Chapter 45 – 5-Ecliptic (6)
After resting with the first princess, Asuna, we came to the auction house, which is said to be the largest in the empire.
Inside the huge building, there was a stage heavily armed with all sorts of magic, and on the stage, all sorts of items were being put up for auction.
The reason we came to the auction house was just that I was curious, and Asuna agreed to come here, saying that something interesting was coming up today.
The largest auction house in the empire is held under the leadership of the empire, and everything sold here is legal, and 20% of the sales proceeds go into the empire’s tax.
Therefore, although the price is on the expensive side, many people use it because it is a place that can be trusted and purchased with confidence.
As such, the competition is fierce.
“Yes! This item is said to have only 10 pieces left. It is an armor crafted by the legendary blacksmith Hekas! It is very hard with many magics added and the size changes to suit the wearer, so you can use it with confidence!”
As the emcee shouted from the stage, one of the enchantments engraved on the stage dispelled and a nice armor appeared.
It was an armor that could tell that it was not normal just by looking at it, and the sense of intimidation felt from the armor itself was no joke.
“Then let’s start with 100 gold!”
At the call of the moderator, several people who coveted the armor raised their hands and raised the price.
“110 gold!”
“I’m 120!”
“Then I’m a big 200 gold!”
In an instant, the atmosphere in the auction house became overheated, and people raised their hands and started raising prices.
“Hekas? Who is that?”
Meanwhile, only 1st Princess Asuna and Verna Ju were interested in the armor, and Senia was tilting her head, asking who Hekas was.
In response, Anel radiated teacher force and approached Senia and began explaining about Hekas.
But I was focused on the auction in front of me.
To be more precise, he focused his gaze on the person wearing a robe that covered his entire body inside the auction house.
“The aura I feel is similar to mist, and as a result of detecting it with electromagnetic waves, it even has a tail that humans can’t have… It must be a demon.”
Realizing that the opponent’s true identity was a demon, I focused my attention on the demon.
I don’t know why demons are already here, but if you dared to take a risk and came here, there must be a reason.
“Hmm… It’s a thing that demons can seduce… Are there any other things the demons need besides my armor and sword?”
Currently, the armor is stored in the demon sword, and the demon sword Darkness is hidden in my back.
Darkness gave an opinion to my concerns.
[Maybe there is information that ‘me’ will appear in this auction? Even the Gentiles don’t know exactly what I look like, so they’re probably looking for something roughly similar]
I couldn’t definitely agree with Darkness’s opinion, but I nodded and thought about it because there was a point.
In the first place, even the demons do not know the details of the appearance of Darkness, so if they are just tracking a sword that looks similar, it explains why they came here.
“Certainly… I think so.”
The auction went on while I and her talked about her.
“This auction item is a very rare item! A dragon whose existence is almost unknown now! It is also a demonic sword made of Bingryong’s skin and teeth with the power of ice!”
Saying so, the moderator lifted up the magic sword that spreads extremely cold air around them.
Perhaps because the dragon’s teeth were used as the material, unlike the ore material sword, it had a rough surface and was made of leather, so there were parts that looked lacking, but the sword exuded strong momentum enough to cover all those parts.
“The leather and teeth used in this sword are made from a dragon that one of the First Hero’s colleagues killed! Then, it starts at 1000 gold!”
1000 gold is more than a year’s income of a decent count family estate, so the buzz grew louder, but there were no complaints.
It is a sword made from the material of a dragon that no one can catch now.
Rather, if it wasn’t for that amount of money, even if it was an auction house run by the empire, it would have been suspected that it was not a fake.
So, that amount is just right.
And in line with my expectations, people cheered and merchants and great nobles began to participate in the auction.
“Kuhmm…! 1500!”
The first to speak was the person who seemed to be the owner of the grand corps.
The way he proudly shouted 1500 was an indirect way to know how much money he could spend.
However, as if not losing, other people also brought in the amount one after another.
The amount that was 1000 soon exceeded 5000 and the atmosphere in the auction house was overheated.
“5000… 5000…”
I also thought about buying that sword as a gift for Senia.
When it comes to money, the gold vein that can be operated individually is about 50,000 gold, so it’s not enough, so it’s overflowing with rot.
In the first place, the Shin family’s safe is full of not only gold coins but all kinds of rare treasures, so there’s no reason for me to be short of money.
And Senia also showed interest in that sword, so she thought about getting it as a gift later, but she immediately gave up when she saw the demon in front of her.
“You can’t rush forward without knowing what that guy’s goal is…”
It is forbidden to spend money recklessly unless you know what the opponent demons are enduring here.
What the demons are trying to buy may be a weapon similar to the Darkness, but it may be a completely different item that has nothing to do with it.
My heart was pounding as I thought and calculated all the possibilities.
Haha… Yes, I like it when my heart beats like this!”
This is the pleasure I wanted.
It comes from the unknown and ignorance, finding out and overcoming everything, that’s the real fun.
So I smiled as if I was having fun.
I don’t know what the opponent demons are trying to do, but I calculate and anticipate all of them, defeat them, and drop them into the abyss! That’s my true pleasure-!!!
While I was thinking about it, the item that Senia had been looking at with her bright eyes ended up being passed on to a certain merchant.
Senia looked at me with a tearful face at this, but I couldn’t hear it as the adrenaline had already started to secrete excessively.
Perhaps if it were me now, I would be able to practice the action of killing the emperor in a strategy and nabal! Of course, it could be practiced on a daily basis, though!
“Let’s go… What do you want… Let’s play some cards!”
The auction went by fast while I smiled aggressively.
Strange items such as moon stones, sun slabs, and lightning stones appeared one after another at the auction, and since people didn’t pay much attention, they were sold without incident.
The atmosphere of the auction house, which was burning at first, subsided in the later stages, and now, when the auction was completely over, the demons made their first move.
It seemed that he was covering his face, but I could clearly see the golden eyes and red hair of the demons in my eyes.
And he didn’t miss the green scales that were partially on his face.
[That guy is Yongin! That’s at least royal.]
Darkness said so after seeing through the demon’s identity.
Dragons are a very familiar race to me.
“As a member of the demon tribe, it was a race with dragon characteristics, and if it was a king, it was the strongest among that race.”
At my words, Darkness expressed her affirmation.
[Right, the royal rank means the captain of each race, so the head and head of each race has the title of king if male and queen if female, respectively, at the front or back of the name.]
Having said that, she continued as her sword body trembled as if she was getting tired just thinking about it.
[I also rose to the position called Queen Succubus or Succubus Queen as the strongest of that race, but I ended up becoming the Demon King because of the strongest wind among the kings of each race… Ugh, just thinking about it makes my teeth tremble]
At Darkness’s words, I nodded slightly and looked at the item the demons reacted to.
The object that appeared on the stage was just a black stone itself.
“…? What is that? Do humans originally value stones as well?”
Mist tilted her head as if she didn’t understand while looking at the black stone, and Senia, after missing her sword, switched from sullen mode to grunt mode and grunted.
“…You’re too mean, you’re mean, you’re the only one armed with cool and amazing things… Heungheung!!”
Every time Senia met her gaze with mine, she would cutely turn her head and cheer, and I patted Senia’s head and focused on the moderator’s explanation.
“Eh… Speaking of this stone! It is a noble black stone that the first hero ordered to manage strictly! Then 10… Let’s start with 10 gold!”
The moderator knew that it was all right to sell that stone for 10 gold, but when asked from above, he shouted as he worked hard to sell it somehow, showing the appearance of a typical office worker.
However, no one would buy such a shabby black stone.
Except for me and the demons.
“500 gold…”
It was the demons who spoke first.
Because of the robe, I only saw golden eyes and burning red hair, but now I heard that dignified yet beautiful tone.
This made it possible to know that the other person was a woman.
And the opponent didn’t care at all even though their eyes were focused on calling 500 gold.
Her gaze was focused exclusively on the black stone.
So I got up and said.
“1000 gold!”
As I stood up and shouted, people’s eyes also turned to me, but when they saw Asuna, the first princess next to me, and my blonde hair, they quickly turned their heads.
But only the demons were looking at me fiercely.
A strong force flowed from that gaze.
In addition, I could see that it was not normal for the opponent to focus that momentum only on me.
That’s why I looked at her, offsetting her momentum with her mine.
Seeing her bewildered, astonished gaze, I said:
“2000 Gold”
In particular, Senia shouted ‘Master! If you’re going to buy something like that, just buy that sword!’
And I could feel it.
That she was looking at me with her eyes full of interest and pleasure.
