Gavin looked sideways and locked eyes with Hal before dipping his head in acknowledgment and returning to spectate the auction with his expression now back to normal.

Lucile looked over at Hal,

"Why aren't you bidding?" She asked.

Hal shrugged,

"I don't want to" he said now resting his cheek on his right fist.

Lucile raised one brow,

"Really, After all your inquiries?"

Hal sighed,

"Well, it's one of two things. I either no longer feel interested in the technique after seeing it in action which even as I say it, I can see is highly unlikely.

Or just as you have long suspected, I was never really interested in the technique in the first place and was here for other reasons.

Which one do you think it is?" Hal asked her with a light smile.

Lucile chuckled,

"Are you seriously asking me to choose when you just practically confessed to all I've suspected all along? If you are, then my choice should be obvious."

Hal shook his head as though disappointed,

"As much as it shows how rigid your thinking is, I have to admit that I know what you choose" he said and Lucile rolled her eyes and looked away.

Hal was about to return his focus to the auction when he felt a feminine calf rubbing against his leg.

It was easy to tell who was responsible and he looked sideways at Elsa who did not look as though she had any intentions of pretending it was unintentional.

As usual, there was a sultry smile on her face when Hal faced her with his brow raised,

"Is there something you'd like to say?" He asked with a light smile.

Elsa's smile widened as though him speaking to her gratified her to no end,

"Actually yes. I am very shy you so I could not afford to be too direct." She said.

"I find that hard to believe" Hal told her and she seemed to backpedal which Hal was sure was a part of the act.

"Alright fine, I was just trying to give you a push to be chivalrous." She told him.

"Me, Chivalrous?" Hal asked with disbelief coloring his tone.

Elsa nodded,

"Exactly. I mean it's common courtesy that the guy chats up the girl. I was waiting for that but you were not forthcoming. I had to go against my shy nature and make the first move."

'Sticking to the shy story I see. Only a real dumbass will believe you' Hal thought.

"Is it common courtesy for the guy to speak first? I honestly did not know. I only spoke to you to know why you were rubbing your legs against mine" he said in a tone that suggested a complete innocence of motive.

"Am I rubbing my leg against yours?" Elsa asked and rubbed even more hence making it more obvious.

Hal nodded with a light smile,

"Yes you are" he told her, playing along.

"Elsa sighed,

"I honestly did not notice" she told him and rubbed even harder.

To be fair, Hal was not averse to the feeling.

Even then he asked,

"Okay then, why don't you move it now that you do notice?"

Elsa looked thoughtful for a few seconds before shaking her head,

"No, I don't think I will. Did anyone ever tell you it feels good to touch you? Or that you smell really, really nice? Nice enough to eat."

Hal nodded with a mockingly serious expression,

"It's not the first I've heard of it." He admitted.

Then looked away from Elsa in hopes of ignoring her for the rest of the duration of time he was here.

A voice called out of the crowd...

"605,000 Blue gems!"

... And Hal's eyes widened as he had not known how much the technique's value had scaled since he had not been paying attention.

His eyes were not widening because the price was high but because it was low.

With two impressive demonstrations, Hal expected the price to be higher than this by now.

Clearly, those in the crowd were still holding out and Beldar noticed this as well.

Because after another bid in the 600,000 range, he placed a bid of his own,

"750,000 Blue gems!" He called and the eyes those present widened while the Sheik voiced out,

"Beldar, what do you think you're doing?" He asked.

Beldar looked to at him,

"I'm tired of this nonsense. I would rather win my technique and be done with it all" he said with an angry expression.

"He can't be allowed to do that right?" Asked a merchant in the crowd.

Beldar nailed him and raised his brow,

"In which book is it written that I can not bid on my product?" He asked and all protesters were struck dumb.

After all, in essence, there really was nowhere it was written that no one could bid on their own product.

The only reason it never happened was that it was practically financial suicide and quite frankly the height of stupidity.

Beldar was however doing it to prove a point and show that while he had placed the starting value of his technique at 400,000 Blue gems, he believed its value far surpassed that.

"What about my profit?" The Sheik asked.

Beldar sighed,

"If no one bids higher than me, then I will give you your share of what the technique sold for. I will be the only one losing money." He assured the Sheik who relaxed in his chair with a light smile,

"Very well, carry on" he said.

Silence was what first met the Sheik's words before a confident voice spoke out,

"780,000 Blue gems" he said.

"790,000 Blue gems" someone else bid and the bidding war was back in full swing.

It was while It was going on that a guard walked into the auction hall and headed towards the honor row to report to the Sheik that they had been unsuccessful in capturing the one who had attacked Beldar.

The look on the guard's face made it clear that he was expecting to be the one the Sheik took his anger out on.

However, upon receiving the news, the Sheik merely ordered that they continued searching and not just inside his residence but the whole territory of Black lagoon.

"He can't have gone far with his injuries. Find him" he said.

The guard turned away and thanked his lucky stars he found the Sheik in a good mood.

Meanwhile, the bid finally went past 800,000 Blue gems, and once again, Beldar bid on the technique and moved it up to 900,000 Blue gems.

The bidding crowd gritted their teeth at this Dystopian native's shamelessness.

Many even wished to stop bidding.

But at that time, a man that had been mostly invisible throughout the whole auction process placed a humongous bid of,

"One Million Blue gems" he said and Beldar's face split into a wide smile.

"One million going once, twice, sold" he announced as all eyes turned to the surprise winner who had proved Beldar's point of how there would still be someone willing to bid at such a high appreciation rate.

Once the man won the technique, there was a light smile playing on his lips and Hal thought he saw his eyes flicker towards the honor row but felt he might have imagined it on account of how fleeting the look was.

The auction had come to an end with the main item selling off at one million Blue gems which in gold approximate was Ten billion.

More money than Hal had ever seen in his life.

The technique was wheeled away and Hal moved to go and retrieve his own purchases when he received a message in the communication Talisman Ehrlich had offered him at the start of this mission.

He quickly retreated and, difficult as it was, found an uninhabited location to receive the message.

Ehrlich's voice spoke out of the Talisman,

"Get over here now!"