It was a few seconds before another person down below raised their hand and increased the bid to 350 valis. Kari frowned at that person. She glanced at her mother, who saw her look and sighed.
“400 valis,” her mother announced.
Unfortunately, despite her mother upping her bid, it did little good because someone else made another bid, increasing the price from 400 to 500 valis. Kari could only sit there in frustration as the bidding rose several more times. She glanced at her mother again, who merely shook her head, signaling that she wouldn’t spend more valis on a bottle containing only four pills of unknown origin.
“1,000 valis!” a voice from another balcony suddenly announced. Kari glanced over toward the balcony, but she couldn’t see anything because of the curtains.
“We’ve got 1,000 valis,” Stelys said. “Does anyone else wish to place a bid?” There was only silence. “That’s a bottle containing four Tender Healing Pills sold for 1,000 valis to the Leucht Family!”
The Leucht Family?!
Kari’s head whipped back toward the balcony, but she still couldn’t see anything. Stelys could only see because he was on the stage. These VIP booths were meant to provide privacy to the bidders, but she guessed it wasn’t really meant to protect their identity. After all, what did it matter if people knew who bid on what item?
She would admit to feeling a little resentful toward the Leucht Family for outbidding her mother on those pills. However, just as a sense of anger was settling in her heart, Fay removed the next cloth and revealed another set of pills.
“The pills you see in this jar are called the Spiritual Booster Pill. As the name suggests, these pills temporarily increase a person’s Spiritual Power to twice the amount he or she has. It is a great pill to have when you are in combat and need extra power,” Stelys explained the pill’s properties to the crowd.
An even bigger buzz was created than when he introduced the Tender Healing Pills, though Kari could understand why. Spiritual Power played an important role in both the number and rank of Spiritual Techniques that a Spiritualist could perform. A Spiritualist with a lot of Spiritual Power would be able to perform many high-ranking Spiritual Techniques without depleting his or her reserves too quickly.
Most Spiritualists could only perform, at most, one or two C-Rank Spiritual Techniques, nevermind an A-rank technique. Having those pills meant they would be able to cast more Spiritual Techniques than before.
Kari glanced at her mother, who noticed the look she was giving her. The empress could only sigh.
“1,000 valis!”
“1,100 valis!”
“1,250 valis!”
I listened as the price of the Spiritual Booster Pill continued climbing. While the Tender Healing Pills hadn’t done too well, it seemed the allure of a pill that could boost a person’s Spiritual Power was too great for people to ignore.
“2,000 valis!”
I almost choked when the bidding price suddenly raised to 2,000 valis. That might not be a lot of money for a noble, but 2,000 valis was enough for a peasant to live off of for at least a month. It was also over ten times more than what it cost to buy the ingredients for me to make those pills. Back in Midgard, a jar of twenty Spiritual Booster Pills would have been about 4,000 valis. They were only a mid-tier pill and weren’t that difficult to refine.
Before I knew what was happening, Stelys sold the Spiritual Booster Pill.
“Sold for 3,200 valis to the Kriger Family!”
I perked up when I heard the name of the family who’d bought the Spiritual Booster Pills. If I wasn’t mistaken, they were one of the Three Heavenly Families. I didn’t know much about them. In my previous life, I had just been a librarian and had never been involved with the nobility beyond my relationship to Kari. The only other noble I’d met had been Grant Leucht.
An unbidden sigh escaped my lips as I realized I would probably have to learn more about the Heavenly Families at some point. Given what I was trying to do, I couldn’t remain ignorant.
After the Spiritual Booster Pill came the Temporary Enhancement Pill, which enhanced a person’s physical strength. This one did not sell for as high a price as the Spiritual Booster Pill. However, I still felt like 2,500 valis was a pretty good amount of money. The group who bought it was a minor noble family called the Bellator Family.
I used the auction to judge how well received each different pill was. The Spiritual Booster Pill and Elemental Pill ended up selling for the highest price, which I guessed made sense. Both of them were more useful to Spiritualists and people who traveled into the Demon Beast Mountain Range. The Endurance Pill and Temporary Enhancement Pill were the second highest sellers at 2,300 and 2,500 valis respectively. In last place was the Tender Healing Pill and Clarity Pill. They were only sold for 1,000 and 900 valis.
In terms of usefulness, I think the Tender Healing Pill would actually be the most beneficial, but that one hadn’t sold high because it was the first one being auctioned. The next time I went to the Alchemy Association, I would inform Feinrea to have her people refine mostly Tender Healing Pills, Spiritual Booster Pills, Endurance Pills, and Temporary Enhancement Pills.
“Now that we have auctioned off all of the alchemy pills, it is time for the main event.” Stelys wore a large smile as Fay walked off stage. “As many of you know, the Valstine Family recently got their hands on an A-Rank Spiritual Technique. The technique is called Five Finger Fire Whip. By using it, Spiritualists can create a powerful whip of compressed fire that’s hot enough to melt through steel. A particularly skilled Spiritualist can even change the density and temperature of the flames to make it nonlethal.”
Stelys’s words caused a fervent murmuring to rise from the crowd as Fay walked back on stage, a wooden chest with gold engravings decorating the surface in her hands. Even though I wasn’t down there in the crowd, I could feel the hunger from them, the desire. This was the moment all of them had been waiting for.
Stelys opened the chest and showed everyone the scroll that was resting on the light purple pillow inside. The scroll was made from goatskin and had a slightly brown and aged appearance. I’d done that on purpose. Using the lightning element, I’d lightly dried the goatskin to give it an older look. My hope was that people would assume it came from a ruin or a dungeon located in the Demon Beast Mountain Range if it looked aged.
“As you all know, A-Rank Spiritual Techniques are rare,” Stelys said. “There are barely a hundred here in Nevaria. That being the case, the bidding for this will start at 30,000 valis.”
Placing my hands on my elbows, I leaned forward and stared intently at the stage. I wondered how much this Spiritual Technique would sell for.
“30,000 valis as the starting bid for a Spiritual Technique Scroll?” Geirolf scoffed as he leaned back. “Does that old man take the people here for fools? There’s no way someone would pay that much for one Spiritual Technique Scroll.”
“That is not the case,” Earland said with a shake of his head. “We might have no need for a new Spiritual Technique, but that is because our family already has a number of powerful Spiritual Techniques in our library. Very few families outside of our own and the Three Heavenly Families have a Spiritual Technique of this quality. An A-rank technique is a gem that could go for as high as 90,000 valis. Even the Spiritualist Academy, which has many powerful techniques, would gladly pay triple the price for something like this.”
“W-whatever.” Geirolf blushed bright red as Earland, who rarely ever spoke, talked him down. “I still say it’s overpriced.”
“An A-Rank Spiritual Technique, huh?” Dante looked at the stage with a wide grin. “That really is quite the haul. Even if those pills turn out to be duds, coming here to see this technique makes it all worthwhile.”
“Even our family has precious few A-Rank Spiritual Techniques,” Rainer admitted.
Kari remained silent as she listened to the conversations happening between her family. She didn’t particularly care about this technique.
An A-Rank Spiritual Technique of the fire element might be something that attracted others, but she was of the light element. That was one of the reasons her training as a Spiritualist hadn’t progressed very much. There simply weren’t that many Spiritual Light Techniques available to learn.
“Are you going to bid, My Lady?” asked her father.
Her mother looked down at the stage with intelligent eyes before slowly nodding. “I might have to. Given our current relationship with the Leucht Family, having another A-Rank Spiritual Technique in our grasp could be a good bargaining chip.”
Her mother and father glanced at her, but she tried to ignore their intent stares. She knew they were talking about the marriage talks. However, she didn’t think having another A-Rank Spiritual Technique would help her. After all, if Grant Leucht married her, then the Leucht Family would get access to the Astralia Royal Family’s library, which contained many Spiritual Techniques.
No, it wouldn’t be this technique that helped her. That much she knew.
“45,000 valis!”
“55,000 valis!”
“62,000 valis!”
I could only shake my head as the A-Rank Spiritual Technique’s bidding price exceeded the price the Spiritualist Academy’s Head had paid for the technique I’d sold him. Not only had the price already gone past that, it was still continuing to rise.
“65,000 valis!”
“73,000 valis!”
All of the bidding was now coming from the balconies, those VIP booths where prestigious people sat. I didn’t know who was in all of those booths, though I had at least memorized which balcony belonged to the Leucht Family. Currently, most of the bidding was coming from that balcony and another one where a regal, female voice continued upping the bid.
“76,000 valis!”
“80,000 valis!”
Five Finger Fire Whip was a Spiritual Technique that was useless to me. I didn’t have a fire affinity, so I couldn’t even use it. It also didn’t go well with my fighting style. Too much finesse was required to use it, and I also wasn’t a big fan of using whips during combat. However, an A-Rank Spiritual Technique was still an A-Rank Spiritual Technique, and as such it would definitely garner the attention of others. Even in Midgard, a place where many powerful groups gathered, a Spiritual Technique of this level was something to covet.
“120,000 valis!” that cold, regal female voice cried out, shocking me out of my thoughts. I stared at the balcony even though I could not see through the curtains. When did the price rise so dramatically?!
“That’s 120,000 valis.” Stelys could barely contain his ecstatic expression. He was clearly happy to see how much this Spiritual Technique was selling for. I was too. “Are there any counterbids? No? Then the A-Rank Spiritual Technique, Five Finger Fire Whip, is sold to Empress Hilda Astralia!”
Once those words left Stelys’s mouth, my eyes grew wide as I swung my head toward the balcony. So that cold voice that could freeze lava had been Empress Hilda? I had no idea. While I knew of her like everyone else, I had never met her back in my previous life, much less heard her speak. However, now that I knew this voice belonged to Kari’s mother, I could hear the slight resemblance. Her voice was cold and regal, a far cry from Kari’s polite and refined but still warm manner of speaking, but the pitch and timbre of their voices were quite similar.
“With this, the auction is officially over.” Stelys spread his arms wide in an encompassing gesture. “Would those of you who successfully bid on one of the items we auctioned off please come to the back room? I will have several people escort you there, should you wish it. To the rest of you, thank you very much for attending.”
With the auction now over, the sea of people down below swelled as everyone stood up and began making their way outside. Excited voices reached me as I continued sitting in my chair. I was waiting for the other VIP guests to leave before I left myself. Even though I didn’t think anyone would think much of me if they saw me, I also knew that a young man of seventeen having a balcony to himself would draw attention—perhaps the unwanted kind of attention.
I wasn’t strong enough to protect myself yet. Therefore, keeping a low profile until my strength had risen was the best action I could take.
I’m not sure how long I remained sitting in my chair, but the door eventually opened, causing me to turn my head. Fay entered the balcony, walking forward with light steps. She was wearing a bright smile that seemed quite cheerful. I think she was happy that the auction was now over.
“You looked awfully uncomfortable on that stage,” I teased a bit as she came up to me.
Fay’s footsteps halted. “That… you would be too if you had so many people staring at you.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I wasn’t the one standing in front of several thousand people, so who can say.” I saw Fay’s cheeks swell up like a squirrel with a mouthful of acorns and decided to stop teasing her. “Have the bidders finished exchanging valis for the items they won?”
“They have. The last bidder, Empress Hilda, just left a few minutes ago,” Fay confirmed. “That’s why I came to get you. I assumed you’d still be up here.”
“It seems you know me too well.” While I said this with a slightly teasing tone, the truth was that her words shook me a little. Fay seemed to have grasped my character a little too well. I wasn’t disturbed, not quite, but the sensation of butterflies fluttering in my chest also caused an unpleasant sensation of guilt to well up inside of me.
“I’ve been watching you for over a month now,” Fay said with a slight smile. “It’s only natural that I would know you.”
“You’ve been watching me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Er…” Fay’s cheeks suddenly became stained red. “That… I mean, it’s not like… let’s just go. I need to escort you to Father so you can receive your share of the profits.”
“Right…”
I decided it was best to ignore her words. There was nothing I could do about them anyway.
Following Fay out of the balcony, I was led down the hall. We took a staircase to the first floor, and then she led me through several hallways near the back, coming upon a door located within its own mini hallway.
“Father?” Fay knocked on the door. “I’ve brought Eryk.”
“Come on in,” a gruff voice said.
Fay opened the door and walked in, holding it open so I could follow after her. The room we found ourselves in was plain but nice. There weren’t many decorations, but the limestone floor was freshly polished, there was a shelf filled with tomes, and a desk that currently had several large bags of valis sitting on top of it.
Stelys sat behind the desk. He looked up when we entered. A smile split his face upon seeing us.
“We did fairly decent with this auction,” he mused. “While the money is not significant compared to what the Three Heavenly Families make, it is more than sufficient to help keep the Valstine Family afloat for a while. Certainly, it’s more than enough to keep us alive until our deal with the Alchemist Association is put into effect.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I said. “The Alchemist Association’s alchemists are currently able to produce some of the pills you just auctioned off, which means they should be able to begin making them in bulk within the next few days.”
“Good. Good.” Stelys nodded before grabbing the slightly larger bag of money and presenting it to me. “This is the money you’ve earned from the auction. It is 60% of the cut, which should come out to 77,900 valis. You may count it here to make sure I have given you the correct amount.”
I took the bag and slowly shook my head. “You are Fay’s father, so I’ll trust you on this.”
The man laughed. “It seems you have a good deal of trust in my daughter. You know something? I like you. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, and you seem strong. How would you like to marry my Fay?”
“F-Father! What are you saying?!” asked Fay, who looked like she’d been broadsided by a Demon Beast.
>
“What are you getting so worked up over?” asked Stelys. “This boy is a much better catch than Grant Leucht, and if he agrees to marry you, then we can successfully back out of the marriage talks with the Leucht Family. I’d get a good successor, you’d be with the boy you like, and we wouldn’t have to worry about the Leucht Family pushing us. It’s killing three Demon Beasts with one Spiritual Technique.”
I glanced at Fay, who seemed to notice my gaze and looked away, though her eyes kept flicking over to me. There was a hopefulness in her gaze. That made what I was about to say all the more difficult.
“I’m sorry,” I said, glancing away. “However, I can’t marry Fay.”
The look on Fay’s face when I said that made me want to flinch. I kept my outward appearance firm, but my heart shook when I saw the look of shock and dejection that flashed across her eyes. Even so, this was for the best. I couldn’t give her what she wanted. That was what I told myself, at any rate.
“Do you mind if I ask why?” asked Stelys, his face carefully blank.
I sighed. “I’ve already given my heart to another. I do not think it would be fair to Fay if I married her when I have feelings for someone else. She deserves someone who will give her love and happiness, and I do not believe I can do that.”
I had dedicated my entire life to a single woman, and not even going back in time could change that. It wouldn’t be fair to Fay if she was forced to play second fiddle to Kari. What’s more, I wasn’t sure Kari would approve of me marrying both her and Fay, especially considering what Grant Leucht was trying to do.
“I see.” Stelys released a heavy sigh. “Well… I suppose if that’s how it is, there’s nothing to be done. That said, I am awfully disappointed that you aren’t interested. I think you two would make a great couple.”
Those words were like a spear to my gut, but it was because I could honestly see Fay and me as a couple. It was easy to imagine within my mind. However, I ruthlessly squashed those feelings and that vision. No matter how great a pair she and I would make, no matter how much I respected and liked her, my heart belonged to another, and I wouldn’t betray Kari, nor would I force Fay into a position where she was forced into a loveless marriage. I was already working hard to help her gain the strength she needed to stop the Leucht Family from forcing her into a marriage with their heir. I wasn’t going to turn around and become the very thing I was attempting to stop.
WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior: Volume 2 Page 12
