Detra, one of the lords who held the City of Traders in his hands, had a hobby of collecting rare items and showing them off.
In the collection he had swept together indiscriminately, from gems to paintings, weapons and armor, and even plants and animals, strange things sometimes found their way in.
The flowerpot where the calamity of greed slept was one of them.
‘It’s true Detra is connected to the second calamity, though.’
There were two conditions for the main story to proceed.
One was for the protagonist to reach a certain credit rating.
The other was for one month to pass after clearing the first calamity.
‘It’s not time for that bastard to come out yet, is it?’
If even one of the conditions was fulfilled, a rumor spread throughout the entire city.
It was a rumor that a thief had broken into Lord Detra’s estate, so security was being strengthened.
The estate quest that arose from that rumor was the trigger for the second boss fight.
But the story’s boss was coming out at the auction right now?
“This item was submitted by the Administrator.”
“Ahem.”
The lady in the golden mask rose from her seat.
“The Primordial Snapdragon is said to be a plant that has taken root since the beginning of the world.”
As her ringing voice echoed through the underground, everyone below leaned forward.
“They say that if you hang even a single branch of it in your home, wealth luck will pour in.”
The eerie purple flowers scattered an ominous light beneath the stage lamps.
As I stared blankly at the flowerpot, a strange feeling began to ripple through me.
‘......I’m thirsty.’
It was a feeling that made my chest churn.
I had already felt something similar once before.
‘Right, the moment I first stepped into Creed’s gambling den......’
-Rustle.
A sound like dry leaves crumbling.
Back then, I had definitely stepped on something.
It had been such an ordinary sound that I had passed it over without thinking, but now that the Primordial Snapdragon was before my eyes.
Now that the exact same thirst had returned, I could be certain.
“......You. What’s your relationship with Lady Detra?”
When I turned to look beside me, Creed drew in a breath and lifted her small shoulders sharply.
This woman definitely had some sort of relationship with Lady Detra.
Otherwise, there would be no reason for a Primordial Snapdragon she should have treasured to be rolling around Creed’s gambling den.
Creed clutched her shawl with both hands.
“......We had a fair amount of contact before she got married.”
“Then why are you both so desperate to tear each other apart?”
“I don’t dislike her! She just suddenly became a little strange.”
That told me enough.
She was under the influence of the calamity of greed.
A calamity encroached upon its surroundings even while it was still a seed.
“She always tried to win at everything and take possession of things, but......”
“That sounds like reason enough to dislike her.”
Creed’s lips curled upward.
She seemed to have forgotten the seriousness of the situation for a moment.
“Oh? I thought that side of her was quite cute.”
“......Enough. So?”
“Angela...... no, Lady Detra tried to know everything in the city and hold it all in her hands.”
Lady Detra must have been greedy from the start.
Someone like that had placed greed in a flowerpot and carefully raised it.
The situation could only become more serious.
“She must have pressured you.”
“She sent people to the gambling den and guided the mood in a strange direction.”
I shrugged without letting Creed notice.
A back-alley gambling den probably had not been in very good shape to begin with.
Still, if Creed was the one managing it, there might have been a proper line.
Creed’s lips rose in a precarious smile.
“After Lady Detra took in a lucky maid, she became even bolder.”
“She even jumped straight into the gambling table, didn’t she?”
“Thanks to that, more than one or two people were ruined.”
Her lips, which had been drawing a gentle curve, twisted.
The puzzle pieces clicked into place.
“Are you the one who saddled Jacqueline with a massive debt?”
“......Yes. I played against her personally.”
Things had gotten tangled in an exceptionally filthy way.
I swept back my troublesome hair and looked at the stage.
Lady Detra had her chin raised as if to show off.
Her head showed no sign of lowering.
“You are aware that there is a Primordial Snapdragon garden at the Detra estate, yes?”
The participants exchanged glances.
“You mean the greenhouse where they don’t let even a single ant inside?”
“Why do you think they manage it so strictly?”
“......Are you saying that flowerpot really brings wealth?”
One participant sprang to his feet.
“I saw that flower in the back alleys!”
“Enormous funds have been flowing through that area lately......”
“I heard the rumors too.”
As the surroundings stirred, Lady Detra giggled.
“What money would that trash have to open tables worth several thousand vanus?”
GRIND.
I heard the sound of teeth grinding beside me.
‘Looks like that offended her......’
Creed seemed to take quite a bit of pride in her gambling den.
Lady Detra paid it no mind and guided the mood.
“If even those bottom-feeders can grasp wealth, what about us?”
The teeth visible beneath the golden mask flashed greedily in the light.
“And do you suppose it is common for this flower to be brought outside, pot and all?”
One participant shot his hand up.
He must have had quite a few questions.
However, as if she had decided this was enough, Lady Detra withdrew her gaze and turned away.
“It is late, so I will not take separate questions. Think carefully.”
“Thank you for the explanation. Then we will begin the bidding at once.”
The lights focused on the stage.
Was it my imagination?
The flower in the pot was swaying from a higher position than before.
Unless it had grown in that brief time, it was absolutely impossible.
“We will begin at the minimum price!”
The orchestra’s performance sank low.
It was grand enough to echo through the entire underground.
The bat mask raised a hand.
“500 vanus.”
He was someone who had craned his neck to listen throughout Lady Detra’s explanation.
Others gradually began to join the bidding as well.
“700 vanus.”
“800 vanus!”
The tone of the string instruments, laid low as if scraping the floor, crawled up my legs in a chill.
“1,000 vanus!”
“2,000!”
The bid climbed higher and higher.
However, it was still within a manageable range.
‘Would it be better for me to win it?’
If I got my hands on the pot, things might go more smoothly.
I could deal with it while the calamity still slept.
My fingertips twitched.
Just as I was about to raise my hand and call a bid.
......Thump.
A small pulse came from somewhere.
‘That sound is......?’
It was buried beneath people’s voices and hard to hear, but it was definitely a sound I had heard before.
For now, I clenched my fist tight and surveyed my surroundings.
“8,000 vanus!”
“10,000 vanus!”
“All of you, back off! 30,000 vanus!”
The mood was strange.
When a bid rose, people were bound to give up, but this time was different.
There were people raising their hands to follow, but no one dropped out.
Before I knew it, half the participants gathered in the underground had joined the bidding.
The increments were strange as well.
“100,000 vanus!”
“Damn it, 300,000 vanus!”
People shouted amounts until their throats seemed ready to burst.
The numbers were unreal.
This was......
‘I can’t jump in carelessly.’
Even the people who had only been watching the mood began to murmur.
“Can they even pay that kind of money?”
Yet the people actually calling the bids did not show even a trace of surprise.
“I’m at 300,000, 300,000!”
“Double that, 600,000 vanus!”
If anything, they only called out larger amounts.
Unable to keep watching, one companion grabbed a bidder by the shoulder and shook him.
He was a man wearing a bear mask.
“Have you lost your mind? Your circumstances are obvious, so why are you acting so recklessly?”
“Get your hands off me. Can’t you see I’m busy?”
THWACK!
“Argh! Goodness, now you’re hitting people.”
The bidder shook off the companion trying to stop him and ran toward the stage.
Others sprang to their feet and followed.
The bear mask muttered while clutching his cheek.
“No, what is that plant that people are losing their minds like this......?”
It was because the calamity’s power had grown stronger.
This greed-filled stage was no different from a buffet for it.
Wer poked his head out of the bag.
“Things are taking a strange turn.”
“Yeah. We have to calm this down first.”
“Where are you going, Ritak?”
“There are staff over there.”
A group of black masks had gathered in a corner.
They were the staff who had been mediating the commotion.
“Hey. Are you just going to watch?”
“W-We also think this needs to be dealt with, but......”
“Are you going to act after someone gets hurt?”
The staff glanced toward the Detra couple’s table.
The golden mask raised her palm.
It probably meant they were not to step in.
The Detra couple rose from their seats, then went up onto the stage together, and Lady Detra raised both hands high.
Far from stopping it, her attitude only fanned the competition.
“We have reached 100 million! Is there no more?”
“I bid 300 million!”
People stretched their hands toward the stage.
At some point, the orchestra’s performance had risen high enough to tear at the ears.
The breathlessly racing beat was enough to make my vision spin.
THUMP! THUMP!
The sound of a heartbeat now echoed throughout the underground.
The stem of the Primordial Snapdragon was growing at a horrifying speed.
Every time people called out a bid, the flower pulsed greedily.
Now I could be certain.
“......We have to get away.”
“Where to?”
The moment when the first calamity had sprouted was still vivid.
The domain that unfolded around a calamity the instant it was born possessed tremendous power.
It was a power that could crush human lives without a thought.
I clenched my fist and shouted.
“Everyone, get away from the stage!”
Several people stirred and withdrew.
“When did that plant get so big?”
“It looks dangerous......”
However, fewer than twenty people retreated after hearing the warning.
The rest were still waving their arms in front of the stage.
The bear mask grabbed his companion by the shoulder.
“Stop this and come here!”
At some point, the bidder had even thrown off his mask.
His glossy eyes glared at the bear mask.
“Let go! I said don’t get in my way!”
“You are the one being unreasonable!”
The bear mask tried to drag his companion away whether he struggled or not.
At that moment.
CRACK!
A crack split through the flowerpot.
The violet energy leaking from the fissure swept through the hall.
“G-Graaaaaagh!”
It was a scream crushed beneath a vicious energy.
It sounded as if a hook had been set deep inside the organs and was being dragged upward.
“......Ghk.”
The terrible scream abruptly cut off.
The bidding that had been shouted ever louder in order to climb even higher also stopped.
The melody that had been racing powerfully enough to rip eardrums apart was now silent.
Everyone who had participated in the auction for the Primordial Snapdragon was crushed beneath the power of the domain.
‘Damn it.’
The second calamity, Avarita, had sprouted.
One blossom opened and lowered its head.
CHOMP!
The flower bit Lady Detra’s head and lifted itself up.
Her body dangled in the air, swaying limply.
The mouth visible beneath the flower slowly opened, and an uncanny voice rang out clearly.
-All of you who have set foot upon private property bear the obligation to pay taxes.
It was a voice that seemed to drive itself directly into my head.
“Hic, hck.”
Someone hiccupped.
No one could answer.
Wriggle, wriggle.......
The roots that broke free of the flowerpot covered the stage.
At last, the roots began crawling down from the stage.
The ominously colored energy also spread slowly like poison.
“U-Uwaaaaaah!”
Who was it that screamed?
Thanks to that, the people who had been frozen stiff all sprang up as if burned.
“We have to run!”
“W-Where......!”
“Come this way!”
I pointed toward the exit.
Staying here would only mean dying like dogs.
Most of the wealthy people in the underground social club had nothing to do with adventurers or mercenaries.
I was not one to talk, but there were far more people who looked frail.
“A-A monster!”
“Wait for me!”
Most of them began running frantically toward the exit.
However, a few people turned toward the tables in front of the stage.
“......What are you doing? That’s the wrong way!”
I stretched out a hand, but I could not stop them.
“My bag is over there!”
“Do you know what it took to win that gem? I can’t just leave it behind.”
That crap mattered right now?
It was enough to drive me insane.
Some even threw themselves flat on the floor and scraped up gold coins.
“How many vanus is all this? There’s no owner anymore anyway, right!”
“Get away!”
In the blink of an eye, greed grew all the way to the area near the tables, then crept forward and extended its roots.
Soon, it raised its head like a snake that had spotted prey.
Its target was the person lying flat on the floor.
WHIP, SLASH!
A root pierced through his thick neck.
“Guhh.......”
Were his vocal cords destroyed?
The person pierced by the calamity could not even scream properly.
In the end, he dropped his head while still kneeling.
CLINK! CLATTER!
Coins spilled from his grip.
Whether silver or gold, they no longer had any meaning.
Roll...... clack.
A coin rolled all the way to my feet and flipped over, showing its belly.
The delicately embossed insect was soaked in blood.