Chapter 131 - Auction 1

Lucia stared dumbfounded at the sudden news. Her father was actually a young master of a prominent clan based in the Anglaria Kingdom.

"Wait, wait... I don't follow. What do you mean by former?" Lucia said."

"Well, uncle Zaki, your father, was actually the first born son of Grandpa Maki, who was the former chieftain. Uncle Zaki was supposed to inherit his position as chieftain. He was the most talented warrior in our clan back then and he was also very adept in management and political affairs. He was a genius."

"..."

"He relinquished his inheritance when he met with your mother at the academy... back then he was the Royal Fox's grand leader and we were a very strong faction. Actually, back then when Uncle was leading, we were the strongest faction... until Auntie Anna kicked every faction off of their pedestals and thrones."

"...Mama?"

"Well, did you know that Auntie was actually the previous headmaster?"

"Eh?!!!?!!!!" This was an even bigger shock to her than finding out that her father was a member of the Golden Fox Clan.

"Mama...was the headmaster?!"

"Yup! Ehehe~ of course that was before she got married to Uncle Zaki~"

"Oh...Oh!...Oh???"

"Your mother was the creator of the Kings system. When she was still a student, she formed a party full of Kings and knocked down every faction or power standing in her way. It was a legendary feat, similar to how you and your boyfriend are performing now."

"Uhm... Cecil's not my boyfriend...yet..." Lucia shyly said.

"Ahaha~ then you won't mind if I make a move on him do you?" Aurellia said smilingly.

"NO! I WON'T LET YOU!"

"Ahahaha~ I'm just kidding~"

"..."

"Anyway, your father fell for your mother during their school years. After that for the next couple of decades he kept on chasing after Auntie, even when she was acting as the headmaster of Arks Academy. The clan of course, didn't look so favorably at this."

"Huh? Why? Mama is strong! Why wouldn't the clan look favorably at such a union?"

"Because, Auntie wasn't part of any of the royal fox clans in Anglaria... she was supposedly a rogue foxkin that had no affiliation with any clan whatsoever. She had multiple tails, but she wasn't part of the Multi-tailed Fox Clan, she had white fur and hair, but even then, she wasn't part of the Moon Fox Clan."

"Oh..."

"And Yukihime... it's a name that originates from the Helaife Continent..."

"Huh?!"

"Yeah... the clans expected her to be a spy from the Helaife Continent. Uncle of course knew this, but even then he didn't stop his courting. Eventually, they did get married, but Uncle had to forfeit his candidacy for chieftain."

"Ah!"

"After that, Uncle disappeared with Auntie. Even until now, we don't know where they are... I'm guessing only the current headmaster knows where they are."

"Huh? Why would the headmaster know?"

"Because the current headmaster is your mother's disciple, he was also... somewhat close to Uncle... since the two were love rivals."

"WOAH!!!" Lucia widened her eyes and exclaimed.

"Anyway, for the past couple of decades, Auntie and Uncle had disappeared... also this story was something that my father, the current chieftain, told me about!" Aurellia said.

"He very much admired your father and felt that it was regrettable for him to leave. The clan has been searching everywhere for your family so that they may reconcile. Of course, nothing came of their search, but then you showed up."

Aurellia smiled gently upon looking at the seriously listening Lucia.

"Lucia Yukihime, the silver haired, golden eyed, multi-tailed foxkin genius, who also happened to share the same last name as Auntie."

"..."

"The clan already knows about this...I'm guessing that they haven't approached you yet because Auntie and Uncle did something to interfere with them..."

"Oh..."

"When I first saw you, I knew that maybe this was Uncle's daughter. It's a relief since you are. It's nice to know that I have such a cute and adorable younger cousin! You won't mind if I call you little sister right? Right?" Aurellia squealed in delight as she began cuddling Lucia.

"Uh... okay?"

"Yay~ you can call me big sis too! Don't worry about joining any faction! You're already walking in the footsteps of Auntie so that's much better! Just so you're aware, please treat our faction as friends! We won't ever do anything hostile towards you or your friends!"

"Okay...thanks, I guess..."

"Hihihi~"

The two began to talk about some mundane topics, like what confectionary stores were good inside the capital, the locations of good food stalls, or recommended stores that sold clothes and such.

It wasn't until after a whole hour had passed since the two girls arrived at the auction house did the private auction begin. It took longer to start than what Aurellia had initially said.

The dark screen in front of them soon lit up with a small light and Lucia finally saw what was below them. It was actually a large auction hall. The light was coming from the stage and she could make out the heads of many individuals in the seating below.

In the spotlight on the stage, a butler-like lizard-kin with a long beard began greeting the auction participants.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Good day to you all! Finally, our main event for today! The Royal Family's private auction will finally commence!"

"Eh? It's the royal family's auction?!" Lucia exclaimed softly.

"Haha~ yup, that's why we not only needed platinum membership passes, but also an invitation." Aurellia explained.

"That means there are bound to be many rare and exotic things for auction!"

"Yup~ did you bring enough money, Lucia?"

"Eh..." Lucia pondered for a moment and scratched her head. Then she began smiling slyly. She took out 2 cards from her black ring.

"Hehe~ good thing I was in charge of our party's bank card today~ sorry guys, but this is important! I'll properly apologize after this." Lucia said softly and inwardly sent an apology towards her friends.

"I'm good! Huhuhu~ we've been making great progress with our quests lately, so you can say that I'm a little rich~" Lucia smirked as she waved the two bank cards.

"Ahahah~ okay! If you still lack any funds, don't hesitate to ask~ Big sis here will lend you some~"

"Okay! Thanks, sis! But, aren't you also here to get your hands on some of the items?"

"Hrmmm~ I guess, but I just came here to take a look! My father was supposed to come, but he had something urgent to do back at the clan, so I came in his place. It's an act of respect for the Royal Family who specially invited us."

"Oh! I see! Well, then I won't hesitate to ask if I really do need to borrow some~"

"Alright."

The butler-like MC finished all the formalities and greetings. He then officially started the Royal Family's Private Auction.

"The first item is a part of the Royal Treasury, a Frost Wyrm's egg!"

From the side, 4 women in maid uniforms pushed in a large bluish white egg that was on top of a luxurious trolley into the center of the stage.

"The wyrm egg has already been incubated for the past 100 years! It's currently in its last stage of incubation before hatching! All one needs is to inject their mana into the egg, bond with it and then wait for it to hatch!"

After his explanation, the unimpressed crowd immediately burst into an uproar. Normally a wyrm egg would need over a hundred years of incubation before it would hatch. So the prospect of buying the egg wasn't so attractive...that was until they heard that it was in its final stages just before hatching.

"The starting price–"

"Hey, Announcer! Just skip this! My family clan will take this egg off from your hands!" A young boy's voice echoed from one of the private booths on the 2nd floor.

"Oh, but we still need to go through the proper–"

"Just shut up and take my money!!" The arrogant young voice yelled again. If Cecil was here, he would probably have started laughing uproariously at the voice's words.

"Wow... how arrogant," Lucia distastefully spat and she turned her attention to the booth on the 2nd floor.

"Hmmm~ most of the people invited to the auction are prominent people, and from what I heard, only the young scions and current heads are attending, even then, the heads are only here to accompany the young ones... so there are no elder level characters here~"

"Hmmm... so that means even if I offend that fool... no one can find fault in this right?"

"Eh? Are you going to bid as well?"

"Maybe~"

There was a short argument between the 2nd floor's private booth B02 and the auction staff, but then the auction continued on formally.

"The starting bid begins at 100,000 gold credits! Each bid increment can be no less than 10,000 credits!"

The voice from the booth number B02 immediately shouted, "200,000!"

Immediately after the person from B02 placed his bid, another voice followed suit. It came from a booth on the 2nd floor, "210,000!"

"What? How dare you—250,000!"

"260,000!"

No one on the ground floor joined in on the bidding, it was obvious that they didn't want to offend anyone in the private booths. The back and forth bidding ensued until the price of the Frost Wyrm Egg scaled to 330,000.

"Kenta!!! I know that's you!!! Are you really going to fight it out with me today?!!" The arrogant voice yelled, it was clear he knew who it was that was engaging in the bidding war with him.

"Waahh~ I didn't think you'd find out~" the voice came from a boy and it seemed that he was acquainted with the arrogant one from booth B02. He said it so flippantly like he didn't care at all.

"Fine~ I'll stop here."

"...340,000."

"400,000."

"!"

"BWAHAHAHAHA~" The boy, who was apparently named Kenta began laughing. The arrogant boy couldn't say anything because the bid came from someone on the 3rd floor.

Aurellia was giggling next to Lucia who had just placed the bid. Lucia looked a little bored since the kid on the second floor no longer continued to bid after her. The long silence ensued until finally the MC opened his mouth.

"400,000 going once! Going twice! Are there no other bids?!"

Only silence answered his question and finally the MC knocked his hammer down and announced, "The Wyrm Egg goes to the young lady at booth A06! Congratulations! Please come collect your item after the auction is over!"

Lucia smiled and thought, 'Hehe~ this'll go well with Fina~' the girl's happy grin caused Aurellia who was next to her to smile gently.

The next items of the auction came forward, but Lucia wasn't interested in any of them.

"Blurite... Cecil has a bigger chunk with him... meteorite? Ah, that's not comparable to Chimeratite or adamantium. Pass... a 4 leafed clover? Agh... didn't we get a whole bunch of those back at the Magic City?"

Lucia kept mumbling and commenting on the rare materials that were displayed. She had a look of boredom on her face since the items were something that she and Cecil already had. There was even a Mana Seed, but the ones they got from winning the tournament's first segment was of a higher grade.

Aurellia had sensitive ears and she could somewhat hear what the girl was mumbling about. It honestly surprised her, since the rare ores and materials were something that the girl said she already had on her.

Finally, there was an item that mildly piqued Lucia's interest.

"Oh! It's a flame-source magic stone!"

"Hm? Did you want this Lucia? Let Big sis here buy it for you!"

"Eh? Oh nonono, I already have this! It's a bit smaller, but the flame-source is of a better grade and quality. Here let me show you."

Lucia quickly pulled out a similar stone that was a little bit smaller, but the stone was emitting a much purer flame-source than the one currently being displayed up for auction.

"...oh..."

"Well, I could use another one... but I have at least 10 more of those with similar grades... not to mention that they're expensive... maybe I should sell some of mine for a quick buck?" Lucia said while rubbing her chin.

"...10 more?" Aurellia was dumbfounded hearing this.

Just what did Lucia's party do to acquire such rare materials and items? Unbeknownst to her or anyone in the Academy, Cecil's party was already a 2-star Platinum ranked adventurer party. The places they had to visit around the Kingdom to complete their quests contained many high-tiered monsters and materials.

The group was constantly on the move for the past month or so. So the rare materials of the Anglaria Kingdom were piled up in abundance and collecting dust inside their spatial rings.

The only reason they hadn't used them yet was because Radon was currently busy with the Kingdom's order.

If he had the time, Cecil and his party wouldn't hesitate to dump all the rare materials onto him and ask the blacksmith to craft whatever suitable equipment that their party currently needed.