Whoever offers the most for it?
Aside from the one hundred seventy thousand J bonus she'd just gotten her hands on, Lucy's entire savings barely scraped together thirty thousand. Compared to Sorano, dressed in fine clothes that practically screamed money, there was no way Lucy could win a bidding war against her.
Just as she was starting to panic quietly to herself, Meredy was the first to raise a hand and bow out.
"I'm not a Celestial Spirit Mage, so I don't need the key. But once you two settle on a price, don't you dare forget my cut."
"Of course not." Sorano nodded, as if that went without saying, then turned her attention to Lucy, who was still visibly torn.
"What's wrong, Lucy? Made up your mind yet? Honestly, if you really want it, all you'd have to do is write home to your father. With the Heartfilia family's wealth, I'm sure affording a single Zodiac key wouldn't even make a dent."
The suggestion was shot down the instant it left her mouth, Lucy's stubbornness kicking in immediately.
"No way. I'm an adult now, standing on my own two feet. I swore I wouldn't go back until I'd made something of myself, and there's no way I'm asking my father for even one J!"
"Is that so. Well, that does make this difficult."
Twirling the Virgo key between her fingers, Sorano watched sidelong as Lucy gnawed at her fingernail, clearly torn up over the decision, her eyes darting about as some kind of scheme was obviously forming in her head.
"Tell you what, I'll name a price first, and you two can tell me if it sounds fair."
At that, both Lucy and Meredy turned their full attention to her. Sorano hummed thoughtfully for a moment before finally naming a figure.
"Twenty million. As one of only twelve Zodiac keys in existence, one of the rarest items out there, gold keys are practically priceless on the open market. Still, I think twenty million is a fairly reasonable number."
"Twe, twenty million?!"
The color drained from Lucy's face at the number. That was ten times what she currently had to her name. She couldn't scrape that together even if she sold herself, let alone compete with Sorano for the key.
But Sorano wasn't done needling her yet, smiling sweetly as she pressed on.
"That's right, twenty million. The rank of a key is directly tied to the strength of the Celestial Spirit Mage who wields it. You're a Celestial Spirit Mage yourself, so you understand that better than most. Which is why I think twenty million is a perfectly reasonable price."
"Is, is that really how it works? My gold keys were either left to me by my mother or given to me by Kabe. This is actually the first time I'm hearing that gold keys are worth this much."
Sorano, who'd been trying to rattle Lucy on purpose, felt a vein practically bulge on her forehead at this unintentional flex disguised as ignorance.
'This absurdly lucky brat. If I don't put her through the ringer a little, I'll never get this off my chest!'
Forcing herself to calm down, Sorano pressed on, coaxing her along.
"So, what do you think?"
Lucy hesitated, opening her mouth to speak several times and stopping herself, clearly still not ready to give up. Seeing this, Sorano put on a show of reluctant sympathy and let out a sigh before changing tack.
"Fine, I'll give you a fair shot at this. Name your price. If you're short on cash, you can just write me an IOU. It's not like Meredy and I are hurting for money anyway."
"An IOU? That's allowed?!"
Lucy's eyes lit up right on cue, and she immediately shot Meredy a questioning look. Something felt off to Meredy, but everything Sorano was saying did technically sound reasonable, and given how badly Lucy clearly wanted the key, Meredy didn't think much further of it, nodding readily.
"No problem. We're all guild mates here. I trust Lucy."
"Yes!"
Lucy threw her arms around Meredy in excitement, then paused for a moment, gritted her teeth, and named a number.
"Twenty four million! I'll offer twenty four million! Please, Sis Sorano, I really want it."
She clasped Sorano's hand, gazing into her eyes with pure, pleading sincerity.
Watching her walk right into the trap, Sorano could barely contain her glee inside, and nodded without a moment's hesitation.
"Deal. Twenty four million, and the key is yours."
"Thank you, Sis Sorano."
Lucy thanked her excitedly, bouncing up and down with joy as she accepted the key. "Mm hm, no need to thank me. Just sign here for me, would you."
Sorano produced a pen and paper and handed it over with a smile, gesturing for her to start writing. Since these were the terms they'd agreed to, Lucy didn't hesitate and got straight to it. But just as she reached the line for the amount, Sorano stopped her, turning to Meredy to work something out.
"I'll cover your twelve million. Just put the debt under my name instead, it'll make repayment easier for you."
"Sure, works for me either way. The money's already owed regardless of who it's owed to."
After a quick word between themselves, Lucy and Meredy agreed without much thought. And just like that, a freshly signed IOU worth a staggering twenty four million fell squarely into Sorano's grasp.