The auction would be in a couple days. They spent the first day leisurely strolling around the capital with Tess as their tour guide. She even took them to a few places Chuck hadn’t seen yet. For some reason she chose to be an angel or maybe a goddess, complete with long platinum hair, white wings, and white flowing robes. Their group got a number of stares but he was used to it at this point.
The following day he went back to the alchemy guild while Tess and the siblings continued walking around. He would meet them at noon at a restaurant Tess picked out. Chuck was shown to Kizx’s office and they got down to business. The guild master offered to buy half the books for a ridiculously high price which Chuck immediately accepted. The rest would be put in the auction. Since Chuck had no idea how to do that, Kizx offered to take care of it for a small discount in the book price. The amount was already too high in Chuck’s opinion so he didn’t mind.
Finally the day of the auction arrived. The only other auction he had been to was a retirement farm auction so he wasn’t sure what to expect. It was held in a large merchant guild building. The auction room reminded him of a theater with a stage and raised seating. His status as an otherworlder meant they got preferred seating in the front near the stage. Chuck had missed the showing which had been held the previous week and there was no brochure so the items would be a surprise to him.
The otherworlder items were the star of the show so of course they would be last. Tess was seated next to him with Raz and Maz next to her. Tess looked like a famous singer today from a band she was fond of. There were two CDs from the band in the pickup. She wore a fancy dress while he was wearing his dress clothes for the occasion. Tess asked if she could do the bidding and he didn’t mind. She seemed excited but he reminded her not to bid unless it was something they wanted.
The auction started with a few different ornate weapons and then some large magic crystals. Next was some various magical devices. Chuck’s books were a last minute addition to the auction but there were several other additions as well. So far he didn’t see anything that he wanted to bid on. After several more items, his books came up. The bidding went a lot higher than he figured and when it was over they sold for twice what Kizx paid. Chuck didn’t mind that Kizx got a deal since it was still a lot of money and he wasn’t greedy.
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After some strange looking insect parts, it was time for the main event. The first item was called a magical bracelet but to Chuck it looked like a kind of wristwatch. It appeared to have been stepped on and the display was cracked. He doubted it still worked but the crowd didn’t mind the damage. The bidding went higher than he thought. Chuck wasn’t interested but he hoped the rest didn’t go as high.
The next was a roll of parchments with writing from an otherworlder. The writing couldn’t be translated so no one knew what it was about. Chuck knew he wouldn’t be able to decipher it either but if anyone could it would be Bright. He decided to take a chance and have Tess bid on it. Luckily it seemed to be treated like a souvenir and the bidding didn’t go very high before he won it. Tess was smiling happily after getting the high bid.
A few lots of different, strange looking clothing came up but it was nothing Chuck wanted. He also didn’t want what was called a lightning sword. More than likely it was similar to the taser like staff he had seen before. Then a lot caught his eye. It was described as a broken golem but it was definitely some kind of futuristic robot. It was propped up on a stand since one of its three legs was broken off. It had a cylindrical body with a domed head that included several protrusions that were probably sensors. It also had three arms spaced equally around the main body but one was broken off at the elbow with wires sticking out.
The arms ended in claw like pinchers. It was a bright silver in color and it looked like the broken parts were included. Chuck really wanted to tinker with it and try to get it working again but was afraid the price was going to be high. He hadn’t bought much yet though so had Tess give it a shot. As he feared the starting bid was already high. He had Tess keep bidding though since he doubted he would see anything better. It could also be the phenomenon he had heard of where people got caught up and spent more than they intended to during auctions. Chuck had certainly caught the auction fever for when he finally won, he had bid way more than he wanted to. He was now the proud owner of a very expensive broken robot.