Iridescent Spirit - Chapter 49 Auction

Rukpten’s renowned auction took place in an enormous dome stuck in the middle of the corrupt city. Unlike the broken structures encircling it, the dome was well maintained and crafted by the elite dwarves. It was as if the dome itself was absorbing the life out of the city.

However, the citizens of Rukpten could easily guess that the mysterious auction owner had paid the price straight from his wallet and not from the city’s nonexistent funds. Once the auction ceased to exist, the city would most likely perish.

Numerous visitors from all over the Central Continent had arrived to participate in the annual auction. Similar to anime conventions or sports stadiums, the dome was packed with people hoping to buy rare and valuable artifacts.

The citizens of Rukpten would set up stalls around the dome to earn enough money to leave the nefarious city.

Within the horde was a group of ten short figures whose features were hidden by white masks and robes. Next to the ten were a duo in religious attire with a unique emblem–a goose forming a heart shape.

Eight entered the dome while four remained outside.

Inside the dome was a large auditorium overflowing with people of all ages. A plate with a large number painted with ink settled on each chair for the guests to use.

Inside the dome was a hemispherical auditorium where the seats surrounded a circular area in the center. The spotlights created from dwarven technology were focused on the stage.

Step. Step. Step.

A voluptuous figure with a wide grin, which spread from cheek to cheek, moved to the middle of the stage.

And, the audience immediately fell silent

—–

“Why should we trust them?” Melody glared at Philip and Lucy, who followed Jae and the others back to the inn. Nora was hiding in the sack and the rest were covered in Melody’s illusion. Everyone had equipped a mask before the duo was allowed into the room.

“Rather than a trust relationship, we just have common goals,” Jae explained, “We both want to hinder Sazroth and eliminate the rest of the dark cult, ‘The Skull’.”

“I do not know why a group of children in masks is doing something so dangerous and I instead want to stop you. However, no matter what I have said did not hinder you, children, at all. Therefore, we have decided to help you as we are all children under Eva,” Philip declared.

“So like, since we decided to help you. Could you take those stuffy masks off?” Lucy twirled her hair as she made herself comfortable in their room.

“No,” Jade responded.

“Fine~. Oh, if there’s any boys in the group, just so you know, I like older men,” she nonchalantly inputted.

“Does it look like we care?” Jae thought, but decided to focus on the topic at hand.

“Do you have any methods of finding the demon lords’ subordinates?” He asked Philip, who was reading the stack of documents obtained from the bar’s information broker.

“While these documents are detailed, there are numerous ways for them to disguise their appearance and mana signatures. We could either search for them blindly or go in and try buying the items before they could. I would like to decline on both options since the later is impossible with our funds and the former would not yield any results,” Philip read through the last page before handing the documents to Jade, “I don’t mind if you look through the information since we’re working together.”

“Nevertheless, there’s one more option that might, no, will take some risk. The last possibility is that I use a magic item to detect whether Letum’s magic is being used and who used it,” Philip withdrew a transparent quartz cube, which reminded of Jae of a Rubix cube, “But, we would have to wait till the enemies take action. I assume that no force would allow the other to take the items easily.”

“In other words, we have to wait till everyone starts to steal from each other or when the auction is halted,” Jade spoke out with her hand on her chin.

“Yes,” Philip confirmed.

“How strong are you two?” Jae inquired.

“Like, at the very least, we could deal with the small fries on that list. But, these five individuals will be so annoying,” Lucy snatched the papers out of Jade’s grasp and removed five pieces of paper from the stack.

“How about you little kids? Can you actually contribute anything to our plans?” Lucy scrutinized the ten humanoid children.

“We’re only interested in Sazroth and the Skull. Once they pop up, we will deal with them,” Jae stated, “We’re as competent as a group of orange rank adventures by estimate.”

“Hm, that’s a pretty low rank, but there’s ten of you,” Philip pondered. Adventurer ranks were from brightest to darkest color and orange was third out of the twelve ranks. At most, they could deal with half of the cultists together, albeit struggling.

“We have skills in various weapons, basic hand-to-hand combat, and mana reinforcement,” Jade supplemented Philip’s understanding.

“Oh, yeah. Aren’t like the Knights of Fortendor coming to the auction?” Lucy remarked, “I hate their guts, though at least they’re strong. But they’re dumb. Like really stupid.”

“Lucy, watch your language. We shouldn’t speak poorly of our allies,” Philip sighed, “Still, they aren’t the brightest of knights and yes, they will be arriving at the auction tomorrow.”

“So, who should we watch out for?” Jae asked.

“During the event, there should be representatives of each country on the Central Continent, various guilds, and the northern and southern demon lord’s minions,” Philip answered.

“Alright, so what’s the plan?!” Scarlett shouted out after thinking hard about how much money would be involved in the auction. Jae realized that Scarlett had been oddly quiet since the conversation had started.

The duo and the children began discussing.

——-

“Testing. Testing! Is this thing working?” A female dark elf with sky blue hair and skimpy clothing spoke into a device similar to a mic. However, unlike an actual mic, hers utilized magic crystals instead of wires and electricity.

Thousands of participants of the auction encircled the stage as they waited for the sight of the precious items.

“Haha, sorry about that folks! Sometimes the dwarves make strange inventions that no one knows whether they work properly or not,” she grinned.

“Now who wants the auction to begin?” She raised the mic as the audience cheered.

“Nah, I think we could be louder. So, who wants the auction to begin?” She asked again and the audience roared as the walls vibrated.

The dark elf announcer pointed her mic at the backstage, “First up we have a family of succubus slaves from the north! If you love ladies sexier than me, then this is the item for you! Starting bid is two million!”

Several helpers pushed a cart to the front of the stage. While the succubus slaves were in clean clothing and seemed to be well fed, their eyes were lifeless.

From the audience, a masked woman raised a plate with a number as she yelled with a stern voice, “Two million and five hundred thousand chimes!”

“Three million chimes!” A man from the other side of the room called out.

“Four million!” The lady continued.

“Five million!” The man smirked.

The bids continued until the woman had to relent in despair.

“Going once, going twice, and sold to the ‘gentleman’ with a fine suit for seven million chimes,” the dark elf announcer pointed to the man while the slaves were taken away from the stage.

Without stopping, the auction proceeded. Copious artifacts resumed being presented by the dark elf. From magic imbued swords and staves to grimoires of magic written by legendary sorcerors. Unique creatures of paper and thorn, jewels from prehistoric dwellings, and precious ingredients from the distant continents. Items that no ordinary man could ever witness on a daily basis were presented one by one.

The atmosphere grew intense. Egregious avarice was openly presented from the eyes of the audience. Everyone wished to obtain what they had desired. They wanted the items to become theirs no matter the cost. They wanted to declare “This is mine”.

“Next, we have an item from the depths of the Emerald Sea. Far below where any merman or sea monster could reach, this item thrived.”

A cart with a cloaked item was pushed in front of her. The servant removed the cloth as a tank filled with emerald colored water was unveiled. Inside the container, a small humanoid shape was seen.

“As some of you may have guessed, we have captured an ancient sea sprite! As a descendant of the spirits, its magic capacity is on par with the fairies! The starting bid is fifty million chimes!”

“Fifty-one million!”

“Sixty million!”

“One billion!”

“One billion? Is no one going to bid higher? Going once, going twice, and sold to the nobleman in the velvet suit!”

Within the audience, Jae observed with an expression packed with disgust. Just because the commodities being sold were not part of ‘humanity’, just because they were the enemy, was it truly right to treat them like objects?

“No.”

Jae understood the feeling of his sense of “self” being stripped away. The emotions he and his companions shared back in the facility. The loss of freedom.

Poke.

A slender finger poked Jae’s cheek. Or, at least, it would if he were not wearing a mask.

Holding her mask, a slight crack exposed half a face and her right amber eye.

“Angry?” Her soft lips parted as she said that word.

Under the clamorous environment, no matter how close they were in distance, they would not be able to hear each other’s words.

Responding to her inquiry, Jae nodded in a daze.

“Then, you will either love or hate what will happen next,” she mutely mouthed.

“What do you mean?” He asked, however, her head was turned back to the stage as she did not seem to hear him within the noise.

“Sadly, the auction is coming to an end. But what is this? We haven’t displayed the highlights of this year’s event yet? Of course! We have saved the best for last,” the announcer teased, “Starting with the lowest of the three in cost and rarity!”

As several workers placed a table down, she removed the cover and exhibited a platinum gold ring with ancient symbols.

“Crafted from pure orichalcum by the dwarves and magically engraved by the most famous enchanter, Lazy Mutt Wheezer, is the Ring of Arcane Explosions! Despite the enchanter’s name and the true name of this ring being idiotic, the auction’s appraisers can vouch for the power of the ring! Its powers stem from raising the mana capacity of any species to creating powerful explosions that can destroy cities! The starting bid is ten billion!”

“Twenty billion!”

“Twenty-five billion!”

“You could go higher than that!” The elven announcer incited the crowd.

“Forty billion!”

“Aaaand! Sold!” She declared.

Glancing at the ring of explosions, Jae wondered if this city was better off being exploded into dust.

Pushing a crate the size of a badger next to the announcer, the employees utilized a crowbar to open the crate. From there revealed a green brain suspended within a glass tank loaded with a liquid with the color of Laplace lazuli blue.

“Second to last is the infamous demon lord Kavras Nightfall’s brain. Who knows why anyone would want such an ugly thing bu-

BOOOOM!
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