At nightfall, I went to bed in one of the bunkrooms and logged out. It was great not having to pay five silver for a night at the inn. Nevertheless, we were paying the Locals in our area two gold per day to keep an eye out for trouble-makers. With 21 of us, it was still cheaper than renting beds at the inn though.

Soon after logging out I found myself in the dining area, sitting at a table for myself, doing what I liked best when in a crowded room: Observing, instead of participating. I watched as the members of my guild, intermingled mostly effortlessly. Ed’s father, Robert, seemed to be having a bit of a temper, which made the others stay a little cautious around him. Not fretful, just cautious about triggering his tirades, but not to the point of excluding him.

Miss Elleby and Nise’s Aunt had their hands full with taking care of the kids, even Fai had joined them at the kids’ table instead of dining with his father. Remarkably how fast children can become friends with other kids.

Hei and Kira were in a deep discussion about something. Most likely martial arts of some kind, if their short illustrations of striking points and defensive techniques were any indication. Otherwise, the rest seemed to have formed into their normal pairings and groups, nothing out of the ordinary.

I was just finishing up my delicious NutriShake when Alicia darted over to my table. I smiled down at her. “Hey, there munchkin.”

She looked up at me with her grey eyes. “Hey, Damian.”

“What can I help you with?”

She looked back over her shoulder, seeming to search for something or someone. I tried to follow her gaze as well as I could, and if I had to take a guess, she was watching her mother talking with some of the other new members. Alicia turned back to me and asked, “What’s your favourite animal?”

“Well, I would probably say a cat, especially when they’re kittens. Animals are generally cuter when they’re young,” I said with a slight smile. Hopefully, Mia would relent on Alicia’s grounding soon, so I could help her again, and sneak a few pets at the cats or rabbits.

“But I already have cats,” Alicia said with a frown.

“Okay, so you want me to pick something you don’t have?” I asked. She nodded seriously. I was tempted to just say dogs, but that would not really be true. Sure I liked the big dogs, but I still thought cats were superior. To buy some time while thinking over it, I finished my NutriShake and took the glass to the recycler.

The short minute had given me time to think. I considered a parrot, koala or maybe even a sloth, but instead, I had chosen something else. “A giant tortoise.”

“Tor—” she started saying but then stumbled over the words. “Uhm, what is that?”

“A turtle that lives on land. The truly old ones become large enough for you to ride on it.”

“Cool,” she exclaimed loudly, silencing some of the room. Looking up, I saw Mia looking at Alicia.

The reaction was immediate. Mia’s voice cracked like a whip. “Alicia, sit down. I’ve told you not to pester Mister Damian.”

“But—” Alicia tried to protest.

“No buts, go back to your seat and finish dinner, or I won’t allow you to play your game,” Mia said sternly, halfway getting out of her chair.

“No!” Alicia gasped and ran back to her seat as quickly as her small legs could carry her. I wanted to say something, but it was really not my place. She might be my employee, but it was her child.

Since I was done with my delicious dinner, I made my way back to my room to log back in. I could get a few hours of work done before it was time to go to the Monthly Auction.

Most of the night had gone with making bone meal to fertilize all 29 fields and plots we had planted in the basement and outside. If it continued at the current pace, we would need to buy more land inside the town, or maybe look into building something outside it. The rest of the night had been spent making manastones.

When I was ready to make my way to the Auction House, I was only half-way surprised by my entourage. Robin, Marion, Nise and Kira were there, and so were Phil and Mia. I was not the least bit surprised by the fact that Hannah joined us when we passed through the main square.

We would have made quite a spectacle as we moved to the auction house, if not for the fact that the streets were more or less empty for players. We arrived at the auction house with more time to spare than last time and had to wait a bit before we could enter because a red-haired female was making a fuss.

“What do you mean I can’t enter?” the black leather-clad player asked angrily.

The female guard rolled her eyes, while the male guard answered in an even voice, “You don’t live up to the dress code, and you don’t have the five hundred platinum entrance fee required.”

“Five hundred? It’s just an auction!” the player screeched.

“It’s not just an auction, it’s the monthly auction. An event where the best, rarest, most unique and definitely the most expensive items will be up for sale. Now step aside before we force you away,” the guard said. “We have real customers that need to enter.”

The player turned around and looked us up and down, and I noticed it was the same player who had complained at Fillard’s the day before. She looked familiar, not just that I had seen her the day before, but from my other lifetime. She turned back to the guard and said with a snort, “Don’t tell me they’ve four thousand platinum to pay for the entrance fee.”

“They’ve got an entrance token, which is all you need to know. Now move, or get hurt,” the female guard growled.

“Whatever,” the player stuck her nose in the sky and started walking away.

“Sorry about that,” the male guard said to us. “Please enter.”

As soon as we entered, the female clerk behind the counter greeted us with enthusiasm, “Good morning. The VIP lounge is ready for you.”

“Thank you,” Kira said as we followed her to the room we were in before.

After opening the doors for us, the clerk said, “The auction starts in thirty minutes, and are expected to last three hours. As before, the drinks and food are free for consumption.”

We said our thanks and waited for the door to close, while the two newcomers gawked at the room. Well, mostly it was Mia who did the gawking. Phil had taken one look around the opulent room and then zeroed in on the available food. Marion was already stocking a plate with chocolate delicacies, something that had not been there the last time. It would seem that we were afforded more luxuries at the monthly auction.

“How can we afford this? I thought credits were tight at the moment?” Mia asked.

With a small laugh, I answered, “This is free.”

“Free? How?” She sounded stupefied.

“Because of twelve charms like the one you have,” I said, and poured a small glass of white wine for myself. Unfortunately, there was only wine available. Some light cider would have been better. Or some tea. Tea would have been perfect.

“But it’s only worth five platinum,” she protested. “It sounded like the items will be very expensive in this auction.”

“Well each of them sold for over twenty platinum at the last auction, which was a smaller and more localized affair. Most auctions are usually only empire-wide affairs, except in the case of resource auctions, while the monthly has patrons from all nine empires,” I explained and noticed the others were listening as well.

I took a sip of the wine before continuing, “Nevertheless, you are right about the charms not being worth much. To us, they’re worth a lot, but to the people at this auction, it’ll most likely be the cheapest item there. The reason why we got all this is that it’s a new shiny type of magic item, and there hasn’t been one in hundreds of years. So they wanted them in the auction for the uniqueness, but it’ll be gone after this auction. Don’t expect this treatment again in a very long time.”

There was silence for a moment as people digested my explanation. It was Hannah that spoke up first, “How much do you expect the charms will sell for today?”

“Hopefully at least thirty platinum each, or maybe as much as fifty, if the previous auction is any indication. But it really depends on who is in attendance. To most of them, it’ll just be a curio, something to add to their collection or stick on a shelf somewhere, not something to spend a lot of coins on,” I answered with a shrug. I grabbed some grapes, oranges and managed to sneak a few chocolates onto my plate as well. It would not fatten me after all, but getting a taste for them would be bad since I could not afford them in the real world.

The others were chatting away happily, munching on the snacks. I knew I should join them, but I was not one for small talk really. Especially not when I was nervous. I was trying not to show it, but the fact was that I needed this auction to be a successful one, or some of the people I had taken under my wings would most likely be heading to the Coffins. I was not certain I would be able to raise the money any other way I would need at least three hundred platinum after the fees were paid, otherwise, I was not sure we could scrape the credits together by the end of the months.

Well that was not wholly truthful. If I did nothing but butchering rabbits, now that I would be getting Average or Above Average quality all the time, I might be able to raise a lot of the credits needed by butchering. However, that would mean I would be doing nothing but butchering rabbits, which would bring no XP, and the guild would need to spend most of their time hunting them, which would cripple our future development.

“Why the long face?” Hannah suddenly asked me. Looking up in surprise, I saw she had extricated herself from the group, and was sitting across from me.

“Huh?” was my brilliant reply.

“This should be a happy occasion, why are you looking so serious?”

I took a moment before answering in a low voice, “Because I need this to succeed. I can’t fail to raise the credits needed before the month’s end. If I do, someone will be going into the Coffins.”

“I thought things were going pretty well for your guild,” she said. “I mean, I just talked with Blaze yesterday, and he said your expedition had been a smashing success.”

“Oh it was, but we’ve overextended ourselves by bringing everyone’s family aboard.”

“Why the hurry?” she asked with a frown. “Doesn’t seem like a smart cautious move, which I had pegged you for.”

“If you remember our conversation about Dawnguard,” I said, and noticed her face harden immediately at their mention. “They were throwing their weight around, and I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.”

“I guess I can understand that.”

“So it’s important for me that this succeeds. I need to protect everyone.”

“Why do you feel it’s your job to protect everyone?” she asked.

“This is starting to sound like an interview,” I said with a half-smile.

“Sorry, professional habits die hard,” she said with a small blush. “This was meant to be a conversation between friends.”

“I’m glad you consider me a friend,” I responded and meant it. I might be a loner at heart, but friends were always nice to have. “And I need to protect everyone because I put them in the crosshair of a lunatic.”

“Marcus?”

“Yeah.”

Marion wandered over and scolded us. “Stop being so serious, we want to go mingle with the rich and powerful people you say will be at this shindig.”

Looking at her, I said, “While you look lovely, I highly doubt many of the people will be talking with us. Expect the attendees to be royalty.”

“You mean dukes, princes and so on?”

“More likely kings and queens, maybe even an emperor or two.”

“Holy shit,” Hannah gasped. “Not even the top-rated guilds have been able to get an audience with a king, much less an emperor yet. And you’re saying we’re about to rub shoulders with them?”

“Not likely, they’ll be in private meeting halls. You’ll probably run into a prince or princess. Definitely the higher tiers of nobility. So behave, any wrong word could cripple the guild,” I warned the rest of them and put my plate to the side. I looked forlornly at it. I had managed to taste the oranges and some grapes, which had been absolutely delicious and succulent. However, the chocolates lay untouched. I quickly snatched one, before laying down on the reclining couch and touched the orb. The chocolate melted in my mouth as I was transported the auction house’s entrance hall. The rich taste of cocoa filled my senses before I left my avatar behind.

Taking a look around, I saw I was easily the most shabbily dressed in the room, I reckoned I barely passed the dress code. The entrance hall was the largest one I had seen yet, but that was to be expected of the oldest auction house in the world. It also seemed pretty empty, though there had to be hundreds of people mingling.

This particular auction house was only used once a month for the monthly auctions and was maintained by all the other auction houses. Too bad that it would vanish like all the other auction houses once the main continent was evacuated.

“Wow, this is much bigger than the last one,” Nise said from beside me as she looked around.

“Indeed Miss,” a nicely dressed man nearby said, and then gave a bow. “Mister Heosphoros and party, allow me to welcome you. My name is Valdis, and I have been assigned to attend to your needs while here.”

“Greetings Valdis, you have my thanks. We had not expected such largesse, we’re simply here to see how well my wares sell,” I said, a little embarrassed at having someone bow to me.

“Nonsense, every box comes with an attendant. And you shall receive no less than the others,” he said and then produced a scroll. “This is a note worth three hundred platinum, which you can spend if you see anything you like. It’s the minimum we expect your charms to sell for.”

“I’m not sure that three hundred would be enough to buy much,” I said sardonically.

He gave a polite laugh at that. “You’re right, however, you never know. Do you wish to mingle, or go directly to your box?”

Looking back at the others, I got a mixed signal. Nise, Phil, Robin and Mia said box, while the three others wanted to mingle. Turning back to Valdis, I asked, “Could you lead the four of them to the box?”

“Very well Sir, I will be back in ten minutes to get you. The auction starts in twelve,” he said. He then reached a hand out, and the four who wanted to go to the box vanished, as did he.

“What happened?” Marion asked, looking around.

“Teleport. This auction house is too large to move around. We would likely need to walk twenty minutes or so to get to our box,” I said.

“So, what do we do now?” Kira asked.

I looked at her with an arched eyebrow. “You’re the one who wanted to stay and mingle.”

“Uhm, sounded fun, but actually doing it seems a bit scary now,” she admitted. “Have you seen how they’re looking at us?”

“Of course, they look at you, when you’re dressed like this,” an aristocratic female voice sounded from behind. Turning around I saw a distinguished blonde woman. You did not need verbal or somatic components to activate Inspect, so that was what I did. All I got from her was a title and name; Duchess Adelita Hawk. With that last name, it most likely meant that she identified with the ancient birdkin race, which meant she was most likely from the Cloud Empire.

She continued speaking, while I took in her details, “While your dresses are lovely, they’re made of poor quality material, no visible runes. All signs of paupers who do not really belong here. Which means that you are either some lucky sods that found an ancient artefact, of which none is in the catalogue today. The other option is that you are Travellers.”

She pointed to a group who was looking around almost as awed as my companions did. I recognized all of them immediately. Aragoth and Marcus were the first I noticed, but I also recognized the guild leaders of a dozen other top 50 guilds.

The Duchess continued, “However, those that can afford to pay for the entry fee like them, have the good sense to buy top quality clothes, so it seems unlikely you have the coin to pay for entrance to this prestigious event. Which leads to only one conclusion, you are here because you are selling something, and the only thing being sold by Travellers is the Lucky Charms, which makes you Damian Heosphoros and his invited party.”

Hannah and Kira looked a bit impressed. Hannah voiced hers. “That’s a pretty good deduction. May I ask who you might be?”

“Duchess Hawk of the Cloud Empire,” she said. The girls introduced themselves. I just nodded in greeting. The Duchess tilted her head a bit. “You don’t look surprised at me deducing who you are?”

“If you really did it, I would be. Not to offend, the more likely scenario is that you inspected us, as is the custom when Locals meet Travellers since you need to make sure we’re not carrying a Judgement that could spell danger for you,” I said with an apologetic smile.

The girls looked a little aghast at my straightforward manner, but the Duchess just laughed. “Indeed, I used Inspect, but it sounds so pedestrian compared to my brilliant deduction. The truth is that I have been waiting for you to arrive.”

“You have?” I asked narrowing my eyes a bit. That tidbit of information did catch me by surprise.

“Indeed, my mentor has deduced how you made the Charms,” she said, which made me frown. Not because he could replicate it, no Local could use Trophies to create charms. What made me worry was if he would sell that information.

“Do not worry, he will not divulge that information, not even to me,” she said, and the last bit was said with a frown. “He simply wishes to meet with you when the auction is over.”

“May I inquire who your mentor might be?” I asked cautiously.

“Grandmaster Firebelly,” she said with a proud smile.

When she said the name, I felt a bit dizzy. Ignacious Firebelly was the greatest Runesmith still alive. There had been a large celebration in my previous life in the Cloud Empire when he reached level 350 in Runesmithing, meaning he had topped out for Locals. The next tier which became available at level 350 was Legendary, and no Local was able to gain that tier.

“I see that you have heard of him,” she said with a smug tone. I could only nod. She gave a bright smile. “I will have his attendant fetch you when the auction is over. Good luck.”

“Thank you,” I muttered to her retreating back.

“Who’s this grandmaster?” Hannah asked.

Marion had a question as well. “More important, what is it with those last names? They’re all more than a bit weird. I mean, they have mostly weird and exotic-sounding first names, but then they got those really weird and lame sounding last names like Redscale, Hawk. And don’t get me started Firebelly.”

“He’s the greatest Runesmith amongst the Locals. Emperors will bend over backwards to get something created by him,” I said still a bit dazed. “And with regards to the last names. You remember how the ancient races were almost eradicated in the first Rupture.”

“I think I heard something about that,” Marion said.

Kira groaned. “I hate lore.”

“Well, they had to interbreed to survive, which over the years created the human race, and their racial traits vanished, meaning they went extinct in a way. Humans are a mix of all the races. Anyway, when the population reached a point where it had to split up again to thrive, they split into nine separate countries. Or empires. Each one took the heritage of one of the ancient races. Their last names denote what race their family line identifies with,” I said.

“Interesting,” Hannah said. “So Firebelly would be a draconic family line?”

“Yes, and Duchess Hawk is from a birdkin line.”

“Well, now I feel bad for making fun of their names,” Marion said.

I gave a slight laugh at that. I had kept an eye on the guild leaders, and it seemed Marcus had noticed me. Not wanting a confrontation, I said, “Come let us get to the box.”

“But—” Marion protested.

“Marcus,” I said and pointed towards the group of players. He was still in the group, but he was staring at us with his cold eyes. Loudly I said, “Valdis, we’d like to go to our box now.”

He appeared out of thin air. “Certainly Sir.”

I was so happy that we were just spirits, and not in a physical body because that meant I felt no ill-effects of the teleportation.