Chapter 335 - To the Future (5)

Auction Hall One of the Alminus Central Trade Market.

The place was packed, despite never filling even halfway during the regular auctions featuring only select merchandise.

And these weren't just any random people.

"The Nenma clan master is here too."

"He probably doesn't intend to use it himself. He must be after it for that explorer they call 'Iron Wall.' Didn't their first team's Guardian die recently? He'll be looking to fill the vacancy."

There were explorers in gleaming equipment, for starters.

"Oh? Is the Ragman Trading Company after that Essence as well?"

"What wouldn't a merchant buy, provided the price is right?"

"Hmm. Still, I doubt you'd get your money's worth reselling something bought at auction..."

"An item's value isn't merely monetary. Duke Kudo's birthday is coming up, isn't it?"

"True. If you could use it to gain entry to his banquet, you could make an impression on a great many nobles."

Then there were people who weren't explorers but practically radiated wealth.

No one looked as though they'd come just to watch.

Which made sense. The auction had generated so much buzz that even admission tickets had apparently sold for exorbitant prices.

'Forget the price. Getting tickets at all was hell.'

If Amelia hadn't told me about the auction just before word really got out, I'd have barely managed to get a single scalped ticket and had to come alone.

"Stop looking around. Drawing attention won't do us any good."

Sensing the start of a lecture, I changed the subject with practiced ease.

"Anyway, have you been to places like this often?"

"... Often enough."

Right, she'd been an explorer a lot longer than me, hadn't she?

"Then I can ask you if there's anything I'm curious about."

After that, I passed the time stealing sideways glances at our surroundings.

"There are more people wearing masks like us than I expected. I heard winning bidders remain anonymous anyway."

"There are always people who don't want anyone to know they attended at all."

"Oh, what's with that guy in the suit? He doesn't look like an explorer or a merchant."

"A representative sent by an influential family. He's neatly dressed, but he won't be from a noble house. Noble houses put their reputation first, even in matters like that."

"Oh, really?"

Was she an encyclopedia or something?

Every question I asked got an immediate answer.

While I was asking her more questions to test her capabilities, the auction began.

"Amelia... can't we buy that?"

"... If you give up on the one coming later."

"So we can't..."

Had they put a lot of effort into the other merchandise as well as the rank-three Essence? Not just the first lot, but everything that followed was remarkably high quality.

'What kind of trade market auction has a triple-digit Numbered item?'

And it wasn't even a lousy one. It wasn't particularly useful for me, but it was a versatile item any damage dealer using a blade could equip.

'Whew. If I had the money, I'd buy that and put it in the vault too.'

Every time a new lot came up, I could only swallow my regret and watch the bidding heat up.

"One hundred forty million Stones! We have one hundred forty million Stones. Any further bids?"

"..."

"... Sold to the anonymous bidder!"

Auctions in this era were refreshingly straightforward.

Instead of inching bids up by increments set by the auctioneer for each price bracket, they used an open bidding system that let you enter a high bid all at once.

And yet the actual bidding method was oddly modern.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.

Every chair had a magical device on its right armrest for entering numbers. You typed in your bid and hit Enter, and the price appeared on the illuminated board onstage.

That kept the bidders' identities anonymous.

'Makes sense. Without anonymity like this, fights could break out afterward.'

Incidentally, the Sky Auction House had been the first to use this system.

I'd learned that while studying history at the library. Apparently, some prestigious noble houses had competed under their real names, things had escalated, and they'd ended up fighting—

"Now, our seventeenth lot!"

As soon as one sale ended, a new lot was brought onstage as though it had been waiting for its cue.

It was a test tube housed in an expensive case.

Essences had come up several times already, but this one was different in a number of ways.

"Jandel."

"I know."

Unlike the previous Essences, this case had a large painting set beside it: a roaring, gigantic beast covered in thick armor-like shell.

Vol-Herchan.

'They even prepared this? They really went all out for this auction.'

The picture was so dynamic that the creature looked ready to spring to life, and the participants began murmuring.

"Oh... I see..."

"I thought this Essence wouldn't come out until the end."

"Yes, how odd. There are thirty-five lots today, so more than half should still remain..."

Some questioned why the Essence had appeared halfway through the auction, but I didn't find it strange at all.

In fact, it was a marketing tactic worth applauding.

"The Alminus Trading Company used their heads."

If the Essence came last, the people who'd brought money for it would have to hold on to their funds until then. That left them little room to bid on other items.

But what if they put it up halfway through and settled on its owner early?

That changed things.

With their remaining funds no longer earmarked for anything, people could bid without hesitation if something they needed appeared.

"This lot is Vol-Herchan's Essence, obtained on the latest expedition by the Mariel Clan's 'Lightning Flame,' who personally slew the ferocious beast..."

As the auctioneer began his full introduction, describing the item's history along with its properties, the atmosphere in the hall changed.

"Ahem..."

People who had been chatting comfortably and making connections during the previous rounds now eyed one another warily.

Desire filled the explorers' eyes, while the merchants' gazes sharpened like jackals scenting opportunity.

They looked ready for battle, even without swords in hand.

And amid all that...

'Tsk. Keep your hands off what's mine.'

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP-BEEP, BEEP.

I entered the amount in advance.

Then...

"Now, the opening bid is fifty million Stones—"

The instant bidding opened,

BEEP-BEEP.

I pressed Enter.

As if in response, a number appeared on the board.

[870,000,000]

Eight hundred seventy million Stones.

This was why the auction had become famous enough for Amelia to hear about it later.

"...!"

"...!"

There had only been one bid.

* * *

The silence following that truly brutal raise was brief.

"Eight hundred seventy million Stones...! We have a bid of eight hundred seventy million Stones."

The auctioneer summoned his professionalism and forced his voice to remain calm, setting off an uproar.

"Eight hundred seventy million Stones?"

"What kind of lunatic opens with that...?"

Some gaped in utter disbelief.

"Who on earth could offer that much in one go...?"

Others wondered who I was.

Those who'd given up competing merely watched with interest gleaming in their eyes. But those who had seriously intended to buy this Essence reacted differently.

"You must decide quickly, before it's sold."

Their expressions changed as they hurriedly began conferring.

Oh, and their responses varied too.

"Eight hundred seventy million Stones is beyond our means..."

Some had already exceeded their budgets.

"It's not that we can't afford it... But paying that much for an Essence only Guardians use would be insane. We won't bid."

Others simply decided based on value for money.

And then...

"Why are you telling me not to bid?"

"The market may be up to something."

Some were too suspicious to commit.

"You mean a shill bidder?"

"That's possible, but... perhaps they offered the Essence as bait from the outset, with no intention of selling it."

A few even seemed to be considering the possibility that Vol-Herchan's Essence was a false listing intended to draw customers...

But that wasn't what mattered.

"..."

"..."

Even as the unexpected sum left their minds reeling, even as the comments around them compounded their confusion and made it hard to judge clearly, even as they agonized over whether to bid...

TICK, TOCK.

Time kept passing.

"Are there... any further bids...?"

The auctioneer, who had been bringing his gavel down so decisively before, dragged things out three times longer than usual before speaking one last time.

And...

"..."

"..."

Seeing everyone too busy watching one another, he closed the bidding.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

At the clear, ringing sound that signaled there was no taking it back, I nodded to myself again and again with a satisfied smile.

Oh yeah. The best part of an auction was Buy It Now.

* * *

Once the whirlwind of an auction was over, we went to the collection room, paid, and received Vol-Herchan's Essence.

"Eight hundred seventy million Stones... confirmed."

The employee who handed over the item seemed to hold a fairly senior position at the market. Although he clearly didn't appreciate us causing those strange rumors, he also seemed intensely curious.

But was this what they called professionalism?

"Have a safe journey."

He merely glanced at our masked faces now and then, never asking who we were or even making unnecessary conversation.

"What are you doing? Let's go."

As we left the collection room, I felt eyes on us from every direction. Everyone seemed curious about what we'd come out with.

Still, since they had no way to know which of the thirty-five lots we'd bought, no one rashly approached us.

"Anyone following us?"

"Not anymore. Judging by their level, I think they were just tailing us out of curiosity."

"Really?"

"Where are you going?"

Where else?

There was only one place.

"The temple."

We left Commelby by carriage and headed straight to the Order of Leatlas. It was evening, when they began closing their doors to visitors, but we'd just made it.

"You've come to erase a mark engraved upon your soul."

"Here. My donation."

"Yes. Would your companion please wait outside?"

"All right..."

I paid the priest the exact amount we'd set aside and had an Essence removed.

As decided beforehand, it was Corpse Golem.

'Come to think of it, I've never erased an Essence at a temple before.'

I'd heard the others talk about it, but actually undergoing Essence removal for the first time was far stranger than I'd expected.

'Look at these effects. In the game, all it took was a few keystrokes.'

Pure white light enveloped me, carrying me to a space of unbroken white.

I awoke there naked, holding the blue dagger the priest had just given me...

And enormous monsters crowded my surroundings.

They were all locked behind thick iron bars.

Ogre, Orc Hero, Stormgush, Manticore, Bayon.

And Corpse Golem, today's target.

After looking them over for a moment, I used the dagger to sever the thread of light connecting Corpse Golem to my body.

And then...

WHOOOOSH!

By the time I came to my senses, I was back in the temple.

"I feel very strange."

"Naturally. A bond engraved upon your soul has been severed. Most people experience this the first time, so don't worry too much. In a few days, you'll grow accustomed to the empty space."

"A bond has been severed..."

It was exactly the sort of thing a priest of Leatlas would say, but I found myself agreeing to some extent.

I felt far too drained for it to be nothing more than the emptiness of losing stats.

"Are you all right?"

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about. I'll be fine once I've had some meat."

With my business at the temple finished, I returned to our lodgings with Amelia.

Then I took out the test tube I'd won at the auction.

"Amelia, are you ready?"

"...?"

She looked at me as though she couldn't understand what I meant.

"I meant, don't be surprised if the Stone Fragment of Records reacts the moment I absorb this."

"Oh..."

I'd met GM and stored my equipment in the vault.

Amelia had even been following her older sister around, making financial arrangements in advance so she wouldn't die over unpaid taxes in the future.

So if my prediction was right...

'This should be the final piece of the puzzle.'

I took the Stone Fragment of Records out of subspace, then absorbed the Essence.

'Ah... this is why I love absorbing Essences.'

A dense sense of fullness welled up inside me, making it hard to even feel the gap Corpse Golem had left.

As the cluster of light within the test tube entered my body, power began surging through me.

Of course, it was far less intense than when I'd absorbed Ogre.

Essences that gave you that much raw Strength were rare even at rank two and above.

'Still, the important part is the skills.'

Savoring the lingering sensation, I slowly opened my eyes.

Then I smacked my lips bitterly at the Stone Fragment of Records, which remained utterly unresponsive.

"... Don't tell me this wasn't it either."

What else did I have to do?

Was I going to be stuck here for several more years?

Just as that anxiety kept me from fully enjoying even the happiness of acquiring a new Essence...

"Yes, I suppose it is about time we went back..."

Amelia murmured the words like a sigh.

"Huh?"

When I tilted my head, she looked at me and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry. We should be able to go back tomorrow."

There was a hint of reluctance in her eyes.