[TS] Became a Peach Saint – Chapter 331

“Auctioneer, next item.”

“Uh, next…”

The auctioneer fumbles and operates the tablet in front of him.

“Do you have the actual item, not just a photo?”

“I’ll bring it quickly…”

“Alright. Can’t run away, can you?”

*Creak!*

“Eek!”

The auctioneer, seeing a shadow jump out from his own shadow, nods hurriedly and runs behind the podium.

Looking in that direction, it’s where I came from.

“What’s your name?”

“…Mormon Gray.”

*Click, click.*

I stuff a cigarette into the pipe and light it, and a thick smoke starts to flow.

“Phew— Take off that mask so I can see your face. Why are you wearing something that only covers your eyes?”

Hearing my words, Mormon Gray slowly removes the white mask covering his eyes.

He looks quite old. Probably in his early to mid-50s.

“Hey, you next to him, take yours off too.”

“Uh, uh…”

The guy I pointed at looks at Mormon Gray and starts trembling.

*Clink.*

“W-wait. I’ll take it off!”

As a skeleton sitting next to him stands up, Mormon Gray hurriedly removes the mask of the person next to him.

The face that pops out from under the mask looks exactly like Mormon Gray.

“Your son?”

“Y-yes.”

“Good job teaching him, kid.”

*Whack!*

“Gah!”

I smack the back of Mormon Gray’s head, and he drools just like before.

Even though his dad got hit, the son next to him just keeps trembling.

“What’s your name?”

“L-Li…”

“Li what?”

“Liam Gray…”

The smell of blood is rising from all directions, so I can understand why he’s shaking like that.

“You wanted me, right?”

“Gasp…!”

Liam Gray takes a deep breath.

“Do you still want me? I’m really expensive, you know. You must be rich.”

Liam Gray, trembling in fear, shakes his head violently.

Meanwhile, the auctioneer pushes in a cart that looks like a serving cart into the auction room.

As the cart rattles, the heads of the undead sitting in chairs slowly turn.

“Gasp…!”

The auctioneer, under the gaze of the undead, starts to panic.

“How many items are there?”

“Uh… five.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes! That’s all.”

The auctioneer pulls off the cloth on the cart, revealing several pieces of equipment.

“Didn’t you tell me I was number 27?”

The auctioneer glances at the entrance he came from and then looks back at me.

“Most of today’s items are rubies…”

“Rubies? Gems?”

“No, no. Rubies are…”

The auctioneer hesitates and stumbles over his words.

“Rubies refer to humans.”

Mormon Gray answers instead of the auctioneer.

“Is that some slang you guys use?”

“Yes. Slaves with outstanding looks for use as servants are called handkerchiefs. Those with excellent physical…”

“A healthy human for organ trade is a screw. A human with good flesh for consumption is salt. Collectively, they are called Ruby.”

“Ugh, what a mess. Anything else?”

“There’s cheap rat meat, low quality but sold in bulk. These are usually sold for human experiments…”

*Whack!*

“Gah…!”

“Proud of yourself, huh? Always picking the nastiest things to do.”

Mormon Gray, hit on the back of his head, bows down, blood dripping from his nose.

“With so much food around, why are you eating human flesh?”

As I stand up, Mormon Gray frantically raises his hand.

“W-wait!”

“What is it?”

“I-I’m useful! I know a lot about the Hive. Keeping me around will be convenient.”

“What’s the Hive?”

Mormon Gray, still dripping blood, glances at the auction hall ceiling.

“The underground city beneath Wyoming is called the Hive. It’s unimaginably vast. I can be of help.”

Mormon Gray keeps promoting himself. He really wants to live, huh?

“That big? This auction hall alone seems huge.”

“Compared to the entire Hive, this is just a drop of water in a full bucket.”

“That big?”

Mormon Gray nods. Blood drips down his chin with every movement.

“The Hive spreads out like an ant colony beneath all of Wyoming.”

“How big is Wyoming?”

“About 25 million hectares.”

25 million hectares is 250,000 square kilometers.

That’s 2.5 times the size of South Korea.

“Really?”

“It’s not called the Hive for nothing.”

The United States boasts about 100 times the land area of our country.

Even a single state out of the 50 is vastly larger than South Korea.

Of course, each state varies in size, but it’s strange that such a massive state has a black market operating in secret.

“Why is this place still running?”

“Various interests are tangled like a spider’s web. High-ranking officials aren’t all healthy. They come here to buy replacement organs.”

“Same with drugs, huh?”

“Exactly.”

As we talk, Mormon Gray glances at the scattered corpses around us.

“I don’t know if you’re really a Saint…”

“I am.”

“…Then are you here to purify this place? No matter how strong you are, it’s impossible for one person.”

“Purify? Why would I do that? I’m not some hero of justice.”

Mormon Gray gives me a puzzled look.

“You said you’re a Saint.”

“I just cleaned up some annoying things while I was kidnapped.”

“…Are you really a Saint?”

“Yeah, why? Got a problem?”

“N-no, not at all…”

I wave at the auctioneer, who quickly pulls up information on a tablet.

“The next item is the Ring of Strength. Its effectiveness is lower for close combat classes…”

“It’s a piece of equipment that scores high for being wearable and usable by ordinary people.”

*Ding!*

—

**[Ring of Strength]**

– Strength Increase

– Durability: 100%

– Grade: Magic

—

“Oh, Man-wook would love this. $1!”

“Next, we have a set of three.”

“You said there were five in total. So, is that the last item?”

“Yes…”

The auctioneer, who had been watching my reaction, carefully pulled out three books with his white-gloved hands.

*Ding!*

—

**[Tetra Biblos – 1]**

– Wisdom of the Stars

– Durability: 25%

– Category: Grimoire

– Grade: Unique

—

“Whoa!!”

“Haha… It’s a special ancient book. I’m glad you like it.”

As I jumped up from my seat and rushed to the cart with the items, the auctioneer panicked.

“Yikes!”

Leaving the auctioneer, who had fallen on his butt, behind, I examined the items and liked them even more.

*Ding!*

—

**[Protect Ring]**

– Generates a shield twice a day

– Durability: 100%

– Grade: Magic

—

I also saw the Protect Ring, which I had only seen in photos before.

“But is this the end of the three books?”

“Yes, yes…?”

The three ancient books were severely damaged and worn out, looking like they would crumble at the slightest touch. It made no sense to try and open them.

All three had exactly 25% durability left, which was strange. Something seemed off.

“Is this really it?”

“Um…”

The auctioneer’s gaze shifted to the side.

There was a pile of junk that the skeletons had carelessly thrown aside.

“There’s a place only the host running the Cheyenne Auction House can enter… I can’t go in there.”

“Let’s go now. Do you know the location?”

The auctioneer nodded vigorously.

“Mor-mon.”

“Speak.”

“Can you book me a plane ticket back to my home country? I was kidnapped, so it looks like I entered illegally. Can you clean this up neatly?”

“Of course, that’s an easy task. But leaving the Hive will be difficult.”

“Why?”

“By now, the Hive must have noticed something’s wrong at the Cheyenne Auction House, so their armed forces are probably on the move.”

*Thud!*

In an instant, a cloud of crimson smoke gathered and took the form of a knight.

It felt like death itself had taken shape.

—

**[Crimson Knight]**

– Grade: Unique

– Rapid Regeneration

– Summon Followers

– Death Aura++

– Berserk++

– Level: 13

—

The fully revealed Crimson Knight knelt before me.

“Mor-mon, take this guy and clear a path.”

“Ah, I understand…”

“Take care, my friend.”

*Groan…*

As I patted the Crimson Knight, it let out a spine-chilling wail.

“But even if it’s a high-level undead, can it really handle it alone? The Hive’s military is much stronger than you think.”

“This guy…”

“I’ll handle the summoning and everything else. Don’t worry, just go.”

Mormon Gray nodded, taking care of his son as they walked out of the auction hall entrance.

“Forget that place, let’s hurry to the Host Room.”

***

Mormon Gray, his face covered, stepped outside and, as expected, encountered the Hive’s armed forces.

The number of hunters and nerds visible to the naked eye was close to a thousand—a hopeless situation.

“Step… back…”

Mormon Gray was startled by the chilling voice.

‘An undead… speaking…?’

He had no idea.

The Death Knight before him was a level 13, incomparable to the weakest level 10.

Compared to a freshly transformed level 10 Death Knight, the level 13 had undergone four more evolution stages.

Excluding the level 14, which was difficult to operate properly due to lack of energy, this was the strongest summon Han Ga-eul had.

“T-this is impossible… You must speak to your master now!”

“Everything… is… as… the master… wills…”

***

“Here we are. But the steel door is so thick, we can’t get in without the host’s key.”

*BAM!*

The thick iron door, hinges and all, was kicked off.

“Treasure!”

“Peek!”

Maple, hidden in the clothes, peeked out.

“Oh! It’s the treasure-hunting squirrel. Are you going to put the treasure in a cloth?”

“Peek!”

In the corner of the Host Room, a safe stood imposingly, clearly holding something valuable.

***

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