Getting into the exclusive beast auction turned out to be quite easy—not that Leon had been particularly worried about it. One visit to Emilie the night that Anna had come to him was enough. She’d even told him that if he’d come to her a week before he did, before they’d even announced what beasts would be in the auction, she would’ve let him buy the beast right then at cost. Unfortunately, the list had been sent out, and so the manticore cub couldn’t just be taken out of the auction even for Leon.

When the day came, Leon and some of his retainers, including Anna, Alix, Marcus, and Gaius all came out with him. Anzu was still learning to walk and speak, Alcander took some time off to be with Sofie, Helen and Tikos were preoccupied with new batches of thunder wood, Talal was busy running the parts of Magical Research and Development that Leon had neither the skills nor temperament for, and Red was simply uninterested. His family, on the other hand, was a little more complicated.

Valeria was the main sticking point. Though she maintained that she understood why Leon didn’t want to allow her father to comet to his party, she was still a little upset. Leon was more than happy to give her the space she needed, especially since he wasn’t exactly feeling good about the situation, either. Elise, while content to defer to Leon’s opinion on this issue, also wanted to spend a little more time with Valeria to support her friend. She wasn’t, as she’d reminded Leon the night before, choosing Valeria over him—she wasn’t taking any sides at all, she was quick to add—she simply thought that Valeria needed a little more support on this one.

Maia, meanwhile, had simply fallen asleep before they left, and Leon hadn’t the heart to wake her.

The auction was to be held in a private theater along the south bank of the Scamander and was scheduled to begin about an hour before midnight. The theater itself was fairly large, but had few seats, with about two hundred seats in luxurious boxes, and another four hundred below the boxes. From what Leon had heard, the theater was owned by one of Emilie’s subordinates who was quite fond of theater, and frequently sponsored various acting groups to practice in his theater. He, his family, and many of his servants would attend these practice sessions and give critique.

For the auction, however, the boxes would be filled with both high-ranking members of Heaven’s Eye, and influential members of the Ilian aristocracy. The seats below would be filled with their escorts and attending subordinates. Fortunately, Leon got a box all to himself box enough for his entire attending retinue to share.

So, they arrived about half an hour before the auction was due to start and were met outside by several of the theater owner’s attendants. Once they were escorted to the box, they were largely left alone, though one fourth-tier attendant mentioned that he’d return once the auction began to record and announce their bids.

As everyone took their seats, Anna sat next to Leon and whispered, “Thanks for doing this, boss.”

“Don’t mention it,” Leon replied with a flippant smile. He’d never attended any auctions before and was fairly excited to see how this one turned out. He fully intended to walk away with that manticore cub, but he wondered just how hard he’d have to fight for it.

“Don’t just go brushing this off,” Anna responded. “I mean it: thank you. Although… if you don’t want me to mention it… there is something you can do make me drop it…”

Her tone took on a slightly more playful tone that Leon might’ve thought untoward had he not known Anna as well as he did. Alix, he thought, probably knew her even better, but that didn’t stop his oldest retainer from teasing the older woman a bit.

“Ooh, Anna, are you propositioning our fearless leader?”

“He’s married, you know!” Marcus added, his tone sounding mock-scandalized.

Gaius just leaned back in his seat with a smile instead of joining in, to Leon’s relief.

“I don’t mean that,” Anna quickly replied. “I just mean…”

“Eirene’s here, isn’t she?” Leon asked. Anna looked at him in surprise, so he added, “You mentioned that she was involved in organizing some things here. Just figured that meant she was actually here for the auction and not just doing administrative work or whatever.”

“She is,” Anna confirmed, her face lighting up with loving joy as she did. “Could she… join us?”

Leon smirked, having never really seen Anna so anxious and flustered. Her face was a bright red, she was wringing her hands, and she was diligently studying the floor rather than looking at any of them.

“She’s working here, isn’t she?” Leon asked, knowing that he was most likely going to have to refuse..

“Uh… yes,” Anna replied, her tone dropping as she realized what Leon was getting at.

“We can meet her later. For now, if she has a job to do, then let’s let her focus on that, yeah?”

Anna nodded. “Sure… sure…”

The box descended into awkward silence for all of about two seconds before Alix leaned forward and wrapped an arm around Anna.

“Soooo,” she drawled, “when were you going to let us know about your little girlfriend, hmmm? Scared we were going to embarrass you?”

“No, nothing like that!” Anna insisted. Leon saw her taking a subtle, though deep breath and steady herself. It took her only a moment to banish the awkwardness her previous question had raised and regain her composure. “Is it wrong of me to want to keep something to myself?”

“No, I’m just curious why you didn’t say anything before now! Kind of hurts when friends keep secrets, you know? Even if there’s nothing wrong with that…”

Anna reached back and pulled Alix into a tight hug. She didn’t say anything, but Alix returned the friendly embrace.

A moment later, a knock came at the door.

“Probably the attendant,” Gaius muttered. “I’ll get it.” He got up and opened the door, but instead of the attendant who would facilitate their bids, another man with sixth-tier strength stood in the doorway.

The man was finely dressed, but in a dark and muted style that nevertheless contrasted with his deathly pale complexion. He had no other secretaries, assistants, or attendants with him, all of which led Leon to think he was sent by someone rather than coming of his own accord. Still, Leon took a moment to study the man’s aura, but he detected nothing notable.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Gaius asked about as politely as the questions could be asked.

“Carrying a message for Leon Raime,” the man said with a frosty tinge to his voice. He held out a folded piece of paper with two fingers for Gaius to take. He leaned back slightly as Gaius reached out to take the paper, acting as if touching Gaius was beneath him—or so it came off to Leon, anyway.

Once Gaius took the paper, the messenger turned around and left without so much as a goodbye.

“Rude,” Alix growled. “Leon, want me to drag him back here and show him some manners?”

“As fun as that might be, no,” Leon replied. “One’s arrogance isn’t negated with another’s. Besides, who is he to us, that his rudeness matters?”

Alix clicked her tongue in displeasure but said no more.

During that brief exchange, Gaius closed the door and opened the message, reading through it quickly.

“Looks like someone noticed your arrival, Leon,” he said as he passed the note to Leon. “Someone named ‘Narses the Black’. Almost thought it was the Chief of Security.”

Leon accepted the message as his thoughts turned back to the man he’d briefly met when once meeting with Emilie. The man was quite highly ranked within Heaven’s Eye, and acted as an inspector for the southern Tower Lords. Essentially, it was his job to monitor the ranking Heaven’s Eye administrators within large regions for signs of corruption or undue political activity. He had no power to enforce any regulations, but it was inspectors like him that the Director relied on to ensure that the Tower Lords were kept under control.

The message was a brief greeting that identified the sender, and when Leon turned his eyes out of the box, he scanned the room and, soon enough, his eyes landed upon the man himself. His remarkably black hair was still cut fairly short, his dark green eyes glittered in the dim light of the theater, and his eighth-tier aura was strong and robust—far more so than Leon remembered. The man had clearly been training hard over the past five years.

As they made eye contact, Narses raised a glass of wine in greeting, giving Leon a wide smile at the same time. Leon, however, found the smile quite unnerving, as it didn’t quite reach the inspector’s eyes.

Regardless, after a brief moment, Leon raised his hand in greeting. Nothing was said nor shouted to each other. They simply held eye contact for several seconds before Narses the Black finally looked away as the messenger appeared back in his box, the only one Narses appeared to have attending him.

Leon was a little perturbed, and it seemed like he wasn’t the only one as Anna whispered, “He looks familiar…”

“Does he?” Leon murmured. “How so?”

“Can’t place him,” Anna replied. “Know where he’s from?”

“Nowhere with last names for commoners.”

“Hmm,” Anna hummed.

They couldn’t say any more as the lights around the stage began to brighten, and several people walked out onto the stage. Two were clearly attendants, but the third was dressed to the nines. Leon thought him their host for a moment until he stopped behind the podium and announced that the auction would begin in only a few minutes, and for everyone to take their seats.

There weren’t that many people that needed to sit down, though. Half of the boxes were occupied, if that, and barely a third of the lower seats were filled. The theater was small by Occulara’s standards, and they still hadn’t even filled it, speaking more than words could about the exclusivity of the event.

Of course, the other attendees spoke to that as well. Leon recognized many high-ranking members of Heaven’s Eye, and even silently greeted them when they noticed his presence. He even saw two of his department heads in attendance, who seemed particularly nervous when they realized he was there, too.

‘I’ll have to remember them,’ Leon thought to himself as the auction truly began.

He wasn’t that interested in beasts, if he were honest with himself. They were interesting, and he certainly enjoyed raising Anzu, but he’d had the assistance of many Heaven’s Eye beastmasters for that tall order. He couldn’t imagine putting in the time and effort that it would take to train something less naturally obedient than Anzu had been, and even with the onyx bracelet it would still be a chore that he simply didn’t have time for.

Anna, on the other hand, watched the auction with great interest. She gleefully identified all of the beasts as they were trotted out for inspections—two basilisks, four enormous gray wolves, a lion with blood-red fur and a fish-like face, and so much more. None of them, however, were stronger than the fourth-tier. Leon’s interest was slightly piqued when a wyvernling was brought out, still too young to have colored scales, but Anna already had two of those.

Each beast was auctioned off for spectacularly large amounts of money; Leon suspected many of the attendees overpaid by quite a bit, but when bidding competitions started, he got the impression that it was far more about the show than it was about the purchase itself. Many of those in attendance wanted to flaunt their wealth in front of many of their peers rather than hold out for a good deal. This was, after all, an auction, not commissioned work from Heaven’s Eye.

It wasn’t the end neared that the reason they’d come was finally brought out.

“… a wonder from the northeast, a beast so rarely taken that they can’t even be ordered,” the auctioneer hyped, “a manticore cub!”

Leon expected a bigger creature, but the beast that was brought out was carried out in the arms of a young woman with short blond hair and soft, cute features. Leon heard Anna’s breath hitch, and he assumed the woman was likely Eirene. The manticore cub in her arms, meanwhile, was barely larger than a housecat. Its wings were tiny and folded up, not yet feathered or even half as large as they’d need to be to allow for flight. Its coat was a pale gold that shimmered in the light of the theater; its eyes were a bright green that almost glowed; its claws were jet black; its scorpion’s tail was bound against its body capped with a thick bundle of cloth. Its claws were likewise bound. Its aura was perhaps the least spectacular thing about it; Leon estimated it was the human equivalent of first-tier.

As the cub was brought out, Marcus leaned forward and asked, “How dangerous are these things that their paws and tail has to be bound?”

“Their claws aren’t nearly as sharp as they will be,” Anna explained, “but they’re still more than enough to pierce the skin of third-tier mages and below. Not many of those here, but still, better to be cautious than to accidentally spill the blood of someone about to give you money. Their tails, on the other hand, even in childhood will produce some pretty nasty venom that can put even a fifth-tier mage on their ass for a while. Their stingers, far more than their claws, need to be secured.”

“Sounds like a fantastic war beast to have,” Marcus whispered.

“That’s the intent,” Anna replied.

Leon agreed, though he couldn’t help but remember the manticores of the Prota Forest. They were intelligent, and one had even helped him out after he’d healed it. They had great growth potential, but he wondered what the actual cost of the onyx bracelet’s domination might have on the creatures under its sway. The Attican Snapper, despite its growth in power, didn’t seem to show any sign of developing true sapience, though Leon wasn’t sure if that was due to it being a naturally dim creature or not. Anna’s wyverns, on the other hand, were rather clearly capable of developing reason and wisdom, but they weren’t even close to being powerful enough to do so.

He put those thoughts out of his head as the bidding started. He could wonder and theorize and hypothesize and moralize once the manticore had been bought, but it needed to actually be bought, first.

The bidding started out fairly quick, with many of those in the boxes tossing out spectacular numbers. The manticore started out at a million silvers, but its price went up tenfold in less than a minute. Two minutes later, it had risen to twenty million. Leon, for just a moment, wondered how high the price might get, but after letting fifty bids go by without putting in one of his own, Anna glanced at him with a hint of anxiety, and Leon decided to just throw his hat into the ring.

With just a few words, the attendant in their box called out his bid.

“Twenty-five million!”

He hadn’t made a bid at all until now, so he hadn’t known quite what to expect when his bid was announced. He knew that at least some people around knew who he was, so the response wasn’t entirely surprising, but Leon still felt almost insulted.

After his bid was announced, silence fell over the theater as Leon felt hundreds of eyes turn in his direction. His bid wasn’t startlingly high compared to the previous bid, but he knew his position was, at least compared to just about everyone else there. Many averted their gazes as he glanced around at the other boxes.

‘Guess they don’t want to compete with a Chief of Heaven’s Eye?’ Leon wondered, satisfied that it seemed like the manticore was already his. Unfortunately, his rank was, of course, only startling high compared to just about everyone else there, and the one man who wasn’t so completely outranked by him wasn’t done.

“Twenty-seven million!” an attendant called out just as the auctioneer was about to finish calling for other bids. Narses’ attendant.

Leon glanced at the man in question, who stared back at him with a subdued, though still blatantly challenging grin.

“That guy…” Anna murmured again as her brow deeply furrowed.

Without hesitation, Leon raised his bid to thirty million, and Narses raised his again to thirty-one. Leon hit thirty-five, and Narses went to thirty-six.

“He’s just pumping up the bid,” Gaius said, his tone one of certainty. “He wants you to spend money, I don’t think he cares that much about the manticore.”

“We can play that game,” Leon responded. He raised his bet to forty million. Narses then raised again to forty-one, and Leon, in contrast to his other bids, didn’t immediately raise again. Instead, he let the bid hang there as the auctioneer began calling out for other bids again, his eyes rather unsubtly straying in Leon’s direction.

Leon took a moment to glance around the theater. Many were watching what was going on with great intent, as if what was happening was nothing more than a show. Leon thinly smiled, not appreciating being put on the spot, but he also wasn’t about to let Narses beat him. He turned his attention back to his competitor, and found that Narses’ smile had slipped just a little bit as the auctioneer’s countdown for new bids nearing its end.

“Leon…” Anna worriedly whispered.

“Don’t worry,” Leon replied, and he made his next bid.

Fifty million silvers. Narses didn’t make another bet, Leon was glad to see. The manticore was theirs.