Auction(2)

Upon seeing the scales and teeth, he rushed to the door, slamming it shut. He rushed back to the desk and took out a scroll and quill pen before staring back at me with unveiled excitement. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he would have started drooling if we didn't get this over quickly. He then said in almost a whisper,

"If it is possible for you to sell them as a group, I can put them as the main item at tonight's auction."

I nodded in agreement and he practically sprung to the door motioning us to follow him. We followed him past a bunch of identical looking doors which if I had to bet were rooms just like the one we were just in. We eventually reached a set of double doors. As soon as we got close, the doors rumbled open on their own.

When I got my first view inside, I saw shelves stretching all the way to the back of this huge room. Inside these shelves were all sorts of items, everything from beautiful looking artwork to dangerous looking weapons. He then indicated for us to place our items on an empty shelf. He turned and said as he handed me a bag,

"Here's a 100 gold advance in case you want to bid on anything. Also, I will get you, someone, to take you to VIP seating for the auction."

He then ushered us back to the room we met him at and he instructed us to wait for an attendant who could take us to our seats. As soon as he left, I turned to Claudia and asked a question that had been on my mind since we got to the Auction house,

"What's with this currency? So far, they've requested three different kinds; gold, silver, and bronze."

Claudia looked at me with raised eyebrows giving me a look like are you serious, she then shot back,

" Where have you been living that you haven't even heard of the standardized currency system?"

Deciding I should tell her a partial truth,

"I've been living in the Giant's Woods and training for as long as I can remember"

I replied. She kept looking at me strangely as if not fully believing my story. She paused for a moment and took out four coins.

"These four coins represent the four types of coins you'll see on this continent. If you're going to go to the main continent, you'll see even more expensive coins that I don't have here to show you. The system is pretty simple; 100 bronze coins equal to 1 silver coin, 100 silver coins equal 1 gold coin and 1000 gold coins equal to 1 platinum coin."

As she said each coin, she would raise the corresponding coin in her hand up for me to see. Each coin had a dragon on one side and a tiger on the other.

"Now, to get an idea of how much each coin is worth, just keep in mind that 10 copper will only

get you a loaf of really crappy bread. Then you can just extrapolate from there."

After she finished her explanation, we all settled back down waiting for someone to direct us. It was only a few moments before the door was opened by a pretty girl in a very short dress. She immediately gave a curtsey upon entering the room saying,

"My lords and lady, please come with me, your seats are finished being prepared."

She then turned and led us out of the room. We followed her through a few identical hallways before reaching a grand stairway which by looks alone oozed money. She stopped at the bottom of the stairway, handed me a set of what looked like platinum keys before giving a curtsey and walked away while saying,

"Please proceed to box 53 for your seats."

After taking a few flights of stairs, we reached a door with the number 53 painted in gold. As soon as I opened the door, I could hear the steady roar of a loud crowd pushing its way through the purple curtains that draped across the front of the booth. Once we had all entered the room, the door closed and the curtains opened revealing a huge open stage. It was surrounded by tons of stands filled with thousands of people.

Atop of the stands were hundreds of boxes stacked a few feet from the wall. Each of these boxes was opened to reveal people dressed in a variety of fine clothing ranging from freshly pressed suits to luxurious robes. With everyone talking to each other, the noise nearly deafened me but when the auctioneer stepped onto the stage with his strange black and white striped suit and hat, silence flooded the crowd as everyone's head snapped to the stage.

Seeing that he had gotten everyone's attention, the auctioneer gave an exaggerated bow before announcing in an unnaturally large voice that seeped into every crevice of the auction house,

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to another wonderful auction. This auction is extra special because of two reasons. For one, we have a group of coremasters from the Golden Lion sect visiting today. We also have for our main item, the scales and teeth of a Demon Hound."

Upon him saying this, an audible gasp could be heard throughout the crowd and even the coremasters who had so far been doing there best to look like they didn't want to be here suddenly started to look down at the stage with interest. Seeing that he had thoroughly grabbed the attention of the crowd, the auctioneer continued,

"Now folks, don't all wait for the main item to spend your money. We have plenty more great items for you to bid on. Here's our first item."

A few burly men brought a pedestal to the middle of the stage sitting on top was a pair of red gloves with designs carved all over the gloves. The auctioneer gestured to the gloves,

"These gloves are made of premium monster leather form our very own Giant's Forest. The gloves had a series of fire-resistant runes carved into them making them great for anyone working with fire. The bidding will start at 1 gold."

Instantly, a large number of signs popped up. The auctioneer pointed to one and said,

"87 is our highest bid, is anyone willing to raise it?"

Multiple additional signs were raised but held differently than the first ones. I asked Claudia if she knew why and she gave me a sideways look saying,

"You raise the bid by 10% normally but if you hold it vertical, you raise it by 50%."

Eventually, the gloves sold for 20 gold probably well above what they were worth. This process continued with a multitude of items growing in price. Finally, they brought out my item. There was an audible gasp heard throughout the audience as if they were still surprised the announcement at the beginning of the auction wasn't really a joke. I still hadn't figured out why the scales and teeth were so valuable. The auctioneer with even more excitement than he'd displayed before said,

"Now for the main item which is a set of 22 scales and 11 fangs from a Demon Hound. These are good enough to create high-level coremaster armor. The starting bid will be 10 platinum."

AS soon as he finished talking, nearly 50 signs shot up. But before he could point out one, a voice from the coremaster's booth rang out through the auction house,

"I'll pay 10 green coins for it!"

After this announcement, the whole auction house was silent; you could practically hear a pin drop in a room filled with thousands of people. The auctioneer broke the silence with,

"Bidding closed. The final item will be sold for 10 green coins."

Everyone started filing out of the auction house. A couple of attendants came up to our box holding different sized bags that jingled with each of their steps.

"Sir, as for your payment, the auction fee is 10%. We will take one green coin to cover this fee. For the others, we were wondering if you would allow us to convert them to platinum for you since you wouldn't be able to use green coins in any of the stores in the city."

I was about to nod my agreement when Claudia whispered in my ear,

" If you ever want to go to the mainland, you should hold onto some of those green coins and just convert 2 or 3 and you will have enough money for anything in this city."

Knowing that Claudia had yet to lead me wrong so far, I responded to the auction attendant with,

"I'll let you convert 3 but I wish to keep the rest with me."

After I said this, I noticed his expression turn sour before he managed to recover and return to his cheerful demeanor responding, "Of course you can." He then handed me three rather sizable bags saying,

"Here are 30,000 platinum coins for your three green coins and here are your 6 green coins."

He then handed me a bag with 6 coins in it. They had the same design on them as the other coins but they had an unearthly green glow. I really wondered what kind of metal could have such special properties. After this transaction was completed, the auctioneer issued us out of the auction house.