During intermission, Thaddeus watched as everyone in the audience stood up to mingle. He watched people introducing themselves, while covertly assessing the other’s utility. Some interactions were genuine, others sought to assert their dominance. Highly ranked players overly disparaged people of lower ranks. And lower-ranked secretly mocked higher-ranked player players. Egotism was on full display.

However, it was a different story in the VIP suites. The guild leaders remained seated with stoic impressions. They seemed to be above such immaturity below. Rather they sat regally and waited for their vassals to allies to come to them to pay their respects.

Across the auction hall, he could see Huey motioning for him to do just that. Huey wanted him to figuratively bend the knee to Odin as a show of genuflect.

Yet, Thaddeus had no desire to perform some worthless ego-boosting demonstration. But if it kept the guild out of his village, he’d gladly go along with it.

However, before he could get up. There was a knock on the door. Aura came in and announced, “Sir, you have guests waiting to greet you.”

“Guests?” Thaddeus said in surprise.

“Yes, there are several. Would like me to bring them one at a time or all at once?” Aura asked.

“At once,” Thaddeus unsurely. This had never happened to him, so he didn’t know the proper etiquette.

Aura bowed and let in the first person.

The first person to enter stormed in angrily. It was the settlement guild leader who lost the bathhouse bidding war. He overcame his emotional damage and came to beg for the bathhouse. He was willing to pay any cost not to lose the guild’s only settlement. But the thought of begging Thaddeus made him angry. Instead of entering nicely, he stormed into the VIP suite and began swearing at Thaddeus, as the root of all his trouble.

“I need that bathhouse to save my village. Now my village is doomed and it’s all your fault. If it wasn’t for you my guild would have been able to rebuild our settlement, but now we’re broken. You asshole!” Victor shouted.

“I’m sorry, I had no idea?” Thaddeus said rattled by this person’s emotional display.

Moments later, Victor’s answer turned into sadness once again. Remembering his reason for coming, he wanted to beg Thaddeus for the bathhouse scroll but knew his anger had caused him to lose his chance. Still, he begged Thaddeus for forgiveness, hoping he could repair the damage he’d already caused.

Since Victor did not know Thaddeus’ backing, he feared upsetting him, which might result in more than just losing the guild village. That was because there was a common saying among VRMMORG gamers, players had long memories and held long-lasting grudges. This meant revenge could happen at any point in the future, so it was always better to resolve things in the present.

After Thaddeus accepted the apology and Victor was escorted out by Aura. The next to arrive was a young woman who looked Thaddeus’ age. When she entered, she gave him a nice smile and introduced herself. Thaddeus invited the woman to sit down and she kindly as Aura to bring her an earl grey tea.

“Thank you for seeing me, Thaddeus. My name is Amelia. Surely a man with such deep pockets has an interesting story. I’m hoping to get to know this auction’s mystery man,” Amelia said taking out a pen and paper.

“Are you by chance a reporter?” Thaddeus asked curiously.

“Yes, I work for the Heaven’s Gates forum. Buying three items in a row was very impressive. Tell me about you, your settlement, what are your hobbies outside the game?” she quickly inquired.

“I appreciate your interest in me, but I prefer not to be interviewed,” Thaddeus said asking Aura to help her leave the suite.

Thaddeus spoke to three other people who all wanted to get his ID number to list him as friends in-game. Each person seemed like an important person in their own right. Making Thaddeus nervous about accepting the friend request. People misunderstood him to be a big shot.

Down below in the auditorium, players looked up at the guests entering and exiting the VIP suites. Some stood in long lines to greet the VIPs, others were denied entry entirely, and a few were rudely told to outside like servants.

Still, watching whom the VIPs spoke to was a great source of entertainment for the audience members who weren’t mingling or networking. Thaddeus’ suite was particularly observed as someone mysterious people hoped to learn more about him.

Audience members watched Thaddeus’s first guest storm in anger and leave in tears. They watch the second guest, a reporter, walk in, only to leave later. And the last guests were minor guild leaders who smiled proudly to add such a big shot as a friend.

Seeing the guests’ reactions, people began gossiping about Thaddeus making up lies to explain who he was and his most likely feats of glory. Unknown to Thaddeus these lies caught on like wildfire. According to the stories, Thaddeus was the Guild Leader for the Assassin Guild, Dark Moon. He purchased the build scrolls for his hideout village.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

When Victor and his guild heard the rumors, they nearly soiled themselves in fear. To insult the guild leader of a secret assassin guild meant certain death. After hearing the rumors, they quickly withdrew. However, their flight only strengthened the rumors Thaddeus was the secret assassin leader.

Thanks to the gossip, Thaddeus found himself free of guests. Standing up he left his VIP booth and walked to the Mythical Guild Booth.

Below people tracked Thaddeus with their eyes wondering how the rumored Assassin Guild Leader would be received by Odin.

A long line wrapped outside the Mythical Guild VIP suite. People took turns paying their respects to Odin and the vice guild leaders. The line was so long, Thaddeus thought he might miss the start of the auction’s second half. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long as Huey found him and pulled him out of line, and escorted him directly into the Mythical Guild suite.

Seeing Thaddeus personally escorted into the Mythical Guild suite confirmed many of the audience’s suspensions.

“I’m glad you came. For a moment there, I didn’t think you would,” Huey whispered with a worried expression.

“I would have been here sooner, but I had guests,” Thaddeus explained.

“Yes, I saw. It’s a good thing you ran them off. Like I said last time, your tactic caused a bit of drama in the guild. See her over there, that’s Athena she manages the guild for Odin. Your actions resulted in her embarrassment to the sponsor. Speak to her first after meeting the boss,” Huey advised.

Thaddeus nodded his head in understanding.

Five minutes later, after Odin finished greeting a guest, Huey introduced him. “Odin, this is Philomelus. He owns the mana gem mine where we purchase ore and mana crystals.”

Hearing Huey use his Mythical Guild moniker, surprised him. The significance of this meeting could not be emphasized. Odin was the most famous player in Heaven’s Gates and his decision could change Thaddeus’ fate.

“Yes, our newest contractor. Your mine is mission-critical to our guild. To maintain our weapons’ superiority, we need as many mana crystals as we can get. I saw in the logs, that the first shipment of crystals arrived today. Lucky for you, it came during your bathhouse bid,” Odin laughed.

He spoke with authority and confidence, but also with a relaxed informal tone. The man seemed affable and friendly, and Thaddeus immediately felt comfortable speaking with him. The ease at which they spoke made it feel like they were old friends.

“Ha-ha, you’re right I was lucky. I was hoping I’d be fortunate enough to buy one item, thankfully I won three,” Thaddeus said.

“I imagine you also wanted to purchase the townhall with the money you earned from us as well,” Odin asked.

“I did, but you beat me too. Congratulations, I believe you were the outright leader for the first round,” Thaddeus complimented.

“Do you plan to bid next round?” Odin asked curiously.

“Unless there are more settlement items, I think my night is done,” Thaddeus said truthfully.

“I’m sorry to hear that. We plan on reproducing the townhall build scroll. In the future, if you’d like to purchase the scroll from us talk to Huey?” Odin shared.

“How can you reproduce a scroll?” Thaddeus said shocked.

“Only scribes can make scrolls. Vulcan has two scribes on the payroll for this very reason,” Huey said proudly.

“Well, it was nice meeting you. I look forward to a long partnership,” Odin said motioning to his Aura servant to invite the next guests in.

Stepping aside, Thaddeus walked to the woman Huey identified as Athena.

“Hello Athena, I want to apologize for any harm I caused you and Huey in my negotiations,” Thaddeus apologized.

“Victors never need to apologize, it’s patronizing. You merely surprised me that was all. On the surface, you seem unassuming and ordinary, I never expected you to catch me off, guard. I’m the one used to besting my opponents. The guild leader was right, my arrogance is my weakness. But you will never again get the better of me,” she explained.

“So, are we cool or not?” Thaddeus inquired.

“Make no mistake, I blame myself more than you. I’m not used to losing, that’s all,” she replied.

“I’m glad,” Thaddeus said shaking her hand.

When he finished, he returned to Huey’s side. He stood near the back of the room, as far away as possible from Odin and Athena.

For the rest of the intermission, Thaddeus and Huey spoke to each other. They only stopped, when Odin summoned Huey to inform him of a new deal. Between conversations, Thaddeus watched as Huey was summoned multiple times to inform him to sell potions, weapons, and armor, to minor guilds. Thaddeus noticed how subservient everyone acted in front of Odin. The exception being the one person who stood directly behind Odin like a bodyguard.

“Hey, Huey who is that?” Thaddeus said pointing to a tall slender woman with long black hair and hazel eyes. Behind her back with a long metal spear and strapped to her waist were two black daggers.

“Don’t mess with her. That’s Freya, she leads the main attack party in the guild master’s absence. She ranks fourth on the regional leader board and 97 globally. If you ever get on the bad side, it’s better just to restart the game with a new character,” Huey explained.

“Duly noted,” Thaddeus said as Freya’s head wiped around to stare right at them and gave a wicked smile before facing the front.

“Who are the rest of the people?” Thaddeus asked curiously.

“The rest of the people here are players on the main attack party,” Huey said, before describing each person’s powers and notable battle victories. When he finished, he asked Thaddeus about the village.

Thaddeus quickly filled him in about Lord Calvin and Felix’s invasion.

“I knew it. I knew that bastard was up to something, but I couldn't put my hands on time. So, the entire he wanted the mine for himself and not the emperor. What a treacherous piece of trash,” Huey cursed.

“Are things in the capital that bad?” Thaddeus wondered.

“Yeah, at this point the emperor is so paranoid he doesn’t trust even his most loyal advisers. The entire capital is a tinderbox waiting to erupt. I don’t know if you picked up on the tension here, but the guilds are split into two factions. One group wants to preserve the current emperor, and the other support the older brother. The people meeting the guild leader today are in our faction. That is why we’re selling them our old armor and weapon. The forging designs we buy today we’ll use to gain the advantage in this war,” Huey explained.

“Well, I would say your guild is off to a good start,” Thaddeus laughed.

“Our guild,” Huey emphasized.

“Okay, I get it,” Thaddeus said throwing his hands up in conciliation.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the auction will reconvene in 10 minutes. Please make your way back to your seats,” Francis the auctioneer announced.

“Well, it was nice speaking with you. I’m sure we’ll talk again,” said Thaddeus waving goodbye and returning to his VIP suite.

When he sat down, he saw Aura already replaced his drink. Reaching into his box of holding he took out the wooden soul bead, apiary, and bathhouse scroll for the first time. He looked them over and for the first time that day smiled in satisfaction.