Ahhhh~ And to think they said there wouldn’t be any sweets sold at auctions~
“Umm… They aren’t considered sweets, Aster…” Lisa protested when I told them that these were indeed sweets. “These are known as Magic Rations, food items that appear inside dungeons that have magical properties in them. They take all sorts of shapes and sizes and have many different kinds of effects, so sometimes two of them might look the same but have different effects, depending on which dungeon they are found in.”
Pfft, whatever. This just means that there’s food that tastes like sweets being auctioned! That’s the same thing! Which in turn means I have to go and check out every auction from now on to see if they have nice sweets too!
“Mistress… I would advise against purchasing and eating all the Magic Rations you come across,” Katsuki warned, as though reading my mind. “Some of them have adverse effects like turning your skin blue or even causing you to lose your hair for several days. It is why most of them are sold instead of eaten since they would need to be appraised first to know the effects.”
Oh! You should have told me earlier, Katsuki!
I picked up one of the few remaining baby castellas and used my [Screened] on them.
[Magic Ration (Baby Castella) – Increase magic stat by 50 for 1 hour. Increase magic stat by 1 permanently.]
Oh! I can see the effects! Plus it seems like while they were right about it increasing your magic temporarily, they were wrong about it being the only effect. It wasn’t much but at least ten of these would still increase my magic stat by ten!
Well, let’s just eat them all right now~
Nom nom nom~
[Name: Aster Nilm
Title: Young Mistress of Nilm Family, Dragonslayer, Most Adored Young Mistress, Lover of Sweets, Lisa’s Soulmate
Race: Meslatar
Gender: Futanari
Stats:
452 Strength
437 Dexterity
451 Endurance
482 (+500) Magic
Skills:
Hunting (Tier 2), Cooking (Tier 2), Alchemy (Tier 1), Navigation (Tier 1), Sailing (Tier 1), Martial Skill-(Dagger Proficiency (Tier 2), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 2), Bow Proficiency (Tier 2), Sword Proficiency (Tier 2), Polearm Proficiency (Tier 1), Axe Proficiency (Tier 1))
Magic Skills:
Mana Management (Tier 2), Umbramancy (Tier 2), Electromancy (Tier 2), Lumenmancy (Tier 2), Pyromancy (Tier 2), Hydromancy (Tier 1), Aeromancy (Tier 1), Geomancy (Tier 1), Iatromancy (Tier 1)
Unique Skill:
Mind Shield]
Oh~ So temporary buffs are denoted in brackets? That’s nice to know.
And I see I’ve also obtained a new title as well, though looking at what it was, I’m not that surprised I got it. Lisa had been claiming that as much from the start anyway.
With our auction winnings collected, we were guided out of the building via a private exit, supposedly designed to ensure that our identity remained a secret to the others who had participated in the auction.
Our group of nine thus left the auction house and out onto a side street behind some buildings, an alley connected this street to the main street but otherwise this place was pretty much hidden from public view..
An unassuming man was seated a short distance away from the entrance of the alley beside some boxes. It took me a while to realise that he was most likely a guard for the auction house to watch over this entrance.
He didn’t even look at us as we walked past him, acting like he was asleep though it was clear from the way his head tilted slightly as we passed that he was actually awake.
Just as we were nearing the alley however, fifteen or so Mahuns came out of the shadows and blocked our path, all of them wearing not so friendly frowns on their faces.
As though it was something they had rehearsed, Katsuki, Mary and Sebastian immediately took up positions to protect us by stepping in between. Although the maids’ and butler’s stances looked relaxed, I’m sure they were each ready to fight should it come down to that.
A male Mahun wearing a set of leather armour with a relatively long mullet hairstyle stepped towards us, “You… You’re the ones that were occupying number four hundred and twenty weren’t you?”
Ah, I bet this guy was number two hundred and two who tried to pick a fight with Mother during the auction. Seems like our identity wasn’t that secure after all.
Just in case, I used [Screened] on him.
[Name: Ferule
Title: The Fearless, The Idiot
Race: Mahun
Gender: Male
Current Mood: Pissed
Stats:
20 Strength
14 Dexterity
17 Endurance
5 Magic
Skills:
Martial Skill-(Sword Proficiency (Tier 1), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 1))]
What the heck, he’s so weak…
Oh, oops… I forgot that these stats are actually considered relatively normal here. We’re the ones that are abnormal.
I also went ahead to check the stats of the others with him but they basically have pretty much the same skills and stats.
I chanced a glance towards the auction house guard but it looked like now he really was pretending to sleep. I guess he doesn’t want to involve himself in another person’s problems.
Mother smiled at him, “Ara? I fear you are mistaken about that~ We do not even remotely know what you are talking about~”
“Don’t lie to me! I know it was you! There aren’t any VIPs today so the only people who would come out from that door are you people!”
Huh… Isn’t this a really big oversight by the auction house? Did they even forget to put this into consideration or they didn’t even care?
Something tells me that it’s most likely the former since the proprietors most likely knew who Mother was… I don’t think they would get away with such a mistake easily after this…
Mother hugged me to her side while maintaining eye contact with the man, “Ufufufu~ I see~ So what do you intend to do after losing to us?”
He scowled at her before tossing a box on the floor, “Pay me the money you caused me to spend on this worthless piece of rock you bitch!”
“Ara, ara? If you didn’t want this rock so much, why did you bid so hard for it? I had even thought you needed it for some reason and gave way to you as well~”
“Shut up! Do you not realise what kind of situation you are in right now?!” He threatened while waving his fist at us.
Several of his companions took that as their cue to crack their knuckles as well, trying to make themselves look more intimidating.
Mother tilted her head at him, “Ara? I do not understand. What situation am I in exactly?”
The man was looking at Mother as though not believing that she had actually said that.
“Do you not see that you’re surrounded and outnumbered? Do you think we’re here to make a social call or something?! You better pay up now before you regret it! We’ll mess you up, you hear me?!”
“Oh my~ How violent~ But why should I pay you just because you told me to? If you didn’t want that rock, then you shouldn’t have bid for it, yes? I’m not your mother you know? I can’t be responsible for your bad decisions. You’ll have to find your own mother for that~”
Mother… Was there really a need for you to go there?
“You fucking bitch! You dare make fun of me?! Do you think we’re not afraid to rough you up just because you’re some noble?! No one would know if we gutted you here!” He roared, pulling out the blade at his waist.
𝒪𝗏𝐿xt.𝒸𝒪𝐌
That was when Ardi stepped forward while cracking her neck and rolling her shoulders, putting her muscular frame on full display.
“Hey boy. I think it’ll be a good idea if you just fuck off right now.”
The sight of the Amrap towering over him made him pause for a moment before he furrowed his brows at her, “Do you think we never faced one of your kind before? Please. You don’t scare me.”
Ah… At first I thought he was just a thug… Turns out he’s actually a really stupid and overconfident thug…
Guess now I know why he has those two titles…
The idiot shifted his gaze back to Mother and gestured in my direction, “Last warning you old hag! Otherwise I’m not only going to cut you to ribbons, but I’m going to rape that bitch in front of you as well! You hear me?!”
What happened next was really, really weird.
It felt like something had moved, like the kind of feeling you get when you step onto a moving platform before stepping off again. I know I wasn’t the only one who experienced that feeling since everyone around either took a step to steady themselves or looked around to search for the source of that feeling.
That was when we realised that the idiot was no longer standing at where he originally was. Or rather, the only thing left there was a pair of feet that were cut cleanly off at the ankles.
There was also a very distinct lack of blood too.
“Ara, ara? My hand slipped~” Mother giggled.
I was just about to ask her what happened when something fell out of the sky and splattered on the ground, only to reveal itself as the mangled body of the idiot with his limbs, eyes, ears, nose and even hair missing.
The fall had even cracked open his skull and his brain was visible from where I was standing.
The worst thing was that somehow… He was still alive.
What the fuck.