Those words were the deciding factor. Midas felt his vision become blurry. He felt dizzy, and everything in his view became enveloped by darkness. The only thing reflected in his eyes was Zich. Although the auction house’s employees felt uneasy and fearful about Midas’ strange behavior, they continued their work.
“…T-Then, we’ll take this carriage, sir.” The employee signaled to their companion and detached the golden carriage from the horses.
The horses on the carriage showed no response, not even neighing in relief from being freed of their suffocating reins. They were all too scared to move, because of an existence that kept exuding a terrifying aura.
“Huh? What’s their problem?” It was the same for the other horses. The coachmen were stunned to see the horses so still.
The bodyguards who protected their rich patrons were on guard. However, the auction house’s employees continued to move even as they felt Midas’ murderous intent; they all had thick skin due to the nature of their job. Then, one of the employees took out a magic box to put the carriage inside it. They approached the carriage and felt relieved when Midas didn’t move. They thought Midas was simply displeased and wouldn’t use any force to stop them.
However, it wasn’t pleasant to be near a person who was extremely angry.
‘I should quickly finish this.’ The employee lifted the magic box up to the carriage.
Grasp!
Midas suddenly grabbed the employee’s wrist. The employee made a low groan at the strong grip.
“W-What are you doing, sir?!”
“Wait. I need the carriage now.” To be more specific, what Midas needed was power—power strong enough to stomp Zich’s annoying, smiling face.
However, the employee, who didn’t know of his situation, thought Midas was being absurd; no, even if the employee knew Midas’ situation, they would have thought the same. This was Midas’ personal issue. It was none of their concern.
“That’s impossible, sir. If you want the carriage back, give us the money and the interest you owe us right now,” the employee refused firmly.
From their perspective, this was a matter of course; and the employee said this confidently, trusting in their fellow employees and the city. Employees of the auction house approached Midas to restrict him. But unfortunately for them, Midas was unable to make any sound judgments now. He continued to glare at Zich.
Zich got up. Then, he winked once and disappeared inside the auction house.
Flip!
Midas flung away the employee’s arm. The employee screamed, ‘Ah!’ and collapsed to the ground. But Midas showed no concern for them and placed his hand on the carriage.
“I already told you that you can’t take it!” the employee yelled, in a great show of committed work ethic.
However, Midas continued to show no respect towards them. Thus, in the end, the employee made up their mind, yelling, “Subdue him!”
Midas was no longer a customer who would routinely pay interest to the loan he borrowed until he paid everything back. He was now a nuisance and a robber trying to take his collateral without paying anything back.
The security guards raised their spears and rushed towards Midas. The situation was messy, but it was still at a controllable level, where a troublesome customer was making a ruckus. Thus, people in the surroundings didn’t run away in a hurry and simply maintained their distance.
However, the situation quickly turned worse.
Pierce!
In the blink of an eye, golden skewers appeared in Midas’s hand and pierced the security guards’ chests as they rushed towards him, leaving several huge holes.
“Kuh!”
Cough!
The security guards rolled their eyes a couple of times as if they couldn’t believe what had happened, and collapsed, dead.
“Uaaahhhhhh!”
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
All the spectators, who had been watching the situation eagerly, screamed. They had expected some blows to be exchanged at most, not to see several people die. The employee who had been getting up fell on their bottom again, and the other employees quickly backed away.
Beep!
The rest of the security guards took out a small flute and sent out a signal. Then, they rushed towards Midas again.
Pop!
One security guard’s head disappeared in an instant as the golden carriage’s roof popped out and struck it. Another person died, and the surroundings became more chaotic. Carriages collided with each other as people fought to go first, and horses ran rampant, stomping over some humans. There were even some bodyguards who began to clash as they fought to protect their patrons first. It was an unseemly sight. The people who had enjoyed watching the suffering of others were in a panic now and caused immense damage in their flight.
Yet, Midas’ sole attention shot towards Zich, who had gone inside the auction house.
Stomp!
Midas moved his feet.
Creak!
Without even a horse pulling it, the carriage began to move by itself and followed him.
* * *
‘It has started.’
Zich watched the situation outside from his chair and was very pleased. Everything was going according to his plans. Even if he had a plan, it was nothing amazing. He just wanted two things: Wips Midas and Tyroul Central Auction House. For the purpose of doing ‘kind acts’, he had to get rid of Midas, who would become a Demon Person, and the Black Market that exchanged illegal goods.
At first, Zich had thought about flipping the whole place over. But that would mean that Zich would have to go on an all-out war against the whole city. He didn’t know how involved the city was in this matter, but he was sure that the Black Market had some backing from the city.
Zich had also thought about using his authority as Karuwiman’s Honorary Holy Knight, but things would get more complicated then. From then on, it would turn into a battle of truths between Zich and the auction house. Moreover, the wealthy patrons of the Black Market would find their own ways to hold back Zich and complicate the situation.
Zich also thought about barging into the Black Market with a sword, but a good idea popped up in his head. ‘Since I have to get rid of both of them anyway, why don’t I make them fight each other?’
With this in mind, Zich had devised his plan. It was simple: he was going to make Midas spend an exorbitant amount of money to the point of being indebted to the auction house. Then the auction house would use Midas’ golden carriage as the collateral. And when that happened, if he just made Midas so angry that he would use his power without thinking…
‘Since Midas’ power depends on the golden carriage, he’s going to use that for sure. And naturally, the auction house is going to stop him from taking it.’
Then, the only thing left was for them to clash. As an auction house that dealt in precious items that sold for extremely high prices, the auction house’s overall wealth and military force were significant. Moreover, if the commotion became too big, the city’s official military would be sent to suppress the commotion.
‘But they would have to go against Wips Midas.’
Even though he was considerably weaker than when he would become ‘Golden Castle Wips Midas’, Midas was still an individual that would later be called a Demon Person.
‘Didn’t someone say that the most fun things to watch were fighting and things going up in flames?’
Zich was prepared to enjoy this sight to the fullest. He took out cheap rum from his magic box, opening the bottle and gulping it down. As he felt the high alcohol content of the rum, the smell of cheap booze exuded from his mouth. At the same time.
Crasssh!
A loud explosion was heard outside of the auction house.
‘Cheap alcohol is the best for watching a fight!’
Zich went past the people who were distracted by the loud explosion outside of the auction house and went inside. The employees were moving around in a hurry, and there was hardly anyone paying attention to him. A few employees noticed him, but Zich easily made them faint. Eventually, he reached the bar that Midas usually relaxed in and got expensive alcohol from. From the bar’s terrace, Zich could see the entire scene outside.
“Don’t push!”
“Ack!”
“Move away!”
The Black Market Auction House’s customers began fighting each other to get away from the radius of the battle. People were shoving and falling on top of each other; in this chaos, fights erupted between their private bodyguards. At a glance, Zich could see injured people, and some had even died.
But Zich felt unmoved. ‘Those bastards were all bad guys anyways, so whatever.’
The Black Market Auction House was illegal, and dangerous and awful items were routinely put up for auction. Honestly, Zich had seen worse sights than what he was currently seeing, but his companions looked shocked.
‘Fortunately, unlike for ‘items’, the auction house sends ‘living beings’ later on. So it’s good that those beings don’t have to be part of this.’
The only reason they sent ‘living beings that were auctioned’ later was because the customers didn’t want the ‘living beings’ to ride with them in their expensive carriages. But because of this practice, harm towards those who had been auctioned off could be greatly avoided now.
Zich moved his eyes away from the dogfights between the participants of the Black Market, and shifted his gaze towards the center of the battle.
“Block him!”
“He’s not an ordinary guy! Don’t move by yourselves!”
“Someone, call the city guards!”
The auction house’s guards were surrounding Midas. Since it was the most renowned auction house in the world, they had a lot of guards and were able to continue bringing in more people. However, this was not enough to block Midas.
“Agh!”
“Ugh!”
The golden carriage that slowly followed behind Midas changed its shape and shot out big spikes from its surface. Two guards near the carriage lost their lives.
“You bastaaaaard!” One guard pointed their spear towards Midas; there was a significant amount of mana surrounding its tip.
Crash!
However, the spear melted like liquid and bounced off of the gold surrounding Midas.
Punch!
“Ackk!”
The gold twisted and blew the guard away.
Sssss!
The golden carriage melted as if it were getting heated, and it slowly lost its shape; even its wheels began to grow soft. But even while it melted, the carriage continued to move. It now looked like a disgusting golden lump crawling on the ground.
Swish!
The gold expanded and surrounded Midas; it was a very frightening sight.
“Ugh…!”
“What the hell is that?!” the guard exclaimed and withdrew a few steps back.
Even though they had gone through all sorts of experiences as the Black Market Auction House’s guards, this was the first time they experienced something like this. Even though they were far greater in numbers, no one was able to approach Midas.
And this time, Midas was the one who made the first move.
Swish!
The golden lump fired multiple long, heavy, and powerful spikes.
Crash!
Pierce!
Crumble!
The surrounding guards were annihilated, dying in many different ways. Some were pierced like skewers of meat; some were crushed from above, and some were simply struck by the spikes. But there was one distinct similarity between all of those things: All of the attacks were extremely fatal.
“Ah! Ahhhhhh!”
“Run!”
Even though they were in charge of guarding the Black Market Auction House, in the end, they were just guards. They were unable to deal with Midas’ supernatural abilities, and some of them had begun turning their backs to run away. However, Midas did not let anyone who opposed him escape.
Crunch! Crunch!
Midas crushed each and every one of the guards, and the chilling sounds of their bones getting crunched were loud and clear. But Zich didn’t feel much as he looked down at the guards getting crushed.
‘Welp, they’re also bastards who knew the horrors of the Black Market Auction House, but still chose to participate.’
For Zich, they were just people to do ‘kind acts’ to.