Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 33

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 33. Sephiro
A Demon Merchant is a being who exchanges things of value.
But approach them without caution, and you’ll pay dearly for it.
‘All Demon Merchants are con artists.’
They never operated on a fixed price system.
They didn’t display goods on a stall and affix a price tag.
They judged “value” vaguely, claiming it enabled transactions, but the worth of the same object shifted with the counterparty and circumstances—always.
So they were swindlers, full stop.
Demon Merchants often orchestrated the very situations they profited from, herding humans into traps.
They were like daylight robbers, stealing flesh and life for pennies.
A Demon Merchant was a monster that committed murder under the guise of trade.
Conduct an honest deal with such creatures?
Only a fool with a bullet in his skull would entertain that thought.
Park Chan-woo was even more skeptical.
‘I’ve been crawling around the Abyss for twenty years. In all that time, I’ve never once met a conscientious Demon Merchant.’
Not a single case where they’d engaged in straightforward trade from the start.
Demon Merchants were bred to seize the upper hand and twist transactions to their favor.
The moment they sensed a loss or disadvantage, they vanished without hesitation.
Yet there was a way to force equal-value exchange.
One could overwhelm them with force, uncover leverage, or dangle something irresistible—anything to coerce them into a balanced deal.
But the most certain method was something else entirely.
‘You can Bankrupt a Demon Merchant.’
That was Bankruptcy.
The demons of the Abyss are not easy to kill.
How could a fragile human hunt beings born and bred in that forsaken realm?
And yet, even weak humans could slay a demon—under the right conditions.
Through Bankruptcy, or a Sacred Oath.
Particularly: if you know a demon’s true name and invoke Bankruptcy, death is inescapable.
So demons, on the brink of Bankruptcy, resort to “trading”—begging for their lives.
Please, spare me.
Spare me from Bankruptcy. I’ll give you liver, gall bladder—anything!
“H-how is this…?”
Dagon’s eyes trembled without cease, caught in a trap of his own making.
The name that had surfaced was one he’d never anticipated—of course his composure shattered.
“I told you from the start: this was expensive information.”
Park Chan-woo clicked his tongue softly.
Every move had been orchestrated by him.
He’d foreseen exactly how Dagon would react.
‘He must’ve figured I learned the Merchant’s Rules from some Demon Merchant.’
Demon Merchants had appeared across the dungeon.
Dagon would have reasoned that Park Chan-woo traded with one of them and extracted the Merchant’s Rules from that transaction.
Had he exchanged information with a Demon Merchant, they’d have bound him with a non-disclosure clause, then forced him to speak the merchant’s name—triggering a breach penalty—before extracting compensation to lift that curse.
And that was the trap Park Chan-woo had walked him into.
Since contract details were written in Demon Language, incomprehensible to humans, Dagon would’ve been certain to fall for it.
Park Chan-woo had been assured of success.
…It was unfortunate for Dagon, but Park Chan-woo knew the Merchant’s Rules better than anyone.
“There’s no way a human could know that name…”
Dagon still refused to accept reality.
But denial didn’t make falsehood true.
The message hovering before him, and the contract beside it inscribed in Demon Language, proclaimed the reality he couldn’t escape.
Crack!
Dagon clenched his teeth.
“How—how do you know that name, the one forbidden to speak?”
……A name forbidden to speak, he’d called it.
Indeed, demons often referred to the Dragon God Sephiro in precisely that way.
They despised him as they would an irreconcilable enemy.
Long ago, Sephiro had slain one of the Great Ten Lords.
There were whispers—unbelievable, yet persistent—that this was how the Great Nine Lords came to be.
‘Sephiro. I didn’t believe it myself until I saw his true form.’
Park Chan-woo, in truth, hadn’t fully believed it either.
They stood at the very pinnacle of the Abyss’s hierarchy.
Even the Twelve Races found the Great Nine Lords formidable.
Only after witnessing Sephiro’s true form—that Transcendent Dragon—could one truly comprehend it.
How Sephiro had reduced the Great Ten Lords to the Great Nine Lords.
And just as demons despised Sephiro, so too did Sephiro despise demons.
Most tellingly, he had once scattered the Demon Dictionary.
It happened at the turn of an age, but through it, we came to understand much about Demon Merchants.
It was no exaggeration to say that Sephiro had taught the Merchant’s Rules themselves.
‘Even his name alone carries astronomical value…’
Just speaking it had incurred a debt of twenty million.
Was it because he was an entity whose name must not be uttered?
Whether or not that accounted for the premium, Creators who hid their names surely couldn’t possess value approaching this.
Park Chan-woo gathered his thoughts and spoke.
“How I know of Sephiro—figure that out yourself.”
…….
Dagon steadied his excitement.
It was clear this was no ordinary human.
Earth had not yet made contact with other dimensions.
One should not even know the Twelve Races existed.
Yet he knew.
The leader of the dragon race. The name of that desperate being!
This was far graver than a human entering into an Exclusive Contract with high-ranking Creators.
‘A human so intimate with Sephiro that he teaches the Merchant’s Rules directly….’
Was such a thing even possible?
It defied all sense.
Other demons would mock him for even suggesting it.
‘Could he have made a contract with Sephiro? If Sephiro is the lord of the dragon race, even binding contracts across worlds wouldn’t be beyond his power.’
The thought flickered through his mind.
But… he didn’t know.
Everything was uncertain.
He might learn the truth if he climbed the hierarchy and reached higher authority, but with his current standing, there was no way to find out.
What was certain was that this human was toying with him.
He’d come knowing everything, having calculated everything.
‘More demon than any demon.’
It was far too late to regret.
The one caught in the trap was not him—it was Dagon himself.
Then Park Chan-woo spoke with casual ease.
Twenty million in value. It was time to collect payment.
“Dagon, it’s time to settle your debt.”
…….
“Or would you prefer to face Bankruptcy instead?”
For Dagon, Bankruptcy meant death.
Because Park Chan-woo knew his name.
Dagon forced his mouth open.
“……What do you want from me?”
“The World Tree Fruit.”
“That’s… an item prohibited by my rank.”
“Then face Bankruptcy.”
“Wait, hold on! Now that I think about it, I believe it can be arranged. Twenty million in value—that does sound like quite a fair transaction.”
Sephiro’s name held a value of twenty million.
Considering that high-grade elixirs sold for fifty thousand, it was a nonsensical figure.
Since Dagon lacked the means to pay such a sum, Park Chan-woo would accept the World Tree Fruit as an alternative.
In other words, he valued the World Tree Fruit as equivalent to twenty million in worth.
Whoosh—!
The World Tree Fruit materialized upon Dagon’s palm.
Aside from the soft self-luminescence, it was unmistakably an apple in form.
“What do you say? Should you accept my proposal, I can hand it over at once.”
Dagon was entranced.
Yet Park Chan-woo scoffed at the offer. There existed certain values that remained immutable, even as ages turned and circumstances shifted.
No matter how extraordinary the World Tree Fruit’s properties, it was not worth twenty million.
“Ten million.”
Half of that I could work with.
To be honest, I was being generous even with half.
Dagon would need to sell everything at inflated prices just to avoid Bankruptcy.
He had to minimize that twenty-million figure as much as possible if he wanted to escape financial ruin.
That was why I’d settled on ten million.
A real merchant negotiation had begun in earnest.
And I held the overwhelming advantage.
“Fifteen million. Anything less than that won’t work. I have to eat too, after all.”
“I thought demons didn’t need to eat.”
“…I have to maintain a minimum rank to operate as a merchant.”
“Rare Rank?”
“Yes.”
Dagon’s rank demotion was already certain.
He was simply standing at a crossroads: bankruptcy or survival.
‘This bastard. He really does know everything.’
My resolve wavered.
Knowing the conditions for maintaining a merchant’s status meant he truly understood it all.
Lying would only cost me more.
Dagon squeezed his eyes shut.
“I’ll be honest. My existence is worth fifteen million. I owe you twenty million, so five million worth of my value is slated for excess collection. I need to retain that much margin from our deal just to survive.”
Park Chan-woo considered Dagon’s words carefully.
Should he bankrupt him now, or keep him alive and use him?
‘Killing a Demon Merchant nets me only one Coin.’
When a debtor goes bankrupt and ceases to exist, no proper settlement is reached.
If Dagon abandoned the deal and accepted dissolution, I’d receive nothing more than a single Coin.
Park Chan-woo spoke at last.
“Thinking about maintaining the minimum rank, I’d have to leave you six million in value.”
“Right. If you won’t leave me that much, there’s no reason to deal with you. Better to dissolve.”
His expression was resolute. I could feel the determination to choose death rather than have the screws tightened further.
‘Dagon. He’s a fairly capable merchant.’
In the future, I’d conducted business with several Demon Merchants.
Compared to them, Dagon’s abilities were quite impressive.
For one thing, despite lacking the rank to handle certain goods, he could procure the World Tree Fruit.
Each Demon Merchant had their own specialty in goods, and which items they could trade depended on their rank.
To bring in items outside your field—especially higher-ranked merchandise—required approval from the Demon Merchant Association.
‘He summoned the World Tree Fruit on the spot. Does he have backing in the Association?’
That was possible.
Procuring goods without Association approval meant either a high rank or a backer with influence.
And that wasn’t all.
I’d never seen a Demon Merchant openly lay bare their own value, even on the brink of bankruptcy.
Taking everything into account, Dagon was too valuable to kill outright.
“If I buy the World Tree Fruit for ten million, what’s left for you?”
“…Nothing.”
“Nine million.”
“That’s a loss…”
“Eight million.”
“Damn it. Seven million! That’s the actual value of the World Tree Fruit!”
Dagon cried out as if fed up.
I let out a quiet laugh.
Even in a situation like this, you had to admire his compulsion to squeeze out every last bit of profit.
Dagon then explained urgently.
“You already know this, but merchandise can’t be sold below its true value. Moreover, deals without profit shouldn’t happen at all, and the lower the profit margin, the worse it affects your rank evaluation. With barely ten percent margin, you won’t pass the review and won’t maintain even the minimum rank.”
Demon Merchants always keep at least one and a half times their cost in profit.
A ten percent margin?
It would be shameful for anyone calling themselves a merchant.
Park Chan-woo asked, testing the waters.
“What about an Exclusive Contract?”
“…You mean you’d keep dealing with just me?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. To enter into an Exclusive Contract with me, you’d need to trade a minimum value of 2 million every thirty days. Beyond that, there’s some room for negotiation on the percentage.”
Dagon’s expression grew troubled.
An Exclusive Contract cuts both ways.
Which meant Dagon could only trade with Park Chan-woo, and Park Chan-woo could only trade with Dagon.
“But can you manage it? I grant you’re no ordinary human, but reaching 2 million in value won’t be easy. Still, I won’t go below a 30% Profit Margin.”
“5 million for 20%.”
“……?”
“I’ll put in a minimum of 5 million in value each month. In exchange, I keep only 20%.”
“If you fail to meet it, ten times the value will be forcibly collected…….”
Ten times 5 million was 50 million.
If he couldn’t pay that much, his entire body would decompose and scatter like dust.
But if he could meet it…… even keeping only 20% meant 1 million in value remained.
That was enough to maintain his rank. There would be no need to trade with any other human.
‘No, more than enough—it’s excessive. If I can retain 1 million in value every thirty days, I could even advance to the next rank.’
If it was kept up consistently, that is.
Dagon spoke in a tone half-doubtful, half-believing.
“What am I supposed to trust about you to make such a contract?”
“You seem to need tangible proof of trust.”
“Naturally. If I enter an Exclusive Contract, I can’t trade with any other human either.”
His eyes narrowed with suspicion.
Park Chan-woo pulled something from his pocket in a thick bundle.
At the same time.
“Wheeze……!”
There was no choice but to be genuinely shocked.
Everything that had surprised him before paled in comparison.
‘Insane. All of those are Coins?!’
The bundle he’d drawn out was entirely Coins.
Not just one or two—dozens of them.
Exactly twenty-one Coins rested in Park Chan-woo’s palm.
“Is this enough as proof of trust?”
“…M, more than enough. Far more than enough.”
For a moment, Dagon’s eyes gleamed with raw greed.
Among demons, a Coin’s value was beyond measure.
How desperately one must crave them.
“Wait, hold on.”
Dagon suddenly trembled, his body shaking violently.
He’d grasped another crucial fact.
“T, twenty-one Coins? How many Creators have you already bankrupted?”
Fear mingled with his shock.
Creators were the Lords of the Abyss.
For a human to bankrupt them was extraordinarily difficult.
Nearly impossible.
Especially when only days had passed since the Abyss began…….
‘……Could this thing not be human?’
In that moment, Dagon reached a conclusion.
Gulp!
Dagon swallowed hard, his whole body trembling violently as if seized by convulsion.
It was a one-in-a-million possibility.
But he’d arrived at the single possibility that made all of this conceivable.
‘C, could it be……Sephiro himself?’

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