Chapter 17: Auction Day!

It was still day two.

But now it was nighttime.

Near the quiet waters of the Royal Duck Pond, Adonis watched Prussia lazily toss handfuls of breadcrumbs into the water for the ducks to eat.

They were on opposite sides, but they both had dirt on each other so that forced an uneasy alliance for them. They had no choice but to cooperate for the heist.

Right now, Prussia looked unimpressed.

"Disappointing. So you couldn’t find the dragon egg or the golden fairy soil? Are you really that useless?"

Adonis let out a tired sigh.

"It’s very likely they’re keeping the egg and the soil in a far more secure vault, one I don’t have access to. If you’d just tell me what you actually plan to do with them, maybe I could figu—"

"It’s none of your business."

Prussia cut him off coldly.

She took a step toward him and held out a hand.

"Return the dragon teleporter. I’ll find another way to get them before the auction day."

"I can still go back and check tonight. I can—"

"No." Prussia said flatly.

Adonis sighed again, using a moment to look at her.

"Whatever. We both know why you partnered with me on this heist and gave me that dragon teleporter to steal the items. To you, I’m expendable. If I get caught, your hands stay clean. If that’s really how it is, then let me finish what I started."

Prussia stared at him in silence. For a second, she looked for any sign of hesitation, but all she found was unyielding confidence in his eyes.

She clicked her tongue and scoffed.

"Fine. You have tonight. Only tonight."

She crossed her arms.

"Then there’s the issue of Baron Thale. I had my spies dig up everything they could find on him, but they came up empty."

Adonis shrugged casually.

"Maybe he’s just good at covering his tracks."

"I doubt it..."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"It almost feels like the man doesn’t even exist. Yet, I received confirmed intelligence that he’ll be presenting the golden fairy soil to the Halcyon Auction House tomorrow."

Adonis stretched his arms above his head and let out a long and dramatic yawn.

"Well, if that’s the case, I’m going to bed."

Day three arrived.

It was a calm day across the capital city.

Baron Korvan Thale made a brief, understated appearance at the Halcyon Auction House. He dropped off the heavy sacks of golden fairy soil without making a scene. When Third Queen Lucelia inspected the soil with her magic eyes, she was taken by great surprise. The purity and quality of the soil surpassed even her high expectations.

Elsewhere, the other princes spent the day busying themselves with their grandest attire, making sure they looked immaculate for the big auction day.

Minerva, having no official responsibilities, spent her entire day lounging around and doing nothing.

First Queen Esmarie personally took charge of the event’s inventory and seating arrangements. She spent hours perfectly designing the floor plan, carefully ensuring her son Godfrey would be seated directly next to Prussia.

Meanwhile, Prussia spent the entire day searching for Adonis. She checked every corner of the palace grounds, but there was no sign of the young man... or the dragon teleporter she had entrusted to him. She suspected the bastard had conned her, stolen the teleporter, and fled the nation entirely.

However, her theory fell apart later that evening when she visited the royal exhibition hall inside the auction house. There, she saw both the immortal dragon egg and the golden fairy soil.

Following auction tradition, all items were placed on public display on day three after being appraised the night before.

Adonis hadn’t run away.

The items were right where they were supposed to be.

Day four. The day of the grand auction had finally arrived.

Carriages embossed with extravagant crests took to the streets as high nobles, adventurers, and foreign dignitaries poured into the Halcyon Auction House.

The opulent building was huge and structured strictly by social standing.

Top noble families were escorted to private viewing areas on the highest balconies. Other nobles occupied the lower tiers of the hall, seated strictly according to their rank.

Duke family above Earl.

Earl family above Viscount, and so on.

At the very front of the grand balcony sat a private viewing area designated for the royal family and their honored guests, the Dunamis family. King Aldrius and Fangfather Darius sat side-by-side at the forefront. The royal consorts sat toward the back with their respective sons and daughters.

Godfrey adjusted his coat and politely offered Prussia the chair beside him. Before she could answer, Leander coolly walked into the space between them.

"She’ll be sitting with me, don’t worry about it, brother."

Godfrey smiled back calmly and said, "No problem then."

In the back row, First Queen Esmarie buried her ashamed face in her hands like she’d cry.

’I have an idiot for a son...’

A few seats over, Lucelia smiled proudly. Seeing Leander assert himself convinced her that her son had already won Prussia’s heart. In her mind, Leander was already king.

Down on the main stage.

Lady Ariel stepped up to the podium.

"HELLO, EVERYONE!"

The amplification magic device used by Soron carried her voice all throughout the hall.

She kicked off the event by greeting the powerful nobles and famous adventurers in attendance, before bowing deeply toward the royal box to pay her respects.

The crowd erupted into polite applause.

Among the royals on display, only four princes were seated in the box. To the public, the Fifth Prince, Adonis, was barely considered part of the royal bloodline anyway, so no one questioned his absence.

Minerva, however, kept glancing around the hall.

She had a faint frown on her cherry lips.

’Where in the world is that boy?’

She couldn’t help but wonder if he was still sulking because she had ignored him the other day.

Lady Ariel cleared her throat.

"Our very first item today!"

She gestured to a display case brought out by an assistant.

"A gold-tier Fire Wand, crafted by one of the master artisans of the Arcane City of Naxos! How about we start the bidding at a modest thirty eastern gold coins!"

In the eastern half of the Magic Continent, currency was standardized. A single gold coin could buy a respectable house in a normal city, or two if used in a major capital like Gilishon. In smaller rural towns, an average family could comfortably live off a few silver coins a month. Starting an item at thirty gold coins was equivalent to offering thirty large city homes in one go.

"Thirty-five!" shouted a noble in the front row.

"Thirty-eight!" an S-class adventurer called out.

"Forty!"

The hall exploded into a fierce bidding war.

Price callouts flew back and forth across the tiers until a female archmage from Naxos silenced the crowd with a final bid of sixty gold coins.

The auction moved at a rapid pace.

High-tier weapons, rare magic utility items, and beast cores were brought out and sold one after another. Even the royal family partook in the action... Leander managed to snag a gold-tier dragon-enchanted shield for fifty gold coins.

Through it all, the Dunamis family sat in silence, uninterested in the "mundane" offerings.

Until Ariel got to the good part.

"As tradition dictates, we save our topmost finest treasures for last. I hope you have all saved your coin, because these final items carry quite the price tag."

That silenced the adventurers. The mercenaries and common mages settled back to simply watch the high nobles battle it out with their astronomical wealth.

Two large guards hauled several heavy, glowing sacks onto the stage.

"Our next item, Golden Fairy Soil! A platinum-tier refinement magic item, capable of growing legendary herbs, enhancing high-tier potions, and upgrading all forms of weaponry! We’ll open the bidding at one thousand gold coins, with minimum increments of one hundred gold!"

Silence.

Not a single noble raised their paddle. Despite the peaceful alliance currently in place, nobody in their right mind wanted to open a bidding war against House Dunamis.

Darius calmly raised his bid paddle. "One thousand."

King Aldrius and the royal consorts let out subtle sighs of relief. House Dunamis was getting what they came for. Once the deal was done, the terrifying family would be gone by tomorrow.

Lady Ariel raised her gavel.

"One thousand gold coins, going once, going—"

"Fifteen hundred!" a voice shouted from the back.

The entire hall froze. A wave of paralyzing shock swept through the crowd. Who could possibly be foolish enough to challenge Fangfather Darius directly?

Eyes darted wildly around the upper balconies, searching the private boxes of foreign rulers, but no one up there was stupid enough to have spoken.

"It’s... it’s him!"

A noble suddenly said, pointing toward the lowest floor of the auction house.

Sitting lazily in a basic lounge chair at the BOTTOM of the hall was a young man with golden hair. He had one leg crossed over the other, casually eating grapes from a bowl with one hand while holding up a bidding paddle with the other.

Adonis Kallias Falsbane. The disgraced Fifth Prince.

Murmurs exploded across the room.

"Is he insane?!"

"Ungrateful trash! He’s lost his mind! He’s just doing this to throw a tantrum at the King!"

"He’s going to get us all killed!"

Up in the royal box, Darius turned a terrifying, vicious glare toward King Aldrius.

"What is your son doing—?!"

"I..."

Aldrius was too scared to speak.

First Queen Esmarie leapt from her seat, leaning over the balcony railing to scream down at Adonis.

"Have you gone stark raving mad?! How dare you cause a scene here, ungrateful child!"

She turned toward the stage, pointing angrily at Ariel.

"His bid is invalid! Ignore him!"

Lady Ariel let out a small, weary sigh.

"Everyone in attendance possesses the right to bid, Your Highness. That is the foundational rule of the Gilishon City Auction. Prince Adonis’s bid stands."

Down below, Adonis gave Ariel a sweet wave.

"You’re the best, Lady Ariel!"

"HEY—!"

Minerva blurted out from the royal box, before slapping her hand over her own mouth as she turned bright red.

That alone made Ariel’s pride swell.

She straightened her posture and tapped her gavel.

"Let us resume the auction!"

Darius’s knuckles trembled on his paddle.

"Two thousand!"

He was dead certain the boy wasn’t foolish enough to push him a second time.

Adonis let out a long yawn, casually flipping his paddle.

"Five thousand."

Gasps boomed through the room. Nobles shrank back in their seats, terrified that the disgraced prince’s actions was going to get them killed. Screw that, even the King looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

Darius’s eyes boiled with rage. "Six thousand!"

Adonis pulled a small metal file from his pocket and casually filed his fingernails.

"Ten thousand."

"Eleven thousand!" Darius roared.

Adonis blew the dust off his nails, not even looking up.

"Twenty thousand."

"Twenty-one thousand!"

Adonis put the file away, pulled out a small comb, and began idly styling his golden hair.

"Fifty thousand."

Darius nearly choked. The ridiculousness of the number almost gave the old warrior a heart attack, but he forced his anger down and shouted...

"Sixty thousand!"

"Seventy thousand!" Adonis called out lightly.

"Eighty thousand!" Darius screamed.

"One hundred and fifty thousand!"

SHING!

Darius’s hand drew his silver blade. The suffocating aura of a gold-class swordsman flooded the hall and almost gave every noble present a stroke. But Korgan did his job and managed to calm his lord down with a pat on the shoulder.

Darius restrained himself and slammed his paddle down.

"One hundred and fifty-five thousand!"

The entire hall stayed silent.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for the miscreant Fifth Prince to blurt out another absurd, ruinous number that would push the Fangfather over the edge.

But Adonis was just busy picking his ear with his pinky.

"Meh, I give up." (ᗜ _ ᗜ)

The auction hall exploded.

"EHHHHHHH—?!"