Ero-Game: Power and Sword

“Now, something from the mountains of the northwest, the Sun mountains. The land known for the monsters, the legends, the dragons, the mythical, we bring you a feather. The rarest feather in the world.” The host was really trying to sell it, though everyone who’d read the menu already knew what it was. It was the second-last item on the list, but Lusi did mention a surprise item, so this would be the third last. The day was getting pretty late. I looked over at the prince and the princesses. The prince hadn’t bid for anything so far, but both princesses had won a sizable stack of items.
The host removed the cloth and revealed the glass box beneath. “The feather of a phoenix!” A burning feather was inside the glass case. Orange and red, it continued to burn thanks to mythical magic. “We’ll start the bidding at 1 platinum.”
The first princess held up her paddle, and the item became 1 platinum and 10 gold. The leader of the S-rank party: Crystal Fire, raised her paddle, and the price rose even higher. The paddles rose one after  another…
In the end, it was sold to the S-rank leader for 10 platinum and 40 gold.

“The  next item is an item that was not on the list. We like to surprise our clients sometimes, and this next item is something I think you guys will really like.” As the host smiled, the crowd began to murmur. “Bring it out.” She told her assistant, who quickly brought over a tray covered in a cloth. “An item any sword wielder will want. A swordswoman, a weapon  master, a dual sword wielder, a knight, you get the idea, folks. Any woman here who can wield a sword will like this one.” She pulled the cloth away and revealed a book. It was green and had golden patterns on its cover. The title was too far for me to read, but the host let  everyone know, “Soul Cutter.” She held up the beautiful book.
“That’s…” I saw Nikola’s eyes widen. “Can we?” She asked me.
“No.” I shook my head. Nikola wanted the skill book. It was a skill book every sword wielder would covet, just as the host said. I can understand Nikola’s desire, but I wasn’t interested.
Skill books did 2 things. First, the skill book ensured that the skill would appear as one of the options. Second, it sped up the skill  acquisition process. That means if you’re level 20, using a skill book,  you didn’t need to wait till level 25 for the options to pop up anymore.  The skills you’ve read in a skill book will be presented to you on the next level up. You still needed to level up to level 21, but that was still a huge improvement from needing 5 level-ups for one skill. So the  higher your level, the more valuable a skill book becomes. Of course, none of this mattered unless you met the criteria for the skill book. A Lust Magic skill book wouldn’t be of any help to an alchemist, for example.
None of that mattered to me right now. Though Nikola might think it’s  amazing, I knew of multiple places where you can attain skill books. [Soul Cutter] was indeed an amazing skill, but bidding for it against  these bigwigs was a no-go for me.
“This will be really helpful to Nikola, master.” Garth urged.
“It’s too expensive. Maybe another time.” I said.
“But-”
“Garth.” I gave him a stern look. I understand his desire to help his lover, but bidding against these rich bastards isn’t something I can do  right now.
“Yes, master.” He hung his head and acquiesced.
I looked down at the crowd to see who was bidding. A lot of A-rankers I recognized were putting up their paddles. Strangely enough, the S-rank from Crystal Fire was very quiet. I would guess she already has a  similar skill or the skill. She was a knight, so I can’t imagine her  passing it up without reason.
I was watching, wondering which of the A-rankers would win, only for the Merchant’s guild leader to come in at the last moment and swipe it up. It sold for 60 platinum and 70 gold. For a moment, I couldn’t think of  why the guild leader would buy it. If she wanted to resell it at a  higher price, that’d be pretty difficult since 60 platinum was already extravagant. I could only think of one thing; that she wanted to rent it  out to all of them for some ungodly sum. After all, you didn’t need to own the skill book. You only needed to touch the book for more than 30  seconds, meet the criteria for the skill, and read enough of it to comprehend over 70% of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them already had full comprehension of the skill and only needed to touch it  for 30 seconds for it to show up as an option. Well, not that any of  that matters to me.
I turned my eyes back to the stage. It was finally time for the last item. The whole reason I was here… How much am I going to make today?  “Hehehe…”

“Finally.  I know you’ve all been waiting for it. The last, but needless to say  not the least.” The host stopped there and signaled the assistant to  bring it in. He brought in a tray with a jewelry box on top. The host  picked it up and opened the case to show everyone what was inside. “An item, never seen before. It can change your fate. Make the loveless: loved, the cold: warm, and the charmless: charm.” She smiled. “It is as you heard. Able to raise the wearer’s charm by more than 100 points, it  is The Bracelet of Eros!” Putting the box back on the tray, she said, “We’ll start the bidding at 5 platinum.”

Bids came in right away, and my smile deepened. I watched as they fought for it more and more. “Hehehe…”
“Master?” I realized everyone was staring at me weirdly.
I rubbed my face and put on a serious expression. “Nothing.”
We went back to watching the people bid.

Suddenly someone shouted from the balcony, it was the first princess, “50 platinum!” It rose to 10 times its original value in an instant.
The host smiled. “50 platinum! Do I have anything higher? 50 platinum! Anything higher!?”
The people on the ground became a lot quieter. The prince rose his paddle, and the host smiled again. “51! 51!..”
Within a matter of seconds, only a few remained in the battle for the bracelet. The first princess, the second princess, the first prince, the  S-rank leader, and two others I didn’t recognize continued to bid. The merchant guild leader stopped bidding after it rose to 50 platinum; she  probably realized it’s futile to try and win against royalty.
It was as I expected. As the price soared closer to 100, the only ones who continued to bid were the royal family. I saw one of the women throw  her paddle to the ground and leave in frustration. And I could tell that the handsome prince was getting nervous. He was looking at his  sisters angrier and angrier. He was boiling red with anger. Anger didn’t look good on his handsome face.
Then the second princess shouted out: “150 platinum!”
And the prince looked down at the floor like an arrow had just shot him dead. The first princess didn’t pause for even a second and bid even higher. It was only the two princesses now. When the bids rose to 170, the prince stood up and walked back into the room, and disappeared from the public’s view. Leaving his attendants to quickly pack up and follow him out of the balcony.
There was something of an audible sigh from the women in the crowd when the prince left. Though none voiced it, they were all glad the bracelet didn’t fall into a man’s hands. He was already a handsome man, add another 150+ charm, and who knew what kind of trouble he could cause.
His sisters did him a favor if you ask me. I’m sure the church wouldn’t  sit still if the bracelet was in a man’s hands. It wasn’t just the church; a lot of people would find it hard to sit still…
The princesses remained stone cold and continued to bid. After the prince left, I noticed a messenger was running between the two balconies. This was certainly interesting; the sisters were trying to negotiate while bidding. I wish I was close enough to hear what they  were saying. Neither one showed a crack on their faces. I can only imagine that both of them were frustrated. Probably neither one knew how much the other could spend and who’d win if they simply continued to  bid. Would you rather gain some concessions or go all the way and hope  for the win?
I heard murmuring coming from my side and looked over at Nikola. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, and when I took a closer listen, I heard,  “We’re rich. We’re rich. We’re rich.” She was saying on repeat. I shook my head and looked back at the princesses.
The messenger was sweating from running back and forth. Finally, after much negotiations and bidding had taken place, the first princess went  silent. And I clicked my tongue. I wished they’d go on for even longer.  Don’t give in! Don’t negotiate! Just bid! Bid! I wanted to scream.
What concessions did the second princess make for the first princess to give up the bid? I did not know.
“264 going once! Going twice! Sold to our dear and beautiful princess Vera Lynne Derrickson.”

***

We met up with Lusi after the end of the auction.
“You didn’t buy anything.” She said, disappointed.
“I said I wouldn’t,” I said.
“Hmm.” She frowned. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.” She handed me a piece of paper. “It’s the proof. The money’s already been transferred to  your bank account.”
“Oh. Okay.” I gave her my bank information a few days ago. She’d sent an assistant over to get it. I looked over the paper and saw the amount that was transferred to my account. After the commission fees, 158 platinum and 40 gold were transferred to my account. It was less than I hoped, but I knew how the commission fees worked when I signed on.
“If you run into any troubles, let me know.” She said.
“Alright,” I said. “If that’s everything?”
“Yeah. If there’s anything else you want to sell, the doors are always open.” She said with a smile.
“I understand,” I said.

The  auction house gave us a ride back to our inn. Everyone was excited about how rich we’d become. But I quieted down their chatter and said, “We’ll be leaving the capital tomorrow.”
“Oh.” Some were surprised, but others had paid attention to me throughout the week and knew this would happen.
“We’ll leave around 10 tomorrow after breakfast. So start packing your things.”
“We’re going to Haneul village, right?” Halit asked.
“Yeah, that’s our next stop.” I nodded.
“Okay.”
“But you haven’t packed anything,” Otto said.
“We’ll pack when we return. You guys will help me.” I said.
“Yeah, I thought as much.” Otto sounded disappointed at my lack of planning.
“What? We have more than enough time to pack up.” I said.
“Right.” He shook his head.

***

It took us longer than I thought it would to clean up the ingredients and pack up my things. It was mostly my things that took the longest. All their things were still in the luggage from when they’d come to live with me.
Everyone else used their own luggage while I used the space expansion bag. There was plenty of room to put their stuff in there too. But for easy access, they decided to carry their own luggage.
As the room began to look more empty, like the day I’d shown up in the  capital, I remembered to give them their Anti-charm necklaces.
“Here,” I said, handing them two necklaces. I had a hard time finding  time to make it, with both of them bothering me all the time and already having a large workload of scrolls to do. But I managed somehow. “That’ll help you resist against charm.”
Otto took it from me wordlessly and looked at it.
“Thanks,” Sterling said and put it on.
“So the bracelet won’t have any effect on us anymore?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Good. Good.” He said as he put it on.
“Come on, let’s get some sleep. It’s 2 o’clock.” It was 2 o’clock in the morning, and I was getting really sleepy.
“Okay.” He said.
We all got in the bed, and I cuddled with my two boys. Tomorrow we’ll leave the capital.