Familiarities

"Trust me, we need to make this purchase." Crassus argued back as he looked at the ten beautiful women on the stage.

"I'm not looking to build a Harem." Dom said, "This isn't the kind of purchase I think we need to make?"

"Actually, it would be ideal if you did take multiple wives at least." Xun Yu commented back, "A wider group of heirs will give Riverside more stability as it grows and grows. I do agree however that purchasing ten women for a Harem is not the correct way. We should use marriage as an opportunity to create military and political marriages that can help Riverside grow."

"You are both perverts." Crassus said with an eye roll. "Who said anything about adding them to the Lord's Harem? I agree that political marriages is the best reason for marriage, Lady Meritamen has brought some benefits."

"Then why do you want them?" Dom asked seriously, hoping they would stop talking about his in game love life, he would much rather think about one in the real world, not that he knew when or who that would be with. Especially with the upcoming moves away from the Academy.

"These women will be highly educated as they would have been from prominent families." Crassus replied, "We are lacking administrators and I am sure Meritamen would be grateful for some support or some handmaidens."

"Or potential high quality concubines for your commanders." Xun Yu agreed, "Ok, it's a good bid that we should go for."

"Plus, they are very nice to look at." Crassus teased as he took a sip of his drink. "Do you have your eyes on one Xun Yu?"

"I didn't mean me!" Xun Yu laughed back, "My wife would not be happy with me."

"The other Lords are going to think I am a pervert." Dom commented as he prepared himself to reluctantly bid. 

"Why should you care?" Crassus replied, "Riverside is the priority."

Dom couldn't wait to see what Golden Sun's blog would say about the Top Lord Player after he made this purchase, Crassus didn't have to log out and go to reality and was just a game character after all, be that a realistic one.

"The bids will now start." Petunia announced, "Starting at one thousand gold coins with increments of one hundred."

Surprisingly both male and female Lord's bid on the ten women, not that Dom could work out what each individual's reason for bidding was. The bidding soon reached the seven thousand mark, with that being seven hundred gold coins per woman, a substantial amount. Dom felt that they should drop out at this stage, but Crassus put in another bid in when it reached seven thousand seven hundred and no one counter bid.

"Congratulations to the Lord in VIP Box Room One for your purchase. Emperor Ashoka has sent a letter along with the ladies, and we hope that you enjoy your purchase." Linus stated as the second to last item was won.

There was some applause from some of the male Lord's in the audience whilst the ten women slowly left the stage. Where as some of the other Lord's looked in Dom's direction with looks of disappointment for the current number one Lord. Some wondered just how rich Dom must be, seeing he had won a good percentage of the better items that had come up. 

"Our final item is this." Petunia announced as she opened the last box, revealing a previously seen item, a green cube. "This is a Warriors Hall Spawner. Now I know that earlier we have sold a D Grade Warriors Hall which was highly contested. This however is much different."

"It is." Linus said as he took over from Petunia. "This is for a grade A Warriors Hall, following the usual options that come up, you will have a grade A Unit spawn from this hall. This could have huge implications for you in the early stages of World Conquest Online. Not only are you gaining a Warriors Hall of a top graded unit, you are also taking these opportunities away from your competition."

"I must add, that there are only a limited number of units within the wider world. With there being many more at the lower grade, and much fewer at the higher." Petunia continued, "The bidding for this item will start at one thousand gold coins, with increments of one hundred."

There was uproar in the room, as most Lord's could only dream of an A Level Warriors Hall, an A level building alone was a large wish for them. Dom was blessed with options due to his successes with his quests and his S level Town Hall, however many other Lords were far below where Dom was. 

"No discussion, we are having this." Dom declared, with nods of agreement from Crassus and Xun Yu. A constant need for Warriors growing with the upcoming Tongpai Town expedition. Dom felt that he needed to concentrate on the civilian side as well, but this was an opportunity he couldn't miss.

The bids started fast, with all of the VIP Lord's being involved, with it quickly reaching the twenty thousand mark, much higher than nearly everything else before it. 

"I will have this item." Prince Dong Cheng announced as he counter bid.

"No, I will." Prince Li Shang had argued back.

"Thirty thousand gold coins!" Another bid as it continued to progress.

Even the quieter Lord's such as PhoenixSlayer, CityBuilder and PrettyGreenEyes had gotten involved with the counter arguments. Dom was shocked to see just how much gold some of the other Lord's had gathered, he had assumed he would comfortably win, but it seemed some had decided to go all out. Eventually the item reached the late thirties and only Prince Dong Cheng and Dom remained, as the third placed Lord VladInvader96 had declared he was out.

"Lord Lazarus, I have backed off on many items tonight, I would appreciate the favour returned." Prince Dong Cheng announced, the friendliness from earlier fading from his voice.

"Unfortunately, my Town needs troops and I can not back down." Dom replied evenly as he bid forty thousand gold coins. 

"So be it." Prince Dong Cheng said, as he no longer competed with the high value.

"Congratulations to the Lord in VIP Box One again." Petunia announced as Dom won the item for forty thousand gold coins. "With that, it is the end of the Auction. We will give you ten minutes to finish any earlier conversations and then you will have the option to return home. The auction hall will close in one hour, at that point everyone must have returned."

"As mentioned earlier, your items will be delivered to your Towns. Depending on the item, it will arrive either immediately when you do, such as in the spawn of cubes, or in a couple of days if it's a larger item that needs special delivery."

"Was it worth forty thousand gold coins?" Dom said, realising that he may have bid too much. Especially when put against some of the other items that had sold for much less. They hadn't spend their agreed budget, but they had still spent a substantial amount of gold.

"Yes it is." Crassus replied, "maybe not now, but in weeks or months when more and more units arrive, it will show it's worth. Let's hope we get something that fills our weaknesses."

"We have also stopped our competition from getting stronger." Xun Yu agreed.

"I think we will be getting busy soon." Crassus added, "I expect other Lords will want to establish relationships in the short time remaining."

They didn't have long to wait before there was a knock on the door and Johannes had gone to investigate, he soon returned and informed them that there was representatives from three different lords outside.

"Who do they represent?" Dom asked Johannes, who had been extremely helpful and attentative throughout the auction.

"Prince Li Shang, VladInvader96 and PrettyGreenEyes." Johannes replied kindly, 

"I am surprised there is no Prince Dong Cheng." Dom said in surprise.

"I am sure he has his reason." Crassus gloated, "Shall we meet them?"

Instead of heading outside, they instead decided to invite the Lord's or their representatives in one by one. The first to enter was Prince Li Shang, who surprisingly had come himself with two of his heroes. 

Prince Li Shang was wearing a silver jacket with embroidered buttons down the centre of it, and loose fitting black pants. He had sharp eyes and short black hair. He had a commanding presence and Dom felt in awe at the man, much more so than when he met Prince Dong Cheng.

Dom didn't recognise either of his Heroes, both men of stature. One wore robes similar to Xun Yu, where as the other wore silver layered armour and a silver helmet with a pointed top.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Prince Li Shang." Dom said politely.

"And you also." Prince Li Shang replied, "I have decided to come here, mainly to see the man that is at the top of the leader board, and also so I can brag to Golden Sun for his next blog. I was impressed with your financial clout and putting Prince Dong Cheng in his place."

"I just bought what we needed." Dom replied evenly, not wanting to get involved in actual real politics.

"I can believe it, the 10 fine women from the Great Emperor Ashoka's Harem are definitely an important purchase." Prince Li Shang laughed. "Well I have met you now, I am impressed with what I can see, I hope we can work together in the future."

"That would be nice." Dom replied politely as Prince Li Shang bid his farewell and left, almost as fast as he had arrived.

"What a strange man." Crassus said from beside Dom. Both Crassus and Xun Yu had stood at each side of Dom as he met Prince Li Shang and eyed up their competition. 

The next person to enter was a representative from VladInvader96. The representative was an Ancient Babylonian Scholar who was the Hero to spawn in VladInvader96's camp. The representative expressed his greetings and wishes for potential collaboration in the future, before also swiftly bidding farewell. 

The final guest to arrive was PrettyGreenEyes herself, escorted by her two guards from earlier. She wore a light green dress with flower patterns, where as her guards both wore green suits. They were all masked and Dom could just about see their striking eyes. 

"It is smart to protect your identity." The guard to the left stated to Dom, who was also wearing a mask, as were Crassus and Xun Yu.

"It is." Crassus replied instead of Dom, as the guard had spoken first. 

"We had initially planned to come to see about future collaboration, but some of your purchases have been questionable." The guard said in a condescending tone. Dom felt familiar with the condescending guard who also had green eyes. 

"We have our plans." Crassus replied, whilst Dom inspected PrettyGreenEyes herself. She was petite and her eyes seemed to be reading the room and gathering information with every word that was or wasn't said.

"As do I." The guard stated.

"It would be good to collaborate." Dom said, interrupting the conversation as the flow had started to become awkward. He made his voice slightly deeper, but as he spoke PrettyGreenEyes looked at him in confusion.

"Then let's collaborate." She replied, putting her hand out to shake Dom's hand. Dom reached back to grab it, but the guard stood between them and gave PrettyGreenEyes a disapproving look. 

"We must leave and return." The Guard said strongly, we can speak when the opportunity next arises.

"My Guard is correct." PrettyGreenEyes responded, before doing a slight courtesy, "We shall meet again Lord Lazarus." 

"Yes we shall." Dom replied with a small bow of his head, as the group also quickly turned and left the room, leaving VIP Room One suddenly very quiet.

"What a strange group." Crassus said again, having found all of the visitors peculiar so far. "I'm looking forward to getting back."

"I also want to return." Xun Yu stated, "It has been an enjoyable day out, but there is so much to do."

"Especially with the new purchases." Crassus added.

"And the mission rewards." Dom mumbled as he thought back to PrettyGreenEyes again, before whispering to himself, "Elizabeth?"

"What was that Lord Lazarus?" Xun Yu asked as he didn't seem to hear the last part of what Dom said.

"Nothing important." Dom replied questioningly, "Just a silly thought. Let's return home."