CH 77

Chapter 77 – I want to find it too

The auction site is in an area that is usually off-limits.

As expected by an auction sponsored by the government, it is a really impressive location with many auction venues lined up one next to the other.

Interestingly enough though, there is no system that actually stops someone from trespassing. One time a curious player Pioneer tried to invade the auction area, but they were quickly caught by the security NPCs.

It was just trespassing, but it seems like this was considered a pretty serious crime, as nobody has heard of that Pioneer since.

In any case, we don’t need to worry about that as we are properly qualified to participate, so our carriage will take us there without any issues.

And well, since this is a country-sponsored auction filled with large venues, there are a lot of high-rank people participating, so it’s unsurprising that movement in the auction area is done primarily by carriage.

Player Pioneers don’t usually have their own carriages though, but me, Hime and Mika are riding a carriage provided by the Kederick Store. We were allowed to use it to move between the venues as we saw fit, but I decided to take it easy and only attend a single auction venue.

And of course, the venue I’m going to will primarily be auctioning materials.

Mika and Hime don’t have any item in particular that they’re aiming for, so they’re just accompanying me.

It is our first auction, so we’re mostly here to have a feel of what it is like to participate anyways.

Besides, this is the last big event of summer vacation, so we might as well enjoy it to the fullest.

After this, Mika and Hime will have finished their summer vacations, so they’ll only be able to log-in for long amounts of time during holidays.

And since they have been busy with the event until today, they decided to take it easy and enjoy the last vacation day together with me.

Either way, we seem to be close to the venue now!

******

The target venue was the Aquamarine Palace.

As expected from its name, it had a beautiful lit up deep blue wall.

The other auction venues also had names related to jewels, such as the Topaz Palace and the Emerald Palace.

All of them are very large and can accommodate many people inside them.

However, the two largest venues, the Blue Diamond Palance and the Red Diamond Palace won’t be used this time around. Apparently they’re only used in special auctions that are held once every few years.

I’d like to go inside them one day too… Though of course, one needs more than just the 5* rank at the Guild to participate in the special auctions.

But well, it’s only held once every few years, so we have plenty of time until then. We’ll probably have the necessary rank by the time it is held.

Once we got off the carriage, we were supposed to go inside the venue, but there was apparently a line of people outside that was waiting to be let inside.

That’s strange… The system should check if one is eligible to participate, so there should be no waiting time to go inside… What happened?

“I guess there is someone holding the others back?” I wondered out loud.

“Huh? Could someone have tried to go inside without the 5* rank?” Mika asked in disbelief.

“No. Dress code.” Hime replied.

Mika was jumping up and down in spite of her dress while trying to see what was happening at the end of the line, but Hime was able to find out the details of the situation before Mika could.

Hime should have been wearing the dress same as us, but before I realized it, she was already wearing her Steel Magical Gloves and a wooden doll was flying above us.

Apparently, she is confirming the view by using the wooden doll… This is possible because Hime learned the ‘Sharing Visibility’ art by leveling the Puppeteer skill.

It’s quite the interesting art, isn’t it?

“Did the person come in casual clothes?” I asked.

“In armor.” Hime replied.

“Are they stupid!? Who comes to a national auction in armor!?” Mika exclaimed.

“The auction’s catalogue says that formal wear is compulsory, so… Maybe they thought that armor is formal wear?” I suggested.

“Oh, wow! That’s even more stupid!” Mika commented.

In the end, the person in question was taken away by the guards and was forced to leave the premises… To think someone would come here in armor when the auction catalogue properly describes the dress code…

One can’t properly enjoy the auction without knowing what will be put up for sale, so I find it unlikely that this person didn’t purchase the catalogue… Did they just forget to check the basic rules and instead read only what was going to be sold?

This would be entirely their fault, then.

In any case, with this incident resolved, people were quickly able to go inside the venue.

We had no problems meeting the criteria for going inside, so we could easily secure a seat for ourselves.

The venue had unreserved seats on the first floor, while the second floor was reserved for people with high-ranks, so we chose a place on the first floor.

We were able to get a good position. Not too far on the front nor on the back.

While waiting until the auction started, the three of us leisurely chatted.

Though of course, I also confirmed that I was participating on the auction by operating the dedicated system window.

It sure is convenient to have a system-managed auction.

Though because the bids are also done through the system, it can be hard to know who is offering the highest bids for each given item. One would need an incredible information network to know this kind of thing.

Well, we are beginners at this, so let’s just try getting a feel of how everything works for the time being.

Especially because there was no item in the catalogue that I absolutely wanted. There was one item that I did want, but it was also not something that was good enough to the point I’d have to get it at all costs.

So, let’s take it easy and enjoy it!

******

With a declaration from the auctioneer, the auction of the Aquamarine Palace was started.

Rare materials were being auctioned one after another after being put on the brightly lit stage.

I tried bidding on a few items just for practice, but I had no intention of actually winning the bids, so I didn’t get any item yet.

Still, it’s surely easy to have a system-managed auction. Even beginners like us can participate like this.

The auctioneer was also quite skillful and constantly displayed excitement, so they easily dragged everyone in the venue into the excited mood.

Also, even though only materials are being sold here, it seemed like a lot of people wanted to buy them simply because they were being auctioned on this special event held by the country… I can’t say I get it.

For example, there was a Rainbow Lizard Tail being auctioned, and I’m not quite sure if it has any use… This item was sold for 1.6 million Nil.

It’s almost enough to buy two intermediate equipments, or one piece of the most expensive steel item.

It’s scary to think a single material can be worth this much… Of course, its rank is far above average, as one wouldn’t be able to put a material to be auctioned if it doesn’t have a high base price by default.

Nonetheless, what I want are rare materials that I do know how to use, so I didn’t even consider buying this lizard tail.

“Where can I find Rainbow Lizards…?” Mika wondered out loud.

“… Mika. The price is only this high because we’re at an auction, you know? It should be cheaper usually.” I told her.

“I want to find it too.” Hime said.

“You too, Hime…?” I was a bit in disbelief.

Well, even if the auctioned price is considerably higher than the market price, the material should still have a high base price to be put up for sale here in the first place.

This is probably an extremely rare and high-rank lizard tail that can’t be found by hunting normally at the very minimum.

But still, I can understand why they’d want to hunt this lizard… Because even if the market price is half of what was paid for in the auction, they’d still be able to get 800,000 Nil for selling a single one of those tails. It’s almost enough to buy a single cheap steel item.

It’s quite something, isn’t it?

******

The auction went on smoothly, and now the material I was aiming for was put on the stage.

My test participations on the auction so far gave me the gist of how this works… Don’t panic at the start, the real game starts on the second half.

I have plenty of money available from selling steel gear, but I can’t use all of it. If I can’t buy it with the amount I set as my limit, I’ll give up on it.

“Then, the next item is… The Lich’s Skull!

“As you all know, the Lich was the main reason why the North Highway of Zabrina had been blocked… And his skull is an incredible material that is now for sale!” The auctioneer explained.

The Lich’s Skull was indeed one of the items dropped by the Lich after it was defeated by Mika, Armilate and their comrades on a hard battle.

I knew that on top of the large amount of bones, the Lich had also dropped a dark cloak and a wand of the dead, but the Lich Skull was something I didn’t about at the time.

This was because the Skull was simply grouped together with the rest of the bones.

However, this is a very rare material that cannot be compared to the other Lich Bones. Its rank is quite high.

It’s too bad that the dark cloak and the wand of the dead were dropped together, as they pulled all the attention away from the skull… I might have been able to get the skull without an auction otherwise.

Nonetheless, master taught me how to use the Lich Skull when crafting, so I’m aiming for it.

“Then, the auction for the Lich’s Skull shall begin!” The auctioneer stated.

The battle has begun!