Free Web NovelTo be honest, the prelude to this auction was ornate and convoluted, packed with ceremonial flair meant «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» for old nobles to flaunt their status and taste. After the initial novelty wore off, it quickly became boring. Vieya even started to feel a little drowsy.
On the platform, the female host was giving it her all—gentle words, a soft voice, full of emotion. Dozens of items went by in succession, and not a single one failed to sell.
Everything in the first half was either rare gemstone jewelry or equipment and weapons crafted by renowned masters.
Things that looked utterly ordinary to Vieya—like a defensive armor forged by a seventh-tier weapon-smith—were turned, after the host’s impassioned speech, into some once-in-a-lifetime, irreplaceable, invincible treasure. It supposedly carried on the smith’s dying will and embodied decades of painstaking effort.
An armor worth, at most, a little over a hundred thousand gold coins was talked up so vividly that it sold for an absurd three hundred thousand.
Absolutely ridiculous.
Watching the heated atmosphere of the auction hall, Vieya suddenly felt a bit uneasy. If this kind of junk—stuff she wouldn’t even bother picking up off the roadside—could sell for such outrageous prices, then the truly valuable item up for auction later was probably not going to be cheap at all.
She had no idea whether the credit limit on the black card the elf lady gave her would be enough. Sigh, she really should have asked in advance, like she did with Longyue and the others. If she ended up unable to afford it, that would be awkward.
Amid Vieya’s worries, the auction continued at full throttle.
Later on, a few items appeared that even Vieya found tempting. For example, a life-substitution doll unearthed from some ancient ruin. She wanted to buy one as a life-saving item for her daughter. But the price climbed to eight million gold coins and was snapped up by an unknown masked wealthy woman. The slime could only sigh in resignation.
Vieya herself wasn’t short on money. She carried a full twenty thousand gold coins—enough for an ordinary person to lie flat for several lifetimes, eating rich food every day. But in this auction hall, it couldn’t even make a splash. As for the money on the elf lady’s card or her junior sister’s, she didn’t have the thick skin to use it.
“If there’s something you want to buy, and you don’t have enough money on you, you can actually use the money on my card,” Aislin said softly, seeing the slime girl’s interest. “Just treat it as a gift from me.”
Vieya shook her head. “No.”
The elf lady tilted her head, saying nothing more. If it were only eight million gold coins, she could grit her teeth and manage it, at worst tightening her belt later. After all, wild fruits in the forest didn’t cost money.
But when that masked woman bid eight million earlier, her tone didn’t even fluctuate. And every raise had been two million at a time... such a terrifying opponent. Aislin felt utterly hopeless.
Why were humans all so rich?!
The elf lady, who had entered the auction full of confidence, now felt her heart pounding uncontrollably.
As time went on, the quality of the items kept rising, and several treasures exceeding ten million gold coins appeared.
Vieya also noticed that Aislin beside her was growing quieter and quieter, clearly uneasy.
“How much gold do you actually have on your card?” Vieya asked softly, glancing sideways.
Aislin hesitated for a moment, then said nervously, “Thirty-eight point five million... that’s already most of the gold in our Elven Forest... If it’s still not enough, I can only make up the difference through bartering items, or trading items for gold.”
“If we don’t buy anything else, it should be enough,” Vieya said leisurely. “That stone is rare, but its actual use is very limited. Most people will probably just buy it for collection or research.”
“Sigh... I never imagined things on the human side could be this expensive,” Aislin said gloomily. “I’ve traveled for so long, and the most expensive thing I ever bought was a bottle of Godsnow Sword Oil that cost seventy silver coins. I had to use it when clearing a tomb and killing a Headless Demon, and I felt heartbroken over it for ages.”
You’re really frugal...
Vieya opened her mouth, not knowing what to say. She thought back to her own past—spending a week collecting materials in the Monster Forest, exchanging them at the Adventurers’ Guild for two gold coins, then using it all on alcohol, living in a drunken haze.
Thinking of the past, tears almost welled up.
The auction on the stage continued. Several rounds of fierce bidding broke out in between. The most intense was over a square water mirror, said to be an astrological instrument passed down from the Age of Gods. Because it was incomplete, the starting price wasn’t high. But the mysterious masked woman who had bought the life-substitution doll stepped in again.
From a starting bid of one million gold coins, she pushed it all the way up to twenty million.
Someone kept competing with her throughout the process, but in the end she raised the bid by five million in one go, crushing the competition outright and taking the mirror for twenty-five million gold coins.
“Don’t worry. The fiercer they bid, the more money they burn. That just gives us an advantage later...” Vieya said calmly. But her gaze drifted involuntarily to the strange person who had been bidding against the masked woman earlier—Number 66...
“What is it? Did you notice something wrong?” Aislin asked cautiously. freēwebnovel.com
“There is a problem,” Vieya said doubtfully. “I think Number 66 is a plant hired by the auction house. She’s been maliciously bidding on several items worth over ten million.”
“Malicious bidding?”
Aislin pondered the meaning of the human term. “You mean Number 66 is working with the auction house’s backers to fleece participants like us?”
Vieya nodded and said nothing more, because people in the hall were already starting to protest to the host, demanding verification of Number 66’s identity.
“Host, is this Number 66 a shill you hired to drive up prices?” the woman who bought the water mirror said coldly. “She never buys anything the whole time—she just keeps raising bids. How did your auction house vet its participants? You let this kind of lowlife in?!”
“Exactly! Number 66 calls out bids on every item, but after all this time hasn’t won a single one! Why would you send an invitation to someone like that?!”
“You did it on purpose, didn’t you?! After all, you make money when she does this!”
“That damn Number 66!”
Once one person spoke up, others who had been burned by inflated prices joined in angrily.
“Apologies, honored guest Number 13,” the female host said, bowing in apology before explaining calmly and clearly. “Everything our Hundred Cities Auction House does is as clear as a mirror. We absolutely would never engage in malicious commercial behavior like hiring shills to raise prices.
I can guarantee on behalf of our owner that Number 66’s actions were entirely of her own will, with no instruction from our auction house. And after the auction ends, our owner will personally come forward to prove this to you.”
“Hmph!”
Number 13 snorted coldly and sat back down, his gaze stabbing toward Number 66 like a knife.
“You’d better hope I don’t find out who you really are!”
Number 66 spread her hands, casually sipping tea, as if the controversy and threats were nothing more than a trivial interlude to her.
“Um, will that Number 66 snipe us later?” Aislin asked worriedly. “So many people hate her now, and the organizers aren’t stopping her. After all, this kind of chaos benefits them...”
“It’s fine.” Vieya paused, then said quietly, “That Number 66 is probably Irena.”
“Irena? The blonde little girl from that private room earlier?” Aislin exclaimed. “Then is she helping us? No—wait!”
The elf lady suddenly understood, her beautiful eyes widening. “They also asked you to help bid on something! So they’re deliberately draining the opponents’ funds in advance, forcing everyone’s attention and hostility onto them, while making you—the real buyer—fade into the background. It’s an open scheme... How devious and cunning humans are! But can we really trust them?”
Vieya took a sip of tea to moisten her throat and said softly, “We’re already on the same boat anyway. Trusting them a little won’t hurt.”
