A few days later, I met up with Richard and we arrived at the auction location. The black market auction is held in the basement of a high-class restaurant. We enter the restaurant and Richard shows his invitation while introducing me as his guard. Like all the other participants, we wear these opera masks that cover half of our face to hide our identity.

Usually it would not be enough, but they are enchanted with Recognition Inhibition. Well, the twist is that the mask hides the wearer’s identity from people who don’t know each other. But because of my Analyze ability, I ‘know’ the person behind the mask. So, it doesn’t work for me.

“The bids are increasing in set intervals. To place a bid, raise your tag. If we recognize a bid, you can’t take it back, please remember. Some people fell into debt because they didn’t pay attention. Also, make sure not to cause trouble, otherwise you will be removed from the venue. But that’s basically it, for the explanation. Are both of you taking part in the auction, or is it only one?”

“It’s both of us.”

We both retrieve our tags and head to our seat. Richard got a VIP invitation, so we enter one of the VIP rooms and sit down in our seats. The location looks similar to a theater hall. Our room is slightly elevated in the back of the hall. There is a stage in the front, so I think that is the place where they show the items that are put up for auction. Then last, there is the middle area with the normal seats.

The hall is slowly filling, and a servant brings two glasses of red wine to our seats. I didn’t really drink alcohol in the past, since I am only seventeen, but I guess it doesn’t matter anymore since I am in a different world now. People enter adulthood at 15, so I am allowed to drink now.

I take a small sip of the wine. Hm? I guess it’s not bad. I actually like it. But I should be careful to not drink too much.

“Oh, that is an excellent wine. Do you not like it Benji?” Richard asks me, while swirling his wine glass.

“No, it’s good. It’s just my first time drinking alcohol. So I figured I shouldn’t drink too much, since you hired me as your guard.” I smiled wryly.

“Haha, I guess you’re right.”

“Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you for coming to today’s event. As usual, we have some rare items to offer, so good luck.” Ah, it’s about to start.

“The first item we offer is a lost painting from the legendary artist ‘Leon Vinci’. Our Appraisers verified its authenticity. We start with 1 Big Silver Coin.” When he announced the article, a cheer ran through the crowd. I never heard of the artist, but it seems he was extremely famous. The moderator didn’t even need to explain the backstory of the painting.

I look at Richard and even he just sits there with his eyes and mouth wide open.

The bids come one after another and in the end, the painting gets sold for 1 Gold Coins and 2 Big Silver Coins. But most of the people stopped bidding just after the price exceeded 5 Big Silver Coins. That seems to be the limit for most people.

The second item is a pair of golden earrings with diamonds embedded, and it gets sold for 1 Gold Coin.

The third item is actually an item I am interested in. It’s a rare magic book, but it also gets sold for almost 2 Gold Coins, which is way past my limits. I stopped bidding just after it exceeded 1 Gold Coin.

The next two items are not that interesting, but the sixth item is the heirloom Richard wants to buy back. There were a few people bidding on it, but it not only lacked any meaningful backstory, it also wasn’t something extremely valuable for most people. Because of this, Richard can buy it for 8 Big Silver Coins. Still, considering that it originally belonged to him, it’s a lot of money.

The next items are not that interesting, except from a mithril sword. The bids started at 5 Big Silver Coins. But in the end, it wasn’t a Katana, which is my sword of choice, so I didn’t even consider buying it.

“Now we come to the end of our auction. It’s the last item for today and also our highlight for today.”

When they bring up the last item, I don’t really understand what was happening. I just stare at the stage, my mouth gaping. I tried to say something, but no words came out. The cheers of the crowd brought me back to reality. But I still could only mutter two words: “… An elf?”

“Is it the first elf you see?” Richard asked me, but I could only nod. I still need a moment to calm down.

“Yes, it’s my first time seeing an elf. Also, I didn’t actually expect slaves to be sold here.”

“I see. Well, I heard it can happen. But it’s usually illegal slaves. After all, there is no reason to sell legal slaves at a black market auction.”

Well, I can’t argue about that.

I already knew slavery is legal in this world. Obviously, slaves have the lowest social status possible and people don’t treat them well. There are different types of slaves, like debt slaves or criminal slaves. As the name says, debt slaves fall into slavery because they can’t pay their debt and criminal slaves fall into slavery as a punishment for their crimes.

But there are also illegal slaves that fall into slavery because they get kidnapped.

So yes, the last item is an elf slave. Just out of curiosity, I analyzed her. She is level 11 with an E-Rank Magic Manipulation skill, and her highest affinity is the Wind Attribute at Rank F. The other basic attributes are at Rank H. She is actually quite skilled with magic. The moderator is currently explaining about that.

But her magic skills are not what surprised me the most. There is another thing bothering me. Even so, there is no reason for me to get involved, right? What should I do?

“As I already explained, her beauty and her magic skills are amazing. But above all, she is also a virgin.” Again, a cheer ran through the crowd.

I looked at the elf again. She just stands there looking down and grabbing the hem of her thin dress. It can’t be really comfortable to have all those people gawking at her. But as the moderator already explained, she is exceptionally beautiful, with her shoulder long, light green hair, her big breasts and her thin figure. Well, she looks actually a bit too thin, so I don’t think that’s healthy for her body, but it’s not to the level where you can see her ribs or anything.

“We start with the exceptionally low price of 1 Big Silver Coin.” And with that, another cheer runs through the crowd and the bids come in immediately. At first, the bids increased in steps of 1 Silver Coin, just like with the other items.

After the price exceeded 5 Big Silver Coins, most of the people stopped bidding.

I inspect the people that continue bidding on the elf, but only one stood out. It was the guy who also bought the painting from the beginning of the auction. But well, ‘guy’ doesn’t really describe him well. He is more like a pig wearing gaudy clothes. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone told me he is a relative of the Orcs I defeated a few days before.

He is staring at her with his lustful gaze while licking his lips. Right now, the most likely outcome is him buying the elf. And from his smile I can see, he also knows, that he will win the auction without a doubt.