THMLM Chapter 09

Chapter 9

“Welcome, lady.”

A man wearing a strange and fancy duke-like mask suddenly approached.
When he appeared, the dark space slowly filled with light.

“I am the host of this place. I assume you came because you heard about the rare item that will be auctioned today?”

“That’s right.”

I had guessed as much — this must be the black market.
They called things ‘items’ here, but what was really being traded was always something specific.

‘Why are people so obsessed with those dangerous monsters?’

The man continued, “This is a creature not recorded in any document. Do you know about a beast that can change into the form the other person desires?”

“A beast that changes into what the other person wants?”

“Yes. Isn’t it fascinating?”

He spoke excitedly, but I just gave a half-hearted answer behind my mask.
“Yes, that sounds… really interesting.”

Even though I didn’t sound sincere, the man seemed pleased and stepped aside.
He politely turned the doorknob.
“Then, please enjoy yourself.”

‘Enjoy myself? In a place like this?’
I planned to make up an excuse to go to the restroom and leave midway.

Before going in, the man handed me a small plaque with a number — 666.

That meant there were at least 666 guests here, probably all nobles.
Even though I didn’t know anyone, I already felt uncomfortable.

‘666 people… in a black market. Great.’

I fiddled with the number plaque until an employee arrived to guide me to my seat.
The seats were far apart, each separated by partitions. It seemed they valued privacy.

My seat had a clear view of the stage.
The staff must have thought I was an important guest from the Crow Guild.

I leaned back into the soft chair and watched the host loudly introduce items on the stage.

The first things were jewels — necklaces with large gemstones that must have been worth a fortune, but the audience seemed bored.
Nobles could easily buy such things.
Even Bella once gave me similar jewels she found lying around.

Eventually, the crowd began to boo.

“Haha, I see I took too long with the introductions! Fine then, the night is long, and we have far more precious things ahead!”

“Oh! Finally, the real show begins!”
“Show us the famous beast!”

I straightened my posture.
This was the real start.

“I am Lowell, tonight’s host. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get straight to the main attraction!”

A strange sense of danger crept up my spine.

At his signal, staff brought in a large iron cage.
There was a loud clang from inside, but the cage was covered with cloth, so no one could see what was inside.

‘I hope it’s not too dangerous.’

Thanks to Ventin, I had seen a beast once — a black creature with long fangs that haunted my dreams for weeks.

“Tonight’s highlight!”

‘Please let it be something cute. Like a puppy. Or a fox.’

When the cloth was pulled off, two yellow eyes stared right at me.

“……!”

It looked exactly like what I had imagined — small, soft, and covered in fluffy white fur.
‘Wait, is that the beast that changes its appearance?’
That must mean it appeared to me in the form I desired.

‘So, to others, it must look monstrous.’

Excited whispers spread through the audience.
Lowell shouted, “The bidding starts at 100,000 gold!”

The moment he finished speaking, bidding signs shot up everywhere.
The price jumped from 100,000 to over 1,000,000 in seconds.

“1.1 million!”
“1.5 million!”

‘That’s clearly staged!’

Two bidders were obviously competing just to raise the price.
While I was still calculating how much I could possibly afford, the number kept climbing.

Then, the beast’s hopeless eyes met mine. My stomach twisted painfully.
But I couldn’t buy it — I didn’t have that kind of money, and drawing attention here was dangerous.

The auction ended at a staggering 5 million gold.
Lowell grinned ear to ear, and the fat man who won looked just as greedy.

“Then, this beast goes to guest number thirteen—”

BOOM!

A loud explosion interrupted him.
Dust and debris rained down from the ceiling.

“What was that?!”

Panic spread quickly. People began to stand up in fear.

Guest number 13 shouted at his servant, pointing at the stage.
“Bring it! Bring me my beast!”

‘Seriously? The building might collapse and he’s worried about that thing?’

The staff ran around in chaos.
Lowell grabbed one of them and hissed, “Don’t panic! You want to ruin business?!”

“But sir, that explosion… Could it be the palace found out—?”

“The Crown Prince wouldn’t! Now go find out what’s going on!”

He sent the staff away, then calmly fixed his mask and returned to the stage.
“Ah, everyone, it’s nothing! Just a small accident, nothing to worry about, haha!”

People slowly calmed down and sat again.
But guest number 13 was furious.
“My beast better be safe! I don’t want to stay here another second — hand it over now!”

“Of course, of course. As soon as payment is confirmed,” said Lowell politely.

13 looked satisfied for a moment — but then the ground shook again.

“E-earthquake!”

A pale-faced staff member ran in, bleeding badly.
“Master! We must escape! Now!”

This time, it was no joke.

People screamed and rushed for the exits, covering their faces with masks.
Soon, only Lowell, guest 13, and me were left.

“Damn it! Give it to me!”

He tried to push past me to the stage.
I casually stretched my leg out.

“Urgh!”

Perfect timing — another tremor hit, and he fell flat.
‘Oops,’ I thought, stepping over him.

His servant helped him up, and they both ran outside.

Lowell was clutching his head, still dizzy from the shock.
I walked toward the cage and pulled away the curtain.

Golden eyes met mine — empty and hopeless.
I didn’t like those eyes.

“Let’s get out of here, shall we?”

I picked up a sharp piece of rock that had fallen from the ceiling and slammed it into the cage’s lock.

‘Not breaking easily, huh.’

Well, it made sense — this cage was built to hold monsters.

I looked around and spotted a key ring hanging from Lowell’s belt.
The moment I grabbed it, he woke up.

“Y-you! What are you doing?! That’s my 5 million gold beast!”

He finally realized what I was doing, and his drowsy eyes turned sharp.

I sighed.
“What do you think? Obviously, I’m letting it out.”

I flipped through the dozens of keys quickly.

“You think I’ll let you steal it? You’ll die before that happens!”

Click.
The lock snapped open.

The magic barrier and traps on the cage broke at once.

The small beast lifted its head weakly, finally free.

“Anyone can tell this one’s special,” I muttered.

The golden key glowed faintly — not something ordinary at all.

The beast’s blurry golden eyes fixed on Lowell.
He screamed as the beast leapt toward him.

“AAAH!”

‘I wonder… what does he see right now?’

To me, it was just a small, fluffy creature.
But to Lowell, his own fear would twist the beast’s form into something horrific and huge.

The beast attacked, knocked him down, and bared its fangs.

“Wait!” I shouted quickly.

The fierce golden eyes softened the moment it looked at me.

Half of my mask had already broken, so I took it off completely.
Then I smiled wickedly and pointed at the empty cage.

“Don’t kill him too easily. Let’s put him in there instead.”

‘An eye for an eye, a cage for a cage.’
It wasn’t mercy — being trapped in that collapsing room might be even worse than death.

The beast slowly nodded.