It didn't take long for Theo and Lucia to prepare their horses and leave towards the inner city. Both Theo's and Lucia's guardian knights talked a bit before departure and formed an escort that surrounded the boy and the girl from all sides, letting only Arthur and Diana move close to them.

Lucia didn't pay any attention to that and just continued to talk with Theo, telling him about different monsters she sent to family tamers. Theo listened to her words with a smile but quickly sobered up himself as they approached the inner city. Of course, he didn't show any vigilance on his face and just continued to talk to his little sister.

It didn't take long for Theo and Lucia to pass through the gates at the entrance to the Freinos inner domain, and enter into one of the loud streets of the inner city.

Unlike the people that lived in the Freinos inner domain, citizens here were used to see different nobles every day, and most of them didn't even pay attention to Theo's group, but there were also those who knew about the insignias of the city's noble houses, and they were flabbergasted when they realized who those knights were escorting. So, they rushed in different directions to tell about the news as soon as possible.

The appearance of the young generation of the main noble family in the inner or outer city was quite a rare occurrence, and many people with daughters and sons couldn't afford to lose such a chance. A well-made set of accidents could help them become related to the main family in the city. Unfortunately, guardian knights knew their job, and the probability of the fact that someone unknown would approach Theo and Lucia was tiny.

The further they went, the more people they saw, there were: rich merchants, other noble family's retainers, adventurers, patrol squads, and others. Soon, they stopped near the beautifully looking building on one of the merchant districts.

Leaving a small group of knights to take care of their horses, Theo, Lucia their knights entered the auction house.

The moment they passed through the entrance, a man with grey hair appeared to greet them.

"Greetings, dear guests, this is the branch of the "Golden auction house", how can I help you," asked the man, looking at Theo and Lucia.

Just a glance was enough to see that he wasn't the local, he had a bit whiter skin color, and his behavior differed from the locals.

"We came for today's auction, we have a room, prepared for us," said Lucia, sending a coin with Freinos family insignia on it to the man.

The man spent several moments staring at the coin before raising his head.

"You may proceed, dear guests, " said the man, returning the coin, "We will start the auction in half the hour."

Theo and Lucia nodded before moving in a certain direction where their family room was located.

A short time later, they were sitting in their places with their personal aides serving them while 5 guardian knights stayed with them inside the room and 6 more outside the doors.

Theo and Lucia continued to talk and drink juice until a beautiful woman in a red dress didn't appear below on the platform.

The "Golden auction house" here in Freinos city had only one auction platform with around 150 seats and 20 vip rooms, most of which were automatically booked for local noble families and forces with influence.

The appearance of the beautiful woman in a red dress emphasized her curves and her figure, so, it wasn't a problem for her to quickly attract all the attention from the audience.

"Greetings, dear guests, ladies, and gentlemen." said the woman, bowing to the audience, "Today, our auction house has prepared quite unique goods for you. There would be many goods, beginning from training resources, unique knowledge, amazing weapons, and even monsters."

"I know that everyone here was waiting for this auction, so let's start right away," said the woman, signaling to someone to the right from here.

A moment later another woman appeared, holding a salver with several pills on it.

"The 1st lot for today is the alchemical training pill that can help a knight to make a breakthrough to the Great knight realm, increasing the probability of success. The starting price for this pill is 5000 coins," explained the woman with a bright smile on her lips.

Just as she finished her speech, the people in the audience showed joyful expressions on their faces and started bidding for the pill.

"6000 coins"

"6500 coins"

"8000"

The bidding continued for some time until it stopped around 12000 golden coins for the pill, and was sold to one of the adventurers in the audience.

Theo and other potential guests in the VIP rooms showed no interest in this lot, and let the people below have fun. In fact, people with their statuses could easily get several pills like that at any time they wanted.

The woman smiled when the 1st lot was sold for 12000 golden coins, so when the servant took the lot, she quickly sighed to calm down herself before continuing the auction.

The auction continued for another 40 minutes, several rare knowledge scrolls, amazing weapons made by dwarves, scrolls with rare spells, and even monsters appeared before the public. During the whole, that time guests in the VIP rooms stayed inactive, and only once a guest from one room participated in the bid for a scroll with the wind spell. Lucia also wanted to bid several times when she saw beautiful and fluffy monsters, appearing on the platform, but Theo shook his head refusing to spend his money on them.

The auction was approaching its end when the woman smiled and looked at the audience.

"Now, it's time for the last lots to appear," said the woman, turning to the right.

The moment later several tall men appeared, holding a cage from the 4 sides. Inside the cage was a 1-meter hydra that was roaring at the men near the cage. The hydra had green scales, sharp claws, 4 limbs, a tail, and a long neck. Just a glance was enough to see that it was injured, and was caught from the wildlands.

The appearance of such a monster shocked some of the guests while others showed eager expressions on their faces. They wanted to start bidding when another servant appeared holding 3 eggs in the salver.

Delighted with the effect the hydra and its eggs made to the public, the woman in a red dress rushed to do her work.

"This is the rare lot even for professional monster hunters, This is the mutated hydra that is bigger than the ordinary swamp hydras, it also has a unique trait that differs it from other hydras," said the woman, right at the time when hydra spat out the poison at the magic barrier that was covering the cage.

The moment the public saw what the hydra did, many faces changed and they prepared themselves for the bidding.

The guests in the VIP rooms weren't exceptions while Lucia jumped from her place the moment she saw the hydra.

"Brother, I want that green lizard, and want to take its eggs, it would be a nice addition to our family collection," said Lucia with an impatient expression on her face.

Theo spent several moments analyzing the hydra before moving his glance at Lucia.

"Fine, it has the potential to become the guardian beast. Besides, it also has 3 eggs that we can nurture and make much stronger than their parent," said Theo, "However, I will be the one who would bid for that hydra, I don't want to spend an excessive amount of my money that I saved for years for your bidding."

Lucia made a grumpy expression on her face as if Theo has just taken away her favorite toy, but quickly sobered up, nodding at him.

At the same time, the woman in the red dress finished telling about the hydra and was finishing her speech.

"The initial price for this lot is 20 000 gold coins," said the woman with an impatient smile on her lips.

Almost momentaneously several people raised their voices, starting the bidding.

"25 000"

"28 000"

"30 000"

The guests in the seats below continued to bid for some time before raising the price to 50 000 when a voice didn't come from one of the VIP rooms.

"80 000 gold coins"

The people below turned silent for several moments, they knew that they can't no longer participate in the bid when the guest from the VIP room raised the price so much.

The auction house stayed silent for several moments until a woman's voice didn't resound across the hall.

"The guest from VIP room #9 has bid 80 000 gold coins. Is there anyone who wants to add more?" asked the woman, concentrating her gaze at the VIP rooms.

In fact, a moment later another voice came from another VIP room.

"I bid 120 000 gold coins," said the woman's voice.

A man in the previous VIP room made a "Hmm" sound before raising his bid.

"150 000 gold coins,"

The bidding that was happening right now looked crazy for ordinary guests, but it looked different for others in those VIP rooms. In fact, the ones who were bidding for the hydra were the representatives of 2 strong noble families of the city. The man was sitting in the room of Belkot family, while the woman in the Roland family. It was a well-known fact these 2 families compete against each other, and even their family heads were opponents of each other.

Understanding that if he continued to let them bid, those 2 would raise the price to the enormous sum just not to let their opponent get a good thing from the auction, so Theo hurried to make a bid before they raised the sum even further.

"220 000 gold coins," said Theo, quickly attracting attention from all the guests in the auction house.

In fact, it was quite common for guests to see how different representatives fought against each other for the bids, but there were rare moments when the representative in the 1st VIP room participated in the auction. So, the fact that someone bid for the lot from that room meant many things, and it didn't take long for many potential bidders to stop and shut their mouths.

The hall turned silent for several moments while the woman waited for a new increase in price with a sad expression on her face.

The more she waited, the sadder expression became, she even tried to use her charming techniques to try to increase the price, but it was a failure.

So, releasing a sad sigh, she raised her head and looked at the audience.

"The hydra lot and its 3 eggs were sold for the reputable guest from the VIP room #1." said the woman, signaling for a servant to take the lot behind the scene,"

The moment she finished her announcement, Theo released a relieved sigh, relaxing in his chair. In fact, he only had 300 000 thousand gold coins, he saved up for years when he couldn't train, and if those VIP guests continued to raise the price, he wouldn't be able to get it. Only now he realized that all the lots in today's auction were quite expensive, especially monster lots, so it became clear that Lucia set a trap for him from the start when she agreed to his terms. He could only sigh, shifting his attention to how the hydra would become a guardian beast, and how it would protect the family.

However, a moment later, Lucia interrupted him from his thoughts by jumping at him, hugging and kissing in the process.

"Thank you, brother, you are the best," said Lucia while she continued to kiss Theo.

Theo could only smile and release a tired sigh, realizing that he has just spent more than half of his personal wealth for that hydra. He will have to do missions or hunt with his elder sisters if he wanted to get more gold coins in the future. Anyway, the gold coins didn't play a major role in his development, he wouldn't need them while he stays with his family where he could use his huge amount of saved merit points to continue to progress both in magic and battle energy.

Hugging Lucia for several minutes, Theo released her, caressing her hair in the process.

"Now, since we bought a new monster for our family tamers, let's hurry and return to see how they would tame the hydra," said Theo with a smile on his lips.

Lucia nodded to Theo's words and quickly prepared herself before looking at Diana and Arthur.

"Go tell them to deliver the hydra and its eggs to the gates to Freinos inner domain," ordered Lucia.

A moment later both the servants rushed to complete her order, while Lucia turned her head and looked at the 5 guardian knights that were sitting behind them.

"Go, prepare the horses, I want to return back as soon as possible," said impatient Lucia, looking at how Gill quickly left the room to complete the order.