'Nothing interesting here,' Alex sighed inwardly, moving past yet another platform without finding anything to his taste among the auctioned items.
Several minutes had already passed since Freya had left with Frieda and the armored guards, heading into the largest building in the city.
This impressive structure was none other than the Drazen family auction house, towering just a short distance from the bustling open-air market.
Before she departed, Freya had insisted that a group of guards accompany Alex for his safety, despite his reluctance. Now, five guards trailed him closely, keeping any would-be intruders at a respectful distance.
'They're only level 3... how much protection could they really offer if I can't handle an attack myself?' Alex scoffed to himself.
However, he also understood that the guards' roles weren't exactly to protect him. Well, they were there for his protection, but primarily they were with him to serve as a deterrent against anyone who might have ill intentions towards him. After all, who would dare attack the soldiers of an Earl's family in their own territory?
'Still, I don't really like being followed,' Alex thought, 'it would have been better if at least they were women.'
As he passed a group of people, Alex's ears picked up on a conversation.
"Hey, look, doesn't this man fit the description of the one targeted by Earl Drickon's underlings?" someone whispered to his friend.
"I think that's him; he looks scary... and creepy," another one added.
'News sure spreads fast in this city,' Alex thought as he passed by the group of people sneaking glances at him.
It had been barely an hour since the incident, yet word had already spread throughout the city. 'The people here sure love gossip.'
***
At the same time Alex was strolling through the marché aux enchères, Freya, followed by Frieda, entered a room situated in the underground of the auction house.
The room they stepped into was enshrouded in darkness and seemed to be spacious. There was only a single source of light in this room, and this light was set above a luxurious-looking couch. On this couch, three individuals could be seen sitting next to each other.
The person in the middle was an old lady with sharp orange eyes but a kind expression. Her fiery orange hair, with a few strands of grey, cascaded down her back. Despite the woman's wrinkled face that showed her old age, she still had hints of beauty to her. Clearly, in her youth, she had been a very beautiful woman.
The same couldn't be said about the two men sitting next to her, though. Both of them were so old with wrinkles all over their faces. Even if they had a hint of handsomeness about them, it had been buried under the thick beards masking half of their faces.
Contrary to the woman, the two of them had their eyes shut, and they appeared to be in deep meditation...or in deep sleep.
"Freya, Frieda," the elderly woman, Sareth, greeted, "we have been waiting for you."
"Elders," both Frieda and Freya greeted in unison, but while Frieda bowed in the elders' direction, Freya just openly gazed at the three elders.
"You still refuse to bow to us, I see," Sareth chuckled, clearly not enraged by Freya's lack of respect.
"How dare you not—"
"Shut it, I didn't come here to hear you speak," Freya snapped at Frieda.
"Who do—"
"That's enough, you two," Sareth said, raising a hand in their direction.
"I don't especially want to hear you two bicker," the elder continued, "but since we are on the subject, it has come to our attention that the two of you have been witnessed butting heads in public. Did you already forget what we said to you the previous time we met? The Drazen family needs to show the world a united front!"
"Are we united though?" Freya sneered, "since the instant there had been a distinction between members of the family, we had already decided not to be united, so why be hypocrites and try to make people think we are united when we clearly aren't."
Freya crossed her arms and continued, "not later than a few weeks ago, my daughter, the heir of this family, was kidnapped, and while I did everything to find her, what did the so-called principal branch do? Absolutely nothing just because, for most of them, her mother isn't of the principal branch.
"Weeks after, Maya came back, and we learned that the one who abducted her was none other than a member of the principal branch!"
Freya snorted and added, "as if that wasn't already absurd, what did the leader of this principal branch do when Maya and those that rescued her came back? She tried to deny them entry into the city."
"I was only doing my job!" Frieda snapped at Freya, "what if they had been criminals?!"
Freya glanced at her and sneered, "well, because of your stupid act, we almost lost a deal that could have earned our family a considerable fortune."
The instant Freya said this, the two elderly men sitting next to Sareth snapped their eyes open.
This sudden action didn't surprise anyone in the room, as all of them knew the character of those two old men.
Those two men could be said to only have money on their minds. They attended family reunions, but unless money was brought to the table, they never reacted. The only way to get their attention was to speak about the gain or loss of money, and Freya had just done so.
"Why did you say that we would have lost money? Explain," the one to the right of Sareth inquired.
Without wasting time to explain, Freya pulled out from her space ring the same sheets of paper containing information about Alex's smoke potions she had presented to Vesper. Along with those two sheets of paper, there was another one, this one containing the information of the soul contracts she had signed with Alex.
The information on this sheet of paper didn't go into all the clauses that were on the original soul contracts. It wasn't because Freya wanted to withhold some information from her elders, but it was just that there was a special clause imposed by Alex that stipulated that Freya couldn't reveal certain information. For example, she couldn't reveal to anyone besides her direct successor the identities of arcane members should she come to learn about that person's identity through their deal.
"Here's what we could have lost had Frieda's attempt at denying entry to the ones following Maya succeeded," Freya said as she handed the sheets of paper to the elders.
The three of them received the sheets of paper and began to read the information written on them. The more they read, the brighter their expressions became. For a moment, it seemed as if they had become younger as the wrinkles on their faces disappeared due to the smiles spreading on their faces.
However, there was one person who wasn't appreciating the turn things were taking even a bit, and this person was none other than Frieda.
She had specifically arranged this meeting with the elders to make Freya look bad in their eyes due to her previous actions, but it seemed that it would backfire on her.
The worst thing yet was the fact that among the current elders present, none of them favored her or hated Freya.
Unfortunately for her, all the elders that could have supported her weren't present.
"As usual, you did well, Freya," the elder to Sareth's left, Dar, said with a pleased smile.
The other two nodded their heads in agreement.
"I only did my job," Freya replied with a nod.
"Don't be modest; you certainly deserve much more than just praise," Dir said with an equally pleased expression, his orange eyes shining like gemstone.
"As for you," Sareth said as she glanced at Frieda with a disapproving expression, "see for yourself what your shenanigans would have cost us."
Having said that, Sareth threw the sheets of paper to Frieda, who hastily caught them.
She began to read the information on them, and the more she read, the paler her face became.
'Gods no...,' Frieda thought in horror.
In all honesty, what she did by denying access to the city unless Alex and Amelia had revealed their identities wasn't a bad thing. In fact, she was right to do so; they could have indeed been criminals.
However, this excuse would fool no one here. All the people present knew that she only did it to spite Freya. After all, Maya had already spoken up in Alex and Amelia's defense; there was no need to doubt them anymore.
Yet, she still wanted to make things difficult for them and now she realized that had they decided to leave because of her actions, it was true that her family might have lost a considerable amount of money.
'I screwed up.'