Pov Kira:
We were surprised to see the great War Halberd being sold for 28 Crystal Coins, that’s the equivalent of 280,000 Gold Coins, such an absurd value for a single weapon, it shows that those at this Auction have a lot of money.
“A weapon of this value and power would be worthy of being called the national treasure of a small-level Kingdom.” (Irius)
“The question is how did this weapon get here?” (Sophia)
“I don’t know, I never heard any rumors about this weapon after General Ramires died.” (Irius)
“To be sold illegally it must have probably been stolen.” (I)
We saw through the crystal on the wall that the two muscular men from before carried the Halberd offstage, then an extremely beautiful human woman took the stage pushing a cart with a box on top to the center of the stage.
“[ Now that everyone is a little more excited, let’s go back to normal programming with the lowest value items to the highest value ones. ]” (Elsa)
“[ But make no mistake, every item in this Auction is something rare or hard to find, so fight for what you want! ]” (Elsa)
The auctioneer took the cloth that covered the box and pulled it out showing a beautiful, ornate wooden box, then she opened it to reveal a parchment inside.
“[ This scroll contains a Grade S defense spell called “Spatial Isolation” and as the name implies belongs to the rare space element, a defense magic scroll of this element is very rare to find. ]” (Elsa)
“[ You all know that it is very difficult to cross defenses of the space element, this parchment is a way of life for those who get it when their life is in danger, so I advise not to let this chance pass. ]” (Elsa)
“[ Let’s start with an initial value of 180 gold coins, the minimum value of each bid must be from 20 gold coins, let the bidding begin! ]” (Elsa)
“She’s right, space magic is very difficult to fight.” (Sophia)
“Why do you suddenly say that Sophia?” (I)
“The truth is that it was a space element wizard that turned me into a slave, he was weak but I couldn’t get through the defenses of his magic and I ended up being unilaterally beaten by him to near-death state, you saw how I was .” (Sophia)
“(Looks like I’m going to have to get some space element skill if we’re going to be safe when facing someone like that in the future.)” (Zenos)
“It would be a good master, but don’t be in a hurry, as the auctioneer said before, this is a rare element, you don’t see people with this element very often, maybe in this whole city there may not even be three of them and that’s just because this city has two dungeons.” (I)
“(But it’s still good to have that sort of thing in mind, I’ll write it down so I don’t forget.)” (Zenos)
“You worry too much.” (I)
“Is Father saying anything?” (Irius)
“That plan freak is thinking about countermeasures against the space element, he’s too cautious.” (Byakko)
“I think the master is right, I have not been so cautious in the past, and look what happened.” (Sophia)
While we were talking they continued the auction, we were more and more impressed by the things that appeared like banned books, rare books, weapons, armor, potions, poisons, drugs, rare monster materials, etc.
We were impressed by everything as I knew how hard these things were to find, Irius didn’t like seeing poisons and drugs being sold and complained how much suffering would come from these items after they left here.
But there’s nothing we can do, even if stopping it now wouldn’t change anything, this kind of thing will always exist, it’s no use fighting every bad thing there is, it would be an endless and useless fight, all we can do is our best as far as we can reach with our hands, that’s what the master asked me to tell Irius to calm him down, and I really liked that way of thinking.
The master told me that Irius seemed to have a great sense of right and wrong that he hid inside as he and his sister were required to do a lot of things when they were controlled by the control symbol, but now that they were free they are releasing their true personalities that they hid before.
Sophia no longer cared about any of the things being sold, at least until the slaves started to be sold one by one.
When slaves White Elves and Dark Elves were sold she was furious but knew there was nothing to do, it was no surprise to see women reaching a higher value than men and we knew what their fates would be.
The master who always curiously commented on every item in the auction refrained from saying anything about the slaves, but I could sense his displeasure through our connection.
It was at this time that something we had been waiting for finally appeared, a Dwarf with chains on his hands and legs walked to the center of the stage being escorted by a muscular man like all the slaves before him.
“[ Now we have here an item of great value for everyone, this is a Dwarf with the rare metal element, he also has the works of Blacksmith and Warrior, he is someone of great talent both in combat and making weapons and armor, I don’t need to remind you how valuable a Dwarf Blacksmith who possesses the element of Metal is. ]” (Elsa)
“[ Due to the rarity of such an item let’s start with a value of 2 crystal coins, each bid must be at least 1000 gold coins, let the bidding begin! ]” (Elsa)
Finally what we were waiting for appeared.
“(Wait until the bids go down a bit before you start bidding, be sure to bring him.)” (Zenos)
“Yes Master.” (I)
“Irius get ready, the master said to wait for the bids to decrease a bit before placing bids, this was the person we were wanting not to lose him.” (I)
“All right.” (Irius)
When the value reached 10 Crystal Coins there were almost no more bids and that was when we entered the bidding war, luckily we were able to buy this Dwarf for a price of 12 Crystal Coins.
“[ Congratulations to the lucky ones for this good purchase, now let’s take a short break of twenty minutes before restarting the auction. ]” (Elsa)
“It came out a lot more expensive than I imagined.” (I)
“The Black Market deserves its reputation, the value was a little high but this Dwarf is worth every penny, he has the metal element, he has the Blacksmith’s work and he is a Dwarf whose entire culture of his race is built around the Forge .” (Irius)
“(One of our objectives for this auction is fulfilled, two to go.)” (Zenos)
Knock Knock
While we were talking we heard a knock on the door before it opened and the Elf Vampire Jay who was the receptionist who accompanied us to this room came in along with the Dwarf who was just a few minutes appearing in the crystal wall, there was also a human woman wearing a mask along with them.
“I’m here to bring the item you bought at auction, this is the current master of this slave and a slave trader who works for us, I would like to know who we can pass the slave to.” (Jay)
“(You can pass to Irius.)” (Zenos)
“Pass it to him.” (I)
Following the master’s orders I point to Irius, he looked at me and nodded knowing who the orders came from, it doesn’t really matter who the slave goes to in the end.
After performing the slave master exchange, the Human woman and receptionist Jay walk out the door and close it.
Finally, we can see the Dwarf, he is five feet tall or so, but his body is too muscular for someone his height, he has big messy brown hair and beard and black eyes, it’s always hard to know the age of a Dwarf but as he doesn’t have any white hair he shouldn’t be too old.
He’s been quiet so far but I can see the anger spilling out of his eyes.
“You can speak freely while we’re alone in this room.” (I)
“…” (Dwarf)
“I’ll avoid introducing ourselves until we get out of here, but could you tell us your name?” (I)
“What good is it for me to say my name, even death would be better than this dishonor.” (Dwarf)
“Dwarves and your honor, you still haven’t realized how lucky you’ve been.” (Sophia)
“How can it be considered luck, to be used to make weapons for criminals until the end of my days and to be separated from what I love most in this world.” (Dwarf)
“(I think you’d better clarify things for this Dwarf, take the time to tell him everything we’ve talked about before.)” (Zenos)
“(Okay master.)” (I)
We take the break to explain the type of work we expect from him, how he will be rewarded for his work, how he will have a choice of permanently joining our group or being a contractor, and we even say we will pay him an inn.
I don’t even need him to answer to know he didn’t believe a word we said, you can see in his eyes his doubt in us, but I can’t blame him, anyone, who heard what we’re promising a slave would think we are crazy.
“I understand that someone in your situation is skeptical that someone strange and masked promises you all the terms of a normal job, but think about it please, you’re already our slave and we don’t need to lie to you.” (I)
“…” (Dwarf)
Sigh
“You’re right, not the reason you guys lie to me or spend so much time calmly convincing me in a situation like this, let me introduce myself, my name is Anton.” (Anton)
We were relieved to see that he understood us and believed what we said, at least until he knelt in front of us and lowered his head to the floor.
“If everything you promised me is true I just have to thank you, it pains me to ask you more but I’m desperate, please I beg you to buy my wife too.” (Anton)