With everybody settled down, the auction began. A pretty young girl dressed in white goes up the stage towards the podium. Although her face was covered with a veil, Sakura was able to tell that she was Tachibana Aoi.
[Why would she wear a veil?]
Although she was curious, she had more important things to do, like squeezing in as much time as she could into running her fingers along Uehara's hair before Aoi brings out the first item.
Down below, everyone was admiring Aoi's beauty. The fact that she was covered and wearing a veil made the men all the more curious about her.
Aoi cupped her hands and bowed slightly. Instantly, everyone became silent and waited for her to speak.
"Thank you esteemed guests for once again coming to the Tachibana auction house. My name is Tachibana Aoi and I'll be presiding over this auction. Although it is my first time, please treat me well."
Seeing such a humble girl, bursts of declarations erupted from the crowd.
"Don't worry! Even if you weren't the city lord's daughter, I'd still buy whatever you auction!"
"So mesmerising. As expected of the city lord's daughter."
Similar declarations came from the crowd while from the balcony area, it was quiet.
Sakura looked at the people below with a disappointed gaze.
[That kind of flattery will get them nowhere. No better than dogs begging for scraps of her affection. Hmph. They can't compare to-]
She was suddenly stunned by Uehara twisting around to get a better position on her lap. Lying face up, his mouth was slightly open and his hair was completely dishevelled, loosely lying on his face. Without chakra running as rampant through it, his hair had lost its spiky appearance. His skin was a bit rosy, indicating that he had recently fed.
Seeing his innocent appearance, Sakura felt her heart beat faster.
[This…this is too destructive.]
Feeling her heartstrings being pulled when she saw at just how "vulnerable" his position is, she made a decision that she was sure she would regret.
She began gently shaking him awake.
"Aoki-sama. The auction has started."
Sakura wanted to cry at her decision.
[Just rubbing his cheeks would've been nice. But, he would've cut my hand.]
Feeling Sakura's hands constantly shaking his body, Uehara reluctantly opened his eyes and sat up.
"Thank you."
He stood up and fixed his coat. Running chakra through his hair, each strand straightened, making his hair spiky like usual. Tilting his neck a bit to the side, a satisfying crack was released.
Hearing the noises down below, he was slightly annoyed. Walking over to the balcony, he saw the chaos of men showering praises to the girl on stage.
Grabbing the rails of the balcony, he looked at them with barely noticeable displeasure.
"Silence."
Like the declaration of a king, everyone below instinctively became quiet as soon as they heard the voice. After all, that voice came with the promise of death were it not to be heeded.
None of the people below even dared to look back to see who the owner of the voice was. The rest of the noble clans looked at the child standing on the balcony with a scrutinising gaze. Tsubune was curious while Michinaga was intrigued.
A smile was on his face as he saw the familiar face of the boy.
[I knew we'd meet again.]
Although the people on the balcony rooms were unaffected by Uehara's aura, some of them were able to sense it. One of them was Hayanari.
A sense of danger welled up within him the more he looked at the boy.
[Just who is he?]
Seeing everyone obediently quiet down, Uehara looked at Aoi who was slightly nervous due to the abrupt change in atmosphere.
With a neutral voice, he spoke.
"Begin the auction."
Aoi didn't dare falter. Not even looking at her uncle Saburo for his consent, she directly began the auction.
"The first item of the day will be an eighth grade chakra recovery pill. Created by the Alchemist Guild, the special use of this pill will allow any shinobi the ability to instantly regenerate their chakra to eighty percent of their capacity. Starting price will be three silver taels and the increment cannot be less than fifty bronze taels."
Two servant women came onto the stage carrying a small table and on it was a glass casing with a maroon pill the size of a marble.
As the patrons started bidding, Uehara looked at the pill with an analysing gaze.
Without fear of being found out, he activated his dragon eyes that allowed him to see energy. His eyes turned golden and the pupils changed shape into slits.
Analysing the coalescing energy within the pill, he started to recall the content of the alchemy books he's read all those years ago.
[I see. So it won't give chakra but boost the body's regenerating capabilities for a short time. The eighty percent should mean that the pill will no longer stimulate the body's chakra recovery once the chakra capacity recovers to eighty percent.]
Uehara was quite impressed by the ingenuity of the pills. Although he did read some alchemy books in the past, it was only on the types of plants and their properties. He never delved further into pill-concoction.
The reason why he could tell what the pill can do is because he recognises the energy signature the pill has is formed from a collection of plants, one of which is poisonous but can stimulate the chakra recovery rate. It is abundant on Aokigahara and high-level chakra beasts eat it as a snack.
Having satisfied his curiosity, he walked back towards Sakura while the bidding down below grew more intense.
He sat next to Sakura on the couch and closed his eyes. Besides the pill, he had seen a human below that neither used chakra or ki but a form of nature energy.
"I sense some interesting things will appear in this auction."
With how the couches were placed, the VIPs could still see the stage but not the crowd below. The chakra pill was sold for ninety-three silver taels and was taken by a masked woman in black light armour.
Aoi took the stage again and spoke.
"The next item on the list will be…"
And just like that, several items were auctioned one after another. None of the VIPs bothered with bidding for the items since with their connections, they could get them easily.
For the past thirty minutes, only items that were hard for unaffiliated people to find were auctioned. After auctioning a rare obsidian dagger for sixty-three taels, four men carrying a large black alchemy furnace went onto the stage.
Several noble families widened their eyes in interest seeing the furnace but they waited for more details. After the four men put down the furnace, they walked away, leaving the stage to Aoi.
Aoi turned to look at the crowd and smiled.
"All of you must know Venerable Kukai, one of the most prominent scholars, poets and artists in our history. He was also known for being a devout Buddhist and was the founder of Shingon School of Buddhism. It is said that during his meditation, the incense he used was concocted from this furnace. It is rumoured that anything concocted from this furnace will be infused with the essence of Venerable Kukai. This will be greatly helpful to martial artists who practice Ki…or be a great poison to shinobi who practice chakra."
Aoi waited for people to speculate more on the alchemy furnace. Many hushed whispers circulated within the crowd. One of the best auction techniques is to let people hype up the product themselves.
One of the main topics was how it could be a poison to shinobi. The reason is because Kukai was a buddhist and buddhists use ki. The incense from the furnace would be greatly helpful to practitioners of ki but not chakra. Chakra and ki are completely polar energies.
Aoi was satisfied and continued.
"Since this is Venerable Kokai's furnace, the price will begin at one gold tael ($1000) and the increment will be fifty silver taels ($500)."
Everyone started picking up the signboards by their seats and raised them furiously.
"Two gold taels!"
"Five gold taels!"
"Six gold…"
"Seven…"
"Ten…"
The bidding was furious and as the price rose to twenty gold taels, the number of shouts decreased. Although most of patrons were very rich from their jobs as mercenaries, most of them weren't willing to part with twenty gold taels ($20,000).
"Forty gold taels!"
Silence…
No one had expected that someone would raise the price by ten gold taels. The person was a young man sitting at the back. His sign board written "sixty-eight" was raised with pride in the air. A daring smirk was on his face as he looked at everyone in front of him, daring them to outbid him. With a toothy grin and long black hair, everyone could tell this was probably some noble scion that snuck out of the family.
Aoi smiled when she heard the astronomical price. The commission she would get from this sale would fill her coffers up pretty well.
Raising her gavel, she spoke.
"The young master seated at chair number sixty-nine has raised the bid to forty gold taels. Does anyone want to raise the price?"
None of them dared to speak. Forty gold taels was already too much for an alchemy furnace. Even if it wasn't much, most of them didn't have the strength to protect it. Some of them were even eyeing the young man in a bid to rob him after this.
Although Aoi was hoping someone would raise the price, she didn't want to affect the auction's prestige by delaying time.
So with some reluctance, she spoke.
"Forty gold taels. Going once…going twice…"
She was about to hit the gavel when the light from the Fuma clan's VIP room brightened. The number "fifty" was shining brightly. The inscriptions made it so that all the person had to do was place their palm on the device next to the couch and through intent, the price they want to bid will be displayed.
The young man instantly lost his smile and grit his teeth at the Fuma clan. Before Aoi could even speak, he raised his signboard.
"Fifty-five gold taels!"
Hissss…
Everyone on the first floor took a deep breath. It was an unspoken rule amongst everyone that if you have no proper backing, then don't fight with any noble clans. Although this young man looked like he came from a proper clan, could it compare to the Fuma clan? That was a clan full of shinobi! Even behemoths like the Fujiwara and Kasuga clan don't step on the toes of the Fuma clan lightly.
The Fuma clan VIP room lit up again with the number sixty. The young man glared with hatred at the VIP room. The people sitting next to the man started cursing their luck as for why they were sitting so close to such a lunatic.
The young man was about to raise his signboard and shout his bid when he suddenly felt a few sources of killing intent press down on him.
The young man got even angrier when he felt the killing intent. Standing up, he shouted.
"YOU ARE COURTING DEATH!!!"
He started to release dense amounts of energy that suppressed their killing intent. Immediately, the room fell silent. The patrons were shocked. Some of them were even scared. After all…this presumed noble scion was a cultivator.
(AN: Sorry for not uploading the past three-days. A family member of mine had a wedding in another province/state/prefecture and I inconveniently forgot my laptop.
Unfortunately, I can't upload extra chapters as that would compromise my ability to stay ahead and fix plot-holes.)