“It was just a misunderstanding. I am sure you know the follies of the young better than most, Veyne.” Julian Greenward smiled.

  He was a patrician-looking man, a head shorter than my father, with sharp features and especially sharp eyes. When he smiled, it always reached his eyes, though I still got the impression he didn’t actually mean it. He was dressed in a matching cloak, with gemstones of every color woven into the fabric. Weren’t merchants supposed to be the ones who showed off?

  “Rarely have I seen it dispyed so openly.” My father smiled back, csping the man’s hand. His fake smile was far easier to read.

  Next to Duke Julian Greenward was his daughter. Cordelia Greenward.

  “Just so.” Julian smiled, a hand on his daughter’s head. “Now, dear, why don’t you apologize?”

  Cordelia made a face, one that smoothed out so fast I almost thought I missed it. She stepped past her father, smiled, and curtsied. “I apologize, my Lord. It’s just my father assured us this booth would be empty, and I have been waiting for it for a very long time.”

  “No need.” My father chuckled. “Our visit was something of a surprise. I only let them know an hour before we arrived. No doubt they were scrambling to find respectable accommodations.”

  The girl rose. Her gaze settled on Damian. Then it settled on me. She looked genuinely confused.

  “I see you brought young Esra along.” Julian stepped forward himself, eyeing me curiously. “It is my first time seeing her. You have done a remarkable job of keeping a lovely young Lady like her hidden.”

  Careful, Esra. Punching a Duke never ends well.

  I smiled up at him, did a curtsy of my own, one that I could admit wasn’t quite as proper as Cordelia’s had been. “You are much too kind, Duke Greenward. I am simply trying to get more experience before my debut. My father thought this auction would be a good occasion for that.”

  I rose, found Cordelia still staring at me. She let out a ‘huff’ as she raised her head. Was- was she trying to look down her nose at me?

  “Well, you’re going to need a lot more experience if you can’t even recognize your better standing right in front of you.”

  Excuse me?

  She went on. “Go ahead then. Where’s my greeting?” Her gaze flicked away from me to Damian. “And since when has a second son of House Everguard not bowed to the heir of Greenward?”

  I heard Damian sigh. He stepped forward, giving the girl a small bow that she barely acknowledged. Instead, her gaze was on me. Was I actually supposed to curtsy here? We were of the same rank, weren’t we? I looked to my father, but all he was doing was looking at me curiously.

  This isn’t the time to test me, damn it!

  “Lady Cordelia, it is a pleasure to meet you.” I put on my best smile. “I do regret I’ve never had the pleasure to meet you before today, though I hope that’s something we can fix in the future.”

  She stared at me for a second. Clicked her tongue. “Likewise.” It sounded like the word had to be dragged out of her.

  Then her gaze wandered the room. “Father, what is a maid doing here?”

  “Ah, young one, I was just about to bring that up.” Duke Greenward said, looking over at her. “Anias, is it? You have quite the reputation. Though that does not mean you should be here.” He turned back to my father. “I take it she was only here to carry some of your belongings or the like, yes?”

  My hand twitched. I was about to say something very un-Ladylike. Damian nudged me on the side.

  “Yes, she was just about to leave.” My father said a moment ter, sounding surprisingly calm. “Anias, if you would.”

  Anias bowed her head, exiting the room without a change in expression.

  “Well then.” Duke Greenward cpped his hands. “I believe the auction is about to begin.”

  “And now we are bringing in a truly fine piece. An enchanted neckce, forged by one of the great Masters of Avar. This Dwarven-wrought steel has the power of self-healing! Simply wearing this neckce will boost one's life, mana, or no mana!” The auctioneer called out. He wasn’t shouting, and yet his voice carried out anyway.

  It filled our booth, echoing in from the magical implements on either end of the room.

  In front of the auctioneer, suspended in the air was a giant, blue ledger. It flipped to a new page, golden text slowly shaping into view.

  [Enchanted Neckce]

  [Enchantment: Self-healing]

  [Starting Bid: 9000 Imperial Marks]

  [Bid Owner: ???]

  “And now, to demonstrate-” The auctioneer waved forward a topless man. The man put on the neckce, took a small bde, and cut along his arms. Then, he waited.

  We couldn’t exactly see what was happening from where we were. I took a breath, tapped into my Gift.

  Click.

  Pain came. I winced even though I had been ready for it. I could see the man clearly now, see the flowing blood. Each use of my Gift required mana, though that was a bit hard to notice since I had so much of it.

  The man wiped it away, leaving no wound at all.

  Click.

  I turned my eyesight back to normal. It probably hadn’t been worth it just to confirm that, but I had been bored.

  The bid slowly rose up and up. All of the merchants and nobles had a small, three-sided cube with them that they used to make their bid. Infusing mana on the blue side raised the bid by one hundred marks. Tapping the green side raised it by one thousand. Tapping the red side raised it by ten thousand. Of course, you could tap multiple times to pce a yet higher bid.

  Our own booth had much rger versions of these crystals. Both the Greenwards ’ and the Veynes’ were given one of these ‘Bidding Crystals’. A dozen items had gone by. Neither my father nor Duke Greenward had bid on any of them.

  “That one doesn’t seem that useful. Yet they’re scrambling for it.” Damian murmured.

  “Of course they would. It’s ever a merchant’s lust to try and buy what we are born with.” Cordelia had somehow heard him, despite the small distance between our two ‘camps’. “Just infuse some mana. There’s no need for a pointless trinket.”

  A rather harsh way to put it. I could think of a few use cases for such an item.

  Each time a bid was pced, a small white circle slowly started to close around the number of the bid. The auction ended when that circle closed and then disappeared. The timer was around a minute, with each new bid resetting the timer.

  “Come now, I believe that’s too harsh.” Duke Greenward ughed. “What say you, Duke Veyne?”

  “A few hundred of those could make a difference in any battle.” My father replied, voice disinterested. “One does not have much value. Especially at that price.”

  “Ah, but you would say that.”

  This had been happening for half an hour now. Some item would come in, Cordelia would berate it, then the two Dukes would idly pass a comment. Some of the different items did catch my interest, enough for me not to be bored. The others infuriated me. I had prepared myself for as much, but quite a few sves had been put up for auction. A few of those had been women. One had been a child.

  I’d of course known that something like svery was alive and well not just in this Kingdom, but most of them. That didn’t mean I could stomach it when it was right in front of me.

  It had been truly hard to bottle my fury at that. Damian had put a hand on my shoulder right when I’d been most furious. That had probably been the only reason I hadn’t lost my composure entirely.

  Now, any time one came up, I forced myself to look away.

  Click. Click.

  Turning my hearing down was simple, even if I did feel like the biggest coward in the world.

  This auction, like all auctions, I assume, worked by having its small ticket items auctioned off first.

  “For our more generous spenders.” The auctioneer’s voice called out. “Do note that the item is not going to be some base Magical Implement.” He shook his head. “No, this is a genuine Artifact. We are lucky, lucky enough to have four different Artifacts today.””

  A hush fell over all those who watched.

  “Now I see why the Duke came,” Damian murmured.

  I nodded. Besides age, there was really only one difference between a Magical Implement and an Artifact. A Magical Implement could be replicated. An Artifact could not. Some Artifacts did eventually have their effects duplicated by Magical Implements, but each time that happened, it caused a massive stir, not only in this Kingdom but throughout the entire Continent.

  This was despite the fact that all of those Magical Implements were always weaker than the Artifacts they sought to copy.

  Two men pushed forward a cart, and on that cart were a set of four yellow pyramids. I didn’t need to use my Gift to see that all four of these were intricately carved, though the Gods only knew what these were made out of.

  “We call these the Four Barrier Pyramids.” The auctioneer smiled. “When arranged in a square and given a drop of blood each, these Pyramids erect a barrier that can’t be breached by any projectile! Be it a Gift, be it an arrow, be it a mortar!”

  “I doubt that.” I heard my father snort.

  [Four Barrier Pyramids]

  [Anti-Projectile Barrier]

  [Maximum Range: 1,000 meters]

  [Starting Bid: 200,000 Imperial Marks]

  [Bid Owner: ???]

  “I wouldn’t say that.” Lord Greenward countered. “Some Artifacts have been known to defy attacks even from the First Sword of the Kingdom.”

  “If only they would sell such an Artifact here.”

  By the time the two had been talking, the bids had already risen. The merchants and nobles were making quite a bit of noise in their haste to outbid each other.

  [Current Bid: 300,000 Imperial Marks]

  My father reached forward, tapped his Bidding Crystal multiple times. The lettering changed as soon as he was done. A small, impossible to miss soft chime went through the hallway. A silence settled into the room. That chime indicated that someone was seated in our booth. Someone powerful and important enough to deserve to be seated there.

  [Current Bid: 500,000 Imperial Marks]

  [Bid Owner: Box Number 2]

  I caught a few of the merchants looking up at us. None of the nobles did, though a few did gnce back and then hurriedly look forward again. I knew they couldn’t actually see me. That didn’t keep me from feeling uncomfortable.

  The white circle slowly closed in. It didn’t seem like anyone was going to bid so high. The lettering changed, just a few seconds before the bid closed.

  [Current Bid: 700,000 Imperial Marks]

  [Bid Owner: Box Number 1]

  I paused and looked over at Duke Greenward. He was looking at my father, a small smirk on his face.

  “I had thought you were not interested, since you didn’t make a bid before.” My father said casually, not looking at him.

  “You know how fleeting interest can be.” Duke Greenward said amiably. “I simply thought of the applications.”

  My father nodded. “Good, because my interest had faded as soon as I’d bid. I am gd someone was willing to step in for me.”

  There was a pause. I saw Duke Greenward’s smile fade ever so slightly. Then he looked forward again. “Oh, it’s no matter. Thankfully, House Greenward’s coffers run deep.”

  My father had gotten one up on the man; that much was obvious. I looked up at him in a slightly different light. That had been rather well done. He smirked when he noticed my gaze.

  I looked over at the Greenwards again. Cordelia was gring at me. What did I even do?

  The timer slowly but surely ran down. Nobody else put in a competing bid.

  “And the item goes to- Box Number 1!” The auctioneer called out loudly, the item being carted back just the way it had come.

  Given the logic that each proceeding item moved up in rarity, surely they would only show something even more amazing, right?

  The lights dimmed ever so slightly. There was a pause as everyone whispered among themselves. A tall, wiry-looking man stepped forward, and in his hands was a sword. A very rusty sword, from the looks of it. It was pale where the rust didn’t cover it, a single red jewel covering the hilt. A very…simple item, all things considered.

  “Looks like it matches you.” Damian joked, bumping my shoulder.

  “Red does look rather tacky on that pale steel, does it not? Not to mention the rust….” Cordelia’s voice was loud and distracted, as if she were just talking to herself a little too loudly.

  What an annoying brat.

  There was a sharp inhale from my other side. My father leaned forward in his seat.

  “We have quite a rare item.” The auctioneer waited for a moment. Even the floating scroll didn’t update. “A Godbde.”

  There was a long moment of perfect, absolute silence.

  “All of that pomp for a Godbde?” Duke Greenward ughed. “I suppose these merchants have to sell their wares somehow, but surely they could do without this much fir.”

  “This isn’t just any Godbde.” The auctioneer continued. “This one was wielded by the famed Illiana Casper!”

  Duke Greenward ughed harder. “The Peasant Bde? Not just any old Godbde but the Peasant Bde?!” Duke Greenward was ughing so hard I wondered when he might fall from his seat. Cordelia was just smirking, that smirk getting wider by the second.

  In contrast, quite a few people down below us looked genuinely interested, especially the merchants.

  “Let’s start the bidding at five hundred thousand marks, shall we?” The auctioneer called out, the floating ledger updating.

  [Godbde]

  [Intent Unknown]

  [Previous Owner: Illiana Casper]

  [Starting Price: 500,000 Imperial Marks]

  The bids came almost immediately. The bde shot up to six hundred thousand marks in the span of a second.

  “I don’t understand,” I murmured. “Some of them seem very interested, even though it's expensive.”

  Of all the reading I’d done to understand this world, Heroes had never been important enough for me to look into them, save for their appearance in the odd fairy tale. It was like looking into marine life while Aelheim was nowhere near an ocean.

  “That’s because it’s an item that nobody with true power would want, and the need for a normal Godbde is little enough as it is.” My father said, his gaze oddly distant.

  That really didn’t answer much of anything.

  “Why not?” There was genuine curiosity in my voice. “Aren’t they powerful?” They literally had the word God in their name!

  It wasn’t my father who answered. It was Duke Greenward.

  “Child, I see your education has been a little cking.” He grinned. “A Godbde is only powerful in the hands of the Hero who once wielded it. In the hands of anyone else, all it is is a useless piece of metal.”

  That made sense. Though that didn’t quite expin why everyone below was still trying to get this one.

  “Any Godbde is symbolic of the Hero themselves. The Peasant Bde is not a symbol liked in the Kingdom.” My father answered my unasked question. “Doubtless, all those below simply want a Godbde they can get. Having any symbol at all is better than none.”

  I leaned back in my seat. That expined things, and it also made me even more curious to see how this would turn out. The bidding was at seven hundred thousand already.

  “My Lords, if I might interject,” Damian spoke up, sounding very formal. “A bde once wielded by a Hero is never worthless.”

  There was a pause for a moment. Duke Greenward looked surprised he’d dared to say anything. Finally, that genial smile was back on his face. Condescending as ever. “You speak of Intent. What an ephemeral thing that is.”

  “The boy isn’t wrong.” Duke Adrian spoke. “No Godbde can ever be called useless.” There was venom in the words, hidden but not hidden well enough. After all of his composure thus far, it was the st thing I expected to hear.

  “Oh come now.” Duke Greenward said genially. “He might be one of your subjects, but surely you don’t actually mean to entertain his delusion.”

  Damian audibly clicked his tongue, loud enough that I was sure he meant for Duke Greenward to hear.

  I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, but the longer this conversation went on, the more curious I became.

  “Father.” I took a deep breath. Had to be a little meek, remember? “What’s this intent? It’s bnked out on that ledger, too.” I pointed.

  He didn’t look like he was listening. Instead, he was staring down at the bde. He reached out, almost idly putting down a bid of his own. His second one of the entire night. He pushed the price of the bde up to one million Imperial Marks. Only then did he look at me.

  “When a God makes a bde, the bde carries the God’s Intent. It could be something simple like ‘Be courageous’ or ‘Suffer for others’. It could be anything. The bde only bonds to a person filled with that Intent. Thus, a Hero is born.” He said solemnly. “Few save the Hero, and their God know what the Intent is; fewer still can actually match it. So, if the bde is ever stolen or if the Hero or God dies, it’s just a piece of metal.” He shrugged. “Besides that, nobody with a Gift can ever wield one in the first pce. It’s truly impractical.”

  I nodded slowly. Powerful weapons that were all but useless and harmless after the Hero was killed. Was that why the bde looked so rusted? It wasn’t a weapon anymore; it was a trinket. That still didn’t answer one question.

  “Why did you bid on this, father?”

  He smiled. “All of the Great Houses have at least a few of those bdes in their possession. We are one of the few who do not. I thought it might be good to take this, while we’re here.”

  It didn’t seem like anyone else wanted to go as high as a million marks for a dull bde. Ten more seconds, and my father would get just what he wanted.

  [Godbde]

  [Intent Unknown]

  [Previous Owner: Illiana Casper]

  [Starting Price: 1,000,000 Imperial Marks]

  [Bid Owner: Box Number 2]

  I saw my father’s hand tense up on the armrest next to me. He might have made this seem like a happy coincidence, but I was starting to suspect this was why we’d come here in the first pce.

  The ledger updated.

  [Godbde]

  [Intent Unknown]

  [Previous Owner: Illiana Casper]

  [Starting Price: 1,300,000 Imperial Marks]

  [Bid Owner: Box Number 1]

  We all froze in pce. I looked towards Duke Greenward. He had the smuggest grin he’d had all day pstered on his face. “Oh, don’t mind me. You do know just how rare and precious those weapons are. You and the young Everguard have just swayed me.”

  “Come now, you don’t want such a thing.” Duke Adrian replied, even as he reached forward and put in another bid. “I believe House Greenward is already steward to five such bdes.”

  The bid changed again.

  Duke Greenward looked surprised. He looked back at the ledger, shrugged. “Six is a much more pleasing number than five, my friend.” He leaned forward, tapping his own bidding crystal.

  “Would House Greenward really be interested in the Peasant Bde?” My father smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes. I saw his hand tense on the armrest. He reached forward. Another bid.

  “It is a Godbde at the end of the day.” Duke Greenward smiled.

  Was my father being provoked? After all of his composure today, in dealing with Duke Greenward’s countless insults, he was being provoked now?

  The two kept their bidding, right until the bidding price reached five million Imperial Marks. The two Dukes kept staring at each other. For some reason, Cordelia kept staring at me, despite my best efforts to ignore her.

  The air grew heavier. I shuddered. Damian let out a choking sound. Duke Greenward’s eyes widened like saucers. Cordelia’s face was pale.

  “This insult has gone on long enough.” My father’s voice was low. The armrest shattered under his left arm, splintering into nothing. He reached forward, put down one more bid.

  [Godbde]

  [Intent Unknown]

  [Previous Owner: Illiana Casper]

  [Starting Price: 10,000,000 Imperial Marks]

  [Bid Owner: Box Number 2]

  It was a truly absurd amount of money. I didn’t know much about the value of currency, but even I knew enough to tell that this was the height of frivolity.

  Duke Greenward’s face settled. He smiled, leaned back in his seat. “I suddenly find my interest fading.”

  My father took a very deep breath and settled back in his seat. The choking air stilled, and I remembered to take a deep breath of my own.

  “Good that it does.” My father’s voice was amiable again, as if nothing had happened at all.

  Duke Greenward had repaid my father for the earlier slight and then some. I’d never thought him an overly proud man, but then again, it wasn’t like I knew him very well.

  The crowd below us had been in stunned silence for some time, only starting to whisper once the price had ballooned well out of proportion. Now, they were all practically shouting.

  Slowly but surely, the timer ran out. Even the auctioneer stared up. He shook himself.

  “W-well, everyone, I can’t say I’ve ever- ever seen a bidding contest that intense before! Truly, the Great Noble Families are different. The Peasant Bde goes to Box Number 2!” There was cheering from down below. There hadn’t been cheering for anything else.

  I suspected the vast majority of that cheering was them ughing at anyone spending this much on this item.

  The sword was moved back behind the curtains again. Even the auctioneer looked like they needed a minute to collect themselves.

  “It’ll be hard to top that. Let’s see if our two illustrious guests will be as interested in our next item!”

  Three of the Karr approached from behind the curtains, carrying a giant obsidian circle. There was some kind of rge marking stretched across the entire thing. The symbol was completely alien to me.

  “Next up, we have another Artifact. A few among you might even know what this is. We have the honor of presenting a ‘Transmutation Circle!”

  I couldn’t help it. This new Artifact looked interesting enough, but my soul was burning with curiosity. I had to know. “Father, why did yo-”

  Bang

  The roof exploded.