Chapter 41: A day with a prickly rose [2]

The greatest battle doesn’t concern your physical capabilities, intelligence, or even strategy. This is a battlefield where everyone can join a fight where numbers dictate the winners… Yes you know it, the auction house where money is your ultimate weapon

“Are you enjoying yourself, Christopher…? You don’t like it when I call you that? Let’s continue with Christ, I guess we’re not in that stage as well,” Airis tried a ton of ways to get his attention which was more or less getting on his nerves

Most of the things she did were through physical contact, teasing, and even pampering but they never once worked. He was unaffected by her appearance, and instead of beauty, he was constantly aware of her capability. Those around him only see a fair maiden in red, but what will their faces shift when they know of her true identity

‘She’s too close… At least I can lessen my guard against her, she’s way older than Esther, don’t make her appearance fool you. Airis is closer to my real age, the only problem is that she can drug me after this is all over. I can see myself strap me in a chair paired with a dog collar with my name on it. I have my kinks, but there’s no fucking way I’ll be a toy, from that point I’ll lose my dignity,’

[System: You’ve unlocked rarity appraisal within your blessing!!!

Outcome: Upon reaching the required usage of appraisal on inanimate objects, you can now see the rarity of an item]

[Finally, your hard work paid off!]

The auction commences and the lights are turned off except for the center where the host who’s a minion of Kishar. It was an entity that has a minor authority that can bend this very space, by every means the ruler of the auction. He’s someone who intends on killing anyone who doesn’t follow his rules

[System: The caretaker to the auction house Gremil has appeared]

“Greetings everyone it’s time to follow the rules… Hand over your weapons and they’ll be returned to you once we’re finished. I suggest you do as I say until my patience could endure it,” Gremil searched every player’s pocket and took their belongings without a care about their names

“Owner I sense something related to Deniro it’s inside this place,” Moon’s voice echoed through his mind

‘An item related to the mad alchemist…m I wonder what that is? Guess I’ll find out later. Most of the players that requested their item’s immediate return are killed guess they forgot about the unspoken rule. There’s a rule that’s most common kn this world, it’s too common that they never speak of it once. That rule was to never mess with an entity that has the authority to control a piece of the trials,’

“You’re eyes, they’re sparkling for the first time do you want to buy an item? I could help if you’re short on tokens,” Airis gets his attention when she bit his ear. The shock flew throughout his body before he avoided her next attempt

‘What’s wrong with her…? Oh shit, she’s acting the way she acts in front of Hugo in their next encounter after her unbelievable defeat. It was a little bit surprising to my readers, and they thought she was the heroine, but sooner or later they lost their hopes,’

‘In their next encounter, she didn’t want to kill him, rather it was the opposite she was drawn by his strength. It was at the point that she wanted to bear his children, and her obsession was close to a yandere… Why do I feel defeated because she wasn’t reeled in by my looks? I’m not ugly, but I am socially awkward, but still, she fell for my strength?’

“It seems like today’s auction house will have some big bids,” Morris chuckled and he slowly dons a menacing smile he often makes in his schemes

‘My familiars can feel the item’s presence then I have to keep in mind that I’m not the only one who’s going to bid on that item. Top appraisers and many big guilds will have their places in the bidding war. This is a battle where the victor isn’t decided by stats, instead, it’s money,’

“Owner, should I sweep the area for any kind of leads?” Sun’s voice appeared out of nowhere

‘No, I can’t let you do that, this place doesn’t allow any kinds of weapons if a magical beast appeared they’ll be eradicated. You guys are a creation of the mad alchemist, you’re practically a living breathing weapon meant for destruction. Plus, anything that can be used to kill is considered a weapon, just alert me when the two of you feel its presence,’

“Understood,” The two of them disconnected their thoughts and focused on detecting the relic

‘Since I have some time, it wouldn’t be bad to review the rules, what are the rules exactly? Well, it’s quite simple

1. No weapons this is an auction after all I made this place a pacifistic atmosphere

2. No magical beast they’re not allergic but the fact that they’re a living weapon counts as dangerous

3. If you want an item you have to bid on it no matter how much it cost

4. Stealing is prohibited you’ll die if you snatch the items while you’re inside the auction

5. The last one is simple, the ones that buy an item will acquire a seal making it unusable for anyone except the owner, however, this can be negated if the owner has sold the item,’

[System: The deity known as [The forgotten sage] is using its authority to communicate with the player through his mind]

[I heard you’re conversation with your familiars, what’s your next plan if you can’t act freely inside this place]

‘Relax aren’t you forgetting that inside this place money is the most powerful weapon a person can use? If they’re here then they’re stuck with the same restrictions as well, if there is a follower we still have our last option. But I think that won’t be a big deal even if it came down to that,’

[What’s our last option, wait you’re not suggesting there’s no way…! You’re serious you want to bet your life on this psychotic redhead?]

‘Don’t tell me you’re not seeing this…? She’s all clingy towards me and most of them are quite disturbing in more ways than one. Sexually harassed me and the second one is her constant acts of seductive manner apart from this I’m fine. But hey, she has some money, it’s not bad if I asked her for some tokens if I asked,’

[Sigh, I can’t believe you’re letting her do as she pleases. Still, I can’t disagree with you’re plan it has a ton of benefits, say how about we ask her for some money]

‘You sure that I’m shameless I think you should have a glimpse of your personality, Sage,’

[Shush! The auction’s about to start, let’s check every item look carefully or we might miss out on the most eye-catching items]

The auction house finally started when Gremil brought in all of the items before he shuffled them back to his dimensional ring. With that sneak peek, he made most of the player’s eye at one of his items. They’ve found a clear view of the items they want and they began their move and opened their pockets

“First item on the list, a max healing potion the bid will start at 200 tokens,” Gremil showed one of the items that made most of the players bid on while the two of them were unaffected by his bait

[Max healing potion…? They’re going crazy about something like that?]

‘The price is on the lower side, compared to its market value so it’s a trap that he laid down. Those clueless players are going to lose a ton in the earlier round. Once we go to the other items, they’ll soon realize, they’ve wasted a ton of their tokens,’

[I agree with your guess, it’s not even that valuable. If you sell a drop of your elixir it will cost as easily as a national treasure]

’50k isn’t that too much?’

[Not really, if I have to say it’s more than 50k as long as the player or any person that recently died can be resurrected. The effects aren’t half-baked, by resurrection I meant as flesh and all while they retain their consciousness. But it doesn’t work on a corpse that lasted about a day, so you’ll have to know that this potion doesn’t work after a day]

“We have a winner of 800 tokens for the max healing potion on table 21, now to our next item the sword that was once owned by the older generation’s sword saint,” Gremil’s audience was shocked when he revealed its stats to the players

[80 attack damage and 100 on durability I gotta say that’s decent]

‘I agree the stats aren’t the problem but it’s the age of the sword, you need to invest a ton to maintain it. Look at those edges, fuck is that even a sword? It looks blunt even at this angle,’

“A big spender the one in table 49 for 5k tokens, and next we have an orb that increases a magician’s casting speed and it can empower their attacks,” The silent audience that were nowhere seen from the bidders before stood tall and raises their numbers and began their fight for the item

[Oh god this is the worst thing that I could ever imagine]

“The auction house’s items aren’t that great, hey Christ should we leave?” Airis said while he remained seated

‘As much as I love to exit this place, I have an item that I’m looking for… I just need to last for another hour,’

[This is awful…! I can’t even compare how disastrous this place is compared to my time]

The two of them waited until Morris’s familiars responded to an item that popped out of Gremil’s dimensional ring

“And lastly our last item is a book about alchemy from an unknown author, but don’t be disheartened folks. While it may look like an ordinary book, it contains both alchemical knowledge and recipes to bend nature itself. One of the examples is bringing back the dead, or rejuvenating one’s youth,” Gremil said while most of the players that saw the last item went to the exit leaving only the two of them behind

“It’s the book, it’s related to the mad alchemist,”

‘I can’t believe that after all of those players, I thought even one of them would buy this at least I bought this for 300 tokens,’

[Are you interested in alchemy?]

‘Yes, I need to learn everything about my opponent and the best way to beat them is to know how they act. It wasn’t a thrilling day but I guess this will be counted as a vacation since I didn’t even tire myself,’

“That was a good afternoon I should invite you to the next one,” Airis holds his hands without him showing any signs of rejection

[You’re letting her have her way with you?]

‘She deserves it, and I told you before she’s not that dangerous the only thing thats~~~’

Before he could notice her movements, she closed her distance toward him, and her body brushes off of his chest. She held him tightly as she could, and in this process, she gave him a deep kiss. It lasted about a minute without him pushing her back and releasing him from her grasp

“That tasted too sweet, I might get addicted, I’ll be leaving now… I hope you’re not gonna ask me to escort you back to the infirmary. No that would be ridiculous. It was fun, thanks for accompanying me Christ,” Airis vanished from his surroundings while he stands bewildered by what had happened to him

In her absence, he could still feel the warmth that touched his lips. He never looked irritated and he had a whiff of the maiden’s ephemeral scent and he was taken aback. For some reason, he doesn’t harbor any disgust or hatred, and he walks down the path that’ll lead him to the workshop

‘It was a weird experience for me, to be honest, I suspected that she’ll do something to my body. I never expected that out of all of the things I imagined she did the most harmless and adorable choice that she could think of. The worst part about my time with Airis, is the fact I enjoyed it?’

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