Infinite Realm

"Ladies and gentlemen," A charming voice sounded from the stage at the centre of the auction hall which was filled to the brim.

Inside the auction house was the auction hall where the event was meant to take place. The interior of the hall was a majestic work of art, magnificent in all angles. The seating arrangements were quite similar to that of a theatre but with some private boxes located on the second floor. On each seat was a bidder's card with the buyer's number printed on it.

The entire seating arrangement of the chairs and boxes was made to face the stage which was located on the other side of the hall, exactly just as the arrangement in a theatre was. At the centre of it all, the stage, stood the auctioneer who was in charge of running the 'show'. 

The auctioneer was a pretty middle-aged lady on light makeup. Her long legs and alluring physique, reminiscent of that of a swimsuit model, made her deserving to be described as gorgeous. Tied with the flowery red cheongsam that accentuated her figure together with the slit by the side of the dress, exposing her fair thighs, the auctioneer was easily able to attract the attention of the audience towards the stage, or rather, towards her. Even the players with the strongest will and resistance towards feminine charm couldn't help but admit that she was a stunning beauty.

"Welcome to the first-ever auction-styled fete[1] organized to raise funds to sponsor the kingdom's military campaigns in the north as well as to bolster the cities defence against the dark forces.

"Even though this is a charity event, we want you all to know that the articles up for sale in this auction are of high quality and have been approved and guaranteed by a verified appraiser."

To the players, the auction being held was a special event and the same was so for the NPCs, however, the underlying meaning in these words differed. To players, it was an opportunity to get their hands on a piece of rare equipment that would boost their strength in preparation for the upcoming dungeon raids or to increase their strength as well as their ranking but to the NPCs, this auction meant an entirely different thing. To them, it was a fundraiser organised by the City lord's office to raise funds for the kingdom's military expedition as well as to increase the city's military might.

Black Rock City was a border town and close to it was the massive Grangere Woods, which was the parent of Stone Creek Forest, as well as the Kiro Mountain range which extended all the way to the neighbouring kingdom. These two places were home to some absurdly strong monsters that players weren't able to face n their own. Even the Kiro Mountains, that a few players had wandered into back at the town stage wasn't safe. Back then, the players normally wandered around the outskirts of the area which was considerably safer than deeper in, but even so, they would occasionally spot level 10 and above monsters. 

To defend themselves against the monsters that wander in and out of the area periodically, and also launch a massive assault once a year, the city had trained a special guard unit for this. But even the guard unit would need a large amount of money to maintain them as well as to train them, and considering that there were other issues to be settled monthly in the city, most of the revenue couldn't be spent on them. 

Apart from these two danger zones, there was still the fact that Black Rock City was located close to the juncture point of the two neighbouring kingdoms, Reiss and Orioma, both of which were subservient to the Brahman Empire, the mortal enemy of the Fallen Heart kingdom. This meant that sometimes during the year, there would be clashes between the military forces of the two kingdoms with that of Fallen Heart kingdom, or to be specific, with the soldiers of Black Rock City. Hence, there were a lot of military expenditures to be made in the city and it was something that the city's revenues alone couldn't make up so easily. Therefore, fund-raising activities like these were usually organised to make up for the payments. This was all planned out according to the plot set aside by the developers of IR and administered by the AI in charge, the Heaven System.

"As all the items have been checked and verified, I hope that there would be no complaints about them or questions targeted at the integrity of the auction house. I would like us to also remember that this auction is being organised by the city lord's manor so be expecting to spot an item consigned to us by them." The auctioneer smiled elegantly at the crowd.

"The rules for the auction are quite simple. First, false bids are not permitted and if a guest happens to do so, they would have to pay for the damages incurred by their actions which roughly equates from half of the items price to two-thirds(2/3) of it, depending on which the auction house sees fit. Secondly, bidders are not allowed to use their status to pressure other bidders. This auction is organised and supervised by the City lord's actions in other to raise funds for the kingdom's military. Therefore, such actions will not be permitted." 

At the moment she said this, the auctioneer's aura had changed to encompass the entire hall. An unseen pressure could be felt by every player and from that, they released that this beauty wasn't just a beauty. Their instincts all told them the same thing; she could easily wipe them all out with nothing but a finger.

'The city is indeed a place filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons[2].' Sato sucked in a cold breath of air as he realised that he was nothing but an ant here, unlike in Riverdale town.

"And finally," The auctioneer continued as she reined in her aura. 

"All payments can be made during the auction or at the end of it. However, unless the winner has paid for the item, it won't be handed over to them yet. 

"There are still other rules that I didn't mention but you can go through them through the rule booklet underneath your seats together with your bidder's card. As for the ones that I have mentioned, they are the most important and under no circumstances are you to break any of them as that would be the same as challenging the City lord's manor." 

As she completed her words, everyone, both players and NPCs, put a hand underneath their seats and extracted the booklet there alongside their bidder's card which had their buyer's number on it. Those who were interested began perusing through the book while the rest just kept their eyes fixed on the stage.

"Then without further ado, I present to you the first item of the day."

A trolley was suddenly pushed out from backstage with an item covered by a magical hemispherical barrier on it.

"The first lot on sale is a damaged vase that has been repaired to an extent. Coming from an ancient civilization roughly existing in the period of the great Emperor Melanchulus. While it has no special features whatsoever, having such an artefact in your inventory would be nice for showing off to your friends as well as demonstrating your love for history. Starting bid is from 3 gold coins and each increment should not be less than 50 silver coins.

"Bidding may now commence."