In the entire chilly auction tent, only a few dared to continue their whispered conversations while everyone else quieted down and watched the middle-aged auctioneer and his assistants bring out each item and auction them off one after another.
Akira paid no attention to the Demigods and the other werewolf clans, leaving that to Dolph and Vilkas who would notify him if something happened.
A quick scan of the large crowd showed that there were many other demigods as well as several different demon races situated all through the tent.
Several high and important lords that had joined the event had been acknowledged at the beginning of the auction letting everyone know who they were and where they sat. This also was used to help warn those in the crowd not to anger them if those lords wanted to bid on something.
“Next up item number 69, we have several boxes of small wall ballista that will be sold as one group. They are sold as-is and you will have to put them together yourself. We have only put together one to show off what they look like,” said the Auctioneer as two burly men carried out the small wall ballista and placed it on the stage for everyone to see.
The height of the small wall ballista was around the burly men’s waist, the front was as wide as the two men together. They were quite compact when compared to the normal large ballista that most larger towns used, but they were not as small as the large crossbows that soldiers would carry. There was also the fact that it was mounted on a swivel tripod which allowed for it to be steadily aimed without the user being hindered by its weight.
“A special feature of this small wall ballista is that the tripod is able to be adjusted up or down allowing it to fit many different types of walls. The starting price will be 50 gold, all bidding must be in increments of 1 or more gold pieces,” said the auctioneer as he looked out over the crowd searching for anyone that wanted to place a bid.
When Akira saw a small wall ballista he was reminded of an event he had seen in the past while he was searching for the werewolf clans. A sudden idea popped into his head and he decided that he would try to obtain the unknown number of small ballista.
Before he could raise his number paddle another finely dressed noble from a private box from across the tent raised his first.
“Number 420 bids 50 gold. Is there anyone else that is willing to bid? The price is still low and is quite a steal right now,” shouted the auctioneer.
“R32 bids 55,” shouted the auctioneer when he saw Akira’s paddle raise with the price.
In order to be a good auction presenter, one had to have two things a way with words and good eyesight. All other things such as looks were just a bonus.
The fancily dressed noble looked at Akira who was wearing only his dark armor that did not show off whether or not he was rich or not. The noble gave a huff not bothering to puzzle over who Akira was and raised the price.
“420 bids 69.”
“75” “85”
“R32 bids 100 gold!” said the auctioneer getting into a grove trying to raise the price. “Does the 420 noble gentlemen want to raise the bid higher?”
The nobleman looked at Akira angrily and grit his teeth before turning his paddle over to reveal its red back to decline to bid any further on the item set.
Since the total number of small wall ballista was not listed he did not know if he was vastly overpaying for a few of them or if he was getting a huge deal. He didn’t want to risk such a large amount of gold when there could be other more expensive items that he wanted.
Akira also had the same worries and only went out on a limb with his last bid, if the price went over 100 he would give up immediately.
“Going once, Twice, Three times…Sold to R32!” shouted the auctioneer after a long pause hoping others would jump in and bid.
Seeing the item was successfully auctioned off the muscular men carried the small ballista off of the platform and the auction continued with several other items that did not interest Akira.
Several items were successfully won by the other werewolf clans, dwarves, and the demigods that all sat in the same VIP booth as him.
Many of the miscellaneous rare items that Akira had handed to the auction presenters the other day when he had failed to sell them at the market had all sold quickly for a decent price.
“Auction item number 123 is…10 heavy medium wall mounted ballista. The star starting price will be 50 gold. Bids to raise the price will all be 1 gold or higher.”
Akira again decided to bid on this item as Kodria was lacking in the larger long-range defenses. The 50 gold was currently around 1/3 of the actual price that one could buy ten of the ballista for.
The ballistas were fought over by several others who wanted them causing the price to shoot past 100 gold and only started to slow down when it hit 130 gold which was nearing its actual price. Many dropped out as they had wanted to get them for a discounted price but it looked like that was not going to happen.
The last two people bidding on them were again Akira and the fancy noble.
“Sold! Item number 123 goes to R32 for 181 gold!” shouted the Auctioneer.
“With this, we have come to the halfway point of the auction. The auction will take a break as we gather and prepare the more expensive items for sale when we resume!” said the auctioneer before leaving the stage without another word.
“What there’s a break?” asked Akira as he watched the man and his assistants leave.
“It has always been like this. The cheaper items are sold in the morning and then there is a break so everyone can eat lunch and refresh themselves before the more expensive items are sold. The main mega item is always sold last just before the auction ends,” said Burkin.
Akira and his guards were the last to leave the VIP box as they waited for everyone to clear out of the tent so that he didn’t have to push through the large crowd that was trying to leave.
As he descended the VIP box he found several nobles as well as their guards milling around the VIP box.
“Is there something that we can help you with?” Klyn asked the men blocking their path.
Vilkas, Dolph, and Zundar all had their hands on their weapons as they moved to protect Akira from any harm.
Seeing their actions one of the nobles let out a snort of derision.
“You are Akira? The werewolf of the small village, south of here?” asked fancy-pants Noble 420.
“I am,” said Akira who also was ready for any trouble that might start.
“My big bro has taken an interest in you for a while. When he heard from another merchant that your small village has some good gems and minerals that you have come across he was even more intrigued. From now on my big bro wants you to sell him all your items your village finds,” said fancy-pants noble 420.
“Not interested.”
Fancy-pants noble 420’s face turned red as he was not happy with being brushed off so lightly by some savage nobody who was only the chief of some small village.
“You have come here to sell such items right? My big bro will buy all of them for 70 gold.”
“Not interested.”
“Get out of here with your ridiculous offers,” said Vilkas.
“You are bothering our lord, move aside,” said Dolph as he took a stance for fighting.
“Do you know who I am!?” shouted the angry fancy-pants noble 420.
“Yes. You are fancy-pants noble 420,” said Akira.
The noble’s face turned even redder. If it was even possible Akira was sure that steam would have shot out from his ears due to the extreme heat generated by the man’s anger.
“I am here for my bro who controls one of the northern duchies. Duke Craven Moorehead!”
“Who’s that? Never heard of them,” said Akira disinterestedly.
“You…You…you should be happy that the great duke has honored you with the chance to sell him your items. He is a great man and even has Demigods who trade with him!” said the angry fancy-pants noble 420.
Akira was growing tired of talking with the idiot so his hand shot out towards the noble who had walked close to him as he had shouted. His hand stopped an inch away from the man’s face forming an armored fist.
“Ah! I caught the annoying fly,” said Akira as he slowly pulled his fist back.
The other nearby nobles were shocked and slowly took a few steps back while thinking, ‘Who is this mad man? Why is he pretending there are flies? There is already snow outside so all the flies are already dead.’.
Fancy-pants noble 420’s face had turned white and stood stiff from the shock. His mouth was still wide open.
“If you don’t close your mouth you’ll swallow a fly,” said Akira as he moved past the man.
Two of the noble’s guards moved as if to intercept Akira but a large arm reached out and knocked them to the side.
“Oops sorry I was stretching and accidentally hit you,” said Zundar as he walked over to the two guards and grabbed each of them by their shoulder with one hand, and jerked them back to their feet.
“There you’re fine,” said Zundar as he vigorously patted them on the head. To the two guards, it felt like he was trying to hammer them into the ground.
“What took you so long?” asked Burkin as he was munching on some warm grilled mystery meat on a stick.
“A few annoying flies stopped me for a few minutes,” said Akira.
***
As the guest gathered to join the second half of the auction Akira could see the tent was now less crowded. It was mostly due to the large price differences of the items that would be put on display, making it pointless for the poorer people to try and bid on them.
“I would like to warn all of our guests once again that fighting during the auction is prohibited and anyone who does will be fined, thrown out, and or banned from entering Jerora,” said the auctioneer as he looked at both Akira and Fancy-pants noble 420.
“Item number 124 is a rare book that our experts say has the writing of two ancient languages. It is several hundred years old but is in superb condition! The starting bid is 30 gold! What a steal for such an ancient book that would fit well on the shelves of any ancient book collector!”
The crowd was silent for over a minute as they all looked at the book and the auctioneer with puzzled looks. During that time no one offered up even the starting bid of 30 gold.
“Why are you selling cheap junk?” shouted a person from one of the VIP boxes.
“Is there anyone who wants to buy item 124?” asked the auctioneer now a little embarrassed at trying to sell the book.
No one answered him as they continued to impatiently stare at him.
“Lord! Hurry and buy that book!” said Zundar in an urgent whisper to Akira.
“Why? I have no interest in something like that,” said Akira.
“I doubt a muscle head like you would even know how to read something like that,” said Klyn.
“The book looks to be a dictionary written by one of the sorcerers from my old kingdom! I don’t want it but I am sure your weak glasses bookworm friend would find it interesting!” hissed Zundar hurriedly.
Akira only had a few seconds to decide.
“No one wants to bid on such a rare and ancient book?” asked the auctioneer embarrassed that he was unable to sell the item. “I guess we’ll…”
“R32 bids 30 gold!” said Akira raising his paddle.
Everyone in the tent looked towards Akira wanting to see what idiot bought the useless item that was far too overpriced.
The auctioneer seeing Akira bid on it hurriedly went through the motions and quickly announced Akira as the winner of the book worried Akira might change his mind.
The auction had no other hiccups after the ancient book and continued to sell items that all started in the low 100s and slowly rose to 500+ gold.
Among the items were Akira’s Gems and the [Cute Ice slime] magic stones that were ready to equip to armor or weapons.
There were several other items that Akira was interested in but they were extremely expensive so he held off on buying anything more as he was waiting for the last item to appear and would try to use all his remaining gold to buy it if it was something he needed.
A loud fast-beating drum sounded as the last item before the mega item was successfully sold.
“We have finally come to the last and the most grand item that you have all been waiting for! I present you Item number 669 the mega item to dwarf all other items,” said the auctioneer pointing both arms towards the curtains where his assistants had gone to retrieve the item.
The drum continued to beat as the auctioneer held his arms up.
1 minute, 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes passed with the drums beating and the auctioneer standing still.
“They sure know how to draw things out,” said Zundar impatiently at the long waiting for the last item.
The crowd inside the tent began to get restless as they waited and started to loudly talk with each other wondering what was going on.
The auctioneer’s face was filled with puzzlement and sweat as he still held his arms up towards the curtains while staring at them as if trying to command them to open and reveal the item.
After ten minutes passed the auctioneer was forced to excuse himself and head back to find out what the problem was.
When he came back onto the stage his face was completely white in shock.
“The auction of the last item will be postponed. Everyone is free to return to their lodging,” said the auctioneer in a shaky voice.
This caused the crowd to go into an uproar. But Akira ignored the loud shouts since his nose had caught a whiff of something. His eyes narrowed and found that the scent was all over the man’s shoes.
Blood.
