"Firstly! We have a box containing firestones from the nation of Vesta. The nation born of fire itself!" The auctioneer shouts to the crowd.
Vesta. The nation of the hearth. Certainly the firestones from there should be powerful. Though, if a mage already possesses fire magic, those stones will be useless. Usually, magic stones are used by those who can't use magic because of their age or because they do not possess the specific elemental magic a stone would have.
Hm, what magic did Violette have again?
It was shadow magic, yes. Since I can't use fire, I think it'll be beneficial to have some of those. I can't use magic yet, so maybe I'll look out for those.
"100 gold!"
"150 gold!"
"300 gold!"
People from the crowd yelled out their bids.
"300 gold! Will anyone else be getting higher than that?!"
100 gold in this world is around 15,000 yen in my world. 45,000 yen for some rocks is insane, I must say. Comparing it to the charms I just bought, I think I got scammed.
I look over to the person who bought the firestone. They wore the same cloak as the pink-eyed man. Oh, is it him? That man with the peculiar eyes was next to me the whole time. God, I hope he doesn't notice me. Though, those firestones…I wonder what he'll use it for.
"Next we have an ancient dragon's scale! The starting bid is 5,000!"
"6,000 gold!"
"7,500 gold!"
"15,000 gold!"
Geez… that man is just buying everything. Not only that, he'll double the bid of the previous person.
It's gotten really competitive since the start.
This seems fun though, maybe I can try.
"At the start of the auction, we had firestones, now we shall have waterstones. These aren't just ordinary waterstones, my dear audience. These are said to be found in the mines near a mermaid's cove!" The auctioneer announced.
Mermaids?! That's certainly piqued my interest!
"750 gold!" I raised my voice high, not paying attention to anyone else who may bid as well.
"My goodness! I've never seen someone bid so much on magic stones. Could we have a specialist on our hands? Going for 750, I don't hear any other bids, 750 it is!"
I giggle in victory. My first ever bid on an auction. Those stones will certainly come in handy. Naturally, I would want to buy things that will protect me from Marian. As a fire mage, water magic would be her biggest weakness.
The auction went on for a while. Gemstones, magical artifacts, magic scrolls. I wish I could have bought them all, but I don't want to spend my money if it wasn't necessary. Though, there was this teleportation scroll that was auctioned.
Except some woman bought it for 30,000. I wasn't going to compete with that. She seems crazy.
"Finally, the whole night has led up to this point!" The auctioneer's voice was louder and clearer than ever. They brought something up to the stage. A cloth was hiding it, but I could see it was some sort of box. The auctioneer waited a while, getting everyone in the building hyped up.
Everyone started whispering. Then, he pulls the cloth clean off, revealing a glass case. The crowd wowed. The glistening contents of the glass case shines brilliantly. Compared to everything else that was auctioned, this was in its own league.
"The White Hyacinth! A necklace with a white diamond from the nation of Lorelei!"
The White Hyacinth, a white diamond regalia in the shape of a hyacinth flower.
Wait…that necklace. Isn't that the one Emory-!
"50,000"
"Huh-!?" I turned to the direction of the sound. Far on the other side of the auditorium was the man who shouted his bid. He wore a deep blue cloak with silver patterns.
Is that Emory? The necklace on display right now was the necklace Emory gave Isadora on her 18th birthday. From then on, the necklace became her regalia, allowing her to use her magic.
He's bidding for it here. Is this where he got it?
50,000 gold for a regalia, that's absurd. Why does he want it though? Most regalia go for 10,000 at most. What's so special about this one?
No, if he wants it this bad, then there will be a meaning behind this.
I could… I could use this to negotiate with Emory.
"5-55,000 gold!" I fumbled my words.
The crowd gasps.
"70,000 gold,"
Shit, he's raising the bid so high. Though, this means he's desperate to get it. Will I have enough to afford it? This could pay off. It needs to pay off.
"80,000 gold!"
"90,000 gold!"
Damn it, so much money. The auctioneer was making a show out of everything. That's it, I can't let this go on. I need to go all out.
"100,000 gold!" My final offer, all that I can make. Any higher, and I won't be able to afford it. I bite my bottom lip hard.
"250,000 gold…" Emory's eyes were dark as they looked at me. It gave me the shivers. That's so much… is it even worth it at this point?
"Holy! Fucking! Shittttttt! That's incredible! That's 5 times the original amount! This man must really want the necklace! Just how much will the young lady bid?! How much?! Would she even?! Will she?! Will she!?!?"
I can't get higher than that. That's so much money.
Just how desperate are you for this necklace, Emory Zephyr?
"500,000 gold!"
HUH-?!
Someone else bidded 500,000 gold?! Just who-?!
The person sat on their chair, smugly watching the crowd go wild. That person, the man with pink eyes! 500,000 gold for a regalia? That's 10 times the original bid…
Just who is he?!
"OH MEIN GOTT!!! WHAT A TWIST! ARE YOU SEEING THIS MY DEAR AUDIENCE?!?!"
Everyone was creating a commotion.
I look over at Emory. Dear god, he was pissed. His teeth were gritted, his hands clenched into fists and he was shaking out of anger.
"The white hyacinth shall be going for 500,000 gold!"