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Book 1: Chapter 82: Platinum Pass and About This Much

"Soph isn\'t interested in the auction?" Lone asked Sophie who was getting into her armour.

Why she was wearing armour and not a fancy dress instead was easily explained. In her own words, she did not wish to be left unprepared for a battle should such a thing happen during tonight\'s event.

"She is asleep in here," Sophie answered as she pointed to her head. "You know as well as I do that she was training our Teleportation skill from the moment we returned to our room until we took over for her and had a bath."

Lone puckered his lips in thought. "Still, she seems the type to enjoy watching mystical and valuable items being sold off."

"Items like an infant?" Sophie asked pointedly. "No, we think not. She is far too innocent for such a thing. You intend to purchase it, do you not?"

Lone nodded. "I\'ve got 15 ruby-gold coins, or better yet, 150,000 gold. So yeah, I intend to buy it. There\'s no way I\'ll let some creep of a noble get her, especially since she\'s the same race of foxkin as myself."

After Lone had discovered what ruby-gold coins were from the library after his first-ever conversation with Charles - the guild receptionist that he usually spoke to - he\'d decided to shift his focus from making golden coins to the ruby-gold ones.

Ruby-gold coins were the highest denomination of money on the continent and they - along with the other metal coin currencies - had been created by The Adventurer\'s Guild.

As it turned out, they were fairly new in Milindo and not standardised all across the entire continent, much to Lone\'s shock, but not to his surprise.

He had assumed they were a standard since, well, this was a fantasy world. His logical and historical mind quickly saw such thinking as foolish when he\'d learned the truth. Diversity in currency only made sense when more than a single ruling faction existed, after all.

100 copper coins made up the same value as a single silver coin, 100 silver coins were equal to one gold coin, 100 gold coins were worth the same as a white-gold - or platinum - coin, then finally, 100 white-gold coins were worth a single ruby-gold coin.

The ruby-gold coin itself was a large 5cm-wide golden coin with a small ruby in its centre.

They were extremely rare and usually only used in massive purchases like those of an empire purchasing a kingdom from a struggling ruler or for hiring the services of only the most powerful adventurers.

At least, that was what Lone had read. Luckily the book on currencies also included very detailed pictures of the coins, so making one was very possible.

Sadly, however, Lone knew nothing of rubies, especially the ones inlaid into the ruby-gold coins. They were magically bound to the guild apparently, and such a thing was proven true when Lone had created the first one.

A single coin alone had drained his MP in its entirety.

Since then, he had increased his Magical Power, and thus, his Mana Points had gone up accordingly. He had also gained a better understanding of the coins through the first one, leaving him where he was today, with a veritable fortune.

It was a shame that he couldn\'t create any more money until a year had passed, so if possible, he\'d like to spend as few of them as possible this evening.

"And if it is not enough?" Sophie asked.

"Then we lean on Gilbert again. He seems to not want her to have her life ruined by some sick pervert just as much as we do," Lone said.

"And if we do acquire her? What then? We become loving parents of someone else\'s child?" Sophie followed up.

"We bring her to the Crimson Foxkin Clan. That makes the most sense," Lone replied with a shrug. "Matriarch Lossa seemed kind enough. She also gave the impression that she was close to the Shimmering Foxkin Clan before they vanished, or, at least, close to some Golden Foxkin. We have to go there anyway to help the Crimson Foxkin I freed from Daisuke. I also plan for us to go there to learn and train before we head to The Academy. Three birds, one stone."

Sophie nodded. "Very well. That is a sufficiently good answer. Changing your underwear is burdensome enough, let alone an infant\'s."

Anger surfaced on Lone\'s face. "I already promised I\'d stop falling into mini-comas."

"And we already told you that we do not believe you. We shall tease you until the day you die about this, Lone," Sophie said with a sly grin on her lips. "You tease us romantically, so we have more than the right to tease you as well."

"I tease you romantically?" Lone questioned as he approached the girl. "I can get you out of that armour in less than a minute and start teasing you right now if you\'d like."

"As much as we would love to steal you from Soph tonight, Gilbert is approaching the room with those former slaves and your blacksmithing master. Best control your manhood before you humiliate yourself even further," Sophie said with a wink as she finished putting on her full-plate.

Lone shook his head. "This is far from over, you little devil."

He then went to the room\'s door and opened it, surprising Gilbert who was in the middle of knocking. "I trust you\'re both ready?" the dragonkin asked with a cough as he brought his hand back down to his side.

Lone nodded. "Yup. It won\'t be an issue if she\'s in full-plate, will it?" he asked as he pointed a thumb over his shoulder at Sophie who was covered head-to-toe in armour.

Gilbert and Grimsley both raised an eyebrow.

"I don\'t see why not. Many important figures worldwide will be attending, not only the nobility and wealthy from Milindo. Having a knight or two makes absolute sense given the risks," Gilbert said.

Grimsley scratched his beard as he eyed Sophie all over. "Ye get tall\'r, Lassie? Fookin\' crackin\' armour, by the way. Almost looks tae fine tae be real. \'At shite even proper steel?"

Lone grinned. "As real as it comes. Let\'s talk and walk, huh? The night isn\'t getting any younger. Neither are you and your wrinkles, now that I think about it."

"Ye cheeky little gobshite! I\'ve nae got a wrinkle tae to be seen! Ye\'ve got wrinkles on yer bum, ya fookin\' tosspot!" Grimsley spat out insult after insult as their group made their way down the guild and he didn\'t even stop when they were on the street.

Shana slowly approached Lone\'s side and whispered, "Uncle Grim is, uh, really sensitive about his looks. He\'s really young for a dwarf since we live for centuries, but, he, uh, well, working at the forge for as long as he does as a qualified dwarven smith had kind of aged his skin even if he\'s healthier than most."

"Oh. Thanks for the info. I don\'t actually think he looks old. Hell, you can barely see anything bar his nose and eyes past that massive beard," Lone said with a short chuckle.

"T-That\'s good..." Shana looked down as an awkward aura overcame her. "Um... Thanks for saving me."

"Grimsley did that, I just got rid of your collar. Don\'t sweat it. More importantly, why do you not have an accent? Is it really unique to Grimsley? I sure as hell hope it isn\'t \'cause that\'d be one heck of a coincidence if so," Lone said with a wry smile.

"Uh, no. All dwarfs tend to talk like him. I was enslaved when I was four... It\'s been 11 years since then. My accent kind of faded away..." Shana explained.

"Well hey, there\'s a silver lining for you. Now you don\'t have to sound like a total idiot. I hate that accent, by the way. I grew up hearing it all the time. People seem to love it but I can\'t see the appeal, personally. It\'s hard to understand folk sometimes," Lone joked.

Shana wore a complex look on her face. "... You were raised by dwarves?"

"Haha, I wish. As annoying as I find the accent, if every dwarf is like Grimsley then I\'d love to grow up around short angry people," Lone replied. "Speaking of, you\'re 15? You look about ten."

Grimsley had slowly stopped his tirade of insults and had started listening to Lone and his niece talk. \'The laddie kens \'ow tae ease a wee\'uns mind, eh? Never took \'im as the type, though mind ye, Soph\'s as childish as they get.\'

He looked at the armour-wearing girl and smirked under his beard. \'Surprisin\' she \'as the Strength tae wear \'at shite. Whatever floats \'er boat, ah guess. Still, Ah\'m sure she\'s tall\'r now... Ah ken \'ow much \'at armour should be raisin\' \'er \'eight... Weird.\'

"There\'s a queue?" Lone asked in surprise as they approached the area of the city in the market district where the entrance to Sir Deposit\'s dimensional auction was supposed to be.

Lone could barely see the building they were meant to arrive at over the massive crowd of people surrounding the line.

The building itself didn\'t look too special but something about it made Lone feel... off.

"Yup. I\'ve only been to two of these auctions before in my almost 400-years. It\'s always like this. Maybe this is a bit worse since this is an exclusive entrance for an exclusive auction, but it\'s hard to really recall. It was about 150-years-ago the last time I was able to attend," Gilbert said as he walked confidently towards the front of the line.

Following him, Lone and company looked confused. "Shouldn\'t we line up too?" Lone asked.

Gilbert just chuckled. "Nope. Son, these folk? They\'re lining up to win an entry pass. Last time I attended, five were handed out to a lucky few. Apparently every person picked is somehow able to afford an item they desperately needed. Fate magic is a thing, so some speculate Sir Deposit or someone in his employ can use it and does it to generate legends and excitement for the auctions."

"That sounds incredible..." Shana mumbled.

Gilbert smiled warmly. "Doesn\'t it just? Now, we already have an entry pass. A platinum one too, at that. There\'s no need to line up with hopes to get something we already own. Let\'s hurry up and get inside. I\'d like to gauge our opponents for a while before the bidding starts."

A few moments later they were gathered at the front of the line.

"Pass, please," the guard barring entry asked.

Lone felt that the man stopping them was incredibly normal, maybe even weak, but if he was the doorman for such a grand event then surely he couldn\'t be an ordinary person.

\'Man, I wish I was a B-ranker already,\' Lone complained in thought as Gilbert showed his platinum pass, earning quite a reaction from the line.

"That demi has a platinum pass! When was the last time one of those was ever given out? Who is that dragonkin for him to hold more importance to Sir Deposit than my master?"

"That\'s the local representative of The Adventurer\'s Guild. He\'s been in charge of the guild\'s expansion into Milindo for the past century."

"How could someone so unimportant be given a platinum pass? The Empress of Taslo only had a silver pass and she was the most notable figure I\'ve seen enter thus far!"

"You have eyes but cannot see-"

\'Mount Tai?\' Lone thought in amusement.

"-the true powers. I bet there are people more important than her in there... Still... That Golden Foxkin... I wonder if they\'re related?"

\'Ah, not Mount Tai. Such a shame,\' Lone sighed internally.

Lone was rather interested in the few conversations he was hearing, but he couldn\'t stay around for long. His group was forced to quickly follow Gilbert through the entrance of the simple-looking building.

Once inside they were met with the sight of a massive auditorium of silk and velvet with carved statues of powerful figures lining the walls.

These statues had piercing gazes and almost seemed alive. Also of note were the fourteen overhanging private suites, each different in design and apparent quality.

Gilbert and Lone along with Sophie, the quiet Crimson Foxkin, and, of course, the dwarven uncle-niece duo, were led to the very best suite - the largest one which was a hollowed-out red jewel the size of a house.

They were soon told that the auction would begin in a little over an hour and that they needed to only speak of a mortal desire for it to be granted to them. After that, they were left alone.

"This place is fookin\' unbelievable!" Grimsley yelled as he keenly inspected the room\'s walls. "This\'s a fookin\' Emperor Fire Catalyst Gem! These fookin\' things are rarer than a noble cunt who\'s nae a racist wank\'r!"

"... A fun analogy," Gilbert said. "But yes, it truly is."

"Gilbert," Lone called as he found a seat and placed himself in it. "How did you get that pass? This is... Well, not to sound rude but I can\'t see someone like you getting something like that pass. I heard people mumbling about the Empress of Taslo being here. She\'s a massive bigshot, is she not?"

Gilbert, too, sat down before answering. "I was given it directly by the grand guildmaster. What her connection is to Sir Deposit and his auction, I have no idea. It\'s best not to question a Divine. Let\'s just enjoy ourselves and perhaps strategise, yes? How much money do you have, Son? However little, it will help us in saving the child."

\'He makes a good point,\' Lone thought as he reached into his pocket to disguise how he was taking things out of his Dimensional Storage.

Lone then showed a handful of ruby-gold coins. "I\'ve got about this much."