Chapter 29: Don't Ask — Hold It In

Sharlock had Bru order a pause on all excavation tasks in the nearby area, zoned off the whole region, and told the players not to come near it if they knew what was good for them.

Within the dungeon's bounds, Sharlock's direct orders worked like a charm on these players from another world. To the players, it felt like an invisible wall had suddenly gone up around the area — they instinctively, of their own accord, did not want to go near it.

Nicholas thanked Sharlock for the gracious hospitality, then led his caravan into the newly excavated space and started settling in and getting some rest.

The players were overflowing with curiosity about this caravan from Frostlake City, but Sharlock had restricted the caravan's activity zone, so even the players who wanted to gawk had no way in.

Once Sharlock had Nicholas's crew squared away, he went off to assign personnel and issue the gold-essence mining task, then set about making the event reward redemption signboard.

Before long, Sharlock had the signboard finished, then went and found Nicholas and asked him to bring out those few small goods he'd picked. They set them out at the room's entrance like a shop displaying wares, and — at the prices agreed on beforehand — for the duration of their stop at the Eternal Kingdom, they'd trade with the dungeon's players from another world by barter.

Sharlock also restated the contents of the agreement they'd signed earlier: anything touching on magic stones, come discuss it with him directly; as for any bizarre or common-sense-defying questions from the dungeon's servants, simply don't engage. As for the reason, Sharlock hand-waved it with "they went through special training from a young age, so they might be a little short on common sense in that department." Nicholas naturally didn't buy that line for one second, but either way, whatever Sharlock asked of him, he'd agree to — he was still counting on deepening his bond with this demon lord of apparently illustrious birth.

Once negotiations with Nicholas wrapped up, the caravan soon laid out item after item, even breaking out tablecloths and racks to dress the display up — the whole thing ended up looking like some festival concession stand pitched out in the wilderness.

And while the caravan bustled about, Sharlock planted the finished signboard in the open ground at the entrance to the caravan's rest area:

On the event signboard, all told only these pieces of gear were up for redemption — the 【WinterSunHat】, the 【GoblinInTuxedo】, the 【Frostlake Diamond Shortsword】, the 【Frostlake Shortbow】, and the 【Little Cloth Sack】. And the reason he'd picked only these five came down to price and practicality. The caravan carried plenty of other cheap goods, but none of it suited the players — decorative candelabras, candles, plates, knives and forks. What use were those to a bunch of goblins?

These five pieces of gear were picked out on Bru's advice, too. As for the other stuff — either it was too expensive, no way to farm enough basic materials to redeem it within three days; or it was low-value, impractical decoration; or it simply wasn't made for goblins — so Sharlock didn't spend any extra time selecting.

Nicholas couldn't understand why Sharlock would spend time making a signboard like this. And those numbers and names on it — were they referring to his goods? Nicholas had a whole bellyful of questions. But Rule Five of their agreement said: if you have any questions about the dungeon, don't ask. Hold it in.

And while Nicholas stewed in his questions, the players had already noticed Sharlock planting a signboard at the entrance to the caravan camp, and came swarming over in one big noisy wave.

Nicholas had assumed these goblins would be just as full of questions as he was. Who'd have guessed that the moment the gathered goblins finished reading the signboard, they'd instantly erupt into a hollering frenzy:

"Group forming! Group forming! Veteran main tank here! Three clears' worth of Spider Nest entrance experience! Personal best: solo-tanking two subterranean spiders at once! Need an off-tank! Need three geared, skilled DPS! Roll-for-loot or gold buyout, either works! We leave NOW!" (Main tank: the person whose job is soaking the main aggro. Roll-for-loot: deciding who gets the gear by dice roll.)

"Buying spider silk! Top dollar for spider silk! Buying ALL materials! Got some? Hit me up with your price, ASAP! USD or copper, both accepted!"

"Anyone ground their rep up to 10,000 for level 2 yet? Redeem a Little Cloth Sack for me! I've got the materials — your trouble fee is a thousand, or a hundred coppers! I can pay upfront!"

"Recruiting four muscle! A hundred coppers an hour, five-hour grind session minimum! Any muscle out there! ANY muscle! I can tank, I can DPS!"

"FINALLY a bag in this game. God, I want it so bad!"

"LFG! Skilled DPS here! Can't tank — don't have the guts!"

"WAAAAAAA—!!"

"Damn it! Can you guys not scream so loud?! I'm trying to play a VR MMO, not get chat-flooded by you in person!"

Before Nicholas's eyes, the goblins who'd just been quietly reading the signboard detonated all at once. Aside from one small wave of goblins who took off sprinting in the same direction, the rest started bellowing like their lives depended on it, shouting their throats raw, each one terrified his voice might ring a decibel lower than the next guy's — and every single thing they were yelling was beyond Nicholas's comprehension!

What were they even saying?

Sharlock was long since used to the players' habit of spontaneously forming groups and running trade, and he had zero intention of explaining anything to Nicholas. They had a contract in hand, after all — Nicholas was bound to honor it and not ask any questions about the dungeon. Can't understand it? Then hold it in.

Sharlock still had to hurry off to the official site to see how the players were responding to the Frostlake City caravan event. That hilarious forum crowd from the other world was a whole lot more interesting than some vampire count.

Sharlock gave Nicholas a few words of encouragement, then walked off to mind his own business.

He left Nicholas standing there alone, staring blankly at the players from another world. Nicholas didn't stay frozen for long, though, because before long a goblin appeared in front of him with the green name-tag 【Charlie】 over her head. Of course, Nicholas couldn't read the 【Charlie】 letters — to him they looked like some kind of patterned script. Unlike Sharlock, he'd never learned the other world's written language through the dungeon core's connection to the other world's network, so how could he possibly recognize the other world's letters?

The goblin topped with 【Charlie】 said timidly:

"I-I'd like to redeem a Little Cloth Sack."

He was holding ten units of spider silk in his hands.

And behind Charlie stood a goblin with the name 【Arthur】 over his head. Nicholas had just watched that 【Arthur】 hand 【Charlie】 a big fistful of copper coins — the very same 【Arthur】 who'd been hollering for someone to help him redeem a Little Cloth Sack — and 【Charlie】 tucked those coins away as carefully as if they were treasure.

Nicholas's head was practically spinning. He had no clue what he was even watching. It felt like watching a pack of goblins frantically playing house, rattling off a mountain of jargon he couldn't parse, trading like fiends over copper coins they treated like dirt — except those copper coins, in these goblins' eyes, might as well have been as precious as magic stones.

What in the world was going on with this dungeon? Nicholas's questions were about to blow his body apart at the seams. But he couldn't ask. Because of Rule Five of his agreement with Lord Sharlock —

Don't ask. Hold it in.