Chapter 74: The Day Before The Auction

“What a night to be alive!” 

“It’s midday, you bloody idiot.”

“Are you fucking blind? The night lights are on.” 

“I should be saying that to you, they ain’t on, that’s just damn space.”

It was a stupid debate that I happened to overhear by being in the vicinity. By the way, the actual answer was ‘it’s the afternoon’, neither was correct and there was no room for half points. There were clocks on their phones, the walls, and maybe even in their brain, but not once did they think of checking it. 

(" I am still confused about why you haven’t moved yet ”)

Is there a reason I have to move?

(" No, however, based on your previous actions I thought you would either; knock them out, crack their skulls, kill them; or move away so you wouldn’t, knock them out, crack their skulls or kill them ”)

Then they downed another glass, “Eh! Ahhhh! What a night to be alive.”

…Well, they have tempted me.

“It’s the damn middle of the day, you idiot!” 

“Nah it’s not, look at the bloody lights.”

Two drunk heads had repeated the rough conversation about fifteen times now, with the time between each iteration decreasing with each new glass they downed.

But I’m not that crazy Espr, I promise. I’m in a good mood, and I’m not going to ruin my final days on Jellannax by killing anyone.

(" Well, we will see about that ”)

Hey, killing Dominous Hood goons won’t ruin my day. If anything it would make it better, so if that’s the scenario you are thinking that will counter my statement, drop it. 

(" Fine, fine ”)

The auction was a big event, so Jellannax was using the opportunity for tourism and with it being tomorrow, the gloves were off and the party on. It helped that it was the last day of the week's work, so everyone had the afternoon off to relax and have fun.

I was leaning on the wall on a level above the crowded public buffet below. Of course with a helmet and mask, eating wasn’t exactly my priority. I could remove a part of it to eat, but I wasn’t fussed about it.

The drunk loon turned to the calm person next to him–who was minding their own business,  watching the large display, perfectly relaxed and peaceful inside–and said, “What ya think, day or night.”

I replied, “Ask again and it will be night as I shove your head up somewhere the stars don’t shine.”

The other man laughed, “Haha, she’s got you there.”

“Why are you laughing? Where do you think I’m going to jam his head into?”

(" ‘Calm and relaxed’ ”)

Thanks for accurately describing my mental state.

The men didn’t reply, both far lost in their own minds as they reached to grab their glasses again. There shouldn’t be any issue about something bad befalling them as there was security, automatic drones, and a see-through mana wall that would stop anyone in a drunken walk from jumping over the higher-level walls.

(" But are you really not going to move until the auction starts? I have been here waiting for days for something to happen, and I have to say, your time on Jelennax had been quite boring outside for a few moments ”)

Okay, hold on, what the fuck are you on about now? Are you somehow drunk? You are a damn planet! 

(" I can’t get drunk obviously, and that is such a rude way to address my valid concern for your well-being ”)

My well-being? You are just complaining that my last week was boring.

(" Which to be fair, it mostly was ”)

No, not to be fair, it was a perfectly fine week that had too much excitement. As mentioned you still weren’t addressing my well-being.

(" Stars and suns, what is the real difference? ”)

Don’t use my favourite things for a shit idiom, and yes, there is a big bloody difference.

I wasn’t sure what Espr was yapping about, I assumed it was simply to pass the time, but honestly, I could never know for sure. 

While being an unwanted participant in the newest back and forth with Espoiramissa, I used [Star Mapping] to get a good look at the surrounding area. And they weren’t looking much better.

Argh, dammit.

(" Accepting my wonderful concern for you was valid? ”)

Absolutely of course, but annoyingly I might have to move.

I groaned I had a pretty good spot so I didn’t want to move, but it was getting a bit crowded. Kind of forgot how annoying crowds were; for a long time, I went out of my way to not deal with them most of the time.

After taking way too long to make a decision, I did decide to move.

With the stars as my guide and [Star Mapping] as my compass, I moved to a new spot where I could still see the public display in the area.

Moving down an alley, up a ramp, and climbing up a wall, I made it to my new small spot. I was now sitting on a small perch of a raised wall, not a stop one should normally be seated but no one was going to stop me, people wanted to relax and it wasn’t breaking the rules.

The projected display that was going to run the auction was simply displaying some show that I wasn’t interested in. So, I just leaned back to watch the stars again. There wasn’t much to do but wait, I mean, I could try looking for Dominous Hood members but that has never worked out for me. 

Hey Espr, when do you think Dominous Hood is going to attack?

(" When the opportunity is visible ”)

Come on, I’m not asking this time, so have some fun, but don’t just dodge the question. Because that is the most boring option.

(" Fine, but I’m still going to give the obvious answer, either at the start of the auction or the end when the items are going to be delivered to their new owners ”)

Fair enough, both are likely but to choose a different option, I’m betting some time in the middle of the auction; they would try to use the fact people are distracted with the auction to grab the items.

It might sound weird to keep the auction items stored on-premise when keeping them stored elsewhere might be safer except in places like Asper Major where the whole facility was about storing and auctioning items. However, the reason was simple, it was about the performance. Being able to see the items in person was part of the spectacle of an in-person auction.

(" That could be a possibility, but the ‘when’ doesn’t really matter ”)

I know, the results are still the same.

No matter what, they were still all going to die. But I did think that maybe I’d grab a few and question them to find more of their bases because out there someone was a few bastards I really needed to kill.

Bobple

Late chapter, I got was busy, so writing didn't happen on time. Failing to write on time is always a pain, just throws off the week a little bit, just scraping for time to finish chapters that should've already been done. 

Anyway, I'm sleepy, so sorry for any grammar mistakes.

Not the most happy with this chapter either, it feels like I should've written a lot more, but it's late and if I don't post it I won't have time to even start chapter 75. I guess I just got to do better for the next few chapters!!!