Belmont clenched his jaw and nodded. They returned their attention to Alfons as the auctioneer brought up the next item – a large wooden staff with ribbons of metal intertwined like a rainbow within it.

“We’re getting to the fancy stuff now, folks!” Alfons called. “This staff was found in a C rank dungeon. It amplifies the power of the mage using it, just like all other staves. However, this one has a particular affinity with earth. We believe it can nearly double the power of an earth spell!”

The magical silence enveloping the room wasn’t enough to completely control the murmurs that rose up from the crowd. Arek didn’t have to see anyone to feel the tension in the room suddenly raise.

“That’s quite the staff,” Malissa said. “I think we might be getting into the fancier stuff. It might only be useful with earth magic, but doubling your power is no joke.”

“It’s too bad it doesn’t help pure magic,” Ming said wistfully. “It’s pretty.”

“If it had anything to do with pure magic, Magus probably would have confiscated it,” Belmont said. “Maybe you should ask him for one.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Ming said happily.

“You know, I think I might have just made a mistake. You’ve already got so much energy to work with – I don’t even want to imagine the havoc you’ll cause with a good staff,” Belmont said after a moment. “I suppose it’s too late for you to pretend I never said that?”

Ming let out a cheerful whistle as dings rang out through the room. Belmont sighed and mentally chastised himself.

“The current price for the staff is one hundred gold!” Alfons called.

Five more dings shot off in rapid succession. Two of them came from the floors above them, and one seemed to be deeper than any of the previous noises.

“That might have been the third or fourth floor,” Malissa said.

“And just like that, the price is now three hundred gold!” Alfons called, raising his hat and letting out a slow whistle. “But is that really all this staff is worth? Imagine missing out on an opportunity to double your power. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

Three more dings came. One was the deep noise from the higher floors, while the other two were both on the first floor.

“Someone doesn’t want to share,” Alfons said with a barking laugh. “The price is now four hundred and fifty gold!”

“Who won it?” Malissa asked, frowning. “Was it the same people on the first floor? Or was it the person on the higher one?”

“There’s no way for us to know,” Belmont replied. “The staff was quite impressive, but don’t forget that everyone came here for some mysterious weapon that will probably go up at the end of the auction. If they want to win, spending four hundred and fifty gold on a staff isn’t exactly going to help.”

“So the people winning everything aren’t going to try for the big weapon at the end?” Ming asked.

“I hope not,” Belmont said. “I dread to think what sort of terrifying entity would have the financial power to spend so much money in such an insignificant auction. Riverfall’s auction house is nice, but it’s by no means the biggest one in the Bludon empire. I just can’t see what they stand to gain from this, and that worries me.”

“Don’t be so melodramatic,” Malissa said. “It’s just some guild doing a power play. They’re not going to care at all about a group of F rank adventurers.”

“We are about to annoy them,” Arek pointed out. “They might care a little.”

“And? You saw what happened to the Starpiercers when they tried something inside the city.”

“Fair enough,” Arek said. “But I’m going to hesitantly take Belmont’s side on this. We should probably make for the road as soon as Magus lets us. Riverfall has been fun, but we’ve got no shortage of enemies here.”

Several other weapons came and went, but none of them reached as high as the staff did. Arek was just about to lose hope of their weapon appearing in the auction when the weapon in question shimmered into existance on the pedestal.

“We need to immidiately raise the bid as high as possible,” Arek said urgently. “Most of the other stuff has sold for no more than a few hundred gold. If we put all our money down at the front, we might scare the guild into paying more.”

“We won two hundred and fifteen gold from the axe, and I’ve got about ninety on me,” Malissa said. “Should we bid a flat three hundred gold?”

“That’s our best bet,” Arek said. The nervous excitement within his chest started to grow. Arek found himself thankful that the strange runes had cured his control issues, or he might have lost it then and there.

“…now, this jagged sword was removed from River Crypt. The more savvy adventurers in the audience know that this is actually the boss’s sword. This particular iteration of the River Crypt boss had quite the interesting weapon, even if it’s a bit gruesome. We’ve discovered that any cuts made with this sword cannot be healed magically. That could be quite useful for any dungeons containing monsters with healing properties, so this is quite the find!”

Malissa pressed the button on her chair and whispered her bid. As the ding echoed out, Arek watched Alfons’s expression closely. The very magic that made the stage easier to see worked against the auctioneer.

For an instant, the man’s eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth pulled down in anger. The expression vanished a moment later, but Arek was confident this time. He wasn’t happy that they’d bid.

Six more dings of varying intensities followed after Malissa’s. The auctioneer adjusted his hat.

“Three hundred gold off the start!” he called out, adding a slow whistle. “Now that’s a determined bidder. But, is that really all –”

Two more dings cut him off mid-sentence. The happy sunflowers collectively heaved a sigh of relief, and it looked like Alfons might have done the same.

“Six hundred and forty gold! What a jump!” Alfons cheerfully cried.

No more dings followed.