It was amusing to watch the Level 9 Slave Merchant almost trip over nothing as he stepped onto the stage, his exhibit—a female elf—trailing behind him looked just as nervous.
It was Shera, taking deep, steadying breaths, her chest rising and falling dramatically as she stood in the center of the platform.
"Ahm… ah yes, the auction, I mean—please bi—"
"Hurry up," I saw Rosten mutter impatiently, clearly losing patience with the bumbling slave merchant.
"P-please bid as much as you can!" the man finally managed to blurt out, giving a clumsy bow.
"The next exhibit is a sixteen-year-old female elf with the Forest Ranger job. The minimum bid is two hundred thousand nars. Begin the bidding," Rosten announced quickly, as if wanting to move things along.
"200,000 Nars!"
Shera wasn't the first elf to appear in the auction today. Elves, both male and female, weren't particularly rare here. But in my eyes, she was by far the most beautiful—more so than any Elf I had seen so far, even compared to Elfina and her sister.
So I wasn't surprised when the bids began flying fast. What did catch my eye was that none of the elves or explorers were joining in. The ones bidding were all Adventurers, Merchants, and the Sex Maniacs.
'Master, most Labyrinth-goers won't bid for her because of her Job. But beautiful elves always go for a high price. Her final bid could possibly reach up to 800,000 Nars. But I won't let it go that high,' Anastasia said confidently through the party link.
'That would be great,' I replied, holding her closer.
"620,000 Nars!"
I spotted the same fat Merchant from earlier—the one Anastasia had already outbid during the auctions for Vesta and Shea, countering her bids. He seemed determined to win this time, probably looking for a girl whose breasts could rival his own.
"670,000 Nars!" Anastasia called out, her voice full of confidence.
Looks like my mental insults worked—or more likely, he was simply tired of losing to Anastasia and gave up without even glancing back at me.
"Sold!"
I was surprised that we won so easily this time too. Honestly, it felt like the other bidders were just gifting me the slaves, trying and hoping to drain my funds before the Wizard's turn came.
Well, not that I was complaining—it worked out great for me. Praising Anastasia through the party link, I stood up from my seat.
At that moment, I felt two distinct stares. One was Shera, beaming at me happily. The other came from a figure cloaked entirely in black, who had turned around in their seat to look straight at me. Through Appraisal, I could tell that person was a female.
It was odd—most people at the auction gossiped or whispered behind my back. Even when I looked their way, they avoided eye contact. But this one didn't. Her stare was steady, unwavering.
As I passed her while descending the stairs, I noticed fair, pointed ears sticking out from under her hood. Judging by her height, she definitely wasn't a dwarf—most likely, she was an elf. I made a mental note of her name and continued toward the private room.
"Th-Thank you so much for your high bid! Ah, apologies, I'm Rosten," the Level 9 Slave Merchant stammered nervously.
"And I'm Shera, Master," she interrupted him, smiling at me radiantly.
I returned the greeting and suggested we complete our business first.
"Sorry for being so nervous—it was my first time showcasing an exhibit at the Big Auction," Rosten said as we walked. "I almost tripped stepping onto the stage. They really need to fix that floor."
"The stage did feel huge… and with so many people watching, it was really overwhelming," Shera added, walking behind us.
I just smiled and nodded, letting them complain as we reached the private room. Rosten walked over to the bored-looking Merchant, who didn't even spare me a glance this time.
"I'm also sorry, Master," Shera said, glancing up at me with a sheepish smile. "I promise I won't be this nervous when we face demons in the labyrinth."
"I believe you," I said with a wink. "I'm sure you will be an amazing fighter. But it's okay to be nervous sometimes, so don't apologize for it."
"Yes, Master," she replied, flashing a cute grin.
Just then, Rosten returned, clearly excited for the money. I quickly handed him the slip.
"Thank you very much, Michio-san, for making my first Big Auction a success!" he said with a big smile. "I will waive your participation fee from the 670,000 Nars, bringing the final amount down to 401,400 Nars."
Interestingly, both Shera and Remu had ended up costing the exact same amount—another unexpected coincidence, considering they both resembled fictional characters from the same anime. And with the 40% discount from my Magic Slips, their final prices matched perfectly too.
I didn't have enough gold coins on hand, so I took out one of my remaining three platinum coins, along with the extra 14 silver needed.
Rosten looked thrilled as he held the platinum coin. He hurried off to the Merchant to make the exchange. The Merchant, now watching me with widened eyes, must have realized this was the second platinum coin I had casually taken out today.
"Do you want to hold it in your hand?" I asked Shera as I noticed her wide-eyed stare fixed on the platinum coin.
"No, no, Master… I was just… I have never seen one before, so I was a bit curious," she said, rubbing her thumbs together and looking down guiltily.
"Well, I will show you another one when we get home, you can hold that," I said with a smirk, thinking to myself that it wouldn't be the only thing I would ask her to hold that she hadn't seen before.
"Oh—thank you, Master," she said in surprise, likely reacting to the casual way I mentioned having another platinum coin.
Rosten returned soon after with my change—60 gold coins—and we moved on to the ceremony. Both Shera and I took our positions, as Rosten hurriedly finished his chants.
[Shera – Female, 16 years old, Forest Ranger, Owner: Kaga Michio]
"I will be in your care, Master," Shera said, her blue eyes gazing up at me with a vulnerable charm.
It was hard to maintain eye contact, especially since those two soft globes of hers were right in my line of sight, but I managed through sheer willpower.
"Likewise," I replied with a confident smile.
[Kaga Michio – Male, 17 years old, Adventurer, Free Man, Slaves: Roxanne, Sherry, Lillia, Anastasia, Miria, Vesta, Setsuna, Ram, Rem, Viviana, Shea, Jasmine, Remu, Shera]
While Rosten explained my responsibilities, I casually showed my Intelligence Card to Shera. Once everything was complete, we left the room together.
"My establishment is in Fernvale—it's a small, peaceful town north of Quratar in the Selmar region," Rosten explained, shaking my hand. "Please visit if you ever need to expand your party."
I nodded, pleasantly surprised to hear about the Selmar region, having read about it in the original story. Then I left the room with Shera, who grew noticeably shy the moment we were alone.
"Ehm… Etto…" she mumbled, fumbling with her words while walking beside me.
"Welcome to my family, Shera," I said warmly, taking her fair hand in mine.
"Hehe… Thank you, Master," she said, smiling bashfully.
Her breasts jiggled slightly with every step, but I focused instead on explaining a few things about her new family members. Soon, we arrived back at the Auction Hall—oddly, the cloaked female who had been staring at me earlier was now gone.
I asked Shera to sit with the other girls in the row ahead of mine, which was nearly full now.
As I watched Shea greet Shera with her usual cheer, I couldn't help but notice that their names weren't the only thing they had in common.
Next came a long wait as I sat comfortably beside Anastasia, watching the auction continue. She remained actively—though cautiously—involved in the bidding. I even asked her in distress, if her throat was getting dry from calling out bids for so long, but she assured me she was fine.
At one point, I even saw Alan take the stage with his Level 24 Adventurer. Curious, I watched to see how high the bidding would go. Anastasia joined in once, and in the end, the man was sold for 410,000 Nars—a profitable price, according to her.
Meanwhile, I kept an ear out for any interesting conversations among the girls. It was amusing to see Jasmine and Remu, two quiet girls being sandwiched between the chatterboxes Shea and Shera. Vesta had tried—and failed—to strike up a conversation with Setsuna, so she settled for chatting with Rem, Ram and Viviana about their hometowns.
Soon, the wait was over as Anastasia leaned in and informed me that the next exhibit was the one.
A Level 6 Slave Merchant stepped onto the stage, followed by a petite girl walking slowly beneath a dark hood.
It was Nyx.
She stood at the center of the stage, her hood half-obscuring her face, gaze cast downward.
"I hope people bid a lot," the Slave Merchant muttered, bowing quickly and wiping sweat from his brow.
"The next exhibit is an eighteen-year-old female dark elf with the Shadow Caster job. The minimum bid is two hundred thousand Nars. Begin the bidding," Rosten announced promptly.
I heard furious whispers ripple through the auction hall—undoubtedly from the elves, upset at seeing a dark elf displayed on stage.
I glanced at Shera, but she was still chatting happily with Shea, seemingly unbothered.
'Master, I highly doubt anyone will bid for her. Even putting aside the fact that she is a dark elf, her job—Shadow Caster—has a very poor reputation. The Slave Merchant didn't even explain what it entails, which probably means it's problematic. She also doesn't look like someone suited for a labyrinth party. Should I really bid?' Anastasia asked through the party link, her tone uncertain.
She had a point. The hall remained silent, the Slave Merchant nervously mopping his forehead as Nyx stood in the center of it all, completely ignoring the commotion around her.
'Yes. And you obviously have to win her,' I replied with a mental eye-roll.
'Understood,' she responded with a nod.
Even then, she hesitated—still watching, waiting to see if anyone else would dare to bid.
"200,000 Nars!"
Someone actually bid—it was that old Adventurer from earlier. I was surprised he was still alive, to be honest.
"250,000 Nars!"
His offer though was immediately and mercilessly crushed by the confident shout of the girl in my arms.
After that, the old man quietly lowered his hand. A number of elves in the crowd turned to look at me in surprise, but my acting was flawless. I remained seated, arrogantly aloof, as if I didn't care in the slightest.
"Sold!"
Rosten tried to drag it out as long as he could, but eventually struck the gavel three times, sealing the deal.
I stood up just as Nyx and the Level 6 Slave Merchant began exiting the stage. As I made my way down, I couldn't help but hear the word curse whispered multiple times around me. It was starting to get on my nerves.
"Thank you for your bid, customer. I am Dovin, a Slave Merchant from a small town called Fenlow," the Level 6 Slave Merchant said with a shaky bow, still trying to smile as he continued to wipe his face like a fountain.
I nearly asked if he had some kind of illness, but held my tongue—I didn't want to add fuel to the fire of Nyx's rumored curse.
"Thank you, Master," Nyx said softly, her head bowed low.
I suggested we head to the back room first, which Dovin readily agreed to. But we had to walk slowly, as Nyx was practically dragging her feet behind us.
"Michio-sama," Dovin began, "I can tell you are one of the enlightened ones. You can see through all these ridiculous rumors. I have even stayed with Dark Elves before—I am telling you, this whole 'curse' thing is complete nonsense."
He wiped his forehead again, and I gave him a sidelong glance. His constant sweating wasn't exactly helping me feel confident about his claims.
"And do you know," he added, lowering his voice conspiratorially while glancing around, "who's behind all this slander against Dark Elves?"
He leaned in. "It's the cunning, hateful Elves," he whispered, eyes glinting with dislike.
I sighed.
Great. I have been lumped with a sweaty conspiracy nut. I was this close to just picking Nyx up and making a break for the back room—anything to escape the close proximity of this sweaty man!
***
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