Nightmare Fantasy Online

This is the place...?

I arrived at the address I was told about in the sea of islands. It looks like a mansion made out of black wood and metal. It's sorta stylish, but far from something I'd expect from a self-proclaimed "criminal guild" or whatever the Blackmarket is. 

Ah, that could be their goal. To not stand out. Or maybe this place is a fake hideout/HQ that they use when inviting strangers so that their real place doesn't get busted? Yeah, that could be it. These guys are a bunch of tricksters after all.

Having solved that small mystery, I walked to the guard of the mansion. He's dressed in a full-plate armor that makes it impossible to guess his race, but his voice revealed his gender, at least.

"Yes, we have been expecting you, miss Garami. Please follow me." 

The guard left his post to his partner and escorted me to the mansion's front door. There, a maid-like person welcomed me and took over for the guard who returned to the front gate.

The maid then took me to a changing room. I gotta dress formally for the party? Ehh... Okay, fine. The clothing here looks pretty anyway, and I bet they'd be too expensive to buy even in the game...

Or maybe not. I have tons of sol just laying around in the Player Room now due to the vault being too small to fit it all. A side-effect from clearing so many Quests in the hope of getting more AP. Even if I tend to stock up on MP potions. Some other players are having the same problem, but they use their money on equipment. I am promised something amazing (I think) from the Fort's Treasury, so I'm waiting for that.

Back to the dresses, I took a revealing black dress that exposes the center of my torso and my back. It also reveals lots of my legs. I also grabbed some long black gloves and stockings, plus black high-heels. If I'm gonna dress up in a game, I better be throughout with it. 

Dressing up wasn't that hard. Just needed to replace my equipment with these fancy garments. Just a few pushes of a button. Man, I'd like reality to take a note from this. 

After exiting the dressing room, the maid brought me to the dining room. Lots of fancy dishes are already placed on the table..., so fancy that I think I'll end up crying tonight during my dinner. Why must VR be capable of reproducing taste? *Sniff*...

On the other side of the table were the hosts. Glock, the shadow-ish creature that I first met in the old Fort, and Ronandart, the "gentleman" I packed all the trash from the purple nest on. I'd say the gentleman's the one with the higher ranking in their organization, seeing how Glock is standing by his side like an attendant. 

"Welcome, miss Garami of the Arcechina Castle. It is such an honor to have you here. And I must say, you are more beautiful now than ever." - Ronandart

The old man opened his speech with such words. Yeah, I almost forgot. These guys know my Dungeon's previous name and its location. That's a bummer, but not a big one. People on the BBS seem to be favoring me for some reason, so them knowing that I own the Fort may not be so bad after all. It could work as a deterrent.

Then again, there are always some jerks in games like this one, but it's not something I need to be that worried about. Like before, all I need to focus on is to make the Fort grow so it can handle any opposition it may face.

"Nice to see you two," I replied while taking my seat. I'm not good with formal talk, but the duo doesn't seem to be too occupied about that.

"Then? Why did you invite me?" I asked, wishing to skip past the pleasantries. 

"Right on point as always. You do know that some people would take offense for that?" - Ronandart

"Whatever. Keep the story going, pervert gentleman." - Garami

"Pervert-!? ...*cough*, miss Garami, I presume that after you obtained the Arcechina Castle, you renamed it into the "Darkland Fort", a Dungeon that has rumors about being a treasure trove for rare and therefore expensive plants such as the Crystal Roses and Dark Lilies, am I correct?" - Ronandart

"Who knows?" - Garami

"I will take that as a yes. Moving on, as a representative of the Blackmarket, I want to strike a deal with you, the Dungeon Ruler of the gossiped Darkland Fort." - Ronandart

"Representative", as in the whole underworld organization wants a deal with me? This can't be good.

"Please be at ease. It is a simple deal. First, I need to ask: are the flowers discovered in the Darkland Fort a product from the Dungeon itself? Or is it something you have personally added to it?" - Ronandart

...tch. He's completely on the idea that I rule the Fort. No need to pretend that I'm not anymore. It won't be that bad for me even if the cat gets outta the bag.

"Okay, I'll be honest here. The plants are produced by the Dungeon. Specifically, a facility I added to it." - Garami

"Oho! And what else can your Dungeon provide?" - Ronandart

"Not much right now. Still working on improving its defense." - Garami

"That is reasonable. Then here is my real question: can you sell the produce from your Dungeon to us, the Blackmarket Union, wholesale?" - Ronandart

......? Wholesale? Wholesale as in, selling a lot at the same time? Eh? 

"Just why...?" I asked, a little confused over the sudden big business talk. Please keep it to simply selling/buying stocks over the internet, okay?

"Miss Garami, are you aware how rare just the Crystal Roses are? Extremely so. The reason is that these flowers normally grow in fields where vicious Crystal element creatures live. We are talking about high-leveled D-rank monsters, at the very least. Not to forget that the flowers may be just one out of many products your Dungeon is capable of providing. Say, do you know about the Cloacrystal?" - Ronandart

"Nope." - Garami

"I thought that was the case. They are light-absorbing crystals that grow in areas filled with Darkness aether. Many items with concealment powers are built using these types of crystals. The problem is that they are located in caves that even demons such as us cannot see in due to the intense darkness produced from these crystals. I presume that your Dungeon can eventually grant you a "facility" that allows you to harvest them. And this is just the icing of the cake. Who knows what your Darkland Fort can provide?" - Ronandart

...in short, the Fort can give easy access to close-to-impossible items if it's "cultivated" right? 

"And if I did say "yes", what would prevent you guys from ratting me out to those Dungeon-hating guys in the other countries?" - Garami

"Hohohoho! Those guys hate us as well, so you have nothing to worry about there!" - Ronandart

"We, honorable, bad dudes. Still, they, hate us. A mystery." - Glock

"Even if you say that," I started while thinking of an excuse to skip this deal, mostly because I'm not sure if I could hold their quota of items, an extremely conspicuous appeared in front of me. What now?

......"underground organization"...is it?

"Hey, you bastards! What "honorable bad dudes"-joke are you throwing at me? You wanna know how I deal with liars, huh!?" - Garami

With a gusto that I'd never shown to a bunch of criminals in real life, I jumped onto the table and accused the two lawbreakers of their crimes. No way a bunch of no-good lowlives that would steep could be capable of something like deleting my character data, so I'm going at them with full force!

"Wh-wh-wh-what are you saying all of a sudden!?" - Ronandart

"Glock, confused." - Glock

"Don't play innocent! I just got a message from the Union! About how people from an underground organization did a low-handed kidnapping on some kid!" - Garami

The two bastards simply blinked a few times while processing the hurtful truth I threw at-

"WHAAAAAAAT!?" - Ronandart & Glock

"Whoa-?!" - Garami

They reacted way more intensely than I expected. Did they rehearse on that in case I figured them out? Crooks or not, they're well-prepared.

"Listen up, lady, but we, the Blackmarket, may do some less-than-honorable business from time to time, but kidnapping a child is NOT part of the agenda!!" - Ronandart

"Glock, disappointed." - Glock

...eh? Why'm I treated like the bad guy here??

"Prove it." - Garami

"Eeeeeehhh......" - Ronandart & Glock

I knew it! These two are too sus! Guess they're wishing for some special Ste-, I mean, some special Garami-class punishment-

*Ding~*

What now!? Does this public message thingy, or whatever it is, have a kink for interrupting me all the time!? What's it saying this time? "The culprits' identity has been discovered. They are the Lunalatic Clan"...

"Hey, one last chance to redeem yourselves," I told the two guys who're still acting like programs in deadlocks. "Who's the Lunalatic Clan?"

"Those guys? A bunch of honorless whippersnappers that are trying to wrestle themselves into the underground market..., ah. They are the real culprits, are they not!" - Ronandart

The old man roared out as he connected the dots, but I'm not buying it. It's not for certain that those Luna-whatever guys are the real culprits or not, plus they could be a subordinate group of the Blackmarket. 

"Kid, kidnapped, who?" - Glock

Ah, I never said that, did I? 

"Some mayor's kid or whatever. A 6-year old-" - Garami

"WHAAAAAT?! What happened to poor little Tiris!?" - Ronandart

Before I could react, the perverted not-gentle-man grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me while demanding an answer. 

"S-s-stop it, lolicon gentleman!" - Garami

"L-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-!?" - Lolicon gentleman

And the lolicon fell to the floor as if he was a doll whose strings got cut. The most powerful weapon isn't the sword or the pen, but the truth...

"This, Tiris. And mayor," said Glock, who'd grabbed a picture frame from somewhere. It showed a little girl's birthday party..., with Glock, the lolicon, and some other shady-looking guys among the guests. Don't tell me...

"Mayor, and geezer, old friends. This town, and Blackmarket, partners. Geezer, honorary uncle, to the little girl." - Glock

I think I heard a secret I wasn't supposed to hear?! It would explain the lolicon gentleman's current condition. He's even puking out foam...

I-in admiration of this guy's acting skills, I think I may go along with this story as if it was real, a-hahaha...

"Problem. Blackmarket, part of the, Underworld Treaty. Can't beat, jerks because, other organizations, would beat us, afterward," said Glock as he picked up the lolicon gentleman.

"That sounds troublesome indeed..." - Garami

"But you, not Blackmarket," said Glock before leaving the room with the lolicon..., hmm? 

Wait, was I just recruited for a revenge plan or something? A-hahaha, no way~. I bet this all is some sorta trick. These guys must have some secret device that can make fake quest notices, right? Right? Right!?