"Going once, do I hear a higher bid!"
The Auctioneer shouted in pain, as if he had caught his foot in a bear trap. Dona Gracia watched the one million gold pieces with wide-open eyes, and no one, including the outer circle, could make a sound.
"Going twice!"
The man with the hat directing the auction was casting desperate glances at the merchant resembling a pile of fat, wanting him to protect the honor of the Heart of the Sand by raising the bid, but unfortunately, when no sound came from that front either, it fell to him again to say the final word.
"Sold!"
While the single word continued to echo inside the Grand Bazaar, Soul Stealer came to the stage with quick steps and, taking the F-102 coded energy storage in a single move, returned to her place. Disappointment reigned on some faces, sadness on others, and anger on others; the little games they played among themselves were one thing, an outsider crushing them in their own home was another.
The outer circle started narrowing inwards, a considerable crowd formed especially behind Wind of Death and Soul Stealer. The duo hidden behind their clothes were aware of this; the burly one of them turned around and looked into the eyes of those trying to surround them one by one.
"If you take one more step closer from where you are, I guarantee you will suffer the exact same fate as the neckless creature!"
Her words were just words, but when the lineage power energy within them licked their faces, let alone standing their ground, they retreated to two paces behind the point they had arrived at. Even though outnumbering was useful most of the time, it wasn't even worth mentioning in the face of true power.
"Our auction continues. The next item is a new type of bow developed by our famous engineer Clemens Holzmeister!"
While explaining the new item, the Auctioneer didn't hold back from making a mountain out of a molehill, but he couldn't catch the interest of the mysterious participant who gave one million gold pieces for a hundred-gold energy storage just now and the person next to her. Nothing changed with the next item and the ones following it; they didn't turn and look even once while the various items brought to the stage for an hour were being sold.
"We have come to our final item. Now that the items offered by the Three Kings of the Heart of the Sand and the high-level figures of our city are finished, we can now move on to the sale of the item handed over to us by our visitors."
When his words finished, the blond one of his two assistants took the ring and took out what was inside it onto the table where the items were displayed, but a second later, he jumped back screaming. The moment the product came out of the ring, the table disappeared, unable to withstand its weight; this was a weapon that could make an energy attack, it looked nothing like what they had seen before.
The orc group in the Balsici Family's castle had given the same reaction, but those inside the Grand Bazaar were acting as if a new god had descended from the sky. The older of the engineer duo couldn't hold himself back; taking the stage in two steps and pushing aside the Auctioneer trying to get in front of him, he began to examine the weapon.
The thing in front of his eyes was none other than Master Leonardo's new invention, and as the Commander-in-Chief of the Orc Empire Armies, Wind of Death had the privilege of carrying one with her.
"Now I understand why you called it an antique, and I even think you understated it. The device that piece belongs to can only be called garbage next to this."
Clemens Holzmeister wasn't holding back; he was voicing what came from within him for the item sold for one million gold pieces just now. His son was right beside him too; with the courage he got from him, he wanted to examine this weapon down to its smallest detail possible.
"Mr. Engineer, we need to start the sale!"
Even though the Auctioneer tried to reach him a few times, he had failed, and for this reason, after slamming the gavel in his hand down hard, he started shouting.
"Ah, I apologize. Please go ahead!"
The man, getting what he wanted, turned to Wind of Death this time and asked the question everyone was eagerly awaiting.
"Could you tell the starting price of the item?"
They couldn't put a value on something they were seeing for the first time; asking its owner to do this would be the most logical solution.
"Five!"
The imposing orc answered with a single word, leaving it to the Auctioneer to finish it.
"Five hundred thousand gold pieces perhaps?"
In the face of the question, Wind of Death couldn't hold back her laughter; they truly didn't have the ability to measure the thing standing before them.
"Five million gold pieces, not a penny less!"
The exclamation of astonishment coming out of everyone's mouth at the same time rose quickly and reached up to the sky passing through the small holes. The duo whose origin was unknown, after bringing out a strange weapon, were asking for a jaw-dropping price.
When the Auctioneer turned to the Clemens Holzmeister front, he found him nodding his head downwards; despite everything, the engineer was saying the price was normal, but the sad expression on his face was a harbinger that something was wrong.
"Our esteemed guest, I have to return the product to you. Unfortunately, there is no one among the participants who can afford this price!"
The weapon went back into the ring, and the unostentatious metal piece appeared in the palm hidden by a black glove. Turning her back, Wind of Death, along with Soul Stealer trailing behind her, entered the crevice they came from and disappeared from sight within seconds.
With their departure, the Grand Bazaar became a captive to commotion; even after the Three Kings of the Heart of the Sand disappeared from sight, the arguments didn't die down. Not even two hours had passed since the unexpected event, the sky darkened, the temperature suddenly dropped, and the city, whose walls the sandstorms eroded, was covered with a black tulle.
On the lower floor of the house, which had no protection on its windows, three orcs were lying idly; there were two more people on the upper floor, and even if they weren't aware of it, at least twenty pairs of eyes were watching them in the darkness. A few breaths later, these eyes changed places; they were getting closer to the door, having wrapped the weapons in their hands with black fabrics to hide their shine.
They must have thought they got close enough; when they all took action at once, a part of them tried to pour in through the doorless entrance of the lower floor, while the others tried to pour in through the unprotected windows of the upper floor.
I say tried because what they didn't know was that someone else was watching them too; two gold-colored weapons moved so fast that when they disappeared from sight, ten heads were on the sand that hadn't yet lost its warmth.
As for those jumping to get to the upper floor, arrows three fingers thick awaited them. They were nailed to the walls of the house the moment they entered their chests, and a breath later, new ones followed them. Only one person had managed to reach the place he targeted; across from this man who set foot on the upper floor, there was someone else who fixed their eyes on him.
"You, you are an orc!"
These were his last words; while the claw coming down on his head tore off and threw half of his face away, the surprise attack attempts were literally resulting in a fiasco. The dead bodies that were proof of this were everywhere, and the shadows appearing around the house almost every half an hour retreated the moment they saw them.
"Good evening! I am Clemens Holzmeister, we want to meet with you!"
As the quiet night approached morning, a voice was heard. Unlike the others, this person who introduced himself was waiting for an answer ten paces away from the entrance without a door, along with five shadows behind him.
"Come in!"
Upon getting permission, they entered with quick steps, and before ten breaths passed, they were on the upper floor. The Elite Ten members hiding in the shadows came out and surrounded the house. After confirming there was no one in a hundred-pace area, a silver-tipped arrow entered through the window and, gliding past the eight people, embedded itself in the wall.
"You arrived a little later than I expected, but that's alright, it's better than you not arriving at all!"
Wind of Death tossed aside the hooded robe covering her burly body; her green skin, her two front teeth as thick as wrists, and her double-headed axe known by her name were before the eyes of the six guests.