NOVEL NEXT Curtain dropped on the month of August as we moved to the last day of the summer vacation, 1st september. It was sunday, and perhaps because the summer festival had been wrapped up, the usual buoyant vibe you would experience during holiday was nowhere to be seen.
I guess so. When you think about summer vacation, it's always July or August.
"Shall we go to the guild, Zephyr-kun?"
"Ah, yes."
I thought idle nothingless and briskled toward our guild, along with Hannah, as usual.
We had done everything we wanted to do in this summer vacation, so for today and tomorrow, we would be focusing on our second term plans.
The main guild activity that had been halted due to Lana, her entourage, and Reglam's home visit would soon continue with their return. So for the time being, there were a plethora of things to tackle.
"By the way, Zephyr-kun, did you hear the rumour? Apparently an incredible treasure is going to appear in today's large scale auction."
"Heh, a treasure~?"
"Huh, is that not exciting? But there have been rumours everywhere, like it’s said that it would be sold for 500 million Mir at least."
"As if a student has that much purchasing power."
There's no way a single student could possibly have 500 million. Yeah, absolutely not. Oh yeah, then I guess this was most for guilds I guess. Or maybe for fellow members to pool their money and purchase it.
"But isn't the minimum 500 million Mir price incredible~? How much it would be when you stack them together I wonder~."
Hannah's gear had stuck to the 'incredible~' words for a while now, even her eyes were gleaming with the Mir symbol. Was that what they called possessed by the ghost of money? Though who wouldn't want that much, huh? Even I would.
But a big auction huh. Compared to single auctions, which were held every month, big auctions were only held three times in a year. The items, bidding price, minimum price and everything far surpassed that of a single auction, which was why it was named grand auction. With the amount of incredulous money that moved in the auction, forcing yourself to participate would mean willingly becoming bankrupt!
Hannah and I chatted about some trifling matters as we reached our guild room. I opened the door and took our entry inside.
"Good morning everyone~."
"Hmm, ah. Good morning, Zephyr. I have been waiting for you."
"Woah, what's the matter, Sierra? You look so unsettled."
The vibe in the guild seemed different than usual. Everyone looked restless for some reason, even the typically level headed Sierra was harbouring an expression of impatience.
I took my entry first, sat down on my usual seat and had just taken a sip of tea Celestine had served when Sierra a piece of paper in front of me. freeweɓnøvel.com
"Look at this first of all. This shocking news is currently being discussed everywhere in the academy."
"A-Alright. ---Let's see what has got everyone on their toe......<News: The Grand Auction would be held at 1st september, starting from 10:00---"
"Ignore that for now. Here, this is the main part."
Wow, today's really something big going on huh, to think that Sierra would actually show that urgency. I looked at where Sierra was pointing.
"Y-Yes. Err---[Unprecedented! The main attraction of this year's Grand Auction is a treasure that loves to take whole mankind on a ride in its search! It's none other than<Job Ascention Ticket>!!]...woah, it's only that?!"
I see, I finally saw why everyone had been so antsy.
"Man, and here I was wondering what kind of shaking news it was. It's just a <Job Ascension Ticket>."
"It's not just! No, it's more important than anything."
Huh? For inexplicable reason, Sierra was giving me a reproachful glare. Was I supposed to shout 'voila! hurray!' something?
"Uh-huh, this guy is bygone," Sierra didn't say it but that's how her expression sounded as she started to explain everything in a sombre voice.
"<Job Ascension Ticket> are, like, the world's most important treasure, and invaluable too. But if guilds move, there's a chance to get it in our hands."
Ah, so it seemed like she wanted to participate in this auction at all cost for the ticket.
I was just thinking that when Mert also showed himself suddenly by her side. Even he appeared quite restless.
"This is our chance, Zephyr. It would be a huge leap for us in our pursuit for the S-rank guild if we can get it."
The brain No.2 of Eden persuaded me.
Eh, I mean, yeah? <Job Ascension Ticket> was that important indeed, but I think everyone was jumping on the train too hastily. After all, there's something more important to confirm.
"Well, how much is it expected to cost?"
"Minimum estimation is said to be 500 million Mir apparently, but it might actually even cross the 1 billion Mir mark."
"But 1 billion Mir is impossible for a single student to fork out. So if a guild comes together and does their best, it might be possible to get the ticket, even if the price reaches 1.5 billion."
"Huh? Hold on, no, calm down for a moment. What in the world is with that ridiculous price!?!"
Sierra and Mert were totally serious, but it totally baffled me. Like, excuse me, 1 billion? 1.5 billion? What the hell happened that pushed the ticket to become so expensive!?
I wanted to ask so when I recall something. Ah, yes. There were only a handful of advanced job holders in this world. So, maybe, this was the reason behind <Job Ascension Ticket> sky-high price!
Yeah, then it's understandable---no, no, no, what am I thinking? Even if they're scarce, the price was just too much! Sure, Eden had the finance to pull it, and I already had plans to further improve our learning efficiency, so this was far from pushing us into bankruptcy, but expensive things need to be called out.
If anyone even managed to buy it, I am sure their next step would be to sell it to someone else. I mean, we're talking about a huge sum that would literally result in a lavish life for lifetime!
So that's where things were jumbled up. Why didn't I hear about this news until now?
"Since it's so expensive, why was no one selling them?"
"You don't know? It's precisely because <Job Ascension Ticket> had that tremendous value that it has been banned from selling."
"In fact, this auction is an exception. After all, anyone would be pent up with anger if neither academy nor the kingdom itself was selling them at all. So the kingdom arranges tickets for special occasions. Only the ones with special permits are allowed to sell them."
"Why though? What's the problem in selling them freely?"
"Because tickets would be almost guaranteed to be purchased by a dilettante or rich. The drop rate of tickets isn't abysmal, at least a student would be able to see it in their academy life."
"But that's where the problem arises; the student party who found it would be able to live a luxurious life if they decided to sell it. What do you think would happen when no students of <Combat Department>, which are basically the wheels of this kingdom, suddenly stopped contributing?"
"Ah~."
Yeah, I think I understood what these two were trying to say here. It would be the end of the nation if there's no personnel remaining to work.
One could argue rich or dilettante would be able to acquire advanced jobs, but then the question was would they take the trouble to move though? This was why they called for such a strange rule.
Oh, now that I look back, actually tickets were also not allowed to be sold in the game as well. I see, so 'because it's an important item' wasn't the typical game line.
Alright I understood. So I guess this was completely different from the game.
I didn't bother delving into the details back then, and always thought the <Job Ascension Ticket> at auction was merely akin to last resort. Typically, one was to simply grind for it.
Because the items at auction were sold for a steep price, like really steep. You're guaranteed to find it one day when grinding at least. Though last I remember, the ticket had never reached 1 billion price for sure.
"Anyway, Zephyr. What's your decision about the auction?"
"Yeah, it's our chance. It doesn't happen everyday."
Sierra and Mert pushed in to persuade me.
Oh? I didn't know they had such good tactic understanding between them. I guess I should have some boy to boy conversation with him later......just kidding.
Ahem, so that was basically their long story short. Understood, after all who wouldn't want to acquire advanced jobs, eh? So my answer was---
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"We're---not going to participate in this auction."
Yeah, it was a waste of resources to enter the auction.