Chapter 28: For Anemus - Auction
In the middle of the crowd where Athena and Lunnia were, a young man accompanied by a young nymph was attracted by the announcement of an auction of a fire stone.
"Did you hear that, Hein?"
"I heard."
"Does this mean that..."
"Yes!"
"I'm going to buy it for you to evolve!"
"I'm going to buy it for Photia to evolve!"
Athena stared at the young man who said he was going to buy something for someone to evolve.
The man had orange hair, one pearly green eye and one covered with an eye patch. He dressed like a mercenary with a claymore on his back and heavy graphite gray armor that resembled an exoskeleton.
The nymph had magical anklets attached to her ankles, allowing her to fly, dressed in black shorts and a black belted top. Her scarlet hair was curled like flames and her eyes were yellow as the sun.
Athena narrowed her eyes and frowned as she took in the situation and quickly turned to Lunnia.
"Lunnia, I'm going to the bank. If they start the auction before I arrive, keep bidding no matter the price."
"Huh?! No matter the price? Are you crazy?" Lunnia cringed in fear.
Lunnia had seen enough of Juefu in those three days and her fear was justified. Within that period they spent in the city, Lunnia saw several people being enslaved after stealing or going into debt.
"Don't worry about it. I guarantee the money!" Athena's eyes burned in the flames of competition. "Fotiá needs this stone!"
Lunnia let a long sigh out of her mouth and smiled at Athena, who smiled back. Athena kissed Lunnia's cheek and was heading toward the crowd back when she turned around.
"Get your horse out of the rain! The stone is mine." Athena told the man and disappeared into the crowd before he could respond.
The man intrigued by Athena looked back to where Lunnia was, only to find that she was no longer there.
"Yrio!" Hein called. "What are you doing? The auction is about to start, run!"
"Tsk! Sorry, I was stunned for a moment because of that girl..."
Yrio and Hein hurried to the auction house on Third Street. A stone building like any other on the outside and a grand, elegant theater inside that would remind theaters of the Victorian era.
Lunnia sat in one of the upstairs seats, from where she had a better view of the stage, and waited for Athena with anxiety kicking in her belly as if she were on her period.
"You again?" Hein said as he landed in the chair beside Lunnia.
"You...?" Lunnoa was so anxious that she couldn't even remember what Athena had told her right.
"Hein, a fire nymph." Hein introduced himself. "Is that you?"
"I am called Lunnia and I am a knight."
"Hein, I already told you not to fly ahead and leave me behind..." Yrio complained. "Ah! We meet again..."
Lunnia looked at the man and shyly nodded once. Without armor, Lunnia was like a frightened girl who didn't know how to handle men.
"Where's your friend? Athena, isn't it?"
"H-how do you know?" Lunnia's heart pounded like drums.
"Just now, you said her name before she ran into the crowd." Hein said.
"A-ah~... Yes. She went to the bank." Lunnia said looking at Hein. "Ah! It will start."
When a hairless, brown-bearded dwarf appeared on stage, the audience dimmed in a dim light.
The dwarf was dressed in a garment like a black suit, and he paced pompously up and down, talking to some big shot here and some madam there.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Fuguv and I will be your host at this auction." Said the dwarf. His deep voice didn't do justice to his pomposity.
The audience applauded and Lunnia, Hein and Yrio followed. After the applause, Fuguv continued with a short speech about the items being auctioned.
"...Now, today's first item is... A spear found in a black dragon's nest. Hm... It says here that maybe it's cursed, but since it's a rare item... Let's start with one toss of five hundred gold coins."
Few people wanted the spear, but it was still sold at a very high price.
"14 thousand gold coins for a cursed item?"
Yrio looked at the participants in the spear auction and his surprised face fell when he saw the winner with a satisfied expression, the loser sullen and two of the participants with happiness stamped on their faces.
"I see... These dwarfs..."
"What, Yrio?"
"There are two cheaters in the audience bidding."
"Eh? Isn't that going to be bad?" Lunnia asked with concern.
"Usually they stop bidding when the item hits a price they've pre-determined." Yrio explained with an analytical expression. "At least that's how it is in 'ground' auctions."
The auction continued, and item after item was auctioned off to the tens of thousands. Of course, all with the help of fake buyers.
And then came the spiritual fire stone's turn. A rare stone that only appears when a fairy dies. The stone was big as a soccer ball and deformed like a meteor, its reddish color seeming to glow and go out like a firefly.
"This spiritual fire stone was rescued from the polluted volcanic hot springs, where the fire fairies lived. As you can see, it spent a lot of time there and that's why it's like that. However, that doesn't make it any less valuable. The opening bid is for five thousand gold coins. Who gives more?"
As soon as Fuguv asked, Yrio raised his hand and the price changed to five thousand five hundred. Lunnia was afraid to bid too high, so she imitated Yrio and raised by five hundred, but the price didn't stay that way for long.
As Yrio stared at Lunnia with a crooked smile, the fakers raised the price to eight thousand. Yrio didn't have a lot of money and would probably spend his entire small fortune there, but he didn't care and raised his bid by four thousand.
Lunnia was apprehensive at the price that was now twelve thousand, but she remembered what Athena had said and raised her hand with noticeable hesitation and raised the price of the stone by another four thousand.
"Are you sure you have all this money?" Yrio asked, worried that he couldn't buy the stone. "Sixteen thousand gold coins is a lot of money..."
"I know that, but Athena said..."
"Twenty thousand gold coins from the gentleman over there." Fuguv said and pointed to one of the fakers. "Who gives more?"
Yrio clenched his fist, the price was almost reaching its limit, but he couldn't give up and he raised the price to twenty-five thousand.
"Are you sure you don't want to stop?" Yrio asked Lunnia.
He knew that if he lost to the fakers, after the auction they would look for the last bidder and that's why he wanted to make Lunnia give up, but...
"Th-thirty thousand!" Lunnia said and Fuguv continued with his partners, increasing the price by another two thousand gold coins.
"Yrio, if this keeps up, we're going to go broke!"
"I'd rather go broke and have you grown up!" Yrio responded and raised his hand, increasing the value of the stone to thirty-seven thousand.
When the stone reached the value of forty-four thousand gold pieces, people began to ask if a stone of fire was worth all that.
When it reached the value of fifty thousand and Yrio was a thousand coins from his limit, the theater doors opened and Fuguv was asking who would give more.
"A million!" Athena screamed.
Yrio passed out with his mouth foaming, Fuguv's eyes turned to golden coins, and Lunnia shrank back in her seat and began to pretend she didn't know Athena, while the forehead turned to a chaos of whispering.
"A million? Are you sure, girl?" Fuguv asked in mock concern.
"Yes, wrap it for me as a gift and show me your best armor." Athena practically ordered.
"And how will you pay?"
"Thereby." Athena showed a pure color hexagonal-shaped kaleidoscopical stone. "That is..."
"A perfect diamond? I-is that really a p-perfect diamond?" Fuguv's thick voice was thin and dry.
"Yes, and if that's not enough, I have another twenty-two of those." Athena smiled and Fuguv fainted.
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For those who would like to know the price of a stone of spiritual fire in the real world.
1 gold coin = 300 dollars.
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