The day after the duel, class proceeded smoothly. Kazuki acted like when he first entered class, peaceful with everyone. He also stopped his straightforward advances with Haru but it was evident that he was showing off.

But, one thing was different.

"Your Highness, about the..."

"Y-yes!"

When it came to Kenji, he was scared. It was evident by the sweat that magically materializes even though it wasn't hot.

Then, after a lesson, several classmates came to Kenji when Kazuki wasn't there.

"Hey, Kenji why is the crown prince acting... strange?"

"Yeah, he only does it around you too."

"Did you do something?"

"To think that you even scared the crown prince for approaching your women, what a sinful man..."

"Oi, I can't just let that last one go."

Kenji felt a headache coming. He did solve Kazuki's duels and challenges but it was made evident to everyone that he was being feared.

"Hey, Kenji. The crown prince was aiming for Haru, wasn't he? So is Haru your preferred girl?"

"Haaa? What are you talking about?"

"Well, you have the Ice Queen, the Dark Queen, Umi, and, Haru don't you?"

"Like I said, that's a misunderstanding. I'm not with or targeting any of them. In the first place, Umi was only curious and that led to one thing after another with the rumors. I just know Haru from before and Yoko was coincidentally Haru's friend."

"What about the Ice Queen suddenly hugging you in class?!"

"That's just a misunderstanding, she thought that I was someone she knew in the past."

With that, he set a counterattack to the rumors. He could've easily avoided these questions by leaving the class but that would give even more suspicions so he devised a plan. Deny all of them by stating other facts and in turn, those rumors will cancel out the ones previously.

Now, he'll become someone with connections to them and not as his lovers or anything of the sort.

"Hey, Kenji."

Arata walked up to Kenji with Umi in tow.

"I talked to Umi already, want to go shopping for necessities with the group after class?"

"Hmm... I have no problems with it. How about you, Haru?"

"I was planning on it soon so sure. I'll invite His Highness."

"In that case, I'll get Erina."

Some girls took their words the wrong way. They were interested in love stories and were closely watching the relationship between Haru and Kazuki, and Kenji and Erina.

But most of the boys took it the wrong way too. Despite denying the rumors, their actions were contradictory. In the boys' mind, Haru and Erina were taken by Kazuki and Kenji respectively.

There were mutters like 'Then that means I can still go for Umi!' or 'So Yoko is still free!' and the like but Kenji had nothing to do with it and ignored them.

Kazuki entered the classroom and hesitated while sitting next to Haru and was informed of the shopping later.

"So, which shop are we going to first?"

Arata placed a fist on his chest.

"Leave it to me! First, we shall get the necessities! For weapons, is everyone good?"

"I need to go have my sword sharpened, it was dulled."

When Kenji's words fell, Kazuki twitched. It really wasn't necessary for him to come with everyone but with because Haru was the one who invited him, he couldn't resist. Even if he had lost the duel, Kenji didn't put any conditions other than to stop pestering him so he could still aim for Haru but with some limitations.

"I want to buy a magic stone."

Umi said as she raised her hand.

"A magic stone? What kind?"

"Something for emergency protection, I guess? But what I want more is something that can help me boost my mana."

Arata placed a hand on his chin.

"You could probably find a protection stone somewhere but a mana stone... I don't know any place that sell those for less than a thousand gold..."

"There's a place."

Kenji cut in.

"Where?"

Kenji smiled and told everyone to follow him. Kazuki and Haru knew where he was referring to.

After walking for awhile, Kenji stood in front of what looked to be the most expensive place in the capital save for the royal family's buildings.

"O-oi, Kenji. T-this place is way out of budget..."

"Y-yeah... I was looking for a magic stone but in this place, wouldn't it go all the way to the tens of thousands?! And wouldn't the magic stone be super rare?!"

"I don't think that's the kind of place this is..."

Kazuki cut in.

"The royal family uses this store for most of its purchases and it may look expensive but it's actaully very cheap compared to most stores. I'd say that you can find the mana stone you're looking for in good condition at almost half the price. In the first place, store prices are so high because they lack the skills to procure it themselves and have to ask for suppliers. But this place is independent. They can supply, sell, auction, and many others."

It was almost like Kazuki was the owner of the store by the way he was presenting it. He was raising his arms and held his head high with a puffed up chest.

"Well, let's just head inside."

Kenji pushed Kazuki to the side and insisted everyone else to head inside the store.

When they entered, there was a green haired woman in a suit.

"Welcome to Superbia, the best company in the continent. Is this your first visit?"

Kenji pushed Kazuki to the front. Kazuki stumbled for a bit but tried to regain his posture afterwards. When the attendant saw Kazuki, her eyes widened but she immediately regained her cool. As expected of a professional attendant.

"We'd like to see magic stones that boost mana power and efficiency. And after that, weapon management section."

"Alright, over here."

The attendant had a smile on her face and walked towards one of the huge halls which had glass covering dozens of different brightly colored stones.

"Waa..."

Umi who was looking for the magic stones was dumbfounded. Even though she was quite the active person, ever since she entered the presence of the shop, she had been tense. Arata was also quite tense but not to that extent. There was also another person with them who was free today, Masahiro Date, he wore glasses and was also quite tense.

On the other hand, Haru, Kazuki, Kenji, and Erina were as calm as could possibly be.

"Hey, Kenji..."

Arata came close to Kenji and whispered while elbowing him.

"Why are you and Haru so calm? A lot of nobles wouldn't even dare to act all high and mighty in front of an attendant. I can understand why Miss Erina who's a duke's daughter would be calm and His Highness is part of the royal family which is a regular customer so he's experienced making purchases here but you and Haru aren't nobles right?"

"More like, why are you so nervous? Leaving Date aside, you and Umi are nobles right?"

"Nn... We're both children of viscounts. But, I've never made a purchase here by myself. My parents are regular customers but I've only gotten servants to buy stuff for me here."

"It's not like your life would end if you antagonize them. Just a very big part of it."

"Isn't that also bad?!"

Kenji who had failed to comfort Arata walked away and headed towards one of the halls. It wasn't necessary for whoever is in here to be guided by an attendant but most people choose to do so. Erina saw him and decided to follow.

"Over here is the auction area, why are you going there?"

Erina asked she caught up to Kenji.

"I'm simply going to browse some goods. If you intend to come with me, call me Tatsuya."

Kenji said as he wore a mask. The mask was black and covered his eyes.

(A/N: I won't call him Tatsuya in narrations here.)

Kai handed Erina a mask, it was white and looked exactly the same as Kai's mask save for the color.

"Then, call me Mio."

Erina had a faint smile on her face as she looked at Kai.

"Alright, Mio."

"Let's go, Tatsuya."

When they passed by the doors, there was a desk and a person sitting on it.

"Show me your passes, if this is your first time here then please register for a fee of 10 gold."

For commoners, 10 gold was nothing to laugh at. The only reason for the payment at the start is to ensure that the ones who join the auction had money.

Kai stepped forward and gave the man his pass, it was black with markings of gold.

"Welcome back, please go on ahead."

Kai nodded at the man and Erina's turn came. Erina gave a pass colored yellow.

"Welcome back."

Kai and Erina proceeded forward to another door.

"So, you've spent quite the amount in the auction, huh?"

"Your pass is only a level below mine, come sit with me."

When Kai passed through the door, an attendant came and led him towards the second floor where he could see the auction from overhead. Kai sat down on a large golden chair and Erina followed suit.

"Tatsuya."

Kai turned to the side and saw two figures with masks on. Their masks covered their whole face and looked exactly like an opera mask.

"It appears that you've come to make another purchase or are you selling another exquisite item?"

"You're mistaken, I'm only browsing today, Lion. And, who is that beside you?"

"This is my personal attendant, Fia. How about you?"

"This is my companion, Mio."

With those simple greetings, they faced forward. It was a common occurrence there.

At the stage, there was a magic stone inside a glass case.

"Everyone! This is one of the best things auctioned today and I'm sure all of you have heard of this. This stone is personally created by Superbia's master but the stone's strength is so high that we can't even place it in the regular store fearing of people using it for wrong. That's why we're going to sell it in the auction to a trusted person, only those with yellow cards and above may participate."

The voluptuous girl with revealing clothes said this as she presented the stone in front of everyone. She removed the glass case and everyone was awed.

"...The power in that magic stone is..."

Erina who was beside Kai furrowed her brows.

"Don't raise a fuss. You may have money today but unless you had brought items or money from your treasury, you won't even be able to fill half the amount required to buy that. And if you really want something like that, I'll get you one in the future."

Although Erina was bewildered as to why Kai would suddenly be so generous, she stayed quiet.

"This stone has the power to strengthen the user's stamina, mana, and magic power by 75 percent! And it also has a special ability, the power to double the user's already enhanced power for one minute but has a cooldown time of a day. In that cooldown time, the stone's power would be reduced to fifty percent."

The magic stone was violet and was about the size of the thumb's nail.

"The starting bid is... 25,000 gold pieces! The minimum bid increase is 1000 gold!"

Erina's eyes opened wide. One of the regular magic stones outside cost 500 gold. This was fifty times the price.

"If a magic stone were to enhance someone by 75 percent, then doubling 175 percent... the user would be able to have 350 percent of his power one minute a day! What kind of monster would be able to create this sort of stone...?"

Kai unconsciously laughed for a bit but immediately recovered himself.

"You haven't seen anything yet. This company is frightening."

"25,000!"

"26,000!"

"27,000!"

Voices yelled out one after another.

Lion stood up and yelled.

"50,000!"

"We've got 50,000 on Mr. Lion!"

Lion sat down and looked at Kai. It was unknown what kind of face he was making but for Kai, it felt like he had a smug smile.

"Care to beat my bid, Tatsuya?"