## Chapter 2639 – 2639. Dark Moon

“You probably won’t believe me just by hearing about it. Count Meyer, the creator of this product, will demonstrate it himself.”

It was something already arranged with the auctioneer.

I confidently stepped forward to the auctioneer.

“I am Eugene Meyer. Adarium is an alloy created using LK Corporation’s secret recipe.”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t an alloy, but that’s what I said. I couldn’t talk about LK’s special materials, and it might confuse the competitors.

“Its hardness is similar to Adamantium, and it weighs about 1.5 times more. It also has Adamantium’s shape memory effect.”

I lifted the Adarium. A pitch-black metal. On the surface, it didn’t look much different from Adamantium.

“Its energy blocking effect… I’ll show you directly to make it easier to understand.”

[Hellfire]

Whoosh!

Blue flames erupted. The fire, which would burn endlessly until the spell was completely consumed, tried to melt the black metal. But the black metal didn’t change.

I subjected the Adarium to Hellfire for a minute, but there was no change. I even touched the metal surface directly. I didn’t feel any heat. It hadn’t even warmed up.

“…It doesn’t get affected by heat at all? Is that even possible?”

“This unbelievable metal… It’s more amazing than a superconductor… How on earth did they make it?”

I used other magic as well. I channeled cold and electrical energy into the Adarium. And it was blocked without fail.

“As you can see, it blocks mana 100%. I haven’t tested it against the Dark Moon’s energy, but I assume it will be effective against the Dark Moon as well. Some of you might not believe me. I’ll give you about 10 minutes. Please come out and test it yourselves.”

Several people came out. They used magic and abilities to test the Adarium directly.

“Unbelievable. It really blocks heat and cold perfectly.”

“This would be helpful for various experiments.”

“Isn’t making armor or weapons the best use? Especially if you make it into a cannon barrel… you could fire endlessly without worrying about durability, right? If it has Adamantium-level hardness, it should withstand the impact.”

Everyone was amazed, their eyes shining. Especially the executives of military-related companies couldn’t hide their excitement.

This promotion was a success.

“Count Meyer, do you have plans for mass production of Adarium?”

“Unfortunately, not at the moment. To make 1 kg of Adarium, we need 10 kg of Adamantium. It’s not easy to obtain Adamantium right now.”

1 kg might sound like a lot, but in reality, it was smaller than a fist. Adamantium is much heavier than ordinary metal, and Adarium is about 1.5 times heavier than Adamantium.

The effect was amazing, but mass production was impossible. People weren’t disappointed. They were rather pleased. It meant the scarcity value was higher.

“But if energy is completely blocked, how do you transform Adarium?”

“There are two methods I know. One is to use physical force to attempt transformation. Even if it has shape memory, it’s useless if the transformation is too great. The second method is alchemy.”

“Alchemy? Mana doesn’t work on Adarium, does it?”

“Yes. Instead of directly projecting mana onto the Adarium, you inject alchemic formulas to cause transformation.”

“…Inject formulas? Ah. You’re using the effects of the formulas. The formula itself is essentially mana, so it won’t work… but the effects it generates aren’t related to mana. If that method is possible, then abilities that don’t use mana would work.”

“It seems many of you don’t understand, so I’ll show you directly.”

A magic circle appeared in front of my right hand. An alchemic magic circle. The magic circle slowly rotated, projecting alchemic formulas towards the Adarium. The metal plate-shaped Adarium gradually transformed, becoming round.

“That’s a very stable alchemy.”

“Alchemy is a type of magic, but… it’s a different field, and he’s good at it.”

I handed the Adarium, now a sphere, to the auctioneer. The auctioneer carefully placed the Adarium down and shouted.

“We will now begin the auction! Bidding starts at 10 million credits!”

“30 million!”

“100 million!”

“200 million!”

The price was rising at an absurd rate.

“1.12 billion!”

“1.12 billion has been bid! Is there anyone else?! We will close the bidding in 10 seconds!”

The one who won the bid at 1.12 billion was Prince William. It was quite unexpected.

‘He has the title of Duke, but I don’t think he has a decent business… Can he just spend 1.1 billion like that?’

That was about 33 billion won in Korean currency spent at once.

William approached me with a gleeful smile. Seeing a handsome blonde man approach with a smile made me feel an instinctive aversion. I focused my concentration to hide the rising disgust. I’m not usually like this when I see a handsome man… but Prince William somehow gives off a gay vibe. I don’t know if he’s actually gay, though.

“Haha. Thanks to you, I’m getting something good.”

“How is it thanks to me? It’s something you obtained solely through your own power, Your Highness. There’s no need to thank me.”

“It’s something I wouldn’t have gotten without the Count. If possible, I’d like to acquire a bit more.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t have any at the moment, as I’m short on Adamantium.”

“That’s a shame. Are you free next week? I’m planning to throw a party and would like to invite the Count.”

At that moment, two princesses approached.

“William. You’re making the Count uncomfortable. Stop it.”

“That’s enough.”

William’s eyes twitched. He glared at Elsa and Laura and then stepped back.

“Can’t even say anything.”

The prince and princesses gathered in one place. The nobles around them were watching. The Queen was also looking this way. I spoke before things got any bigger.

“I apologize. I have some business to attend to, so I won’t be able to attend parties for the time being. And since I just had some urgent business come up… I must take my leave.”

There was no urgent business. Everyone else knew that. It was just a roundabout way of saying it. I had no intention of associating with them. The prince and princesses couldn’t hold me back, given the surrounding attention.

‘I’ve achieved all my goals, so this is actually good.’

Just as I was about to leave the palace,

“Are you leaving?”

It was Florence.

“If I return to the banquet hall, the atmosphere will be a mess.”

“It seems like it’s already a mess, though.”

“It will be more of a mess. Do you have something to say to me?”

“It’s a message from Her Majesty the Queen. She said she’s grateful.”

“I was merely following orders as a subject of Her Majesty the Queen.”

I got into the carriage and left Buckingham Palace, returning to my mansion.

‘I need to be careful about anything related to the princesses and the prince in the future.’

Honestly, I didn’t want to be involved with the Queen either.

• • •

Information about LK Corporation’s new product, Adarium, spread beyond Neo London to the entire world.

Unlike superconductors, Adarium wasn’t a metal that could raise the technological level of the entire world. However, it was a metal that was perfect as a material for weapons.

From the perspective of soldiers and mercenaries, Adarium was more appealing than superconductors. A simple bulletproof vest was more useful for protecting their lives than complex machinery. But Adarium was a non-sale item that couldn’t be obtained even with money.

Most soldiers and mercenaries could only drool while imagining the metal called Adarium. It was only natural that the reputation of Eugene Meyer, the developer of Adarium, grew even higher.

Yuria checked the news about Eugene at the Maid Academy. These days, she was happy to receive news about Eugene through the newspaper.

‘It’s a shame. It would be better if I could assist Master by his side.’

Ding-dong-ding.

The bell of the Maid Academy rang. Yuria, who had been quietly reading the newspaper in the dark, turned on the fluorescent light in the room. She calmly took off her pajamas and changed into her maid uniform. Looking out the window, it was still before sunrise.

Yuria glanced out the window and then stepped out of her room.

Her classmates were also standing in front of their dormitory rooms, dressed in their maid uniforms. She quietly exchanged greetings with them through eye contact.

The maids, who had initially struggled to wake up early in the morning, had become accustomed to it and were now quite professional.

In fact, only those who had adapted remained.

Soon, it would be their first year. It meant that graduation was not far away. When they first enrolled, there were 300 students, but now only 37 remained. This was quite a lot. Normally, it should have dropped below 20. The reason there were more was because Yuria had helped them.

Of course, even after graduating from the Maid Academy, Yuria would remain at the academy for further education. Maids aiming for the Superior level or higher could receive additional training.

Tap-tap.

Soon, an instructor appeared. Like the students, she was a maid, and she moved while checking the maids’ uniforms and the cleanliness of the rooms.

The maids who were close to graduation passed the instructor’s inspection without a single criticism and moved on to the next schedule.

Cleaning. Cleaning the assigned area every week. The instructor called out to Yuria, who was about to move.

“Yuria, the Headmistress has called for you. Please go to the Headmistress’s office after breakfast.”

“Yes, I understand.”

After breakfast, Yuria headed to the Headmistress’s office.

She wasn’t particularly nervous. Headmistress Maria Hilton called her to her office frequently.

Headmistress Maria Hilton was a good person. She was strict but often took care of the students, including Yuria. However, she also often tried to connect talented maids with the royal family. She was someone who considered working for the royal family the highest honor for a maid.

A middle-aged woman in a maid uniform was sitting in the Headmistress’s office. Her hair was streaked with gray, but her face had few wrinkles, and her posture was upright.

“Headmistress, I heard you called for me.”

“You’ve arrived. Did you sleep well last night? How is your condition?”

“Managing my condition is also a maid’s job. There are no problems.”

“That’s good. Yuria, there are many things required of a maid, but the most important is loyalty. The master trusts that loyalty and sometimes asks the maid to do something somewhat illegal. What would you do?”

“If it is my master’s order, I must naturally obey.”

“As expected of you, Yuria. That’s a good mindset. This time, I’m going to evaluate your special mission execution ability. Eliminate the people listed in this document. Can you do it?”

Instead of answering rashly, Yuria checked the document.

The top document had a photo of a young butler attached.

Bounty: 50 million credits.

Crimes: Murder of an employer and embezzlement of company assets.