Chapter 134: Auction, start! (1)

'Chirp, chirp!'

"Hngg—" I rolled around in my sleep as I heard the sound of annoying birds in the morning. Wait, was it morning yet? Oh no, did I oversleep!?

'Fwoop!'

I instantly sat up with haste, crumpling the pristine white blanket that was covering the three of us. Last night, after I finished helping Jeanne with her wounds, my mind went fuzzy. I could hardly remember anything after that, since my body was basically on autopilot mode, and I did everything half-asleep.

Let's see… I went to the room next door carrying blankets and stuff, and then…

Uh…

I couldn't really remember. But, oh well.

"Firiell, wake up, we're late—"

I paused mid-sentence as I was reaching for the little girl, and froze when I saw that it was still dark outside. The sun hasn't even peeked in the slightest, and the air was still cold, almost as cold as the silence looming over us.

Then, my attention immediately turned to the birds that were chilling on the window, just happily bopping and chirping as they stared at me.

"… Damn it, birds." I sighed.

They must've been here because of my passive skill, again. But this time, they came here earlier and woke me up… Ugh, fine.

I rubbed my eyes and carefully scooted over to get off the bed, while making sure to not disturb the girls' sleep. They looked so tired, and their skin looked so dry. Sometimes I felt bad for them, having to go through all of this so that normal civilians could have a happy, fulfilling life.

After I stretched my body, I quickly skimmed through the bookshelves, trying to find something that might be useful. But after looking for a while, most of them were just… Elf history and stuff. I mean, there would be no need for them after this raid, right? Might as well bring something more useful back home.

"Uhh, this book about herbal medicine sounds useful. This one, too, about… Agriculture? Sure, this world is hella barren, anyway. They could use some re-planting." I muttered to myself as I picked them both and stored them inside my inventory.

Feeling unsatisfied, I tried snooping around the desk. If this was the study room, there should be something of importance here, right?

'Rustle, rustle.'

While shuffling through the files, I was starting to regret this idea since most of them were actually documents, like documents, you know? The ones those corporate dudes actually work on? The ones with so many letters and numbers and tables that just looking at them made you glad you were on the battlefield?

Sighing deeply, I was just about to close the last drawer, when something caught my eyes.

It was a small bundle of letters with a dainty wax seal with an 'L' lettering on top of each letter. It stood out because not only do they use a different type of paper, but they were neatly tied up with a red string.

"Hmm?" I picked them up and twirled them in front of me, checking every angle.

"… Lysandra?" A whisper slipped through my lips as my eyes widened upon seeing the sender's name. Or rather, address.

If my memory didn't fail me, wasn't that the place where Firiell said her dad was from? Then, it should be the same place where the humans who pillaged them came from, right?

… Wait, so they were being buddy-buddy with their pillagers? I thought they were being buddy-buddy with Eli—Oh… So Eli was one of the residents of Lysandra.

Then, was he the one who staged the—no, no. It was already so long ago. I thought he was more of a wanderer, but now that I thought about it, it made more sense if he had an alliance here, just like how I had one with the people of Alistair.

… Alliance?

Wasn't one of my first quests about choosing an alliance?

I still remembered that one because it sounded weird to me how it told me to choose instead of just join. Did that mean I could've joined Eli's alliance…?

"… Ugh." I shook my head and frowned. No, no. I already made my choice, and I had to live with it. I probably couldn't do much even if I met him here, anyway. Heck, he wanted to kill me the moment he saw me… I would probably be dead in a few seconds if I was to spawn near him.

"Inventory."

I pouted while opening my inventory window and shoving them inside. I should take a look at them carefully later after this mission. Right now, I should probably focus on one thing at a time, and not distract myself. Because as my colonel told me multiple times, 'distraction kills'.

"Firiell, wake up. It's dawn. You wanna start your day sooner, right?" I gently shook her little body while whispering into her ear. Would she be able to wake up? I think we barely got 4 hours of sleep. After that tiring day, I wouldn't want to wake up, honestly.

"Hngg… Thank you, big sis Chae…" She reluctantly sat up while rubbing her eyes, before standing up and walking wobbly towards the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" I questioned.

"Umm… The servant's bathroom, probably. The main bathrooms are all broken. I need to wash up before I start organizing the paperwork…" She answered with a tired voice.

"Good idea. Tell me where it is, I'm going to go there after I finish my morning workout," I clapped my hands together happily, "by the way, I need you to do something for me."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"After you're done with your paperwork, go get Jeanne and the others, and head to the treasury. Get whatever stuff that has a huge market value. Don't take anything historical or something, though. If you're unsure, you can ask Jeanne," I explained, "and then bring everything, every single bit you can, and meet me in front of the castle. Don't need to bring any money. Save them for your people's needs."

"Huh? Alright, bis sis Chae. I can do that… But why?" Firiell tilted her head and rubbed her sleepy eyes once again.

"We're going to do a little bit of capitalism." I grinned.

"Eh?"

--------

'Ding!'

[Elf's Tears (material) x15]

[Elf's Boots (equip: feet) x20]

[Elf's Hairpin (equip: accessory) x40]

Ughhhhhh. The elves didn't drop anything good. They were the exact same stuff I got last time… Thankfully, we didn't just defeat a random bunch of elves, but also an elf king.

[Elf King's Dagger (equip: weapon) x1]

[The elf king's favourite dagger. A bit chipped here and there, but the grip is just perfect for the elf king. +25 Strength, +50 strength if the wearer is the elf king]

Amazing. Although I wasn't the elf king, this was a gooood find, bruh. An instant 25 strength boost? Heck yeah.

"Hehehehe~" I chuckled while I kept doing my sit-ups on a tree branch behind the castle. I was pretty satisfied with the loots this time. What about the tree dudes, did they drop something, hmm?

[Ent's dead branch (material) x28]

[A branch from an ent. Nutritious for other plants]

[Elder Ent's Life Essence (material) x1]

[Life essence extracted from an elder ent. The older it is, the better the essence. Might or might not give an extra benefit if incorporated into an equip or armor]

Hmm, the branches were basically just fodder for my gold, but the life essence, though… I should keep it. Might be useful when I found a way to tweak my equips later.

For now, let's sell everything useless!

"Shop! Open sesame!" I exclaimed gleefully, imagining the huge pile of gold that was going to come to me.

'Ding!'

"Alrighty, gold! Here I come!" I excitedly press the 'confirm' button after selecting all of the useless materials I got, and after getting a confirmation message, I quickly closed the shop window to open the inventory window again.

"Whoa! This is amazing…" I stared wide-eyed at the screen in front of me. I… wasn't hallucinating, right?

[Gold: 15.800]

Uwah! I felt like a millionaire! Aah~ Was this what being rich felt like? Hehe… I had never got a full payment like this before. In the past, my colonel would always get a cut, or Daeun, or anyone, basically.

Now, I should—

"Uh-oh." I froze when I saw a faint orange tinge on the horizon. Was it time already? Gah, I had no time. I got to go somewhere before the sun rises!

'Stomp!'

I quickly jumped down, landed on the ground and ran as fast as I could towards a certain place.

If I remember correctly, it should be around here, right? Ioriell went this way, and then that way… I remember passing this tree in the memories.

'Rustle!'

"Ah. There it is."

I smiled when I saw the familiar beautiful clearing that was decorated with plenty of small, colourful flowers. Just right beneath it was an ocean that faintly reflected the retreating moon. It was a beautiful sight, but it lacked something.

Unlike the memories I saw, there was nobody waiting for me here.

"Ioriell…" I muttered as I stepped forward and stood right where he stood.

Ah, the scenery was still the exact same, although it was a bit brighter this time, due to the sunrise.

"Ioriell, the sunrise here is just as beautiful as the moonlight you saw, did you know that?" I muttered to myself as I smiled and sat down right where he sat with his late brother.

"Both of you must've come here plenty of times. I can see that you knew this place by heart." I continued talking to myself, even though I was clearly alone.

"… Last time, you weren't able to finish your conversation here," I stood up, opened my inventory window, and took out a small tree sapling that Ioriell gave up his life for, "now, you can continue your talk while gazing at the beautiful scenery."

A weak smile formed on my face as I started digging and carefully planting the weak and fragile sapling. I still found it hard to believe that the powerful elf prince gave his life to something as feeble as this…

"Here, I don't know what else to put for Erenduill." I spoke as I laid down a few strands of his hair that I had snuck inside my pocket after I killed him. A bit creepy, but I guess that would do.

'Clap!'

I brought my hands together and closed my eyes, "you're both dead, and I can't do anything for the dead. However, I promise I will take good care of your people, as long as they remain under my wing. Not my problem if they want to leave me, okay?"

With a sigh, I lifted my gaze up from the tree sapling that was now comfortably sitting inside the ground, to see the bewitching, but ephemeral sunrise.

Smiling sadly, I held up my hand to touch the dainty leaf of the sapling.

"… It's beautiful, isn't it? The start of something new."