Chapter 29

Auction and Action

 

-POV Kara (still)-

Not much happened after that. Once you 'kill the chicken to scare the monkeys', the monkeys will find someone else to pester.

It did turn out that Dumbass was friends with the City Lord.

Was being the key word. When word got out that he was trying to rape 'merchandise entrusted to the City Lord's auction house'. Moreover in a highly respected and high-Class teahouse, he no longer had any use for Dumbass anymore.

And when word got out that the 'fairy parade' was watched over by a Tier 3 with no remorse, no one dared try anything. Well, as far as I know.

Since the slave's auction is another 2 weeks away, and the auction house doesn't keep holding pens, we have to guard them ourselves. This gives me another 15 nights with my nightly activities. Since we don't have to march anymore, I keep going at least 5 hours each night.¹remember kids, in this world days are considered 12 hours long, because they measure hours differently from us. by our measure the days are 24 hours long, so that's 10 hours each night.

During the days, I had the slaves cultivate as normal. They still have to listen to me for now, as I am designated their Commander by our Master. Though that will change the moment they are sold. And wouldn't you know it, all the ones that haven't risen in Level during the journey, did so during our stay. With 4 of them reaching Tier 2. That means they'll sell for so much more.

Speaking of which, Master has special instructions I was to go over with the auction master about how they are to be sold. First, each of them is to be fully measured for affinities. Then organised by how much they're likely to be sold at, based on their cultivation Level as well as talent. From lowest to highest. Then in the actual auction, each girl's starting bid will be the same as the previous one's second-to-last bid. And each customer can only win on one girl, no matter how much they bid. Though different bidders in the same clan/sect is okay. And after-purchase selling is none of our business.

Also, just in case word hadn't spread properly, the auctioneer will announce that EACH ONE of these girls has a Pure Yin Unique Physique, as well as intact virginity. Still being a virgin when sold would triple the price. The Physique will multiply the price by a few dozen. But both together is worth a hundred times more. And that's on top of their cultivation levels. All of these girls will make for excellent dual-cultivation partners for any man. Or excellent whores for a brothel. Maybe a mix of both? I expect they'll pay at least 3 Grade 2 Qi Stones just for the first one! And perhaps as high as 10 times that for each of the last four!

But for some reason Master said to only bring back Grade 1 Qi Stones. I wonder if it has to do with his purification ability? It stands to reason: if you didn't have to worry about the impurities, then a Grade 2 Qi Stone is only worth 5 Grade 1's. Even though the official exchange rate is 100 each.

I wonder if Master knows that most people wouldn't even consider 100 to 1 a fair exchange. It's actually closer to 130 to 1. But that's only if you can find someone desperate or foolish enough to trade down. And I am that fool!

Enough thinking, the first auction is starting. We've got a dozen weapons, and one armor being sold, all Tier 1. Then another 2 Tier 2 weapons.

Of course there's other stuff. We're not the only sellers. It's nearly half an hour before they get to our goods.

My mind wanders again.

During our stay, I've used up all of the gold. And about half of the silver. And between the 3 auction houses, they wanted all 4 Qi Stones as fees for appraising the goods and slaves. This keeps the rabble from abusing their system to get random junk appraised for cheap, or even free.

Then they'll take 5% of the sales as well. This was lower than I expected. I guess competing merchants are good for their customers. The towns I've been to that even had an auction house would usually charge 10 or even 15% of the winning bid. Of course I haven't had much experience working with auction houses in cities back when I was a bandit.

Snap back to the action. I recognize the current item as one of Master's.

Auctioneer) "The opening bid is 5,000 taels of gold, with each subsequent bid a minimum raise by 100."

Not a bad starting price. Depending on the audience, it could go for as low as 3 times that, or as high as 20. And for every thousand taels, that's a Qi Stone they'll be expected to pay with instead.

"5,000" "5,500" "6,000" "7,000" "10,000"
"11,000" "12,000" "15,000" "15,500"
"16,000" "16,100" "16,200" "17,000"
"20,000"

It seems that one wants it quite a lot. 20 Qi Stones, that's not great, but not terrible. It's within my expecta-

"25,000" It seems he has some competition. This is great. For Master. I feel a big fang-filled smile creep up onto my muzzle.

"30,000"
"31,000"
"32,000"

A) . . "Going once. . twice. . Sold! Next we have. . "

The other 11 weapons go for varying amounts, mostly between 20 and 25 thousand. One over 40. Now it's time for the armor.

A) "..starting bid is 22,000 Taels and each subsequent bid must rise by 500"

"50,000" My brows shot up in surprise.

"55,000" "60,000" "63,000" "70,000"
And the corner of my lips in glee.
"75,000" "80,000" "81,000" "82,000"
"90,000" "9,200" "100,000"
That's a full 100 Grade 1 Qi Stones.
"101,000" "102,000" "103,000" "110,000"

. . "120,000" "130,000" "140,000" Yet another bidding war by the wealthy.

"150,000" "151,000"  "160,000" One of them is ready to drop off.

"161,000" "170,000" "171,000" Or maybe it's a personal vendetta?

"172,000"  "173,000" "175,000"

A) . . "Going once . . twice . . "

"200,000" A new bidder.

A) . . "Going once . . twice . . Sold! That's the last of the Tier 1 items. From now on the rest of the lots can only be bid in Grade 1 Qi Stones. First we have an excellent Tier 2 Ice elemental sword, Grade 4. Opening bid will be 80 Qi Stones."

"100" "110" "120" "125" "130"
"150" "160" "170" "180" "200"
"210" "220" "230" "240" "300"
"310" "320" "350" "360"
"400"

A) . . "Going once . . twice . . "

"450" "500"

A) . . "Going once . . twice . . Sold! Next is a Tier 2, Grade 3 saber with Lightning element. Opening bid is 60."

. .

Our second Tier 2 weapon eventually goes for 400 Qi Stones. That's a total of 1392 Qi Stones for the auction. Before their 5% cut.

Turned out it came to 1322 Qi Stones and 400 taels of gold.

. . .

I don't bother going to the second auction. It's just their Tier 6 flying sword. Nothing to do with us.

The third auction goes much the same as the first. Until they are finishing up the Tier 1 items.

A) "The last Tier 1 item is a bottle of 8 Azure Lotus Pills. They are appraised as Grade 4, Pu-"

As she was reading this, she froze in shock.
The bottle fell from her nerveless fingers.
Some in the crowd shouted.
She blinked back awake and dove to catch it.

She then reverently placed it back on the embroidered pillow atop the podium.
And continued in a shaky voice.

A) "Pu-Purity is . . appraised as . . NINE."

In an eyeblink, each and every seat in the venue emptied. Almost every guest shouting over each other to ask how it was even possible. Or could they have made a mistake. Or which Genius is capable of such an amazing feat, followed by if they could meet him. .

A) "-EASE! YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE! . The Pills were appraised 5 times, by 4 experts! All results the same! . As for the Pill Refiner, we have no direct information. Only that a representative is selling them on his behalf. Now, the opening bid will be 100 Qi Stones, with each raise by a minimum of 5."

"300!""400!""500!" . .

Initial enthusiasm aside, there is a limit to how much a given pill is worth. The bottle's price quickly settled at just over 1100 Qi Stones. With the rest included, the total for our second auction is 1674 Stones and 620 taels. After their cut, I recieved another 1590 Qi Stones and 889 taels.

The first auction house probably regrets now that they asked for the Tier 2 weapons, leaving this one with the Pills instead.

. . .

If anyone intends to try to make off with our remaining goods, this is the last night to do so. So us sisters keep ourselves awake the whole night to keep watch.

. .

About an hour after midnight, an explosion occurred. At the outer walls in the area we have been staying. I tell my sisters "Keep on watch, it could be a distraction!" as I rush to the scene myself.

With my Tier 2 bow in hand, I kick open each door to look inside. The first 2 are fine, but the third has a half dozen thugs grappling and tying up Master's slaves. I put an arrow through 2 of their necks before they fully react to my presence. Stowing my bow in my storage ring, I draw my Tier 2 sword and close in. With just 4 of them left, and having to wrestle with their 4 hostages, they can't all properly fight me.

The one who charges me charging them turns out a bit stronger than I thought he'd be. Mid Tier 3, like me. This should be an even match, normally. But Master's purge right before I left, reduced my impurities by a large margin. This means my meridians are clearer.²like pipes having less limescale buildup Allowing me to use more Qi at a time, as well as move it faster. Also my Qi itself is purer, causing it to be stronger in effect when using the same amount.

What should be an even match has him quickly on the defensive. But I can't be sure this is their only attack point, so I need to rush to eliminate him. For a heartbeat, I ignore my limits³to prevent self-injury, the brain puts limits on how much strength can be applied in normal situations. So usually someone can exert up to 20-30% of their maximum. But in life-and-death situations these limits are temporarily turned off tripling my already considerable strength, and almost doubling my speed. His wrist flies off to my 'tetra-strikes sword technique'. Quickly followed by his head.

The other 3 take less than a breath⁴Should be about 10 secs. But be careful reading translated novels as it can sometimes be interchangable with seconds or minutes, depending on the author or translator. That makes some fight scenes really confusing, actual example: 'quickly ended the fight in only 10 minutes' to finish off as well, as none of them was far into Tier 2. Then I dash out through the hole in the wall. To look back and see if any other rooms are broken into.

The blast had opened the wall into the next room over as well.

Using my bow again, I nailed one of the thugs right in the eye. When another turned, shouting 'BASTARD!' I pegged her in the heart. And a third in the neck.

Then charged in again, sword back in hand.

This time the strongest one was only high Tier 2, but he faced me in a pair with a mid Tier 2. My practice sparring against my 3 sisters was useful in preparing me for this.

"Surrender or they die!" One of the weaker thugs shouts, holding a knife to one's neck.

K) "If any are harmed, you'll WISH I had killed you."

In the single gap within the pair's co-ordination, I use gale steps to rush behind the loud thug with a hostage and lop his head off. Before they can catch up with me, I zig and zag around the room lopping more thugs' heads off. Rescuing all of Master's slaves. Then charge back in to one side, to face against just the weaker one. This is the first one I don't aim to kill. Instead lopping off both hands, then sever the knees with one sweeping strike. Now facing only one thug, nearly half a Tier below me, it doesn't take long to do again.

I order the slaves to staunch their bleeding with some blood clotting paste I take from my storage ring. And to then take these two 'broken dolls' to the main room of the inn.

Checking every door on the way, I order all the rest to gather as well.

It turns out there was a third group awaiting us in the main room. But when my sisters led the way, they ran off instead. Maybe they didn't know I'm the only Tier 3 among us?

After a head-count and a check for injuries, it turns out we're almost all perfectly fine. Except for the one who was threatened by that loud thug. She has a shallow cut along a side of her neck.

This is when a squad of the local city guards show up.

K) "Just in time, the rest of them have fled and we're all safe."

Squad Captain) "Surrender, criminal scum! You won't get away with breaking into-"

K) "Already done!"

SC) "Men, tie up these mutts."

K) "Are you really that retarded, or are you a part of the criminal gang yourself?"

SC) "You can't fool me, you obviously-"

K) "You really are that retarded! We're the ones who were attacked while staying here. By these two. But don't just take my word for it, ask the innkeeper."

Stupid Captain) "NOW SEE HERE!"

K) "SHUT IT MORON!! YOU! (points at one of his men) WAKE THE INNKEEPER AND ASK HIM WHAT'S HAPPENING! YOU! (another) RUN TO THE CITY LORD'S MANOR AND TELL THE GATEKEEPER THAT THE 42 SPECIAL SLAVES WERE ATTACKED! YOU! (a third) LOOK UPSTAIRS TO THE SCENE OF THE ATTACK! YOU! LOOK AROUND OUTSIDE! AND YOU! TAKE CHARGE OF THE REST OF THE GUARDS UNTIL YOUR 'DEAR LEADER' SHOWS MORE SMARTS THAN A RIVER-STONE!"

Dare) "After that shouting match, as well as the explosion, the innkeeper should already by awake."

Thug2) "Please kill me."

K) "If you confess who put you up to this, I can make it quick. If you don't?"

T2) "I can't, I made a Vow to the heavens. If I break it, my soul will be destroyed."

K) "Slow and painful it is. What about you?" I look over . . Dead, glassy-eyed, with black foam spilling from the mouth. "Poison capsule. Hidden in the mouth. No better confession of being an assassin than that. Still insist I'M the criminal here?"

G1) "Sir, the innkeeper vouches for the women. They've been staying here half a month."

G4) "The outer wall was blasted inwards, tracks show about a dozen intruders charged into 2 rooms on the second floor this way."

G3) "2 of the rooms are full of corpses dressed like these 2. 6 dead in one. 5 in the other, along with 4 hands and 4 legs."

K) "Now, I believe someone here owes me an apology. And since you have seen someone do your job correctly, please remember how for the next time."

(mutter)

K) "OH? What was that?"

SC) "I'm sorry, bitch."

K) "Nonononono, our family name is Puta."