Half-Baked Apology

After drinking some tea while eating sweets which the three of us really enjoyed, we continued our discussion with Mr. Henri and Ms. Eresh.

"A Magic-Item mask that hides your identity from any hostile people? Hmmm... Is that a Replica of the Dungeon-Artifact called Innocent-Mask?"

"Ohh! You're right Ms. Mifumi. You're well informed."

"Not a criminal mask?"

Felin, with a confused expression, questioned the name of that Magic-Item.

"You're right, Felin. If you use it for bad things, It's more likely to be called a Criminal-Mask rather than Innocent-Mask"

"Pfft!... Hahaha!.. Of course, it can be used like that, Vier."

While Ms. Eresh is mischievous laughing because of the naming sense of that mask Magic-Item, Mifumi-sama mentions another concerning thing about the Innocent-Mask.

"The Dungeon-Artifact Innocent-Mask is supposed to be stored at The Academy of Magic and the news said that any replication of that Dungeon-Artifact is prohibited by The Academy of Magic. How did you get that, Ms. Eresh? It's not an illegal item, right?"

Mr. Eresh stopped her laughing and got quiet for a few seconds. She then looks at Mifumi-sama and gives another mischievous smile.

That smile of hers is kind of scary because I'm getting this serious vibe coming from Ms. Eresh. It seems like Mifumi-sama is right that her weird half-mask is an illegal Replica of the Innocent-Mask.

"Of course not Ms. Mifumi... I have a Spellcaster acquaintance at The Academy of Magic... She's helping me to process Magic-Item legally..."

"I see! Of course, if you have an acquaintance at The Academy of Magic you can get permission for that kind of Magic-Item."

Mifumi-sama immediately accepts and believes what Ms. Eresh has said, but that is probably a lie. After all...

...SLAM!!!...

"You, Weird Full-Mask Liar!!!..."

Just from listening to Ms. Eresh's voice, I suddenly got this super irritating feeling like ten times more irritating compared to what I felt during the auction.

"You're using that Magic again, right?! You're influencing us with this feeling of acceptance for us to believe what you're saying, right?!"

I got angry again and raised my voice against Ms. Eresh.

"Relax, Vier. Don't get mad."

Felin tried to calm me down but I won't be able to calm myself now that I understand what this irritating feeling is.

That feeling is something I'm familiar with. It's like how the emotions in my dreams of Memory-Fragment would flow to me and influence my own emotions.

But aside from the feelings that Ms. Eresh is supposed to influence me, there's always this feeling of irritation and hostility that comes after. Is she mad at me or something?... Wait!... Maybe this is of my personality like what Ms. Eresh said?

Of course not! I'm sure this is because of her Magic. It's not like I have the personality to always be mad about everything that irritates me.

While I was lost in thought about my personality, Mifumi-sama realized what Ms. Eresh had done and questioned her actions.

"Why did you do that, Ms. Eresh?"

"I'm just testing Ms. Vier's skills... And I can't believe she's able to see past my Magic so easily... Now I'm starting to doubt my skill... Maybe I'm not as good as I think of myself..."

There's it again!... Ugh!... I can't contain it. I need to let out of this irritation...

"Arghh!!!... Don't think we'll believe that sympathetic feeling of yours... Liar!!"

"Pfft!... Hahaha!... How are you doing that, Ms. Vier? And why is it that your only reaction to everything I tried is to get angry... Pfftt!....Hahaha!"

"Grrrr!!!..."

"Vier, stop acting weird!"

"Please stop doing that, Ms. Eresh!"

Felin restrains me again so I won't do anything that I might regret later while Mifumi-sama is arguing with Ms. Eresh to stop using her Magic.

After a while, Ms. Eresh stopped using her Magic and I was finally able to calm myself.

"Whew! That was fun."

"No, it's not!"

"Don't do bad things again, Miss or we'll get mad!"

"Stop using your Magic towards Vier-chan, Ms. Eresh!"

"Okay, I'll stop now. Anyway, since the Auction House has caused trouble for your group, I'm going to give you a special offer as my apology. I'm not lying, right Ms. Vier?"

Ms. Eresh looked at me and I automatically responded by trying to feel any unusual feeling from her. There's nothing unusual but I'm still mad at her.

"Hmph... I don't think you're lying."

"And what is that special offer, Ms. Eresh?"

"I overheard that your group is still looking for Rank-3 Monster-Core with Water-Element and Ground-Element, Ms. Mifumi. So I can offer these two High-Level Rank-3 Monster-Core that are in my possession."

Ms. Eresh put two perfect sphere marble gems on the tea table in front of us. One of them has a blue shades color and the other one has a brown shades color.

"These two Monster-Cores are both secondhand but still at 30 percent durability. You can have this at a price of... Hmmm... How about 5L Gold coins each?"

"Where is the discount, Miss? We want 99 percent!"

"Felin-chan! Don't imitate Vier-chan's bargaining."

Felin is right. Since they cause us, or rather me a great deal of trouble, a 99 percent discount wouldn't be enough.

"You're not giving it to us for free? You cause trouble for our group, right?"

"Wait! That's too greedy, Vier-chan!"

"I see, you have a point there, Ms. Vier. Okay! Mr. Henri! Since you're the Master of the Auction House, pay for these Monster-Cores to show your sincere apology to the BlackOpsCo.!"

Ms. Eresh turned our conversation to Mr. Henri who was casually enjoying his tea while watching our argument and everything that was happening in front of him.

"Didn't you just take my 10L Gold coins? At least use that as payment for those Monster-Cores, Ms. Eresh."

"It's not your money anymore so don't concern yourself on how to use it."

"Seriously?"

Mr. Henri was dumbfounded by Ms. Eresh's remark but she was right. So all I can do is feel bad about Mr. Henri losing more of his money.

"So are you going to pay for this, Mr. Henri?"

"Jeez!... Okay, give them a 50 percent discount and put it on my tab, Ms. Eresh."

"Make it 60 percent, Mister!"

"Felin-chan, please don't do that. Let me and Vier-chan handle this."

"Okay! Just like Ms. Felin says. Make it 60 percent, Ms. Eresh."

"Mhm!"

Since Mr. Henri accepted Felin's demand, Felin now has this smug expression like she successfully outsmarts both Mr. Henri and Ms. Eresh. Nice work, Felin.

Anyway, we still need to know what kind of Monster-Cores Ms. Eresh is offering us before we decide to accept this deal.

"Please tell us about these Monster-Cores, Ms. Eresh?"

"Okay, Ms. Mifumi. The first one is from a High-Level Rank-3 monster called Frost-Viper. It has the following skills, Water-Control, Water-Sphere, and Unique-Class Ice-Magic skills which are Ice-Control and Frost-Bite...

...This monster traps its prey by freezing the water around it or it can just bite its prey and freeze the liquid inside the body. Ms. Mifumi can use this skill to freeze any water as long as she has enough Mana to support the skill."

"It's good that it has the Unique-Class Ice-Magic, but it doesn't have any defensive-skill. What do you think, Mifumi-sama?"

"I want to try using Ice-Magic, so I'm fine getting this one, Vier."

After Mifumi-sama agrees with the first Monster-Core, Ms. Eresh gives the details of the second Monster-Core.

"The second one is from a High-Level Rank-3 monster called Boulder-Hermit, it has the following skills, Ground-Control, Ground-Barrier, and Mineral-Absorb."

"Are you lying to us again, Miss!"

Felin got mad even before me and Mifumi-sama. Even she who's not that well versed in Magic understands that this second Monster-Core is really over ranked.

"Felin is right! I understand the Frost-Viper being High-Level Rank-3 since it has a Unique-Class Magic and trap-skill, but this one doesn't have any of that!"

"Of course, I'm not lying, Ms. Vier. The Level of the Rank-3 Boulder-Hermit monster will increase based on what kind of minerals it has eaten...

...It could be natural metal ores from the ground or metal from Monster-Materials. If this monster were able to eat Mithril it could use the Mineral-Absorb skill to enhance its Ground-Barrier skill and withstand an attack from a Rank-5 monster."

That is quite a useful skill but there's one big problem.

"But Mifumi-sama can't eat Mithril!"

You said it right, Felin. Sheesh... How does Ms. Eresh expect a person to eat a Mithril metal?

"Of course, she doesn't need to eat that! All Ms. Mifumi needs to do is touch the Mithril while using the Ground-Barrier and Mineral-Absorb skill at the same time."

"But why would the monster eat the Mithril?"

"Sheesh! I'm not a Monster Researcher so don't ask me that, Ms. Felin. All I know is that it will work that way as long as you have enough Mana to support both skills."

Well, being able to withstand an attack from a Rank-5 monster which is at the level of a Silver-Rank adventurer is really amazing. However...

"It still has no offensive-skill so why was it ranked as Rank-3?"

"Ms. Vier, it doesn't need any offensive Magic. All it has to do is to let go of its grip on the ground and a 2-meter wide boulder rolling downhill will destroy any object on its path."

Ohh!... I see, the Boulder-Hermit is dangerous if you encounter them in any uphill place. You can't do anything about a rolling boulder that has a strong barrier like that.

"What do you think, Mifumi-sama?"

"Can I enhance the Ground-Barrier skill if I add a Mithril metal in my Sorceress-Staff, Ms. Eresh?"

"That's possible as long as you train to use the two skills simultaneously but it has a high Mana consumption so be conscious while using this skill combination."

"I understand! We would like to buy these two Monster-Cores, Ms. Eresh."

"Here are the 3L Gold coins for the payment!"

Since Mifumi-sama agreed with both Monster-Cores, I handed the payment to Ms. Eresh.

"It is 4L Gold coins, Ms. Vier!"

"Can't you give us more discounts?"

"More discounts, Miss!"

"Stop that, Felin-chan, Vier-chan. Just give the right payment to Ms. Eresh."

Ms. Eresh was a bit surprised by me and Felin's sudden demand for more discounts. But just then, she gives that mischievous smile towards us again... Wait... That smile means...

"Sheesh!.. Fine... Consider this as your reward... Since you manage to see past all of my lies... Ms. Vier..."

"Arghh!!!!... You use it again... You, Liar!!!"

"Pfftt!!.....Hahaha!!!"

After accepting the two secondhand High-Level Rank-3 Monster-Cores from Ms. Eresh, we returned to the venue of the auction.

At first, we planned to head home and not finish the auction since I didn't want to be at the receiving end of Ms. Eresh Magic. But according to her, she's only acting as the speaker for the first half and for the second half, Mr. Henri, the Master of the Auction House will be taking the role of the speaker.

Also, they won't be using any more Magic that influences the guests since all the guests should already be familiar with the betting system of the auction.

Thankfully we managed to gather four new or secondhand Monster-Cores for Mifumi-sama's Sorceress-Staff. And since there are only 3L Gold coins left in our budget, we won't be betting for any more Monster-Core.

Our only goal left is to enjoy watching the auction and for Felin and I to try eating 5S Gold coins worth of food and drinks.