Volume 2 Chapter 7: Part 4: Auction

 

The person who is behind Onyx is none other than Michelle. 

 

"How do you know?"

 

"From your voice. You have a very distinct voice." Onyx says. But Michelle doesn't believe it at all, 

 

"Don't lie. How did you know someone was coming behind you?" Onyx reacted a step early before she placed her hand on him. 

 

"If you're going to sneak up on me, you should walk slower." He could feel another footstep coming closer to the three. And he knew who it was from the voice after. 

 

"Tch, you're no fun." Michelle pouts, "You should have said something like it's because I know my love for a mile away." She was expecting Onyx to have a reaction to her the least. 

 

To no avail, Onyx was calm to it all. 

 

"I'm not the type to do something like that." The years of training got him to become a stone man, somewhat.

 

Michelle's about to say something to that. But then, she realizes something, 

 

"Did you just add Ms. to my name?" "No, I did not, Michelle." It doesn't take a second before Onyx responds back. He quickly backtracks his words, trying not to face the woman's wraith. 

 

"I'm sure-" "Your dress is beautiful." Onyx knows he has to change the subject before it continues.

 

Michelle's expression turns mischievous, "Really?"

 

"Mmhmm." Michelle is wearing a bright red dress. There's a long slit going down her legs, showing it off like no tomorrow. A white fur scarf around her shoulders as well. Michelle looks just like a lady boss. 

 

Well, she is. 

 

"What about me is so beautiful?" Michelle places her hand on her cheeks, wondering what Onyx will say. She knew what he did. 

 

"Well, the red dress matches your maturity and gives you a more dignifying aura. And the white pearl earrings give you a gentle and elegant feeling."

 

"Hohoho." Michelle's expression turns pleasant, happy about the compliments, "Do you really think so?"

 

"Mmhmm."

 

"..." Michelle doesn't know what to say. Michelle pinches Onyx's cheeks, "You have a sweet tongue." All his words are sweet, like sugar. Even she makes a gentle expression. 

 

"Is that seriously the same Michelle who spits fire from her mouth?" "She looks just like a mother. Maybe it's because she's at that age too."

 

By the side, Gilbert and Oliver whisper to each other. Never have they seen their comrades acting like this.  

 

And then, 

 

CREEEEKKKK!

 

Something flew between the two! The two slowly look over to see a fan stuck between the walls. And then back to Michelle, who threw it. 

 

"It seems you two want to die today." Michelle's expression turns cold as ice. 

 

"Hmpf! You're lucky that I'm happy right now." Michelle doesn't look at the two and turns to Onyx, 

 

"Onyx, why are you wearing a mask right now? You're too handsome to hide that face. But it does give you a sexy feel.

 

Seriously! Are you sure you don't want to spend some alone time with me?" 

 

"Yeah, I'm good." Onyx doesn't even take a second to reject her. So fast! Michelle continues to pout, 

 

"You're no fun." She has to keep saying it. 

 

"Anyways, how is Rena doing?"

 

"She's doing alright," Michelle says.

 

"Don't lie." Onyx's voice cuts in. You cannot hide it. 

 

Michelle may be able to cover her expression. Onyx could hear her tone shifting a bit. 

 

Gilbert's expression changes too. Realizing her friend lied too, he asks, "What happened to Rena?" The air in the room turns tense, waiting for Michelle to say something. 

 

The only thing she does is hold onto Onyx's shoulders, 

 

"It's up to you." And then Michelle points her hand towards the other side,

 

"Do you see that person over there?" Onyx looks over to the VIP room on the other side. There are two people who use it. Well, technically, it's one.  

 

The person sitting down on the sofa is a noble. And the other one seems to be its servant as he stands by his side. What happened next shocked everybody,

 

"Bleh! You call this wine? This is nothing more than garbage water!" The noble scoffs as he pours the drink down the bartender's head! He screams out, " Prepare another drink for me. Make it better and high class. I'll complain if it's not up to my standard!!"

 

"Understood." The bartender can only nod as he starts to make another drink. 

 

"And get me some snacks and women here!" The man acts like a child, treating this auction house as a vacation home.

 

People from the ground level could hear what happened and shook their heads.

"What are you looking at?! Shut up and look down at the ground!" The moment he says this, the people look away from him. But they couldn't hide the dismay from their faces.

 

"What is wrong with him?" Onyx blurts out. He can't believe someone would act so stuck up here.

 

Oliver turns to Gilbert, "Will you deal with it?"

 

"Don't even mention it." Gilbert's expression is the deepest shade of dark. And then he sighs as he says to Onyx, "Sorry about this. I'll be leaving for a few seconds." He says as he leaves the room.

 

Huh? 

 

Michelle explains, "Did you forget that Gilbert is the auction house's owner? He's the one who has to deal with somebody like that." As the owner, there are things called responsibilities. 

 

"See over there?" Onyx looks back to the VIP room and sees Gilbert talking to the noble. And the veins on his forehead look like he's about to explode. 

 

"Who is this person?"

 

"That person over there is Viscount Colton Preashe. He's a noble from the trident kingdom. But more importantly, he's the person you'll have to fight with for Rena. 

 

And he's the scummiest person too." Michelle's expression turns dark as she knows him too. 

 

"!" Hearing all of that, the only words that come out of his mouth are, "I understand." 

 

"I'm back." Gilbert comes back, and he slumps right down into the sofa,

 

"Tsk Tsk, pathetic." Oliver shakes his head, "Is this really how the auction house owner reacts?"

 

Gilbert glares, "When you deal with him, come speak to me. You got it good. Anyways, it looks like the auction is starting now." Hearing that, the three look down, 

 

"Welcome, everybody. Thank you for coming over to Advent Auction House! And we have our auction master here today to give us a few words!" A beautiful woman came onto the stage as she said all of this. 

 

And she points towards Onyx's VIP box. The tired expression on Gilbert's face disappears as he stands up, "Thank you for coming to the auction house. Today, we have many different items to be auctioned off today. Enjoy!" Finishing his sentence, the auctioneer says, 

 

"Our first item to be auctioned off is a rare purple sapphire. It has been embedded into a silver necklace. The starting price of this piece will be 1 gold coin. And the bidding will only use silver coins and above."

 

The moment she finishes saying this, the bidding between everybody starts.

 

"That's a beautiful necklace." Onyx praises. The necklace is embedded with different types of jewels. And the sapphire at the center. 

 

Compared to his necklace, it is much showier. 

 

"Nah. That's just a regular necklace. Stuff like this is normal. You should wait for what will be auctioned later on." The opening is to cause people to become interested. But the item is pretty much useless. It's only an accessory. 

 

"8 gold coins!" While Oliver said this, a bid was shouted out right beside them. Michelle was the one who did this. The three look at her, 

"What? I want that necklace, ok. It will go well with a dress I have." Michelle frowns. It's her coins. She can spend it on whatever she wants. 

 

"Anyways. Stuff like this is just for show to make people interested. The good things will be sold when gold coins are only used for bidding." Gilbert says. 

 

All the items sold right now are nothing more than accessories and jewelry.

...

"Michelle, do you have to buy so much?" Gilbert can only shake his head at Michelle's actions. Out of the 20 items auctioned off, 8 of them were bought by Michelle!

 

"What? It's not like you're getting nothing out of it. I'm going to pay for it all." Michelle shrugs her shoulders. It doesn't matter how much something costs. If it catches her eye, then she will have it. 

 

That's not the point. Do you not see what the others look like? Looking down at the ground level, most of the bidders are crying. They couldn't beat Michelle with her throwing money around like no tomorrow. 

 

It's demoralizing everybody. Gilbert notices it. Yet, he couldn't say anything about it to her. What she said is true. She won the auction fair and square. 

 

"Relax. I won't buy everything." Michelle laughs. Gilbert's expression twisted as he thought,

 

"Don't blame me when you can't bid for the next thing.

 

Where's my stuff? 

 

While Gilbert watches Michelle continuing to bid on the items, Onyx frowns, confused why his items haven't come up on the auction. A majority of the drops were given to the auction house. 

 

"Don't worry about it, Onyx. All of your items will be bid at the end." Oliver assures Onyx. He saw the frown on his face. But he doesn't need to worry about anything. That's how high-quality his items are.

 

"Onyx, I have judged all your items, and trust me, you don't have to worry about anything," Gilbert adds.

 

"Hmm? What did you bring?" Michelle tilts her head, interested in their conversation. Out of the three, she's the only one out of the loop. Gilbert and Oliver didn't answer and kept their lips sealed. 

 

We're not going to say anything to you. You'll find out on your own!

 

"And sold! Thank you for your bid on this topaz, good sir. For our next item, you will only be able to use gold coins to bid. And before you all have questions, 

 

This next item comes from a deviled python!" Hearing that, everybody turns into shock and awe at what's coming next. They all know what a deviled python is.

One of the strongest monsters in the forest of death. A king, some would call it. And now it's being auctioned off!

 

"The item that'll be auctioned off is the eyes of the deviled python!" Two workers roll in a large case, holding the eyes. Despite only the eyes being displayed, it still brought a shiver to everybody around. 

 

The auctioneer explains, "Despite these eyes being damaged, they are more than high quality. These eyes can be used in many different ways!"

 

They can either be turned into potions, used as food, or even a trophy. 

 

The number of uses for the eyes is enormous. 

 

Everybody became eager now. Just looking at the python's eyes made them greedy. I want it! That's what everybody thought!

 

"The starting price for the python eyes will be 5 gold coins!" The moment the auctioneer finishes with this, many bids shout toward her. It gets to the point where she can't hear what they're saying because of how much their voice overlap.

 

The price kept going higher and higher. That's how many people wanted to get their hands on their eyes. It didn't take long for the bid to be in the platinum coins!

 

"2 platinum coins!" One person screams out. And it doesn't stop. The people kept bidding more and more.

 

"Hey, Onyx." Michelle turns towards Onyx.

 

"Hmm? What's wrong?" 

 

"How did you beat a deviled python?" It's obvious to her that Onyx is the one who defeated the snake. She looks at Gilbert and Oliver; both are calm;l as if nothing's wrong with that. 

 

They probably knew all about it. 

 

"I just did."

 

"..." Do you think I'm a child? What do you mean you just did?! She couldn't take that explanation. 

 

"I'm serious. I just defeated it."