Chapitre 52: 051 Hidden Trouble Makers
As the leaders of the top guilds entered the building they looked around at the interior of the Auction House. Everyone apart from Alexander and Tempest were amazed. The décor made the building look spectacular; it was very well put together.
While Author, Violet, Jack, Quincy, Rend, and Scarlet were led to the balconies that Charlotte created under James's command, Alexander and Tempest were directed a different way.
Author asked the staff member who was directing the group about the difference, "Excuse me, it seems like our friends are heading somewhere else. Is there a particular reason?"
The staff member messaged Cat to see how they should answer his question; Cat told her to tell the truth. "They have requested us to auction off some of their items, as such they get to sit in our special VIP room dedicated to clients."
"Can anyone sell items and get access to that VIP area?" asked Quincy.
"Technically, yes. However, we here at Blue Moon only want to offer top quality goods in our primary auctions. Your friends asked us to auction off several high quality items in their stead." explained the staff member.
She paused for a second and continued, "Also, it is currently too close to the auction's start time to request our services"
Author sighed, he really wanted to see the other VIP area. "No problem we understand."
The women asked the group to follow her up the stairs, she led them the rest of the way to their private balconies, "Here you go, there is a private balcony for each of your guilds. They will be yours to use from here on out; no one else will have access to them."
Once she dropped them off at their respective balconies she turned around to leave. The auction would start as soon as the seats were filled.
"At least they are giving us dedicated balconies to occupy," said Scarlet.
"It is most likely a general respect thing, they know we have the money to spend." said Jack.
Author nodded his head and entered his balcony. The reset of the group followed suit. They settled down and got comfortable.
** In the Client VIP Section **
Cat arrived at the scene and wanted to talk to both Rover's and Alexander's groups. She first stopped at Rover's group.
"Greetings, how are you finding the accommodations?" she asked.
"Great! No complaints" replied Rover.
"That is good to hear, I came to check in on you and to give you a Blue Moon Card, it provides you credit to spend while in house. You have been credited 2 gold coins, this is based on the total minimal values of all the items you are auctioning off, minus our fee of course," she informed them of some good news.
Rover took the card from Cat as if it was a treasure. While they were attending the auction, they didn't have much money to spend. This Card would let them spend more than they currently have, they had a chance at getting something good! "Thank you very much!"
Cat giggled, "No need to be too excited, we want our customers to not miss out on any chances to purchase items. The best news is that when your items are sold the Card's credit can increase depending on the final price of the item. You may have more credit than you think. If you would excuse me, I have another VIP client to talk to."
Rover and his friends thanked Cat as she was leaving. She walked into Alexander's room and greeted him the same way.
Cat provided his group with a Card as well, "Alexander, we would like to thank you for allowing us to auction off your items. Here is a Blue Moon Card to buy goods on credit. Currently you have credit equal to the minimal price of all your items. If your items sell for more than the minimum amount your credit will also increase automatically. I hope you will continue to be our client in the future."
Cat didn't waste much time with Alexander, it was very close to when she needed to start the auction. She was a little nervous about presenting the auction in front of so many people; yeah she has done presentations in the past but nothing close to this scale.
She made her way to the backroom to make final preparations when she heard a voice behind her.
"You look a little freaked out." She turned around and saw that it was James.
"I didn't expect you to be here in person, I thought you were going to be busy." she said.
James explained why he was there, "Normally I would be but since this is a historic moment I wanted to be in attendance. My friends are also here; they are in the master suite watching over the auction."
"Are you nervous?" he asked.
She figured that he saw that she was a little frantic, "It would be a lie if I said I wasn't."
James chuckled, "If you want, I have a substitute who can take your place. It is not that I don't trust your abilities but she is the person who made this all possible."
Cat was surprised, "A substitute? You mean the property manager you found?"
"Yes." James replied.
Right after James answered Cat the sounds of someone walking in heels approached. A tall woman slowly appeared behind James.
When she arrived she extended her hand to shake Cat's. "Greetings, I'm Charlotte Elrock. I would love to take over for this auction. It would be a one time thing unless you give me a call."
Cat's mind was wandering around. She checked out Charlotte and was in awe; [What a perfect woman.] she thought to herself.
Cat found herself slightly attracted to Charlotte, she had never been interested in romance with any man she got to know in the past. So much so her family always joked that she might play for the other side; at that time she didn't believe it. She had also found that she felt no attraction to any gender in the past. She was comfortable with herself so she never had a problem being asexual.
[It is a shame that she is just an NPC and not a player…] Cat's mind ran wild. A small blush appeared on her cheeks.
James snapped Cat out of her trance. "What do you think?" he asked her.
Cat was still a little distracted, "Ah… Yeah, no that is fine."
Charlotte thanked Cat and made some final preparations for the auction. She looked over the item list and was happy to see so many items being sold. There were even several items that were provided by other players.
Before the auction officially started, James made his way up to the master suit using the secret passage that he asked Charlotte to include in the reconstruction plan.
"Everything going according to plan?" asked Talon.
James smiled, "Better even, Charlotte will be the person spear-heading the auction. While Cat has a very professional look and the appearance of being wealthily, Charlotte is the real deal she truly radiates wealth, class, and has the natural beauty to honeypot the player base."
"Honeypot? Why would we need one of those?" asked Mercury, she was a little jealous that James would talk about another woman in that fashion.
"We don't want the guilds bullying their way to purchase the items. If they put pressure on the other players they could minimize the price of the items they wish to purchase. With a honeypot, that person could stir the ego of the male players; it will make them more willing to bid against the guilds." explained James.
"You calling the guilds bullies is like a pot calling the kettle black… You are the bully, those poor people have no clue." Karma thought James was funny.
Since Mercury no longer cared about the group knowing her behavior with James she skipped over to him and basically sat in his lap.
He looked down at her with an eyebrow raised. She looked up at him, "Is there a problem?" She wanted to see his reaction and see where he draws the line with her teasing.
"Problem? No, not at all." he said. He saw a blush that Mercury tried to hide and smiled. He leaned in closer to one of her ears to whisper, "Oh? Was that a blush on the ruthless Reaper's face? What would other people think if they saw that?" he teased.
She felt his warm breath tickle her ear and did her best not to show that she was flustered. She lifted her leg and kicked backwards and hit his shin, "Humph, when did you get the backbone to tease me. This shall be my seat for now one, get used to it!" she said triumphantly.
James only rolled his eyes, he welcomed the nice feeling of her soft body against his own. The only thing he needed to do was control his heart rate and his mind from wandering to naughty things.
"Oh yeah, speaking of problems," he turned to look at Talon and Karma, "is there any word if any members of the Underworld or the Harbingers are present today?"
Talon answered, "Yes, a few of the more clever Blue Moon members thought to keep an eye out for the competition. It seemed like there were members from both Ryan and Cat's division who kept an eye out for them."
"Good, I am happy to see that they are taking this seriously. What did they do in response?" James asked.
Just as James finished his question Ryan walked in the door. He looked around the room and found James's party members spread out around the room. His eyes looked towards the front of the room and he found James; at first he didn't see Mercury.
"I am glad you are here. We found that the members of Harbingers got one of the lower class private rooms. We turned on the security monitoring system in that room. Would you like me to bring up a display of it on this room's monitor?" asked Ryan.
James turned around to look at Ryan and in the process it revealed Mercury, who was still sitting on James's lap. "Grab him," she commanded.
Ryan was shocked seeing Mercury's intimacy with James while the other members of the room were shocked at her command.
James broke the awkward silence, "Don't mind her, please come in and shut the door."
Ryan was nervous, he saw something he shouldn't have. He looked around the room and saw that no one else was surprised at the scene with Mercury and James.
Ryan was sweating, he tried to pretend he didn't see anything. "About the monitor?"
It seemed like Ryan forgot who the owner of the building was, "What room are they in?" asked James.
Ryan remembered that James had the same, if not more, permissions and access to the building's systems then both Cat and himself. "Oh yeah, sorry about that. I am still getting used to the building's systems."
James still looked at Ryan with a kind look, "It is no problem. You and Cat are basically the owners of the building after all." he also asked for the room number again.
Ryan noticed that Mercury was glaring at him, he felt some sweat form on his back. James noticed that Ryan was getting uncomfortable.
James lifted his hand to Mercury's chin and guided her to look at him. "Don't scare him too much."
Mercury looked him in his gentle eyes and calmed down, "Fine, I'll behave." She had no clue when she became so submissive towards James.
James looked back at Ryan, "Don't mind her, I would appreciate it if you keep it to yourself."
Ryan just stuttered, "Ah.. N.. No problem. The room number is C#152."
James and everyone else turned to the monitor and two men appeared. They both were completely covered, a mask hid their face. After a few minutes they figured they were safe; it appeared that no one was able to determine the identity of people in the private rooms. After they finished verifying that fact they took on their masks.
Sure enough it was Cain and Horizon. "Well, do you think Blaise is behind this?" asked Horizon. He knew to only use James's character name when they were in the game.
"He must be. I don't see how any guild or guilds could pull this off. Especially this quickly." replied Cain.
Horizon wanted to go back over the plan. "Is the plan still to interrupt the auction?"
"Yes. We will either outbid as many people as possible or bully our way to winning the bets. You had our moles positioned all over the main floor, right?" Cain asked.
Horizon confirmed Cain's question. "Yes, we managed to get all 11 of us in the building. He had paid off a few guilds to temporarily let their members into their guilds."
"Look into finding the remaining 9 members of their group please." James asked Ryan to do some digging around.
Ryan took the opportunity to escape, "Yes Sir! I will notify you when we find them. What would you like us to do?"
"Nothing for now, just be ready to make an example out of them." James replied.
It was time for the auction to begin, the lights in the building lowered and the stage lights turned on.
"Greetings ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Blue Moon's first auction! We appreciate you all coming out to witness a historic event!" Charlotte gave her grand entrance.
Men and women alike were taking back from her beauty. Just before she entered the stage she had changed into a stunning outfit!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone