17 The Auction 2

Marco POV :

Finally, after a week of waiting, today will be the day of the first auction ever in Fiore. Maybe this concept is implanted in other country but at least not in the surrounding countries or else i will heard about it.

I won't lie to myself i'm quite excited about the prospect of it since i really loved seeing auction. The thrill when someone bid a huge amount of money for something worthless is so satisfying. That's why i decided to just create my own auction house ( not because of money of course ).

While waiting atop of a building, I watched the huge crowd chattering in front of the auction house. Most of the topic concerned, the item which will be auctioned and some rumors around the shop.

Not that i was concerned about their opinion. I still have a lot to do after this auction i need to become stronger, because the Phantom Lord Arc will quickly appear even though my strength is on part with the ten wizards saints, it is only when i use my full power and all my element. I don't want to pull out my trump card this soon so i need to become stronger and more adept with my magic. I also need to prepare for the impact that i have in the timeline of Fairy tail. Normally Phantom Lord should have already attacked the Guild but because of the auction they have been delayed. I should prepare preventive measure if they win some item from the auction.

I snapped out of my thought when i heard a commotion from the crowd below. Apparently the Master have arrived.

I started channeling my wind element in the air and gradually taking control of the area below using my zone. It require utmost control since i do not want to harm the people. I enveloped the people with wind and move them from the center to let the Master passing. After letting out the control of my spell my head was dripping with sweat, even though it was short some people started to struggle there were even very good mage inside the crowd. Suppressing one of these mage is easy but dealing with a hundred of them at the same time while maintaining a fine control is very difficult. It is easier to move someone who sleep or is willing than someone who struggle.

After a short pause, i quickly transformed myself and blended with the crowd to enter the first floor of the auction house i wanted to see for myself the auction house from a customer point of view, i will be able to see the details that i have forgotten and improve them.

Some of my clone will be taking care of the Guild Master and the other customers so i'm not concerned about it. Entering the Auction House who was crowded, i direction myself to a corner and let out my aura to scare people and make myself some space.

I started to observe the crowd, i could see some people with malicious intent, they seems to want to cause trouble, maybe stealing the items ? Nevermind, they will never be able to do that anyways, only Acnologia or Zeref could possibly steal from me.

While observing there was a young woman approaching me, she was quite cute with

her brown hair, i recognized her at first sight even thought she was younger than in the anime, yeah it was Mikazuchi Kagura.

I was sure that she was here for the sword but i doubt that she will be able to acquire it after all there were many powerhouse present here.

She approach me but when trying stepping in my zone, her face was covered in shock as she sensed the huge pressure bearing on her. She tried to take some step but was completely suppressed by my zone. But when she was about to fall i stopped my zone and quickly stabilize her with my hand.

Marco : It is not everyday that i see someone who is strong enough to take more than one step when i emit my pressure. You are a very strong woman.

While talking i helped her adjust herself and after the initial shock she started to respond me.

Kagura : I'm still nothing in front of you.

Marco : Thank you for your praise, so what are you doing here ? Oh i see, you are here for the sword ? Is that right ?

Kagura : Yeah but i think they are off limit since the Master are here.

Marco : You should not be discouraged there are also other good item you will see it later. Maybe some could pick up your interest.

Kagura : Yeah, maybe. Oh I'm sorry i did not presented myself. I'm Kagura Mikazuchi.

I already know don't worry.

Marco : Hello Kagura, Me it's Marco, Don't have a surname.

Kagura : Can i ask you a question ?

Marco : Yeah, what is it ?

Kagura : How could you be this strong.

She said it with a determined look. Seeing this i started smiling towards her and responded.

Marco : Because in this world if you are not strong enough you will be swallowed by someone stronger than you, i needed to have the strength to protect myself. Living in this cruel world you need to quickly adapt yourself and me i adapted myself by becoming strong and training hard all the time.

Kagura : Can you train me ?

I was really surprised when i heard her question after all it is quite uncommon to demand a stranger if he could train you. I started pondering since i do not know anything about sword and she was famous for her swordsmanship in the anime. While i was thinking i heard a notification from the system which say that i have another mission to complete. I was a second time surprised to see that i could have a quest like that.

[ New Sub-Quest :

Take Kagura as your disciple and make her one of the best magician in the world.

Rewards : Time Training Chamber ]

I was surprised by the quest after all taking a disciple is very time consuming but seeing the rewards i see that the time used will be recuperated in the time training chamber. So I decided to accept this quest since i will encounter many time Kagura in this world and why saying no to train a cute girl.

Marco : I could train you but it would be a very harsh training, Don't even expect me to show you negligence.

I see her with a beaming smile while she bow down to express her gratitude.

We continued chatting until the announcers stated the beginning of the auction.

When the auction began, the room was dead quiet everybody focused their gaze towards the stage and nobody utter a single word.

Presentator : Thank you for all of you for coming in the first auction ever realized in our History. To prove that the object selling here are authentic, there is a supervisor from the Magic council who will watch over the auction, we will also make few demonstration to show you the power of our item.

The rule are simple, an item will be displayed on the stage, the person who bid the highest price win. But be aware if we find out that you don't have the money necessary to bid, you will banished of our establishment for life.

Now let's start with the first item. Let me present you one of the invention who would revolutionize the world. The MINI-COMMUNICATION LACRIMA.

Then you could see Libra bring a hand-size Lacrima on a beautiful cushion. She then deposed the item on the pedestal who was on the middle of the stage.

Some gasp could be heard from everywhere, somes where even shivering.

Stanger 1: N..o...No it's impossible they wouldn't do that ?

Stranger 2 : Do what ?

Stranger 1 : The woman on the stage !

Stranger 3 : So what she is beautiful and very exotic it is rare to see them here.

Stanger 1 : It's not that... She is one of the Celestial Spirit coming from the 12 Golden Zodiac Keys, THE SPIRIT OF THE HEAVENLY SCALE KEY, LIBRA.

Stranger 2 : What, but aren't these key unique and extremely rare, are you sure that she is the one ???

Stanger 1 : I'm 100% Sure of it i cannot be wrong. It is clearly Libra here on the stage.

Stranger 3: How can someone be so extravagant to make a Celestial Spirit work in this place ???

Stranger 1 : Don't know but this guys sure is powerful to be able to make a Celestial Spirit as strong as her a simple employee here.

The whole crowd were shocked even the guild Master were surprised by this extravagance and Master Bob wore a very thoughtful expression. ( Karen case )

He didn't know if the Celestial Spirit were maltreat or not and even if he know he couldn't do anything since it was not in his range of power. He signed and continued to watch the interesting item.

After a while the spectator started to calm down and continue listening to the presentator.

Presentator : I see you have calmed from your previous shock, but now let's see the first item. It is like i said before a mini communication Lacrima. It allow the user to communicate with other people who owned this Lacrima everywhere in the kingdom.

Another wave of shock spread throughout the people. It is understandable since this type of Lacrima should have been created years later and was still a novelty now.

Presentator : We have currently a stock of 100 of these Lacrima. And we will bid them by stack of 25 at the same time.

Stranger 1 : That mean we have 4 chances to get at least one bulk of these Item.

Stranger 2 : It's tricky, you don't know where is the best time to bid, it is like a game and i think there will be expert at it.

Presentator : Now a little silence please. The first bulk start at 1 200 000 Jewels let's start the bid ( around 12,500 $ ), with a minimum increase of 100 000 Jewels.

For several second nobody bid. They wanted to see who would make the first bid.

Silence ...

Presentator : Don't be too shy, the first bulk start at 1 200 000 Jewels so who want these Lacrima at 1 200 000 Jewels.

After several second when the Presentator wanted to speak, a voice fell down.

??? : 1 500 000 Jewels !!

Then after the voice died down all people turned to see a man in a corner smiling sitting with a girl beside him. They looked surprised to see that this man was very young thinking how he could have so much money. Of course this person was Marco and Kagura.

Presentator : 1 500 000 Jewels for the young man, 1 500 000 Jewels once ! ...

When the presentator rang out again they all snapped back and started to bid like crazy. They just wanted for someone to test the water and will definitely not let some nobody win this item.

Bidder 2 : 1 750 000 Jewels !!

Bidder 3 : 2 000 000 Jewels !!

....

There were several bid and many of the curious onlooker were gastly pale when they heard this monstrous price. Don't forget that normal people here earn 50 000 Jewels per month and that with pretty much difficulty, they would need some years to just even try to bid. The majority of the bidder were from the first floor. It was mainly businessman who think they found an incredible opportunity. There were also some bid coming from the second floor, not too much tough, maybe some noble who found the item amusing. But there wasn't any bid coming from the third floor.

Presentator : 3 500 000 Jewels for Mister, 3 500 000 Jewels once ! 3 500 000 Jewels twice ! 3 500 000 Jew...

Third Floor ??? : 4 000 000 Jewels

Presentator : Ohohoh, an increase of 500 000 Jewels, it seems that someone from the third floor really want this item. So somebody want to continue ? 4 000 000 Jewels once ! 4 000 000 Jewels twice !

Nobody responded, they weren't fool and didn't want to offend some of the big guild there. So they calmly waited to try their luck for the next batch.

Presentator : This batch of 25 Mini-communication Lacrima is then sold at 4 000 000 Jewels for the fifth booth. Congratulation. Now let's follow with the second batch. Still starting with 1 200 000 Jewels.

Bidder 1 : 1 500 000 Jewels

....

Then the 4 batches were quickly sold out, and unsurprisingly, they all were sold to the big guild. After all this type of Lacrima was very useful for communicating and even to call for help if a mission went in disarray. Next were sold some miscellaneous items for the common person like a magic net for fishing; the youth pill or even a magic watch, it was very simple item, not some important one. Then after one hour.

Presentator : Now we will start to display the best item sold in this auction.

After the sentence, all people refocused on the stage, some of the Master who were sleeping awoke and started to focus ( try to know who were sleeping ).

Presentator : So the first item is a barrier formation Lacrima. Let me explain his property. These Lacrima placing them in a precise formation is able to create a shield capable of witnessing immeasurable power. It's strength depend on the magical power given to it. Let me show you a demonstration.

Then the presentator placed the lacrima forming in a formation ressembling a magic circle.

Presentator : Now to activate the formation we only need to use mana to powered it. For mage you can insert your mana inside it, like the magic vehicle and for non mage, you can use the mana lacrima which we also sell in our building. The power of the formation depend on the quantity given to the formation.

I will use the concept of Magic point Finder ( MPF ) to let you understand the true power of these item, the MPF is an item used to determine the power of someone magic, it is used to train runic knight.

For example D-Class Mage can go up to 10 MP (Magic Point), C-Class Mage up to 50 MP, B-Class Mage up to 100 MP, A-Class Mage up to 200 MP, S-Class Mage up to 500 MP, SS-Class Mage up to 1000 MP, SSS-Class Mage up to 2500 MP and 10 Wizards Saints strength, up to 7500 MP. ( Statistic based on the grand magic games ). The formation can protect all the people inside with the power of 10 people of the rank below or 1 person of the same strength. For example if someone with A-class strength, powered this formation, he will be able to withstand 10 B-class mage or 1 A-class mage. And with the lacrima given by us you can protect yourself up to A-class mage. Now let me show you a little demonstration.

The presentator then took out a lacrima and placed it in the center of the formation. Then a dome appeared enveloping the presentator inside. The presentator then walk out of the formation and a MPF came and was placed beside the dome.

He then started to empowered a little ball of lighting in his hand and threw it towards

the dome, touching it a strong light started emanating from the ball and ripple were forming around the dome but it stood firm. When the ball made of energy faded away we could see that the number coming from the MPF was 148 MP which.

Presentator : Now you have seen the effect of this barrier and if you are afraid that we have tempered the MPF to give you false results, do not worry because this one came directly from the Magic Council and they have made multiple check before the presentation. Now let's start the bid, the starting price is at 2 000 000 Jewels with an increase of a minimum of 500 000 Jewels.

Bidder 1 : 2 500 000 Jewels

Bidder 2 : 5 000 000 Jewels

….

Meanwhile in a booth of the 3rd floor. A man covered in dark was speaking with a short man.

??? : Your Majesty, if is not rude but this barrier will be very useful against other mage for future war, we will be able to protect our soldiers against other kingdoms mages. Plus it can even be used without the need of a mage.

??? : Yeah you are right, it will be a good shield for the frontline or even the backline. I wonder where did they find these wonderfull items.

Hmm the price start to stagnate lets bid then. 15 000 000 JEWELS.

When everyone heard the exorbitant price they quickly stopped their bidding seeing that it also came from the 3rd floor they didn't even think twice to abandoning this item.

Presentator : 15 000 000 Jewels once, 15 000 000 Jewels twice, 15 000 000 Jewels thrice, the item will go to the booth at the third floor, Congratulation.

Now let make place to the sword that all people waited for, it is say that the sharpness of this sword is capable to cut even Dragon's scales, now let me present you the amazing Dragon Sword.

Libra then came with an plain looking sword with a tattered leather as his mantle. Many voice their suspicion about the prowess of the sword and many chatting could be heard inside the hall, but none of these complain come from the VIP room, inside it you could see that all person where deadly serious.

Presentator : Please stay quiet, you all seems to be sceptical about this sword which is understable with its appearance, but don't be fooled by the look, this sword has been retrieved from an old ruin from the time where the dragon and human still lived peacefully and the might of this sword, even if old looking, is still amazing. It is also better to say that the true power of the blade can only be used by a mage. Let me show you the demonstration, for reason of security we could not do the demonstration inside the building but we have made a record about it.

The presentator then retrieve the Video Lacrima and started displaying the test of the sword. When the sword easily cut the whole mountain, gasp could be heard everywhere, containing also a tinge of fear.

Presentator : Now that you have all seen his prowess from the Lacrima, let's quickly begin this auction starting with 1 million jewels and a bid no less than 500 000 Jewels.

VIP room 1 : 5 Million Jewels.

VIP room 2 : 10 Million Jewels.

VIP room 5 : 20 Million Jewels.

....

Meanwhile in the first floor.

Kagura : The Guild Master are crazy !!! How could they spend so much money for just a sword !!!

Marco : You can't blame them too much. Look at the destructive power of the sword, if you can equip the item to one of your mage, his firepower could rival even S-class mage, the item is like a free S-class Mage. And with this weapon, you could finish quest quickly and with all the quest achieved, you can easily cover the price of the item which can also boost the reputation of the guild. But the most important part is that they don't trust other, ok some guild have good relationship between them like Blue Pegasus and Fairy Tail but some have quite big enmities like Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail and they don't want to see this massive weapon in the hand of their enemies.

Kagura : That make sense ! But still the price are a little bit exaggerated they have passed the 50 million jewels, the seller is rich now, i am thinking about his identity who could find and sell such good item.

Hearing her mumbling i smiled a little since i owned the building and was also the seller. Even though i could not make broken item like that all the time because of the restriction coming from the system, i could still make a name for my business.

Coming back to my sense i quickly focused on the stage seeing that the price started to stagnate.

Presentator : 150 millions Jewels once, 150 millions Jewels twice, 150 millions Jewels thrice, and the item go over to the booth at the 3rd floor, Congratulations for winning the sword. It is now the end of the auction. You can now pay and retrieve your item at the backstage please Thank you all for coming to this first Auction ever. And we wish we could see you soon.

Marco (whisper) : Hmm so the sword is at the hand of the Magic council at the end, it is not a bad ending, i will be more concerned if it fall in the hand of Phantom Lord but i think they are short on money since they are been preparing for war. I should prepare too.

Kagura : Hm ? Marco what are you whispering ?

Marco : Oh nothing, what will you doing now since the auction is finished.

Kagura : I don't know i travelled here specifically because of the sword, now that i didn't win it, i don't know what to do.

Marco : Then let's start your training, you should start preparing, come see me here in 1 week at 10 am, take everything you need for the wild, we might take more than a month.

Kagura : Understood.

After exiting the auction, we then each bid farewell and took our way.