11 I am filthy rich

Going around shopping, eating delicacies, watching some opera, or just walking around the town holding each other's hands. That's usually how all dates turn out to be.

'I should've been careful.'

Jaden had let down his guard and forgotten who exactly Aliana was for a moment.

"You can't enter here without an invitation."

Jaden could feel his legs shake from fear. Aliana was trying to get inside a building. Many people were entering it.

Jaden could tell from their attire that most of them were nobles. And at the moment, he and Aliana weren't wearing any costly-looking outfits.

"I've never heard about such a rule."

As Aliana continued to argue with a man standing at the gates of the building, Jaden tried his best not to show that he was nervous.

'J-just what is she trying to do?'

His first date had turned out differently than he had expected. He had no will to enter the building.

"Allow me to enter already. You are going to regret it."

Aliana said this while moving a bit aside from the gate. Other people were entering the building.

"If I'm late for the auction, I'll make sure you lose your job."

Aliana smiled at the guard while sounding confident. The guard flinched and looked around a bit.

"Maybe it can work out fine if I get some payment..."

He bent over and whispered while smiling slyly. Jaden's expression stiffened as he witnessed the first corrupted individual from another world.

The man was brazenly asking for bribes. He couldn't have been any more obvious.

Tink

Aliana tossed a gold coin over him. He moved around a bit and caught the coin.

A greedy and lousy smile cracked on his lips as he got aside. His tone had changed drastically.

"Please go ahead inside."

He was letting them go in. Jaden noticed the guard's face was sweating for some reason. Maybe because it was afternoon.

"What are you doing?"

Aliana glanced towards Jaden. He had been standing in one place for a while now. Grabbing his hand, Aliana pulled him past the huge gates with her.

Where were they going? Jaden had no idea about it.

Jaden kept quiet as he was being dragged around again. He wanted to ask the question to Aliana, but that didn't seem like a good thing to do.

"We will be getting some stuff from here."

Aliana went inside the building. The doors were already open. A staircase led upstairs. The building had two floors.

"Yes? What may I help you with?"

An old man approached Aliana and Jaden with a smile on his face. His glasses reflected Jaden and Aliana's masked faces. He was wearing a black vest on a white shirt, along with a bow tie.

"Can you lead us to VIP rooms?"

Aliana let go of Jaden's hand. She looked towards the staircase.

"But you need a pass for tha-"

Tink

As the old man was speaking, a coin went flying towards him. He struggled a bit to catch it.

"Can we go there now?"

Looking at the coin closely, the old man stood aside. He moved his arm forward, making a gesture and asking them to go ahead.

"Please go upstairs. The second room you see is for you. Feel free to use it."

Aliana walked upstairs, and Jaden followed her without a single word.

'As I thought...'

Jaden had just witnessed what he had heard and read in his previous world.

'Money is the best!'

He didn't know how much a gold coin was worth. But looking at everyone's reaction till now, he could tell that it was very precious.

Clink

Aliana opened the door to the room the old man had described. Walking in, she looked around before speaking.

"See there?"

She peeped down the balcony in the room. There was a sofa right next to the balcony. One could sit there and see down.

"That's where they will be keeping items."

She was pointing towards a stage set right in front of them and on the floor below them. It will start soon. The stage was already set for the auction to start anytime.

Then she sat on the sofa. She looked at Jaded, who was in his own thoughts. 

-I didn't quite like the old designated areas. So I had them changed a bit.

He couldn't stop thinking about it. What Aliana said concerned Jaden a bit.

What did she mean by she had them change a bit? That piece of information was absurd in itself.

Aliana had said it as if she were talking about changing furniture or bedsheets. Designated areas weren't something that could be changed just like that.

"What are you thinking about?"

Jaden flinched as Aliana spoke in a slightly louder voice. He thought about staying away from her for while.

But in the end, he walked and sat beside her on the sofa. He spoke as if he was trying to scoff it off.

"It's nothing. I was just wondering about something."

He let out a slight sigh, thinking that Aliana wouldn't answer his question. Till now, she had only played around with her words.

"What is it? Just ask me."

Aliana smiled at Jaden before she put her head forward, trying to peer down the balcony. She was judging who and how many people had come there.

"What did you mean by 'I had them changed a bit.' earlier?"

Jaden was being straightforward. He wasn't really expecting an answer, either way.

"Oh. That?"

Snap

Aliana pulled out a scroll of paper and unfolded it. Pointing at it, she opened her mouth.

"Here... You see these two parts?"

She moved her finger on the left side of the paper. It was a map of Dragonaria. There was a line dividing the left side in half.

That was where the slums and the gambling den were supposed to be. But currently it was different.

Jaden was listening to what Aliana said attentively. He was a bit surprised but didn't show it on his face.

At the present, it was only a shopping district with a bunch of other businesses.

Aliana smiled while rolling the paper back into a scroll. The scroll disappeared as soon as she folded it.

"Get it? I did some real tough work and managed to develop it."

She sounded proud of herself. Jaden let out a soft laugh and spoke.

"Good job. Good job."

Aliana tried to avoid meeting his eyes. She continued looking down at the people sitting on the lower floor's seats.

"It's about to begin."

Saying that, she started scanning other rooms on the second floor. There were a total of 13 VIP rooms, of which 12 were in use.

Krrrrk

A screeching noise echoed inside the building. The candles in the room they were in went out.

-"The auction will now start."

An overly audible voice made vibrations run across their bodies. Jaden quickly turned his head towards the stage.

-"Thank you for being patient, ladies and gentlemen."

The lights were focused on the man standing on the stage. Edge of his hat glistened alongside the golden masquerade mask.

-------------------

"What are you even going to buy here?"

Jaden asked as he munched down the cookies one of the workers had brought in for Aliana and him.

"There are many things. Just keep your eyes open."

Aliana said this while watching a few people push a cart ahead on the stage. It was the cart that held the items that were about to be auctioned.

‐"The first item is a water dragon's skin. It can be used for crafting good armour."

The 'good armour' he meant was definitely just good, but a top-grade one. To keep people interested in the auction, they started off with the best item they could think of.

"We are buying this?" 

Jaden was attracted to the water dragon leather, and his eyes were fixed on it. Maybe because dragons are usually fantasy-like beings. The leather shone a light blue because of the lights focusing on it.

"No."

Aliana gave him a negative response when he asked. Jaden was expecting her to buy it.

"I can probably destroy it using my magic."

Aliana was strong enough to do that. Jaden had no idea about her true prowess.

He said no word, but stayed silent. He was looking out for whoever ended up buying the item.

-"1500 gold coins. 1..."

It was his first time attending an auction as such, and someone had bid gold coins on it. That left him confused for a bit. Then as the sudden voice fell on his ears, he flinched.

"Gold coins are mostly used here. Don't be surprised. I need to explain you properly, I think."

Aliana noticed the confusion on Jaden's face. Gold coins weren't the main currency in Dragonaria. They were just used sometimes instead of Daels, the original currency.

"One gold coin is equivalent to 100 daels. You can't just use gold coins everywhere; you will have to be rich to do that."

Snap

"And..."

Saying that Aliana snapped her fingers. A gold coin appeared in between of them.

"I am filthy rich."

Aliana smiled as she held the shiny gold coin in front of her and put it across her lips. She had been using gold coins everywhere and anywhere they visited.

Jaden was at a loss for words. His jaw dropped. He had expected it to be precious, but not this much.

'I made one dael equal to 150 US dollars. So that means...'

He could feel his hands going numb. That's just how huge the amount of money was.

'One gold coin is... 150000 US dollars?!'

And Aliana had already tossed around three of them to people as if they were nothing. He looked at her with a dumb face.

The person in front of him wasn't just filthy rich, but just beyond that. Of course, Jaden had no actual idea about it.

-"Sold!"

The items were being sold as Aliana and Jaden were speaking. Nothing had managed to pique Aliana's interest till now.

"Maybe they don't have the thing you are looking for."

Jaden was tired of sitting in one place. He was impatient to return to the Brimstone residence just to sleep.

At the moment, he was feeling tired. Only if he had remembered about the birthday banquet, he would've got some sleep beforehand.

"No. They definitely have it."

Aliana folded her hands and sat straight on the sofa. Putting one leg on top of another, she looked at the stage.

'What even is it that she wants?'

All the items that appeared until now were either common stuff like swords and shields or just not good enough to get Jaden interested.

Crink crink

A cart covered with a curtain was being pushed onto the stage now. It made a lot of sounds.

Grrr

Jaden looked at it with curious eyes. What could it be that was being so violent? It was some living being, for sure.

-"Are you ready for today's main and last item?"

The announcer said this while putting his hands up in the air. Everyone was looking forward to what was hidden behind that little red curtain.

Swish

The man pulled the curtain swiftly and revealed the item. Jaden could feel an eerie emotion welling up within his heart. There was a cage on the stage.

 -"The last items for today are two young slaves."

Jaden dug his nails into his palms, but the blood didn't fell down to the floor. Despite his strength, he was trying his best to control his rage.

But the next moment he realised that he was already bitting his own lips. That's just how bad the scene was.

'How could they... To little kids at that...'

Jaden never liked the concept of treating people as objects. He had even made the protagonists ban slavery.

-"They are twins. Buy one, get one free."

Aliana calmly watched Jaden, who was trying to hold back his anger. His grip was tight on the handle of the sofa.

"It's not legal. Slavery was banned a long time ago."

Aliana looked towards the stage. There were two small beings trapped inside the small box-shapped cage.

They were both wearing a shabby-looking brown rag. Their black hair totally covered their eyes.

"That's what I was looking for."

She looked at Jaden with serious eyes. He knew that Aliana wasn't the type to harm the little children.

That was one of the reasons that she had a good fan base till the end. Jaden settled his anger and let out a sigh.

-"Starting price is 5000 gold coins. Bidding starts now!"

As the man said that, the people present there began bidding their prices.

"Number eight bids thirty-five thousand gold coins."

"Number nine bids forty-five thousand gold coins."

Everyone in VIP rooms was saying their prices. But only one person was staying quiet. It was Aliana.

-"Eighty thousand gold coins is the highest. Is no one going to bid anymore?"

The announcer smiled. Jaden realised just how rotten and filthy a side that world had.

"Five hundred thousand gold coins."

Aliana had made her bid. Everyone at the place fell silent. This was the first time that someone had bid above a hundred thousand.

Bang

"Who is it? Who dares to!"

A fat man walked out of a VIP room. He was visible to others since he was standing on the balcony.

"Jaden. Remember his face well. He is Baron Spelman."

Baron Spelman was a notorious noble. He was involved in countless crimes. But since evidence was lacking, no action was taken.

"You will meet him at the banquet later. That time..."

Jaden was too angry at that moment. His rage hadn't completely settled down.

"... He tried to buy them, right?"

Jaden asked Aliana as he looked at Baron Spelman. She knew what Jaden was thinking about.

"That's right. It's for exactly what you are thinking."

Jaden expected it. Baron Spelman had bad intentions, which were better left unspoken.

"Tsk..."

Baron Spelman looked at Aliana and Jaden. But he had no way of knowing their identity because of the masks.

"One million gold coins! I bid one million gold coins!"

Baron Spelman shouted loudly. The voice echoed throughout the auction.

-"O-o-one million!! The highest bid is one million gold coins! Does anyone wish to bid higher?"

Even the announcer was pleased with the bid. The highest bid in the auction hall's history of 10 years was happening.

"Twenty million gold coins."

Aliana smirked at Baron Spelman. She wanted to teach him his place. With a red face, Baron Spelman left the auction hall.

-"T-twenty million gold coins is the highest bid! Is there anyone else who wants to bid higher?"

The announcer's question was answered with the loud silence of the people participating in the auction.

-"No one has bid higher than room 12. Sold!"

Aliana looked at Jaden, who was smiling awkwardly and nervously. The coins she just spent were more than enough to buy an entire village.

But what she had done was better than that. Saving someone was definitely worth spending that sum of money.

Items were to be collected at the back of the stage. As for VIP guests, thery were supposed to go to the auction's office room.

With that, the auction has come to an end. The curtain fell, hiding the stage behind it.

"Let's go and collect those kids. We need to save them."

Aliana said this while walking towards the door. Her steps were quick making Jaden struggle to keep up with her.

"They aren't children of humans."

Jaden was shocked. Still, he quietly followed Aliana. He gulped down his own saliva as he kept getting more nervous.

"They are dragons."