Chương 25: The Auction House

The boarding house offered lodgings, but not meals, so Evan and Oliver left early to find breakfast. After raiding several food stands at the market they'd visited with Alexander and filling their stomachs with scrambled eggs and fruit salad, they set off to the Citadel District, where the guild headquarters and the auction house were supposed to be.

"So, how exactly does this work?" Evan asked.

"Can we just go in, sign up, and that's it, we're monster hunters?" Oliver brushed some crumbs from the pastry he had for breakfast off his tunic.

"I'm not sure, to be honest. I think there are some requirements to join. I guess they'll tell us when we get there?"

"Then maybe we should go to the auction house first?" Evan suggested.

"In case one of the requirements is money." Oliver rubbed his hands in excitement.

"Absolutely. I can't wait to get the cash for the shards we looted. The rent for the boarding house was pretty much my entire savings."

"Same here."

"We can also look for an affinity crystal for my sister. And of course, a new skill gem for you. Have you thought about what you want to get yet?"

"Not really. The battlemage idea sounds cool, so maybe something that'll take me in that direction? But I have no idea what skill gems I can buy and what they'll cost. The fact that you can't be certain what skill you'll get doesn't make it easier."

"Okay, then we'll sell our stuff first, and once we know how much we can spend, we'll do some window shopping. Maybe that'll spark some inspiration in you." Taking Alex's advice, they followed the stairs upwards to find the Citadel District. The higher they climbed, the larger and more colorful the houses became, the wider the streets, and the more impressive the greenery and parks. Finally, they reached a large plaza.

Paved paths with light-colored tiles criss-crossed through a well-maintained lawn, and the trees and shrubs lining the path looked carefully curated for size and color. The center of the plaza was dominated by a large, multi-tired fountain, decorated with marble statues displaying different fighting poses. About a dozen large buildings clustered around the plaza. The smallest was five stories high, the largest was a looming tower.

The stone looked expensive, the decorations were intricate, and the signs above the entrances were in silver or even golden letters.

"Mage Guild", "Healer Guild", "Explorer Guild", "Monster Hunter Guild." Evan let out a whistle.

"They're not skimping, huh? Are all guilds crazy rich?"

"Most of them, I think," Oliver said, "Guild members have to give some of their loot to their guild, so that explains it."

"What do I get in return? I could just go hunt down some monsters on my own and keep all of my loot, right?"

"Uh, well, you can join parties and teams to go slay higher-ranking monsters, I guess. Access to their training facilities. And… well, maybe we should just ask them about what else they offer. But all the great mana users join guilds, so we should too."

"If they let us join," Evan mumbled.

"Let's find this auction house, so we don't look like total hobos when we show up to register." The auction house was one of the larger buildings. Marble stairs led up to a large entrance and despite the early hour, it was bustling with activity. Evan and Oliver followed the crowd inside and found themselves in a large hall with a high vaulted ceiling. Several sets of stairs led up to a gallery from which you could reach more rooms and hallways. It was loud and busy, and everyone there seemed to be a mana user.

The central hall had a layout that reminded Evan of a shopping mall food court, but instead of french fries and sandwiches, you could buy skill gems and enchanted daggers from the vendors lining the walls. Oliver and Evan aimlessly wandered around, unsure where to go. In the end, they just asked one of the vendors behind a counter.

"Selling shards? Sure, over there, other side of the hall. There's the shard vendor." They followed his directions and finally found a shop with a sign saying "Affinity Crystal Shards - Buying and Selling." Evan approached the counter.

"Hello, we have crystal shards we want to sell. How do we join an auction?" The vendor, a stout man with a short gray beard, tilted his head.

"What kind of shards?"

"We have several stone shards and one water shard." The man chuckled.

"You're new to this, aren't you?"

"Yes, we are. Very new," Evan admitted, wondering what had given them away.

"Common and uncommon items don't go to the auction. Not worth the effort. The auctions are only for rare and up."

"Then how do we sell them?"

"You sell them to me. Prices are updated daily, based on supply and demand." This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it He reached under his counter and pulled out something that looked like a polished stone tablet, engraved with glowing words and numbers. Evan leaned in closer to study the list.

"The stone shards are worth 260 mana stones," he read out loud.

"And my water shard sells for 320 mana stones." The vendor nodded.

"Water shards have a number of useful purposes. Very sought after." Evan gave him a smile and took a step back from the counter. He leaned toward Oliver, lowering his voice.

"How does this work? Do we just accept those prices or do we haggle?" Oliver shrugged his shoulders.

"This is my first time at an auction house, too. What is everyone else doing?" Evan discreetly looked around. Right next to them, a young, dark-haired woman dropped a whole pile of affinity shards in all kinds of colors onto the vendor's counter. The vendor did a quick count and then handed her several bags of mana stones. They barely exchanged words. No haggling of any kind. That was a relief. He didn't possess the kind of confidence needed for successful price negotiations.

Even the local flea market had been a challenge. He would gladly accept the prices on the vendor's list.

"I would like to sell two stone shards and one water shard," he said, before pulling them out of his inventory. They looked pretty, especially the teal-colored water shard, and he was a little sad to see them go, but he had no other use for them and he needed the cash. The vendor picked them up, held them up for a quick inspection, then dropped them into a box under the counter.

"Here you go, young man. 840 mana stones." Evan collected the bag and shoved it into his inventory before stepping aside for Oliver, who sold his three stone affinity shards for 780 mana stones. In a great mood and with their pockets full of money, they said their goodbyes to the shard vendor. Combined with what Evan had managed to save up so far, he now had over a thousand mana stones to spend.

His mood was quickly dampened when they strolled over to the vendor selling common skill gems and found out that even a single gem went for over 500 mana stones. He went through the list the skill vendor had pulled out, looking for something that sounded good but was still affordable to him. The cheapest gem on the list was the Gem of Color for 515 mana stones. Gem of Heating and Gem of Cooling, both 560 stones. Gem of Barrier, 610. Evan paused. Barrier sounded useful.

He could definitely use some extra protection during fights, but there were skills on the list that sounded more appealing. Blast. Boost. Projectile. Projectile was worth 680 mana stones and Evan was tempted. He imagined himself throwing fireballs at enemies. Very fitting for the battlemage skill set he had in mind, right? But 680 stones was a lot. If he bought this gem, would he have enough money left for a decent set of armor? Maybe he should go for the more protective barrier skill after all.

The vendor was getting impatient.

"Anything that strikes your fancy?"

"Still undecided," Evan mumbled.

"Are you a guild member? I have a separate price list if you show me your guild badge."

"Wait, what?" Evan exchanged a glance with Oliver, but he looked just as surprised.

"Guild members get special discount prices. Didn't you know?"

"Uh… in that case, we're going to come back later." The vendor sighed, took away the price list, and muttered something that sounded a lot like "waste of time" before turning away and disappearing into a back room. Oliver scratched the back of his head, eyebrows still raised.

"Good thing he mentioned that. He was kind of rude, but he probably saved us a lot of money."

"So, guild headquarters now?" Oliver nodded towards another vendor stand. The sign above the counter said "Common Affinity Crystals".

"Let's sell the crystal first. Just so we know what kind of budget we're working with for Maya's crystal." They made their way through the crowd and handed the vendor the stone affinity crystal Alex had gifted them. The vendor, a young man with a mustache, held the crystal up and slowly turned it around, eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Nice. No cracks, no blemishes. Stone is a popular affinity. Good for crafters or defense-focused fighters. Goes for 5400 mana stones." Evan's mouth fell open. Over five thousand mana stones! For a moment, thoughts about all the cool skill gems he could buy for that kind of money crossed his mind, but he quickly pushed them away. They'd already decided to reinvest the money into a crystal for Maya.

"That's great. We want to—" Before he could finish his sentence, Oliver put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you absolutely sure about this? This is a lot of money, Evan."

"Stop worrying, Oliver. It's not even really our loot, remember? Alex gave it to us as a favor, and now we're paying it forward." Oliver looked at the crystal in the vendor's hand, lips pressed together.

"Fine. But Maya better give us a super good discount on all the cool stuff she's going to make." They left the auction house with full wallets but empty shopping bags and walked over to the Monster Hunter Guild headquarters. It was a multistory building, built of white stone blocks. Sturdy columns supported the roof overhanging the street in front of the entrance, and the walls were covered in ivy-like growth. Even among the other luxurious guild houses, this one stood out as especially impressive.

"Do we just go in?" he asked.

"This looks like the kind of place you need an appointment to. Or a special invite, arriving in a golden envelope." Oliver looked nervous too, at least until a bearded man stomped past them. His leather armor was covered in dust, grime, and something that looked suspiciously like dried blood, and his hair and beard were unkempt. When he moved past them, Evan got a whiff of his very ripe body odor.

Despite looking like he'd just returned from a month-long trip into the wilderness, the man walked right through the imposing front doors. Evan and Oliver looked at each other and laughed.

"I guess we just go in, yes," Oliver said. They followed the smelly man inside and found themselves in a surprisingly simplistic-looking entry hall, compared to the building's exterior. Stone floors, mostly covered with dark blue carpets, wood-paneled walls, and a lot of corridors and stairs, leading away from the hall in all directions.

In the middle was a reception desk with a bored-looking dark-haired woman sorting through a stack of thin stone tablets that looked similar to the ones the vendors used for their price lists. The bearded man greeted her with a grunt and a nod of his head.

"Good day, Jonathan. Good to see you," the woman chirped, before returning her attention to the tablets in front of her. Evan and Oliver walked up to the counter, and the woman slowly raised her gaze.

"Yes?" she asked, a lot less chirpy than before.

"We would like to register for the guild," Evan said with a friendly smile. Her gaze wandered from Evan to Oliver and back to Evan.

"Do you have the registration fee?"

"Uh… how much is the fee?"

"500 mana stones per person. The yearly fee depends on your rank, starting at 300 mana stones for rank 1," she explained in a bored tone. Evan sighed unhappily. Admission fees weren't the kind of thing he thought he would have to deal with after traveling to a magical fantasy world, but apparently some things were so universal they crossed world boundaries. Like fees. And annoyed reception desk ladies.

"Yes, we have the fee. Do we pay right now?"

"No, you go up the stairs to the right, third door on the left. Talk to Kirby. He will give you the forms."

"Uh, thank you. Have a nice day." Who knew joining a Monster Hunter Guild came with so much bureaucracy?