It doesn't take much longer before the stage is set. Kazuz comes down and hovers in the air. "Now, for those who are interested, I would like to mention something fun for all of us! I'm going to set betting for this little show."

Feeling that this is going too far, I look up at Kazuz and ask with a bit of anger laced in my tone, "Can we just get this over with? I want to finish this and head back to my settlement. I have things that need to be done, and I don't have time to play with this 'woman.'"

"Oh, now, my dear friend, we will get to the meat of the matter, but why not try and make some more money out of this encounter? Or maybe another item of slightly lesser value for letting us facilitate this 'farce' as you call it. We are an institute of trade and betting." Kazuz projects into my head.

Shaking my head, I think, "And what would you provide me to continue this?"

"Let's say that Xiphos has an item that would suit one of your people well." That is all the answers I was able to get.

"If he does have such an item, then I don't have any reason to say no." I drop the subject and instead turn my attention to the woman before me.

Still sneering, she asks, "What, are you getting cold feet now that you must put up or shut up?"

This stokes my anger, and my response shows that anger: "It's not I who should have cold feet. But at this rate, I do have one concern."

"And what is that concern, you unawakened trash?"

Giving her a snide smile, "My concern is at this rate, you'll age like a fine wine." She smiles when she hears this, but that smile drops when she hears the following sentence: "Abandoned in a dark cellar." Chuckles are listened to through the room at my comment.

"You filth, you think that just because you are your father's spawn, you have any sort of backing! I will show you what it means to have a powerful backer!" She starts to rage at me.

Feeling a bit cathartic from my backhanded comment to her, I continue. "Too bad you don't know any polymorph magic; if you did, you might be able to morph that horrible personality... Or maybe even your face."

The laughter only gets louder as she sits there and has to take the insults without being able to do anything. Seething in rage, she shouts, "When will this start? I want to squash this insect."

"Patience, dear lady." Kazuz says, "We are about to start in a few seconds." As he says this, he gets a signal from one of the attendants handling the betting and explains what happened. "For those who don't know why this is happening, a little bet started before the auction. This bet involved the two parties before you. To further explain the bet, it goes a little something like this. The initiator of the bet," he gestures to Gwilana, "bet that they would beat the challenged," gestures to myself, "that they would be able to beat them in at least two of three different categories during the auction. These categories are as follows: Total Cost of the items, total quantity of items, and the quality of said items."

Seeing looks of interest in people's eyes, he explains: "The initial two categories are quite easy to determine, but it is the last category that would stump those who don't have a point system in place for the items already!"

Hearing there is already a point system for such bets, I can only shake my head.

"Now, without waiting any further, as these two seem already at each other's throats, let's get the first category out of the way. This is the simplest of the three. The total cost of the goods they bought. Now, one at a time, I would like you to allow us access to your purchasing lists so we might display them for all to see!"

A notification appeared asking if Kazuz had permission to display my list. When I went to select yes, I paused. Thinking in his general direction, I finally noticed a problem with how everything had been going. "Won't people target us if we show what we spent and how many items we managed to acquire?"

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Don't worry about that because this is a whim of my own; I have taken it upon myself to mask your appearances so others won't be able to tell who you are when this event is over. I have even changed what outfits you two are wearing through illusion magic. The only thing I couldn't do was cover your personalities, so unless you explicitly tell people that you were on the stage, no one will believe you since I will have two attendants roaming the floor afterward to keep up the illusion."

Going over the information he just gave me about what he has done for us so we can remain anonymous, I can only nod my head in appreciation. "Thank you," I send his way.

"No need to thank me. Remember that you are my entertainment, so make it flashy when we get to the last part of this performance."

Nodding once again, I allow the permission for my list to be displayed. When the lists appear above our heads, there are placeholder names so we can still use our own instead of worrying about using them later in the gathering.

- The Challengers' Total Cost of Items: 19,427 Gold

The Challenged Total Cost of Items: 16,893 Gold -

Looking at how much gold they were able to spend compared to myself gives me a bad feeling, which only reminds me that she has been here for longer, so they must have accumulated more wealth than my settlement could have in the time we had.

"Interesting. That is one for the challengers. Let's move on to the following category: the total number of items. Soon, the list pans down to the next portion.

- The Challengers' Total Amount of Items: 11

The Challenged Total Amount of Items: 32 -

After this list portion is displayed, my gaze falls to Gwilana. From how she is tapping her foot, I can tell she isn't as antsy about losing this portion of the auction as I was about how much they had spent.

"With one win each, it makes me curious how that last part will pan out for the two of them," Kazuz says to the crowd. "Before we move on to the last part, let me explain how we will tally the points for the quality of the items. For those at Tier 0, they will be worth one point; those at Tier 1 will be at two points; Early Tier 2 will be worth 4 points; Mid Tier 2 will be worth 8; Upper Tier 2 will be worth 16, and finally; Peak Tier 2 will be 32 points."

After this brief explanation, the lists slowly start to progress downward. Initially, we scored many points because they didn't have any points from the Tier 0 or Tier 1 categories; that changes once the Early Tier 2 pieces come into place. While we still had more pieces in the Early Tier 2 than they did, they had more pieces left to be accounted for. My points after Early Tier 2 has been counted is 42, while their points hit 16. The Mid Tier 2 is shown; we had five pieces of Mid Tier 2, while they had four.

The running totals are now at 82 and 48, respectively. On moving to the Upper Tier 2 pieces, they had two pieces, which brings their total to 80. Looking across the way, I can see that Gwilana is sneering at me, thinking that she has won. I can only sigh; it was close but only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

When the last category comes up, there is a roar from the other side of the platform. "HOW? HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO WIN A PEAK TIER 2 ITEM?"

Thinking about the sneaky win, I can only smirk in her general direction. "It is easy when no one is paying attention to what is being bid," I scold.

"SO IT WAS YOU WHO WON THAT PIECE!" The pieces visibly clicked in her mind. That wasn't the end of it, though. Once the final item was added to both of our scores, the totals came out to 112 for Gwilana and 114 for myself. I was thrilled that we went for some of the lower items, even though I know it drained our funds for the later portion of the auction.

With the final results tallied, even though this didn't take long to facilitate, it was a decent show based on Gwilana's reactions. Kazuz laughs, "It would seem that you aren't happy with the final tally of the items. I can assure you that everything is as it seems." He turns to the crowd in the stands, "Now let me explain the last part of the bet these two individuals both agreed to. If either party were to win in two of the categories, then the other would have to pay for their items but hand them all over to the winner. This is a great strategy to win items from an enemy and drain their financing while acquiring the items they purchased in the auction. So let us congratulate the challenge on their victory."

Looking up to Kazuz, I nod, and before leaving the stage, I pass by the seething Gwilana: "Thank you so much for such a wonderful gift; I am sure that my mother will be glad to hear about what you have provided for all of us." As I am almost off of the stage, I whisper so that only she can hear: "And by the way, I do have my bloodline."

Before she can question me with her anger, I ask Kazuz, "Would you be willing to give me another illusion for the rest of the gathering? Could you also provide some for my two companions? I don't want to run into her during the rest of the gathering."

With a nearly imperceptible nod, my companions and I were teleported to another part of the room. We were wearing different illusionary outfits and small changes to our faces, so we weren't easily recognized but could still be identified by our races.