TL: Hanguk
Between the grand and massive headquarters of the Combat Shop Headquarters and the small, shabby Seed Shop Headquarters, there was a small but elegant building.
[Hel’s Pawnshop]
“Hum hum hum.”
Hel was humming a tune while sitting at her desk, leisurely writing in her ledger.
For Hel, the God of Merchants, keeping records in her ledger was like play.
“Good. It matches perfectly!”
When the ledger and her divine power matched up precisely to the second decimal point, Hel felt a sense of satisfaction and a thrilling pleasure.
‘This is exactly why I love bookkeeping.’
Just as Hel was wrapping up her little game:[10,000 Mushroom Ant tenant farmers under Park Sejun, the Tower Farmer of the Black Tower, have witnessed your temple.]
[Divine Power increases by 2.]
[500 Calamity Guardian Destruction Devoures have witnessed your temple.]
[Divine Power increases by 5.]
···
..
.
Messages appeared.
“Hehehe. Investing in Sejun is like sucking honey, so good.”
Hel laughed as she recorded the newly acquired divine power.
At that moment
[Park Sejun, the Tower Farmer of the Black Tower, has witnessed your temple.]
[Divine Power increases by 100.]
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, has witnessed your temple.]
[Divine Power increases by 5.]
···
..
.
Sejun had woken up and begun his activities outside.
Thanks to that, Sejun’s family members also witnessed the temple, and Hel once again reaped a nice sum of divine power.
Everything was great.
Except for one annoying message in the middle.
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, steals 0.01 of your Divine Power.]
Since yesterday, whenever Theo witnessed the temple, he had been stealing a small amount of divine power.
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, has witnessed your temple.]
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, steals 0.01 of your Divine Power.]
···
..
.
And it was happening continuously.
Normally, even if someone witnessed the temple several times, divine power would accumulate only once per day. But for some strange reason, Theo was stealing divine power every time he saw the temple.
“This damned freeloader, now he’s even taking my divine power…”
Though the amount going out wasn’t significant compared to what was coming in, Hel didn’t like having to mark a negative in her ledger.
Theo had been diligently honing his Talent: Energy Absorber to protect Sejun, and
At some point, the talent: Energy Absorber had evolved into a strange form that even absorbed divine power.
While Hel was cursing Theo,
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, demands a name change for the Five Towers’ Slave Seal.]
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, insists that the word ’employee’ must be included in the item’s new name.]
As if he wasn’t already a handful, now Theo was even talking to her.
“What?! He wants to change the name of a legendary merchant’s item?”
An item’s name reflects its essence. Therefore, changing the name of an item could alter its very nature.
In other words, it could become a completely different item than before.
Hel explained diligently about the consequences of changing an item’s name, but
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, says he doesn’t care and threatens impeachment if you refuse.]
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, begins a vote to impeach Hel, the God of Merchants.]
···
..
.
[A vote to impeach Hel, the God of Merchants, has begun.]
[If three more votes are cast in favor within a year, Hel, the God of Merchants, will be impeached.]
Theo immediately started the impeachment vote.
Now that he had turned Turbo and Shark, the Legendary Merchants of the Green Tower, into slaves, Theo wielded 8 votes, making his threats even more intimidating.
This damned little cat!
“No, it’s not like I was refusing. I was just explaining what happens when you change the name of a merchant’s item. Explaining. So, you just want ’employee’ added to the name?”
In the face of Theo’s impeachment threat, Hel finally gave in to his demand.
“First, send me the Five Towers’ Slave Seal, and here, take this.”
Hel sent a scroll to Theo.
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, asks what this is.]
“You must have used it when you took the Legendary Merchant exam. It’s a Legendary Merchant Item Creation Scroll. When you open it, the names and quantities of the required materials will appear. You need to gather those to change the item’s name.”
In order to change the name of a Legendary Merchant item, one Legendary Merchant Item Creation Scroll was necessary.
Compared to the process of creating a Legendary Merchant item, this was relatively easy, but depending on the items listed in the scroll, it could turn into an insanely difficult task.
And then,
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, has opened the Legendary Merchant Item Creation Scroll.]
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, has been given a quest to collect one scale from each of the Great Nine Dragon Tribes.]
Theo drew materials known for being impossibly difficult to obtain, even among the hardest of tasks.
“Wow. This is going to be seriously tough.”
Collecting 1 scale from each of the nine dragon tribes was far more difficult than gathering 100 scales from one dragon.
First, it would take nine encounters with the notoriously ill-tempered dragons, and then getting a scale during those nine encounters.
At the very least, you’d have to risk your life 18 times.
Not to mention, you could die just trying to get to where the dragons were, so if you considered that…
“Has his luck always been this bad?”
104.28.193.250
‘This time, I didn’t interfere at all…’
As Hel was thinking about how terrible Theo’s luck was,
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, has gathered all nine scales from the Great Nine Dragon Tribes.]
[Acquired 1 scale from Kaiser Pritani, the leader of the Great Black Dragons.]
[Acquired 1 scale from Kellion Mamebe, the leader of the Great White Dragons.]
···
..
.
Messages appeared.
“He gathered them all already?!”
A quest that would take a lifetime—he finished it this quickly?!
‘Sure, I expected him to get the black dragon’s scale since he’s friendly with them, but how did he get the others?’
Moreover, six of the scales Theo sent were from the leaders of the black, white, red, purple, green, and blue dragons.
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, urges you to hurry up and change the item’s name.]
[Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, begins a vote to impeach Hel, the God of Merchants.]
···
..
.
“Alright! Alright, I get it!”
Under Theo’s pressure, Hel quickly placed the Five Towers’ Slave Seal and the nine dragon scales in her hand.
And then,
‘He said the word “employee” must be included, right?’
“Employee. Employee. Employee.”
Chanting the word “employee” like a spell, Hel injected divine power into hwe hand.
Wooong.
The seal and the scales in her hand melted and started to fuse into one.
‘How will it turn out?’
Hel watched, wondering.
One thing was for sure: with six scales from the dragon leaders, the result would be strong and durable.
At that moment,
Fwaat.
[…Employee…]
A burst of nine-colored light exploded, and an item with the word “employee” in its name was born.
***
Outskirts of Destruction.
“Kuhuhu. Let it all perish.”
Halphas, who had forgotten about the Earth and Neta he hadn’t been able to destroy yet, was now focused on destroying other worlds.
At that moment,
Slrrk.
Two hands slowly pushed through the Black Moon at the center of the destruction.
Crack.
The hands began to forcefully pry open the Black Moon.
And then,
Wriggle. Wriggle.
Through the gap in the pried open Black Moon, brown mucus started oozing out.
The mucus gathered and reformed into droplet-like shapes.
It was the Fifth Calamity, Slime, which melted everything.
Thousands of slimes poured out of the Black Moon.
“Huh?! Reinforcements already? Oh! This time it’s slimes.”
Watching this, Halphas hurriedly flew toward the Black Moon.
The reason Fenrir had assigned Halphas to guard this place was to manage the calamities being replenished through the Black Moon and—
“I greet the Master of Destruction.”
Halphas bowed his head in reverence as he gazed at the crimson eyes beyond the Black Moon, awaiting instructions for destruction.
-Why is it you here, Halphas, and not Fenrir?
“Well… it seems that something happened to Fenrir.”
-Fenrir has been defeated?
“Yes. There has been no contact from him since he entered the Black Tower, and I’ve heard that pieces of his core are wandering around.”
-That’s impossible. I can still sense Fenrir’s soul. I also sense the souls of Krueger, Alice, and Delia. Halphas, take the slimes and go retrieve Fenrir and the other apostles.
As the crimson eyes of destruction focused on Halphas and the slimes,
Ssss…
A red mist began to envelop Halphas and the slimes, and in an instant, they disappeared.
And then,
Slllrrk.
The hands that had been forcibly holding the Black Moon open retreated, and the Black Moon shrank once more.
***
99th floor of the Black Tower.
“Oh. That looks delicious. Cuengi, let’s go try it.”
When Sejun pointed to a food stall in the raccoon market selling grilled cheese,
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Sounds good!]
Cuengi lifted both of his front paws in excitement at Sejun’s suggestion.
“Oh. It’s delicious!”
Kuehehehe.
The two wandered through the market, tasting food from every stall.
After they had visited all the stalls, they finally headed toward the last one, owned by Emil, the elder of the raccoon tribe.
[Hel, the God of Merchants, says she changed the item’s name to include ’employee’, but she’s not sure if she did it right.]
Theo, having received the renamed Legendary Merchant item from Hel, laughed.
“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, look at this, meow! I did exactly what you asked and changed ‘slave’ to ’employee’, meow!”
Did I do well, meow?
Hoping to be praised by Sejun, Theo handed over the Legendary Merchant item with his front paws.
[Nine Dragons’ Employee Contract Seal]
A high-class seal with a dragon’s head, emitting a brilliant light in nine colors, surrounded by the scales of nine dragons.
‘So that’s what he was getting out of the Void Storage earlier?’
Sejun thought as he examined the seal’s options.
[Nine Dragons’ Employee Contract Seal]
→ A newly created seal made by combining the Five Towers’ Slave Seal with the scales of the Nine Dragons.
→ You can easily make an employee contract by stamping the seal on the other party’s body.
→ Those who were previously marked by the Five Towers’ Slave Seal will automatically become 1-year contract employees.
freēwēbnovel.com.
→ The seal can be used up to 100 times. (TL: It’s probably an error, or maybe not, but I guess it should be 100 times per month or day; otherwise, this will become a useless item based on the scale at which Theo makes slaves after only 100 uses.)
→ During the contract period, employees will receive a salary and three meals a day.
→ However, the owner of the seal must guarantee the employee’s meals and wages every day. (Meals are provided automatically, and if meals are not provided, the contract is automatically nullified.)
→ Employees belonging to a tower affiliated with a dragon acting as its administratorswill be protected by that dragon during the contract period. (However, if the contract is violated, the employee will incur the wrath of the dragon and be expelled from the tower.)
→ Current affiliated tower administrators: None
→ Bound to Park Sejun, the Tower Farmer of the Black Tower, and Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower.
→ Usage restrictions: Theo Park, the Legendary Merchant of the Black Tower, any superior of Theo Park, Magic Power 3000 or higher.
→ Creator: Hel, the God of Merchants
→ Grade: ★★
Skill: [Eternal Contract (Master)]
[Eternal Contract (Master)]
→ Employee contracts last indefinitely.
→ Even if meals are not provided, the contract will not be nullified. (However, the missed meals must be provided later in one batch.)
→ Can be used up to 50 times per month.
“Hmm.”
The effect had weakened significantly compared to the previous version.
With the new seal, a contract only lasted for one year. Plus, if three meals weren’t provided daily, the contract would automatically be nullified.
Moreover, although there was a skill to create permanent employees, its use was limited to 50 times per month.
Instead, there was a benefit that both Sejun and Theo could use the seal themselves, and if they formed an alliance with a dragon managing a tower, their employees would receive the protection of that dragon.
Receiving a dragon’s protection was an incredible privilege.
Who would dare mess with someone under the protection of a dragon?
‘I’ll look into how to affiliate with dragons later.’
“Vice Chairman Theo, you did well.”
Sejun patted Theo’s head, who was staring at him with sparkling eyes.
“Puhuhut. Of course, meow! I, Vice Chairman Theo always do well, meow!”
“Yes, you usually do well, but today you did even better.”
“Puhuhut. Keep going, meow!”
Theo’s lips curled up in joy from Sejun’s praise.
At that moment, a message appeared:
[The first event of the Harvest Festival, the Grape Harvesting Competition, will begin shortly.]
[Participants, please gather in front of the Bountiful Grape Cluster Altar.]
The message announced the start of the first competition of the Harvest Festival.
*****
For extra chapters, you can read them on my Patreon at /HangukTranslations.
Join our Discord for announcements or to report any mistakes.
/Z2Z6TdQk4g
