ushernet Chapter 221 : Auction House (11)
Chapter 221 : Auction House (11)
For a brief moment, Lian felt as though he had been bewitched by something and found himself unconsciously looking down.There was no mistake.
It was the same Demon Woman (Female) wearing the Fox Mask from my memory.
“……”
She slowly lifted her head and cast her gaze precisely toward where I was.
As if she had known from the very beginning that I was there.
Beyond the mask, her eyes—whose depths could not be measured—met mine.
The next instant, I reflexively rose from my seat and tried to head down below.
Why?
I could not explain it, but I felt that I had to meet her right now.
That was when it happened.
Grab.
A heavy hand seized my arm and stopped me.
“It would be best for you to calm yourself and sit down.”
It was Valen Zeisho.
His voice was low and composed, yet there was an unmistakable firmness to it.
“……I only intended to exchange a few words and return.”
“Considering the ties between us, I will say this again.”
When I replied, he shook his head.
His hand still gripped my arm tightly.
“I am sincerely advising you—do not go down there right now. And furthermore… it would be wise to postpone meeting that woman for a little while.”
At his resolute tone, I had no choice but to stop moving.
In that brief span, Valen Zeisho’s gaze shifted toward the woman wearing the Fox Mask.
She, too, quietly stared back at him.
“……”
“……”
What kind of unspoken exchange had passed between them?
Soon, as if nothing had happened, the woman wearing the Fox Mask gave a light shrug and abruptly left her seat.
She blended into the crowd in an instant, and like smoke scattering into the air, her figure vanished almost immediately.
When I sat back down, Valen Zeisho finally released my arm and gave a small nod.
‘Hmm…….’
Watching the two of us silently was Velita Levymne Bestrang.
A faint, intrigued smile rested on her lips, hidden behind her fan.
“Now then, let us take a look at the next item!”
While we had our brief scuffle, the Auctioneer on the platform continued the auction in an impassioned voice.
“This item dates back approximately one hundred and fifty years! The ill-fated Three-Eyed Tribe, said to have vanished into history! What you see here is the skull presumed to belong to their last descendant! Behold its radiant yet chilling appearance! And its elegance besides! We shall begin the bidding at one hundred Gold Coins!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than shouts erupted throughout the hall.
“One hundred fifty!”
“Two hundred!”
“I bid two hundred twenty!”
A fierce competition unfolded in the audience, and in the blink of an eye, the skull of the Three-Eyed Tribe was sold to a wealthy magnate.
In that manner, the auction continued, and continued.
“……”
Valen Zeisho did not so much as stir, as if he had no interest from the very beginning in anything other than the remains of the High Elf that would appear near the end.
I was the same.
The case of the jar earlier had been exceptional; otherwise, I paid little attention to the other auction items.
In the first place, I did not even have the kind of money needed to participate in such a staggering auction.
“……Three hundred.”
Only Velita Levymne Bestrang occasionally raised her fan to join the bidding.
But rather than genuinely wanting the items, it seemed more like she was merely passing the time out of boredom.
As if to prove that, she usually stopped at a reasonable point, and even when someone else won an item she had bid on, she merely wore an indifferent expression.
Thus, time passed little by little.
Meanwhile, all manner of bizarre and extraordinary objects appeared on the platform and disappeared again.
Even things that looked like mere junk to my eyes sold for staggering prices, and at times, even strange living animals or unheard-of plants were presented as auction items.
The sums of money being called out were far beyond anything I could have imagined.
‘Unbelievable.’
Though I thought that to myself, I was waiting for when the remains of the High Elf would appear.
That did not mean I was simply sitting idly.
“……”
I carefully observed the atmosphere of the Auction House and the movements of the people.
In particular, I paid close attention to several individuals who reacted with fanatic enthusiasm not to paintings, sculptures, artifacts, or jewels—but to relics said to have been used by past Heroes or to old weapons.
On the surface, they appeared to be perfectly respectable nobles or wealthy merchants, yet in their eyes I sensed a strange, almost obsessive frenzy.
‘No.’
Perhaps I was simply focusing too much on that possibility, and that was why it appeared so to me.
‘……Could there really be someone among those people connected to that bastard?’
Even as I thought that, I began to consider why Valen Zeisho had stopped me earlier.
The woman wearing the Fox Mask… in other words, that Demon Woman (Female)… she and Valen Zeisho seemed to know each other.
I had already heard some of the circumstances from Windy May Maddown, and I had met her myself in the past. Because of that, I knew very well that the woman had reached a realm far beyond anything I could dare to imagine.
‘…Then is she truly a great Demon who made her name during the Great War?’
If that were the case, it would explain certain things and make the pieces fit.
But then why would such a being purchase that jar as if she had been waiting for it?
And even attend a place like this quietly as a mere guest?
“……”
And amidst all that, why—why had she deliberately met my eyes?
That gaze, as if she knew something and had been waiting… or as if she were trying to warn me of something…
“Ugh……!”
As my thoughts spiraled, a sudden headache struck me. I flinched and pressed a hand to my forehead.
A throbbing pain pulsed, and my vision blurred for a moment.
It was a sensation I had not felt in a long time.
“Ah.”
Room of Memories. Talia Poas.
Several words followed in chaotic succession through my mind.
Memory. Head. Tampering. Restriction. Seal.
‘……No.’
I hurriedly tried to think of something else.
I had not forgotten Talia Poas’s warning for even a single moment.
How could I forget that chilling warning—that if I was careless, something irreversible might occur?
At that moment, a low voice sounded from beside me.
“At last…….”
It was Valen Zeisho.
His gaze had remained fixed on the stage from the very beginning.
Soon, the Auctioneer’s resounding voice rang throughout the Auction House.
“You have waited long, everyone! At last—the very item so many of you have eagerly awaited! It is time for the star of this auction to appear!”
Applause erupted as he cried out passionately.
With a practiced gesture, he waved off the applause and began to explain about the High Elf.
“As many of you already know, but since you have waited so long, allow me to take just a little more of your time!”
Clap!
He struck his hands together loudly.
“High Elves. They are beings who walk a path distinct from ordinary Elves, and in this day and age, merely encountering one could be called a miracle, so exceedingly rare are they! Furthermore, among those High Elves, it is said that in extremely rare cases, when they die, their bodies transform into something like a jewel. Even among Elves, such remains are revered as objects of faith—rare and sacred beyond measure!”
As the explanation continued, I looked at the stage with mild surprise.
At first, I had assumed he was simply spinning an impressive tale as usual, but what he said matched exactly what Valen Zeisho had told me.
“A jewel born from the body of a High Elf who lived for countless ages. And an object of worship among Elves! Truly, among the countless uses one might imagine—if one seeks immortality, what more fitting treasure could there be?”
The Auctioneer spread his arms wide as he spoke fervently.
There was a strange power in his voice that drew people in.
‘What is this.’
It was a voice that sounded familiar.
As if I had heard it in a play before…
While I was thinking that, he continued.
“And astonishingly, everyone, the remains we have obtained with great difficulty today are said to belong to the great Hero who once saved the continent! A member of the Wolpen Knights and called the King of the Fairies! Yes, the very remains of Sir Valen Zeisho! You have all waited long enough! Now, behold that glorious form for yourselves!”
At the signal, several sturdy men slowly emerged from behind the stage, carefully pushing a cart.
Upon the cart rested the radiant ivory form of an Elf.
It sat quietly in a chair, hands folded atop its abdomen, wearing a perfectly serene expression.
It looked so lifelike that it seemed it might begin breathing at any moment.
“……”
Without realizing it, I glanced at Valen Zeisho.
He said nothing, simply staring silently at the stage.
No emotion showed on his face, and I could not begin to guess what he was thinking.
Only one thing was certain—he must be feeling an extreme fury.
“Now then……!”
The Auctioneer raised his voice again.
“Let us begin the bidding for this great relic—Sta—geh! Gihk—hic!”
Suddenly, a bizarre, air-leaking sound burst from his mouth.
I flinched and stared at him.
Valen Zeisho, as if sensing something amiss, slowly began to draw something from his coat.
My gaze shifted back to the stage.
“That’s…….”
The men who should have withdrawn immediately after delivering the item remained standing there blankly, sweeping their unpleasant gazes over us—over everyone seated in the Auction House.
“Hic. Uhehih!”
The Auctioneer violently shook his head several times, then suddenly cried out again in a clear voice as though nothing had happened.
But that voice was far more frenzied than before, and a chilling aura clung to it.
“……Ahem! My apologies. Then let us cast aside tedious explanations and trivial greetings and finally address the main subject!”
He threw both arms high into the air and shouted.
“Everyone, in this glorious place, please die here—every last one of you without exception!”
With those words, his hand extended toward the seated crowd.
From his palm, a strange and ominous beam of light began to erupt, as though it would engulf the entire Auction House in an instant.