-In a Minor Kingdom of the Eternal Empire-

The bright hall was filled with loud chattering and laughter, sconces letting off a warm glow along the edges of the room. Individuals of all races wearing exquisite gowns and suits mingled with each other, every one of their faces covered by a mask. The hall was filled with many tiers of seats, the VIPs sitting up in the highest private rooms.

The stage out the front was hidden by draping scarlet curtains, the spotlights yet to be activated. Then suddenly, one by one, the mana lamps in the hall shut off, causing the room to descend into darkness. Loud voices turned to hushed whispers as the crimson curtains began to slowly pull back on their hooks.

The charged hum of mana was released as the multi-coloured lights flooded the stage with light. A man wearing a mask like all the others, a cane in his hand, walked casually across the stage and then bowed in front of all the assembled nobles.

“Esteemed ladies and gentlemen!” he began, his tone commanding attention. “It brings me great joy to see you all gathered here once again. Very few forces deal in the trade of such… exotic goods as us, but your endless support nearly brings me to tears. But I digress. You have not come here to hear this.”

He straightened up and spread his arms. “Welcome, one and all, to the Midnight Auction, a monthly event that only the most prestigious of personnel may attend!”

The crowd in the auction hall clapped, all excited to know what wares the auctioneer would be revealing that night. The man bowed once more and gestured to the side.

“Now, as I’m aware that it is not truly I that you have come here to see, let me show you a small… teaser of what we have in store for you today,” he said with a smirk. He walked to the side as three masked men wheeled carts onto the stage, all of them covered by scarlet silk.

The auctioneer walked up to the first one and threw off the silk with a flourish. Inside a mana barrier-protected glass case was a delicate headpiece of twisted, thorny obsidian vines that writhed and slithered. A dark crimson liquid seeped from the Heretic item and soaked its resting pillow.

“The Dark Coronet of Eternal Rest! Those who give this to a Host will have a subordinate who can cast a powerful sleep curse on your enemies,” the auctioneer proudly exclaimed, gesturing to the ominous diadem. “The possibilities are endless, and this coronet has just been removed from its previous Host, who had managed to bring the item’s rarity to Ancient!”

As the crowd quietly discussed the item amongst themselves, he removed the cover of the next item, placed within a tall case. A suit of rusted, dull armour revealed itself, spots of what seemed to be dried bloodstains spoiling its surface. The joints of the armour appeared to be encased in hardened grey stone as if the armour had been sealed in stone for millennia.

“Here we have a Rare suit of armour of the earth element, the entire set to be sold as one!” the auctioneer announced. “It may appear bland and its rarity is low, but looks can be deceiving for this,” he said, pointing at the item, “Is one of the fabled impenetrable suits of armour from the Unbarred Dungeon of the Iron Mace!”

Excited whispers were let out as the auctioneer switched to pointing at the audience. “That very same Ancient Dungeon on the Aeternus plane! These Heretic armour sets are famous for being impenetrable from the lowest rarity, with their qualities only becoming more pronounced as the Heretic item’s Host assimilates with it! Find a talented earth-element Host for this suit of armour, and you have yourself the closest version to the perfect bodyguard you can get in this realm!”

The auctioneer slowly walked up to the last hidden item, even taller than the previous ones. Leaning his cane against the back wall so he could grip the silk sheet with both hands, he yanked it off and discarded the sheet at his feet.

Gasps of astonishment escaped the mouths of the nobles as chained to a pillar was a masculine figure of intimidating height, a blindfold tied around his head. What drew their attention though, was the pair of draconic wings folded behind him and the two scarlet horns that curled around his ears. From the neck down, he was covered in scale armour that glowed with orange light, heat warping the air around him. The one important feature of him was that in the centre of his chest, a vertical, moving orange eye was present.

A thick tail that extended from him was lashed to the pillar, and both of his clawed hands were chained to the handle of a massive greatsword nearly his own width, and over half his height. A bloodshot, orange, slitted eye was built into the hilt of the greatsword, darting around to peer at everything. The blade of the greatsword was jagged and serrated, crafted out of reddish, metallic material. Thin glowing orange veins spread throughout the blade and hilt of the weapon. Segments of the blade twitched and shifted, giving the impression it was a living creature.

As the crowd broke into frenzied talk the auctioneer roared with excited laughter and threw out a hand to gesture to the creature. “Yes! Here we have not just the Heretic weapon, but the partially transformed Host of a draconic Heretic weapon of the fire element as well!” A vicious grin appeared on the face of the auctioneer as he continued to reveal details about the Heretic item behind him with what sounded like glee. “With the Host and the weapon having already been bound and cultivated for ten years, this Host has reached the peak of his strength and has a full ten years left before his body is consumed by the Ancient Heretic blade!”

The auctioneer held a hand behind his back as he began to pace in front of the audience, his cane in the other hand. “Obtained from a slain Monstrous Fire Wyvern, this Hellflame Blade of Incineration will only take another five years of being with its Host before it evolves and becomes a Legendary Heretic item.” He smirked again. “Its Host here, the infamous Cursed of Wyvern Wrath, will be on his last legs when that time comes, but he will be a valuable weapon to commence an attack against your enemies before his eventual annihilation.”

He stepped forward and held his arms out to the audience. “But please, please, these are our pride and joy! We can’t allow these to be sold just yet. You must wait for the finale.”

As the audience let out sighs of disappointment, he bowed and smiled. “And do not forget, dear ladies and gentlemen, that the Midnight Auction’s ‘Secret item’ will still be auctioned off at the end of tonight, as we do each month. And I swear by my reputation that it will be an even greater surprise than what has been shown so far. So now, enjoy the event, and wait for the perfect time to place your bids.”

He stood up, turned around, and walked away from the front of the stage as the curtains began to close. The nobles quickly began to discuss what was shown that night as the lights turned back on while the first event of the auction was prepared on stage.

…

Commission: Sabotage Fesh Greywater’s plans at the Midnight Auction of Vaulten City on the 7th of March.

Details: The second-in-line heir of Duke Greywater in the Windswept Kingdom intends to increase his reputation and connections by performing an act that will place the representative of the Midnight Auction in his debt, as well as demonstrate his abilities to the assembled nobility at the auction. A staged scene will be performed where the mystery item of the Midnight Auction will be replaced by a fake. The heir will then reveal that the item is fake, breeding distrust among the nobles there.

To place the representative in his ‘debt’, the heir will explain that he captured the thief who created the fake, and will return the real item to the representative.

Task: Do what is needed to ruin the scheme of the 2nd heir—additional rewards for degrading his reputation as well.

A figure wearing a hooded black coat tilted their head at the letter in their hands and then placed it into their coat pocket. They crossed their arms and leaned against a wall as they looked around at the underground room.

Several other cloaked men and possible women with unknown identities sat in the room, none of them talking to each other. They all looked up when the door to the room opened and a scarred-looking man with a battleaxe on his back marched in.

“Alright folks,” he began curtly, standing with his armoured hands on his hips. “I don’t care what jobs you lot have, I don’t care if you end up stabbing each other the moment I leave. It’s not my place to question what tasks you’ve got. My only job is to get your lot into the auction house above our heads.”

Several of the people in the room looked at the roof as the man crossed his arms. “Our dark Guild has seven rooms like these within the underground of the city. An event like the Midnight Auction will be teeming with thieves, assassins, and anyone else like you guys.” He turned around to walk back to the door and glanced over his shoulder. “We’ve been hired by the Black Night to ensure you can all get in, and those of you who survive can get out.”

He turned around and faced them again. “One last warning. The guys above already know about your schemes because if you didn’t know, an attack on the Midnight Auction is launched every month.” He gained a vicious grin. “Welcome to Vaulten City underworld’s favourite day of the month: the night of chaos.”

He turned around and pointed up. “When you hear the first fireball being launched above then you know it’s time to move. Take one step out of here before then and the wards in the walls will kill you instantly.” He opened the door. “That’s it from me. Good luck, because you’ll need it.”

The door clicked shut behind him, leaving the room in silence. People traded wary looks, their distrust of each other plain to see. As the seconds ticked by in the tense silence, a loud scoff was heard as one of the masked figures walked towards the door.

“I’m going to go and get a head start on you guys. No so-called ‘wards’ are going to stop a Rank-4 assassin like me,” the man said, opening the door.

No sooner had he placed one foot on the other side of the doorframe did he let out a horrifying scream. Scarlet flames burst out on his feet and rapidly climbed up to encompass him in fire. The man was entirely consumed and fell to the ground, only a pile of ashes.

Off to the side, a masked man among a group of three snickered. “Good riddance. I hated the guy. Heard he was on his last resurrection too.”

Due to the man finally speaking, the trio began to make small talk. Everyone else in the room made idle chatter with their ‘colleagues’ too, mostly discussing which different tasks everyone planned to do.

But one figure remained silent, not moving from their position, leaning against the wall.

It became close to half an hour after the guilder had walked in that a resounding boom shook the room. Several of the weaker individuals stumbled because of the unexpected shock, but everyone else began to file out of the room. Several used their dark-element abilities to transfer themselves.

The figure leaning against the wall was the last one to leave. They straightened up and walked towards the door with steady, measured steps.

Internally, Lucy smirked. Her actions would probably ruin the plans of all those Black Night Union members.

…

Two uniformed waiters bowed and opened the door of the private room overlooking the auction hall. Lucille didn’t acknowledge them as she walked in and sat down in one of the two armchairs, a small circular table positioned between them.

“One of us will be outside your door if you need us, my lord,” a waiter said.

Lucy gave them a dismissive wave without turning around, keeping her eyes on the stage. The staff shut the door to the room, leaving her in peace. Lucille glanced behind her and then returned her attention to the auction.

I don’t have the AGI to sneak around without being caught, nor do I have the STR to get into a fight with some random assassin or thief. I had to spend a bit of money to get this private room, but that’s no issue. I practically earn ten times that amount each second.

She crossed one leg over the other and reclined in her chair as she waited for the core event to start. Eyeing the ‘goods’ with distaste, she instead decided to analyse all the gathered nobility to see which ones she needed to make the biggest impression on.

Minor plane noble, Minor plane noble, rich commoner, Major plane lower nobility… ah, so the Aeternus nobles decided to sit in that row.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Lucy smirked and placed her hands behind her head.

Now it’s just a waiting game until the main piece of this event is revealed. But in the meantime…

When the auctioneer on the stage began to call out the bids, Lucille raised her bidder number, not even bothering to look at what it was she was bidding for. More bids were called out, but she kept putting her sign up. The cursed item that was being shown – not a Heretic item, for those would come out later – was ‘sold’ to her. Then she did the same for the next item.

And then the next item. And the one after that.

As the night continued, whispers began to break out among the audience about who was the bidder in her private room. Of course, nobody could see who she was, due to her Black Night-made… disguise, but even her outfit was an object of discussion.

She was, in fact, wearing a thick black leather vest with a deep hood over her head, dark pants, dark boots, and a pitch-black jester mask with a twisted grin on its face. While she had fun designing the outfit, it was common for members of the Black Night Union to wear outfits with particular themes, which was why they were called ‘identities’. It was a form of brand recognition for the organisation.

The night continued on, and Lucille didn’t stop placing bids on everything. The Midnight Auction demanded a down payment be made before being allowed to place bids on anything, just so they knew that a potential buyer had the financial capability to uphold their end of the deal.

Lucy had gone and deposited a crystalline token from the start, so there would be no problems there. She might never gain the token back, as she didn’t intend to buy anything there that night, but what she’d gain in the House’s support made up for whatever physical asset she could have bought with the money.

She had noticed, however, that a few people in one of the private rooms on the other side of the auction hall were paying close attention to her. Many eyes were on Lucille, but they weren’t looking at anything besides the auctioneer and her. She showed no sign of noticing their excessive attention and continued placing bids.

That would be Ducal Lord Fesh Greywater and his contingent of vassal nobility. They’re probably discussing my possible origins and wondering if my actions will affect their plan or not. It will… but not in the way they expect.

Soon, the Heretic items appeared on the stage. Lucy didn’t cease her bidding, even when the staff told her that the other nobles in the private rooms had sent messengers to negotiate with her. She ignored them all.

It was amusing to watch the auctioneer’s expression during the event, however. At the start, he seemed overjoyed that she had been buying almost everything at more than it was worth, but with fewer and fewer people attempting to outbid her, his happiness was dwindling. Especially as the more expensive items were about to be shown.

The third stage of the event came to a close with once again, everything being sold to her. Several nobles had already begun to leave the hall, muttering complaints about higher nobility and their coffers. Even the three items shown at the very start went to Lucy.

With a tight smile, the auctioneer clasped his hands together. “Now, now, it’s still not quite the end of the auction. Please, stay for just one last item. After all, it is time for the reveal of the Midnight Auction’s famed object: our mystery item!”

Several of the leaving nobility weren’t swayed, but most, with their curiosities piqued, decided to turn around and head back to their chairs. The auctioneer bowed. “Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I’d hate to leave you all empty-handed, so let me at least satisfy your thirst for knowledge,” he said, shooting Lucy a glance.

He straightened back up and spread his arms. “Now, let me present: The Mystery Item!”

The crowd clapped as five staff entered the stage, wheeling a large decorative cart into the centre. Inside of the massive rune-engraved glass case on the cart was a closed book, its leather-bound cover writhing and wiggling. The auctioneer flicked the wall of the case and the book flipped open, rising. Then it began to ram itself into the sides of the case. Ominous dark green, distorted runes rose from its pages and hurled themselves at the glass walls, smashing themselves to pieces against the crystal cage.

The auctioneer grinned as he gestured to the case, the audience’s faces showing shock. “This is the Grimoire of Befoulment! One of the rare Heretic items that can be used by mages and wizards, this object magnifies the effects of spells by twelve times!”

His grin became vicious as he spread his arms before the crowd. “Now, who will be the first to bid?!”

The audience fell silent as all eyes turned to Lucy, sitting behind the glass in her private room. Instead of raising her sign, she crossed her arms and tilted her head.

The seconds ticked by, and when she made no move, one noble slowly raised their number. “320 rose crowns!”

The auctioneer pointed at him. “The Grimoire of Befoulment going for 320 rose crowns! Is there anyone who wants to outbid number 43?!”

Chaos broke out as they all hastily bid, wanting to gain such a powerful item. Signs were raised each second as the number of crystal tokens the Heretic item was going for slowly rose. The nobles in Fesh Greywater’s room began to talk amongst each other, pointing at the auctioneer and the door of their room.

Lucy knew at that point it was time for her to make her move. Before the prince stood up and said anything, she stood up herself and walked over to the glass front of the room.

Analysing the composition of the magical glass in front of her, she quickly worked out what spell would shatter the material. An advanced spell spun in front of her fingertips, and toxic green flames shot out of the mana-circle to sweep across the glass. The blast made everyone below quickly look up and the window crumbled into a foul-smelling black ash, leaving a hole as large as her.

The auctioneer looked up at her as well, the fierce bidding competition slowly dying. Lucille crossed her arms and leaned against the melted edge of the glass, looking down at the stunned audience.

“Well, well, well,” she began, her voice distorting uncannily due to the item around her neck. The mana-circle hovering behind her head allowed her voice to echo loudly across the hall. “What do we have here? It seems the nobility of this plane are more blind than I ever could have expected.”

“…sir,” the auctioneer began, clearly unsure how to address the situation. “Is there a reason you have interrupted the auction by damaging the auction hall’s property?”

“A… reason?” She slowly straightened up and placed her hands behind her back. She leaned forward to look down at the auctioneer over the edge. “Do you mean to tell me, that the representative of the Malediction Society in Vaulten City himself, is also so blind as to attempt to sell us fake goods without knowing?”

Whispers broke out among the nobles. The auctioneer stared at her. “F…F-Fake goods?” Astounded, he gestured around him. “Where in the realms are these ‘fake goods’ you say I’m selling?”

Lucy snickered, a hand covering her mouth, and she pointed to the grimoire in the glass case. “Over there of course. Your ‘amazing’ mystery item.”

The auctioneer scowled. “Sir, I will have to ask the auction house’s guards to escort you out if you keep up this pretence.”

“Don’t believe me? Hm…” After pretending to think, Lucy jumped down and landed on the closest aisle. She turned around to face the nobles as she walked backwards down the carpeted stairs, her arms spread wide as she directed her words to the observers. “Because I am such a loyal customer of this business, I’m willing to prove my case personally.” She turned back around and gave the auctioneer a deep bow. “With the representative’s permission, of course.”

The auctioneer narrowed his eyes at Lucille but then nodded and stepped to the side. “It is better we get this farce over and done with to put the fears of the auction house’s precious customers to rest. Very well then.”

Lucy raised an index finger. “Ah, but I’m not done.” She turned back around to face the audience. “I intend to dispel the illusion with a spell of my own. What if someone claims that the purpose of my spell is more… nefarious than I state?” She suddenly turned to point a finger directly at the Ducal Lord’s private room, much to their shock and suspicion. “I have heard that Lord Greywater has decided to grace this event with his presence.”

Lucille gave a deep bow in the lord’s direction. “Please, could I request that Lord Greywater send a member of his cohort to verify the effects of my spell? I wouldn’t want the worth of my words to be ruined by betraying anyone’s trust.”

Whispers spread throughout the room. The blonde-haired figure sitting in the main armchair in the lord’s private room, the presumed Lord Greywater, studied her cautiously, then turned to speak to a bearded man in robes beside him.

A few moments later, that same bearded man walked down the aisles of the hall to politely dip his head at Lucy, a staff in hand. “Lord Greywater has accepted your request,” he stated. “I am High-mage Ruven Ladebearer, a manipulator of illusion and water.”

Lucy nodded and dipped her head in return. She gestured to herself. “I am only known as Jinx, sire. Just one of many who aspire to be distinguishable among the Empire’s many esteemed personages.”

He must be the one who cast the illusion spell.

“…I see,” the High-mage replied, eyeing her carefully. He gestured to the auctioneer, her and the glass case. “Well, if it is fine with all parties involved, may we see this spell of yours, Lord ‘Jinx’?”

The auctioneer nodded, so Lucy climbed up the steps of the stage and stood before it. “As you wish. Please inspect my spell to ensure it is the Advanced-level ‘Unveiling Arrow’ I claim it to be.”

The High-mage nodded, so she raised two black leather-gloved hands, five silver rings on each finger. The indigo mist of illusion mana swirled about her feet and collected into the multi-layered runic circle in front of her face, the size of a pair of double doors. She glanced back at the mage. “Do you recognise this as the standard spellform of Unveiling Arrow?”

The High-mage walked up the stairs and narrowed his eyes at the spell, inspecting it carefully. He took a long time, and Lucy knew it was his attempt at causing her to drop the spell when she couldn’t sustain it any longer. Unfortunately, her mental power meant that she could cast five hundred of these levels of spells concurrently without breaking a sweat.

After all, that was what was required to cast Grand spells.

With a slight sigh, the High-mage backed off and nodded. “That is the Athenaeum-standard spellform I’m familiar with, yes.” He turned to the auctioneer. “I am satisfied that it will have the described effect when cast.”

Internally, Lucy was grinning. She knew what type of spell was needed to dispel that level of illusion, and both she and the High-mage were aware that Unveiling Arrow wasn’t enough. That was the only reason why the High-mage had yet to accuse her of trying to cast a different spell on the item. But she wanted him there for another reason.

“Good.” The auctioneer gestured to the glass case. “Then, ‘Lord Jinx’, I request you cast Unveiling Arrow and reveal the truth to us all!”

“Yes, sir. Unveiling Arrow!”

The indigo arrow as thick as her arm, made of intertwined runes that emerged from the layers of the giant mana-circle, shot out at the glass case. It dashed against the case, its effects seemingly rendered null.

Behind her, the High-mage smirked and shook his head, prepared to walk back to Lord Greywater, but then shouts and exclamations rose from the audience behind him. He whirled around and paled as he saw the empty case, the so-called ‘grimoire’ nowhere to be seen. Then he slowly turned to stare directly at Lucille, whose expression couldn’t be seen behind the grinning jester mask.

Lucy never wanted to dispel the illusion with magic. She only needed to be close enough to gain control of the illusion with her Field of Transmutational Mastery. While the illusion mana couldn’t escape the cage… all she did was present the illusion of ‘nothing’.

Clearly panicking, the High-mage thrust his staff in her direction and began summoning mists of water mana. The auctioneer noticed and let out a shout. “Guards!”

Armoured men suddenly appeared and pointed their weapons at the High-mage, the threat obvious. The auctioneer placed a hand on Lucy’s shoulder as he gestured to the men and audience. “Guards, search everyone and everywhere for the true Grimoire of Befoulment! It must be within the city, if not the hall!” He pointed at the audience. “Whoever finds the Grimoire of Befoulment may choose one item from our vault!”

Excited murmurs spread throughout the hall as all the combat-capable nobility stood up and ran off to search for the thief once the guards hadn’t found the grimoire on them. The auctioneer leaned close to Lucy’s ear to whisper, “I don’t what it is you want, but I will at least thank you for bringing this scheme to my attention.”

Lucille tilted her head at the masked man, one violet eye visible through the eye holes in her mask. “Thank me? Oh no, you shouldn’t do that.” She brushed off his hand and calmly descended the steps of the stage under his wary gaze. “I did, after all, remove your last lifeline.”

She scanned her perception to see who was closest to the location of the real grimoire. Then she smirked and sent a spiritual transmission to them.

‘Are you brave enough to sneak into Lord Greywater’s carriage to find the grimoire?’

The man she sent the message to flinched when they heard the message and looked around warily. After hesitating for a second, he peered around a nearby house’s wall to see the carriages lined up in the dark street. With a bit of luck, he snuck past the guards who were casually chatting and peeked through the glass. He grinned.

Lucille returned her focus to her physical location now that someone had found it, and casually began to walk back up the aisle.

The auctioneer frowned. “Where are you going?” he called out.

She waved goodbye without turning around. “Back to my room, where I can enjoy watching the rest of this show play out.”

Easily jumping back up to her private room with her AGI, she ‘returned to her armchair’. In reality, she had cast an illusion to make it appear that she was there, while she disguised herself and decided to leave before the Duke of Greywater’s second son decided to chase after her for revenge. When she was a comfortable distance away, she removed the illusion and ran for the teleportation array.

As she stood on it and was whisked away to the Gilded Dome plane, she heard the sounds of fighting coming from the direction of the underworld district. She smiled, knowing that all the other members of the Black Night Union were taking advantage of the chaos that broke out when the Heretic item’s location was revealed.

Hopefully, the Midnight Auction ruined its reputation among the other nobility, and the second son of the Duke of Greywater. Without those Olden members, the House should be free to act.

Then she blinked as part of her consciousness in her Origin Skill received a very panicked message from a certain elixir Agent. She smirked and activated her skill as she discovered what was happening.

----------------------------------------

“Argh!”

Stephen Lawrence let out a pained groan as he was thrown against a wall. He twisted as he tried to remove the ropes around his hands while listening to find out where he was. A tight blindfold covered his eyes, preventing him from seeing anything. His earpiece and holowatch had both been removed and likely disposed of by whoever held him captive.

He winced when a hand roughly grabbed his hair and pulled his head upright.

“Quit moving if you want to leave here unscathed,” the voice hissed.

Stephen gulped and shakily nodded his head as the hand let go. He stayed still, only hearing the sound of approaching footsteps coming from directly in front of him. He strained to catch the muffled whispers that could be heard a few steps away but they were too quiet. He flinched when the voice spoke again.

“Alright. Get up, you.”

A strong grip on his arm yanked him upright and he tried not to trip as he was pulled over to the side. A shove sent him stumbling back to collapse into a chair and he breathed heavily, feeling very anxious about what would happen to him. “W-Who are you?” he asked, licking his dry lips. “What do you want with me? I’m not that high up in the Esper Union, I swear I don’t know an-”

“Shut up.”

The blonde-haired agent let out a gasp of pain as something that felt like a sharp boot heel kicked his side. He doubled over, wheezing.

A new voice interjected, clicking its tongue. “Now, now, Agent Lawrence here is an important guest. We can’t have his speaking abilities be marred before we learn anything.”

Something about the voice felt vaguely familiar to Stephen.

I swear I’ve heard it before, but not recently. Where could I- wait.

His eyes involuntarily widened. Don’t tell me it’s-

The new voice went cold. “Take off his blindfold.”

A pair of hands reached out to untie the black strip of fabric and Stephen blinked as his eyes adjusted to the blinding light coming from the ceiling lamp in the otherwise dark room. The first person he registered was a well-built man wearing a mask that covered the bottom half of his face. Then he stared at the man in the beige suit with dark hair and greying sideburns, a red tie around his neck as he sat down on a leather armchair.

“Let me introduce myself to you, Agent Stephen Lawrence,” the man began. “My name is Marvin Goldcroft, the great uncle of the woman you handed that X-ranked elixir to.” He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “And I’m here to interrogate you on why we’ve heard multiple reports of someone at your address accessing my niece’s digital accounts.”

Stephen gazed wearily between Marvin Goldcroft and the man next to him, feeling like this was something that he should’ve known was going to happen. He licked his cracked lips and took a deep breath, attempting to pull upon his connection to the ‘Simulacrum’ as Lucille Goldcroft called it to gain her help.

“I understand. But before we begin, I want to state that everything I’ve done since September has been with her permission…”

…

The man in the beige suit frowned as he stared at the glowing golden cube only Stephen and he could see. The third man was gazing at them both with utter confusion.

“So, uh… now that I proved to you what I said is true, can I go back home now?” Stephen asked weakly.

The owner of Medallion shot him a disdainful look as the other man scowled at him. “Absolutely not, Lawrence. Not until I test this… ‘Simulacrum Cube’ or whatever you called it.”

He swiftly gripped it in his hand to crush it, and Stephen let out a sigh as he pulled upon his connection to Lucille’s ability. They were mentally summoned to the blank white space, leaving behind an even more confused witness.

Marvin Goldcroft and Stephen appeared in the space together. The owner of Medallion looked around with a frown while Stephen coughed awkwardly.

“As I explained, this is the mental space of her ability. I don’t know how it works.”

The stern man looked at him. “Where is she?”

“Well, she said she’d be-”

“Ding!”

They flinched and stared at the dark-haired young woman who had appeared while making such a strange sound. Dressed in her black trench coat, Lucille Goldcroft didn’t look at Stephen and only stared at Marvin. Then a bright smile appeared on her face.

“Welcome to the Simulacrum, my mental simulation ability,” she stated with a strangely monotone voice. “Here is where I will be able to communicate with any individuals from Earth. It is a pleasure to welcome you to this new inter-realm association.”

Marvin frowned at her. “Lucille-”

“-this brings a close to my pre-recorded message,” she said, as they continued to stare at her. “If you need to contact me, please state the keyword ‘Help’ within the next ten seconds.”

The two men exchanged glances. “…uh, help?” Stephen hesitantly responded.

“Beep boop.” Lucille blinked. “Sorry, the contact command has yet to be initialised. Please try again at a later date.”

The Medallion CEO continued to stare at her, flabbergasted. “Lucille, what on earth are you-”

“As you did not say ‘help', I will be ending this pre-recorded message,” she stated. “Enjoy the scenery if you wish, or take your leave whenever you desire. Goodbye.”

And then she was whisked away into white light. The two men stared at the spot where she had been standing, then raised their eyes to gaze at the space around them. It was utterly blank, with no landmark in sight.

Marvin turned to Stephen. “Is she actually able to leave pre-recorded messages in this place?”

“I… wouldn’t have a clue,” Stephen replied, feeling just as confused. “She told me she’d come here to sort something out, but never mentioned anything like this…”

“Oh, also, Agent Lawrence. Before I forget.” Lucille Goldcroft abruptly appeared again, looking only at Stephen this time. “It’s your job to explain everything to my stuck-up relative over there. I don’t want to have to deal with Marvin right now so I’d appreciate you doing that on my behalf.”

Stephen’s eyes widened but then Marvin stormed forward with a scowl. “Lucille!”

She turned to stare at her great uncle, then smiled brightly again. “Beep boop.”

Then she disappeared once more.

The blonde-haired agent ran a hand down his face as the owner of Medallion continued gazing at the spot she had been, his expression dark. Marvin Goldcroft slowly turned to Stephen.

“You better explain everything and anything she has told you, or else I will be sending you both to the FSF for correctional training once she returns,” the man said with a cold smirk.

Stephen gulped.

I have to explain this to him on my own… and hope he believes me? Oh, I never should’ve gotten involved with Medallion…