"Ah, a dear customer! At long last!"
A small undead, resembling the skeleton of a goblin, wearing a black robe, and carrying a huge backpack filled with trinkets greeted me. As I flew outside of my territory, slowly descending from the walls he seemed to be growing more excited.
"Are you the Underworld Merchant?" I wondered. "Are you not allied with the Demon King of Death?"
"Oh my, no, I would never ally myself with such an evil scoundrel, dame." He said with a rather polite tone of voice. "We are an association of merchants that live in the depths of the Underworld. When the Portals leading to the Living World started to open, some of us decided to boldly explore this new world and gather whatever resources we could find!
We are truly neutral, and we desire no fight either. We only care about good profits, coin, and nice trinkets."
This was one of the special NPC related to the new Event preluding the Underworld Gates opening and letting the Demon King of Death finally step out of the world of the living, which started just yesterday.
According to the information, they'll appear inside highly populated cities and areas where many Players gather, but I didn't knew that my own territory would count… Well, they can't just teleport inside, so he had been waiting outside the walls.
The Spirits don't seem to hate him either, I noticed a few Spirits floating around him curiously, but none were scared or wary of him, and by just sensing his presence, he seemed very weak, I could easily slay him with a single slap.
But I would never do something so cruel to someone that means no harm… So I guess I'll play around for now and see what's up.
"I see, so you're also buying things?" I wondered.
"Indeed." He nodded happily, rubbing his skeletal hands. "If you have anything that we could find interesting or valuable, we would gladly exchange it for Nether Coins, which you can use to purchase exclusive items from our large variety of products! Items that the world of the living has never seen before! And from within you, madam, I can sense a large quantity of such coins!"
"I didn't knew these coins were so valuable, I thought they were just a tiny thing?" I wondered.
"Oh no, they are very valuable and special!" The Skeleton Merchant spoke, as he took one out from his pouch and showed it to me in detail. "We inhabitants of the Underworld feed on Souls and Necrotic Energy to continue living, such energies being in small quantities across the many things within our world.
However, Nether Coins contain the richest and highest quality Soul and Necrotic Energy, usually produced by powerful Undead Beasts or Undead Warriors."
"So they're your food too, huh?" I wondered. "I guess it is like back then when we humans used salt as money. Well, it is more than just money, I guess it is like exchanging food for other products."
"Indeed." The skeleton nodded. "Now, milady, I can also detect you've got some treasure chests you had yet to open. The ones dropped by the evil army of the Demon King of Death, if you open them, you could find more coins there."
"Oh, is that so?" I wondered. "Hmm, how is the situation in the Underworld. And how come is there Undead that aren't allied with the Demon King? I thought he governed everyone…"
"He does reign over a large part of the Underworld, but bear in mind that the Underworld is just as big as the living world, and it might be even more ancient. There are certain factions, kingdoms, and even nations governed by powerful Undead that do not yield to the Demon King.
The evil tyrant pushed many nations aside, but once things settled, he had yet to attack anybody, and is fully concentrating on invading the World of the Living. this is perhaps why other Nations are not intervening, preferring to leave him be as long as he doesn't bother them…" The Merchant sighed.
"Sadly, our huge Merchant Association has suffered many loses in the wars he provoked, the World of the Living has brought us some hope to regain some of our capital and rise back to the glory we once had."
"I never thought the Underworld was this complex…" I was amazed. "I guess if there are so many Undead, and you are as intelligent as us… It makes sense that eventually nations and other things would rise. Even if they might be ruled by different sorts of laws, the living people and undead people aren't that different, huh?"
"Indeed, we are simply trying to remain stable. If Undead like us don't absorb enough Soul and Necrotic Energies, we deteriorate and fall apart, until we turn into ashes and our souls are assimilated. To continue having our independent existences, we must work hard together to survive." The Merchant explained, he was surprisingly polite despite his lugubrious appearance.
The Underworld felt like just a completely different world rather than just a place where the souls of the dead moved into… It must have its own unique cultures, people, and nations. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to explore that place one of these days.
"Alright then, let me open these first…"
I quickly retrieved ten different bone-themed treasure chests from my Inventory and decided to quickly open them and see what I get.
[You have opened the [Nether Portal Treasure Chest (B Grade)] x4!]
[You received [Nether Coin (S Grade)] x50!]
[You received [Nether Coin (S Grade)] x50!]
[You received [Spooky Skull Mask (B Grade)] x1!]
[You received [Necrotic Black Mantle (B Grade)] x1!]
[You have opened the [Underworld Gates Treasure Chest (A Grade)] x6!]
[You received [Nether Coin (S Grade)] x100!]
[You received [Nether Coin (S Grade)] x100!]
[You received [Nether Coin (S Grade)] x100!]
[You received [Phantasmal Soul Potion (A Grade)] x1!]
[You received [Necrotic Death Heart Fragment (A Grade)] x1!]
[You received [Underworld Gate Key Fragment (S Grade)] x1!]
I got 400 Nether Coins, 3 Pieces of equipment, one consumable potion, and two "Fragment" Items, which seem to be parts of a greater item.
"Ooooh! You posses such godly luck, madam!" The Merchant was amazed. "You acquired a fragment of the key to our world and… a heart fragment too!"