In the end, no battle broke out inside the cave.
That tense standoff somehow turned into a strangely atmospheric business negotiation.
Patches sat down on the ground, planted his greatshield in front of him, and laid out a dazzling row of goods behind it.
There was jerky of unknown origin, moss balls giving off a faint glow, and even a few shards he claimed to have picked up from Nokstella.
Kiro squatted across from him, listening with great interest as he bragged about the origins of every item.
“Don’t judge this jerky by how black it looks,” Patches said in a lowered, mysterious voice. “This stuff was dried from Demi-Human troop rations. Packs a real kick! You’ve seen those Demi-Humans, right? Howling like mad, every last one of them. Eat this, and you’ll be just like them!”
“Seriously?”
Kiro leaned in suspiciously and gave it a sniff.
A sour, rotten smell hit her so hard she nearly passed out on the spot.
“Of course! I, Patches, would never scam a friend!”
Patches patted his chest and guaranteed it.
Loran quietly watched from the side.
[Patches’ Affection toward Kiro: +15 → +20]
[Kiro’s Affection toward Patches: +15 → +20]
Truly, two rotten souls that had found each other.
Patches’ shameless nonsense and Kiro’s bottomless ability to accept anything formed a perfect supply-and-demand relationship.
One was willing to bullshit.
The other was willing to believe.
“And look at this.”
Patches took out another item like he was presenting a treasure.
“This is called the Mimic’s Veil. Use it, and you can turn yourself into a crate, a statue, or something like that. Just imagine it. You crouch by the roadside, wait for some unlucky Tarnished to come over, then suddenly jump up and smack him... That’s where the fun starts, right?”
“Whoa! There’s good stuff like that too?”
Kiro’s eyes widened.
Countless ways to mess with people using this thing had already begun appearing in her mind.
Loran’s gaze, however, fell on the very corner of the row of goods.
A black metal ring that looked as if it had been woven from countless twisted limbs.
[Margit’s Shackle]
[Price: 5,000 Runes]
Patches had clearly noticed Loran’s gaze as well.
He immediately put away that buddy-buddy act he had with Kiro and changed into the shrewd expression of a crooked merchant.
“Good eye, my friend.”
Patches chuckled.
“This one’s a treasure. Made especially for dealing with a certain gatekeeping Omen. With this thing, whatever kind of Fell Omen he is, he’ll have to get down on his knees and behave. So? Want one?”
Loran looked at Kiro.
Kiro was still listening with great enthusiasm. When she heard him, she waved impatiently.
“Buy it, buy it! It’s just five thousand runes, right? Give it to him!”
She casually grabbed a large handful of runes from her pouch and threw them onto the shield in front of Patches, not even bothering to count them.
Patches swiftly gathered the runes away, the smile on his face blooming like a sunflower.
He handed the black shackle to Loran, not forgetting to give him a look that said, kid, you just got yourself a real bargain.
The transaction was complete.
Their goal had been achieved.
Loran did not want to stay in this place for another second.
“Hey. Time to go.”
He patted Kiro on the shoulder.
“Go? Go where?”
Kiro had been talking with Patches right at the crucial part of “how to use rainbow stones to lure people to the edge of a cliff.” When she heard him, her face filled with reluctance.
“I’m not done talking yet!”
[Kiro’s Affection toward Patches: +20 → +30]
“If we don’t leave now, it’ll be dark soon.”
Loran pointed at the yellowing light outside the cave.
Only then did Kiro reluctantly stand up from the ground, turning back every few steps to wave at Patches.
“Next time! Next time I get something fun, I’ll come trade with you!”
“Sure thing, sure thing! You’re welcome anytime!”
Patches also waved enthusiastically, seeing them off as they left.
Even after they walked out of the cave and breathed in the fresh air outside, the excitement on Kiro’s face still had not faded.
She followed behind Loran, still savoring the conversation.
“Patches is really interesting!”
She turned to look at Loran, wearing the expression of someone who had discovered a whole new continent.
“How did I never notice that when I played the game before?”
Loran said nothing and simply kept walking.
“Hey, why don’t you learn from Patches and become more interesting too?”
Kiro followed behind him, grumbling in dissatisfaction.
“Patches is so much fun. Talking to him isn’t boring at all. I really don’t know how I ended up playing this game with a silent block of wood like you, and even transmigrated with you on top of that.”
Loran did not bother dealing with this illogical woman.
In his view, refuting her complaints would be inefficient.
He could not explain the definitions of “interesting” and “boring” in his world without exposing the logic beneath his own actions.
And any attempt to explain would only lead to more of her even less logical complaints.
Silence was the optimal solution for the current situation.
“Look, look, there you go again. Not talking again.”
Kiro kept chattering behind him.
“Do you think I’m annoying? Then say it! How am I supposed to know if you don’t say anything? You keep wearing that deadpan face all day. Who knows what’s going on inside your head? If you keep this up, I’m seriously going to burn you with Frenzied Flame!”
“We’re here.”
Loran suddenly stopped.
He pointed ahead.
The boss room was already visible in the distance.
That sentence worked better than any explanation or rebuttal.
Kiro’s complaints came to an abrupt stop.
Her attention was instantly drawn toward the enormous fun about to arrive.
“Oh! We’re here!”
She immediately grew excited, rushing three steps ahead of Loran and standing on tiptoe to look toward the majestic castle.
“Come on, come on! Let’s summon Rogier first, then get ready to fight! This time, I definitely won’t let him pull out that bullshit flailing combo again!”
The fog wall rippled like water.
Margit sat at the edge of the broken city wall, as if waiting for an old friend to arrive.
“I knew you would not leave the stage so easily.”
“I gave you a chance, lost Tarnished. Yet you still chose this path.”
He slowly stood up.
The body beneath his cloak gave off a pressure as heavy as a mountain.
“Then receive—”
“Now!”
Loran shouted in a low voice.
He did not wait for Margit to take his stance.
Almost the instant the other party stood up, he took out [Margit’s Shackle] from his waist.
Without the slightest hesitation, Loran poured all of his mental focus into it.
Buzz—
An invisible golden shockwave spread outward with Loran at its center.
Margit, standing in the arena, suddenly froze.
The wooden staff he had raised halfway stopped in midair.
A powerful pressure pinned him in place, leaving him unable to move.
“Graaah—!”
Margit let out a furious roar.
Every muscle in his body trembled violently beneath the restraint of that golden ring, trying to break free from the seal that existed specifically to restrain him.
[Affection: +30 → -100]
[Status: Sealed Temporarily / Enraged / Utterly Humiliated]
“That’s it! It works!”
Kiro screamed excitedly.
She immediately pulled out the bell she had just received from Renna, that blue four-armed weirdo, and shook it hard.
Ring, ring, ring—
The crisp sound of the bell echoed across the arena.
Along with the ringing, three clusters of blue shadows emerged from the ground and quickly condensed into wolf spirits.
“Dog squad, go! Bite him!”
At the same time, Sorcerer Rogier also moved.
He raised his staff and summoned glintblades.
The battle was about to begin.