24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 69

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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24-Hour Friendly Market Specializing in Dimensional Items Episode 69

Episode 69. On the Verge (3)

“S-sorry!”

Ignoring Snowball who hastily disappeared behind the shop stall, I barely managed to swallow my curse.

No matter how frantic and busy I was, how could he not tell me something so important.

Sam-i, this bastard really doesn’t deserve to be a secretary.

[⁕ I am not the administrator’s secretary :)]

Please, shut your mouth before I hit you.

‘Being able to read an item’s memories.’

Come to think of it, with the Repair skill and Appraisal skill too, I was just thinking I’d be able to use them better as their levels increased.

I never expected the abilities to expand.

“Aren’t you an idiot?”

The Dimensional Door skill also gained new abilities, so there’s no reason other skills wouldn’t.

I hastily opened the skill window.

[Item Appraisal Lv.3]

You can appraise an item’s basic information and Hidden Abilities.

+ Lv.2 You can check the item’s creator and previous owners.

+ Lv.3 You can read the item’s past memories. Memories are played randomly.

“Crazy.”

It was real.

The guide text was unfamiliar, so it must have been added each time the level increased.

‘Then… I can read the memories to see if this harp is real or not?’

I brought my hand to the harp as if entranced.

[Would you like to read the memories of ‘Magic Harp (A)’?]

The moment I nodded at the window I was seeing for the first time.

Whoooosh-

White foam of waves crashed before my eyes.

The scenery of the Dimensional Market faded far away, and I was suddenly standing in the middle of a vast ocean where cold moonlight descended.

At this surreal sight, as if I had suddenly dropped into another dimension, all I could do was blink my eyes repeatedly.

While I was standing there dazed, unable to adapt to what had suddenly happened.

‘Atari.’

A soft voice came from somewhere.

A voice so warm and beautiful that even a short word sounded like singing.

I slowly turned my head toward where the voice was coming from.

‘Atari, our last child.’

The owner of the warm and caring voice was sitting on a reef in the middle of the ocean.

Jet-black hair that hung softly, damp with moisture, and glimpses of smooth shoulders.

And a fish tail draped over the reef…

No, a mermaid tail.

Since she was sitting with her back to me, I couldn’t see what her face looked like, but one thing was certain.

‘…She’s badly hurt.’

Crude harpoons were stuck haphazardly in every part except her exposed shoulders.

There were so many brutal harpoons that I could roughly guess what kind of situation it had been without any explanation, and it took my breath away.

She couldn’t have ended up like that unless she’d been hunted.

I automatically frowned as I seemed to feel pain I’d never experienced.

The mermaid’s shoulders heaved as if she was struggling, and each time, bright red blood flowed onto the reef lit by moonlight.

And.

‘Atari, don’t cry.’

The mermaid wasn’t alone.

What the mermaid was facing while struggling to steady her breathing to keep her voice from trembling was a very small child.

A very small mermaid with the same mermaid tail, who looked to be about 10 years old at most.

Pure and clear eyes that reminded me of Echo and Remi were filled with tears.

The injured mermaid stroked the child’s cheek with a trembling hand.

‘We sing to make each other drunk on beautiful dreams, but humans just say it’s wicked. They just don’t understand us. That’s all it is.’

‘Sister Iora…’

‘I’m sorry for leaving you alone. You can do well by yourself, right?’

I wanted to say what could such a young child do alone, but I was just an observer secretly peering into some memory.

The mermaid called Iora smiled softly.

The sorrowful smile contrasted against the beautiful moonlight and the ocean beneath it was so heavy that I pressed my lips tightly together.

‘Atari, I have one last request.’

‘…’

‘For me, and for the family who went down to the bottom of this ocean to dream long dreams.’

At that moment, the mermaid called Atari that I saw was smiling with difficulty.

My gaze was fixed on the child’s expression, horribly distorted from desperately trying not to cry.

Iora, who was looking at the same expression as me, couldn’t continue speaking for a long time.

Then she whispered in a voice so small it was barely audible.

‘Could you sing for me?’

And at the sound of strings being lightly plucked, Iora’s body began to slowly collapse.

Could the voice singing while swallowing sobs like a murmur be comforting?

…Maybe that song couldn’t even be heard.

Only after Iora, who had been half-hiding Atari, completely collapsed and fell onto the reef, could I see Atari’s face fully revealed under the moonlight.

An expression frozen from the realization of truly being alone, unable to feel any emotion properly.

Overall, only a strangely subdued atmosphere could be read, as if shadows had descended.

Only the harp was shining awkwardly, unable to grasp the atmosphere.

‘Sister, Sister Iora.’

No answer came back.

Atari stared blankly at Iora, then raised his head to gaze at the moon.

‘I’ll cast magic for you. …Sleep well.’

The harp’s description written in that clumsy tone finally made perfect sense.

At that moment.

“Huh.”

I felt an unpleasant floating sensation as I was pushed out of the memory.

Just like when I had peeked in, I was instantly placed among the loud hawking sounds of the Dimensional Market and only blinked my eyes.

‘So this is the memory of this harp.’

It seemed that time in reality stopped during the moment of peering into memories.

Snowflake was still being cautious, and the rainbow-colored harp was emitting a brilliant light.

As I stared blankly at the warm aura, so different from how it had shone with piercingly cold colors under the moonlight.

My heart felt uncomfortably tight somewhere.

I lowered my head and muttered.

“Damn, this is so sad.”

My heart ached deeply from the memory I had just glimpsed, but unfortunately my vocabulary stopped there.

Snowflake, startled by my sudden sadness, hesitated and then began drawing curtains around his stall.

‘Not buying, not buying.’

I deliberately growled threateningly at him, then turned around without regret and headed to my stall.

Of course, my gaze, which had been busy showing interest in various shop stalls earlier, was now fixed blankly straight ahead.

“…It really was made by an elementary schooler.”

I seemed to be too intoxicated by the memory of that unknown world I had just seen.

I didn’t know the full circumstances, but I could at least understand that the mermaid named Iora had been hunted one-sidedly, and the only surviving mermaid was young Atari.

‘He said he hated singing….’

Then would he be closer to a siren than a mermaid?

Since that harp was originally salvaged from the deep sea, Atari’s story must be from very long ago.

Still, I couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

It wasn’t like it showed anything positive either.

I had just seen a memory that mixed together all the negative keywords like the destruction of a clan, a child surviving alone, and mermaid hunting.

I shook my head vigorously to shake off the remaining discomfort.

But who would have thought it would show memories so directly like this.

The expanded version of my newly acquired Item Appraisal skill seemed like it could be used more usefully than I thought.

If I had known earlier, I would have looked into all sorts of things already.

At the very least, if I had known before entering Floor 51, would solving problems have become a bit easier?

‘What kind of memory would come out if I read Paroxia?’

That was one of the oldest items on the Ganasia continent, so even if I read memories randomly, there was a high possibility they would all be interesting stories.

‘Should I try reading some weapon memories next time a ranker visits Friendly Repair?’

As I continued with these rather mischievous thoughts.

‘…Wait a minute.’

I suddenly stopped as if nailed to that spot.

It felt like I had caught a clue from a point I hadn’t thought of at all.

If reading memories means seeing them this directly….

“Couldn’t I just read the feather’s memory?”

That feather I had given to Manti after receiving directions.

Since it was the last loot Brother had brought, there must be Brother’s memory remaining in it.

I quickened my pace.

I might finally be able to find a clue about Brother, which I hadn’t even had a sense of where to look for.

But I needed help before that.

[Can you come to the Dimensional Market today by any chance?]

How many minutes had I been waiting, clutching my heart that seemed ready to burst at any moment.

[> New Message

– It must be urgent business. If it’s a matter concerning my friend Lee Hae, I shall depart without hesitation. Ι Manti(Dimension-■■)]

Manti, who had received the good cat award from me, sent the answer I wanted.

* * *

I had been shaking my legs so much while waiting that the neighboring stall brought me hot tea, telling me to please calm down.

Whatever cup they had poured it in, steam kept rising from it for a full 30 minutes.

Of course, I was too nervous to appreciate the market’s warmth.

Meow-

Only after a long while did I hear a small cry from somewhere.

I quickly raised my head.

The blue-eyed cat I was meeting after a long time, Manti, was approaching the stall with a leisurely gait.

“Why are you only coming now!”

I shouted as if complaining.

-Did you wait long? I hastened my steps, but worldly affairs do not go as intended.

But didn’t you walk in way too slowly and leisurely for that, my good sir?

Manti, who had jumped onto the shop stall without making a single sound, meowed softly.

-Since you sought me so urgently, something momentous must have happened.

I need to readjust to this dignified way of speaking since it’s been a while.

I, who had been dazed for a moment, quickly came to my senses and brought up the main point.

“Lend me the feather, just for a moment will do.”

I thought it was a very easy request, but the fur on Manti’s back bristled up.

-…Why do you suddenly say such a thing?

Even his tone became a bit stiff.

I opened my mouth wide in bewilderment.

‘Is he about to start hissing?’

I had noticed from the time he was playing with that feather so preciously, but this wasn’t something to be so wary about, was it?

However, since ownership of the feather had already passed to Manti, I couldn’t forcibly take it away.

Rather than speaking in roundabout ways, I chose the direct approach.

“I’m going to read the memory remaining in that feather. Since it’s an item that hasn’t been discovered in our country yet, I want to check how and where it was obtained.”

Even I thought it was a reasonable and plausible reason.

Manti, the Confucian cat who valued honor and courtesy, soon straightened his back that had been curled up.

-You said just for a moment?

Anyone watching would think I was trying to steal it.

I nodded lightly while hiding my true feelings.

Manti, who had been looking at me with suspicious eyes, hesitantly summoned her subspace.

Manti, who quickly found the feather as if she frequently put it in and took it out, pushed the feather with her paw.

-If it’s such a matter, then naturally you must check it. I hope you get the answer you seek, my friend.

Answer.

‘Will I be able to get one?’

I had even called Manti saying I would find clues about Brother, but I wasn’t certain.

However.

“You never know unless you try.”

If there’s something I can do, I have to try it.

I carefully placed my hand on the feather.

In an instant, darkness came before my eyes and my vision changed.

And the place that appeared was.

‘…Where is this?’

It was a place that had never once been discovered in the Tower of Babel.

To be precise, a place no Earthling had ever been to.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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