CONVERSATION WITH THE DEMONLORD NOMZENES
This was the second time I came to the Auction Hall here and there were more items on offer here.
But the bidding was intense because many Apostles are here to bid and many conjurers too from the Conjurer's Court of Drachia.
But I raided over a hundred million Aurs from Lord Yenen's stash so I'm one of the wealthiest people in the auction today. There was only one item in the Auction that I need, and I was quite fortunate that they had it.
"Item 7358 Lamp of Blaze: This is a magical artifact made by the Conjurer's Court that would create an endless blaze with minimal magic. It's good for the decoration of a family altar or even to be put on the most luxurious dining tables…"
"What the heck, this lamp is actually just a piece of magic furniture", I commented to the rat.
"Well, on the bright side it wouldn't be expensive", he told me.
"Don't you find it coincidental that the ingredient to your spell is available so soon after you stole the templar skill?" Meera asked me.
"It is rather coincidental although I usually have good luck", I replied to her.
"Hey, why are they selling this useless furniture in the auction? Who would buy them here?" someone who sat close to me said.
It was a little too coincidental that what I wanted appeared on sale right when I wanted it.
"Excuse me sir do you know who is selling this lamp?" I asked the man.
"I think it's Lord Yenen, I heard he was robbed by his own wife. He must be cash starved to sell such useless stuff in this auction", he told me.
"Thanks for your info", I told the guy.
"You robbed the guy and blamed it on his wife?" Ratatouille said to me, but I ignored his question.
"There's a change in plans, Ratatouille you bid for the item", I told him.
"Where are you going?" he asked me.
"Nowhere", I told him.
So, Ratatouille bid for the useless lamp and there weren't many people who competed with him, so he bought it for a song.
"50,000 Aurs to the gentleman over there", the auctioneer announced the winning bid was Ratatouille, a slim man whose face was covered by a long beard and moustache.
"Why would the guy pay so much for the useless lamp?"
"It's rare but useless. He must be a rich good for nothing"
"Yeah, there are many of those in this city"
Many of the bidders were interested not in the Lamp of Blaze but in why Ratatouille was willing to buy the Lamp of Blaze for such a high price from the auction.
It was a piece of magic furniture that was rather useless unless the buyer knew it was an ingredient for activating the Piercing Ray.
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"Wouldn't it be dangerous for me to walk out of the auction like this? If what you suspected was true, Lord Yenen would be following me", Ratatouille told me.
"You can walk out as Lord Yenen's son", I told him.
"What is with the lamp?" Cassandra asked me.
"There is a plot involving the Lamp of Blaze. If I didn't guess wrong, Lord Yenen wanted to fish out the thieves who stole from him and if the thief checked his Piercing Ray manual, they would want to purchase the Lamp of Blaze because that is the ingredient to augment its magic", I told her.
Nobody else would want the lamp except someone who would want to master the templar skill.
"I thought only your Bone magic can augment templar skills with magic artifacts?" she asked me.
"Templar magic can be augmented by compatible artifacts although an elaborate ritual is required to be performed. Usually only the Conjurer's Court of Drachia performs this kind of service", Meera told us.
"So, Lord Yenen put up the lamp for auction to find out who would pay a good price for the Lamp and chances are high the bidder would be the thief who stole from him?" Cassandra asked us.
"Someone's coming for me, I can sense it", Ratatouille told me as he quickly disappeared into my soul realm.
"Where? Hey, where did he go? He was just here moments ago", one of the persons who trailed us said to the others.
"What are you going to do now?" Ratatouille asked me in my mind.
"Well, I'm going to follow them", I said to the rat.
Those people who came to look for Ratatouille were extremely fast and quick. There was only one clan of people that I knew of who could move so fast, the thieves of the Solomon Temple.
I followed the thieves until they reached a dark and unlit park.
When the thieves made sure no one followed them, they blew a whistle and several figures walked out from the shadows.
"Did you achieve the mission?" an old lady asked the thieves.
"We failed. The target disappeared into thin air", the thief answered Mother Asereth.
"Why would the Temple of Solomon resort to doing these cheap jobs for the Ermane family?", I asked the mother as I appeared from the darkness.
"Oriese, why are you here? I did those jobs for the Ermanes because you asked us to keep them in our tabs," she said to me.
"The mission is done, I am the one who bought the Lamp of Blaze", I told her.
"So, you were the one who stole from that bastard Yenen", she said to me.
"Yes," I replied to her and brought out some of the treasures that I took from Lord Yenen's basement and gave them to the mother as donation to her temple.
"But what should we do about the job, we have already received our payment", a thief asked Mother Asereth.
"Well, then you should complete this last job", I told him.
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The thieves of Solomons put me on a blindfold and brought me to a secluded mansion outside of the city that was surrounded by an orchard of decaying trees and left me with another group of people.
"Where in hell are they bringing me?" I wondered.
Then I was brought before a group of men inside the mansion who were having a conversation.
"Lord Nomzenes forgive me I'll get the Rock of Agony back, I've laid a bait for the thief who stole it from me", Lord Yenen pleaded forgiveness from someone who had a familiar stench on him.
"He's a demon, I can smell him even in the soul realm", Meera said to me.
"The Lord's plan is disrupted by your incompetence. How could you let someone steal the Rock?" Lord Nomzenes asked Yenen angrily.
"The thieves are professionals. Can't we contact the Lord by some other way besides the Rock of Agony?" Yenen asked his Lord.
"That is the safest way for us right now. We can't trust messengers who come from the frontline, they may be intercepted by the apostles. The apostles have the means to learn the message from their mind", Lord Nomzenes told Yenen.
"I will find another Rock of Agony as soon as possible", Yenen told the lord.
"What about our armors?" Nomzenes asked.
"I've hastened my men to craft the Mithrium armors. Soon it would be ready, and our Demonlords won't be afraid of the Apostle's Swords and our armies can invade Staari city", Yenen informed his Lord.
"You better not make any more mistakes", Lord Nomzenes told Yenen.
"Don't worry my lord, I will pledge my life to ensure our Queen will arrive safely in Staari city", Yenen promised the guy.
"Wait who is that over there", Lord Nomzenes pointed at where I was.
"My lord, he's the thief who bought the Lamp from the Auction", a guard told the lord as he removed the blindfold on me and was shocked when he found out the person behind the blindfold.
"Yasidee, why are you here?" Lord Yenen asked Yasidee.
"Father is that you? It's such a relief these people kidnapped me for no reason", Yasidee told his father.
"Why were you in the Auction and why did you buy the lamp for?" he asked me.
"I went to the Auction to look for stuff and I found thieves who stole your favorite lamp and sold them in the auction, so I bought it to bring it back to you", Yasidee told his father.
"You are a moron, do you know you foiled my plans to catch the thieves", Yenen said to his son.
"Huh, I don't know, I'm sorry", Yasidee said to his father with a disappointed look on his face.
"Now take the Lamp back to the vault", Yenen instructed his son.
"Of course, father", Yasidee replied to his father.
"Who is this, father?" Yasidee asked his father about Lord Nomzenes.
"So, this is your son, Yenen?" Nomzenes asked him.
"Yes, he is but he is not very smart", Yenen replied to the demonlord.
"I heard there is this son of one of the Trading Houses, he bought all the grains in Staari city right before the war would start. How coincidental", Lord Nomzenes told us.
"My lord, he is my classmate, Oriese", Yasidee told the Demonlord.