#280. Registration and Commission (2)
—
Nila, who had been staring at the tower of banknotes, composed herself and finally spoke.
“Just how much space does that subspace pouch have? Carrying around this much cash… Now I’m even more curious about who you are. But I won’t ask. As long as you can pay, I’ll hand over the information. That’s the principle we informants live by.”
After dragging part of the money stack closer to herself, Nila continued.
“Besides, this much is enough for the upfront payment. If it’s a gem with a specific color, it’s not something that takes much effort to find. Just checking Tenenbaum alone should turn up dozens of listings.”
Tenenbaum.
It was the name of the largest auction house within the city walls.
“And there are quite a few already registered in our database too. The cost may increase a bit depending on how much information you want to access, but either way, you didn’t need to bring *this* much money.”
“……”
If she wanted to earn more, she could’ve easily exaggerated the costs.
Ray, who had briefly tested Nila, began retrieving some of the bundles of bills.
“I want to access all the information you currently have. Everything that matches the keywords.”
Orange gemstone and violet gemstone.
They were two intuitive keywords.
Since there was a chance the stones had yet to awaken, he didn’t include mana affinity as a condition.
“All information that matches at least one keyword. Got it.”
Nila pulled out a mana-powered tablet from her coat.
As her slender fingers moved, the screen rapidly flicked through dense strings of letters and numbers.
*Beep— Beep-beep—*
“Three pieces of Class 1 information, thirty-two Class 2, and one hundred forty-two Class 3. That makes a total of one hundred seventy-seven entries. The cost to access all of it is this much.”
Ray checked the number displayed on the screen.
The figures had a completely different scale from everyday spending, but it wasn’t an unmanageable amount.
“I’ll leave this much, then.”
Ray left ten bundles of cash on the table. The escorts, following Nila’s signal, packed them into bags and disappeared through a door at the back of the office.
“Alright. Payment received. I’ll hand over the data—get your tablet out.”
Tablet?
When Ray looked puzzled, Nila replied in disbelief.
“What? You came here to buy information and didn’t bring a tablet?”
“You mean that thing you’re holding?”
“Yeah. Portable data storage devices produced and sold by various companies. They’re not even that expensive, so most people have at least one. Huh… Judging by your face, you really don’t know.”
Rising from her seat, Nila pulled out a new tablet from a drawer behind her desk.
After a few taps, hundreds of mana lines extended from her own tablet and linked to the new one.
A short while later—
“Here. Take it.”
The data transfer was complete.
When Ray took the tablet, he could see a clearly listed index of information displayed on the screen.
“Normally I’d charge for this too, but since you’re handsome, I’ll throw it in as a service.”
What did good looks have to do with free services?
He didn’t really understand, but there was no reason to refuse.
Ray took the tablet and asked,
“Can you also make an ID?”
“An ID?”
“People seem to carry them around. They look useful for getting into places with age restrictions and such.”
Nila stared at Ray for a moment, then her eyes curved with interest.
“You came from outside the wall, didn’t you?”
Wait, how did she know?
“Can you do it?”
“I can put in a request to a forger. It’ll cost a bit, but… I don’t think that’s an issue for someone like you, right?”
*Whoosh! Tap!*
A camera flew off a shelf and landed in her hand.
After infusing it with mana to activate its functions, Nila looked through the lens and said,
“Stand over there for a second. I need a picture for the ID. Hmm… A soft smile would be better than that stiff expression.”
Ray gave a sinister grin.
“…Nope, my bad. A neutral face will do. Alright, I’m taking it.”
*
*
*
*”You mentioned Murcred and the Azure Dawn Association. Since those keywords weren’t in the existing database, it might take some time to gather leads.”*
*”I plan to thoroughly comb through the entire city. If I find anything meaningful, I’ll contact the Ristoa School.”*
While Nila was working on the information gathering, Ray wandered throughout the city with the tablet in hand.
He had two targets.
A orange gemstone or a violet gemstone.
According to the tablet, there were 177 gemstones of those colors currently stored, displayed, or owned within the city.
“This is a treasure I obtained with great difficulty. The violet gem embedded in the center of the crown is quite striking, isn’t it?”
Ray visited the mansion of a wealthy collector to examine their holdings.
“This pendant was discovered in the ruins in the northwest. The crimson gem inside was appraised as…”
He visited a museum to examine artifacts from ancient times.
“A young customer…? You want to see all the stones that match the colors?”
He barged into a jeweler’s shop and toyed with the owner’s emotions.
But none yielded any real results.
The two shards glowing yellow and green in his chest showed no reaction to any of the gems.
It was somewhat expected.
Ray wasn’t particularly disappointed.
*Beep—*
He flipped through the tablet’s screen.
There was a newly sent list from Nila—items registered for auction at Tenenbaum.
Details like auction dates and starting bid prices were recorded in full.
‘I’ll have to inspect all of those auction items too.’
He might even need to participate in an auction. Which was why—
“Wow, amazing! I’ve never been to such a bustling sector before.”
Ray had summoned Philip to the city of mages via a bus portal.
Of those around him, Philip had the sharpest sense for money.
“Growl, indeed. The architectural style definitely feels different here.”
At that moment, the orange-furred fox in Philip’s arms panted as it spoke.
Ray asked, watching its tail wagging energetically.
“You didn’t go back to the settlement?”
“Growl, no. I’m currently staying at the mansion to learn human culture and customs.”
“I tried teaching it, and it turns out it’s very good with numbers. I’m using it as an administrative assistant. Also works well for security.”
Philip added that petting its fluffy tail had excellent calming effects.
“Growl, but Philip, when are you going to change your name? You’re Philip, and I’m Philip. Isn’t that too confusing?”
“What? Are you insane? *You* need to change your name. I’m Philip.”
“Growl, I’m Philip.”
The two Philips bickered.
But they seemed to get along quite well.
It was clear from how quickly they stopped arguing and began admiring the street scenery together.
Ray offered some advice from the side.
“It’s best not to act like this is your first time here. People in this city tend to look down on outsiders. My acting’s good enough that I’ve never been caught, though.”
“Oh, really?”
Startled, Philip looked around to make sure no one was watching.
Then, with a mischievous grin, he whispered,
“You heard him, right? We can’t stick out. Especially since this place is packed with mages, if they find out you’re a spirit, they might capture you for experiments.”
“Growl…?! What do you mean…?”
“A fox that speaks human language? Can you imagine how fascinating that would be to a mage?”
The fox Philip’s pupils dilated, and its ears flattened.
“I’m Philip.”
“……”
“You can’t refute that, can you?”
“……”
“You’ve got no comeback?”
“Growwwl…”
“You’re a fake. Fake Philip.”
“Growl! Bark! Bark!”
“Ah! You actually bit me for real!”
Philip’s teasing finally ended after getting a proper bite on the hand.
After that, the three of them took the train to Sector 11 and made their way to a secluded alley.
“That air train thing is really convenient. You can go anywhere in the city in no time.”
Philip was impressed.
Ray, looking at the black smoke rising into the sky in places, replied,
“It’s not *just* convenient. This city’s appearance isn’t all glamour.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Growl, I agree. Sector 37 felt stifling, but this place is even worse. It’s almost hard to breathe.”
The black smoke—residue from mana.
Ordinarily, it couldn’t be seen or sensed.
But spirits, being deeply connected to mana, could faintly detect it.
“You see, those black clouds form in the sky through a certain process…”
As Ray explained this to Philip, the alley ended, and their first destination came into view—a construction site.
A dozen mages were bustling about, guiding floating building materials in midair.
“This way! Move it this way!”
“The first floor is complete! We’re ready to stack the second!”
Ray’s *Imaginas* school.
It was the construction site for their mage tower.
Watching the rapid progress, Philip muttered in a daze,
“You must’ve spent a fortune on this…”
“I did spend quite a bit.”
Ray displayed the total cost on his tablet by summing up all the receipts he’d gathered so far.
“Ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand… hundred million…?”
“There’s a lot of money in Acrasium.”
“But isn’t that other people’s money, the funds people deposit in the cube? Don’t you have to refill what you use?”
“In principle, yes.”
“No, don’t say any more.”
“But it’s fine.”
“Stop, I’m begging you.”
“Because *you* earn money really well, Philip.”
Watching Philip writhing in joyful agony, Ray thought,
Praise really does make even a rockdeer dance.
At that moment, the construction supervisor ran over.
“Huff, huff, welcome! The construction is going smoothly!”
He bowed deeply.
His company specialized in mage towers.
But in recent months, with the city saturated with towers, they had no new contracts and were suffering financially.
To him, Ray, who had paid in full, was nothing short of a savior.
“When do you think it will be complete?”
“By this evening at the latest, you’ll be able to see the completed structure.”
The supervisor passionately explained the cutting-edge construction magic his company had deployed.
Then—
“Is it possible to build it higher than the contracted five floors?”
At Ray’s question, the supervisor shut his mouth tight.
After a long moment of hesitation, he spoke with difficulty.
“Building more floors itself isn’t a problem. Ten floors, a hundred floors—it’s all possible. But we do have to be mindful of how the other mage towers might perceive it… After all, you’re a newly established school, aren’t you? If an unproven school tries to build a tall tower, it’ll definitely provoke a strong backlash. Our company could get caught up in it as well.”
Ray had asked just in case, but the answer was as expected.
*To have the number of floors recognized, you need authority and influence to back it up.*
That authority and influence could be expanded by presenting new theories and magic at official academic conferences.
How innovative was the magic?
How original was the theory?
How helpful was it to the city’s environment and to people’s lives?
Various factors like these were scored and accumulated for each school.
It was also why newer schools found it hard to catch up to the more established ones.
Well, from Ray’s point of view, that wasn’t really a concern.
Seeing Ray’s expressionless face, the supervisor panicked and quickly added:
“Ah, ah! You’re planning to make your school known throughout the entire city, right? Expansion is always possible! We just need to start small and build upward in no time!”
“Exactly.”
Snapping out of his thoughts, Ray swiftly surveyed the construction site.
*This looks good enough. No need to stay here and supervise. I can head straight to Tenenbaum.*
There were a total of 34 auction items associated with orange or violet gems.
Among them, there was one item that seemed particularly worth anticipating.
A premium auction item—**Tear of Orea**.
Ray recalled what Nila had told him:
“It’s an item that disappeared from history and reappeared after hundreds of years.”
“Whether that’s true or just exaggerated to draw attention, I don’t know—but if the rumor is real, it’s definitely something incredible.”
“They say it purifies all mind-related magic and grants immunity to it. Whether it’s illusion-type, control-type, or any other sorcery, it renders them useless.”
“A Guardian? I don’t know much about history, but they say it once belonged to some ancient being.”
*Guardian.*
That was the biggest reason Ray had pinned his hopes on the Tear of Orea.
*But first, before I leave…*
Ray approached Philip, who was still muttering while holding onto him.
“From today on, you’re Philip. Got it? All debts are now yours.”
“Grgh…?!”
Ray, who had stopped walking in front, turned around and asked,
“Philip, have you ever thought about learning magic?”
