Alacryan Arthur

Chapter 8

Reynolds Leywin POV

"Thank you for accompanying me, Reynolds," Vincent Helstea said. We were on our way to meet with a possible new trading partner, but he seemed a bit sketchy.

Vincent Helstea was an old friend of mine, and when we had gotten to Xyrus after Arthurs death he offered a place to stay and a job for me. I accepted both and was looking out for my friend with my job as a bodyguard.

He was the owner of the Helstea auction house, a former small one, that rose to the very top because of his sense for business.

A contact informed him that a certain person had a secret auction, with some rarities for show. The main attractions are supposed to be several beast cores from various different beasts. Vincent knew that he could resell them for a much higher price, and since he wanted to join in the trade of beast cores, he wanted to start his sale with some big hits. He already acquired several A cores, and a single AA beast core, that was from a magma worm. Because of the rarity of the magma mana affinity, which only dwarfs could acquire in the first place, he got it pretty cheap, but with his connections he would find a rich dwarf that would buy it for triple the price.

We entered a small alley. "Masks." Vincent reminded me. Both of us took out a white mask to cover our faces. Both of them covered our whole face and muffled our voices. Vincent sure enough didn't want to be recognized here.

After a few steps Vincent knocked on a door to our right. A small window in the door was opened. "Password?" a muffled voice from the inside asked.

"Griffin-Tail." Vincent answered and the window was closed, only for the door to be opened.

"Welcome. The stairs to the right please." A tall and broad man gestured to a staircase down underground. Vincent nodded and we walked down.

The staircase leads down to a huge room, maybe 10 meters below the surface. The room was lit by light producing artifacts, and around 20 chairs stood in the middle. They were all directed to a small podium where the auction would be held. 14 people were already here and stood in small groups and talked.

I didn't know any of the unmasked men, but there were also some people who wore masks like us. At a sign of Vincent we joined a smaller group.

"I heard there were quite a few elixirs for sale today" one of them just said. He wore a wolf mask that covered his eyes and had white long hair and a beard. He was accompanied by a red haired woman with a hummingbird mask and a green dress.

"Are you a mage or what?" one of the other men asked, annoyed "Who needs artifacts? I heard they had quite the selection of slaves."

At that comment both I and the man with the wolf's mask grimaced. I could see Vincent's face, but I was sure he did so too. The slave trade was a booming business, despite the sanctions from our king and queen. Or maybe especially because the the sanctions where so hard the slave trade had shifted from an controlled environment to sketchy deals in the backyards, where the conditions for the slaves where miserable.

"Please, Ladies and Gentlemen, take a seat. The auction will start in a minute" a man on the podium said in a loud and clear voice. He wore a fine navy suit accompanied by a mask that looked like a swan.

Everyone was getting seated and of the 18 seats 2 stayed empty.

The man on the podium introduced himself.

"I am the man that invited each one of you. I'm glad so many of you came. Let's get this auction started, shall we? The first thing I want to auction is this mana draining device." A servant came from a neighboring room, and pushed a small cart, like a cart where a dish would be served at a fancy place. On that cart stood a small object, which looked a bit like a gramophone. "if you activate this device the cone will suck in all the mana from an area. This bad boy has enough power, to absorb a spell of an orange core augmenter for example." A second servant entered the room and started to cast a spell, which the artifact absorbed like promised.