Xenos didn’t listen much after the clap.
The auctioneer was still up there talking, waving his arms dramatically about the next item, but Xenos’s mind had already checked out, leaving him sitting there, slouched in his chair, his head tilted back, letting the noise fade into background static.
The crowd was still buzzing about the "thirty-six gold drachma bid," both mocking and impressed, but he didn’t really care.
He was thinking about what would remain after all this.
Thirty-six gold... that was a gut punch, a deep, deep one.
He could almost feel his coin pouch weeping somewhere in his inventory.
’Damn it... they really squeezed me dry.’
Still, he consoled himself.
No doubt the auctioneer only accepted his outrageous bid because they expected the Blood Rune to be fought over much one. Or at least it’d fetch more than sixteen gold drachmas.
That, or they were just being opportunistic bastards who saw a reckless fool and thought, ’Yes, let’s pull him in,’ giving him the Divine Relic only if he swore an Oath to pay back the rest at a certain... less than ideal interest rate.
It was a tactic many bastard Houses used in the game, tricking pitiful players into becoming Debtors of Oath and losing their character forever.
Here, though, instead of a character, he’d lose his very life.
Eris hummed faintly in his head, Her tone teasing.
’Won or not, you’ve spent nearly all of what you’ve worked so hard to get.’
Xenos muttered out loud, making Arc turn beside him.
"Ah, nothing, nothing."
Waving a hand, Xenos slumped further into his seat, calculating in his head.
By his guess, they’d probably take the rest of his coin to "round up the balance."
He’d be lucky if one gold remained after everything settled.
Still, still, still... one gold wasn’t so bad.
That was a hundred silver drachma.
’Yes, a hundred silver.’
Xenos mused a little. The most update n0vels are published on novel⟡fire.net
Though it might not seem like it after this, that could buy him a lot of things.
’I could get my manor prepped and staffed with that much.’
A small smile tugged at his mouth.
Yes, not great, but really not ’bad.’
He let out another long sigh and looked around.
Only then did he notice something strange.
People were standing up.
And it wasn’t in applause; no, they were leaving.
Whole rows were getting up, shuffling toward the exits, even though the auctioneer was still yelling about something "exclusive from the first tier that you’ve never seen before."
’Ah. The tier one items.’
Understanding why, he leaned over slightly.
"Are they done already?"
Aspen, who’d been absentmindedly flipping through some catalog, gave a short nod.
"Yep. Tier one’s up next. Honestly, there’s no point in staying anymore. Even I don’t want to waste time looking at things we can’t afford. Tier two was more disappointing than I expected."
That got a chuckle out of Xenos.
"Yeah, fair. We already blew what you had on me."
Arc groaned, rubbing his own fluff.
With that, they stood up together, stretching their backs as they made for the exit.
Arc, following a step behind, looked oddly fidgety.
His fingers twitched at his sides, while his eyes darted toward Xenos like he was psyching himself up to jump off a cliff.
Xenos, of course, noticed but didn’t comment... yet.
He was giving the wolf-boy a chance to grow.
And sure enough, when they passed through the hall’s gold-trimmed corridor, Arc suddenly took a deep breath—perhaps a little too deep—and blurted out:
Xenos glanced at him.
Arc straightened, though his voice still cracked halfway through.
"I... I wanted to invite you to a private banquet."
That actually surprised Xenos a little.
Arc repeated, a bit faster this time.
"At our manor tonight... It’ll be mostly my guards, Deianira, and her guards, too. Nothing fancy, really!"
Aspen puffed his chest out a bit, clearly proud of his Lord for saying it, and added:
"Don’t worry... we won’t throw you into politics or anything. It’ll just be good food and drink to celebrate our first Colosseum Game victory. That’s it."
For a few seconds, he was just... quietly processing.
Then, all of a sudden, his grin spread all wolfish like.
He repeated it loud enough for half the corridor to turn their heads.
Aspen sighed, and Arc immediately flinched.
"Wh-Why are you so loud!?"
"TO YOUR MANOOOOOOOOR~?!"
Xenos shouted even louder, dragging the last word out.
"ME?! LITTLE OL’ ME?!"
A few Nobles walking by stopped to gawk.
Someone dropped a glass while another nearly tripped over their robe.
Aspen facepalmed so hard it echoed too.
"Oh Gods, please stop."
Arc’s entire face had gone crimson.
"K-K-Keep your voice down!"
"WHAT’S THAT? SPEAK UP, LORD ARC!"
Dei, who had been walking slightly ahead, groaned.
"Xeeeeennnoooooos~. Let’s just go home. I’m tired."
Nodding at her, Xenos turned to fully face Arc.
"Thank you! I will gracefully accept this invitation."
Arc gave him a most deadpan look.
"You’d better have something good in that fancy dinner, alright?"
Still laughing to himself, Xenos clapped Arc on the shoulder.
"Like, really good. I spent thirty-six gold today. I deserve a break."
Arc sighed, visibly relieved yet embarrassed beyond saving.
And with that, they continued walking down the corridor, Arc muttering under his breath about regretting every decision leading to this moment, while Xenos just looked smug, humming a tune that didn’t exist.
A tune that was suddenly interrupted by the same clerk as earlier, who appeared out of nowhere, nearly scaring Dei into blasting him down into Tartaros.
Coughing softly, the clerk bowed a little.
"If you wish, we provide a service to those who’ve purchased items in our auction. You can request teleportation to wherever land you desire... in the third stratum, of course."
"Wherever we desire?"
"Yes, my Lord. The Fifth Seal offers convenience after service."
Humming, he looked at Aspen.
A full circle of silent eye contact later, Dei was the first to shrug.