The first part of the gala passed with Sean and I moving from one display to another, idiots following us around as they told us about one piece or another they held in their private collections. Some even spoke of the security with some slight prodding from me. With my 'innocent' questions, most of them divulged exactly what I needed to know for a late-night jog. It was far too easy. It was like the entire party had their guard down when around Sean. It was literally a paradise for me.
A stage near the front of the room lit up as spotlights shined onto it. A man in a simple tuxedo took the stage, the only one in the room without a mask on. He tapped on the mic, sending loud thumps through hidden speakers as everyone turned towards him. Interestingly, the peacock-dressed girl stood just behind him. She must be the event organizer's daughter. What did Christine call her? Vecky? Vicky? Whatever, didn't matter. Just a nobody to me, though maybe I should try and warm her up to get further invites to this kind of party?
The man shot his arms wide with a bright smile. “Welcome esteemed guests to the fourth annual Heritage Art Gala, sponsored by Sentinel.”
A round of applause broke out as the man stood there with a bright smile on his face. “Now, if you all would please find a seat, the auction portion of our gala will start soon.”
Sean offered his hand to me. I froze for a moment before lightly placing mine in his, allowing him to take me back towards the table we originally sat at. By the time we arrived, the table sat entirely clear of partygoers. Sentinel guards sat in every seat except ours and Bertram stood at attention to the side. It brought a smile to my face as I sat down.
Attendants broke out from the shadows of the room, giving pamphlets and auctioning paddles out as they passed by the crowd.
“So, what was your favorite piece out there?” Sean asked as Bertram brought us two glasses of water.
I idly toyed with the rim of the glass, instantly shooting down the urge to drink it. No point in leaving DNA so easily accessible. Though, to be fair, it was so easy to collect DNA they probably already had a mountain of the stuff if they really needed it. “Probably the Midnight at Yukoto.”
The piece in question was a massive replica of ancient-era Yukoto done in pure silver. It was quite a sad story behind it too. The entire thing apparently took the artist thirteen years to build as a gift for the third emperor. The artist died on the thirteenth day of the year just after finishing it. Nobody came to check on him, leaving the artist and his masterpiece to be buried by time until about a century ago.
”It was impressive.” Sean nodded, receiving a pamphlet and paddle after Bertram got them from an attendant. “That’s some serious dedication, especially considering the lifespans were much shorter back then.”
”Yeah… what about you?” I asked.
Sean rubbed his chin. “It’s hard to say. The items I’m really looking forward to weren’t out on display, them being in the auction and all. Maybe Glory?”’
Glory was an old painting from the Dark Ages. It showcased the first Crusade tearing across the land, taking peasants and supplies as they headed to vanquish a great demon in the middle of the Eye Sea. The painter must have painted it shortly after the original Crusade set off though, because the entire thing infamously fell apart once they hit the sea's shore without any boats.
The tapping of the mic came again as the man once more drew all attention. “Again, welcome! For those who don’t know me, I am Duke Yarrow. Not Duke as in noble, but Duke as in my name!” Several laughs echoed across the massive room. From the way the laughter sounded half-forced, I had a feeling it was one of those jokes the guy liked to tell at every opportunity.
Mr. Yarrow smiled joyfully before holding up one of the pamphlets. “Now, this here is your guide to the auction. As you see, every piece is recorded.” I looked over Sean’s arm at the pamphlet as he flipped through the pages. There were easily dozens of expensive artworks with starting bids in the thousands of Rayn. Interestingly, the last page was just filled with question marks.
Mr. Yarrow flipped to the page in question as projectors turned on, blowing him up so I could see way better. “As some of you have noticed, the back page isn’t quite as helpful. I’m sure some of you have heard the rumors, but we actually managed to get pieces from Cwalu this year! The last page is dedicated to those rarities.”
He leaned toward the mic, talking out of the side of his mouth as if he was letting the room in on a secret. “And some of them are even magical!”
Voices broke out across the room as discussions instantly started. Sean wasn’t exempt as he leaned back in his chair. “How’d he manage that?”
I had a different reaction than most people. My brain instantly fell back onto the box from the nomad camp, locking up my body in memory of the sheer fear I felt at that time. Was it just a coincidence? Or was that box supposed to be headed here? A chill went down my spine at the thought of it. No- no, just a coincidence.
I relaxed before anyone could notice, flicking on Cold-Blooded for a brief moment to distract me before switching it back off. Beside me, Sean shivered as he glanced around. Thankfully, Yarrow spoke up once more, drawing all of the attention. “Without further ado, let's get this started!”
A woman sashayed onto the stage, presenting a masterpiece painting of a cave. Weird candles were scattered around the painting, seemingly flickering with fire. “This is a Dias Deas. For over a century, it hung in Vurn’s Royal Palace. It's come a long way since then, eh? We’ll start the bid at five thousand Rayn!”
Instantly an attendant called out from the back. Mr. Yarrow nodded. “Five thousand there, five thousand there. Can we get a seven-five hundred? Seven five hundred?”
– –
The rest of the auction played out about as I would expect. I watched in rapt attention as paintings, sculptures, and other works were sold for tens of thousands as if Rayn fell from the sky. In the back of my head, I noted down every person. Sure, they were wearing costumes and such, but it really wasn’t all that hard to figure out considering most of them were so boastful about themselves. Hell, I already knew more details about them then I had any right to considering just how many people came to brag to Sean and I as if their little collections somehow meant they deserved a promotion. Corpo politics, I guess.
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Sean bid on a few, most of his bids going fairly uncontested. Things started to pick up when the Cwalu items were pulled out though.
Mr. Yarrow smiled broadly, bowing his head slightly. “Now we’ll start bringing out our Cwalu collection. These items, as many of you know, are exceedingly rare. The magic ones are even more so. Now then, let's start with our first item, yes?”
A woman brought out a painting covered in a tarp. The image of the projector changed to that of the painting. It was a mother happily playing with her son as a bird flew by in the background.
“Karl Franz painted A Mother's Joy back in the late seventeen hundreds. The country of Destin shipped it to Cestain just before World War Two started up, and then it was lost to history. Our brave explorers found and reclaimed A Mother's Joy late last year, and since then it's changed.” The woman pulled off the tarp, revealing A Mother's Joy to the crowd.
As soon as my eyes landed on it, I felt a- a peace come over me, calming the turmoil in my heart. It felt almost like the times long since past when Mom would wrap me in her big hugs. That thought immediately brought ice down my back, ruining the sensation. The feeling was faintly reminiscent of that false sense of calm that the Leper-Khans' beast brought about. “It has become a Mesmer class item capable of bringing peace to all who look at it. No side effects were reported. Now, let's start this off at-”
“A million!” A man shouted from the back, a hint of desperation in his voice.
“One million! Good! Can we get-”
A woman cried from close to the front. “Three million!”
From there, the bidding devolved into a shouting match. By the end of it all, the painting went for a whopping fifty-one million. I couldn’t even wrap my head around that number, and yet here the uber-rich were, just passing it as if it were nothing. Hell, even just half a million could get me set to buy all I needed and then some.
The next items sold slightly for less, not being magical in the slightest, but then came more and more magical items, each selling for more. The most expensive one was two hundred and fifty million. It was a simple plastic poncho that could take a tank round and shrug it off as if it were nothing. Probably should’ve gone for more in my opinion.
“And we save the best for last!” Mr. Yarrow called as a man carted a box onto the stage. As soon as I saw the box, I felt an ethereal impulse of Insight so exceedingly sharp that it caused a gasp to rip from my throat. It felt like ethereal talons slicing through my brain.
“Meno?” Sean asked, looking at me with concern.
“I’m f-fine… just a cramp?”
Sean looked confused for a moment. Then his face flushed strawberry red as he looked away for some reason. What a weirdo. “R-right…”
I shifted my gaze from him back to the box and activated Aetherial Perception. The entire stage and front side of the room were shrouded in a deep white glow. It looked as if the Aether itself had been overlaid onto the stage. I flinched back as sweat rolled down my back, remembering how the creature from the box's aura looked. It was so, so exceedingly similar. And yet, there wasn’t any malice to the aura. Just curiosity.
Mr. Yarrow pulled off the box, revealing an iridescent egg sitting on a silk cushion. It seemed to shine with an internal light as if the egg held an entire universe inside of it. Sean gasped from beside me, just as many people across the room did.
“This egg was pulled from ground zero in Cwalu. We lost fourteen men on that trip. It was hidden in an ancient ruin of sorts deep below the earth. The archeologists we hired to investigate claimed it was the ruins of the Cwalin, the indigenous race of people who went extinct long before the civilized world found Cwalu.” Mr. Yarrow ran a hand over the egg, the light inside seeming to grow brighter. “No one knows what's inside. The egg is resistant to all kinds of scans and tests. Starting bid? One hundred million.”
Outroar spread across the entirety of the room. One person, in particular, shouted above the noise, his voice carrying so well I half suspected it was some kind of Kinetic ability. “For just a pretty stone?!”
All of that faded into the background as I stared at the egg with an unfocused gaze. My eyes were instead locked onto a message popping into my vision.
「Request - Eidolons’ Order
* Get the
* 1 Trait point
* Eidlonic Favor」
I felt the breath freeze in my lungs as I read the message. I had to reread it several more times to make sure I hadn’t horribly misread it. And yep, they were offering a Trait. My mind shifted to the overwhelming usefulness of the Traits I originally selected. Insight alone was worth any amount of effort thanks to its sheer versatility. The egg seared into my mind as I reread the message again, pausing on the Request's title. This was the first time I'd ever received something more than just a simple 'request'. This one felt like it had some weight behind it. And it wasn't just one of the eidolons either.
I started at the shining egg. I had to get it. More accurately, I had to keep track of who bought it so I could steal it from them. Who-
Mr. Yarrow pointed directly at us. “One hundred million! Can I get a one-fifty? A one-fifty?”
I looked over to see Sean casually putting his paddle down. He smiled at me, his teeth barely visible below his helmet. “Its beauty still falls short of you, Lady Rabbit.”
“T-thank you…” For once, the blush was genuine as I hurriedly looked away. I flickered Cold-Blooded, removing the heat from my cheeks as the cool refocused my mind. At the very least, stealing from Sean would be far easier than someone else.
”No problem.” Sean smiled widely-
Only for that smile to crack slightly as someone else in the background shouted, “Five hundred million!” I was too distracted by Sean and missed whoever shouted.
”Five hundred million! Can we get six? Six? Is anyone out there with a six? Six?
Sean frowned. He looked over to Bertram, who held up six fingers. Then he raised his paddle.
“Six hundred million there in the back-“
”A billion!” The man cried out again. This time I followed his voice to see a man in a lab coat. He had a cheap paper mask of a crow taped to his face, barely covering anything at all. His eyes had heavy bags below them, and he looked as if he hadn’t shaved in weeks. There was a cocky air to him as if we were all just ants living in his world.
Sean slumped back into his seat, his eyes radiating unwilling defeat.
“A billion!” Mr. Yarrow looked around. “A billion and one?” No one raised their paddle. “A billion, sold to the buyer four-five-two!”
I eyed the crow mask. He wasn't one of the ones I'd spoken to beforehand. I'd have to get my hands on the guest list to get an identity down or something. I eyed Sean. He probably wouldn't get it for me without asking some serious questions. Welp, shit.
Mr. Yarrow pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at his face with it. “Well, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our auction this year! Buyers, head down to reception once this is over and they’ll take care of you.”
“A billion Rayn, really?” Sean sighed and shook his head as the music started to play again. “Well, you want to leave now or party for another hour?”
I looked at the time on my HUD. “Leave? I have to take a call from my grandpa tomorrow morning…”
Sean stood and offered me his hand. “Then I’ll walk you out, Lady Rabbit. Thank you for joining me tonight.”
I smiled at him, a true genuine smile as I dreamed of my future holding items of such vast wealth. And that mysterious egg. Things just got more interesting. “My pleasure!”
He nearly stumbled as he guided me back to the main door.
On our way to the exit, I made a detour to the crow mask guy for ‘one last look’ at Midnight at Yukoto. As we moved past him to the sculpture, I activated Hidden Hands and slid the BED from my pocket. It was child’s play to figure out which pocket he kept his phone in. My years of picking pockets weren’t all for nothing.
I ‘tripped’, narrowly missing the crow mask as Sean caught me. Sean's strong arm wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me back up to my feet. “Careful there, Meno.”
”Thank you.” I gave a light smile as I slid the BED back into my pocket. Hopefully, that would be all I needed to figure out the guy’s identity. If not, I'd have to raid the Yarrows or something.
Sean led me back to the massive silver sculpture of Midnight at Yukoto. To keep up the pretense, I spent several minutes walking around the sculpture, carefully inspecting it even as my mind fell onto a different topic.
Not long after that, Sean led me back the way we originally came into the gala and we finally left into the warm night air.