Pseudo Resident's Illegal Stay in Another World

→ Samaritan of the Black Rock Mountain (4) ←

The decapitated statue of the God of Death— Pluto.

A crack appeared in the obsidian-black stone statue’s body as a result of Paranoy colliding with its body. Subsequently, coins started spilling out from its cracked chest area.

Rumble—

It looked like blood was pouring out of a wounded heart.

However, what was falling wasn’t blood but golden coins and we just watched on in a daze, completely speechless.

“Wow, holy shh!”

Only a short exclamation came out of my mouth and Luna, standing beside me, had her mouth wide open as she was also astonished by the scene before us.

“Hassan, those are gold coins. Gold coins are pouring down…!”

“Damn, we’re rich!”

I was overjoyed, feeling like I was on top of the world with just the one gold coin I received from the Venus Priestess. Who would have thought that we would encounter a waterfall of gold in this hot and humid place?

We rushed toward the pile of gold and were busy trying to count them as fast as we could.

“Damn it! Let’s count how many we have!”

Rattling— Clattering—

One, two. Three.

Holy shit! For every piece of gold I counted, the number of pheasant meats I could afford with this money got multiplied by 500.

“It is clear that Lord Pluto has answered your prayers, Mr. Hassan!”

“Damn, really? How’s your nosebleed though?”

“I’m fine. More importantly, how many do we have here?”

While we were counting each coin as we hunched over on the ground—

“Brother.”

Looking at the scene, Marco strangely had a calm expression on his face while muttering, “Hm—” He looked very serious.

Was this bard, who had been begging for food on the streets, feeling unhappy when he saw this radiantly shining pile of gold? I felt that he was acting weird, so I stopped counting and couldn’t help but ask him.

“Hey, it’s gold! There would still be a large amount even if we divided them among ourselves. What’s the problem here?”

“Brother, these don’t seem to be your ordinary gold. I thought it was just my imagination, but it seems…”

Clatter—

Marco picked up a piece of gold that had fallen to the ground.

Then he turned it around and showed one side of the coin to me.

The face engraved on both sides was a man wearing a crown. It was just like the one I had received as a reward before.

Strangely enough, however, there was an X-shaped scar on his face, as if it had been slashed twice.

“What’s that?”

“Hassan, there’s an X mark here too!”

“Also here. No, no, all of them…”

X marks deeply marked not only the gold Marco had picked up but all the 30 gold coins in total.

In the midst of trying to figure out what the hell the presence of this mark meant, Marco started speaking again.

“Brother, this kingdom’s laws prohibit marking and damaging the circulating currency. But in these pieces, someone dared to slash the face of Lord Jupiter, the King of Gods, with a knife. It’s a pretty big deal.”

Come to think of it, I recalled Luna was also very surprised when my teeth mark was left on the gold I had shown her at that time.

If I viewed myself as a Korean in this situation, it would be as rude as damaging King Sejong or General Yi Sun-sin’s face that was on our circulating currency.

Of course, things here were fundamentally worse because Lord Jupiter, whose face was carved and forged in the gold coins, was also an object of worship. So, damaging his face would be more of a serious problem because this would mean that you had committed a profane sin.

“…So, what’s the problem exactly?”

“This money is unusable in the lands above. These bear the symbol of the underworld. It is a symbol, a mark of those who live on the lands below, never to see the skies, never to face the lightning, nor hear its rumbling resonance.”

Seuk—

Marco looked around and then spoke to us in a quiet and solemn voice.

“It’s a mark of the thieves. The Thieves’ Guild uses this kind of gold as their currency. We will easily get targeted if we use this money recklessly…!”

“Fucking hell! So, we are not allowed to use the money we’ve obtained here?”

I had imagined quitting as an adventurer and enjoying years of leisure instead with this gold. But now, after hearing that we couldn’t use all of this money before us, my excitement that had been soaring up high immediately deflated and sunk to the ground.

“Big nose, there must be at least a few coins without the marks, right?”

Luna also looked through the pile of coins, hoping to find some that were not marked.

Rattle— Rattle—

However, all 30 coins were marked with that ugly X mark. Damn it! I couldn’t exchange the lottery ticket that I had won in front of me.

I was genuinely furious at this moment.

“But if you take it to a bank or something, won’t they replace it with new ones?”

Unable to give up on the money, I remembered that banks in South Korea used to replace damaged currency with new ones. Although this place was an uncivilized world, wouldn’t the bank still do something similar?

Shake— Shake—

Marco shook his head in denial.

“It might be possible to exchange them. However, the thieves’ ears are everywhere. We will eventually get caught once these coins are spread on the market. Then, they will find a chance to stab us in the middle of the night and kill us in our sleep!”

The thought of being attacked in the middle of the night and being stabbed to death without being able to put up a fight instantly appeared in my mind.

Swish—

Gyaak—!

No matter what, I didn’t want to die like that, god damn it!

At this point, I couldn’t help but ask.

“What the hell is this Thieves’ Guild anyway?”

When I wandered around the slums, I overheard stories about the Thieves’ Guild from the residents who mentioned it every now and then.

But I didn’t pay much attention to it because I thought it had nothing to do with me. Now, I felt like I needed to know what the hell they were exactly.

“The Thieves’ Guild…”

In response to my question, Marco blew out a despondent sigh and then plucked the musical instrument he had been carrying on his waist.

“The thieves we are talking about here are quite literally thieves— a group of people that steal from others. In Sodomora, the thieves steal and snatch away everything in different ways. It ranges from candies they steal from children’s mouths to old widows’ lives.”

“Holy hell! Why would they go and steal candies from children? They’re such awful bastards!.”

“You’re right. But no one can catch them. They hide in many places beyond one’s imagination, and they’re simply far too strong to be easily captured by security. Even if you wipe them all out, they’ll quickly recover their forces and retaliate.”

A city where thieves lived without paying taxes. Damn it! This world truly was a messed-up place.

The name Thieves’ Guild evoked images of dimly lit rooms filled with conniving bastards who stole anything and everything in my mind.

Based on Marco’s words, it seemed like rather than an organization of thieves, they were more similar to the mafia of a city or Mexican drug cartels.

They were probably the scoundrels who thrived in the black market and the underground.

This gold seemed to be some kind of secretive currency of theirs.

“Damn it! We’ll be in real trouble if we use it recklessly.”

I didn’t like the idea of masked men dressed in black barging into Luna’s cabin and stabbing us to our deaths.

Finding a forge that could melt these golds for us would be difficult since damaging the currency was prohibited. If we did something like that, we could also alert those thieving bastards.

“So, what should we do? Just bury it here and leave?”

I couldn’t help but bite my tongue at the thought of burying these precious gold coins. Marco once again started playing his instrument, creating a hopeful melody.

“No need for that. Brother, this money can’t be used in the lands above. It’s the money of the thieves, which means it can be used freely in the undergrounds where they dwell.”

“Fucking hell! You should have said that sooner. Let’s put it in our pockets before anyone sees it.”

“Stealing from the thieves makes us worse than them, Hassan!”

“So, should we just leave it here then?”

“No!”

So we carefully stuffed the Thieves’ Guild’s 30 pieces of gold into our pockets.

The 30 gold coins were divided among four of us, giving each person seven golds. I claimed the remaining two golds as the party leader, one would be for me and the last one would be for Paranoy, who discovered all these gold by smashing her forehead against the statue.

“G-Gold…”

Paranoy seemed deeply moved by the fact that she got 8 pieces for her share, even though it wasn’t legal money and couldn’t be used in ordinary marketplaces.

Gold indeed had a way to excite people.

“As expected, it was a wise decision to follow Mr. Hassan… I will definitely try to be more helpful in the future.”

Eventually, tears fell from her big eyes. But who was I to mock her for crying here?

Damn it! It was natural to cry out of happiness since we suddenly got a damn huge amount of money.

However, we actually didn’t get the money because of me. It was she who had headbutted the statue.

So, I felt somewhat guilty because it felt like I had scammed her of the credit she deserved. But I didn’t want to spoil the little excitement we were sharing right now, so I remained silent.

“But Big Nose, what can we buy with these coins in the underground? I don’t think we’ll be able to buy things like land with official documents.”

Luna asked as she carefully put her share of seven pieces of the thieves’ currency into her pocket. Marco flicked a coin and caught it in his palm before responding.

“You’ll find out when you go to the black market. Of course, you can’t buy things like land but you can buy a lot more things than you think you can. They say that the Hydra’s belly is big and fat.”

“Hydra? There’s a Hydra in the black market!?”

Luna screamed in surprise.

I was also quite surprised because I also knew about the monster called Hydra. The hell! They were selling these things for money?

Yet, Marco spoke out to clear our misunderstanding.

“Hydra is the name of the Thieves’ Guild. It is named after a monstrous deity with heads that regrow even when severed. Just like the thieves who never disappear even when their leaders are captured. Doesn’t it suit the name very well?”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

After collecting all the pieces of gold from the temple, we stepped outside with relatively light footsteps. I didn’t particularly like this bubbling black lake and the humid environment before.

But now, this damn environment seemed incredibly beautiful since my pockets were full and I felt a certain sense of accomplishment and fulfillment in my mind.

“Ah, it’s so damn beautiful. Let’s finish this quest quickly and get back to the city!”

I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of using the money we acquired on the black market.

I thought this could be the happiest thought I have ever had in my life.

I meant the thought of spending money as I please.

Although I’d never been to any black market, eight gold coins were a really big sum, and I thought I could do more things with it than I could ever imagine.

With the thought of finishing things quickly and returning to the city, my steps became light and fluttery. We watched the bubbling surface of the black lake as we approached the slope near the lake.

“This is the most important moment. We need to be careful from now on, brother. After drawing water from the spring, the guardian of this lake may attack us.”

Marco advised me in a serious tone.

“A guardian? There’s a guardian here?”

“Yes, it is Vulcan’s ruthless creation. Anyway, you’ll see for yourself once we start to draw the water out.”

The meaning behind Marco’s words wasn’t clear, but Luna and I quickly used the buckets we had prepared beforehand to fill the jar with the black water.

Splash— Splash—

The black spring water was stickier and thicker than I thought. It felt more akin to asphalt rather than spring water. I wondered if we could carry such a heavy thing down the mountain.

Swish—

Suddenly there was a loud sound like an arrow flying through the darkened skies.

Flap— Flap—

Our heads were soon covered by a vast shadow with the sound of vigorous flapping of wings. When we looked up, there was a bird with a huge body that was looming above.

Damn, what the hell was that!? Could this huge thing even be considered a bird anymore?

It was as if the creature was adorned with steel plates more splendid than my own armor, with claws and beaks as large as a well-fed hunting dog.

I couldn’t believe a bird was wearing armor. Wasn’t it quite a show-off? The steel plates it was wearing looked much better than the one I had bought with 80 silvers.

Swooosh—!

That creature started charging straight towards me. That damn bird was zooming at me like a missile. It was freaking terrifying!

“Hassan! Something’s flying toward us!”

“Hey, shit, what the fuck is that!?”

“Didn’t I tell you already!? There is a guardian in this lake! We have to sing to drive it away because its ruthless heart of steel hates songs! Erm, erm, ah.”

Strum—

Marco cleared his throat and started to play his guitar. I didn’t know what this ruthless heart of steel was, but it seemed like singing indeed could chase the monster away.

I finally understood why we needed one minstrel in our party. Damn it! It wasn’t just about some quota system, after all. They had an actual role to play!!

Strum— Strum—

“Erm, ermn, ah.”

However, Marco, that bastard, was leisurely loosening his throat despite the bird charging at us at high speeds.

“Hey, just sing anything quickly! It’s flying toward us!”

“H-Hold on! I can’t think of what to sing so suddenly!”

It is common for people to feel speechless when facing an unexpected event. But professionals were supposed to be different in this aspect. They were professionals because they could do their job anytime and in any situation.

But Marco wasn’t a professional!

“Just sing anything, damn it—”

Swooosh—! Clang—!

The missile of a bird had been aiming for us during its descent, yet its huge body hit the ground instead.

Hard stones bounced in all directions with a heavy impact and hit me like the spraying bullets of a shotgun.

“Aaaargh!”

I managed to avoid the attack of its piercing steel beak, but the fragments of rocks were truly a painful experience. The stones hitting my stomach and chest made me lose focus, making tears well up in my eyes due to the pain.

“Ugh, hey, is everyone okay!?”

“I think I’m fine!”

“I-I am not injured too…!”

Paranoy and Luna answered me while getting up to their feet.

“Hey, damn it, Marco! Answer me!”

However, there was no response from Marco.

As the hazy dust and smoke gradually faded, I saw Marco lying on the ground, trembling on the spot, with a bleeding nose.

“Groaah…”

He must have been struck in the face by the flying rocks and collapsed.

“Damn it, bastard! You said that we had to sing!”

Thunk—

At that moment, a loud noise resounded in the surroundings as rocks rolled down from the large pit in front of us.

Soon, with a metallic clang. a ferocious beast of iron and metal, with intense yellow eyes and iron armor covering its whole body, appeared before us.

Swoosh—

Its wings were adorned with sharp metallic feathers— metals I couldn’t identify whether they were iron or copper at a glance.

I worried that a simple flap of its wings could cause severe injuries to my torso.

Now that I looked carefully, not only its beak and claws but its entire body seemed to be covered in iron-plated armor.

Screech— Clang—

Clearly, it wasn’t a normal creature. It really couldn’t be called a bird anymore, could it?

Screaaaaam—!

With a feral roar, the ferocious creature of steel spread its wings and charged at us in full force.