Chapter 52: Whispers

"[The adventures of Arcturus]" Karl immediately stands up to take a good look at the floating book.

"This book estimated to be older than the empire. There are no records about the author of this book. It is a storybook about a man named Arcturus who wields the forbidden element of space. There are 12 known volumes of this book and this is an irregular edition as somehow it consists 3 of those 12 volumes."

'3? Which could possibly means 3 new spells?' Ian notices Karl's excited face.

"This is a very important part of ancient literature. Of course, from this we can see the evolution of language and cultural difference. This would be a good research material about the forbidden elements." This last sentence caught attention of almost everyone.

Principles on which the basic four elements work on are totally different than the principle of any forbidden element. By learning such unknown principle, a talented mage can get the much needed creativity and motivation to craft a brand new spell. If a person creates a new spell which is unauthorized by the federation, he/she would get their name on the hitlist of multiple Sentinel families. Despite such threat, there are quite alot of brave people present who would dare as the advantage of creating such spell outweighs the disadvantage, if that person created such spell he/she would win almost every battle against any unranked knight as the spells released to the public by the sentinel families are designed in such way that every spell can be countered by some other spell. Therefore, the person who creates a different spell which breaks entire structure of this spell system would gain a upper hand in almost every battle.

Karl sees almost all of the lights flickering intensely.

"Please be patient, I am have yet to announce the starting price. Which is 1500 Blue photons!" Almost all of the lights stops flickering. Only few lights from the upper mid bracket and the lights from the top bracket are flickering.

Karl sighs heavily because he knows that he has nowhere near enough money to buy that book, the money from the Phirsecot's is yet to be credited in his account. He sits down and sulks.

Suddenly, the room's light goes dim and the lamp starts to flicker as Ian spams the button on the table. "Father told me to buy something for you as an reward for saving his and Nia's life." Ian reveals.

"8000 blue photos!" Lights are still flickering.

"9000!" The dots of lights doesn't stop. Aneer takes a deep breath before announcing.

"1 purple photon!"

The lights from the mid bracket stops flickering aside from one, but the top ones are still flickering. "2!"

"3!"

"4!"

Karl looks at Ian with worry but Ian is just smashing the button like crazy monkey. 'I am sure it will be fine.'

Now, majority of lights already stopped flickering. Only 3 remains, one is Ian's light and other one belongs to the top bracket who is likely someone from a Sentinel family and surprisingly, last one is flickering from the upper mid bracket.

"8!"

"9!"

Suddenly, the light from the top bracket stops flickering.

"That's weird." Ian says his thought out aloud. "Logically, the light from the mid bracket should have stopped flickering a long time ago."

"That's true." Karl also agrees.

"And 10! Looks like only two customers are left. From now on, the bid will raise from 5." The old man announces. Ian makes a troubled face. Even though Phirsecot knighthood is led by a high knight, they still are not in their best state. Buying anything more than 20 purple photons would put a strain on their financial condition.

"15!"

'Give up~' A sweet sound whispers itself into Ian's ears.

"D-Did you say anything?"

"No?" Karl answers.

"20!"

Just then, the view changes and Ian is back in the car with his mother and father. Hestia turns back at her son. "Mother?"

"Ian! Press the button!" Karl yells.

"Huh?"

"And we have a winner! No. 5283 won the book at the price of 20 purple photons." Aneer announces with over enthusiasm.

"What are you doing? We lost that book!" Karl snaps.

"Huh? What? Did you not see that?"

"See what? I just saw you staring at the button!"

Ian experiences a slight headache. "I-I am sorry. I just. I just saw my mother?" Karl who is furious raises his eyebrow in question.

A red light flashes in the middle bracket meaning that the book was sold. "Our segment ends here. Now, we will began with the next segment which is weaponry and armoury." The old man snaps his fingers and the curtains drops again.

"What do you mean by you saw your mother?"

"I don't know. I was just about to press the button and everything changed. I was in the car with my mother and father." Ian panics.

Karl glares at Ian. 'Is he faking it? No, knowning Ian's personality that's very unlikely. Then, was he drugged or something?' Karl grabs Ian's head and looks straight into his eyes.

"What-" Ian feels Karl's breath directly hitting his nose.

'No redness or anything. Maybe I was wrong?' He releases Ian's head and leans back. He looks the light dot who just won the book.

'Come. To. Me.' Karl hears a seductive voice whispering into his ears.

"You hear that?"

"What?"

"There is a voice. It's calling me."

Ian quickly gets up and looks the light dot. "Yeah. I heard that before I saw my mother. You see something unusual?"

"No. Not yet."

Ian taps something on his watch and a steel plates appears which covers the entire glass window. There is no source of light besides the lamp.

"It's most likely an illusionist." Ian concludes.

"Which element do they use?" Karl asks in curiosity.

"It doesn't work like that. Illusionist is a title given to people who can skilfully use the mind magic. Mind magic doesn't require a specific element or artefact. Mind magic can be used by anyone as long as they can control raw mana in a certain degree. By looking at this illusionist, they seem quite talented in their field."

"Then, what are we waiting for? Let's go and beat them up. I want to get my book back." Karl cracks his knuckles.

"Now, don't too hasty. We are still in the domain of Chamber family. Using any type spell in here is strictly prohibited. If I can just somehow prove that the illusionist used a spell to influence other customers, the hired knights of the chamber family should take care of them and we would get your book."

'Damn! Bro is smart.' Karl agrees to Ian's plan as it is swift and he doesn't have to fight. He tries to suck mana but there is still no response.

On the other hand, Ian is trying to call Aneer Chamber to report this incident to him. 'Aneer would quickly believe me and start an investigation. Because if I release this statement outside that the Silver Chamber auction is not genuine and there is a fraud. Chamber family would suffer a devesting loss. Being a wealthy merchant has it's drawback.' Just as Ian is about call Aneer, a notification pops up.

[Andressa: I am here.]

Ian panics and closes the window.

Seeing Ian's reaction Karl asks "Hey? What happened? Did you filed a complain or something?"

"Ah-Ah! Actually, I have an better idea. We should wait till the auction ends, while waiting we can gather solid evidence about the fraud. Don't worry the illuisionist cannot leave it's room until the auction is finished."

Karl notices Ian's uneven breathing and the awkward look. His instincts are screaming at him that Ian is lying. But the trust that was developed by watching Ian's capabilities all this time says otherwise. "Fine. We do as you say." Karl agrees. But something inside him feels uncertain and unsatisfied.

"Yeah, thanks. Anyway, stay here. I am going to out to see a friend." Ian hurriedly opens the door and leaves. Karl waits in the dark room alone.

"My lady, is something wrong?" A young man who is wearing a polished suit with a red flower on his chest pocket asks the lady siting on the sofa. He has neutral canthal tilt, almond eyes and a near perfect facial symmetry, making him quite attractive. His red eyes looks very ravishing in the dark.

The woman sitting on the sofa is looking at Karl's closed glass wall. With her vision she can easily sense any living organisms through the metal covering, she notices Karl is alone in the room. This woman looks to be in her early 20s. She is wearing a black shirt with an above knee level skirt on bottom. On top she wearing a exaggerated oversized hat which has veil attached to it, the veil covers her face till her neck. But just from her neck one can see that she has extremely pale skin. Her gemstone like eyes couldn't hide behind the veil. Unlike the man's eyes which gives off a hostile feeling, the woman's eyes gives a soft and kind vibes. If one person looks at those holy eyes, that person would rise his standard of beauty by an astronomical number. "I….I feel something familiar in the air." Her body senses a tiny bit mana which is far purer than her own coming from Karl's direction.

"Shall I look into it?" The man in the suit suggests.

"No. We must prioritize our goal and leave this dirty place as fast as possible. It reeks of livestock." She sneers at the last sentence.

"As you wish."