Inside a shadowy room on the upper stories of the Magic Tower, Ryan sat bolt upright in his bed with a shriek.
“Uwaaaargh!”
“Huff, huff—”
His breath came in laboured pants as he wiped the cold sweat off his neck, chin and temple, and when his hand reached his eyes, curses naturally welled up within him.
“Fuck…!”
He bit out through clenched teeth while stroking his eyes, one of which was emptied of its organ. He turned to the fog-dimmed windows where the reflection of a mage with one reddish-brown eye stared back at him.
‘Damn it.’ His hollow right eye socket was stinging so much, it rendered sound sleep impossible.
That’s right, it all started from that day…
“You’re too easy to kill.”
He was experiencing hallucinations of hearing a devil’s laughter. Everyone presumed that Ryan had fled from Eian, but nothing could be further from the truth.
“Just kill me!”
Ryan would rather plead for death since he no longer had any desire to live in a world where Eian Krosch existed. Even after he had shouted himself hoarse to the point of wanting to throw up blood, the devil merely snickered; he would never grant Ryan his wish.
“Right, let’s do it this way.”
Eian made his way towards Ryan.
“W-What are you gonna do…!”
Grinning viciously, Eian stretched out his fair-skinned hand towards Ryan’s right eye. He was about to take a step back but stood rooted to the spot as if something was pinning him down. Perspiration gathered thick on his back.
“D-Don’t!”
“Ryan, you should’ve said that before you punctured my sides.”
With those words, an excruciating pain skewered his right eye.
“N-No! Ughh! Uwaaaargh!”
“This is the mark of your foolhardiness that emboldened you to finish me off.”
“Aaaaaargh!”
The smirking devil held a reddish-brown orb in his hand which he mockingly swung before Ryan’s left eye.
“Now, you’ll reflect every time you see your empty eye socket.”
Eian dangled the eyeball in Ryan’s tear-stained line of sight, provoking in him a gut-churning reaction fiercer than the ache in his missing eye. The corners of Eian’s mouth kicked up.
“This is compensation for the present you gifted me, Ryan.”
He dropped the eyeball to the ground then pulverised it beneath his boots.
“Eiaaaaaaan—!”
SMASH—!
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
SMASH—!
Ryan’s ensuing bellow shattered every last mirror in the room.
“Huff, huff, huff…”
His hand brushed his empty eye socket now.‘Reflect?! Don’t make me laugh. I’m going to settle the score no matter what I have to resort to! Even if I have to bet my life!’
Black butterflies sprang out of Ryan’s palm. One of them was assigned to locate Eian.
“Search for Eian Krosch in every nook and cranny, find out who he’s with, and what he’s up to.”
He ground his teeth as he barked the order at his familiars.
“Ferret out what that bastard holds most precious.”
Because even an inhuman bastard like him had to have an Achilles’ heel.
* * *
‘Winter is drawing to a close already.’
Somehow without her realising it, the sun had set on her 11th year and it was already the first month that marked her twelfth year.
‘Though it’s still freezing as ever.’
She pulled a blanket over her head, shielding herself from the gelid blasts of winter air. Seeing her all cocooned in a blanket with only her face showing, her nanny Vanessa asked,
“Are you feeling very cold?”
“A biiit?”
“Only a bit cold?”
Kynemeia tried to be evasive, but she wasn’t fooling Vanessa.
“Mhmm, ice-cold.”
As her tone mellowed into a whine, Vanessa cupped and caressed the girl’s cheeks.
“Our Lady, you’re so sensitive to cold temperatures that the magic stones will run out again this winter.”
“Ehh…”
Nanny is so mean. Kynemeia’s expression turned despondent.
Vanessa moved to put a magic stone inside the heater, and soon enough a toasty current of energy enveloped the room. The heater in this world was a magical apparatus which utilized magic stones to amplify its heating capacity and warm the surrounding air. Though it generated more heat and was more convenient compared to the fireplace, the apparatus was prohibitive for the commonalty since it consumed a good deal of magic stones.
‘It’s expensive, but it’s warm…’
Maybe it was as warm as it was expensive. Kynemeia felt herself starting to thaw out and propped her chin on the table. The numbness accumulating in her tummy began to dissipate. All in all, she had already become someone who simply couldn’t survive without a heater.
“We can just buy more magic stones.”
“Do they only cost a penny or two, My Lady?”
She mumbled, leaning her cheek on the table,
“But don’t we have a lot of money?”
Both Behemoth and Hyeminwon were prospering thanks to word of mouth; sales were increasing by the day, and as Lyonne’s financial situation turned the corner, the employees instantly began racking up high salaries.
‘Everyone’s over the moon about it.’
As expected, respect towards an employer should be bought with money. Kynemeia clenched her fist as she ruminated on the naked truth of capitalism. Respect and goodwill—it’s only right for these to be bought with money!
“But magic stones are a luxury these days.”
Vanessa said as she folded the girl’s abandoned blanket now that the room was warming up.
“Is that so…”
“I heard 50 gram now sells at 4 gold.”
“Huh? Why’s it selling at such a steep price?”
As Vanessa inserted another magic stone into the heater, she explained,
“Apparently it’s growing increasingly challenging to mine magic stones. It was already difficult to secure a reliable guild, to begin with, but lately conquering the dungeons have become a formidable task. That’s why people are saving their magic stones for a rainy day, and…”
“And?”
As Kynemeia listened carefully, Vanessa shook her hand.
“That’s all.”
Ah, she knew what that expression meant. Kynemeia narrowed her eyes. It was the awkward grimace her nanny made whenever she’d asked ‘Why does our castle never hold parties like other nobles?’ in her younger years.
‘Even though it’s fine for her to just admit the truth.’
That it was because of a grudge.
Although the adults in the Grand Duke’s castle tried to keep her in the dark about it, she had picked up on the fact that the crises they continued to run into were largely in part due to a festering grudge.
“And what? Count Harv ordered them to exclusively charge us exorbitant rates for magic stones?”
Vanessa fought to keep up a smile with all her might, hugging the blanket in her arms.
“Uhmm, I’m not sure. I don’t know that much.”
Count Duron Harv was a big player in the magic stones industry. Whatever figure he set would affect the price of the magic stones in the market. There were no two ways about it, he was the reason behind it all.
‘Count Duron Harv also harbours a grudge against the Lyonnes…’
That man had had a sour relationship with her grandfather, Kenneth Lyonne.
‘Even though Grandfather passed away so long ago. Everyone’s so narrow-minded, seriously.’
Puh— Kynemeia’s lips twitched before she let out a sigh.
‘Magic stones…’
There was no need to be losing sleep over the prices if she could just procure the stones herself.
“…Hm?”
That’s it…? Her eyes darted back and forth. ‘Right, I can just get them myself.’
In this world, magic stones were mined from dungeons. A person only has to purchase a dungeon if they had set their heart on mining magic stones. Naturally, it’s a risky undertaking since dungeons are monster lairs even as much as they are repositories of minerals, medicinal herbs, and treasures. Consequently, acquiring unclaimed dungeons was the vogue among the well-to-do with money to spare rather than games of chance.
‘We could scout out an amazing dungeon overflowing with magic stones.’
Her eyes took on a twinkle. Although dungeons didn’t simply cost a penny or two, and it was a high risk, high return gamble only the upper crust could get a thrill out of—
“Fufufufufu, fufufufufufufufufufu-”
‘The hero of the original novel only embarked aimlessly on dungeon conquests!’
And she was already clued up on what items sprang out from which dungeon…! Kynemeia slammed the table with her hands as she stood up. ‘That’s it!’
This feeling was as if she had foreknowledge of what number would come up in the lottery tomorrow! She called it—
‘Lotto Dungeon!’