1 The Grand Opening

The Ava Kingdom had been in peace for the past five generations. The Grand Duke of Aberlain had been in power ever since his brother, the current King Endreas, took over the throne. On normal days such as this, he usually met the earls and barons of his domain to discuss politics before leisurely doing some of his hobbies.

As the Grand Duke sipped his tea, he glanced at all the nobles surrounding him. They gave subtle praises, blatant fawning smiles, or polite words, but he only kept his expression flat as he replied curtly. The meeting was supposed to end soon, but one of his trusted subordinates suddenly entered the room and briskly walked to him.

The Grand Duke frowned but leaned to the side to catch the subordinate's frantic whispers.

"Master, there is news from the outskirts of Polyres Town, near the Aberlain dukedom's capital. There are scrolls about an auction house opening in the Frost Woods! Your subordinates cannot easily enter the Frost Woods, hence we were unable to verify its construction and existence."

The Grand Duke's frown deepened before a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. He glanced at the subordinate with a questioning gaze and the subordinate nodded with a restrained expression.

The Grand Duke straightened his expression and waved his hand as his booming voice announced, "The meeting shall end here. It shall be adjourned to another day. Enjoy the feast in the banquet hall before you return."

As the Grand Duke stood up, the nobles also did and bowed down, "As the Grand Duke commands."

The Grand Duke left with the subordinate and entered his personal study. After he sat down, he looked at the stiff subordinate probingly.

"Show me the results of your investigation."

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Evening, two days prior.

Polyres Town, Outskirts of Aberlain Dukedom.

The sunset has passed the peak of its glory and began to dim with the darkening sky. In the bustling town of Polyres, an unassuming figure walked through the crowd.

The lone figure had a hooded cloak on, but it was a common sight in a border town like Polyres. They went into the largest, brightest tavern and sat down by the bar. When the tavern-keeper asked, the figure only pointed to a cheap bottle of wine to order a drink. Despite their overly silent demeanor, the tavern-keeper was understanding. Every adventurer had their own story to tell.

The figure sat alone for a solid fifteen minutes before someone approached them.

"Some getup you have there," the voice was gruff and the man speaking had battle scars all over his body, "Sitting alone?"

The figure didn't speak but nodded.

The man laughed aloud and turned around, facing the large hall of the tavern, "Look at it, fellas! This lad is here all alone and taking up space on the bar!"

The man turned back around and asked with an amused tone, "What are you? Adventurer? Lost kitty? Or a foreigner? Huh?"

The figure didn't answer, only sipping from the half-empty glass of wine.

"What, you don't wanna answer? Or maybe, can't answer?" The man continued probing with suspicious eyes, "How come ain't no people in this tavern ever seen you, lad?"

The figure placed the glass of wine on the table softly, but the thud of glass on wood resounded in the tavern.

"I'm just a messenger."

The figure's voice was sweet and tantalizing. It made the man stunned as he realized that he was picking on a woman. Unexpectedly, the figure snapped her head upwards and stared at the man's face.

The hood made it impossible for others to see, but the man could clearly see that porcelain-perfect face. Her skin was unnaturally white, while her eyes only had blue rings that seemed to glow with no whites. The sparkle of light and shadow made the seams on her 'skin' more prominent. Scattered freckles of light reflected off of her metallic hair, shining unnaturally.

"Y-you… Are you hu—"

A head rolled on the ground of the tavern, but no blood spurted out. The incision was very clean and precise, whereas the frost on it showed that some sort of magic was at play. The slash was too quick, and the crowd in the tavern was still busy joking and teasing the man. When the figure's cloak fluttered back to place, the whole tavern was silenced by the thud of a headless body. By the time everyone figured out what had happened, the tavern's deathly stillness was only interrupted by brief sips and near-silent gulps of cheap wine. The figure had sat back down.

Swords, guns, and magic staffs are taken out by every mercenary, adventurer, and patron of the tavern. After that figure finished the cheap wine, she placed a scroll on the dead body. The tavern-keeper who was leisurely serving drinks and chatting had opted to silently wipe a wine glass with an emotionless face as the silence descended. He took the lead to break the tense silence with a casual tone.

"You know this tavern is a civil area. Many strong adventurers and mercenaries come here, and even the nobles would occasionally come here when they have business in the borders... Very many will come to fight you to the death right here and now," the tavern-keeper spoke calmly, but the threat was obvious.

The figure lets out a soft heh but ignored the tavern-keeper's threats.

"I have paid for this wine and your tavern's fame with the death of your wife's lover," That sweet voice spoke while tapping on the empty glass.

She tilted her head slightly backward to address the tense crowd in the tavern with that same sweet voice, "I hope you all have enjoyed the grand opening of the Myste Auction House. May the most valuable of you receive your deserved worth."

Nobody had expected such a line to come out of this mysterious figure that had killed a man just minutes earlier. Everyone was stunned, and no one moved when she stood up again. She kept her face hidden under the shadows as she walked out of the tavern casually.

At the last minute, the guards of the tavern snapped out of it and blocked her escape, "You can't leave!"

Her hooded figure didn't stop and she lets out an amused yet sweet laugh as she said, "But can you stop me?"

The guards did try, but her mysterious figure seemed to disperse into mists as soon as the guards touched her. She disappeared completely with no trace. The people in the tavern seemed to wake up from their trance as they began clamoring and gossiping about the figure and her parting words.

"A grand opening? Is there some crazy new business opening soon??"

"Who knows?! I'm more worried about her previous words! The loving pair of the tavern-keeper and his wife has an affair?!"

"Hey, you should focus on the fact that a senior mercenary focused on tanking like Tora can have his neck cut cleanly in one shot!"

The tavern-keeper frowned at the mysterious figure's words. Only he himself knew that he had been overlooking his wife's affairs to accommodate his two daughter's innocence and happiness. He walked to Tora's dead body and picked up the scroll that was left behind. He opened it and was immediately stunned by the life-like image on it.

Although magical technology advancement has allowed life-like images and scenery to be recorded onto disks imbued with mana, it would still require some mana to activate the inscription and show the image. It was not yet possible to print the resulting image onto such a well-made thick leather scroll physically, with no traces of mana.

The tavern-keeper read the words and his expression turned even more grave. He abandoned the dead body's clean-up to some of his workers as he himself went into the storage room of the tavern. He took out a well-hidden box and picked out a cool disk with magical inscriptions engraved on it. When he poured some mana into it, a screen appeared above it.

It took the other side a minute before the image of a masked person appeared.

"What information do you have, Redsword Keeper?" The voice was distorted, making it impossible to recognize but the tavern-keeper was used to it. Additionally, he had a more pressing issue at hand.

"Inform the Grand Duke's investigation team! A messenger from a 'Myste Auction House' has appeared. I have an unimaginable advertisement scroll placed directly by the messenger."

The other side stood still for a moment before replying, "A high-ranked investigator is on their way. Report the details to him."

"Got it. For the Aberlain Dukedom."

"For the Aberlain Dukedom."

The connection was cut off.