Tales of the Legendary Magus

"The next item is the sword of Gurmanty. Gurmanty was a tribal leader from the east over six hundred years ago. It is said his powers came from this very sword created by the blood god he worshipped. Against all odds the tribal chief lived until he became sixty, days after he gave this sword to his son, the old chief died in a raid against his village.

"For this sword, possibly capable of molding fate itself, the starting bid shall be fifty-thousand magic crystals."

This voice obviously came from the auctioneering stage as yet another item was presented.

Currently, Villin was actually sitting on a sofa, just a few meters away from Grand Von Hauser. Gracia sat on his lap as she searched in one of her spatial bags for a book she had wanted to show Villin.

Villin himself honestly wasn't quite sure how he got into this situation. At first, he simply talked about his experiences in Atlantis, he talked honestly even if he skipped over some sections concerning things such as his puppet. 

Gracia seemed engaged, incredibly engaged. So much so that once Villin finished she kept jumping up and down in joy saying it was the best story she ever heard.

At that point, Villin sensed Grand looking at him for a moment with a jealous expression, but there was no ill intent sent at him as the man quickly continued talking to Jeonardi.

Since then, Jeonardi had left, leaving only the Von Hausers and guards here. Villin had been pulled along with Gracia as she began talking to him about all sorts of things. It had mainly been her talking and Villin listening after the Atlantis story had concluded. Gracia quickly began talking about her interest, the main one being theatre, theatre groups would come to their mansion every month to perform.

She had also mentioned Ruby but Villin didn't react differently to it since he was afraid Grand may pick up on it. Apparently, Gracia was a bit angry she never got to see Ruby anymore.

And now finally she began talking about the books she read, they were mostly fictional children's books.

In the meantime, Villin had been carefully surveying the room. Thus far, Grand had only bid a couple of times on items that were rather cheap, that being ten-to-fifteen thousand each. Villin also knew looking at the overall behavior of the auction, these items would generally cost twenty to thirty-thousand crystals each but as soon as someone from a VIP boot bid the rest went silent, especially when it came to those on the top floor.

The act of bidding itself was also rather simple. There was a small hidden crystal holder within the armrest of Grand's chair. He simply connected his own crystal holder to that one and transferred the sum he wanted to bid. It didn't seem to be locked in any way so technically Grand could just retake everything he spent bidding, but then again, that wouldn't exactly go over well with the auction, which was also led by someone on the grand council.

"Oh, here it is! 'The Bumbleman's Adventures Amongst The Bumblebees'! This one is super amazing, it's about this boy that goes and…"

And just like that Villin focused on Gracia again as she continued to talk about the book she was now vehemently showing him. Still, despite her excitement, she failed to grab Villin's full attention.

"And now, for the last item of today, we brought in something good! I know many of the people here are either the leaders of a guild, or are in high-ranking positions within your guild. Now if I ask you what is more important than your lives, what would you say?" the announcer asked rhetorically as a rolling pedestal came onto the stage, the object atop still hidden by a veil.

"I'd wager," the announcer said, a finger in the air as he grabbed everyone's attention, "There would be nothing. I suggest that those who have it, put on the special glasses we shared."

Villin was a little confused but noticed Grand reached into his pocket and took out a seemingly normal monocle waiting for the announcer's next words.

Villin also listened intently and even Gracia seemed to have taken an interest.

The announcer breathed it as he gestured towards the object that, for Villin, was impossible to distinguish, then, he spoke. "Ito ay isang solusyon sa gene ng pinakamataas na marka. Ginawa ng isang panginoon sa kanluran."

"Wait, what?" 

Without even intending to, Villin released these words, the announcer had suddenly changed language while talking about this object.

"Hindi ako nagbibiro. Ang solusyon na ito ay may kakayahang ipaalam sa isang tao na mabuhay na may isang stake sa pamamagitan ng kanilang puso."

Like this, the announcer continued to speak for multiple minutes. Most people on the lower two sections of the auction seemed confused while a few began casually talking with friends, they had probably been to an auction before.

Luckily, Villin didn't have to wonder for long as Gracia was as confused as he was.

"Daddy, why did the man change his language? Shouldn't he be speaking common?"

Grand raised his hand and Gracia immediately stopped in place, she had learned to wait until her dad's hand was lowered before continuing to pursue questions.

After the announcer spoke a bit more, Grand lost interest as he clicked his tongue, "He's speaking the elven tongue sweety, the language of a race that is long since extinct. You know how you hear daddy speak the dwarven tongue with some important guests? This is the same. The dwarven tongue is only spoken by those of high status, the elven tongue is spoken by those who are… open-minded. It is a language used for secrets."

"Oooooh!" Gracia exclaimed as she thought about it for a moment, "So, is the man selling a secret?"

Grand paused for a moment before nodding, "More or less. He is selling an item that is frowned upon by the common folk. It's complicated stuff, sweety, you'll learn it when you grow up."

Gracia didn't throw a tantrum or anything of the like and simply nodded, it seemed that secrets weren't uncommon in the Von Hauser family.

As they were discussing this, the announcer finished, "Starting bid is at one-hundred-thousand magic crystals. Buyout price at a hundred-and-fifty thousand."

Yet, what followed wasn't a bid, but the flash of a spell instead. Coming from one of the VIP booths was a streak of purple, heading straight for the announcer.