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The Mercenary Union Auction was a monthly event held by the numerous participating mercenary factions in Grimsby and even some in Port Blackwood.

 

Many came from all over the southern Hale kingdom for the mystical goods that would be put up for sale. And because this was an auction operated by the Mercenary Union, many of these items would be exceedingly rare or forbidden to be bought under normal circumstances.

 

This was because often times mercenary groups would encounter heaven defying and virtually extinct resources on their missions that they would then keep secret and only auction at events like this.

 

The seating at the auction hall was split into 3 layers. The 3^rd layer, or the backrow, was considered the ordinary and commoners’ seats. One could hardly see the stage from back here and you would have to be exceptionally loud for your bid to be heard and vice versa.

 

The 2^nd layer, or middle row was considered the cultivator or mage seating. Though you didn’t have to be a mage or cultivator to sit here, usually the amount of gold required to buy a ticket for this seat could only be amassed and spent so easily by people of this caliber.

 

The 1^st layer and front row was reserved for the extremely wealthy or  powerful. These seats would surprisingly be the first to fill up as many hidden dragons and crouching tigers made themselves known for the event. The prices of these seats were astronomically high and only those who could spend hundreds of gold coins without blinking were qualified to sit here.

 

Lucy sat in the corner of the first row of seats to the far right and watched as the rest of the mercenaries and guests filed in to find their seats. She wore a slightly impatient expression upon her face but most of it was hidden behind her long, wavy hair.

 

She was no stranger to this auction and had been several times in the previous months, but only today was she here in search of a particular item which is why she splurged on a first row seat.

 

After waiting for some time, the seats in the grand hall were eventually all filled up and the numerous exit doors of the hall were slowly closed.

 

At that moment a heavily scarred and muscled man in a black gi walked upon the stage. He gave off the aura of wild beast that could pounce at any moment despite being barefoot, completely unarmed, and walking quite leisurely.

 

‘This man isn’t simple…’ thought Lucy who had never seen him before.

 

  "I'm sure that many of you are wondering who I am.” Said the man as he looked at the audience with a deep glare, “You can call me Goa. The auction this time around will be hosted by me. This is the first time that I have hosted an auction,  but every item here was found by my mercenary group and I in conjunction with several other mercenary squads throughout the distant lands of Aleria, and as you can see by the scars on my body, the costs of obtaining  these goods were quite high so trust me when I say everyone will leave satisfied. Now, with no further ado, the auction starts now."

 

    Shockingly the announcer Goa had managed to transmit his voice into the minds of everyone present in the hall at once.

 

Once he announced the start of the auction suddenly three wagons were carted onto the rather large stage before the audience by 3 similarly dressed men. Each wagon’s contents were covered with a thick black cloth, concealing the items from view for now.

 

Wasting no time, the scarred man named Goa strode towards the nearest cart before ripping the thick black cloth off of it. Two huge pitch-black obelisks with strange glowing purple markings were revealed.

 

"The first item will be this set of two Runegate stones. I’m sure most of us here are familiar with these and how they work. Our group discovered these at a forgotten military compound in Custoze. After verifying their authenticity, my group and I were able to use these to teleport over a 1,000 miles unscathed.  And as you can see each obelisk is still in perfect condition and only requires a source of mana to be operational. Let’s start the bidding off at 15,000 gold coins."

 

Almost immediately after he finished speaking, murmuring amongst the crowd could be heard. Suffice to say many people were interested in this item.

 

“Fifteen thousand Gold coins here!”

 

“Sixteen thousand!”

 

“Twenty thousand!”

 

One after another the interested bidders called out their best prices one after another. In the blink of an eye the price had rose to a whopping 20,000 gold coins and showed no signs of slowing down.

 

“Thirty thousand gold coins!” a haughty voice laced with finality called out from one of the first-row seats.

 

With the price point now this high all the other interested parties had no choice but to quiet down in forfeit. Lucy, like everyone else ,was also quite interested in these objects and had the funds for them as well, but she knew the auction had just started and she’d better bide her time for the main event.

 

"Are there any other interested parties? Going once? Going twice? Alright, sold! These Runegate Stones now belong to this fellow in the front row. Sir, after the auction please head to the front desk to pay for your item"

 

BANG

 

Goa smashed a small dark wooden gavel on the cart. This action left a small rune on the side of the cart that identified the Runegates as sold.

 

“Now, for the second item in our auction…”

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