Chapter 64 - Eyes From The Shadows
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nSurprised by the unknown man's appearance.
nThe crow mask hastily turned around while quickly moving this hand towards this hip to where this sword where, this quick and decisive reaction might have looked somewhat intimidating if the tip of the crown mask hadn´t hit directly at the fully armored knight.
nThe scene made Danzel almost burst out of laughter if it weren´t for the fact that he wanted to ask some questions.
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"Agh...
"
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"...
"
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"...
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nLooking at the poor guy trying to fix this mask result in an awkward silence between us.
n`Let´s ignore the bird and go for the...demon?´
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"So...would you mind If I were to ask you some questions?
"
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"Sure...
"
nWhile both of us ignored the panicked crow mask, I felt like I and the demon mask were on the same page which made me more comfortable talking with him. But upon noting that the heat in my body was slightly raising, my mood turned back as it was before.
n`These guys are humans...´
nIt wasn´t like I picked those guys randomly among the hundred people here to ask questions. Since every single one of them was humans, speaking with them would only ruin my mood. I hoped that those two guys were of a different race similar to a dwarf. A small figure and rare enough to need to hide your face.
n`But to think that they are just a bunch of kids...'
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"I was searching for a list of the items that will be shown in today's auction, but I can't seem to find anything of that shorts,
" Daniel asked.
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"...Hey mister, is it by any chance your first time here in this auctions?
"
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"...
" Daniel was dazed by the kid with the demon mask asking if it was this first time.
n'F#ck! First Gerak and now this kid!? How can they guess that I am not from here!' Danzel calmed this mind and quickly recovered from this dazed state.
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"Hmm...Was it that obvious? Nevertheless, could you answer my question? Since your bird friend of yours doesn't seem to have taken a liking in me...
"
nEven though that crow mask hadn't said anything yet, this posture alone was screaming for me to get lost.
n'Cheeky brat, If it weren't for the fact that they are so many people around I would even beat the crap out of you!' If I were hostile, to begin with, I wouldn´t have come so casually to your guys after all.
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"Well, there´s isn´t much to answer, to begin with. The auction doesn´t reveal these items so casually. Most people here including us have connections that inform us about some of the auction items.
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n`Ah crap, he says that the list is for the rich...´
nRealizing what the demon mask said I felt like someone hit my skull.
n`I guess I will have to hope on my luck that there is something for me inside the auction. Asking that dwarf would probably be useless too since he is always in that damn forge. Sigh, I didn´t want to ask but trying wouldn´t hurt...´
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"By `including us´, do you guys by any chance know the list..?
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nShaking this head, the demon mask said.
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"Not really, we just came to see if the ongoing rumors are true or not.
"
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"Rumours? What kind of rumors? Mind filling me in since I am new here?
"
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"Sorry-
" Before the demon mask seemed about to reject my request. He was shortly cut by this companion.
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"Agh! You are so annoying! It´s about the runed weapon that showed up last week of course! Being clueless has this limits!
" Both Danzel and the demon mask were surprised by the bird finally opening this beak and lash out at me.
nDanzel though was more surprised at what the crow mask mention in this outburst.
n`Does that guy talk about the runed sword that Gerak went out to sell?´
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"That´s-
"
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"Danzel! Here you are! I have already registered our stuff in!
" Like out of thin smoke, the dwarf Gerak appeared out of nowhere with a cloud of annoyance following him.
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"Sigh, lower your voice already...I am on my way.
" Sighing out loud, I turned around and went towards the screaming dwarf.
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"Oh, yeah. Thanks for the info you two. Here, catch.
" Throwing the two masked kids 1 gold each I went towards our reserved seats on the auction.
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"...
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"...
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nLooking at the scratched gold coin that both the crow and the demon mask received, they both had the same thing in mind.
n`You cheap sake! Giving a single gold coin to a noble and pressing to be smug about it!? At least give us a good quality coin! Using that will bring more shame than it´s worth.´
n***
nCurrently inside the auction...
nAll kinds of voices went through the whole place.
nSome were raising their bids on the item they wanted while others were just pure out of frustration of losing that particular item.
nSince the very start of the auction, it has been like this.
nOf course in different levels at that.
nAccording to Gerak, the auction always puts the resources at the start, and then they go to the rarer and most unusual items.
nBut if you were to ask me, the start was nothing more than a game for the nobles. They simply threw money at the floor while laughing at their actual loss. The twenty lower-class crystals that were supposed to cost at best 15 gold coins, went for 40 gold coins in the end.
nSimple because two nobles didn´t want to give in and consider it a humiliation if they weren´t to buy it after being challenged...
nMy only question watching that was what do two guys drunk before coming here to laugh at their loss.
nI don´t care where this guy wastes this money at. But at least use it effectively dammit!
nThe feeling felt like watching your teammate in a game selling their item just to buy the same item again!
nWhat exactly did you think about doing that!?
nIf you were going to tell me that you were drunk I would even totally believe you!
nAnyway, we are getting out of point...
nWhat I wanted to say is that is damn boring inside here!
nWatching all those guys throwing more money than I had in my damn wallet at useless stuff made me both frustrated and bored!
nHeck, at some point that blond lady over there bought a large egg that was supposed to be of a wyvern! Everyone inside couldn't help but be surprised at the possibility of owning their damn wyvern!
nI too was surprised.
nUntil I noticed the dead mana inside the damn egg...
n`The fetus in there dead! There is no way that someone is going to buy thi-´.
nShortly after, it was sold for 1000 gold...
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"Hey, Gerak...when is this going to end again?
" Danzel asked the dwarf with this cold voice.
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"Hmm, until we sell our stock I guess? Why?
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n`Sigh...´ At this point, I could only curse internally and give myself in the endless boredom to come.
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"And for our next item that had made this appearance a week ago! We are glad to show our guests many variations of runed weapons and armor! They are 25 of each category so do not fret! We will slowly show them until the end of the auction!
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n*Ohhhh!
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"What the...
"
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"Hahaha! You sound exactly like I did a week ago!
" Gerak said.
nThe moment the blond girl showed our runed items everyone went into an uproar which honestly surprised me.
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"So you are telling me that it was like that..?
" Danzel asked.
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"No...it was worse.
" Gerak said with a grin on this face.
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"...
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nShortly after our discussion the biddings soon began to take place. The auction of course wasn´t stupid enough to sell everything in one go. Doing that will scare everyone who wasn´t interested away after all. They instead sell 3-5 at a time and then going to another product.
nThis reason alone made people want to stay longer and see if anything good was left for them.
nAnd at last, an interesting item finally showed up.
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"For the next item, we got the magic scroll of Mana Arms written personally by an archmage himself when he was younger! The starting price is by 300 gold!
"
nlooking at the scroll and comparing it with the one in the cave, the difference was too great
nNeither holes nor dirt was to see in the paper.
nThe paper looked like it was written and made at the same time.
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"Hey Gerak, do you know by any chance what the spell Mana Arms is?
"
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"Huh? You interested in that?
" The dwarf said with a frown on this face.
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"Well, it isn't for combat that's for sure. If I were to describe it I would say that it is a quality of life type of spell.
"
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"The spell simple generates two floating arms made out of your mana. Their only purpose is to bring or drag your stuff. The weight that they can hold is extremely limited.
"
nHearing Gerak's explanation I got the basic idea of the spell Mana Arms.
nAlthough it hadn't any combat capabilities, it still sounds useful.
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"I am going to buy it,
" Daniel said firmly.
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"Huh?
" Gerak looked at him confused.
nBut I didn't care.
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"500 gold!
" I shout while holding my fingers high like a piece sign.
nWhat I learned today in this auction was better to pay more at the start before you struck the nerve of a proud full idiot who is ready to throw this money for fun.
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"No one higher than 500 gold!? The magic scroll will be sold for 500 at 3, 2, 1. Sold!
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nAnd to my surprise, I managed to buy it with no resistance to see. I frowned slightly at that.
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"Did I overpay?
" I asked the dwarf.
nWith this hand-holding this mouth, Gerak replied.
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"Guess.
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n'Dammit! I did overpay! At least I got it...'
nThe reason why no one bidded on that scroll was that the auction was about to end and everyone here still wanted to give it a try to get the runed items. The fact that the spell container in the scroll didn't help much either.
nThe time for the last runed items shortly came after which bought another bidding frenzy on everyone with enough money to spend on.
nWith our items being the last of the auction, Danzel and Gerak went to get their buys and gold before shortly leaving for the workshop.
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"How much did we made?
" Daniel asked while already reading this scroll.
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"Hmm, about 12 000 gold. Not as good as I had thought it would.
" Break said with a depressed looked.
nI of course was stupefied.
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"Seriously?
"
nWhile those two wearing some identical robes were moving towards the 'Ouru'Fire Smith'.
nThey weren't able to see two hiding figures stalking them in the dark.
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"Add them to the list..
" said one of the figures while both of them were slowly disappearing from the shadows.
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