Chapitre 15: The Auction
Nagisa immediately covered his face, slowly skimming through the gaps between his hands to reaffirm the unfolding situation. Emi for whatever reason, had stripped off her pajamas fully during some point of the night.
Sleep stripping? Too warm? Arguably both Nagisa concluded, werebeasts probably get too warm under the covers. He gulped at his predicament and in moving forward. Slowly trying to undo her entanglement and push her away. The excruciating slow endeavour only helped Emi regain consciousness and wake up.
"Nagi--sa?" She rubbed one of her eyes while calling his name out, yawning.
"... Emi, where are the pajamas the nice lady got you?" He daringly asked. She took a second to think about it.
"Must have taken them off during my sleep, it is more natural for us werebeasts to sleep without any clothing," Emi replied endearingly with a smile.
Nagisa facepalmed for a moment, "Too warm, then?" It was as he had feared.
She nodded to his question, "Good morning," Emi said shortly afterwards.
Nagisa gave up,
"Good morning!" he replied back.
She kept her innocent smile and hugged him. Nagisa patted her head and tried his best to ignore that something was still pressing against him bare skinned. Her cluelessness and cuteness and was too much of a deadly combo if he let his guard down.
They got dressed and he prepared breakfast for the two of them, prior to taking a quick shower and before deciding to head on out.
"Wait for me, alright? I need to better understand the academy grounds and capital myself before risking taking you outside, okay?" Nagisa turned to Emi.
Emi nodded in response to Nagisa's request and he was about to pat her head good-bye before deciding to wave instead. Emi waved back as he closed the door and thought to himself; "This better not become a pattern of me patting her…".
Nagisa took a map of the capital with him, his swords and wallet. He also took the liberty of trying out the new school uniform. It was based on a white t-shirt underneath, with a black shirt, "mage top", that consisted of a soft fabric and a tie. The pants were of the same soft fabric and were black as well.
To the left of the shirt, there was a pin with a crest symbolizing them being first-years and a color of green that referred to him being Stage-1. Nagisa exited the academy's gates and proceeded to head towards the auction.
Odo had told him that auctions were typically held early in the morning and it was held in the upper right quarter, leftwards of the academy. If he walked almost straight following the academy gates, to then turn right, one would eventually come across it.
It took roughly half an hour, before Nagisa stood before a large building, almost resembling a miniature colosseum but with a roof. Outside there was a registry if one wanted to put up an item for auction.
"Hello, and what are you here for today? Bidding or auctioning?" The clerk behind the registry greeted Nagisa once he had approached it.
"Neither, in fact," Nagisa leaned in.
"How much discretion does this place offer?" The clerk nodded with a smile.
"Full anonymity and disclosure, but of course," A bitter short laugh followed his response.
Nagisa was hesitant for a second, "I would like to bid on an item under a certain name, I am the middle-man of this delicate client," Nagisa chose to stealth his identity.
"And who might that be?" The clerk inquired.
Nagisa carefully slid one of the swords and unsheathed it, revealing the "S" signature engraved on it. The clerk now broadly smiled rubbing his hands.
"Excellent, this will fetch a fine price! Remember we take a 5% cut," The clerk took the item and registered it and gave Nagisa a number.
A saddened Nagisa saw his third Ashen forged sword that he had made being taken off his hands, it was a strange feeling, bidding farewell to one of your works.
Once inside, it almost looked like he was in a theater, there were chairs in different rows and even an upstairs with dim lighting. It was clear the upper row was like a fancy opera, however in here, it was to protect the anonymity of wealthier clients.
Nagisa took an upper row seat for himself, very secluded, only an empty chair next to him in almost a small open room alone. There was even a drink, and some snacks pre-served, but Nagisa knew better to not trust eating those.
After about fifteen minutes, the auction commenced right on time, 7 AM sharp. Registered items were open up to half an hour prior to the auction's start. The two curtains on the stage unraveled and various items began being sold on stage. Nagisa did not care for any of it, even more so now that he was broke and awaited one of his cherished swords to fetch a hefty bargain.
The auction moved swiftly with people holding up signs with the amount of bid they wanted. The signs had magical numbers carved into them and were erased after a few seconds. Temporal magic ink, it was a popular convention and most convenient in cases like these.
"Now moving on to the final item during this fine morning! We all wondered when he would return next! And after we have appraised the sword, it is my utmost pleasure to announce that Sanagi has returned with yet a masterful piece!" The clerk announced.
People got excited and started whispering in the crowd. Even the upper row leaned into the person they had brought alongside them and discussed.
"Now witness this Ashen blade!" He unsheathed the blade before everyone's eyes and it gave a slight glow to indicate its successful enchantment.
"Not only is this a fine forged blade, but it has been successfully enchantment +1, to give that lucrative magical penetration to whatever foe is unfortunate to be struck and cut down!" The clerk concluded in a theatrical sense.
The masses at the auction now almost went into a frenzy. Enchanted weapons were rare, and this was the first one publicly being sold by the rising blacksmith and anonymous forging star "Sanagi" as the magical newspaper had put it about his previous works. The bidding war began rapidly and arose in price.
"20!"
"21!"
"28!"
"35!"
Numbers were being tossed and people constantly overbid each other. It only began quieting a bit down towards reaching over the one-hundred mark.
"128!"
Only the upper row remained, bidding amongst each other. The middle-class or commoners underneath had no longer the wallets they so desperately wished for to acquire such a blade for themselves or their children. It slowly increased to a little over one hundred and fifty.
"175!"
There only remained two bidders seemingly coming from noble families or being the household heads themselves.
"180!" The second bidder kept raising it, little by little.
The first one gazed angrily at the one sitting in the upper row room next to him. One could only spot their eyes and their hateful gaze on one another to let the bid go.
"220!" The first one with red-eyes overbid by quite the margin.
In response the other man sat down, furious in his seat, making the red-eyed man smile. Nagisa could not see it, but he sensed the smirk of the man attaining victory in the bidding war.
"3… 2… 1… sold to…!"
Thereon after the auction was concluded very shortly and Nagisa waited a good amount of time before he came to collect his money. The clerk counted the money carefully in front of Nagisa to ensure his customer was pleased.
"Here you go, 210 gold coins, my good sir!" The clerk handed Nagisa his money.
"210? 5% is…" Nagisa attempted to correct him.
"Consider the additional one a token of my goodwill, for hopefully many more successful transactions in the future. Let Sanagi know," he laughed and slyly gloated.
Nagisa grabbed his coin pouch and immediately left the auction's premises. On his way back to the academy, in deep thought where he could acquire and purchase some Arcane Crystals, he failed to notice a most suspicious character trailing his back.
Every turn and street he took as a detour to see if there were any stores selling it, the person kept following Nagisa in his every step, and hid out of sight during times Nagisa turned around. He began having this unsettling and eerie feeling.
"Sorry to bother you mister Sanagi, put I forgot to pay you an additional ten gold coins," A voice similar to the clerk was heard behind him.
"That cannot be right, you counted right before my eyes," Nagisa cluelessly turned around without much thought to it.
And Nagisa had realized it was too late, once he had spoken and figured out who the person behind him was.
"I mean… ah… fancy meeting you here, Chisa!" He panicked.
"Hmm-mm? So you are Sanagi," Chisa circled around inspecting him sarcastically before standing up close to his face.
Nagisa only noticed now how gorgeous she really was, she could easily rival May in their class. She had orange hair falling down to her collarbone, with blue eyes that rivaled the cuteness of Emi, but those eyes seemed a tad more dangerous. Chisa wore a white top, connecting to a long blue skirt from her waist down. He gulped.
"It is fine if you think I am cute," Chisa teasingly whispered in his ear and it made Nagisa take a step back.
Chisa laughed, "So why do you want to hide your identity, and clearly, it was not a clever word-play if I must say so myself," she asked him.
"It has to do with my past and the people I met, one can never be too careful. Do you mind keeping it a secret?" Nagisa pleaded with a handful of gestures.
Chisa now smiled with a clear agenda in mind and it made him nervous.
"How about if you treat me to some crêpes, and I will think about it?" She cunningly made her move for a free treat and extend their possible time into more teasing fun.
"Sure thing, just take me to the place and I will happily make it my treat!" Nagisa tried to put on a smile.
Chisa led the way, then he sighed while trailing her back. The two of them sat down in the midtown of the two upper quarters, she had claimed this was her one and favorite shop when it came to treats.
"Two crêpes, one with strawberry and one with raspberries," Chisa ordered and put up two fingers with a grin at the lady in the shop.
It was clear that she was a regular.
"I will try one with strawberries, and a coffee, please," Nagisa politely ordered. The lady looked at the two of them.
"Oh my, Chisa, are you on a date, or is this possibly your boyfriend?" She hinted at the two of them.
"No. No. No. Never," Chisa denied without a second's waste shaking her hand with a cold straight face.
"A simple 'no', would have sufficed?" Nagisa sighed again loudly for Chisa to her.
"One might not be enough!" Chisa smiled back at him in response.
After receiving their orders they sat down outside across each other at a round table, right under the store's roof that shielded them from the sunlight.
"After all, I prefer guys that are slightly taller than me, I think we are about the same height," Chisa commented out of nowhere.
The two of them enjoyed the crêpes and Nagisa finished his coffee as well. She teased him during their entire outing and tried to pry about his secret alias and previous life.
"Are you not from a noble family, I thought people coming from a certain background would not have such extroverted and joyful personalities?" Nagisa asked and looked at her intently.
"Ah, I have a feeling I might be able to relax around you, mister Sa-na-gi," Chisa replied jokingly and Nagisa completely gave up. She was certainly a handful.
"Do you have any idea where to purchase some Arcane Crystals?" Nagisa arose from his seat, ready to take his leave.
Chisa waited with her reply to grin mischievously once more and Nagisa knew right that second what her answer would be.
"I will come with and show you!" Chisa kept her mischievous smile.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone