Instead of paying attention to the puddle his head turned into, I am looking at his robe. The robe where my dagger stabbed into him has already repaired itself. The robe is heavily enchanted, that's why my firebolt didn't hurt the mage.
As I scan his body I also find a ring and a pouch that are also enchanted. The pouch is a pouch of holding so I just clip it onto my belt for now. The ring and the robe go into my pouch for now, I will check them out later.
Before leaving the area, I burn all the bodies to ashes to make tracking me harder. Hopefully, by the time anyone figures out what happened to the mage I will be long gone. I only need to buy myself two more days and then the auction will be over.
After leaving the area I circle the city and use a different gate to re-enter the city. Then I make my way back to the manor, luckily I don't run into any more trouble. Once I am back in my suite I open a soulscape, then invite Myria and the kids.
Once again Myria refuses to show up, so I just spend my time with the kids. After the kids are completely worn out, I end the soulscape, and go to sleep. When I wake up in the morning I head down and join Henrietta for breakfast.
After we are done eating we head to the auction along with the two merchants. The four of us arrive a little early, but that isn't a big deal as we are all excited. Since I have a bit of time to spare I head down to add the money I got for my items to the paddle.
The items I sold yesterday didn't quite cover what I spent so I have a little less than seven million now. That is still plenty for me to play around with and there are a few items for sale today. Although, I will probably spend more than I will make off of those few plants.
That isn't a big deal, once the auction is over the crystal coins are useless to me. In fact, if I end up with a lot left, I may use them to hire the merchant group to find me more elves. Since they have bases all over, I should be able to arrange to meet them at one of the northern cities.
It will depend on how the auction goes, so I will worry about it once the auction is over. For now I turn my attention to the stage where the auctioneer has just appeared. The auctioneer is the same woman as yesterday and her dress this time is even more revealing.
The common seats are almost completely filled and every one of them is staring at her intently. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were here just to stare at the auctioneer all day. Not that I can really blame them, she is definitely a world class beauty.
"Henrietta, is the auctioneer someone famous or anything?"
Henrietta says "In the Magic Kingdom she is. She is a top mage, but she is famous because she is single. She has turned down practically every mage in the kingdom, including the son of the current ruler."
"Really? Then how come she is an auctioneer?"
Henrietta says "She is an independent mage, so she needs funds. Anytime an item goes above its value she gets a percentage. So, she is here to make money to fund her magical research."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense. How strong of a mage is she?"
Henrietta says "In her age group she is the best. If you are talking overall, probably tenth or eleventh would be my guess. Why? Are you interested in her?"
"No! Not at all! I was just curious after seeing how the crowd below reacted to her. It was a bit much just for her beauty."
Henrietta says "True. As a non-mage you wouldn't have any chance with her anyway!"
When Henrietta says that I just smile and turn my attention back to the auction. The first two items don't inspire much bidding, but the third item sets off a storm. It is a spellbook from some mage I have never heard of, but apparently he was a big deal.
At first there are hundreds of bidders fighting for it, but as the price climbs a lot of them drop out. The price eventually climbs to over a million crystal coins, but there are still a dozen bidders fighting for it. Even though I have no interest in the book, watching this kind of bidding war is very entertaining.
It is bad enough that I am tempted to throw out some bids for fun, but I stop myself. After all, I really don't want to accidentally win the book and waste my money. So, I control myself and just settle for enjoying the show until a winner is determined.
In the end, someone from one of the boxes above us wins the spellbook. It is surprising that the third item of the second day went for almost two million coins. It is also the first time I have seen anyone from the top floor put out a bid.
From what Henrietta told me those above us should all be royalty or similarly powerful people. These are the ones I am most worried about, if I piss them off they can find me quickly. If something like that is going to happen, it needs to be on the last day of the auction.
So, unless it is something that I really need, I should avoid bidding against them. Come to think of it, Seraph is probably in one of those boxes right now. That is even more reason for me to avoid drawing their attention.
Seraph already seems to be obsessed with me, I don't want to make it worse. If possible, I would like to avoid her completely, but I doubt I am that lucky. Especially since she already knows where I am staying and could show up at any time.
In fact, it would be surprising if she doesn't come by the manor looking for me again. I wonder how she would react if she saw what I really look like. Maybe, if she tries to follow me out of the city, I will get the chance to find out.
Imagining the look on her face I almost laugh out loud, but I struggle to hold it in. I really don't want to have to explain to Henrietta what I am laughing about. Luckily, an interesting item comes up in the auction so I turn my attention to it.
Unfortunately, after bidding a few times I am outbid by someone with a lower number. The item is just slightly interesting, not something that I need, so I let it go. It is not worth drawing attention to myself unless it is an item I really need.
The next few items are not anything interesting to me, so I just watch the fun. Especially when there is a bidding war over one of the plants I put up for sale. The price going up and up is very satisfying, not that I care about the money itself.
It is just fun to watch people compete over an item of mine, even if it is something I stole. I don't even pay attention to how much the winning bid ends up being. I am much more interested in what other items might show up in the auction.
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