"What do we need that artifact for?" Helio asked, watching as Nada slowly recovered and handed the vile onto Aefia's hand.
"Why do you wanna know?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Why can't I know?" He questioned back.
"Is there a necessity to?"
"Can't I be curious?"
"Unfortunately, that is a crime," she tilted her head, offering a smooth, mischievous smile.
"The same goes to you," he squinted his eyes at her.
"You both! Seriously! Stop being such a baby!" Nada shouted while pinching Aefia's cheek.
"Ow—!"
Her eyes then drifted to Helio. "First of all! If you have a question, ask me! Why ask her?!"
"She chose to answer it!" He held out his hand in a motion of surrender in front of him.
"And why did you have to ask?!" She let go of Aefia. "Must I always have to look after the both of you breaking into a fight everytime?! Just two weeks ago, you both were pulling at each other's hair!"
They both turned silent, looking away.
"What?! Don't give me that look! Say something you two monsters!" Nada shouted, pointing her index finger between them. "Why were you two fighting like little toddlers?!"
"He stole my gel pen! And when I asked for it back, he just snapped it in half!" Aefia protested, pointing her finger at Helio.
"It was just a pen! Get over it! And the ink flow was bad too!" He rolled his eyes back at her.
Her mouth hung open, baffled. "You—just a pen?! You think that was just a pen?! That was a relic in this world! Do you even know how hard it was to find one?!"
"You know the place you bought it from! Go buy it again!" He shot back.
"That is not—ugh! I hate you!" Aefia stomped away, throwing her hands over her head as she stepped behind Nada, folding her arms.
"Works well for me!" He too turned away.
Nada pinched the bridge between her eyes. "Look... I will be extremely clear here. I just took down a beast and I don't expect to have to handle your matters now. You both are grown well enough, you will have to survive dangerous scenarios in the future, and you both have to mature up. My duty... Is only to keep you both from ripping each other bald."
Just a small second of peace had descended successfully.
"I don't care about anything... If we are talking about balding... book him up for an appointment at the salon. His hair would be better as a broom." Aefia immediately answered.
"What?! And what about yours?! You have long hair so it should be a mop!" He pointed out.
"Yes... But my hair is too luxurious to go down that path."
"And my hair is blonde!"
"It makes a good light source in the dark if you want to attract beasts to have you killed."
"Stop! Stop it Aefia! I swear to God I will confiscate your shoes if you say another word!" Nada said while grabbing into her cousin's ears.
Aefia immediately shut her mouth. Not even breathing too loud.
"Alright, now we head back to the auction house. I think we have about seven minutes left. We should be able to make it there soon enough if we move right now."
Helio immediately started to move towards the door, which had opened not so long ago after the dragon had been defeated.
The climb back up the stairs was quiet. With Aefia's occasionally stopping for nothing at all, starring blankly at something for more then just a couple seconds.
They managed to return to the room that lead to the auction house just in time for the doors to close.
"Hurry! It is about to start in five minutes!" Nada exclaimed, racing up the stairs to the upper gallery first. She looked at the board that showed the sales of the day.
"Slaves... They are selling slaves," Aefia said, before even looking at the board. "I heard a noblewoman just say it. I was hoping that as the novel said, it would be mythical beasts. Guess the plot really did shift."
"Then that is awesome. Today is going to be brutal." Nada replied, looking away from the board. Her eyes trailed over to Helio who was reading a magazine that was sitting nearby.
"What are you doing?" She asked curiously.
"This thing has a bit of history of this auction house. I am just going that." He responded, waving it in the air. "And I even found something interesting."
"Let me guess. Slaves are sold in pairs just for today, in offer prices too." Aefia interrupted from the corner, folding her arms. "Don't worry, my part of the novel said it. It was a myth that they are trying to raise a certain budget to buy a certain mythical beast from another place. So they are doing this to firstly draw in more customers."
For once, he was silent, and listened.
"If I am not wrong, there is a scene where a character was playing a game which had all the element of this auction house had. What I have in my memories—if not forgotten—we are currently lacking a small number of buyers. A few slaves would be other candidates. And there will be an assassin going around too at the right time." She pointed out, holding up her fingers. "Since fifteen can't be divided by two, I am certain of the candidates will become 'something' to the dungoen. That something plays a crucial role at the end, who betrays the rest of the group."
Nada tilted her head to the side in response, folding she arms. "But who exactly do we suspect here? The plot is changing and we aren't certain what will happen if we try to do something or if it has changed so much as to twist the whole thing around as well."
"However, given that nothing has changed until the dragon part, we are sure that until the next scene at least, we will have the plot going the same way. So rest assured about that."
Helio tapped his chin with his finger. "You said something about betrayal. Won't it be better to just find out right now? I don't think it would hurt the plot if we know and don't act different. And don't we have to defeat the boss monster at the end?"
"Yes? So you are trying to say that nothing will be different as long as the main objective has been achieved." Nada turned her head towards him. "Generally, that is a logic used in games. We don't know about the novel.
"But fifteen just said that in the narration, that character was playing a game. That myth of the slaves was from thst game. And as long as the objectives are achieved, we will reach a fixed outcome. Otherwise, let's say we alter it a bit here and there. Then that would give us completion and a different ending. Either ways, this dungeon ends."
Aefia nodded her head twice. "True that. He does have a point, Nada."
"Haha! I am smart!" Helio shot a fist into the air, celebrating in happiness and pride for himself.
She let out a sigh, shutting her eyes. "Alright alright. I get it now. But still, we should watch out for that betrayal part. Otherwise, we might as well die before the objective is reached."
"Well it were the case if the person who would play the betrayal part was already chosen," Aefia said, pointing her finger over the entire audience. "The original, the person was one who made the highest purchase. And that person also turned out to be the 'Assassin of the Night'. So I guess..."
Nada looked up at her face. "You are telling me that one of us will play 'Assasin of the Night'? Just to reach the objective, faster or easier?"
"Both ways. I am always the one who is the odd, so I might as well use it properly this time." She shrugged, taking a step backwards to the stairs. "Besides... It would be fun to finally experience that perspective in real-life. Give your cousin an oppurtunity to play." She smiled, slyly.
"Yeah. Do whatever you want. But don't get hurt." Nada nodded, waving her hand dismissively.
Aefia turned around to walk down the stairs.
Nada and Helio both turned towards the servants' passage.
While she descended, she reached for her hoodie, pulling it off her arms and throwing it into the air behind her shoulder where it dissapeared like dust. Then she did the same with her sneakers, while also pulling off her hair tie.
On top of a chair rested a lavish, dark leather, trench coat. She pulled it over her clothes. Then reached for a French hat, the fishnet veils overing the top half of her face.
By a passing mirror, rested a pair of heels. She stole them. Her fingers reached up to a few strands of her free hand, and curled them at the visible places. The most hardest thing was, to tie a bun at the nape of her neck in a aristocratic way. It was tiring.
Before heading into the auction room, she pulled on a pair of gloves, and stole a card from the floor.
This should do for now. She thought to herself while turning on her heels to head up to the gallery.
People bowed to her as if she were a noble lady, and it gave her the approval that she was indeed well disguised.
That is done. Now, I need to find the upper gallery that is reserved for the VIPs. She mentally memorized, scanning every room.
The reason was, the card she stole belonged to one bidder of that category. It would only be fitting that she act the way, in case she didn't want to reveal her identity as the odd one out.
Everything was normal up until she was sitting peacefully in her seat, and a servant walked in.
"Ma'am, may I have your card please?" The woman asked, holding out a hand.
Like any other normal person, she did.
"May I know your name?" She politely asked again, handing it back to Aefia.
"I... Uh..." Her eyes drifted off to another servant across the room, handing out cookies and pastries.
"Um... Cake-rkch, Cook-chrk." She stuttered.
The servant stared at her. Aefia stared back. Neither of them moved.
"...Excuse me?"
"Shelther-rchk, House-be-que," Aefia said, this time with slightly more confidence, but deliberately keeping her voice low.
The servant's eyebrow twitched. Meanwhile, Aefia's expression remained perfectly composed beneath the veil.
Inside, however, her mind was screaming. That was the worst name she had ever come up with.
Why did I say that?!
The servant glanced down at the card again. Then back at Aefia.
"Ma'am... your name?"
"Yes."
"...Your actual name."
Aefia's fingers tightened around the armrest. "That is my actual name."
The servant slowly tilted her head. Aefia tilted hers in the opposite direction. They remained like that for several seconds. Then the servant sighed.
"Very well."
Aefia almost exhaled in relief.
"Lady Cookch—"
She stopped. No... Why...?
The servant looked at the card again. "...Lady Cake-rkch."
Aefia's eyes twitched. "Yes."
"Enjoy the auction."
"Thank you."
After the servant walked away, Aefia waited until she was several steps away before lowering her head into one gloved hand.
What kind of name was Cake-rkch?! I just stuttered out whatever I could think of and she believes it?! But this is even more embarrasing then frightening!
She had spent all that effort preparing an aristocratic disguise only to nearly expose herself because she could not think of a name.
At least nobody seemed suspicious. Aefia straightened herself. She crossed one leg over the other and calmly reached for one of the pastries sitting on the table. She took a bite.
Not bad.
Her eyes wandered around the VIP gallery. The room was considerably quieter than the main auction hall. The seats were separated by small tables, each decorated with silverware and refreshments. A large glass window overlooked the stage below.
Several nobles were already seated. Some whispered amongst themselves. Others examined their bidding cards.
And some simply watched the crowd beneath them with expressions of boredom. Aefia rested her chin against her hand.
Fifteen candidates.
Multiple slaves.
An assassin. One eventual traitor.
And somewhere in this room was the person who would make the highest purchase.
She slowly scanned the audience.
*********************
First draft: 11.11.2025
Rewritten: 02.10.2026