“Oh, a shopping street you ask? I’m afraid the magi world hasn’t had such a place for a long time boy and for good reason. If you want to find a rare item you’ll have to make a deal with a family or group that has said item.” professor Idem told Villin after hearing his question.

The professor noticed the boy’s dismayed expression after hearing the reply and suddenly recalled something, “Oh, there is another way, though it is not meant for individuals.” the professor said as he thought of it. “Every year the Goodlaw family organizes an auction for all guilds within the magi world. It’s how Herman Goodlaw got the support and funds required to become a high councilmember. Sadly, the auction only caters to groups though since you need to have at least a hundred thousand crystals to be able to properly participate in the auction. If you are looking to see some rare items though, it’s the place to be, it truly is a spectacle to behold.” the professor finished, not realizing quite how rich Villin was.

“Thank you, professor,” Villin replied seriously after he listened to the old man’s words. Professor Idem taught students how to create spell blueprints, one of the two classes in the grade you had to participate in a couple of times. Even though Villin hadn’t taken the class yet, he knew professor Idem was one of the most experienced professors around that was always kind to students so he decided to contact him.

“Then, are students allowed to go to this auction? And how would you even get there?” he asked trying to get more information.

The kind professor looked at Villin and shook his head, “Students aren’t allowed to leave The Academy if it’s not for a mission in the fourth and fifth grade,” the professor began, but just like the last time, he seemed to recall something last second, “Then again, if you want to see how such an event goes, there should be a few missions to act as a guard. They would be in rather difficult tiles though and you would no doubt need to have a good status to be allowed in, even as security.” the professor lamented as he thought of Villin’s inquiries.

“Then, professor, would you happen to know where one could find such a mission?”

The professor looked at Villin for a couple of seconds with a neutral expression before cracking a smile, “Boy, you really think The Academy lets us know what missions are where? We don’t hold that kind of authority. All I know is that the mission should appear somewhere in the following ten days, since the auction this year will be happening around a month from now.” the professor said as he looked at Villin glistening eyes, “Now I need to teach another class in an hour and have some preparations to make, you should be on your way, and if you’re planning to try and become a guard, be careful, there has never been a year where the auction ends without any problems.” after explaining this matter to Villin, the professor left him be as he had to make some preparations for his class.

As Villin was walking through the now mostly empty streets of A1, he was lost in deep thought. So it appeared that there were only two ways to get certain items, either you deal with an entity or group who has them or you go to this auction. The former way had a lot of problems with them as every other school, and most families associated with a school that isn’t The Academy, probably wouldn’t be willing to deal with him. And if they did, he would probably be severely ripped off.

He also learned that the mission to become a guard for the auction should be up within the following ten days, since the auction was a month from now, this meant that the mission would be up for a total of twenty days.

Twenty days should be enough to have a look at a number of high-danger tiles that may hold this mission, but that was a matter for another day.

Walking through the streets, Villin felt rather comfortable. Even though tensions here had gotten sky-high, to the point where people wouldn’t go out on their own, he felt more at ease since the streets were quieter, if there was a group, he could keep a proper eye on them without too much trouble, he didn’t have to worry about focusing on five different locations at once.

He did pay a lot of attention to each group though. Due to what happened in Atlantis with Cornelius, Villin didn’t dare underestimate the malicious intent of students anymore. He looked at each student as a potential threat.

When Villin got closer to the tower, he felt that something was wrong using his transfiguration. He crouched down and touched the ground with his hands to help him focus and tried to sense what was going on near the tower in more detail.

There were two groups that seemed to be standing opposite each other. In front of the tower stood twenty students close to each other, denying the second group access to the tower. Said second group numbered sixty people, they seemed to be somewhat divided into a number of smaller groups but they were all facing Athena’s Forge.

After noticing this, Villin quickly tried to figure out where the other members of Athena’s Forge were. There was one group inside of the tower on the bottom floor, preparing to defend if the enemies managed to breach, Villin sensed Amelia’s familiar aura amongst them.

More, small groups could also be found all around though, small groups of members from Athena’s Forge seemed to be spread out, all of them faced with somewhat larger groups of opponents.

Realizing they were under attack, Villin quickly approached the main two groups to have a better look at what was going on, since no spells seemed to be getting sent yet, it seemed that the two groups were still talking.

After turning a few corners, Villin had a proper visual of the main situation. On one side were members of Athena’s Forge, Villin noticed Kayley and Rein were standing at the front as they seemed to be discussing something with the opponents, Rein had his brows furrowed as he seemed to be getting angry, “For the last time, we will not surrender anything of our own, if you wish to steal from us, give it your best shot!” Rein said in a provocative tone that wasn’t often heard on him.

Standing opposite the group from Athena’s Forge seemed to be an alliance by a number of other guilds. Villin quickly noted two things that made clear what had happened. The first notable point was the fact that all of the guilds here had been robbed in the last period of time, either by Athena’s Forge or other groups also choosing to don fox masks in the chaos.

The second important observation was the existence of a specific girl in the back of the group belonging to ‘Today’s Oddities’, the girl seemed to be trying to go unnoticed by the people from Athena’s Forge but Villin recognized her thanks to his great memory. It was a girl belonging to ‘The Black Swans’. It seemed that when she found out that Athena’s Forge was responsible for most of the attacks and seeing how high the reward offered for their information was, she couldn’t resist the temptation and sold them out.

Then, Today’s Oddities must’ve let a number of other affected guilds know of the situation and they marched here together with their combative forces intending to take back what was taken from them.

Since Villin didn’t bother to hide himself as he got closer to the tower, he was quickly noticed by both groups and he took the majority of the attention, “There! That’s Villin Grey, the leader of Athena’s Forge!” one of the opponents exclaimed while looking at their leader.

The commander of this allianced army seemed to belong to a combative guild called ‘The Soaring Eagles’. After thinking for a few moments, Villin actually recognized their crest, he had had an encounter with one of their members in the second grade. It was when he had just joined, he had some trouble with a guild called ‘The Shielding Lions’. Things were about to be resolved in a peaceful manner when a member of this guild riled up 'The Shielding Lions’ causing a fight to break out. After this, he hadn’t had any contact with the guild anymore though.

The commander was called Sylvia Russia, one of the greatest fighters of the grade. Villin actually recognized her name from a report Amelia had given him talking about the strongest fighters in the grade. Looking at the group, Villin also recognized a second person, a boy names ‘Juliano Cartenmino’, he belonged to a mercenary guild that hadn’t been attacked by ‘Athena’s Forge’, it seemed that they were paid to participate.

With two of the top fighters of the grade here, the situation looked dire, Villin didn’t show any stress on his face though as he slowly approached the two groups.