Chapter 10
A disbelieving laugh escaped her involuntarily.
“Stolen goods?”
“Hm?”
“…!”
Otto’s eyes suddenly grew so wide they looked ready to pop out.
[Otto]
A peddler who recently discovered illegal gambling. Has sticky fingers.
‘Oh? The system is slow to react, is it?’
Seeing the belatedly changed information window, Baeksan snorted and glared at the man.
“Mister. Where did you get this?”
“Th-this is my family heir—!”
“Really? Is your family a family of thieves?”
“Wh-what?!”
“If not, then what? Isn’t this from Pinea Trading Company?”
“…!”
Otto’s eyes widened.
[Otto]
A peddler who recently discovered illegal gambling. Has sticky fingers. Currently very surprised.
No, you don’t need to explain such obvious things.
At that moment, the system window quickly changed again.
[Otto]
Preparing to snatch the ring and flee.
The instant she read that sentence, Baeksan snatched the ring box from Agnes’s hand.
Whoosh!
Otto, who had lunged to grab the ring box, only grasped air.
“My ring!”
“Surrender while I’m asking nicely.”
“Ugh…!”
Otto rolled his eyes around nervously and confusedly.
Perhaps due to the commotion, Sophs Guild’s security mercenaries had already taken positions around them.
Finally, Otto had only one choice.
“…Damn it!”
“He’s running! Catch him!”
“Call the Security Force!”
The moment Otto bolted, the footmen and security mercenaries sprang into action.
A skilled security mercenary versus a scrawny middle-aged man. There was no contest.
Otto was caught after a brief struggle.
“You’re arresting an innocent person!”
“The Security Force will determine that.”
Elize, who had come down at some point, said coldly.
The Security Force that arrived shortly after turned suspicion into certainty.
“It is indeed stolen property. From Pinea Trading Company.”
Otto’s face turned red as he was detained by the Security Force.
“N-no! I did steal it but… I had to survive!”
Then he began muttering something as if he’d lost his mind.
Otto was originally an ordinary peddler.
Just that he had sticky fingers. He had repeatedly stolen valuables and sold them in distant places.
This time he stole a gem, which turned out to be that demantoid ring.
He came to Ulm to sell it, but somehow got friendly with a stranger at a tavern.
‘There’s a place where you can make a big score if you do it right, want to come?’
Otto was led by the man’s hand into an illegal gambling den.
For a while, he made incredible profits there.
‘With earnings like this, I won’t need to do peddling anymore!’
But then he reportedly lost everything in a gamble where he bet his entire fortune.
Listening to this, Baeksan looked at Otto with contempt.
‘Just a typical gambling addict in a typical gambling scheme. He fell for their setup at first. What’s so tearjerking about that?’
Anyway, Otto finally brought out the ring he had kept as his last resort.
‘I stole it because they were keeping it so preciously… But is this really expensive?’
Unlike pretty, transparent gems, it had thread-like things inside, so he wondered if it was fake.
At those words, Baeksan glanced at the ring.
[Demantoid]
When it contains horsetail-shaped needle inclusions, the price skyrockets.
‘He got his hands on a proper high-grade item but didn’t have the eye to recognize it, that’s why he ended up like this.’
Anyway, Otto said he had planned to get a rough appraisal and then sell it to a pawnshop.
He didn’t want to go upstairs because he thought it would be harder to escape if the item was discovered to be stolen.
When the situation became undeniable, Otto immediately fell to his knees.
“Please spare me! I only committed the sin of betting money…!”
Perhaps this wasn’t her first time dealing with such incidents, as Elize sighed.
“Hah…. Please get up.”
Otto’s expression brightened.
“You’re forgiving—!”
“No. I’m worried the thief will wear down Sophs’ floor.”
“…!”
“You seem to think theft isn’t a crime, so you must be stupid too. Please detain him quickly before his stupidity becomes contagious.”
Elize was cold. Having come down to handle the aftermath, she immediately handed the man over to the Security Force.
The whole situation ended quickly.
“Thank you for your cooperation. Pinea Trading Company has put up a reward for this stolen item, where should we—”
“Please transfer it to Sophs Guild, and I’ll deliver it to the employee.”
Elize stepped in perceptively. If Baeksan had stepped forward, she would have had to give her real name, which might have revealed her noble status.
‘This woman deserves to be Deputy Guild Master.’
After everything was over.
As the lobby quieted down, Elize turned to Baeksan.
“Thank you. Thanks to Mine, we avoided the awkward situation of appraising stolen goods and managed to build a connection with Pinea Trading Company.”
Though her tone was cool, her eyes betrayed her inner joy.
[Elize Barrett]
Very pleased with the new appraiser’s performance.
Baeksan shrugged.
“I only did my job.”
“These things happen unavoidably often at appraisal houses. Everyone, please stay vigilant and keep up the good work.”
After appropriately boosting the morale of the surrounding staff, Elize returned to her office.
After the commotion, people quickly found their places and resumed work.
Only Agnes, who had nearly faced an awkward situation, remained somewhat excited.
“Thanks, Mine! It’s all thanks to you. I almost sent him upstairs without knowing.”
She kept touching her face and took deep breaths.
“Though it wasn’t the kind of item a peddler would typically have, we shouldn’t judge by appearances, so I didn’t suspect…”
“That’s the right approach. Besides, wouldn’t they have caught it upstairs if I’d missed it?”
“Sophs doesn’t track every stolen item. Accurate checks take time too.”
“Hmm.”
“And sometimes when clients press us, we just give rough appraisals and send them on their way…”
She explained that they call such unscrupulous people who use Sophs this way “locusts.”
Such items are sold in black markets with tags saying “Sophs appraisal value: such-and-such.”
“It’s not our responsibility, but it feels bad to be involved. It also trades on Sophs’ name.”
“That’s true.”
Baeksan looked around.
The unsettled atmosphere had already returned to normal.
“Still, everyone seems less surprised than I expected.”
Agnes smiled slightly.
“We’ve been getting more people like that lately. Trying to raise funds by selling stolen goods or family heirlooms.”
Baeksan suddenly recalled the information window.
“Because of… illegal gambling dens?”
“Yeah. They say illegal gambling dens are rampant these days. Because of that, the atmosphere is especially bad in poor areas like Meteor District and River District.”
“What do they do there? Dog fighting or something?”
Agnes gave a hollow laugh at Baeksan’s words.
“Mine. What fairy tale are you thinking of? In the fighting pits, it’s all people.”
“…You mean they make people fight?”
“Yeah.”
Baeksan fell silent for a moment. Then spoke more carefully.
“Like sports matches?”
“Would we worry like this if it was that? No, they make them fight to the death.”
“…Real people?”
For Baeksan, who had lived in modern times, it was shocking.
She had thought this was a fairly advanced society, what with gender equality and all.
‘What is this, the Colosseum?’
But Agnes continued with an even more serious expression.
“Sometimes they just throw them a sword and make them fight beasts, or sometimes they hold outright slaughter matches. People bet on who will win, or which round someone will die in.”
After saying this, she glanced at Baeksan.
“Be careful too, Mine. They say they kidnap people regardless of age or gender to find gladiators.”
Baeksan frowned.
“Why is this so prevalent? Wasn’t royal authority quite strong here? Doesn’t the state control it?”
At those words, Agnes made an ambiguous expression.
“Mine, don’t you know?”
