Amber is being held by a blonde-haired man, he's squinting as he looks up and down her body. She doesn't speak, but her face doesn't show any terror.

 

"Oh? Feisty one?" the man says to Amber.

 

Jack's emotions get the better of him as he the shadow qi pours out his body, a large hole develops on the man's skin as the qi from the dagger seeps into his skin.

 

"Give us the stuff, we have nothing to lose..." the black man says while he's being held, Jack grimaces as he looks at the crowd. 

 

This situation would be easily resolved with bringing out the bunny assassins but it's not quite time for that, nothing serious will happen in public but something might...

 

"I was wondering what was going on, Jaunice is here... my friend."

 

Jack can feel a familiar voice approach, he isn't sure which is which, but two familiar people approach the group from the crowd.

 

"Jun, I don't think Jaunice thinks you're his friend even though we've spent so much time together." Teun speaks and smiles at Jack.

 

"They're still up to their old ways though, why don't you let these guys go and I don't have to look at some of those tips I've received lately."

 

"Teun and Jun... I didn't think you guys would be in this region. What have you heard?"

 

"Nothing that I can really say, but you may want to not stir up things too much. It's possible you'll be biting off more than you can chew."

 

Jun stands before Jack and the black-haired man, neither of them break their stance.

 

"There's going to be a call up soon, even Falcon has surfaced recently."

 

Jun says without breaking his smile. The black-haired man breaks his stance, even taking a step away from Jun.

 

"Really?"

 

Jun nods his head and looks at the one holding Amber. She is immediately let go and immediately kicks the one that was holding her.

 

"You filthy dog."

 

Amber kicks him several times before spinning around and walking over to Jack. No one says anything at her display.

 

"Well, shall we talk? Would you like to join us?" Jun looks at Jack and Amber.

 

Jack shakes his head, "It's not important, but we have to get inside as things are going to start soon."

 

"Ah yes the auction, we'll have to go there soon too, but Jaunice and I shall have a nice chat."

 

"What about? The laws don't apply here."

 

"Jaunice.. Jaunice..." Jun shoves Jaunice along while Teun looks at the rest of his followers disperse. The one with a limp glares at Amber, she responds by threatening him, resulting in him immediately cowering.

 

Jack walks through the crowd freed from hindrances pondering the events of just now, the two things under his arm held tightly while Amber holds onto his other arm. They walk away from the crowd with Jack trying not to pay attention to everyone looking at him. They eventually get lost back in the maze of stalls.

 

Jack looks around to ensure they're not being followed, they aren't but there are some extra pairs of eyes on them. There's not much helping that, so he brings Amber closer to him.

 

"Why didn't you do anything? I know you could have handled that."

 

Amber leans in closer, their distance is now intimate as her lips almost touch his ear, "I wanted my brave Lord to rescue me, can't I have some fun?"

 

She releases Jack and backs away giggling; he follows her quickly holding her again; she stops giggling and brings him into her embrace.

 

The crowd of onlookers is dazed by this display so public, no one seems sure of how to act so most just stop and stare.

 

Jack looks deeply into her eyes, "Are you having fun?"

 

"Much more now than previously, My Lord."

 

"Well, perhaps now isn't the time for this?"

 

"Of course, my Lord."

 

Amber releases her grasp on him, Jack playfully grabs at her in retaliation but she dodges it giggling.

 

They chase each other for a few more minutes as they work their way through the maze; they get tired of it and start walking side by side.

 

"Are you curious what I got?"

 

"Sure I am curious, but I trust that you'd buy the best gift. After all, you don't want to disappoint your lord, right?"

 

Amber smiles, her hair shimmers in the strange light beaming from down above and blows in the gentle breeze that whistles in the large tunnels, Jack feels like his heart is thumping deeply at this moment as the two of them share a silent moment.

 

"Are you smitten by your loyal subjects' looks?"

 

"Ha, you think you're still just a subject? Very few people will have access to me like this, not even Bane..."

 

"What about Her Highness or the bunny?"

 

"Well, Lunamarie is new and well, it all depends on her. How can you handle her when I don't even know what she's feeling plus the stuff with the dagger... I'd like to spend more time with her but she's enjoying the pill making. Jessica is... hard to describe? I've been pushing off visiting her parents' grave so I have to sort that out once I go back."

 

"Fine... I can see there's no getting through to you. I won't talk about the others," Amber turns away and walks away seemingly annoyed.

 

"What?"

 

"Nothing."

 

Jack chases after her, "What?"

 

Amber hurries her steps, "Nothing" her voice is crackling.

 

"Come on, tell me."

 

"Nope."

 

Amber laughs as they exit the maze of stalls, the passageway is busy with people heading into the entrance of the auction. It's due to start soon but there's an immense crowd of people out the front, easily ten thousand people are crammed into an area designed to fit about 1,500 without market stalls everywhere.

 

"Xueli would've helped in the stalls… that nose that she loves to brag about, but I hope Albert found some things."

 

"I'm sure he picked up anything you missed and that's why you didn't find much. We have to hurry and get inside. I believe they have reservations for players. They were advertising that all the time..." Amber explains.

 

"Wait... You didn't organise anything in advance?"

 

"No. Didn't someone organise something for you?"

 

"Albert and the bunny assassin's didn't say anything... I thought you found a spot?"

 

"Well, I sent the letter saying I found a spot at the restaurant... so we have nothing. What's your status?"

 

"I'm only an Elite, the village has to be pushed into the next level for me to reach the first level of lordship..." Jack speaks quietly trying to ensure his voice doesn't travel too far. 

 

"Great. Well My Lord, I hope your natural charisma will be enough to sway the opinion of the sun's auction house, the oldest auction house at over 3 million years old."

 

Jack lets out an awry smile towards Amber who smiles back. They work their way through the crowd and near the front.

 

"15 minutes until general admission, VIP access will occur for another 6 minutes please approach."

 

A loud voice announces, the people push with a new vigour yet Jack and Amber respond in kind and continue pushing through and finally make it with a few minutes to spare. Jack feels frustrated as he fixes up his clothing as he's in an orderly queue now under strict watch of security. 

 

The crowd seems filled with mostly residents but there were quite a few players in there too, they quickly scan each person as they go through to weed out the regular people, it goes through quickly with both Jack and Amber passing through the first stage where they're led through a large set of double doors.

 

"Welcome, hurry through."

 

Nearly everyone before Jack was denied entry, but as Jack looks around the room he can see that nearly everyone is a resident, they have rich clothing and he can even see some familiar faces. The people he met at lunch are here, but they're all separated in their own little groups mostly and not mingling.

 

"This is the VIP area?" Jack asks.

 

"Yes, this is the entrance still but... are you a player sir?"

 

"Yeah? Wasn't that picked up on the scan or whatever that thing was?"

 

"No, Sir."

 

"Yeah, I'm a player?"

 

"Ok, that's good to hear you are only our third player so far, if you'd please step inside further as we have other people to process."

 

The door becomes busy behind Jack; he feels somewhat ignored by this attendant but Amber doesn't look much better.

 

"Why did he ignore me?" Amber asks as Jack walks away with her.

 

"Not sure, possibly because I'm a player?"

 

Jack walks away while thinking it over in his mind. The spacious lobby has a counter on one side while most people are on the other talking around several tables that look like they were filled with food and drinks but is now mostly empty. Jack makes his way over to the counter with Amber by his side when he hears someone from his side.

 

"Lord, you're finally here. I thought you would have shown up much earlier" Albert appears from somewhere and walks towards Jack with a friendly smile.

 

"Well, we made it at least, did you pick up some things at the marketplace?"

 

"Yes, Lord."

 

"Great, so I think we need to sell those pills here?"

 

"That's right Lord"

 

Jack and Albert stand by the counter while Amber looks around waving at the people she had lunch with, a few of them make their way over but many remain where they are causing Amber to frown. The counter attendant is with other people, so Jack has to interact with the people that have walked over.

 

"That was an amazing display at lunch, I still can't believe that I witnessed it and you still didn't harm him. Will there be trouble here?" the brown-haired girl asks Jack.

 

"Well..."

 

He rubs the back of his neck not knowing what to say, this brown-haired young woman is looking at him like he's some sort of prominent figure but he just reacted in the moment.

 

"It doesn't matter if it does or doesn't, I'll handle whatever comes my way."

 

Jack smiles and turns around. The people whisper as they did previously while Albert comes over to him at the counter.

 

"Lord, two escorts are with me. They believe heightened security is appropriate."

 

"This place is prestigious. People shouldn't make a ruckus here. It won't be our problem if they do anyways, did you get an estimate on the pills?"

 

"No lord, the store wasn't allowed entry to anyone. Something about a contest?"

 

"They let me in... well I guess I should have asked about the price there, I'll let you handle that."

 

Jack passes over the ring of thousands of pills, most of the small ones which can be sold in lots of 6. Lunamarie prepared this lot especially for mass sale.

 

"We have to find out what the price is, the pill merchant was surprised by something with them so we'll see, I have the other ones on me anyway."

 

"What about the money?"

 

"Deposit it all. Do we need it anymore?"

 

"Well Lord I have paid out all goods needed" Albert thinks for a moment then speaks, "Let me handle it."

 

"Good, I've never been great with numbers...." Jack looks around and can see there's no one nearby and whispers next to Albert.

 

"Did we find out the auction items?"

 

"Only 6 my Lord. 3 rare pills, 2 weapons and some sort of relic."

 

Jack frowns and doesn't speak as he thinks over the items but can't come to a conclusion.

 

"Well good thing there's some reserves..."

 

Jack trails off as an attendant approaches the counter, "Hello sir, we'll take your trade but cannot guarantee that it'll show up in the show today. Who will I be dealing with today?"

 

"Mostly him."

 

Jack points to Albert who is standing ready with a pen and paper in hand, she looks between the two for a moment before Albert coughs.

 

She is brought out of her daze, "Oh uhh, sorry sir, I just thought that the player would wish to handle everything. Yes what can I help you with?"

 

"Well, I need to place these pills in your hand but we're not sure of the value, can you give us some idea?"

 

"Sure sir, I can call over the expert but if you'd like me to just give you a quick evaluation I can."

 

"Well let's do both."

 

"Very well."

 

The attendant walks away, Jack lets out a sigh as the minutes tick by. The people from lunch, the councillors children are still mingling with Amber talking about things, the brown-haired girl will occasionally say something to Jack but he feels like he needs to put up a stoic front before her.

 

She doesn't get much from him but she still seems to idolise him in some way, the attendant comes back with someone else.

 

It's someone with a face veil on, their body size is small and their long black hair is coming out from beneath the veil.

 

"Please pass the items over sir" the attendant asks Albert who immediately hands the item over, a single 6 pack in a jade bottle.