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Chapter 573: The Black Zone (5)

The bridge of the Earthship.

As Yeongwoo, Jeonggu, and the new prisoner—Kanaph Izori—appeared, everyone’s attention focused on a single point.

Namely, Madam Kanaph.

—Who… is that person?

When Jiseon asked on behalf of everyone in the bridge, Madam Kanaph shrank back.

Even though Jiseon looked human, she essentially carried the aura of an ice dragon, and the tremendous cold radiating from her instinctively terrified an amphibious being like Madam Kanaph.

For her, Jiseon was a natural-born predator.

“Uh… this is Kanaph Izori. She’s the younger sister of Duke Dalqui.”

—Duke Dalqui?

“He’s some noble living somewhere. I’m planning to return this lady to him.”

—Wait, you mean she’s a hostage…?

Even before Yeongwoo could bring up the topic of payment, Jiseon dropped the word hostage.

It made sense—there was no way Jeong Yeongwoo would keep someone like this without compensation.

She assumed he intended to demand ransom.

“Huh… hostage? Let’s just say she’s a prisoner.”

—Prisoner, hostage… same thing.

Jiseon folded her arms and shook her head, and at that point Yeongwoo pointed with his finger and introduced his family.

Point.

“That person you just saw is my mother. Song Jiseon—no, Jiseon Song Renaissance.”

—Ah, then she’s human too?

“Well. You could say that.”

—…As expected.

Madam Kanaph’s prejudice about humans only grew stronger.

Next, Yeongwoo pointed at his father, Kim Jeonggu.

“You’ve already met him, right? My father.”

Then his finger moved toward the seat behind the captain’s chair, toward Taeyang Moro.

“And that person is… my mother-in-law, Taeyang Moro.”

—Taeyang… Moro?

“She’s a star. She’s also the power source of this planetary ship.”

—…!

Hearing this, Madam Kanaph hid half her body behind her transparent cloak.

—A st-star… is right here? Isn’t that forbidden?

The principle of non-interference between celestial bodies and families.

Though she had lived in a small corner of space, she was well-educated.

She immediately understood how unnatural this situation was.

Yeongwoo scratched his chin casually and replied.

“Well… the very concept of a planetary ship is unnatural anyway.”

—S-so on a planetary ship… it isn’t forbidden for celestial bodies to gather together?

“No one’s scolded us yet, so who knows. Anyway, it’s hard to operate a planetary ship without interacting with celestial bodies.”

Then Yeongwoo pointed toward Parina, seated next to Moro.

“That red one is my wife, Parina. She’s a candidate for stellar ascension. Basically, she’ll become a star someday.”

—Good heavens…

Madam Kanaph looked like she couldn’t believe anything anymore.

But an even scarier fact dawned on her—she wasn’t the only prisoner here.

“And over there…”

Yeongwoo pointed toward Mantero, who was seated at the helm.

Their eyes met midair.

—Ah.

Madam Kanaph widened her eyes—she could instinctively tell he was a fellow captive.

Mantero also showed a faintly sorrowful expression.

“This is Mantero, our Earthship’s chief navigator and acting captain.”

As Yeongwoo introduced him, Mantero—befitting a royal navigator—offered Madam Kanaph a flawless, formal greeting.

—Good heavens…

Madam Kanaph whispered another “good heavens,” but for a completely different reason this time.

It was the first proper etiquette she’d seen since arriving here, and she was genuinely moved.

—Where… did you bring that man from? He doesn’t look like someone who should be near a rogue like you.

Yeongwoo replied without a hint of shame.

“Our acting captain? He was the chief navigator of the Delcen royal family.”

—Delcen…?

No one in the universe would fail to recognize the name of that dynasty.

Madam Kanaph’s mouth fell open.

“Haha, he’s probably the most educated person on our ship.”

Yeongwoo laughed heartily and pointed at the next “prisoner.”

“That one over there is our Earthship’s prospective tenant.”

—Prospective… tenant?

“He’s got a lot of enemies chasing him. This is Koatu the Arms Dealer.”

Koatu raised a hand lightly in greeting.

—Koatu. Welcome to the Moving Abyss… though it’s unfortunate you ended up here. You look like an important person, which is… regrettable.

—…….

Hearing Koatu’s bleak and nihilistic greeting, Madam Kanaph looked horrified.

None of them were normal—contrary to what Yeongwoo had said earlier.

“Now, lastly.”

Glance.

Yeongwoo pointed at Kejen the swordsman, who bowed elegantly in some half-remembered formal gesture.

—Kejen Gialto, thief of shadows.

—…Kanaph Izori.

Once the final prisoner finished greetings, Yeongwoo clapped loudly.

Clap!

“Now it’s finally time to depart. Let’s hope all three of us return alive.”

Kejen tilted his head.

—Three…?

“I’m taking my father too. Four, technically. We’ll need a porter to move the ingots.”

Yeongwoo pointed at the golden goblin, who pulled out the Katangdal ingots from his subspace pouch.

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—Kiii!

Sure enough, walking around with those ingots would draw the attention of every criminal in the sector.

—A porter would be necessary.

Kejen nodded after seeing the sheer number of ingots.

This time, the ingots they planned to exchange in the Black Zone totaled 25 pieces.

Ten were Koatu’s slush fund, and fifteen were Yeongwoo’s share.

—You’re going to convert all of that into Karma…?

Twenty-five ingots is 37.5 billion worth.

Kejen grimaced, and Yeongwoo asked.

“What? The Black Zone can’t handle that volume?”

—It’s not that. But since it’s such a huge sum, the buyer will be one of two types.

Then Kejen raised two fingers.

—A con artist… or a major big shot. The former is a hassle. The latter is dangerous.

“Is 37.5 billion in cash that big even in the Black Zone?”

—Of course. That’s enough to buy a mid-to-low tier heavy cruiser in a single payment.

“Well… if we can’t find anyone suitable, we’ll just split it up and sell it in parts.”

Yeongwoo wasn’t very worried.

There was no need to unload all of it today.

Besides, there was another transaction planned in the Black Zone.

He still needed to retrieve Kejen’s hidden royal signet of the Kardal Royal Family and sell it.

“Let’s find the signet first. Then we’ll decide what to sell.”

—Right. If you’re planning to cause trouble, you might not be able to return for a while… so we should take care of everything in one go.

Shift.

Kejen looked out the bridge window into space.

—You heard this already, but first we need to rent a ship.

“Where do we rent one?”

Kejen replied in a quiet voice only he could hear.

—This is the outer rim of the Tuani Galaxy.

“…So?”

—The natives here all know. Almost everyone who comes to this region is headed for the Black Zone.

Then he lifted a finger to his lips.

—And they know many of them don’t want their identities revealed.

That’s why rental businesses were so developed around this sector.

—The Black Zone is shady. That’s why prestigious families especially want to hide who they are.

“So no one enters using their own family’s ship?”

—Of course not. That’s why the rental market is thriving. You can even rent bodyguards if you want.

“They rent bodyguards…?”

—Everyone knows the Black Zone has a high incident rate. So newcomers hire guards for emergencies.

In other words, people who weren’t used to dealing with criminals would hire local mercenaries before entering.

“Then most of those customers must be newbies.”

—Not just newbies. Rich newbies from well-off families.

“Then those rental bodyguards… are from the Black Zone?”

—Right. Which means you should be more wary of the guards. Many of them betray their clients.

“…So the entire Tuani outer rim is basically the Black Zone.”

After hearing all of this, Yeongwoo had another question.

“Then how do you trust the rental companies? Aren’t they shady too?”

—Which is why you shouldn’t act too noble or rich. But you don’t qualify as either, so you’ll be fine.

Kejen twitched his long rat-man whiskers and grinned.

Yeongwoo also laughed loudly and playfully pointed his sword at Kejen.

“Stop talking crap and let’s go.”

—At last, I can touch my signet again…

Kejen wiggled his fingers as if the signet were right before him, and Earth stood before the navigation device.

『Where should I drop you off? There are too many planets nearby.』

“Well, who better than our resident thief to pick a spot.”

Yeongwoo looked at Kejen, the only real guide for this mission.

Kejen stroked his small chin and said.

—How much can you spend on the rental ship?

“What? How much do they usually cost?”

—Since there are only four of us, we just need a vehicle with a thruster and maneuvering controls. Those usually cost 200 million to rent, plus a 400 million deposit.

“That’s pretty expensive. Why is there a deposit?”

—Because lots of people rent a ship… and never come back.

“Ah. Makes sense.”

Meaning they died after entering the Black Zone.

“But if there’s a set fee, why ask our budget?”

—Because if you plan on returning on someone else’s ship… there are cheaper options.

“What.”

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