“Do you think we should sell the metal bars we found from the chests at the end of the dungeon?” Ming asked.

“Probably not yet,” Malissa said after thinking for several moments. “We don’t know what they do. They could end up being useful. We should get them identified first.”

“What about the jagged sword from the River Crypt?” Arek asked.

“I think so,” Malissa said. “It’s worth more to us as gold. Unless Belmont feels any attachment to it, nobody else here uses a sword.”

“I don’t,” Belmont said. “I would have to put it through rigorous testing to ensure it wouldn’t break on me in the middle of combat. I don’t trust any weapon I haven’t made myself.”

“Wait,” Arek said as he pressed the button at the side of his chair. “You smithed your own sword?”

A small portal churned to life in front of Arek. It was about the size of a man’s head. The only reason the orc could even see it in the darkness was the flecks of white light shimmering within it like the starry night sky.

“Of course I did,” Belmont scoffed. “A different smith might have intentionally left a flaw. I could not trust someone other than myself for something that important.”

“I am somehow both shocked and unsurprised at the same time,” Arek said, chuckling. “Only you would learn the art of blacksmithing exclusively to make your own sword.”

Arek tossed the jagged sword they’d gotten from the boss of the River Crypt into the portal. It vanished with a pop. A similar portal appeared in front of Malissa. The tall woman pulled the large axe they’d taken from Greenridge Dungeon out of her extradimensional bag and stuffed it into the portal. She tossed several other smaller items that Arek couldn’t make out into it as well.

A few moments later, the portals vanished. Alfons clapped his hands and the braziers flickered in response. He waited a few moments to ensure everyone was paying attention before starting again.

“And with that, we shall begin the auction! As always, we shall start with the lower cost items and slowly make our way upwards. As we wait for any items that were submitted today to be appraised, I’d like to bring your attention to a very special shield!”

Alfons raised his hands theatrically. The pillar shimmered as if it had been enveloped in a heat wave. The air above it twisted and warped. A large metal buckler slid into being upon the pedestal. At the same time, a large image of the buckler flickered to life in the air above Alfons.

“This shield was found in a D rank dungeon. It is made of sturdy metal and offers some basic protection against fire-based attacks,” Alfons called. “We shall be starting the bidding at one gold.”

There were several moments of silence.

“That doesn’t sound particularly interesting,” Arek leaned over and whispered to Malissa. “Doesn’t all metal have at least a little protection against fire?”

“He did say we’d start with the cheaper items,” Malissa said.

Almost reluctantly, a single ding rang out through the darkness. Alfons almost looked surprised, but he quickly lifted his hat into the air.

“And we have our first bid! One gold, going once…”

He trailed off, hoping for someone else to join in. Nobody did. With a shrug, Alfons finished the count.

“And that’s it, folks! One shield, sold. When you are ready to leave, simply stand up and a portal to your new belongings will appear in front of you.”

The boisterous announcer snaped his fingers as the shield vanished and a polished metal helmet took its place. Arek watched on silently as a slew of relatively uninteresting items went up for bidding. A few, such as a strangely shaped axe with some rather beautiful carvings, sold for several gold.

However, none of it caught his eye. The base price slowly rose from one gold to five. By the time it hit ten, the crowd’s interest increased marginally. Bidders started to spar over items, although nobody seemed eager to spend much money early on.

“Now, this next item is something quite interesting,” Alfons called out. “It’s quite the useful item for enchanters. All sorts of household items need this to power them. You can even use it for some basic weapon enchantments. This is, of course, a Moonrune! We’ve checked to ensure that it’s received the proper amount of moonlight, so fear not. It’ll be starting at fifteen gold.”

Two dings instantly echoed through the hall. A third followed as Arek pressed the button and whispered ‘twenty’.

“The lead bid is currently twenty gold! Is anyone else interested?”

A fourth ding rang out. However, this one seemed to be slightly deeper than previous ones had been.

“What a move! The Moonrune is now forty gold!”

“That was one of the upper floors. Maybe two levels above us,” Malissa said. “If they bid on something, it’s probably not worth bothering with. Most of the people up there are C rank adventurers or nobles. We can’t contest their funding.”

Arek’s jaw clenched and his lips thinned, but he sighed and shook his head, not bidding again. Alfons announced the winner, and the orc watched the Moonrune disappear with a reluctant frown.

“That’s annoying,” Arek grumbled.

“That’s why it’s so much easier to wait until we figured out who won what, and then just –”

“Ming!” Belmont interrupted. “No talking about robbery in public.”

“Right, sorry,” Ming muttered. “Not like we can see anyone anyways. The stupid darkness sucks.”

“And now I see why they implemented it,” Arek said, his bad mood breaking as a chuckle escaped his lips.

As the auction continued, a pattern started to emerge. Any of the mildly interesting items were quickly bid on by people in the higher tiers. They often bid twice or even three times what the next highest bidder was, effectively ensuring their win.

“This is just plain ridiculous,” Arek muttered as an enchanted sword sold for nearly sixty gold. “Are they trying to prove a point?”