The auction continued.

The forth item was an antique vase excavated from a ruin. It is believed that it once served as a medium in a ritual and still contain remains of black magic. It was sold for 1200 gold.

The fifth item was a core from a treant. It was one of the material used to concoct a growth potion that could increase stats. It was sold for 1500 gold. If I have the money, I would secure this material. I'm pretty sure May would be willing to concoct a potion if I give her the materials.

I was thinking of borrowing money, but decided not to. Although treant was a rare monster outside, I could still find some inside a dungeon.

The sixth item was a ghost mask. It was a cursed mask that gave stealth status to the user in exchange for their HP. It was a good item for assassin since they need to be in stealth status to increase their damage. It was sold for 1200 gold to the thin man who bought the Crimson Dagger earlier.

It was quite a nice combination. A pity, the ghost mask was a consumable item that would disappear after being used.

"The next item is an insignia belonged to a ruined family from the neighboring country. According to our informations, it belonged to a family that fell into ruins 13 years ago"

After Rose said so, a maid came up with small wooden box.

Inside the box was a half silver insignia with an eagle symbol. I opened my eyes in surprise.

This insignia was a symbol of Reisner family.

Kuhaha!

I almost laughed loudly when I saw it. Luckily, I managed to hold it in time.

Leonhardt knew nothing about Lily's family and only found out about it in act 5 when he gets the other half of the insignia by chance.

It's really funny. The earrings she treasures was given by Grid and the half-insignia of her family was also found when she was with Grid.

Perhaps, Grid knew about her background and decided to help her. It doesn't matter whether it was out of love or because he just wanted to help her as a friend. It still leave a bad taste sharing a secret with the woman that your best friend like.

Now, the problem is do Lily really like Leonhardt at this stage or she was just using him and fell for him later on? I didn't choose her route back then so I'm not sure. But according to the polls in the forum about who is the best waifu, Lily won the first place.

"The starting bid is 200 gold. Each bids must be at least 50 gold"
"250"

As soon as Rose finished her words, Lily bidded without hesitation.

The audiences was silent. It seemed they weren't interested with a mere insignia.

Just as Rose was about to announced the winner, a loud voice was heard next to me.

"300"

Damn it, bis sis! Stop looking trouble!

Irina was looking at Lily's direction. Even with a mask, I knew she had a smug smile on her face.
Lily who had a relieved expression was suddenly taken aback by the sudden offer.

She turned her gaze at our location. Luckily, we were wearing mask. I just hope she won't notice our identity from our hair color.

"300 going once"
"300 going twice"
"350"

Lily made her bids before the countdown went down to 3.

"400"

Irina said without any hesitation.

"Sis, do you have the money to pay for it?"
"Don't worry. I'm just messing with her for a bit. I will stop after raising it 3 more times"

Ugh, well do whatever you want.

Lily will probably do her best to get it. Not to mention, Grid was with her. I dare to bet even if it went above 5000 Grid will still help her get it.

"500"
"600"

Lily gritted her teeth before finally making her bids.

"700"
"800"
"900"
"950"

Lily looked at Grid for a second. After seeing Grid nodded, she make her bids.

"1000"

Irina sat down after hearing her bids.

"You're not going to continue?"
"No. I have enough fun already. Besides, it's not a good idea to involve the second prince just to tease her"

The insignia was sold to Lily for 1000 gold. It was 5 times the initial price. Considering she was a commoner it was large sum for her. Although, Leonhardt and Grid probably helped her earn money.

The insignia itself doesn't hold any value except for being a symbol of the family. Of course it was different if Lily was the one who held it. Otherwise, some people might also join the bidding war. 

The auction continued.

"Next, we have a rare goods shipped from the west"

Two bulky men came into the stage while dragging a chained man.
He has tall stature with sturdy built. His apperances was unkempt. He was only wearing a rag so peole could see his body that was filled with scars.

Hmm?

I looked at the man with doubtful look.

Although slavery was forbidden it wasn't banned completely. Some influental people still keep some slaves as their death warrior or just for entertainment.

The kingdom was closing an eye as long as the slaves were not childrens. So, even if there were reports, the guards will not do anything. It was like an open secret.

Even the royal house have slaves as death warriors under the name of retainers.

"This man is Krugl. He was a former B-rank adventurer, but retired because of the injury on his knee. He sold his life to pay his debt. The starting price is 1000 gold. Each bids must not be less than 100 gold"

A 1000 gold for a former B-rank.

However, with his injury he couldn't do much. Not to mention no one could guarantee his personality. Although a contract magic would be cast on him to turn him into a slave, it's hard to say whether it was worth it.

"1200"
"1400"
"1800"

Soon, the bids went above 2000.

It seemed I underestimated his worth. The man was still closing his eyes amidst the bidding war.
At least he was composed enough. Or maybe, he already accepted his upcoming fate.

"3200 going thrice. Sold! Please follow the guards to the back to complete the contract"

In the end someone won the bids for 3200 gold.

Well, even if he was injured and couldn't fight well. With his experience as a B-rank adventurer, he should be good enough as a death warrior.

"The next item to be auctioned is a beast egg. We don't know what kind of beast would hatch. The starting price is 1000 gold. The bids must not be lower than 200 gold"

Rose winked at the audiences.
Everyone was worked up as soon as finished her words.

"1500"
"2000"
"2400"

Beast egg was quite rare because most beasts lived in group. Marking the beast egg with magic contract using the contractor blood as the medium would make the beast into a familiar once it hatched.

Beasts were different from monsters. One can still communicate with a beast if they know the beast language. Monsters on the other hand were just bloodthirsty creatures. Beast egg was popular with magician and those people who were aiming to be a beast master.

In the end it was sold for 5000 gold.

"Let's start the auction for the last item tonight"

In the auction stage, Rose looked at everyone with a smile.

An old man wearing magician robe brought up a green colored wooden box.

The eyes of everyone present were looking at the wooden box with curiosity.

Somehow, I could sense the thing inside was a sinister item.
Logically speaking, the last item should not be worse than the previous one.

The old man opened the wooden box, revealing a single black horn inside.

Motherf**ker! Why is that thing here!? Damn developer! You should write a damn details if such an item was already exist at this stage!

The moment I saw that black horn, my sense of crisis was ringing at high alert.

I could feel cold sweat was dripping from my forehead.

"This is an unknown horn that we found accidentally. We don't know what kind of beast that have this horn, however we detected a huge amount of magic power was stored inside this horn"

The old man started explaining.

"We tried to burn and cut this horn using a rare weapon, however not a single mark was left behind on it. We couldn't figure it out so we decide to sell it. The starting price for this item is 10.000 gold. The minimum bids is 1000 gold"

The audiences became noisy.

"11.000"
"12.500"
Some people began to bids fiercely. It seemed they came just for this item.

I suddenly grabbed Irina's hand and stood up.

"Rain?"

She was looking at me with a puzzled look in her eyes.

"Let's get out of here. I have a bad feeー"

At that moment, my survival instinct kicked in.

The sound of my heartbeat could be heard clearly. I could also sense the air flow inside the hall slowly changing.

Time seemed like it was moving slowly around me. It was the same feeling I had when I fought the skeleton warrior and when I broke Ash's sword. I faintly saw a light was being lit up in the auction stage.

"Get down!"

I hugged Irina tightly and covered her.

BOOM!

A sudden explosion happened at the stage.

∆ ∆ ∆

Thick smoke filled the hall. Light was cut off. The area within the radius of 15 meters from the stage was blown into pieces.

The walls and floors were filled with cracks. The explosion left behind a big hole. A smell of meat being burned slowly filled the air.

"Aargh!"
"Help! My arms!"
"Nooo! My legs!"
"Help meee!"
"Someone please help!!"

Histerical screams were heard all over the hall.

"Big sis, are you hurt!?"

I asked worriedly.

"No. What about you, Rain? You were covering me with your body"

Irina said with a worried look on her eyes.

"I'm fine. What about you two?"

I looked at Claudia and Rosetta.

"We're fine. Thanks to your warning, I managed to put up a barrier in time. However the range is small and I couldn't cover you two"

Claudia shook her head with apologetic look.

"No. I'm glad you two are alright"

She managed to put up a barrier in less than a second. As expected of her. I'm grateful she was trying to cover us as well.

"Rain, your back"

Rosetta came closer to me and pull out something from my back.
I could feel a burning pain all over my back.

"Kuh!"

I gritted my teeth to hold the pain. It seemed like some debris flew and stabbed me. The adrenaline rush seemed to delay my sense of pain. No wonder I thought I was fine.

"Stay still"

Irina held my right hand tightly while her other was on my back.

"Cure"

Pale light began to shine on her hands. I could feel the wounds on my back was being healed.

"You idiot. Don't do such a stupid thing next time. I promised I will protect you as your big sister, didn't I?"

Irina put her head on my chest. I knew how worried she was just from her trembling voice.

"Sorry. I won't do it next time"
"You better be"

She backed away after saying so. I could somehow see tears were swelling up in her eyes. It seemd like she was trying her best to hold her tears.

I took out a high-grade healing potion from my magic bag. This is the first time I got stabbed. Even back in the tower, I only got scratched and bruised with a few broken bones at most.

Lily and Grid should be fine since I didn't make any contacts with them, so butterfly effects shouldn't happen to them.

If so, then this situations was something that happened behind the main story.

However it was weird that no details was written about this event. Was the developer too lazy to write it? I have completed all the dlc story and no informations came up. Moreover, it involved Lily and Grid who have important roles in the game.

Or was it because it's an event on Lily's route? However none of the walkthroughs ever mentioned anything about this auction event.

I took out the ＜Arachne's Dagger＞ from my magic bag as I fell into doubt and looked around the hall.

Fire was burning near the center. The people near the center were dying and screaming. Some lost their hands, some lost their legs and some died horribly. Some corpses were even burned into a crisp.

The smoke filling the air were hindering my vision.

It would be bad if this goes on. The hall was in underground. It would be bad if the building collapse from the explosion. Not to mention, there is no guarantee there will be no more explosion.

Moreover, the carbon monoxide in the air will increase as time passed by.

I gathered my mana into my left hand. A small wind was being generated as I continued to pour my mana.

《Whirlwind》

I unleashed my magic. The wind was moving rapidly along the path. It spreaded away the thin smoke leaving me with a clear vision.

Inside the crater left by the explosion, a man was standing still while holding the wooden box.

It was the man who was sold earlier.

However, different from his earlier appearance, his eyes were red and his body was filled strange marks. He has sinister aura around him.

"My worry came true"

I muttered softly.

That black horn was a horn from a corrupted unicorn. It was the material mainly used for demon summoning or dark ritual due to it's sinister properties.

An item that being sought after by the f*cking demon worshippers.

"Let's get out of here"
"We're not going to catch him?"

Irina was holding her staff with a wary look.

"I don't think it's right to leave him alone"

Claudia holding a spear with Rosetta holding daggers in front of her.
The three of them was already put a battle stance.

"No. We have to leave this place as soon as possible. Otherwise, we will meet our death here"

I shook my head.

"But, he must be the one who caused all of this. I can't forgive him for hurting you as well"

Irina gritted her teeth and grasped her staff tightly.

"He is a demon worshipper. You should be able to feel the aura around him and that we're not his opponent. Moreover, there is no guarantee he is alone. If there is another explosion happened on the other floors. we might get buried alive since we're 3 floor under the ground"

"Mayleen was around as well. Even if that guy went out and wreck havoc, I'm sure she will take care of it"

I continued.

They calmed down after hearing my reason.

"Alright, let's retreat"

After Claudia agreed, Irina also reluctantly agreed.

I looked back for a while to see Lily and Grid figures, however they were nowhere to be found.

"Seemed like they already escape"

I breathed a sigh of relief and left the hall through the same path we came in.