"Before we start, I would like to remind you that the Fayez guarantee that all of the to be sold slaves have all been meticulously scanned for any type of backdoors, the Fayez guarantee that there are no, in any shape or form any type of hidden collars on the slaves. They are all clean and non-corrupt. Now, let the bidding start!" The host excitedly said, then started listing the characteristics and attributes in great detail about the slave whose turn is the next in order to be sold.
*******
There were many slaves and many different kind of beings being sold, some were humanoid but having no resemblance to a human, some were giants while others were dwarfs. There were even illogical beings, I even saw a flying eye being sold. But the heating bidding of the crowd were constant across all of the slaves, showing the quality of the slaves even with the astonishing quantity. There were some keywords that were common between all of the listed attributes, I tried, as best as I can compile these keywords, hopefully with the plan to fully research them in the future. The keywords were: ' Bloodlines | Soul Quality | Monster Hierarchy if the being is a breed of a monster | Elemental Affinities | The number of Ascensions '
I could see the host trying to increase the pace at which slaves are being sold going as far as to sell a group of slaves together, of course with the reserve price as a minimum combined, but even then it was still a lengthy task and hours passed with the number still in thousands. One may think the crowd would be tired, but they were still as energetic as when they started. More hours passed and now it's the turn for the last 10 slaves!
*******
I was dead tired, standing like this for hours did take its toll on me. I wanted to lay down and just rest. Feeling hungry and thirsty, but thankfully I have no desire to use the bathroom acknowledging the auction house for employing a trick for I saw no defecation around me. I was now in the very front of the line with nothing blocking me from the crowd. I was exposed for all to see.
"WHEW, well, that was intense! Now, this is the turn for the last 10 highly seeked slaves, THE EX-HEROES! " The host yelled with intensity bringing vigor to all those who felt tired.
I could feel all eyes on us, it was, humiliating. clenching my hands I muttered "A soul..." Thinking, I gritting my teeth then thought silently
'A Soul for a Soul, an Eye for an Eye, a Nose for a Nose, an Ear for an Ear and a Tooth for a Tooth.' Even if eons pass I will never forget the humiliation that the NPCs did to me, even if they have feelings and does have consciousness, let that be a promise, an oath, a pledge I take upon myself.
"Please note that the order of the Ex-Heroes here doesn't matter, it was randomly chosen. So Don't let that affect your bidding!" The host said then continued
"All of the Ex-Heroes are non-awakened, so you don't have to worry about their bizarre inherited abilities! But sadly even if the Fayez auction house offers a free master/slave binding ritual for every sold slave, the Fayez decided to offer no such thing with the Ex-Heroes and hence will hold no responsibility of the Ex-Heroes after the selling is finished." The host said then started the bidding for the first Ex-Hero.
Hearing all of the offered prices, it was truly astonishing. The bidding for the previously sold slaves consisted of the reserve price of the mana core of the appropriate Ascension, some even even bidded more than one mana core in addition to the reserve price or even a mana core of a higher Ascension, while with the majority of the slaves, it was the reserve price in addition to mana stones, even with the number of slaves numbered in thousands, all of the offered mana stones were of rank 6 or lower, but now, even rank 10 mana stones were offered!
I still don't know the value of them but they must be very strategically important! The big shots in the VIP rooms were offering high ranked mana stones like they were offering candies! It has been more than 20mintues and offers are still going but so far, no one dared to offer a mana core of higher Ascension or even another mana core of the same Ascension, all they were offering were mana stones. Finally A VIP won the bidding with millions of ranked 10 mana stones in addition to the reserve price!
With the previously sold slaves, the host never showed any higher reaction more than only congratulation the winner but this time the host congratulated the winner and also clapped! Promoting all of the crowd to clap for the next couple of seconds. After first Ex-Hero was sold, the time it took selling the next couples of Ex-Heroes lessened, like an unspeakable price was set for the Ex-Heroes, varying by a small quantity.
*******
"Coming close to the ending, we will be starting the bidding for number 7005! Sticking to our honesty, we could have healed the Ex-Hero disability but we were told that he was already disabled since he was summoned. The Fayez will be offering with the slave a free rank 2 elixir which by itself doesn't cost much compared to the cost of an Ex-Hero, but still the Fayez decided to hold its integrity till the end! Start the bidding"
The bidding for me have finally started, hopefully soon, I will be able to rest and maybe have a good meal!
The bidding have been going as smoothly as the previous Ex-Hero bidding, all of the previous heroes were sold to the big shots bidding from the VIP rooms, the people on the normal crowd had no such funds compared to the giant whales in the VIP rooms. The bidding neared an end, the offers were drastically lower than the previous Ex-Hero sales, maybe because of my disability? A bid from VIP room AB13 was the last bidding before all bidding went silent, it seemed like I'm going to be sold to whoever is in room AB13. Looking at room AB13, I was trying lookig for any detail about the person or group staying in the room, trying to maybe take a glimpse about who the buyer might be, but the room was perfectly closed with no see through windows.
"Going Once" The host started
All beings present thought room AB13 was going to win the bidding for slave number 7005.
"Going Twice"
"So--" Before the host could finish, an anomaly happened! A feminine voice sounded from the normal crowd, not even from a VIP room and said:
"One mana core.." The voice said slowly, a shout was starting to rise from room AB13
"Of the seventh Ascension" The voice finished, then silence emerged..
Everything became silent, only the host gulping could be heard, it was five seconds of complete silence before the host yelled "SOLD!!"
*******
I was stunned, Why was I any different compared to the last Ex-Heroes? Even when I was escorted to the back of the stage, the person escorting me, said with a clear envious face : "How are you so lucky? This must be some servant of a high nobility, being able to offer such an astonishing price, you sure lucked out!"
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Since I, technically don't belong to the Fayez auction house anymore, the way I was treated was drastically better, they even gave me clothes to wear before meeting the mysterious person who won the bidding. I looked at the person who was escorting me and said:
"Fuck off!" Plain and simple. Lucky? offering a double price for a disabled Ex-Hero? No one is going to pay such a high price without having plans to get their money worth back, and that plan isn't going to be in any form hold an indication of 'luck'.
*******
I was escorted to a spacious waiting room, there was even a screen showing the whole auction, done with this shit no need to look anymore.
*******
Sitting on a table chair doing nothing. I Have been waiting now for more than half an hour, but with no sign of the mysterious buyer yet.
*******
Finally, after an hour a person walked in, heaving a sigh in my self, the person was a human female, knowing that we were from the same specie made me calm a bit. She looked young, maybe in her twenties or earlier thirties, she wasn't tall or short, she had a perfect blonde hair with blue eyes. She approached me, took a chair and sat in front of me. Taking deep breaths, she looked stressed.
"Are you okay?" I asked
"Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking. It's nice to meet you, my name is Karina Freid" Karina said while rising her hand toward me prompting a hand shake
shaking her handI said "Likewise, my name is Abdo, were there some problems after the payment?"
"There were.. some problems with the payments, you see, I was in this auction by chance, there was an artifact advertised that I was interested in buying, no one really thought Ex_Heroes were on the sale list. I guess because the Fayez is a newly rising auction house, that's why they are so reckless." Karina stopped to take a breath then continued:
"After the host announced the sale of Ex-Heroes, I contacted our young lady and she made sure I had to win a bid at any cost, that's the problem, I came here unprepared and you can't place any bid unless you have the money on you, but thankfully they let us pass this time because the young lady asked her grandfather to intervene." Karina finished.
Finally, some fucking answers! I hate being blind.
"Karina, I'm truly sorry, but I have been teleported, then sold, without even knowing where I'm, is it okay if I ask you some questions?" I asked Karina hopefully, this time I will be getting answers.
"Yes, you can ask me anything, from now on, I have been assigned as your assistant so you can ask me anything and I will do the best in my capability to answer your questions."
"Really?" I asked with doubt, going through all of those traumatizing events were very hard. It made me become skeptical to everything.
But Karina answered with a simple:
"Yes"
I wanted to know the answers for a lot of things, but first
"Can.. Can I have some water and food?" My body was starting to get weak and I started to get sleepy but In no way I'm sleeping without first getting the satisfactory answers I deserve for all of these questions inside me
"With some coffee, please?" I added, surely with the modern looking screens, coffee should also exist.
"Sure, excuse me, I should have thought better, sorry"
"No, no problem at all!!" Right after the food filled with deliciousness were filling the table, with a hot coffee as a finisher.
"You can take your time, we have a lot of it." Taking her words as granted, I took my time feasting on this beautiful set of food, but I regretted it after, the more I ate the more I was getting sleepy. Curing my hunger made me prone to sleep, but I needed to lose my self in food to blow some of the stress I was feeling, hopefully the coffee is strong enough to keep me awake.
*******
After finishing all of the food, a satisfactory burp was released without my intention, looking at Karina, there was no sign of any mild disgust on her face. It was the same expressionless face. Maybe I shouldn't have taken my sweet time eating? Who knows how busy she is right now. Taking a sip from my coffee I asked Karina:
"So, why me? there were others beside me. Why did you choose me?" It was time for some answers..
"Actually, it wasn't me who chose, it was the young miss. When it was the turn for the last ten, the Ex-Heroes to be sold, and since there was no available information on the Ex-Heroes, their appearance became the only present information so I relayed every Ex-Hero appearance to the young lady and then, she chose you."
"But why?"
Karina took a moment then said: "For a project.. You will know soon when it's time"
A project huh..
"Why did you say the Fayez auction house was.. reckless for selling Ex-Heroes? are there rules prohibiting that?"
"No, there aren't any rules prohibiting the selling of Ex-Heroes, but there was an auction house in the past belonging to a prominent family, they owned a whole region to themselves spanning thousands of kilometers with millions living there. All was right till.. the whole region just vanished and became an empty desert with no sign of any living being.." I could see Karina shuddering for a moment but then continued:
"the last known thing before the disappearance was that one Ex-Hero was sold in the auction house, after the region's disappearance, rumors started circulating that the cause of the disappearance was because of a Hero, an actual Hero. There was no known Hero that had any involvement with said family, but it was predicted that a Hero had acted because of the Ex-Hero being sold. actual Heroes are very strange and odd and.. powerful. very powerful. After that it became some kind of taboo to indulge in Ex-Heroes slavery."
Good hearing that, Fuck those NPCs my dear Heroes!
"May I know the name of the 'young lady'?"
"You be will be seeing her soon, but yes. her name is Zara Klion, the youngest daughter of Moler Klion the president of the Brekset Group."
Can you tell me what the fuck does the Brekset Group does?
"Can you tell me what is the line of business of the Brekset Group or what is it's function?"
Karina took a deep breath then said:
"It's a worldwide company leading in my industries like manufacturing industries, mining industry, drug industry, dungeoneering industry, etc. But it is most known for its entertainment industries."
Huh? Sounds like a trillions dollar company. dungeoneering? maybe I will be assisting on that industry? Also, what do you mean by entertainment?
"Entertainment industries like brothels and stuff?"
Karina said with a frown forming in her face:
"No, What I meant are broadcasting entertainments industries, like broadcasted shows or series. There are trillions subscribing to our Brekset Broadcasts and even billions are daily active on our Live Streaming broadcasts."
Holy fuck, I didn't expect that, I thought I was teleported in some kind of a medieval world, but it seems like there are huge advances here.
I did say I missed being watched and accompanied by many, is this my wish being answered? Fuck!
"Will the project that will be assigned to me have any relationship to the live streaming broadcast?" I asked Karina hopefully the answer won't be what I think it's.. Yes maybe I will be dungeoneering? FUCK, I can still do dungeoneering what ever fuck that entails while also streaming, there should be no conflict between them.
"Of course, I can tell you the project will be consisted of you streaming 24/7, the details are still being prepared by lady Zara herself."
Fuck, really? 24/7? What If I want to enter the bathroom? Speaking of which I do need to enter the bathroom.. Also I will be pretending that I didn't say 'I miss being watched and accompanied by many'
I want to use the bathroom, also the coffee effect was diminishing and I was getting really sleepy.
"Karina, I'm truly thankful for you being with me like this and answering my questions, Thank you" I said then continued "I'm getting sleepy right now and also I would like to use the bathroom too. Also if it's possible, can I have the rank 2 elixir? I'm not really used to only having one hand, You must have the elixir right? since the host said he will give that as a bonus to whoever successfully win the bid." I asked Karina with certainty that she does have the elixir, fucking Elons I will never forget what you did to me even if the scar is healed I will always remember what you did to me and I will be paying you millions fold back.
"Huh? wasn't you always a disabled? How come you still didn't get used to only having one hand?" Karina asked with a questioning face
What do you mean I always had one hand?! Of fucking course not, just like I wasn't fucking born as a slave I also wasn't born as a disabled!
"No, it happened.. In the church.." remembering that incident.. let's just forget about it now, till I grow stronger that is.
"Well, sorry. I can't help you with that. A title have already been chosen and the advertisements have already spread so it cannot be changed." Karina said with a mild apologetic face this time
Huh? The FUCK you mean the title couldn't be changed? Was I too optimistic feeling hope so soon?