"Let go of my man!"
The boss of the Hyenas didn't shout, didn't roar, but the ferocity of his voice made the kneeling neckless man try to stand up again.
"Sure, as long as you say the magic word!"
While Wind of Death suppressed the energy giving life to the freak of nature whose eyelids were stitched to his eyebrows using her lineage power, she clearly stated what she wanted. Silence reigned for ten seconds; no sound dared to enter her domain. The Hyenas had already grabbed their weapons; a single word was enough for them to turn the Grand Bazaar into a bloodbath, but the word they would hear wasn't what they expected.
"I accept, we lost!"
The burly orc was admitting defeat in front of everyone; while the two people rushing out from behind him gave Soul Stealer deadly glares as they picked up the neckless man from the ground, Dona Gracia, watching all the events from on top of his palanquin, would bestow his thin voice upon the people for the first time.
"Look at this! The barbarian orc, infamous for his cruelty, bows down to a stranger for his man. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, it would be impossible for me to believe it."
While trying to speak with his shape resembling a fresh pile of shit, he gave off such a look that it was impossible for someone seeing him not to turn their head away. No wonder the women who took on the fanning duty on his two sides had long since turned the other way, but only one person didn't give up watching him as if looking at their god.
The dwarf in strange clothes was mesmerized while watching the man all of nature was disgusted by, so much so that he didn't even notice the Auctioneer who came right up to his ear.
"Mr. Tito, may I receive the items you brought for the auction?"
Judging by the direction he came from, he had handled his business with the father and son, and now it was their turn. The Auctioneer was a smart man; leaving the parties that had just come out of a struggle for last, he knocked on the dwarf's door after the engineers.
"They are all inside this ring, but don't you dare try any tricks. I've recorded everything there is!"
When Tito grimaced as if giving away an organ from his body instead of the ring containing the goods, the Auctioneer started laughing along with the beauties holding his two arms.
"No doubt about that, you are a man who counts the bites the slaves eat, how could you give me all these goods without counting them!"
The dwarf seemed about to answer, but the words rising up to his throat returned with the same speed, leaving their place to a deep silence. The Auctioneer didn't push the matter either, as there were two more stops he hadn't visited yet. When he turned around, he saw a ring coming towards his face, and catching the metal piece with an agility he had never shown before, he twitched his mustaches.
"Rapunzel, why did you trouble yourself? I would have preferred to come all the way to your feet to take it!"
The Auctioneer's gazes boded no good, and he didn't feel the need to hide his interest in the woman who preferred to display a large part of her body in her leather clothes. Fortunately, when he didn't get an answer, he didn't prolong the subject; with the bitter taste of defeat still fresh on their palates, there was no telling what the Hyenas would do.
"It's your turn, is there anything you would like to offer for auction?"
Soul Stealer took a step and dropped a simple-looking ring, just like the others but containing storage space inside, into the Auctioneer's palms.
"Ah, I almost forgot. How may I address you?"
Despite causing all that commotion, no one knew the names of the two people, and now when someone asked this, everyone around perked up their ears.
"This does not concern you at all. You will surely find out when the time comes!"
Wind of Death was answering every question with defiance today, and the Auctioneer was leading the pack of those getting their share of this.
"So be it!"
It was very hard to catch that he was offended from his facial expressions changing in seconds, but the trembling of his voice revealed some things.
"Then, let this month's auction begin!"
When he returned to the middle of the stage, he had turned into that monument of self-confidence again; he was completing his final preparations with a podium, a gavel, and a small table on which the items would be placed, all appearing from nowhere.
"First, let's start with a piece the Hyenas looted from the highly esteemed Golden Leaf Merchant Guild support units. As always, since they keep the weapons, armors, and ammunition for themselves, the pieces they don't know how to use or that don't fit their artistic tastes fall to us."
When the Auctioneer finished his sentence adorned with words as sharp as needles, a few giggles rose from Dona Gracia's crowded retinue resembling a caravan, but the bared teeth of the growling Hyenas were more than enough to silence them.
"Anyway, the energy storage unit of the attack-type mechanical device coded F-102. Let's see which group will compete to get this rare piece!"
No sound came from the section where Dona Gracia and his faction were; it was obvious this item was of no use to them, but those in the outer circle, who had been silent for a long time, would break their silence in the face of what they saw.
"50 gold pieces!"
"70 gold pieces!"
"80 gold pieces!"
Their fearful attitudes from just a moment ago changed like dizzying spring winds, and they entered into a fierce competition with each other.
"150 gold pieces!"
It wasn't just them; the engineer's son, possessing a stance as cold as an ice cube, was also joining the race. Even though he eliminated the small players who would cause a waste of time by almost doubling the bid, there were a few people who would stand against him.
"160 gold pieces!"
The woman, surrounded by ten burly bodyguards around her small chair, gently blew her breath to dust off her ring adorned with massive shiny stones.
"170 gold pieces!"
Pushing back his blond hair, barely illuminated by the light coming in through the small holes in the ceiling, Neues raised the price once again, but this time he didn't look as calm as before.
"180 gold pieces!"
When the woman, who looked to be in her mid-sixties, stretched her mouth, the wrinkles on her face increased another fold.
"Madam Manukyan, this item is of absolutely no use to you! Why are you trying to cause us a loss by increasing the price?"
When the young engineer lashed out, his father frowned. He reached out his hand, grabbed his son by the arm, and tried to pull him back, but the woman gathering her red skirt had already gotten up from her small chair.
"I want to cause you a loss? I am an old woman who has a business inside the Heart of the Sand; I regularly pay my taxes, my city residency fees, and the amount required for the protection of my business every month.
Now tell me, brat; while paying the money you and your father feed off, am I going to stop trading just so you don't get offended? If you want it so badly, you will spend more money from your monthly budget for this item!"
Such a voice had come out of the woman, who had a physique only slightly larger than the chair she sat on, that Neues had to take a step back and keep quiet. The atmosphere seemed a bit tense, and for the sake of the auction's health, the Auctioneer needed to intervene in the situation.
"Our esteemed engineer Clemens Holzmeister, I am sure, will give the necessary warnings to young Neues. Shall we chalk this up to the boy's inexperience and continue?"
No one had given an answer to his question, but the man, smiling broadly enough to show his tonsils, knew very well this meant a big yes.
"No sound is coming from today's new members of the inner circle. Are you considering making a bid for the F-102 energy storage?"
The tension between the Auctioneer and Wind of Death hadn't risen enough to be visible to the eye, but everyone could understand what was happening. This time, they were trying to be used to make people forget the friction between the two residents of the Heart of the Sand, and eyes were once again on the duo hidden behind their clothes.
"It's not an item that falls into my area of interest. I don't need such an outdated technology!"