Chapter 292: A Gaze Beyond Time

Chapter 292: A Gaze Beyond Time

Early Afternoon - Mid Winter : Atlas, Bahamut

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"Sir Vasilias, Lady Krystallo, the auction is about to begin." An older, mellow butler bowed next to me as he held out a pillow with a small but very dark blue artifact. "If you wish to bid on an item, please tap this artifact against any of the mythril areas on the arms of the chairs, couches, or around the edge of the tables. However, please take note that accidental touches do register, and accidental bids cannot be removed."

-Ah, is this the artifact Mother mentioned?- Carefully picking it up, I sent some space mana into it and immediately found countless tiny mythril strings woven into its shell and a humongous mass of mana inside. -Huh... Is it using mana like electricity?-

The butler quickly continued as I inspected the 'wires' of mythril running through the chair to see how it worked. "If you need anything, such as beverages, food, or other services, please touch the artifact on the table as you have been. We will prepare it for you right away."

Seeing Krystallo stretch over the side of her chair and cup her hands with a sparkle in her eyes, I set the artifact in her palm. "I think we are alright for now, thank you."

The butler quickly smiled and nodded. "It is truly our pleasure."

Giving one last bow, the gentle butler quickly left the room, simultaneously dimming the lights and pulling back the curtains outside, revealing a massive auditorium, clearly meant for music, with countless rows of people wearing all kinds of clothes and disguising themselves with all manners of spells and masks.

By the stage, the seats were all relatively compact, but as you got farther away, they became more spaced out and eventually began clumping together by party, with each of the clumps being spaced out from one another all the way until you reached the row of six dozen VIP rooms, overlooking everyone through a wall of glass.

But none of the glass was see-through, thanks to a layer of light magic. -Looks like we are in the center VIP room as well... Mother must have really used our family name...-

With the lights inside our room dimming further, the lights outside grew in brightness and quickly focused on the stage where a single muscular, wide-winged man stood.

"Hello, everyone!" His deep, booming voice traveled throughout the massive auditorium with ease. "Welcome to the Chalastís Auctionhouse! I hope you all are satisfied with your arrangements." He quickly scanned over the VIP rooms before continuing. "It has already been eleven years since our last large event, and while some of you may be upset that it wasn't last year as expected, we procured a few extra special items, which will be presented later today."

-So today is the big ticket items...- According to Mother, the first day was the biggest, as it's an auction of, not necessarily the best, but the most sought-after items, with subsequent days having progressively less competitive ones, typically leading to lower appraisal items.

But while I was curious if there would be any unpolished gems in the later days, they weren't my main interest. -The most sought-after items in Bahamut, huh?- My excitement quickly started building as the old announcer continued and finished discussing the general working of the auction and a few rules that were altered from previous auctions.

But, once he finally finished, he looked straight at our booth. "As for the finale of this auction, I would recommend the VIP booths be careful about how much you spend prior to it. It is certainly an item worth saving for."

My intrigue grew instantly, bringing most of my idle theorizing to a halt and allowing my focus to be drawn entirely to the stage.

"In any case, that is enough chit-chat! Let us begin, shall we?" He wore a wide smile as he walked to the front of the stage. "For our first item, we have chosen a simple one; but don't be fooled by its simplicity."

A large part of the stage behind him immediately sank into the ground before promptly returning and exposing the item.

But it just made my face warp with confusion. -A small.. rock?-

It looked like a simple boulder with some obsidian on its exterior and was only a few meters long.

But the announcer wore a wide smile. "I'm sure many of you heard about the 'Message from Heaven' in Sinder several years ago, correct?"

-The one that led to Sinder's royal family being overthrown?- I tilted my head a bit before he continued.

"Well, a few years after it, a similar metal block came slamming into one of the Southern Mountains of Iron, and after the Chalkos family found and appraised it, the refined metal inside was shockingly graded a 63, similar to upper mid-grade mythril, and while its purity was a measly 75%, it's uniformity was an unfathomable 99%, truly earning its name as 'divine iron'..." His smile widened as he noticed countless people reaching to bid. "The minimum bid is 10 gold, and the starting bid is 100 gold."

*t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-tap* The instant he finished, dozens of people sent bids, and with it, the auction finally began.

While I wasn't sure who to expect, he didn't even cross my mind. -Why is he so interested in Sirathian artifacts?-

As the next few artifacts came up for auction, the trend continued, and he bought every last one, even if someone else was falsely pumping the price, until he had acquired them all, totaling a whopping 256,280 gold for everything. -What the hell?-

Remembering him appearing during the combat assessments in a Sirathian Priest robe, I started to question what his motives were again. -Isn't the reason he was away from the academy because he went to Sirathia too?-

But the auction continued without care for my thoughts, and hours quickly started to pass by.

Once I eventually set aside my curiosities about the headmaster and focused more on enjoying my time with Krystallo, the auction was actually quite fun, and while most of the items were either out of budget or not of interest, there were quite a few things Krystallo managed to snag, such as some pretty artifacts and charms that matched her scales and even a stunning white sword that looked similar to a katana.

All in all, it was a wonderful time. Krystallo was cheery, and I was happy to see it.

But after many hours, the afternoon of the following day started to roll around, and at long last, the final item of the first, main auction, was going to be presented.

"Now, I believe it is time for the main event of this auction!" The announcer looked over the crowd with an ecstatic expression. "This item was something the Chalastís family had been attempting to procure for nearly three thousand years, but at long last, its anonymous owner decided to bring it to us in order to sell it!"

-Wow... Three thousand years... Huh?- My expression of awe was quickly cut off as I suddenly sensed Ilios right next to me. -When did he get here?-

He was meant to be at home watching over Mother and Father, but now I saw him sitting right next to my chair, hidden beneath my compressed aura and a net of light magic.

However, rather than looking up at me with a hopelessly cute smile like he normally would, he looked out the window at the stage with a serious expression. -What is he...-

"After first appearing at the very end of the Great War, this artifact became well known for showing the future to those who even touch it, and while it was simply known as the Artifact of Oracles for its first thousand years of existence, we have all come to know it as something else! Now, I would like to present the world's most powerful artifact! The Eye of Bahamut!"

The instant he finished, light magic surrounding the stage dissipated and instantly revealed a massive deep and dark blue, almost black mythril pedestal with a perfectly spherical melon-sized object on it.

However, in that instant, the gaze I felt when we first exited the carriage returned.

But this time, it did not fade.

The sensation didn't simply slow my thoughts. It stopped them instantaneously.

-W..what.. is.. that...-

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