A glass was placed in front of Ryuu as soon as he sat down at the table. It didn’t look appetizing so he was reluctant to take a sip. But the waiter somewhat coerced him to do it. But as soon as he took the first sip, he savored the drink of unknown origin to the last drop. But despite liking the drink, Ryuu couldn’t focus on it enough to be able to analyze its contents.

One of the reasons was the servers. Who wouldn’t be distracted if they were suddenly greeted by three almost identical-looking people? Ryuu had his doubts about them even being people. People weren’t so flawless, so persuasive that even he couldn’t shake them off. 

Ryuu felt out of place in the presence of four inhuman beauties, and one as flawless as a human could get. ‘System, couldn’t you have given me an appearance that would fit with these people?’ It didn’t have to be a beautiful appearance. One of a demon would work too. Just something that matched the fantasy set-up, no?

[System: You fit in just fine.]

‘Like hell I do.’

Self-deprecating aside, there were other things to fret over.

“This isn’t an inn, is it?” It was pretty obvious that such a high-priced inn wouldn’t have any guests, so Ryuu wasn’t suspicious about the place being empty. But as he got downstairs, it was obvious that this wasn’t an inn to begin with. 

“It’s a vacation home a foreign visitor built decades ago. It's currently under my care as per Sir Orion’s order,” Oeno responded. Orion, as in the dragon?
Anyhow, it was a very sophisticated vacation home. But still not up to par with the price.

Ryuu was about to complain about the cost but Oeno continued to speak “This place is not open to the public, the employees are temporary. The cost is solely for their labor and food. Please understand.” 

Ryuu grumbled inwardly before looking at Kai questioningly. “Why did we end up here anyway? A few miles from the city, you said, how come we're here?” 

“Hmm?” Kai looked at him in a way that made Ryuu wonder if there was any thinking involved at all. And he didn’t look bothered at all. If Kai were to say, ‘I was so worried, I couldn’t think clearly,’ Ryuu would’ve let it slide. He let it slide anyway, though.

“I can answer that as well.” Ryuu focused his gaze on Oeno again. 

“You must be wondering why I’m here in the first place.” Ryuu hadn’t thought that far yet, but it was a valid question. How did Oeno get involved? Would Kai go the length to seek help from the white dragon? ‘Nah. He’s not like that.’ 

[System:…]

‘What?’

[Well, you aren’t wrong, in a sense.]

“After you left, Sir Orion told me to pass you some information he forgot to mention. So I left for the city too. But when I found you both, you were unconscious, fallen into slumber, And he was unsure of what to do.” Ryuu understood this. Having to deal with someone who was basically a comatose patient must’ve been troublesome.
“The city atmosphere isn’t good for someone in deep sleep, so I brought you and Mr. Kai here.” Ryuu processed the info dump in his mind. It did add up more or less. 

[System: You needn’t worry yourself over these details.]

‘If you say so.’

“You didn’t have to go through all that trouble. I would’ve been fine.” Ryuu remarked. He was only asleep, there was no need for this much planning and whatnot. Just a place to lie down was enough. 

“We wouldn’t have.” However, not everyone thought the same way, and the case of a deep sleep wasn’t so simple. One would have to develop multiple complications within their body to fall that far. If it weren’t for the system’s timely intervention, Ryuu might have actually fallen into a coma. Oeno mumbled bits and pieces of this in a low voice.

However, Ryuu didn’t hear Oeno’s mumbling and continued to speak. “What information did you want to pass.”

“Huh? Oh yes. It’s about the auction.” 

“The bi-yearly auction? I already know about it.” The auction was a norm, almost every player knew about it, although it wasn’t held in KS during the time it was online. Stories about things sold here up to fifty years back were quite popular. Some rare items could only be found in such auctions. 

“I can give you VIP passes to the auction.” Since when was I so lucky? VIP passes had their privilege, but Ryuu wasn’t counting on that. He wasn’t even eyeing anything that would require him to have a pass. 

“That’s not necessary—” 

“Attending the auction with a VIP pass is a great opportunity. Whatever you might be eyeing, you mustn’t miss the option,” Oeno explained why he should take the pass. It was suspicious, no doubt. But Ryuu didn’t have the energy to argue and it was his gain anyway.

“Ok, I get it,” He spoke, “So when does it begin?” Ryuu planned to look into the exact date during his stay but ended up sleeping thus far. 

“The general auction has already begun, the VIP auction will be held today after sunset.” It was already past lunchtime.

“Wait, what?” Ryuu was baffled, “I might not have woken up you know. Why would you go through the trouble? Haah.” 

Another wave of silence drowned the room. This became a common occurrence at some point. So much so that even Ryuu realized it.

Still, the whole thing that happened while Ryuu was unconscious seemed unreasonable to him. “You too Kai. You need to be more rational.”

“Was I the one being irrational?” Kai spoke in a cold tone. “I wasn’t the one who fainted due to overwork.” 

Ryuu looked the other way, unable to meet his eye. “I’m not saying you were irrational, but… never mind. Just do what's easiest in the future when something like this happens.”

“When?”
[Did you just say when?]

“I mean if it happens. Anyway, I’ll go get ready, we should hurry if we want to catch the auction in time.” Surely they could run and reach the auction house in no time. But how could they attend a VIP auction all sweaty? 

That was out of the question.