"Changing hosts? Why change hosts at this point?"
"Could it be a special auction item?"
Dahlia's words sent the crowd below into a flurry of discussion. The quality of tonight's auction had completely surpassed their expectations; it could be said this was one of the highest-class auctions they had ever attended.
"Go on." Lucas looked at Elisa's delicate face and said gently, "Just read from the script. There's no need to be nervous."
"Lord Lucas, maybe we should just forget it... That glazed crystal is too valuable. I'm only worth a thousand gold coins," Elisa murmured, pursing her lips, her eyes flickering with a complex emotion.
"No. You are far more valuable than those things," Lucas said with a faint smile, the corner of his mouth lifting. "Besides, I can get as much of that stuff as I want."
"Yes." Elisa nodded firmly. Her eyes trembled as she fought back the tingling in her nose that came from being so moved. She stood up and walked toward the auction stage.
"Just stay calm," Dahlia whispered to Elisa as they switched places. "Just pretend the people down there are all little goats."
"Mhm." Elisa nodded lightly. With a cool, composed expression, she stepped onto the auction stage and calmly scanned the crowd.
"Hooo..."
Elisa took a deep breath, glanced once at Lucas, then reached up and pulled off the linen cloth wrapped around her head. A cascade of beautiful white hair was revealed, shimmering under the candlelight.
"Hssss..."
A sharp, collective intake of breath hissed from the crowd below. If Dahlia's beauty was a ninety-two, then Elisa's, at this moment, was a ninety-six.
"Everyone, I will be the auctioneer for the thirty-first item," Elisa's cool, clear voice rang out.
Before the crowd could react, she continued, "My name is Elisa. And I am an elf."
"What? An elf?!"
The crowd below erupted. Everyone stared wide-eyed at Elisa, their breathing growing heavy. They thought to themselves, As expected of an elf... truly beautiful.
"What is this woman planning to do?" Hound expression turned grim. He had no idea why the 'White-Haired Enchantress' would suddenly reveal herself.
"I have a feeling something big is going to happen tonight," Ferguson said in a low voice, his eyes scanning the room. He spotted several of his colleagues (fellow bounty hunters) in the crowd; their faces were all a mixture of shock and utter confusion.
"She's not... planning to sell herself, is she?" Rossa muttered, still listless from failing to get her beloved pink pearl.
"Impossible. It's more like she's about to announce something," Ferguson analyzed.
"Let's just watch for now. I hope this doesn't go sideways, or all our efforts lately will have been for nothing," Hound said in a low growl.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Rossa said, sitting up straight.
Ferguson's group was not alone in their thinking. Dozens of bounty hunters had infiltrated the auction. Their original plan had been to cause a disturbance, grab Elisa, and escape. But seeing the knights stationed around the room, they didn't dare make a single reckless move.
"I also have another title: the 'White-Haired Enchantress'," Elisa continued, tucking her hair behind her ears to fully reveal their long, pointed tips.
She was nervous now, afraid the crowd would erupt into chaos. Even Freya, standing behind her, instinctively took two steps forward, her own hand trembling slightly, ready to draw her greatsword and start cutting the instant trouble began.
"The 'White-Haired Enchantress'? What a weird name. Has anyone heard of it?"
"No, never heard it in my life."
"..."
"My gods! It's the White-Haired Enchantress! The elf who caused the downfall of a Grand Duke?"
"What? You mean she's the elf who threw the capital into chaos a few years back?"
"That's right! That's her! The White-Haired Enchantress with a one-thousand-gold-coin bounty on her head!"
"One thousand gold coins? That... that's an insane amount, isn't it?"
"So what is she doing here today? With a bounty like that, she still dares to reveal her identity? Does she have a death wish?"
"..."
The roar of discussion from below actually caused Elisa's nervous heart to calm down. What's the worst that could happen? She was finished with living a life in hiding. Today, she was going to live openly, as herself, an elf.
"You must all be very curious as to why I've revealed my identity," Elisa said expressionlessly, gazing at the now-quiet crowd. Her voice was cool. "And you must also be curious as to why I have a bounty of one thousand gold coins."
"Did you discover some huge secret?" A middle-aged man shouted from the crowd. "Otherwise, how could you be worth the sky-high price of a thousand gold coins?"
"I am here today to announce that very secret. And, I am here to auction that secret off." Elisa glanced at the middle-aged man. She knew he was a shill, planted by Lord Lucas, to allow her to continue her speech smoothly.
"What? A secret worth a thousand gold coins?"
"..."
In the crowd, Raymond, Scott, Kevin, Patrick, and the others all pricked up their ears. They knew this elf was connected to that person in the Royal Palace. A secret worth a thousand gold coins was incredibly appealing to them.
"This secret... concerns a treasure worth more than ten thousand gold coins," Elisa announced, her words stunning the room.
"Pfft..."
"Cough! Cough, cough!"
More than half the crowd choked on Elisa's words. Some spat out their drinks, their eyes bulging as they stared at her.
"A... a treasure worth ten thousand gold coins?"
"If that's the case, it's no wonder the bounty is a thousand gold! What in the world is this treasure?"
"Who even posted that bounty? It must have been some great noble, right?"
"..."
The crowd below buzzed even more intensely, practically ready to rush the stage and force Elisa to spit out the secret.
"Master, it's working," Annie whispered, knowing exactly what plan her master had set in motion.
"After tonight, have Emma publish this in the paper immediately. Spread the story far and wide." Lucas smiled. His plan was to leverage the very existence of Elisa's one-thousand-gold-coin bounty.
"Yes," Annie replied softly.
The idea was that one day, someone would tell the bounty hunters: The only reason Elisa was worth a thousand gold was because of this secret. But now that the secret was exposed, it was worthless. Even if they caught Elisa, they might not be able to collect the reward.
Lucas wanted to create this exact illusion. It would make the bounty hunters lose interest in Elisa. After all, why go to all that trouble for a reward that might not even exist?
Most importantly, this served as a warning to the person who posted the bounty in the first place. Based on the intelligence Elisa had provided, Lucas guessed it was the King himself who had done it. At the end of the day, the King likely just wanted to force Elisa out of the capital. After all, orchestrating the death of a Grand Duke was not exactly a glorious affair.
"By pure chance, I came into possession of a treasure map. News of that map was leaked out. The events that transpired in the capital... were not as simple as everyone believes."
Elisa recited the ambiguous lines from Lucas's script. "And in the end, I was the one who found that treasure. And I was the one who took it with me."
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