Chapter 177: Heracles (2)
In front of the building the merchant had recommended—the merfolk pirate crew’s headquarters—only two merfolk stood guard, with no other visible security.
Contrary to the notorious reputation of the pirate crew, anyone could come and go freely.
Poseidon, well aware of the kind of things merfolk typically got up to, walked straight there out of pure curiosity.
He passed through every obstacle in his path in a straight line right up to the entrance.
To anyone watching, his behavior screamed “This guy looks pretty suspicious, doesn’t he?”
Yet the guards showed no reaction whatsoever even as he approached to enter. These were guards stationed precisely to screen people at the entrance, after all.
They merely glanced at him once before looking straight ahead again.
Poseidon found this peculiar behavior of the merfolk far more intriguing than whatever matter had warranted Themis personally appearing before him.
‘Since when have merfolk become this tame?’
In his experience, merfolk were the kind of thieves who would empty your pockets the moment your eyes met theirs.
They were so notoriously vicious that he sometimes wondered if, among all the races under his domain, they might be the worst when it came to sheer nastiness.
‘Hmm… But these guys are being this docile? Normally, if I teased them this much, they’d already be picking a fight and stripping me naked by now.’
Poseidon’s thoughts weren’t far off the mark. Right now, the guards on duty—Lugi and Hii—were itching to tie up this observing mage somewhere and strip even his soul bare.
Unfortunately for them (and fortunately(?) for the mage), the pirates had recently been unified under a single captain.
A powerful central figure had emerged to rein in these formerly lawless individuals.
And one of that captain’s orders was to faithfully stand guard at the entrance.
‘If it weren’t for the captain…’
‘Sigh, just hurry up and go already, human.’
But the mage, seemingly oblivious to their inner turmoil, paced back and forth in front of them several times, waving his fingers teasingly.
After wandering back and forth, side to side for a while while staring at Lugi and Hii, the mage finally seemed to tire of it and shook his head.
“Sigh… Since when did merfolk become this spineless? Fine, I’ll let it go.”
With those words and a sigh, the mage entered through the entrance and disappeared.
“Seriously, how are they supposed to pirate on the seas if they’re this weak?”
““…””
At that remark, Lugi and Hii clenched their fists, glaring daggers at the mage’s back as if ready to smash the back of his head at any moment…
But what could mere underlings like them actually do?
The fear of the captain’s rage if they disobeyed orders far outweighed their personal feelings.
***
“Phew, is it really okay to leave such boring guys guarding the place?”
Having thoroughly enjoyed himself at Lugi and Hii’s expense, Poseidon stepped past the entrance into a long corridor. It was just an ordinary inn-like hallway—nothing special.
“Since when did the merfolk pirate crew get this tame, anyway?”
Even as he walked down the long corridor, he grumbled about how unsatisfying the guards’ reaction had been.
Normally, anyone entering this seemingly mundane hallway would already be overwhelmed from the start—but his mind was still filled with thoughts of those foolish-looking guards.
The various magical forces filling the corridor barely caught his interest at all.
Most ordinary people who passed through here would be overpowered just by the sheer variety of magic they could sense…
“Tsk, so crudely made. Hecate’s workshop back in the day was far more fascinating. That magic circle’s stroke count is off, that one’s smudged. Was that intentional? If so, whoever planned this must be incredibly incompetent. And how are they supposed to distinguish those who’ve reached mastery with such sloppy magic, anyway?”
To Poseidon, it was unbearably crude.
Just look at the imperial palace of the Mycenaean Empire—how clean, precise, and scholarly it was.
“Of course, I did personally help Hecate build that one myself… Still, isn’t this a bit too sloppy even for the merfolk pirate crew?”
If the pirate crew’s mages had heard him, they would have spat blood in disbelief.
Comparing their setup to the Mycenaean imperial palace!!!
***
Grumbling nonstop, he eventually reached the end of the corridor.
He opened the wooden door there.
Creak!
With a metallic screech as if it hadn’t been oiled properly, light poured out.
Whoosh!
The light that enveloped Poseidon as he opened the door completely changed the scenery before him.
Even Poseidon couldn’t help but feel a touch of admiration for this.
Fixing another dimension in place was no easy feat of magic, after all.
“Whoa, so that’s why the corridor was so pathetic. They poured all their effort into creating and maintaining a space like this. Now my evaluation’s a little different.”
Once again casually saying something that would make the mages spit blood if they heard, Poseidon stepped out from the entrance—now guarded by merfolk who looked considerably stronger than those outside.
And the scene that unfolded before him was—
—“Oh my! Handsome knight over there, want to have some fun with me?”
—“Selling a portion of the immortal herb here. Official product certified by the merfolk pirate crew!”
—“Need a capable slave? Three meals a day and 100 drachmas a month (1 gold coin), and you can command an Andros-class female warrior!!”
—“Come to the fantasy land of Boogie World~ Rabbits, foxes, raccoons, wolves, deer, and all kinds of beastfolk are waiting to welcome you~~”
—“Come here! Just bring the ingredients, and I’ll craft all sorts of curse potions for you—like [Doruhon’s Terrible Agony] and more.”
It was a space teeming with all sorts of races and creatures noisily milling about.
A separate world fixed in place by stakes driven into the dimension—here, transactions crossed freely between the illegal and the barely legal, things impossible to see on the outside.
And above all…
— Ahem… Is that really the stone Aphrodite sat on?
— Heh heh heh… Customer. Us merchants have nothing if not trust. How could people selling items still warm with the lingering aura of the gods possibly lack credibility?
— Well… that’s true, I suppose.
— Sigh. It’s perfectly understandable to be suspicious. So come this way for a moment…
…
— Gasp! This is the real thing!! The real deal!!
— Heh heh heh heh, yes indeed. You can tell just by feeling the divine power, can’t you? And above all, this piece that came off alongside the stone is definitely from the body of Lady Aphrodite herself.
— I’ll buy it!! No matter what!! I’m buying it!!
— Oh my, thank you so much, customer.
In the dark, shadowy corners, deals were being struck for things that should never see the light of day. This place was a criminal paradise, free from the laws, rules, and prying eyes of the outside world.
“Good grief. So that’s where all those filthy bastards disappeared to—this place.”
Even Poseidon, who loved freedom more than anyone, could only shake his head at the open sale of the gods’ intimate body parts and items connected to them.
“Of course… it’s laughable to stop idiots like Ares from doing the same thing.”
Muttering to himself, Poseidon began to move slowly, deciding that since he was already here, he might as well take a proper look around.
He had no intention of stopping this place, nor of reporting it.
Above all, such places couldn’t be stopped even if someone tried.
Even under the sea, there were several secret markets that the gods themselves patronized.
‘Besides, what the merfolk and mermaids get up to on land is often even worse than this.’
Moreover, this entire place had been created by the merfolk pirate crew. There was no need for him to stir up unnecessary trouble.
‘Blood is thicker than water, after all.’
***
Poseidon truly enjoyed himself, sightseeing to his heart’s content in this black market.
Even though he hadn’t gone particularly deep inside, word of his presence had already spread far and wide.
A wealthy magnate from the outside world had come to visit.
As a result, piles of goods began stacking up around Poseidon.
Unlike others, he didn’t bother carrying them by hand—he simply compressed the items neatly and let them float lazily in the air behind him, which made him stand out even more.
Of course, Poseidon had done it purely for his own convenience without much thought.
This behavior produced two major effects.
First, it revealed that he was quite a powerful mage, deterring small-time crooks from coveting his possessions.
Second, the factions already entrenched in the black market began to keep a close eye on him.
Naturally, this also gave rise to people scattered throughout the market who found him extremely irritating.
“Tsk, what does he think he knows, sweeping everything up like that?”
“Because of that guy, something I could’ve bought for 10 drachmas (10 silver coins) ended up costing me 50.”
“He looks like a total newbie who just arrived, yet he’s already disrupting the order here. He won’t last long acting like that.”
They were deeply annoyed by this powerful, money-flashing mage from the outside world.
No one knew who or where he came from, but watching a mage tear apart the ecosystem of the black market purely with money—how could that not twist their guts?
“So, big brother, it’d be smartest for you to buy a slave like me right now. They’re targeting you from pretty much every corner as we speak.”
“Hmm. Setting aside whether the people here are actually after me… how am I supposed to trust you? You haven’t proven a single thing—not your skill, not your loyalty, nothing.”
“Ha! Wow, you really are a complete greenhorn who knows nothing, huh? Why do you think we sell slaves in the black market? Obviously, we get absolute-obedience magic circles engraved into our bodies for our owners.”
Poseidon had come to observe the ecology of the slaves here. The red-haired woman who approached him to make her pitch caught his eye.
For someone selling herself as a slave, she carried herself with remarkable confidence. Her hair looked completely untamed—wild and unkempt—but its texture was like silk. And the way it flared out like a lion’s mane actually gave her the intimidating aura of a well-groomed lioness.
Moreover, her shoulders and thighs were broader than most men’s, and the defined abs visible through her torn clothing made her look, to anyone’s eyes, like an extraordinary powerhouse.
Even in Poseidon’s eyes, the woman before him seemed at least on par with Atalanta. Perhaps even stronger.
‘But for a woman like this to ask me to buy her…’
In his experience, cases like this almost always came with ulterior motives. The world was full of rough-looking mercenaries like her who turned out to be cunning as foxes.
“Hmm…”
Still, she was undeniably interesting. A female warrior who had reached a rare level of mastery—one of the very few like Atalanta.
Even though Chiron Academy trained heroes regardless of gender, there were clear limits of time and physics.
So this woman in front of him had reached such a monstrous level entirely on her own, without ever receiving Chiron’s training.
“Fine. This’ll be fun. I’ll buy you.”
“Wow. Very bold, big brother. But I’m on the expensive side, you know? I only approached you because you looked like you had money, but still.”
“Don’t worry about the money. As long as it’s not gold itself you’re asking for, anything that can be bought with money—I have plenty of ways to make it.”
“Hm, I see. Not sure why you suddenly brought up gold, but… hahaha, all right then. Let’s go to the slave trader. You’ll have to buy me there officially. Today’s luck is turning out great!”
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