Auction
At last, today was the day of the auction.
“”So many people~””
“Indeed.”
We arrived at the venue to meet up with Al-sama, but there were more people than we expected, and we were stunned as we looked around.
“”Where is Al-sama~?””
“Al-sama told me to meet him inside the venue. I believe he said he would have a Knight we know waiting for us at the entrance, so let’s go there first.”
“”Roger!””
So we headed for the entrance of the venue.
“””Ah!”””
“Takumi-dono!”
And there, in a very obvious place, stood Najack-sama.
He immediately noticed us and called out to us.
“Did you take the trouble to wait for us, Najack-sama!?”
“I am the one who knows Takumi-dono the best. I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a long time, but I think it’s time for you to change the honorifics you address me with. No need to be this stiff with me.”
“Eh? Eh?”
“Since aunt is treating you as her son, then you are a cousin to me, and we are the same age, as I recall.”
Come to think of it, Najack-sama is Rebecca-san’s nephew, and he and Wald-san are cousins.
But even if… Rebecca-san treats me like a son, it doesn’t mean that my relationship with Najack-sama has to be that of cousins, though~
“I don’t know if I would call us cousins, but since I do want us to get along better in the future, I will call you Najack-san. Rather, aren’t you the one addressing me with -dono!?”
“Well, I will call you Takumi-san from now on, then.”
“Yes. You can speak as you usually do with me as well, you know?”
“I usually speak this way, so.”
I guess you can’t force someone who normally speaks with a polite tone to speak in a more informal manner, huh.
“Naja Nii.””
“Call Allen, Allen!”
“And Elena, Elena, okay?”
“Yes, understood.”
“……”
When it comes to Allen and Elena, they strangely like to shorten other people’s names. From Najack to Naja, they completely omitted the rest of his name. Najack-san doesn’t seem to mind, so… it’s okay?
“Takumi!”
After that, Najack-san led us to the place where Al-sama was waiting for us, and the moment my eyes met his, he called my name. He seemed to be very excited.
“What is the matter, Al-sama?”
“Good news! There will be a magic ring auctioned off today!”
“Eh, seriously!?”
“Yes, I have no doubts about it!”
It seems that Al-sama knew I wanted a magic ring, so he informed me immediately.
“I would love to have that!”
I plan to look for magic rings in the advanced dungeon, but I can’t be certain we will find one, and I don’t mind having more than one, so if I can get it, I’ll get it.
“The magic ring will be, of course, auctioned during the night session.”
“… Night session?”
“Ah, it’s your first time at auction, isn’t it?”
The auction is divided into three sessions: morning, afternoon, and night, and they have different price ranges, roughly speaking. The morning auction was for general items, the afternoon auction was for high-end items, and the evening auction was for rare items.
There is a catalog of sorts, and the participants can browse through it and decide what they want to buy beforehand.
“By the way, all of the items you provided will be auctioned at the evening session.”
“Huh, is that so?”
I was asked if I have any unusual items that could be auctioned off, and I replied in a half-joking tone: Not many, but I do have a few to auction off.
By the way, the items I chose were… polka-dot dyes, Gaya wood, Majesta leaves, red truffles, and pearls. The children were still opposed to selling food-related items, such as the Majesta fruit and Kelm salt, but not to the truffles. That’s because truffles are for enjoying the aroma, and the taste is very subtle. The children probably did not object because they do not like them very much.
I decided to auction off a few pairs of Crystal Elk antlers and three “Blue Rose Drops” as well. It would cause a fuss, but they are items that many people desire, so… that’s that.
Moreover, Allen and Elena would also be auctioning off a piece of Heavenly Drops (chapter 318-319) each.
“”This place is amazing~””
“Isn’t it?—Al-sama, this must be a private room, right?”
“Yes, it’s the room we usually use.”
We were in a private room on the balcony on the second floor of the venue.
Maybe it’s a private room reserved for royalty.
“Allen, Elena, looking from there is fine, but do not jump off.”
“”I know~””
“Aren’t you supposed to say ‘don’t fall off’ here?”
“Things are a bit different with my kids.”
I’m not worried about them falling off. But instead, we need to worry more about the people below, who are likely to be frightened.
“I can still participate in the auction from this seat, yes?”
“Of course.”
There are several private rooms on the second floor on either side of the hall, and we were in the room closest to the stage on the left side of the hall.
There was a stage below where the host would be showing off the items, and many chairs lined up in front of it. I guess that is where most of the participants would be sitting for the auction.
“They are not here now, but there will be a full-time staff member assigned to our private room to act as our agent.”
“Heh~ is that so?”
It’s that, right? The one who signs with their hands how much to raise… or something like that?
I guess there are specialists who do that for you in the private rooms~
“If you’re going to participate in bidding for the magic ring, you can either give instructions to the agent while keeping an eye on the situation, or you can tell them in advance what the limit is and leave it to them.”
“… I see.”
I have no idea how much the magic ring would be, but I just recently checked my own deposit, so if it’s an amount somewhere around that… well, I can spend as much as I want, I guess?
I guess I should watch the atmosphere and decide whether to give up or keep trying?
“Oh, the morning session is about to start.”
“There’s not so many people present.”
There were a quite a lot of people at the entrance of the venue, but the seats in the hall were not filled to capacity.
“The morning session is… well, it’s like this every year.”
The morning session, where not so many rare items are sold, seems to be like this.
Well, people come to auctions for rare and wonderful things, right?
“Oh, we did come here at the beginning, but you can leave anytime during the auction if you get bored.”
“Alright.”
We took our seats and focused our attention on the stage as the host appeared on stage.