! Haha!”
I overheard the guides’ conversation through the wall. Most of the guides were here. There were a couple of rules for them. First, they had to guide the demons before and after the auction. Also, they had to stay in this area unless if there was an emergency.
The rules existed for keeping the information about the items and other demons secrets.
I waited calmly.
I was sure that something would happen soon.
Staying quiet for even half a day was challenging for demons.
After a few hours, something happened as I expected.
Boom!
“W-what is going on?”
“Is the castle going down?”
The castle vibrated, and there were loud noises.
“Evacuate! Guides evacuate now!”
One of the highest spirits, who was guarding the entrance yelled urgently. Then the guides started to run, and I also started to move, too.
I approached the guide of Pandemonium like a shadow and kidnapped him.
“Uh…!”
The guide was surprised and tried to resist, but his efforts were futile.
Then I took him somewhere no one could see us. There stood Krithli with a large crow, waiting for me.
Krithli was making a good use of the power of Ganak, the King of Death.
She looked at the guide while tightly holding the Death Cane. When the guide looked into Krithli’s eyes, he began to shake as though he was possessed.
“Who sold the godly energy of the Spirits of Water and who is their guide?”
“Ariel… Diablo…”
He then described the appearance of the guide, who was responsible for Ariel Diablo. When he finished explaining, he dropped his head.
When I looked at Krithli, she started to speak.
“My Dungeon Master, the spell that I used would wear out soon, so I made him pass out. When he wakes up, he won’t remember a thing.”
“That’s good. Now it’s time to get another.”
“Master…”
Krithli looked concerned. I snickered and spoke.
“Krithli, I will be okay.”
“…I believe in you, my Dungeon Master.”
I moved very quickly to make the best use out of this chaos.
After twelve hours, the auction for individual items began.
I followed a spirit, who looked like a gnome.
“I heard that Archduke Ariel and Ufa fought with each other. I am glad that the fight is over now.”
“I see.”
“Haha! At least the fight ended smoothly, although some demons were heavily injured…”
The talkative Spirit of Darkness guided me.
When we arrived at the auction house, I could find a few familiar faces.
“Huh?”
The Spirits of Darkness looked baffled. They could not understand why the Spirits of Water and the Spirits of Fire were confronting each other in front of the gate. The spirits should have already entered the auction house and gotten prepared for the auction.
The two clans of spirits were about to fight. However, it was odd that none of them was trying to initiate the fight.
I soon learned the reason that no one had started the fight.
They started talking as soon as they saw me.
“Randalf Bruciel! I have been waiting for you. Let us enter the auction house together.”
“Jeeves, he will be joining us.”
The two spirits, who were Jeeves, the Spirit of Fire, and Kerpy, the Spirit of Water, looked at me together as though they were competing with each other.