"The next Item up for auction is a set of cleavers forged by Dwarves. Their sharpness is nearly unmatched for their tier. Mithril had been woven into each blade making them very useful as daggers, but the set was created for cooks who had a hard time butchering meat. Dwarves rarely let anything in their possession get out of sight, especially the carcasses of their trophy hunts. This set was gifted to the Royal house of Etteins by a Group of passing Dwarves who were saved by the Ice Magicians of the Royal Family." The Auction House Manager kept speaking.
"The opening bid would definitely prove to be interesting, the Owner has asked for a minimum bid of 50 kilograms of Netherbeast Meat or its equivalent."
Mike turned to Wu Hai "Netherbeast.. haven't heard about it.. you?" Wu Hai shook his head to say no.
"One High Tier Spear" The Arms dealer gave out another weapon bid.
"Five liters of Mrelatiot Lubricant" A strange looking being with fluid like limbs spoke up.
"One Wood Dragon Antler!" Wu Hai already had bark, what was an antler?... or so he thought.
"Please remove the item for inspection." Manager Ouzo had an official check out the antler. It was still green and lively.
"Do I hear a higher bid." Waiting for someone to say something he kept going.
"Going once."
"Three Legged Crow's third foot, and one Egg." Everyone took a deep breath, three legged crows were pretty common, but an egg was unbelievably rare. The Crows themselves never left their hiding until the eggs hatched, no matter what." It was a Woman who placed the bid, she had one of the crows on her shoulder.
"One Three Legged Crows Egg and set of crows feet, Going once."
"Two Wood Dragon Antlers." Wu Hai threw his hands up, if he didn't win the knives after that he would be pretty disappointed.
"I have Two Wood Dragon Antlers, Going Once...
"Going Twice."
"Ancient Flying Cobra King, Live Adult. Female" A man in a black swallowtail shirt came up and deposited a cage on a nearby table to inspect.
"Your bid is acceptable, Going once. Twice. Sold." The sale went pretty smoothly after that, although Wu Hai was a little disappointed, he didn't feel like his greed was big enough for those knives anyway.
The knives would have been left with the clan when he returned.
A few more objects for auction came to the stage one at a time.
"Our 11th Object for sale this evening is a mysterious scroll in 36 parts. Its illustration and crafting quality are unparalleled, we are completely without measure for how high quality the paper and bindings are. All the books are uniform and all are in remarkable colors." Manager Ouzo had one of the female attendants grab a book and pick it up. She flipped the cover open and there was a man ripping the heart out of another and a strange green man with a pet bird screaming something with a bright orange beam coming from its mouth.
"The book I'm told is called 'Kong Nanren' But deciphering its text will be more difficult since it comes in a language that we cannot identify. Opening bid has not been set. Do we have any bidders?" Manager Ouzo had the attendant pick up a few more and gently show one or two pages from each book.
"Fifty Liters of Cryo-Essence for the set." The large Ice Elemental had made the opening bid without his masters approval.
The Elemental's Master was not only surprised but furious. 50 Liters of an Elemental's Essense would have meant a great deal to his owner, but the Elemental had chosen to hoard it in secret.
"Sixteen Mid Tier Weapons and a Flying Cart." Wu Hai had never heard of a flying cart, it could prove to be quite interesting if that bid won.. He was interested in seeing it but alas, more were bids came.
"4 Magical Books, all Advanced Tier." The bookseller from before was very interested in the manga volumes.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
The bidding for the Manga Set was actually taking a long time, many items kept coming out of the woodwork.
"A Wand of Death, 3 charges remain." …....
"One Ice Elemental" The owner of the previously quick to bid Ice Elemental decided to sell him instead.
The rift between the two was solidified, the audience saw and looked at the owner with shame. Elementals were precious and basically impossible to obtain. The Ice Elemental had been with the Polarons for generations.
'MASTER!' The Ice Elemental was screaming inside.
The Elemental had served the family for hundreds of years, he stayed because of their hospitality. Now, that hospitality was shredded in an instant.
"Do I have any higher bidders. We have a bid of One Ice Elemental, do I hear any higher bidders?" After a few more seconds, it came...
"SOLD, for One Ice Elemental. Binding contracts will be exchanged now." Manager Ouzo had seen all the tricks in the bag including selling a subordinate to a rival so they murder or rob them later.
"Very well." The Polaron Elder was quick to dismiss the Elemental from his care, he obviously didn't want to manage it anymore and the set of mysterious books were just the excuse he used.
Looking confused, the Ice Elemental stood before the pair. It was a towering figure when standing beside them.
Wu Hai and Mike looked at each other completely baffled.
'An Elemental.. we got an elemental slave for a set of manga! no ones ever gonna believe this shit' Mike exclaimed inwardly but kept his composure.
"Members, Please make the exchange." Manager Ouzo directed Wu Hai to drop blood to the contract and take possession.
The Ice elemental chose to stand beside them for the remainder of the Auction.
"Our Final three Items are part of a set. We would normally sell them separately, but as you will see that is impossible." Wheeling out a mated pair of Qilin, full blooded wild Qilin and their offspring the Manager was proud of his final sale before the big slave auction.
"Opening bid must be equal to or higher than 1,000 kilograms of Elementium." Wu Hai looked at the trio of beasts.
It was already impossible, completely impossible for them to walk away with them. There was no point in remaining, the longer they stayed the faster they would be in trouble with the eventual thieves that would come for them. However, they now had the Ice Elemental to explain their defenses.. pondering over the idea, the two came to the same conclusion.
"We go afterward, we still have the girls to pick up. Manager Chou says we have 275 to pick up, that's a caravan of dangerous proportion." Mike explained his afterthoughts with Wu Hai and they agreed.
"Do I Hear any bids for our final sale, Three Live Qilin, One Family." Manager Ouzo went up to grab the cub, but the mother and father were snarling as he approached.
'there there'
"18 Anthrobeast Fangs, 18 Anthrobeast Eyes and a set of mature Anthrobeast Wings." One bidder tried to skirt the details.
"That does not meet the minimum bid, No thanks" Manager Ouzo scoffed at the Anthrobeast remains. In comparison to the Live Qilin, he couldn't take them in payment, no one would.
"1000 Eternal Night potions" One man bid quickly to get the bidding started.
"Acceptable, Do I hear any higher bids?" Announcing again Manager Ouzo really tried to make the spotlight with his dancing around.
"7 Celestial Orbs, And a copy of the Book of Doom." Slamming a book to the counter and waving 7 floating orbs about one magician tried to buy out the Qilin, but was quickly outbid again.
"A Resurrection Beacon." Everyone stopped and stared at the Grey individual. He had no color to his eyes and his hair was almost clear as well.
"One Resurrection Beacon, do I have any higher bidders"
"Two Resurrection Beacons, They aren't 'that' hard to find!" Another angry man outbid the previous one.
"Nights Chasm Blade, and Repulse Charger Shield" A bidder dressed in an elegant gown spoke up, she seemed rather intent on winning.
"Whoa Whoa Whoa...Ladies and Gentlemen.. The Knights of the Kingdom have bid the Nights Chasm Blade and a Repulse Charger Shield" Manager Ouzo expect it to be a fantastic auction but it was getting epic.
"A Celestial Weapon comes along only once in a generation if not less. Its hard to say if anyone could outbid you. Do I have any higher bids..? We will give you a minute to check your ability to bid higher, a two minute intervention begins now." Manager Ouzo waved to the crowd and walked off stage briefly.
"Mike, lets get out of this room." Wu Hai knew he would win if he wanted to, but they still had tomorrow to worry over.
The large slave auction would be a place they could get a bunch of people to fill the city and bolster its defenses.. It was only worth trying if they could keep them alive. If all the slaves died or were hunted in spite of them being bought by Wu Hai and Mike, that would not only be terrible, it would prove to be a black mark on their conscious.
….. The two minutes passed rather quickly.
When the two minutes came to an end, Wu Hai and Mike had made it to another room with the Ice Elemental in tow. Wu Hai pulled the cup out and made the elemental roll a darkness ability, he couldn't have the damned thing following him. When the elemental switched affinities, it was almost speechless but Wu Hai forced him into his shadow. As a contracted being, he had to take the orders of his owner. Wu Hai hid the Ice Elemental and waited for the auction to end.
People started leaving the auditorium and eventually Wu Hai made his way back to the manager on hand.
Zao Wu Hai had a few questions. "We're Ready to take possession of the girls now, I have a carriage outside that can carry about 50 at a time if we pack them in. I'm just down the road. It will be a few trips but I think we can just have the others walk if you're in a hurry."
Manager Chou was definitely in a hurry, although he was understanding of Wu Hai's desire to transport them in batches. "I will return when after the auction. My business extends further than here."
"I don't quite understand what you mean by that, but I will hurry. Thank you." Wu Hai confirmed their contract one by one as they entered the carriage.
The loading area was dark, it helped. If Wu Hai teleported away just then, people standing outside would notice the flash. It was better to take them back to the inn and vanish from there. It wouldn't take too long to just walk the girls to the Hotel, but it would be against 'good policy' for the Bar.
Wu Hai wanted to make it fast, the carriage moved quickly. The Elemental stayed in Wu Hai's Shadow to save space, without the Elemental taking up so much space they could fit about a third of the captives in the carriage before it started to have problems closing the door. Manager Chou was leaving, and Wu Hai had an attendant hold the rest while they traversed the City a few times in the carriage.
Mike snapped the reins to hurry their trip.
When they unloaded the first load of women from the Carriage, Wu Hai paid the Innkeeper another bar of gold to keep quiet. "Brother Wu, lets hurry back."
Mike locked the Door with the first group in the room, Wu Hai would make a singular teleport to the tower once they all arrived. It took almost the entire hour to return for the final round. When they arrived for the last time at the Inn, Wu Hai was tired of pricking his finger.
"Okay.. we can't just leave 275 girls locked in a room till tomorrow.. even if we're in the room." Mike made a funny statement before asking Wu Hai a very dumb question.
"Brother Wu.. who's staying with them until you teleport back from the tower." he asked with a confused look.
"The Elemental" Wu Hai hadn't forgotten about their newest addition.
Trading an obscure manga anthology for an Elemental was a priceless experience, Wu Hai would give it a name later.
Wu Hai took out another Manga that was sitting in his storage for later and handed it to the Elemental before they left the Inn.
The trip to the Tower was infinitely easier without the mounts. Leaving the carriage in the barn, the duo danced through the darkness of the forest until the clearing and setup the tower.
This was the third and final time they could use the tower in that location, someone was bound to see it in the daylight tomorrow.
It was going to be a headache.
The Tower was bustling with the first batch girls who had been there a few days, a system of governance had grown on them and they directly bowed in respect to as their liberators entered.
"Qu. I'll be right back with a lot more girls, please integrate them accordingly." Wu Hai didn't give time for Qu to respond before teleporting back to the Inn.
When he walked inside, the door was stuck a bit by the sleeping bodies of the women. They were all huddled up. The smell was mostly unpleasant and wreaked of body odor.
"Hey, Hey.. all of you.. please stand up and gather closely. There is no reason to panic, but we're going somewhere else and you don't even have to do anything.. except stand closer together." Wu Hai waited a moment for everyone to gather up while he explained.
With another flash Wu Hai teleported them all, including the Elemental to the Tower.
"Qu will designate work for you, a place for you to sleep, and meals. Please treat him the same as you would treat me." Wu Hai was still in a hurry, they had tomorrow to think about.
Gefést had need for them to study.. the monthly slave sale would be full of opportunities. They had to be careful and manage their time well.
"First thing's First" Mike could now smell the girls from a distance away, the funk would linger if they left it alone.
Qu noticed it on their arrival. "Okay ladies, come with me. Its time for a bath."
The Tower Spirit waved his hands and they disappeared from sight.
The Elemental didn't know what to do after being left alone in the lobby, it sat down in a corner of the room.
Mike didn't want to ignore their new companion, he wanted to ask questions but the Slave Auction was about to start. Wu Hai walked up, channeled the Teleportation Circle and all three of them quickly arrived back at the Inn without a word.
"Lets go" Wu Hai didn't want to miss a thing.