Any facilities managed by the Tesings can only be accessed by newcomers if they have an introduction from a regular. As a matter of course, that held true for the underground auction house as well.
One hour by carriage. It wasn’t very far from Jet’s inn.
The place they arrived at looked like an ordinary aristocrat’s villa at first sight. However, it was actually a location where all kinds of illegal transactions took place.
“Oh hey, Jet. Why do you have so many people with you today? Are they goods?”
“Watch your mouth. These people are my guests.”
Jet simultaneously shamed all of the guards. Although the guard apologized for his careless words, it showed that Jet was a respected and honored individual of Tesing.
The three then followed Jet into the auction house. Even though it was operated by sketchy alleyway dealers, there were Akin nobles partying from the courtyard.
‘This place hasn’t changed one bit. Still pretty corrupted.’
Most of the nation’s leaders were from the Tesing Clan, and not even official investigation agencies could snoop around this area.
While regular citizens got abused by unregistered magicians and mercenaries, the feast never ended in the auction house as all kinds of things—including humans—got sold.
Although the Zipfels were aware that all of this was happening, they didn’t try to control and restrict these people. Not only was it because this land was important to the people of Akin, but also because the Zipfel Clan received bribes from Spiderhand Alu.
It was very nerve-racking.
‘Filthy scum.’
Jet ordered the guards to retrieve some masks and distributed them to his guests.
“Since we are going underground instead of lingering here, I recommend wearing a mask. Usually, masks aren’t allowed. But, since I am your escort, you can cover your profile. Hehe.”
There was a hidden staircase behind the garden. As expected, there wasn’t a single thing different about this place. Even in the far future, the Tesings would rule the Akin Kingdom, and an auction would be held here everyday.
Unless Jin interfered with the business of this place.
As soon as they entered the underground area, the chattering stopped, and a pleasant violin melody filled the air. A group of musicians in tuxedos was constantly playing tunes for the public.
‘It’s just as I remembered it.’
It was all to Spiderhand Alu’s tastes. He always tried to convince people that he wasn’t an uncivilized gangster.
“What? Are you sure this is an underground auction house? Music? You’ve got to be joking.”
“I know, right?”
They sat in the outskirts of the room for an hour. In the meantime, Jet informed the other executives that he brought guests. For the time being, there wasn’t anyone who came to check the three masked people.
“It does seem like Jet is a respected newbie recruit amongst those other fat-asses. So, what are you gonna do? Wipe out these lowly gangsters on your first day in Akin?”
“The guards that we saw on the way here didn’t seem too shabby. There are also a lot of unregistered magicians. You aren’t going to engage in a battle here, right, Young Master?”
“You guys think I’m stupid? Let’s at least look around the place.”
Jin definitely did not want to flip this place upside down. As his companions said, it was dangerous, but there were also items that he had to obtain.
‘Ancient magic tomes and the helm artifact.’
Magic tomes with spells that transcended the ones of this era, and a ring that turned into a helm artifact that overflowed with mana.
Amongst the magic tomes, Jin wanted one from a great historical magician called ‘O’Hensirk’. As for the helm artifact, it had amazing abilities. The owner could also mask their face anytime, which was convenient.
Jin didn’t know the exact date that O’Hensirk’s magic tome would be auctioned. It was more likely to get struck by lightning than the chances of the tome being sold today.
‘It doesn’t really need to be O’Hensirk’s. Ancient magicians’ tomes are sold here everyday anyway. It’ll be best to just wait a few days and buy the best item there is.’
Conversely, he knew the exact date when the helm artifact would be sold.
Around five or six years later, the ‘Helm of the Demon King’ would soon fall into the hands of Emperor Vermont.
When Emperor Vermont acquired the helm through tribute, many romanticists, historians, and scientists gathered together. They all considered the helm a masterpiece and tracked it down to take it for themselves.
The historians called it the Helm of the Demon King due to the speculation that ancient demon kings used it in the past.
For a while, there was a great commotion in the magic journalism community. They always got worked up when magic experimenters discovered or declared a new masterpiece.
Since Jin was caught up on the massive, thick journals, he naturally knew the location where it was first discovered as well as the date it was auctioned.
Surprisingly, it was located in Akin’s notorious underground auction house. Yet, the helm had not been sold for the past few years, so it was thrown into a room…
‘The helm would be traded five years later, which means that it’s in storage right now.’
They didn’t have to come on the day of the helm’s auction.
They just needed to steal it.
‘The problem is, how do we find and steal it in the first place?’
As Murakan and Gilly mentioned, they weren’t dealing with a small organization that they could easily fight. Most of the guards were at least 6-stars, and there were unregistered magicians disguised as regular customers.
It wasn’t a crowd that Jin could handle on his own, and neither could they just use Murakan’s power. As soon as he reveals his Draconic Magic, the Lutero Magic Federation would alert an emergency. .
“Thank you to those who came here this wonderful evening at the Tesing underground auction house, and thank you for waiting. We will now start the auction!”
After debating with himself for a while, the auctioneer finally emerged onto the stage.
Simultaneously, a dozen naked slaves joined him, separated between men and women. All of them had drowsy eyes—as if they were drugged. At least there weren’t any children.
“Alright, alright. Numbers 1 through 30. Today’s stock looks pretty darn good. Let’s get this started.”
The slave auction began. It didn’t even take an hour for all of them to be sold.
“So you were trying to sell us off like that?”
“H-haha. It was foolish of me, Young Master.”
Jin wanted to save them. Half of them were probably misfortunate people who were dragged in here without them knowing.
But now wasn’t the time.
‘I can’t think of a way to retrieve the helm without getting caught.’
The best idea was to bribe mercenary groups like the Black King Mercenaries or Ghost Mercenaries and call several 7-star soldiers to wipe out the entire place.
But, aside from not having the kind of money to do that, Jin couldn’t use his Runcandel name to command the army—especially an army of a grand scale.
He was terrorized by the feeling of being cornered. The situations and plans were too risky.
A little later, he thought of a third option.
‘Well… it’ll feel a little awkward, but it’ll be fun. It’ll also help with finding out who Alu’s connection is within the Runcandel Clan.’
That day, Jin didn’t buy anything from the auction and returned to the inn.
* * *
For a while, Jin spent each day doing nothing.
He trained his magic and spirit energy on one side of the inn during the day and spent the rest of the day carefully watching the items sold at the underground auction house.
When the three companions first came to the auction house, the Tesing guards were uninterested. But as the days progressed, their gaze slowly changed. Jet offered hospitality without any complaints.
“Hey, kid. I am often curious about what goes on inside your head. You think that plan would actually work?”
“Young Master, I… I have an uneasy feeling about this. Would they really not know him? Jet emphasized that Spiderhand Alu is a people person.”
“That’s the key point, Gilly. Alu probably knows someone from the Zipfel Clan, but they’re probably just a low-tier magician or some old servant. So, even if I call myself Beradin, he can’t call bullshit.”
“But you are a Runcandel. To say that you will impersonate Beradin Zipfel… This plan is a little… I don’t know what to say.”
Jin’s plan went like this.
If a valuable ancient tome was put on auction, he would buy it and find Alu. Then, in the name of Beradin Zipfel, reprimand him for selling tomes that are of “his clan’s” property.
Like Jin, Beradin was yet to become an important leader, so he was not well known yet.
“At my age, I am able to conjure at least 5-star magic. If I were Alu, I would believe that I am Beradin. And even if we get busted, we can just run away.”
“Well, I’m powerless right now, and would it be that simple…”
“The kid’s right, Strawberry Pie. I wouldn’t even need to transform into my true form. Running away with two people is a piece of cake against these thugs.”
“Hmmm.”
“Either way, if we want to execute this plan, a legitimately valuable ancient tome needs to be auctioned. Let’s hope that one comes out today.”
As the night arrived, as always, Jet prepared the carriage.
“Sir, this may be out of the blue… but if you don’t buy anything today as well, the Tesing executives may pester you. They’ll probably call you out on only looking and not purchasing.”
“Don’t worry about it. Just focus on the carriage.”
“Understood.”
The auction started once again. Soon, the slave auction ended, and as the tomes and artifacts entered the stage, Jin straightened his back.
“The slaves are once again sold out! And now… time for the antiques. I hope all of these return to people who actually respect the items’ value. Let’s begin!
“The first item. The tome of a magician who once ruled the world, Matthew Woniak’s magic tome. We haven’t deciphered it, but some incredible spells are probably recorded on it. And already, our first bid!”
Jin smirked. The auctioneer made a mistake while introducing the item. The correct name was Matthew Morniak. And, as Jin remembered, his publications were already in the Zipfels’ bookshelves.
The week’s auctions were always like this; the auctioneer spat some nonsense, then the vanity-seeking magicians made stupid bids…
“This is the seventh item. Hmm, the author of this tome is… Tzenmi. Does anyone know of a magician named Tzenmi?”
The auction house was quiet. Even Jin didn’t know of that name.
‘A tome like that is a gamble, and it’s extremely rare to win that gamble.’
According to Jin’s master’s teaching of premonition, there was no need to buy Tzenmi’s magic tome.
However, Murakan thought differently.
“Kid.”
“Hm?”
“Buy that. If it’s the Tzenmi that I know… this is huge.”
The dragon’s advice—a strong recommendation. 𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝘮
Jin had no reason to doubt his words, so he raised his hand towards the auctioneer.
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