Free Web Novel“The thing we want to bid on is rather strange. It’s a special humanoid being. You need to be mentally prepared.” Yuelong said.
A special humanoid being? That was a slave, wasn’t it...
Vieya pressed her lips together. Rare slaves showing up at large auctions was hardly uncommon. As long as there was profit and demand, there would always be people willing to take the risk and do this kind of thing.
What puzzled her was what kind of slave was worth her junior sister making a trip here for—hm... and even pulling out her entire fortune.
“If the money isn’t enough later, you can speak up to me. I’ll think of a way to scrape together more.” Yuelong added in a low voice.
Vieya jolted.
Two hundred million gold coins still wouldn’t be enough—what kind of slave was that?! Raised on gold or something?
Many years ago, a rare royal-blood elf had appeared in an underground auction in the Royal Capital. That elf had been sold for the sky-high price of twenty-eight million gold coins.
Twenty-seven million gold coins—this had already broken the transaction record for humanoid slaves in the last several hundred years. With two hundred million gold coins on hand, you could buy three of them and rotate for fun!
“In short, if the money isn’t enough, tell me.” Yuelong reiterated. “But that thing—please, you must help us win it.”
Vieya gripped the black card and stayed silent for a moment.
“That isn’t a simple slave.” Yuelong said again. “During the auction, I’ll place bids on some odds and ends. You don’t need to worry about those. At the auction, you only need to focus on what you want to bid for.”
Vieya thought for a moment, then nodded. “If there are other issues, tell me as well. After all, you’re the one paying. When the time comes, I’ll just treat it like I’m having some fun.”
“Just that.” Yuelong shook her head. “As for the rest, we’ll talk after the auction ends, when we return to the private room.”
Vieya spread her hands and watched her junior sister’s group stand up and leave the room.
There were too many things that couldn’t be explained. Everyone here had their own secrets, and she couldn’t be bothered to pry. Anyway, her goal wasn’t this auction. As long as she made sure Aislin’s stone got bought, everything else could be played however it wanted.
It was almost one in the afternoon. The auction was about to begin. After Yuelong and the others left, Vieya’s group ate some snacks and yogurt to fill their stomachs, then also stood up and left the private room.
In the venue, the faces around the gambling tables had changed again—probably the previous group had either been kicked out after losing all ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) their chips, or had stopped and gone off to enjoy other forms of entertainment.
Time passed second by second. Finally, the wall clock rang—dong, a soft chime. Everyone seemed to wake from a dream at once, turning to look in the direction of the bell.
Exactly one in the afternoon. The auction officially began.
But at this moment, it seemed some gamblers in the hall didn’t even know there was an auction here, and didn’t care about it at all. After snapping out of the brief chime, they immediately started shouting for the cards to be dealt again, continuing their games.
No one cared about that group of gamblers’ yelling. The staff didn’t know what method they used—they simply patted those gamblers on the shoulder, and the gamblers froze in place like soulless puppets, losing consciousness.
“That’s a method those slave-catching groups often use. It’s a trick developed to ensure the goods arrive at the market intact.” Aislin’s voice came from behind Vieya, carrying anger and worry. “You need to be careful in the future. When you’re alone outside, don’t just trust strangers.”
“I’m not a child. Don’t worry.” Vieya felt a little helpless.
“These people won’t care whether you’re a child or not when they make a move. As long as they can sell you for a price, they’ll act.”
Aislin lowered her voice by Vieya’s ear, viciously saying, “I don’t want to see you, you muddlehead, at some other auction one day. You’re a mother with a child!”
“You’re right.”
Vieya nodded quickly. From her earlier talk with Elliti, she had already learned why the elves sealed off the Elven Forest and became extremely xenophobic. frёeωebɳovel.com
It was already very difficult for elves to produce new young. Raising a young one healthy and safe typically took a hundred years—yet malicious people were always trying every possible way to abduct elf young, or capture elves to breed descendants.
This had caused the entire elf race to develop a stress reaction toward other races at one point, and Aislin’s childhood had been spent precisely during the most rampant period of elf abductions.
“Aislin-sis’s childhood playmates—several of them were taken away and never found again...”
Elliti had just told Vieya that. “I heard my mom say that when Aislin-sis was little, she was very naughty. She led other elf young around to play everywhere, climbing trees to pick fruit. She wasn’t afraid even when she saw dangerous monsters and humans. She also liked picking fruit to give to humans who came adventuring into the Elven Forest, or pointing the way for humans who got lost.”
“But among those humans, besides kind good people, there were also greedy bad people. Until one day, when Aislin-sis and the others were playing near the outer edge of the Elven Forest, bad people set their sights on them... My mom said that day, five elf young went out with Aislin, and in the end, only Aislin-sis came back.”
“Aislin-sis was the strongest of the five young. She came back to report it, covered in blood, with a poisoned arrow stuck in her arm—her whole hand had turned blue... After she reported it, Aislin-sis fainted dead away. When the elders rushed to the scene, the other elf young were all gone. There was only blood, and traces left by humans.”
“Later they found out those humans were a slave-catching group. They’d set traps along the route where Aislin-sis and the others often appeared.”
“After that, Aislin-sis became like a different elf. She felt it was all her fault—that she hadn’t protected her childhood playmates... All the way until a hundred years later, when her childhood ended and she entered the growth stage, she had an almost obsessive protective urge toward the young in the clan.”
After learning Aislin’s story from Elliti, Vieya had been silent for a long time.
She remembered the first time they met at the docks. Aislin had also been overly familiar then, running over to follow her. At the time, Vieya had only felt this elf was meddlesome, had no sense of distance, like annoying sticky taffy.
Now it seemed it was only because the Aislin from back then didn’t want to see young being abducted right in front of her ever again.
“Don’t worry. I’m not a child.”
Vieya lightly hugged Aislin. “I’ll help you bid for the Blood-Jade Stone later.”
...
The final auction hall was a circular conference room underground. It looked like a condensed version of a Roman colosseum. Compared to a real colosseum, it was much smaller, but it made up for it with luxurious decoration. The entire space was sealed off. On the dome, huge golden crosses were painted in oil paint, looking very old.
Before entering, everyone received a mask. You could wear it or not.
As the last guest stepped in, the entire auction hall fully closed. Under the guidance of the attendants, the guests took their seats. As each person sat down, they looked around at their surroundings. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
A spotlight suddenly turned on. In the center display area appeared a seductive beauty, with several staff members beside her wearing featureless masks.
Vieya tossed the mask onto the tabletop and swept her eyes across the auction hall openly. What surprised her was that even after looking several times, she still couldn’t find Yuelong and the others.
Strange? Did they not come, or did they change clothes...
Vieya frowned slightly as she pinched the black card in her hand. What was that junior sister thinking? She told her to buy a slave, but didn’t give any detailed information. Vieya had assumed she would appear in the auction hall, but now she couldn’t even find a shadow of them.
Forget it. One step at a time.
That junior sister didn’t look stupid. Ignore her for now—get the Blood-Jade Stone first.
Thinking that, Vieya crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat, showing an arrogant powerful-person posture. Behind her, Aislin and the others were obedient. Not only were they wearing masks, even their sitting posture was rigid and proper.
“Everyone, welcome to the Hundred Cities Auction House!” The beauty in the center spoke with a sweet voice that clearly reached every guest’s ears. “Same old rule: the guest with the highest total spending may, after the auction ends, meet our boss. Next—this auction... officially begins!”
