“Hello my baby girl. How’s your mum?” Eril asked ask he hugged the swallow-girl tightly.

“Mmn. Mum is busy getting things ready for tonight’s auction. They say there are a few special items on sale tonight and they are quite rare. Little sister Jielin you here for your training again?” She replied as she quickly peeled away from her father and smoothed out her slightly crumpled dress and feathers.

“JuHua, this is my second second disciple, she is called Kina. I’m here tonight for her training. This here is her mother, Isana,” Eril introduced, waving his hand to gesture at Kina and Isana.

“Oh? Welcome to the Great Oak merchant guild. My name is Juhua. I run this place with my mother. I didn’t think Dad would take on another disciple. Was Sayuri ok with that?” Juhua asked politely, bowing courteously in a professional manner.

“Let’s just say Sayuri didn’t have a choice.” Eril muttered as his wind spirit lord whizzed around from behind and caressed Juhua’s face.

“Miss Juhua, I have something I would like to auction, then use the money from it to buy within the auction, would that be possible?” Isana asked, stepping forwards.

“Miss Isana is it? I’m sorry but you will only get paid after the auction is over. However, if you don’t mind, I could buy it from you on behalf of the guild and pay you upfront. Whether we display it for auction though, is really up to my mum.” Juhua rejected her politely.

“Sure of course,” Isana nodded her head understandingly. “How much can I get for one of these?” Isana asked, pulling out one of the large skyrite crystals from inside her long kimono sleeve. In actual fact, she pulled it out of her PD but only did it in that manner to seem more ‘normal’.

“Oh my… my oh my…” Juhua gasped as she looked at the enormous skyrite crystal. “I… I can’t make a decision this big. Please wait for my mum!” She exclaimed as she shot back or through the door yelling at the top of her lungs for her mother. This reminded Kiefer of a familiar scene where he had shown the blacksmith’s daughter the adamantium scale he had taken from Sher’s tail.

Within moments, Juhua was back with another swallow bird woman. She was a little bigger, and exuded a mature aura. Taking small light steps, Juhua’s mother remained calm despite seeing the large skyrite crystal. Her features were somewhat similar to Eril, with visible signs of aging. The feathers were not as smooth and sleek as Juhua’s or Jielin’s, but she carried herself with an air of authority.

“Hello dear customer. Hello again scumbag.” She greeted, first addressing Isana, then to Eril. Eril had a guilty smug on his face, looking away ever so slightly. “My name is Feiyan. I am the housemaster of this Auction house and merchant guild. My daughter tells me you intend to sell this. How much are you looking for?”

“Good evening Miss Feiyan. I’m looking at about a million gold coins for this crystal. However, I’d be more than willing to take house credit. How much can you give me for these?” Isana asked, pulling out 4 more crystals of similar size. Feiyan’s usual calm demeanor and poker face broke instantly, her slim eyes widening and lower beak dropping so low Kiefer suspected it would have touched the ground considering her short stature.

However, as quickly as she lost her posture, Feiyan quickly readjusted herself, putting on a bright smile. She swiftly picked up each crystal, one after another and inspected them carefully. Finally putting down the last crystal, she cleared her throat and looked at Isana directly in the eye. “7 million gold coins worth of house credit,” she said in a crisp announcement. Eril seemed a little perturbed, and started to interrupt.

“Darling, don’t you think it’s a little low? These are my guests. Can’t you do a little more?” Eril pleaded.

“Hmmph!” Feiyan snorted. “You still have the nerve to call me your darling. You are lucky I even let you back into this tree after you left me 80 years ago. Don’t interrupt me when I’m doing business.”

Eril could only shrink back into his seat while Kina chuckled lightly. Feiyan directed her attention to Kina and Isana, putting her business smile back on. “And you must be Kina. Tell me, why did you decide to become a disciple of that stupid man?”

“My father forced me into it.” Kina replied curtly.

“I see. Well then since you are here for training, I’ll give you a little more. How about 8 million gold coins worth of house credit?” Feiyan continued. Isana simply nodded and thanked her before handing the 5 skyrite crystals over. She quietly kept the remaining 10 crystals within her PD, wondering if and when she will get the chance to use them.

“Well, now that we’ve settled our business, why don’t you follow me to your booth. The auction will be starting really soon. I’ll inform our registrars that your booth has 8 million in credit, which means you will be able to bid up to 12 million. Anything more than 8 million, you will have to top up after the auction, and if you want to bid over 12 million, you will have to lay down collateral on the spot.” Feiyan explained as she led the group to the auction stage.

The circular stage was not very big, only spanning about 10 metres across. There was a path leading from the storeroom to the stage, and another on the opposite side leading to the collection area. At first glance, it seemed like an open arena, but Kiefer, Isana and Kina could tell right away that there was a formidable wall of wind surrounding the sides of both paths and the circular stage. The auction house staffs were separated from the bidders to ensure their own safety.

The customer’s seats were located on all sides, with 4 entrances for them to enter. They were neatly arranged like a movie theatre, with the row behind being elevated a little to ensure everyone had a good view of the items displayed for bidding. Directly above the 4 exits were the four premium booths where Eril’s group had occupied the northern one.

Very soon, customers started streaming in from all 4 entrances and the other 3 booths were occupied. There was a distict difference between the birdmen within the 3 booths and those below. The main one being the others in the booths were all owl-men, significant dignitaries within the city. The birdmen below came from various species, but they were mostly dressed lavishly, with a few who chose to dress plainly, as if to stand out within the crowd of nobles.

Very soon, the crystals on the walls and ceilings dimmed, with only the ones above the stage and on the edges of the stage remaining lit. From the entry path leading to the stage, a single green feathered birdwoman walked gracefully to the middle of the stage. She seemed to be a sort of parrot, with a full body of green feathers and a bright orange curved beak. Her dress was not revealing, but instead elegantly highlighted her curves, stoking the flames in many of the birdmen’s hearts and pants.

“Yanqiu! How much for you!?” One of the bolder customers in the main seats yelled out, as several whistles followed and some laughter. The overall atmosphere seemed lighthearted as the MC Yanqiu smiled and blew a kiss to him.

“Hi everyone! Welcome back! Unfortunately, I’m not up for auction, but even if I were, will you be able to afford me? I require quite the heavy upkeep you know~~” She teased, eliciting more laughter from the crowd. “Well tonight, if you can’t afford any of the items, you won’t be able to afford me. Without further ado, please bring out the first item for tonight’s auction!”

As everyone’s attention focused on the entrance, they held their breath and the entire hall fell into a dead silence. All that could be heard were footsteps, the clinking of chains and scratching claw sound. There, a huge hawkman led a black and red wyvern by the chains onto the stage. Everybody gasped in awe as the wyvern obediently followed the hawkman, the chains slack and clinking, showing that there was absolutely zero resistance.

“This here is a wyvern that the last champion of the Grand Yurza tournament brought back from beyond the edges of our mighty continent. An absolute obedience spell has been placed on it by the nest of our rainbow mages. You can have this as a travelling partner, a bodyguard, or even just as an exotic pet! They are ferocious and have talons of steel. The red coloration on its body indicates that it is of a magma variant, allowing it to shoot balls of searing hot magma from its mouth. The black colouration shows that it has yet to fully mature, and yet it’s hide is already strong enough to withstand sword slashes. Starting price is 5000 gold coins!” Yanqiu made a rather lengthy explanation at hawking her products.

The booths were dimly lit and the moment the auction started, Kiefer realised that he could barely see any of the other bidders in the other booths. He could only deduce that it was meant for privacy. Seeing as it is safe, he came out from his optical camouflage while Kina and Isana removed their respective masks. Kina was already visibly drooling at the sight of the wyvern. Eril quickly stepped up, and took Kina’s hand to get her attention.

“Listen well Kina. We have 12 million gold coins to spare. Our objective today is to make all the other customers spend as much money as possible. Most of the big time bidders already know Jielin’s and my voice, so you will be doing the bidding today, pushing them to outbid you. Of course, if there is anything that you fancy, feel free to bid on your own accord.” Eril instructed. Kina nodded firmly as she inspected the whole area.

“Six Thousand!” one of the birdmen below hollered out.

“Seven thousand!”

“Eight thousand!” More and more bidders raised the price.

“Fifteen Thousand! I’m buying this as a gift for my wife!” a voice from one of the booths called out as the crystal at the top of the booth lit up.

“There,” Eril whispered to Kina. “That’s a sucker right there. Most men will do anything to please their wives. I suspect he has upset his wife somehow, and seeing as he is someone from a booth, he’s quite rich and you can probably swindle him.”

“Seventeen Thousand!” Kina called out quickly, hitting the button on the table which lit up the crystal above her booth.

In the other booth, Elder snow’s brows frowned and crinkled. He had not expected someone to outbid him despite his grossly high overbid. He had hoped that no one would contest seeing as how high he raised the price. The incident with the foreign people and the strange metallic structure had put him in quite a problematic position and in his frustration, he had yelled at his wife over a meagre issue. Now she’s been giving him the silent treatment for 2 weeks already. Knowing that she liked to collect exotic things, he was hoping the wyvern would satiate her.

“Eighteen!” another voice called out from below. It would seem that there was a third party who was also interested in the wyvern.

“Now you see that guy who just outbid you?” Eril asked pointing at the lavishly dressed rainbow lorikeet down below. “Look carefully at his expression as he continues to bid and tell me what you think.”

“Twenty! Please give me some face!” Elder snow called out once more. Twenty thousand was nowhere near his budget, but he still needed to save where he could. He could have just called out 50 thousand and shut out the other competitors, but that would be grossly wasteful.

“Twenty two!” the lorikeet continued to outbid, a sinister smile appearing on his face.

“Master. He’s smiling,” Kina whispered back.

“That’s right. And why do you think he’s smiling?” Eril asked back, reveling a sinister smile of his own.

“Ahh…. I see… He’s also playing with that other bidder. So we just let him do the work now?” Kina asked, a face of revelation plaster on her.

“Yes that’s right. You must remember, all lorikeets are smart, and some are cunning. They are the best mages in Yurza, that is of course after that monster of a dad you have. Even if he ends up winning the bid, he has nothing to lose since he is probably eager to conduct research on the wyvern. So now you have 2 choices.” Eril explained in a hush tone.

“Two choices?” Kina asked, confused. She had thought she would just sit this out and let the 2 bidders play with each other.

“On one hand, you have someone who needs to buy the product. On the other, you have a prideful mage who thinks he can mess with others. What do you do?” Eril posed a question.

“Twenty five!” The light on the other booth lit up once more.

“I’ll cut the player off, and force the other to end the deal.” Jielin whispered into Kina’s ear. She’s had had some training in this aspect and knew exactly what to do. “Bid 30 thousand.”

“Thirty!” Kina yelled out firmly. This came as a surprise to the lorikeet down below as he thought he had already pushed this bidder out of the game. Seeing that there were 2 bidders after the same product, he shut his half open beak, satisfied that he could push the prices up by a little.

“Thirty five!” Elder yelled out desperately, knowing this was getting out of hand. Silence ensued as he waited for the party in the opposite booth to raise the price once more.

After a while, Yanqiu spoke up finally. “Are there anymore bidders? 35 going once! 35 going twice! 35 thousand gold coins going thrice! SOLD! To the gentlemen in the south booth!” She announced. The hawkman then led the obedient wyvern through the exit path and into the collection area where he placed a tag on the chain handle with the words ‘South’ written on it.

“So how much do you think he would have gone up to before giving up?” Kina asked Eril, her heart thumping from excitement. She had never had this much thrill since she fought against and chased after Seras back in the academy.

“Hmmm.. hard to tell at this point, but I reckon he would’ve been willing to go beyond 50. See how he was not hesitating to place the bid yet? That probably means that it was still far from his allocated budget. And he was still bidding in increments of five thousand. If he was nearing his limit, he would probably bid in smaller increments to stop the price from rising any further.” Eril explained.

“Don’t worry,” Eril consoled kina after seeing her slightly dejected face. “We have all night to do this and all these suckers to mess around with. You can take your time to get the feel for this game.”