Tunir had finished moving himself into his new home with Mary. The house was fully furnished and his life was finally getting back into gear.
Though something was missing.
Despite the fact that Tunir now had enough money to buy a castle, he still felt the drive to work. More specifically, he felt the drive to smith.
He couldn't explain this feeling. It was as if something in his mind just made him dead set on smithing. As long as he could remember, he wanted to smith. Smith may as well be his last name.
"Mary, do you work?" Tunir asked.
"Me? Well now that you mention it, I don't. I don't think I ever did either." She had a surprised look on her face when she said this.
"Well then where did you get the money to pay for your home?" Tunir asked her.
"It was my family's home! I didn't have to pay for it." She declared.
"Have you… ever had a drive to work?" Tunir shyly asked.
"Not particularly. I feel a need to dust every now and then, but generally I like having nothing to do. It gives me more time to think and read books or just enjoy what's around me."
"Hm…"
"Why do you ask, Tunir?"
"Well, I feel a need to smith! I can't explain it, but I just want to forge items! I feel like something is wrong when I'm not at the smithy. I can't explain it." Tunir held his head as he said this.
"Maybe it's just something you got used to doing?" Mary suggested.
"Possibly, but I think it's something more. I feel like a bird without wings…" Tunir began. Mary looked at him like she was looking at something pitiful.
"I'm… going out for a bit. Don't worry about me." Tunir stood up and declared.
"Huh? O-Okay!" Mary quickly replied.
Tunir stepped out of his new home and back out onto the streets of Niris. He didn't entirely know what he was going to do, but deep down he could feel his desire in his heart.
Tunir walked down street after street. He had gone through this town once, so he had a general idea of where things were, but he would still stop to ask for directions from time to time.
Eventually, Tunir arrived at the merchant district.
"Ah…" He let out. He took in his surroundings. He looked at each stall and building. Tunir read the name on each of the signs and checked to see if there was a smithy here.
"Hm… Nope!" He confirmed. There was no smithy to be found here. He could establish himself!
Tunir walked up to a market stall to talk to the owner.
"Well hello there! Can I help you?" The owner asked.
"Yes, are any of these buildings vacant? Are any of them for sale?" Tunir asked.
"Vacancies? I think there's an auction for a building nearby, but those bets are going to be high…"
"How high?"
"I heard that the bets start at 500,000 gold pieces!"
Tunir merely laughed at this number.
"Okay! Can you point me to where it is?"
"Oh, it's right down the street. You can't miss it."
"Alrighty! Thank you very much!" Tunir waved as he walked down where he was pointed towards. It only took him about a minute to find the building that the man must have been referring to.
This building was the exact same size as Tunir's previous smithy. He had hit the jackpot.
Several chairs were set out in front of the building along with a podium in front. The auction looked like it was about to start. Truly Tunir made the best decision in coming out here right now.
He took a seat as a thin man in a suit walked up to the podium. He was bald and had a dark moustache.
"Ahem… Okay, we'll be starting the bidding! The bids start at 500,000 gold pieces. The object of interest is the building behind me. Who will begin?"
Immediately, several hands went up. The bid price went up from 500,000 to 600,000 to 700,000 and so on. It didn't take long for people to drop out from how high the price was going up.
Once the bids had risen to 5 million gold pieces, only 2 people were left. Tunir, and a person wearing wizard robes.
The bidding continued. The property quickly rose to 8 million gold.
Suddenly, a text bubble appeared above the wizards head.
"Jeez. This NPC must be loaded! I just wanted to get a guild base." The bubble read out. Tunir realized that he was betting against a player. He wasn't about to lose.
The betting went on for a little while longer. Eventually the total went up to 15 million.
Another text bubble appeared above the players head.
"Good luck outbidding me! I have my entire guild behind me!" The player's text bubble read out.
Tunir decided to play dirty.
"Emergency quest!" He said out loud.
The player immediately turned to look at him.
"W-What's this quest?" The player sheepishly asked.
Tunir smirked. He had this player wrapped around his finger.
"Lose the auction. In exchange, you get 500 experience points!" Tunir proclaimed. The familiar brown screen appeared in front of the player once Tunir finished saying this.
The player squirmed for a moment. Eventually, they stopped bidding as they accepted the quest.
"Sold to the bearded gentleman for 20 million gold pieces!" The auctioneer shouted. Tunir had won.
A gold light emanated from the player. From what Tunir had heard earlier, this meant that the player had "leveled up" so this was a good thing.
"Congrats on the leveled up." He told the player.
"Huh? You know about that?" The player asked.
"More or less!" Tunir replied with a toothy smile.
The auctioneer approached Tunir, took the 20 million gold and handed over the deed.
"Congratulations sir. I hope this property serves you well!" He announced before disappearing. It was as if he was a mirage.