This kind of experience was my first since transmigrating here. ‘It’s not like I’m the invisible man.’

“How amazing.”

I quietly mumbled.

I was walking through here as if I was running but nobody was attentively paying any attention to me.

It was thanks to this ear cuff that erases your presence for fifteen minutes.

I did make eye contact with people every so often, but we just exchanged greetings and I walked past them.

Nobody became extremely shocked or bowed down to the floor.

Benjamin and Ganael had always been by my side until now and I had never gone anywhere without a carriage.

Going around like this made me feel like I was back in Jung Yeseo’s body.

– Pipipi!

“Yeah, thanks.”

The chimney bird signaled to me from the sky. I carefully headed toward the back door of the merchant guild building.

Honestly speaking, it wasn’t hard to find.

The problematic freight carriage left water marks all over the street.

“Hello.”

“You are working hard.”

I greeted a merchant guild employee who casually chatted back.

He and his buddies quickly forgot about me and chatted with each other as they walked on.

I peeked toward the back door that was much more modest compared to the main gate. I didn’t have much time.

I quickly opened the door, ran in, and hid Percy, who flew right in behind me, in my arms.

“It starts from here. Let’s quickly find that divine beast.”

– Pii!

*

I instantly infiltrated all the way in until I was underneath the dark stage.

The watermarks led me here.

I didn’t even realize that I was close to the stage until I overheard some employees discussing it as they walked past.

The fact that they delivered it to match the auction start time made it seem as if it was to be the first item auctioned.

‘There was nothing about it in the catalog……’

It felt as if it had been about twelve or thirteen minutes since I activated the ear cuff.

I nervously observed the cube-shaped water tank.

There was a dark cloth over it, making it impossible to see inside.

“It’s been a while since we had something alive!”

“The merchant guild leader-nim is so lucky. He gets to present a rare demonic beast in front of his Royal Highness. Look how it is fine even in the water.”

“Miriam, the one who caught it, is the lucky one. She managed to catch it without even being attacked.”

“What a blessing! She almost lost both arms last time.”

I hid behind a thick wooden pillar and organized the conversation between the employees.

This Miriam person seemed to have caught and delivered a precious demonic beast to the merchant guild in the past as well.

The fact that they were talking about how it was a relief that she caught it without being attacked made it seem as if they did not know that this mysterious creature was a divine beast.

‘I guess it makes sense; even Cardinal Boutier said that the red panda three musketeers were the first divine beasts she had seen.’

Even the mountain keeper, Agnes, confused them as being demonic beasts.

It was highly unlikely that a regular person would recognize a divine beast unless it used its abilities.

“Let’s go if you are done setting it up.”

“Yeah. I wonder if his Royal Highness will make the winning bid?”

“I think today will be more entertaining than opening day yesterday.”

The workers laughed and headed out the door. I gulped.

“……”

Percy was being quiet like a good boy. The ear cuff should have stopped working by now.

I confirmed that nobody was around before quickly approaching the water tank.

I then cautiously pulled up the cloth. My fingertips were shaking with nervousness.

‘What if a mermaid pops out? Talking like a person and…’

“Uhh……”

Round black eyes and a white body welcomed me.

I forgot what I was going to say and exchanged gazes with the little guy. My mind blanked out.

His short whispers fluttered in the water.

Roasted chestnut-like nose, chubby streamlined-shape stomach, cute little flippers.

“Really? What kind of fantasy novel has……”

‘A harp seal? People still purchase this series?’

– Piiiiiiiiii-

I snapped back to my senses at Percy’s chirping. This was not the time to get lost in my shock.

I clenched my eyes shut, opened them back and observed the animal again. I noticed chains around his neck.

That was most likely mana restricting chains since they think he is a demonic beast.

‘They probably did it so that he doesn’t rampage in front of the guests.’

“Hi…… Umm, do you want to eat something?”

I said the first words that came to mind.

The harp seal seemed curious about me but it looked extremely depressed.

Maybe it was because it was forcibly brought here or because it was frustrated being captured inside a small water tank.

Either way, divine beasts were creatures who enjoyed eating ether.

And providing ether was my specialty. I would say it is my specialty number 111100.

“Big bro is a five star ether restaurant.”

– Paaaat!

A small Holy Domain opened to envelope only the water tank. The harp seal’s large eyes blinked.

The water glowed radiantly in gold.

I slowly released my ether so that he doesn’t get scared or choke.

‘I hope he will cheer up.’

– Splash!

The little guy came up to the surface and flapped his tail. After that…

“……You’re eating so well.”

I naturally started to laugh.

It was nice that ether was continuously leaving my body. I was happy to confirm that he was a divine beast.

The little guy, who was not even one meter long, was eating so much that I had to increase the speed of ether flowing out multiple times.

Percy poked his head out of my jacket and chirped. He seemed quite proud of himself.

“Yes, you and Demy did good. I think he was hungry.”

I rubbed his forehead with my finger and complimented him. At that moment…

– Slam!

“If it is not here, then the resting area, eek!”

I gasped and looked toward the door. It was one of the workers who had left earlier.

She noticed me, gasped, and bowed down on the ground. Her wide back was shaking.

“Y, your highness, umm Marquis-nim, why are you in, in such a place……”

This was not an unexpected development. I immediately expanded my Holy Domain.

– Ooooooong!

“Aigoo!”

The woman looked completely stunned at the circle that extended past her feet.

I smiled bitterly and gave a Divine Oracle.

[I apologize for scaring you. Please inform the merchant guild leader. The demonic beast that was brought here is not a demonic beast, it is a divine beast. He cannot put him up as an auction item.]

*

Emille de Haas was a man who did not know how to be nervous.

To be more specific, he saw nervousness as confidence and this attitude allowed him to sell the best items at the highest prices.

People had even told him that he was great at adapting despite his young age.

He had seen the Pair de Riester, the cream of the crop in the Imperial Capital, since he was young.

He was not easily flustered and planned on being steady as a rock in the future as well.

Today was no different.

The merchant guild’s lobby was full of sparkling nobles and numerous attendants.

This was the place full of anticipation and interest before the start of the event.

“Your loyal subject greets our esteemed Royal Highness.”

Emille elegantly showed his respect. This was his first time seeing a member of the Imperial family.

The merchant guild was probably extremely shabby compared to the Imperial Palace where the crown prince lived, but this did not make the merchant guild leader feel small.

The rare demonic beast that came in through the early morning ship had no injuries and was young. It was a superb product.

Even the Empire’s greatest heir has probably never seen something like this before.

If he wins the bid, the value of the Haas name would grow exponentially compared to right now.

He couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.

“……”

As the rumors indicated, the crown prince did not show any reaction to the words of someone under him.

His attendants did not look at Emille either.

Emille maintained his smile as he escorted the crown prince into the auction house.

The highest-grade carpet that he urgently prepared after hearing that a member of the Imperial family was coming did not have a single speck of dust on it.

Everything looked perfect.

“I will escort you to the center of the first row, your Royal Highness.”

Everything had definitely seemed perfect. Until the person in charge of delivering the auction items suddenly grabbed his sleeve.

“Merchant guild leader-nim, this is urgent.”

“What are you doing right now?”

Emille whispered almost as if he was scolding the person. She was basically hindering the procession of the crown prince.

Furthermore, the clothes she was wearing were old and her body was full of the smell of the sea as she was in charge of moving the ‘surprise product.’

The subordinate did not retreat even after receiving the merchant guild leader’s sharp gaze.

In fact, she urgently placed a hand on his ear.

“Marquis Sérénité-nim is under the stage. He said that the surprise item is not a demonic beast but a divine beast. He said to tell you to not put it up as an auction item. I clearly heard it from him.”

She whispered quickly and quietly so that nobody else could hear.

She also did not forget to put an emphasis on the last thing she said.

Emille peeked toward the crown prince without any change in his expression.

He could see the people of the Duke’s House of Sarnez behind the crown prince as well.

Christelle, who noticed his gaze, smiled beautifully.

“……And the proof?”

“Excuse me?”

“There should be some proof that it is a divine beast. You didn’t just believe everything he said, did you?”

Emille’s eyes curled up to smile at her as he whispered. His subordinate became extremely flustered.

“There, there was nothing like that. However, he is a royal priest. We need to trust-”

“That was such a long time ago. How foolish.”

He gently attacked back. ‘I was wondering why the Marquis had not appeared.’

It looked as if he was going to crawl to the bottom of the merchant guild to slander him.

It was understandable that the Marquis was frazzled because he lost Christelle to a commoner like him and he was about to lose the crown prince’s interest soon as well.

The reason the Marquis acted as if he was only focused on the food and the reason he had been so hard to deal with regarding his sister’s crimes became clear.

It was at that moment.

“I heard that you were going to auction a rare demonic beast.”

The crown prince’s low voice cut his thoughts off. Emille warmly gestured toward the crown prince’s seat.

“Yes, your Royal Highness. I pray that it will bring you joy.”

The crown prince glanced at him before silently sitting down. The Duke’s family sat down as well.

Emille respectfully kissed the back of Christelle’s hand before standing up and whispering to his subordinate.

“Put the item up as planned.”

“Excuse me? Merchant guild leader-nim.”

“It’ll be quite the spectacular show.”

He smiled brightly.

This prince of a hostile kingdom had earned a lot of affection to trick people until now, but he would not be able to do so with him.

Today was the chance to show the prince’s cheap and petty appearance to the whole world.

Emille turned around while watching Christelle wave at him with flushed cheeks.

……As for Christelle, she immediately started glaring at his back.

She then wiped the back of her hand on her pants and then asked the crown prince, who was seated next to her, a question.

“What are you thinking, your Royal Highness?”

“……”

“I heard from Vice Captain Élisabeth. The Marquis-nim said that it was a divine beast. Then shouldn’t you make him remove it from the auction-”

‘My goodness…’ Christelle stopped talking and her eyes opened wide.

This fire using fire fox was truly different.

“You’ve set a trap, your Royal Highness.”

“It was a simple political scheme.”

“Not a stealthy battle in the palace?”

“I believe it was you who said that we needed to dirty his honor.”

Cédric nonchalantly responded. Christelle smiled brightly and nodded her head.

The Prince really liked feeding other people.

She was sure that he would be very happy to make the merchant guild leader eat some prison food while we were making people jeer at him as well.

*

“Why is nobody coming? Is this the Messenger to Hamhung?” (TL: Basically a phrase used when a messenger is sent but no response is received.)

– Piiiiiii?

– Splash splash.

Percy and I tilted our heads at the same time.

The harp seal seemed happy after eating a ton of ether as he did a backstroke around the tank and splashed water with his tail.

I thought he was feeling stuffy and moved the cloth covering the water tank and he looked at me with a sparkle in his eyes.

‘He’s cute too.’

“Do all divine beasts have to be cute? I suppose he must be of the water attribute?”

I mumbled to myself.

Now that I was sure he was a divine beast, a ‘person with Divine Power must lead him to a Divine Item.’

However, three of the Empire’s four divine items were with us.

Two of them had a master or was absorbed so they were hard to detect, which only left Percy……

– Boooooom!

The ground started shaking at that moment. ‘Hmm?’

“Why is this, eek!”

– Ruuuumble……!

I quickly grabbed the water tank and crouched down. Everything around me was shaking.

The firm wooden floor was moving up. Percy dug into my clothes.

‘This is clearly not an earthquake, but no way.’

“The world’s greatest show! Welcome everybody to the divine item week of the Haas Auction house. We will immediately get started with the first item.”

I heard the familiar echo of someone talking in an enclosed area. Applause rained down from the stands.

The ceiling split to either side and a splendid magic light wrapped around me.

I hear the sound of rope wrapping around and a lever and wheel moving.

This was an unbelievable situation. The surprised harp seal started splashing in the water.

I quickly picked up the cloth but it seemed too late to cover him up again.

“It’s okay. I’ll be right here. Calm-”

– Splash!

The scared little guy poured water all over me. The cold water snapped me to my senses.

I was drenched in sea water from head to toe!

“Cough.”

– Click

The pulley system stopped. I wiped the salt water from my eyes and looked in front of me.

Unlike the bright stage, the stands were so dark that I could not see anything.

‘Shit, What the hell?!’

“It is a rare demonic beast that can even survive underwater. We captured it early this morning on the Haas coast. He is a healthy baby and his white fur is amazing as well. As for the person next to him…… Is it a trainer? I can’t really see from here.”

Emille spoke almost as if he was mocking me. People started whispering. I urgently looked for the merchant guild leader.

His gaze, as he stood to one side of the stage, was as sour and bitter as a lemon. I couldn’t help but grind my teeth in anger.

“We will start at 500,000 franc.”

“Stop. This guy is not a demonic beast,”

“200,000,000.”

‘What……?’ I blinked, wondering if I had heard wrong.

The whole area turned cold as if everybody had ice water poured over their heads.

“It’ll be a lump sum payment.”

My jaw dropped as I looked toward the sound of the voice.

A pair of orange eyes belonging to someone who was clearly out of his mind pierced through the darkness.

—
Translator’s Comments

The Pokemon collection grows! You caught seel!

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