Saturday, August 8, 2015

Chapter 6-Shard City Auction House


"My secret?" Sun almost took a step back before he caught himself. "What do you mean?" Sun said presenting a calm demeanor despite worrying in his thoughts. Was he found out? If so the punishment for masquerading as a mage is quite severe ranging from hefty fines, a thousand or so lashes or imprisonment.

"Please do not play coy with me, even if I have been blind to it first you cannot fool me any longer." She said resolutely.

Sun felt that this route was already blocked from the start so he tried a different tactic, "This secret can you not keep it to yourselves as payment for me saving your lives?"

Levaria paused for a second as if thinking, "Do not mistake this for ingratitude! We are all members of the hope alliance, even if I myself do not talk this will eventually be revealed thus it would then cast doubt on my position."

That was true enough, but Sun couldn't accept this as it is. He did after all save them with the equivalent of half a year or so's profit.

Before he could say more to rebuke her, Levaria shushed him and continued...

"I don't know the reason for your deception, but please be at ease we are all allies are we not?" She said causing Sun to droop his shoulders and release a sigh, something really uncharacteristic for a mage that he claimed to be.

"As I thought you already were finished with [Concentration] and I suspect the other two stages as well." Levaria said proudly. How rare was a mage who finished concentration? There were magi in their 50's who hasn't finished the first stage! Let alone all three!

"W-what?" The dumbfounded Sun replied, a bit dazed. So he wasn't discovered after all.

Taking the look of his face as confirmation that she was right Levaria continued.

"I don't know if you are aware, but now as a saint your status has risen far above whatever it was. Many people will come seeking to recruit you to their banners. Even though we cannot keep your power under wraps know that we, the Hope alliance will at least keep these people away if you do not want them. So long as you are in Hope alliance territory you have a place to take shelter." Levaria said trying to at least provide a bit of comfort.

"Even if you say it like that isn't the Hope alliance trying to recruit me as well?" Sun asked, he really didn't want to be apart of this but it seemed he had dug himself too deep this time.

"If you want to join you are free to do so, our Hope alliance rely on the good will of our members. While it would be good to have another Saint, it would be no good if you yourself have no interest in what the alliance stands for." Was what she said, quite resolutely in fact.

Sun bowed his head slightly and said, "I see, then I thank the Hope alliance for their offer. Is that all that you have to say?"

"That is, I also want to apologize for my behavior. This whole time I suspected that you were hiding something bad, I was wrong. All this time you have been patient and understanding while I kept on harassing you. I give you my oath that I will repay you in time for saving me and my people as well as for my misconduct." Levaria said with an air of extreme seriousness.

This! This girl had sharp instincts! Sun thought as he listened to her confession. She got it all mixed up though. Sun felt something building up on his chest, an almost indescribable feeling. His talent was activating?

"I will hold you to your oath." Forceful words came out from his mouth without meaning to. What was this?

It looked like the words satisfied Levaria though. She bowed once and went on her way leaving behind the confused Sun.

Why now did his talent activate. Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? Did it mean Levaria is oathbound or was it he the one bound by that oath?

Either way is troublesome. Truly Sun felt that his talent was too much trouble sometimes.

----------


Shard City, Sun breathed a sigh of relief. They were finally here. It took a few more days, but the pace was faster since no monsters attacked.

This is where he will sell all the remaining goods he had. He still had some gold coins for capital. Even though he wasted a crazy amount of gems on Tiangou he had been repaid with the horn his Poun was carrying right now.

S Class material! The thought made Sun salivate. The plan was simple. Sell the horn in the auction, then disappear.

He somehow got promoted to a saint. From [Rank E] to [Rank S], the kind of crazy tale that if one were to tell Sun before he'd be forced to call the city guards. This type of event made vanishing more important. Otherwise people would eventually realize he had virtually no battle prowess. Then where would he be?

"Onii-chan! This is goodbye. I will be attending the Fitterlain Magus Academy come visit me OK?" Domu said sadly as they left. The brat was crying so pitifully Sun could only nod in response.

Similarly Talia said some remarks as well. "Sun-sama it was a pleasure aiding you. In the future I aim to become as reliable and humble as you." She said all that with a straight voice. What a mature kid Sun thought at the time.

Sun certainly was going to miss those two kids. He had deposited the Poun to the city's equivalent of Thrush City's travel agency. He took the 50 silvers but really he considered buying the Poun, after all didn't it serve him well? It can be counted as a
an investment, he reasoned to himself.

"Sun-sama, I'm glad I caught up to you." It was the captain of the soldier's platoon. He had fair skin and a typically handsome face, he was two  heads taller than Sun. "Rayu-sama told me to inform you that he had taken it to himself to have the horn processed by the Hope alliances best Tinkerers.

Sun's eyes widened. His S class horn! No! "That old man. Where is he?"

To understand Sun's panic one must know what tinkerers are. Tinkerers are people whose talents lay in creating and enchanting weapons and trinkets like Sun's [Storage Bag]. It's highly probable that they were already making a staff out of it!

Earlier Sun told Rayu "I'll leave the horn in your care. Please take care of it in my stead." Back then Rayu excitedly accepted the job. It seemed that Rayu misunderstood!

"He's currently in the City's auction house. If you wish I could escort you to him." He said.

Sun nodded and was led through the busy streets of Shard city. Shard saw a lot of merchants and slaves selling a wide range of goods, there were particularly a lot of crafting materials and trinkets. Shard city was the Tinkerer's capital after all.

Originally he planned to sell all the gems he had and buy trinkets to sell on other cities. Now though, if he gets enough money for the horn then he might just get away from the city and buy a stand in the next city which should be Ravale City.

The Shard City Auction House looked incredible indulgent as expected of a rich city. It was Three times larger than the one In Thrush and twice as large as the largest Sun had seen so far. It was made of high quality marble and was decorated by stone arches. There were stone statues of the living saints Verdant and Devilin in the entrance.

Verdant is the famous warrior saint who defeated 2 S class monsters that simultaneously attacked the imperial capital three thousand years ago. He looked incredibly heroic as a statue, impeccably dressed in a regal armor with a sword raised towards the air.

Devilin in contrast is the legendary sorcerer considered to be the strongest existence. Not much is known about him other than he battling the demon lord and his army of no less than 2 S class monsters plus a couple of thousands of lesser monsters reshaped the continent as it is today. He vanished abruptly a thousand years ago. Devilin cut an imposing figure holding an impressive staff, his face is hidden under a cowl however.

Among the saints in recorded history these two were considered as beyond the norm, there had been talk of putting them in a new rank, [Rank L]. L for Legendary.

It was a long standing tradition to put the image of saints in important buildings such as this. It is said to ward off bad luck(as well as monsters).

The inside of the auction is incredibly posh as well. All the furniture and decorations were made from high class material. A pleasant smell wafted into Sun's nose too, he recognized it as an expensive men's perfume.

A middle aged gentleman greeted them at the entrance. He had neatly trimmed dark hair showing hints of white streaks. His face was sharp, shaven and imposing, he wore a monocle as well adding to his refined image.

"You must be the rumored Sun-sama. The Shard City Auction House is honored to have you as a guest." The man bowed deeply.

Sun could only let out an embarrassed chuckle. To have someone as distinguished as this bow to him a lowly merchant?

"No need to bow sir. I am but a humble mage." He tried to get the man to stop being so respectful.

The older gentleman instead bowed deeper. "Nonsense, Sun-sama is a saint. It would shame my ancestors and this auction if I do not give proper respect."

In the end Sun could do nothing so he decided to go with the flow.

"My name is Rimmu I am the master of this auction. If Sun-sama would please follow me." The man said leading Sun to a large room, there was a round table with seats.

Rimmu offered a seat to Sun. When he was seated a maid entered and poured Sun tea. Pilant tea at that. Sun knew no other tea more expensive than this particular type, he had only tasted it once back when he was still in his father's care.

"Is the tea to your liking?" Rimmu asked as he sat on the opposite side of the table.

Sun nodded as he savored the exquisite flavor. This tea costs a gold coin a cup. That kind of price meant even rich people seldom drink it.

"I'm glad.If I may be blunt, I'm aware that you acquired S class material recently. Rayu-sama has had it commissioned to be made a staff. We of the auction is petitioning that you let us auction the leftover material."

Tsk, it was as he feared. Had they dismantled it already?

Seeing the slight crease in Sun's brows Rimmu added "The making of your staff is personally headed by Vy-sama I can assure you of the quality of the finished product. She was quite excited about the project actually, S Rank materials are quite rare."

"H-how much is left to auction?" Sun asked his heart clenching painfully.

"It depends on Vy-sama, I'm sure she'll maximize the use of the horn to provide you with the best staff available. Even then I expect we will have a good auction in the leftover materials." Rimmu's words simultaneously made Sun despair and hope.

"Do it then. Auction every bit that's left." Sun said.

Rimmu let out a pleased smile. "Very well it shall be done, If it pleases Sun-sama he can stay at our guest rooms until the auction finishes."

Sun nodded, even though he probably missed out on a large profit, the leftover materials should at least get him more than what he used on the Tiangou. In addition he got free room in this extravagant place, all in all it wasn't so bad.






Monster Corner

Name: Tiangou
Rank: S
Element: Heaven
Skills:
Godlike Regeneration
Elemental Mastery
Heavenly Body
Notes: The Tiangou is a race of S class monsters who live solitarily. Named after the legendary beast said to eat the sun during the eclipse these dog like monsters carry the Tiangou name with pride. The main purpose in a Tiangou's life is to take part in battles and to find it's rival. Often a Tiangou will spend more than half it's lifetime finding the 'worthiest of foes'.




---------------------------> Next Chapter

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for the chapter. More please....

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like this story and i like the mc very much

    thank you for translating this i can baerly wait for the next chapter^^

    ReplyDelete