Drama At the Entrance

 5 days passed by quickly. Ryker and his group mainly spent their time taking missions from the Adventure Guild. Ryker even took some time practicing his auxiliary professions. After all, it would help a lot in the future.

 As the day of the auction arrived, he was in a dilemma. Namely, on who he should take with him to the auction. The only ones that he will not bring are Ina, Era, Rina, and Brea while the rest are fair game.

 He still has some thoughts regarding bringing Mashia, as it is likely his lineage might be revealed if a Noble looked at her closely. But it seems the artifact she used is better than they thought and seems to be able to fool even a Noble expert, at least a newly ascended one.

 It is a risk in bringing her with him so she is at the lowest part. The ones that he thinks he should bring are Miriam, Hylla, Eris, or Myna. The first one is on account of her being intelligent despite having one of the weaker cultivation in his group.

 As for the second and third options, they both are someone who comes from a noble heritage, meaning they could pretend to be his equal, a child of a powerful family of sorts.

 For the last one, well, she is more suited to acting as his servant, being there to fulfill his wim, of the least risque one, while in public.

 After thinking it through, he decided to take Miriam. She could double as his servant and could tell him of certain things. Besides Esran, who is the smartest person in their group, she is the next smartest, in terms of knowledge and manipulation.

-x-

 "So this is the Elkom Auction House. It's so huge," Miriam exclaimed. Because he had already seen it before, he did not act like Miriam, but even the second visit showed there is more to the building than meets the eye.

 "Please show me your token," one of the guards asked, looking at the pair behind the two. Then again, this was not the first time they had been looked down on by the people but it was starting to get tiresome. Then again, it is their fault for not wearing expensive clothes to such an event.

 "Out of the way, peasant, if you don't have a token, you should not come here," a pompous young man said as he let his woman inside, pushing the two slightly. Well, attempted to. They were pushed back, as Ryker decided to show them how wrong it is for them to earn his ire.

 "I do have a token. Here it is," he put the golden token, causing the surrounding people to look at him in shock. Even the guard looks at him in shock.

 "Wh-what?! Those must be fake! They must be! Guards punished these peasants for daring to forge a fake to" A silhouette of the manager appeared, emitted from the token. The guards bowed in fear, as they knew they could have just earned the ire of the manager.

 "You," she pointed at the guard who chose to allow the other couple pass first, "go to the dungeon and lock yourself, or the punishment will be more severe," the guard lowered his head before walking away, clear shame on his face.

 "You two," she then pointed to the two noisy people, "Get out of here. You are not allowed to enter this event. The Elkom Auction House will not allow the two of you to enter for the day," the guards lowered their heads before escorting the two people away.

 "You can't do this to me! My father is a very important person!" the young man yelled out. The silhouette of the manager shook his head, muttering, "His father is merely a Genesis Sea expert, and at the low stage as well,"

 The silhouette then disappears, the token returning back to normal. "Can we enter?" Ryker smiled at the guard.

-x-

 "Wow, it looks much better inside," Miriam exclaimed. Ryker merely hummed with disinterested tones. After all, he had seen it all before and knew what its there and how luxurious it it.

 "So, where are we going?" Miriam asked as Ryker led them somewhere else. 

 "I planned to talk to the manager for a while," Ryker answered before heading towards the manager's office.

 The servants rushing through the hallway merely bowed at him. They all knew the rumors of the man being the manager's boy toy and so treated him well.

 However, the presence of another woman began to shake those rumors. After all, there is no way someone like him would leave someone like their manager for a much weaker and likely less influential woman. Unless...

 "Could it, the mistress wanted to do something different?" the servant who started the previous rumor could not help but question it. 

 With no proof whatsoever, another round of new rumors spread all over the servant groups, beginning a new round of rumors that will not be caught by Manager Sophia until it is too late.

 Both Ryker and Miriam will not know they are the reason a new rumor appeared in the auction house, and so, walk without worrying as they head towards the office.

*knock*knock*

 The knocking sound grabs the attention of the one inside the room. "I am coming," he heard the manager say. As the manager opened the door, Ryker bowed to the older woman.

 "It's you, my new money bag, what are you doing here? And with a woman as well," Ryker could not but wonder if he was hallucinating when Sophia's eyes glinted terrifyingly.

 "This is one of my lovers and I come here to ask for the money we agreed on," Ryker told him.

 "Of course," the manager snapped her finger. "I did start to wonder when will you come. To think you will come during the auction," the manager said as she tossed a storage ring at Ryker.

 The dual-haired man easily caught it and looked at what was inside. He nodded satisfatically, the amount in the storage ring likely enough to buy some high-grade resources, maybe even getting powerful weapons or pills.

 "Thank you, Manager Sophia, I will take my leave from now," Ryker said before walking to the door.

 "If you don't mind, you can talk with me about what items sold in the auction, today," Ryker looked at the brown-haired woman in interest.

 "Sure, I don't mind, but the same might not be true for my lover over here," Ryker pointed at Miriam, who shook her head.

 "I also don't mind," she replied, before giving a threatening look to Ryker.

.