Bartrem booked more than a dozen rooms for everyone. The inn was quite big, and it seemed to receive an upgrade only recently.
"The owner of this inn is smart. They know a lot of people will come to this place, and so they upgrade the inn immediately," Mary said as they walked to their room. "Also, unlike the nice villagers earlier, this inn is so expensive."
"How much money do we have left?"
Mary bitterly smiled. "Only a couple of silvers."
"Thankfully, we can just hunt something for food."
Aldred, Mary, Mira, Sophia, and Pongo entered the same room. The sun was still bright in the sky, but all of them decided to sleep all day. The journey to come here was exhausting. Sleeping in the tents or the carriages paled in comparison to the soft and comfortable mattresses.
And so they slept until the next day.
They all went down the stairs and walked to the cafeteria. It was bustling with people. The waitress guided them to a large table. Bartrem sat down with Aldred and the others.
"So what is our next move?" Aldred asked.
"I have been gathering information yesterday," Bartrem said. He was a true warrior. While everyone was asleep, he went out and put in the work. "I notice that a lot of people haven't started climbing yet. And they are waiting for something."
"What is it?" Aldred asked in wonder.
"An auction."
"What's that got to do with climbing a mountain?"
"I heard that a collection of merchants is planning to do an auction, but it's not just any auction. The items presented in this auction can help us reach the peak."
"Really?"
"We can only try to see it for ourselves."
"But we're running out of money, right?"
"That's the problem."
"I should have asked the empress for money," Mary said. "If we asked her, she could give us an endless amount of wealth."
"Clearly, she's the empress of an empire after all."
"Why don't we enter the auction and take our chances. It's okay if we don't get the items, but maybe we can work something out with the buyer," Bartrem said.
Aldred wanted to see the auction as well so he agreed. He'd never been to an auction before.
…
Days passed quickly, and the group of merchants rented a plot of land before their workers quickly erected a large hall for the auction. They worked so fast and so precise that the onlookers were amazed by their efficiency. With magical powers and supernatural strength, the grand auction hall was finished in less than a day. Made out of fine wood and smooth marble, the rich and powerful smiled as they looked at the sight while the poor simply looked shocked and amazed.
Two beautiful ladies in tight dresses came out of the entrance and put up a sign that said: Mount Fargon Auction Hall is Open!
People in nice clothes walked in first. The two ladies greeted them with a smile and told them that they need to pay a fee to enter the place. Those people didn't give it a second thought before giving them a handful of gold coins. They didn't even count if it was the correct amount or not, because they knew that what they gave was more than asked for.
After all of them entered, the adventurer with full gear walked to them, paid the fee, and entered the hall. This went on for quite some time until there was one man with ragged clothes who was stopped at the entrance.
"I cannot enter?"
"I am sorry, sir, but you have to pay a fee to enter the auction hall."
"What an arrogant person you are. Just because I don't want to pay, I am not allowed to enter?"
The two ladies were troubled.
"This is the rule, sir. We cannot allow you to enter the auction unless you pay the fee."
The man snorted in anger. "What a bitch. You think you can act like that just because you're pretty, huh? You're just a whore who relies on their looks. I bet you enter an old man's room every night for some gold. A bunch of disgusting whore." He spat on the ground, almost hitting their feet.
When the man left, the two ladies sighed.
One of the ladies even broke into tears.
"Miralda, don't cry. We're at work."
"Emily, that guy is so mean. I tried to be as polite as possible but he kept insulting us."
Emily tapped her back and hugged her. "There there. Don't cry again. What if the manager sees us."
Miralda kept crying for a whole minute before she calmed down. The man's words earlier really hurt her heart.
A fat man walked toward them. "Why are you crying?"
"Manager," they called.
"A man earlier tried to enter the auction without paying. We tell him that he cannot enter with hospitality, but he kept insulting us."
The fat clicked his tongue. "Next time, don't bother to treat penniless people with hospitality. Stop crying, you're driving the customers away. I took you from the streets, don't make me return you there again."
The two ladies bowed. "Yes, sir manager."
Miralda wiped her tears and lightly slapped her own cheeks. "I don't want to return to the street."
Emily smiled and caressed her head. "Me as well. I will treat you to good food later, okay? So don't cry again."
Miralda nodded.
…
Aldred, Bartrem, Mareona, Sophia, Mary, Pongo, and Mira walked out of the inn and asked for directions to the auction hall.
"They're about to start the auction," Aldred said. "We need to hurry."
They jogged their way until they saw the grand auction hall. When they arrived, two young ladies asked them for a fee."
"1 gold coin for each person?" Aldred was shocked by the cost. "So expensive. Is there any other way we can enter?"
One of the ladies kept on smiling, while the other lady was frowning and glaring at them.
"If you cannot pay then get out of here. We don't want poor people to enter our auction."
Emily was shocked. She tugged her hand slightly and whispered. "Miralda, what are you doing?"
"These poor people needed to be treated this way. There's no way that they can pay." Miralda didn't even lower her voice.
Emily smiled apologetically. "I am sorry, sir. But you need to pay the fee to enter."
Even though the manager told her to treat those who couldn't pay badly, she just couldn't do it.
"Don't call them sir. Look at their armor full of holes. You can tell they're beggars from a distance. And look at this boy. I bet he was thrown away by his parents for how ugly he is."
Emily looked at Miralda in shock. "Miralda, don't say that."
Sophia glared at the woman. "How dare you!"
"What are you going to do? You don't even have 1 gold coin."
"We have something better!" Sophia said. "We have a Gold Rank slave beast to auction. How much do you think it's worth?"
Aldred looked at Sophia in confusion. Since when did they plan to sell Nicky?
Miralda sneered. "You think I will believe what your filthy mouth said?"
"You don't believe me? Wait here, we will bring the beast." She pulled Aldred away.
"Sophia, are we going to sell Nicky?"
"Yes. I cannot stand that woman. But don't worry. After we sell Nicky, you can just tell him to disappear and then summon him again. This way you won't make any loss but still earn some money."
"That's a good plan." Aldred nodded.
"I don't think so," Mira said. "What you about to do is tricking people. I know she is too harsh on us, but that's no reason to harm another person that got nothing to do with it."
"You're thinking too hard, Mira. Those people are rich. They won't shed a tear if they lost some money."
"I still don't agree with this plan. Don't bring evil to this world."
"Stop being dramatic. Doing this will give us a lot of money to buy items in the auction as well. If we can have some of them, I am sure our chance to reach the peak is higher."
Mira hesitated. "Maybe we can do something else."
"No. Aldred, summon Nicky and tell him to change into his real form."
Aldred looked at Mira and thought for a moment before agreeing with Sophia's plan. Their survivability mattered more than a rich stranger losing a bunch of gold coins. They went to an empty alley before summoning him.
"Turn to your real form."
The giant velobra obeyed and transformed into his real form.
Sophia smiled. "That arrogant woman will be so shocked to see this."
"Yeah, she's so arrogant," Aldred agreed.
They went back to the auction hall and showed the beast to the young ladies.
"What now?" Sophia said. "Still don't believe us."
The two young ladies were shocked to see a giant velobra acting so tame. This was a wild beast that could match against three if not five Gold Rank warriors at once. Yet here it was.
"What is going on here?" the manager stepped in.
"Are you the owner?" Sophia asked.
"I am the manager of this place."
Sophia smiled. "We would like to auction this Gold Rank giant velobra, but we changed our mind."
The manager was shocked. This giant velobra was a powerful beast and almost impossible to tame or enslave. If he could auction this beast, his reputation would spread far and wide. "Why? I am sure we can negotiate about the profit. Usually, we take 40% of the profit, but for you, we will only take 10% how is it?"
"It's not about the profit. It's about how your worker treated us."
Sophia had deep resentment now toward whoever treated Aldred badly. First, it was Bacon who violated Aldred's pride and then even tried to enslave him. Aldred changed her viewpoint of this world. For the first time in her life, she experienced true affection and respect. She wouldn't let anyone violate Aldred again.
"Which one of you treated our respectful guest in a terrible manner?"
"It's that woman." Sophia pointed.
Miralda looked at the manager with teary eyes. "I am sorry, manager. I don't know. I thought they were poor people."
"You stupid bitch. I saved you from prostitution and this is how you repay me? Are you planning to ruin my business?"
"Manager, I am sorry. I was in the wrong." Miralda cried.
Aldred smiled at her apologizing. He hated her guts as well for insulting them like that.
"I don't want to hear it." The fat man grabbed her neck and choked her. "I was planning to return you to the street, but this offense must be paid with your life."
"Wait, no—" Aldred was about to stop him.
Crack!
Miralda's breathing stopped and she fell to the ground lifelessly.
Emily's eyes widened as tears fell to her cheeks. Her whole body trembled in fear. "Miralda…"
"Emily," the fat man called. "Bring your sister away. I will take over from here."
Emily trembled but still nodded and lifted her sister away.
Aldred still couldn't believe what he saw. Someone was killed right in front of his eyes because of him being a petty person. He looked at Sophia who had a guilty expression on her face.
The fat man looked at them with a smile. "I apologize for that. Now that the dirt is gone, why don't we continue our discussion? This giant velobra seems to be more powerful than normal. I believe it could match against twenty if not thirty Gold Rank humans. What about this, we will only take 3% of the profit. You can have the rest."
"Before that," Aldred said. "Do you really have to kill her? You could have just fired her."
"Don't worry about her. She's from the street and one step away from prostitution. If I don't kill her someone else would have done it soon."
Aldred couldn't believe his ears. How could someone become so indifferent to the life of others? He understood if they were enemies or someone so distant, but this woman worked here.
"What do you mean someone would have done it soon?"
"Prostitutes don't live a long life."
"Why?"
The fat man raised an eyebrow. It was common sense that prostitutes die early. "It's because most men treat them rough, and prostitutes are generally fragile."
Sophia sighed. "We will take the offer."
"Sophia? Are we still going to do this?"
"It already happened, Aldred. We cannot change that."
The fat man smiled. "Very good. I will guide you to the VIP section, you can leave the beast here. Someone will take it to the back room."
Aldred looked at Mira who looked at him in disappointment. The boy avoided her gaze and followed the fat man.
