“Seventy.” A gruff male voice spoke out.

“Ninety gold coins.” His voice was immediately drowned out by a high-pitched female’s voice.

“One-twenty.” Yet another voice called out straight after hers, nearly interrupting her.

As Mican watched the crowd call out bids, he was nonplussed. For some reason though, he had the feeling that he should have been quite impressed.

Judging from the clothing he had bought back in the city, silver coins had been worth quite a bit, not to mention gold coins. He didn’t know how much spending power either of them had, but they were clearly worth a lot. He was experienced with large sums of money from his old world, but it looked to him like money was worth a great deal more in this world than his last.

“One-hundred and eighty!” As he thought to himself, a final call that was almost yelled out interrupted him from his thoughts.

The voice was from a middle-aged man, holding up the sign numbering ‘ten’. His bid had silenced those around him, attracting him plenty of gazes.

“If that will be all.” In a very elegant manner, Melinda did not even bother to count down, merely waiting a few moments until no other bids were called.

Nobody interrupted her, and the shard ended up being sold to the middle-aged man, earning him quite a few annoyed and mean glares. A few of the people among the crowd sat up in their seats, clearly unwilling to lose more items in the bidding war.

As Melinda clapped her hands again, the servant carrying the glass case left the stage, and young servant girl came out from behind the curtains to replace him. Assumedly, the items would be given to the customer once the auction was completed.

“The next item is a peachwood club. It was crafted from the fragrant wood of a fully grown divine peach tree, by a skilled tier-two blacksmith of Million. Its quality is fully guaranteed by me personally.” The servant girl revealed the glass case in her possession for the crowd to see. “It may not look like much, but one swing can completely dispel undead apparitions such as an anabast with extreme effectiveness!”

The young woman wasn’t exaggerating when she said that it didn’t look like much. It was more of a malformed lump of wood in the very rough form of a club rather than a real weapon. It even had knots of wood on some parts.

While it didn’t look like much, the caravan leader had made it seem quite awesome. Mican did not know what an anabast was, but the words ‘one swing’ immediately struck up his imagination. Looking around, it was clearly so for most of the other guests as well, their gazes blank but greatly intrigued. Mican did note a few among the crowd who did seem to know though, in the way that they looked greatly thoughtful or even determined.

As soon as the gavel pounded, bids started rapidly being called out. It was evident to the young man that this item was worth a fair bit more than the previous one.

At the end of the bidding, the club ended up being sold for three-hundred gold coins, to a chubby young man among the crowd.

As more and more items were called out and sold, the chatter in the room was almost completely silenced. In a world where the threat of danger could strike at any moment, this rare opportunity for them to buy an extra safety precaution or useful tool that they could use for their own means called for intense competition.

Several of the guests were panting slightly, and the air in the room became hot and slightly humid from the activity in the room. Most of the guests were giving each other burning looks, losing a great deal of the dignity and composure they had displayed earlier.

It was only until an hour later that Melinda announced the end of the auction, dispersing the wealthy guests and having her chamberlain, Eledy, see them off into the night.

“Would you be willing to stay here for dinner? I would like to talk to you for a bit. The tavern will likely be overflowing with people by the time you get back anyway, and my servants serve good food.”

“Yeah sure, I’ll stay.” Mican had been wanting to talk to Melinda anyhow, having many unanswered questions about the auction.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The more he experienced this world, the more he realized that Melinda treated him with a great deal of respect or care. Usually, she would not hesitate to get her caravan members to do something for her if she wanted them to.

There was a dining room which Eledy had suggested they use but seeing as to how Mican didn’t mind the kitchen, the young woman didn’t bother with it either. Quite the heavy meal had been set out on the table upon their arrival, having been prepared beforehand while the auction was underway.

The meal consisted of a well-cooked marinated steak, fried onion rings, pea croquettes, and carrot soup. As the appetizing scent wafted his way, he was once again pleasantly surprised at the advanced food culture of the region he found himself in.

“Is this what you wanted to show me? Your profession as an auctioneer of adventurer items?” Before they began eating, Mican wanted to clarify the experiences that night.

“It is a small part of what I want to show you, Mican. Being an auctioneer is not what I had meant, though. Auctions themselves are things I only rarely host.” The young woman leaned back in her chair, adjusting herself to a comfortable position. “It was alright for Gaspereau, as it is a city of economy, where the spending power of many of the people are quite high. It is merely an earthly profession, to gain some income to support my various properties across Million.”

“Earthly?”

The caravan leader spoke as if she was high above everybody else.

Her words confirmed it. She was extremely rich, having multiple properties across the region of Million.

“Gold, platinum, food and water, they’re merely small matters. Like I said before, trading is to fulfill and ambition, of sorts.”

“…”

“You shouldn’t speak of mere adventurer items and little gold with your mouth, my sweet. You are worth more than that.” Melinda’s head tilted slightly and rested her chin onto her hand as she stared at him, her eyes glazing over. “Much, much more.”

Watching the steam slowly rise off of the food before him, he thought to himself silently.

Not knowing made him quite uneasy, even despite sensing that she had no malice. Who knew the limits of his newfound ability? She may not carry any threat now, but how about later? What if something changed that was not in his favour?

“You had mentioned that it was only a small part of what you had wanted to show me right?” His eyes shifted over to meet her misty gaze.

“Ah, yes. That was for the purpose of showing you how my usual business functions, but the more important matters will be taking place tomorrow.”

“Is that really everything?” Melinda was telling him the truth, but the pleasant reaction he got was much less intense than it usually was, telling him that she had not told him everything.

“Hmm. No. I had also arranged this to give us a bit of bonding time.”

“Do you really like me that much?” Mican wasn’t completely surprised by her answer, seeing as to how she had constantly been giving him special treatment.

“Hm, I don’t know.” Melinda smiled at him mischievously, putting a finger up to her lower lip to tease him slightly. “I can grow to like you, though.”

Was he really that charming? The young man refused to believe it, especially seeing as to how Harold had told him that she was quite aloof from the other caravan members.

There had to have been a deeper meaning in her getting close to him, and his ambition, but he didn’t know if she would tell him. He wanted to ask, but the answer she had given him had been more vague than every other answer she had given him. It was evident that she didn’t want to tell him several things, and he believed that he could not force her even if he wanted to.

“Do you mean me any harm?” Mican straightened his back, giving the caravan leader a firm look, furrowing his brows.

In the end, he had decided to ask the question he had deemed the most vital to him. If she gave him a lie, or even a vague answer, he had decided that he would immediately cut ties with the Willow Caravan.

“No. I mean you, Mican Aster, no physical or mental harm.” She only met the man’s firm gaze with a soft smile of her own.

The answer she had given him was straightforward and direct, having no room for any misinterpretation, and her smile and warm tone dispelled the slight tension that Mican held in his heart. There really was no need to think too much about it, if she meant him no harm then she meant him no harm.

Noticeably to the young man, Melinda had specified her words carefully, as if she had known that he was able to tell lie from truth. Was that a hint? Was her interest shown from his newfound ability? Or perhaps the scent he gave off, as spoken by Rose?

While Mican wanted to ask, he held himself back out of caution. Asking would only clarify his situation and ignorance to her, and he didn’t want to reveal any of his secrets if he had the choice. He was determined to stay wary and on guard, making sure to constantly confirm his safety.

What did his ability even determine a lie as? Something one believes as the unequivocal truth? Or perhaps it had the ability to tell the future? He didn’t have that much of a choice in the matter in any case, and he didn’t plan to stay in the caravan for much longer anyway. As such, he decisively decided to take the leap of faith in staying with the red-haired young woman and her caravan. Something deep inside of him, even more innate than his intuition, also told him that it would be a good thing to stay with her for the meanwhile.

“Would you be willing to stay the night in this house? Tomorrow morning, I will take you show the main facet of my business. My true business, to be exact.”

Giving it a moments thought, Mican saw no problem with the arrangement, nodding in reply.

A moment of quiet settled over the two as the chefs in the background continued to busily arrange meals, the clattering of utensils sounding out along with a wave of heat from the stone ovens.

Content with Melinda’s answer, the young man began ravenously digging into his meal.