Goku entered the gymnasium.

The room was filled with folding chairs lined facing the raised stage on one end of the room, with an aisle in the middle and tables for food and drink lining the walls on either side. The setting was very Venus and Goku wondered whether Willow could have booked a proper auditorium, but then again she wasn’t one to spend frivolously.

The DaiKami was hardly the only one interested in whatever it what she was selling, either. Ven stood to one side of the room in her Principal form, talking with an old crone of a woman. Various VC staffers milled about the gym and there was at least one small group that had the look of Angel Grove Technophiles! What they could possibly want from this she had no idea.

Goku immediately made for the snack bar and began helping herself to several generous helpings of fruit punch.

“Attention everyone.” Willow’s voice came from the room’s sound system as lights came on at the foot of the stage, shining upon the still closed curtains. “The auction will begin in five minutes. Everyone who intends to participate, please find a seat. Anyone not participating, please leave immediately.”

Goku picked up an entire tray of little sandwiches and a couple more cups of punch before taking a seat a couple rows back from the front. Once everyone was seated, the curtains opened. Willow stood on the stage behind a podium. She wore a white dress covered in red lily patterns, with a comparatively small number of keepsakes strapped to the sleeves and the decorative belt.

“Sorry of the wait everyone, but I assure you that the information I have to share will be worth it.”

She smiled a greedy smile.

“I have found the identity of the Zombie Maker of Venus Cloacina!”

The audience was in uproar. Goku herself spat half a cup of punch into the back of the head of the staffer sitting directly in front of her. She half-regretted sitting so close to the front, as she couldn’t see Ven’s reaction from her position. To miss such a priceless face was surely a tragedy. Outbidding the Demon Lord and being able to rub it in that the DaiKami got that info first would have to make up for it.

“Everyone,” Willow stepped in before Ven or another demon in the riled crowd could explode. “Before we begin bidding, I’d like to thank the major parties who have decided to join us tonight. Veneralia and the DaiKami Daily. Crow of the Tengu clan and the technophages. Perhaps most importantly of all, the anonymous representatives of the guilty demon themselves.”

The crowd nearly devolved into a brawl at that one, but this time Willow didn’t allow it grow out of hand.

“All standard forms of currency will be accepted for this auction at the standard exchange rate. Special favours will naturally also be accepted on a case by case basis. Bonus points will be awarded to any bidder offering Goddessly memorabilia. The bidding will begin at 100 VC meal tickets. Ready? Go.”

“200 tickets!”

“500 DaiKin!”

* * *

“10,000 DaiKin!”

“12,000 Scrap!”

“12k Scrap is not worth 10k DaiKin.” Willow admonished the Necroscrappers, who were clearly out of their economic depth. “The highest bid remains at 10k DaiKin for the Tengu clan. Do we have any other bidders?”

Goku had stayed mostly silent during the proceedings, not wanting to start or get caught in a bidding war. Now the bids had slowed and it was time for her strategy to bare fruit. She stood on the seat of her chair and raised her free hand, the other holding onto the half-empty tray she had earlier liberated.

“A reservation for a meal at the DaiCafe!”

There were gasps from the audience at this outrageous bid. Naturally. This was Goku’s trump card that DaiSensei gave her specifically for beating Veneralia on her home turf.

“For the sake of the other bidders,” Willow responded. “With the DaiCafe’s current wait time of 5 years, that reservation is currently valued at 60k DaiKin. Would anyone care to offer a higher bid?”

Sweet, sweet silence.

“No homework for 5 years!” Ven’s voice. She was good at hiding it, but Goku could detect just a hint of desperation behind it.

“I’m afraid that is valued at only 5k meal tickets, Veneralia. Even added onto your previous bid, it falls far short of the DaiKami’s offer.”

“I will also permanently double the funding for the Goddlessly Fan Club and refrain from issuing any punishment due to this event.”

"Along with your previous offers, the first point brings your bid to about 80% of the value of the DaiKami’s offer. The second point, however, is null. As spelled out my contract with Venus Cloacina, I am already unpunishable with regards to any task or activity unrelated to my duties to the Academy. Do you have anything else you wish to add to your offer?”

“No,” Ven said with delicious rage in her voice. “That will be all. Dai-Sensei would be so happy that he’d probably give Goku another reservation just for getting to Ven!

“In that case, as there seem to be no further bids, the identity of the Zombie Maker will be awarded to-”

“Wait, I have something here that you might prefer.” The old woman’s voice - Crow, Goku supposed - was aged to match her appearance but very strong. It instantly created the image of the wise old matriarch as it projected clearly across the room from somewhere behind Goku.

“My granddaughter found this quite by accident the other day.” She paused, presumably holding something up for Willow to see. Whatever it was, Goku didn’t like the look in the girl’s eyes. “I believe this is a journal or a copy of a journal, originally belonging to Princess Sierra of Goddessly. I am unsure as to its exact contents, but I can assure you that it is one of a kind within Nobis. How would you rate the value of such a treasure, arbiter?”

Willow took Crow’s cue to shake herself out of the stupor she had fallen into the moment she had laid eyes upon Crow’s bid. She was clearly deep in thought as to the item’s actual value. The sight gave Goku a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Given both the item’s rarity and the difficulty of obtaining it or related items within Nobis, I would have to rate it as having an extremely high worth. That it may be a copy lowers its collectors value somewhat, but that value remains high regardless in that regard. Furthermore, the academic value of the item remains unchanged and considerable.”

Goku sagged in her chair.

“The DaiKami’s offer has a current value of 50k, with every indication that, should I not use it, that value will only grow with time. The value of this item is unlikely to grow in a similar manner, but I would none the less have to rate it as at least 100k in value, with the optimistic estimate exceeding that amount considerably. With this value in mind, the auction accepts the bid. Does anyone have any further bids they would like to make? No? In that case, the identity of the Zombie Maker has been sold to the Tengu Clan. Crow, please follow me back stage so that we can arrange the delivery of the information.”