Early Afternoon - Mid Winter : Atlas, Bahamut

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"Sir Vasilias, Lady Krystallo, the auction is about to begin." An older, mellow butler bowed next to me as he held out a pillow with a small but very dark blue artifact. "If you wish to bid on an item, please tap this artifact against any of the mythril areas on the arms of the chairs, couches, or around the edge of the tables. However, please take note that accidental touches do register, and accidental bids cannot be removed."

-Ah, is this the artifact Mother mentioned?- Carefully picking it up, I sent some space mana into it and immediately found countless tiny mythril strings woven into its shell and a humongous mass of mana inside. -Huh... Is it using mana like electricity?-

The butler quickly continued as I inspected the 'wires' of mythril running through the chair to see how it worked. "If you need anything, such as beverages, food, or other services, please touch the artifact on the table as you have been. We will prepare it for you right away."

Seeing Krystallo stretch over the side of her chair and cup her hands with a sparkle in her eyes, I set the artifact in her palm. "I think we are alright for now, thank you."

The butler quickly smiled and nodded. "It is truly our pleasure."

Giving one last bow, the gentle butler quickly left the room, simultaneously dimming the lights and pulling back the curtains outside, revealing a massive auditorium, clearly meant for music, with countless rows of people wearing all kinds of clothes and disguising themselves with all manners of spells and masks.

By the stage, the seats were all relatively compact, but as you got farther away, they became more spaced out and eventually began clumping together by party, with each of the clumps being spaced out from one another all the way until you reached the row of six dozen VIP rooms, overlooking everyone through a wall of glass.

But none of the glass was see-through, thanks to a layer of light magic. -Looks like we are in the center VIP room as well... Mother must have really used our family name...-

With the lights inside our room dimming further, the lights outside grew in brightness and quickly focused on the stage where a single muscular, wide-winged man stood.

"Hello, everyone!" His deep, booming voice traveled throughout the massive auditorium with ease. "Welcome to the Chalastís Auctionhouse! I hope you all are satisfied with your arrangements." He quickly scanned over the VIP rooms before continuing. "It has already been eleven years since our last large event, and while some of you may be upset that it wasn't last year as expected, we procured a few extra special items, which will be presented later today."

-So today is the big ticket items...- According to Mother, the first day was the biggest, as it's an auction of, not necessarily the best, but the most sought-after items, with subsequent days having progressively less competitive ones, typically leading to lower appraisal items.

But while I was curious if there would be any unpolished gems in the later days, they weren't my main interest. -The most sought-after items in Bahamut, huh?- My excitement quickly started building as the old announcer continued and finished discussing the general working of the auction and a few rules that were altered from previous auctions.

But, once he finally finished, he looked straight at our booth. "As for the finale of this auction, I would recommend the VIP booths be careful about how much you spend prior to it. It is certainly an item worth saving for."

My intrigue grew instantly, bringing most of my idle theorizing to a halt and allowing my focus to be drawn entirely to the stage.

"In any case, that is enough chit-chat! Let us begin, shall we?" He wore a wide smile as he walked to the front of the stage. "For our first item, we have chosen a simple one; but don't be fooled by its simplicity."

A large part of the stage behind him immediately sank into the ground before promptly returning and exposing the item.

But it just made my face warp with confusion. -A small.. rock?-

It looked like a simple boulder with some obsidian on its exterior and was only a few meters long.

But the announcer wore a wide smile. "I'm sure many of you heard about the 'Message from Heaven' in Sinder several years ago, correct?"

-The one that led to Sinder's royal family being overthrown?- I tilted my head a bit before he continued.

"Well, a few years after it, a similar metal block came slamming into one of the Southern Mountains of Iron, and after the Chalkos family found and appraised it, the refined metal inside was shockingly graded a 63, similar to upper mid-grade mythril, and while its purity was a measly 75%, it's uniformity was an unfathomable 99%, truly earning its name as 'divine iron'..." His smile widened as he noticed countless people reaching to bid. "The minimum bid is 10 gold, and the starting bid is 100 gold."

*t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-tap* The instant he finished, dozens of people sent bids, and with it, the auction finally began.

But I was still a little confused. -Is that my steel?-

Having inspected it while the auctioneer was speaking, the steel was nearly identical to the steel that I used in railgun darts; however, areas of it were considerably sloppy, and the mana strengthening felt too sparse for it to have been made by me. -But it's too similar to mine to be someone random...-

As I idly thought about it, the auctioneer continued ramping up the number all the way into the thousands before finally, Sir Atsáli, in the VIP room a few rooms over, placed the final bid at 4,420 gold. (44.2 platinum)

"Going once! Going twice! Sold for 4,420 gold to booth six!" Silence instantly filled the hall as people looked up at Atsáli's room.

-Geez... The steel in my old sword is better than that rock... Why does he want it so badly?- In fairness, there was a shocking amount of competition between about ten people within the crowd all the way above 3,000 gold, which was quite shocking. -But I guess it makes sense for something called divine iron to catch attention.-

Eventually moving on, the large section of the stage sank down with the rock again, and the auctioneer continued. "For our second set of items, we have something I'm sure you all know about." He walked to the side as the platform lifted back up to reveal three massive pots full of dirt and water.

-Huh?- Although an odd sight, the pots all had a very thin fog over them and somehow felt quite familiar.

"Today, we have three Sleep Lily sprouts! These will each be sold separately; however, the ages of them are still unknown and will need to be replanted quickly before the pots they are in get engulfed by their ever-expanding 'aura'."

My eyes went wide instantly. -Sleep lilies or the second item?!- They were things I had been looking for ever since I first found one. -If I want to help ensure Mother, Father, and Krystallo's safety in passing their ancient stage sleeps, I need those...-

But as expected, the battle of bids was ferocious. "11,400 gold! 11,500 gold! 12,000 gold!"

*t-t-t-t-tap* -And here I was thinking I would be able to save up for the later items...-

"12,500 gold! (1.25 royal gold) Going once! Going twice! Sold to booth 1!"

"Phew..." I had to let out a heavy breath as I leaned back in my seat. -How am I going to get two more...- Although I wasn't sure why or how, my gut was telling me I needed to be careful with my money if I didn't want to create an absolutely insane amount of it with magic later on.

But that was all decided for me, as the second sleep lily sold for over 24,000, which would have drained my pockets if I bid, and the third for 58,000, which was just shy of double what I had before I even bought the first lily.

-But at least I got one...- Thankfully, I had almost 1800 years before I would need to worry about Mother and Father, giving me plenty of time to buy a few more, but having only been on the second item, I wouldn't deny that I was nervous.

-If sleep lilies were the second item.. what will be next?-

Thankfully though, things slowed down some after that, with the following items being a mix of complex artifacts, swords, or even charms and jewelry from the golden era that all sold for absolutely exorbitant amounts of money.

Thankfully Krystallo hadn't taken any interest in most of them, but that eventually changed.

"For our next set of items, we have artifacts from the Great War, originating in Siratha! As you all have likely heard recently, the Ancient Fenrir of Siratha have returned, and with their return, multiple apostles were killed; as such, we managed to get our hands on some of their 'more prized possessions' and will be selling them here today!"

-The other apostles' stuff?- I quickly got curious before noticing Krystallo was staring at the stage with excitement. -Maybe she will actually on these...-

But while many of the artifacts were quite interesting, mainly relating to myths of godhood and immortality such as evolution elixirs and something said to be similar to a Sleep Lily called a Soul Palace, every.. single.. one.. was bought by one person, regardless of price.

"Going once! Going twice! Sold, once again, to booth 24 for 108,000 gold! Congratulations on winning the Soul Palace!"

-108,000...- It was an unfathomably massive sum of money, but it wasn't simply a one-off buy for them. -Just who...-

Finally succumbing to my curiosity, I moved my space mana over to that booth and immediately recognized who it was. -The headmaster?-

While I wasn't sure who to expect, he didn't even cross my mind. -Why is he so interested in Sirathian artifacts?-

As the next few artifacts came up for auction, the trend continued, and he bought every last one, even if someone else was falsely pumping the price, until he had acquired them all, totaling a whopping 256,280 gold for everything. -What the hell?-

Remembering him appearing during the combat assessments in a Sirathian Priest robe, I started to question what his motives were again. -Isn't the reason he was away from the academy because he went to Sirathia too?-

But the auction continued without care for my thoughts, and hours quickly started to pass by.

Once I eventually set aside my curiosities about the headmaster and focused more on enjoying my time with Krystallo, the auction was actually quite fun, and while most of the items were either out of budget or not of interest, there were quite a few things Krystallo managed to snag, such as some pretty artifacts and charms that matched her scales and even a stunning white sword that looked similar to a katana.

All in all, it was a wonderful time. Krystallo was cheery, and I was happy to see it.

But after many hours, the afternoon of the following day started to roll around, and at long last, the final item of the first, main auction, was going to be presented.

"Now, I believe it is time for the main event of this auction!" The announcer looked over the crowd with an ecstatic expression. "This item was something the Chalastís family had been attempting to procure for nearly three thousand years, but at long last, its anonymous owner decided to bring it to us in order to sell it!"

-Wow... Three thousand years... Huh?- My expression of awe was quickly cut off as I suddenly sensed Ilios right next to me. -When did he get here?-

He was meant to be at home watching over Mother and Father, but now I saw him sitting right next to my chair, hidden beneath my compressed aura and a net of light magic.

However, rather than looking up at me with a hopelessly cute smile like he normally would, he looked out the window at the stage with a serious expression. -What is he...-

"After first appearing at the very end of the Great War, this artifact became well known for showing the future to those who even touch it, and while it was simply known as the Artifact of Oracles for its first thousand years of existence, we have all come to know it as something else! Now, I would like to present the world's most powerful artifact! The Eye of Bahamut!"

The instant he finished, light magic surrounding the stage dissipated and instantly revealed a massive deep and dark blue, almost black mythril pedestal with a perfectly spherical melon-sized object on it.

However, in that instant, the gaze I felt when we first exited the carriage returned.

But this time, it did not fade.

The sensation didn't simply slow my thoughts. It stopped them instantaneously.

-W..what.. is.. that...-

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