Voyage Of The Villainess

"For the first slave item, we will start with 200 silvers!"

Malaya smiled, but her eyes were cold. '200 silvers right off the bat. Certainly, if Iris was here this whole auction house would suffer immeasurable damage.'

"250 silvers!" A manly man shouted confidently. 

"300 silvers!" A woman in her 30's raised her hand.

"500 silvers!" 

"Is there no one who will bid more than 500 hundred silvers?!"

This time Malaya yelled once again. "Two golds!" 

'I wonder, how long do I need to shout? I hope my voice will make it to the end. And wish that no one will try to interfere with everything. '

Every audience was again flabbergasted when they hear a ridiculous amount for a mere slave once again. And it was the same person who yelled ten thousand golds before.

"The Elf will be sold now for two golds. Calling once, calling twice!"

But the people were more astonished when the next slaves, another two elves, a wolf beastman, and up to the fifth slave, a dwarf... a single person was dominating the whole auction house when it came to the slaves at a ridiculous amount. There were already people, questioning if the person was playing pranks or not.

Even the auction house owner, Ga-ul Dal, was already growing suspicious. If the said person didn't rent one of his most expensive V.I.P rooms in these auction houses, he would really think that the said person was just playing pranks on them.

"Now we will go now to our next slave item!"

This time Hyun Jae and Malaya were surprised to see the next item. It was a very familiar face to them.

"He was caught in the Valley between the ape beastmen and the Salkrit Village.  And we found out that he is a half breed of an apeman and a human, where his human features were dominant. He was docile and always followed anyone so he is in perfect condition."

"Rhyme?!" Hyun Jae stood up from her seat, surprised to see Rhyme in the cage.

"He seems alright," Oliver said as looked at the cage, a bit amused. "I'm glad that he looks definitely fine in his situation."

"Pfft." Malaya stifled with laughter. 'Oh, our poor Rhyme. To be mistaken as one of the ape beastman. What a sudden break in this tense atmosphere.'

"Malaya! How dare you act like that?" Hyun Jae looked at Malaya with a pout on her face. "You're too mean to Rhyme!"

"I'm sorry, Hyun Jae. I just can't control myself at the moment" Malaya calmed herself from laughing. "I am calm now."

"Do you know that beastman?" Seth asked with confusion.

"Stop calling him like that! I mean..." Hyun Jae lowered her voice. He is not a beastman."

"He is fully human and one of our friends," Malaya said with relief in her expression. "And except the cage. It seems he is alright."

"We will start now with 800 silvers!" 

"1 gold!"

"At least he is worth nearly gold." Malaya jested which earned a glare from Hyun Jae.

" Malaya!" Hyun Jae called her name out of her frustration. "Stop teasing him already and save him." Hyun Jae said.

"5 golds!"

"6 golds!"

"10 golds!"

"Is there no one who will bid more than 10 golds?!"

"20 golds!" Malaya screamed again.

"Is there no one who will bid more than 20 golds?!" Ga-ul Dal asked and the entire auction hall was silent once again.

"He will now be sold..." But before Ga-ul Dal could finish his words.

"100 golds!" Someone screamed.

"Ho, it seems someone was willing to buy Rhyme higher? You look expensive, Rhyme." Malaya grinned. And from the sound of it, it was the same person she competed with the Mermaid Tears before.

"Malaya, what will we do?" Hyun Jae grew worried. 

"Well, I hate losing, but do the bidding now. Just add one gold to every price our competitor bid."

"Really?!" Hyun Jae asked. She was excited that she would do the bidding this time.

"101 golds!" Hyun Jae screamed.

"200 golds!"

"201 golds!"

While they were bidding, Rhyme, who was inside the cage, was crying inside. 'Ah, why am I being bid like this? Am I going to be a slave right now?'

'They even thought that I'm an ape beastman. I know I'm not that good-looking but I'm a full human.' Then he looked up towards the two people who were competing for him.

'Well at least, I'm a little famous and my worth is around a hundred gold. I am worthy and deserving of a hundred gold….' Rhyme shook his head. 'What am I getting so proud of?! Ah, I'm really unfortunate!'

After almost a few minutes of heated bidding for Rhyme.

"3001 golds!"

And there was no one who spoke next to that again since everyone got silent after they heard it. 

'At least I got sold for 3001 golds.' Rhyme cried internally at his misfortune. 'Will I become a plaything now in some scary rich noble?'

As he was submerged in his thoughts, Rhyme was now being pushed back inside backstage.

Meanwhile back to Malaya's group...

"Rhyme is completely in debt now to me, he must be thankful to me after buying him for almost a thousand of gold," Malaya said. The other people in the room didn't know whether she was happy or not that she was able to buy Rhyme successfully or not. "Kekeke, I wonder how much will be his interest for this debt."

Seth couldn't believe in Malaya's behavior.' She was fine wasting money for strangers and yet she looked threatening to buy her friend?'

"Don't worry. She is just merely joking, she really cares for Rhyme." Hyun Jae leaned closer to Seth to whisper. It made him startled at how close they were and seeing Hyun Jae's closed beautiful angelic face, made him flustered.

"Yes, Malaya is just like that." Oliver, who saw the entire exchange, immediately pulled Seth away from Hyun Jae with his electricity. Then he pulled Hyun Jae near his side.

"Hey what is your..." But Seth stopped when Oliver looked at him with a threatening gaze. His gaze clearly indicated words that said, 'Stay away from her or you're dead.' 

Malaya who just finished the calculations of interest in her mind looked at the three with a confused look. "What are you guys up to? Did I miss some drama or any most important scene?"

"Ah! Don't mind us. It's completely nothing!" Hyun Jae screamed, she was flustered as well seeing that Oliver grabbed her hand out of nowhere. 

"It seems the next person is going to be sold now." Hyun Jae immediately yanked her hands away from Oliver.

"Ah, that's right." Malaya returned her attention back to the stage. But she gave a sideways glance to Oliver who was looking at his right hand that was holding Hyun Jae a while ago. Then she returned her gaze back to the stage. 

'He is still has a long way to go.' Malaya grinned. Then she opened her mouth to bid once again ten times the last bid that was offered.

Up to the tenth slave, Malaya was able to buy them all. Although it seemed the other rich nobles who weren't able to buy the slaves they intended to buy were now completely thinking of hostile thoughts at customer 81 in the V.I.P room. 

And in the distant future, the tale of Customer 81 in the V.I.P room became a legend in the auction house for generations.

Malaya and her group went out to her room now to get the people and items she bought.

---⚓⚓⚓---

And at the same time, the person in the next room to Malaya was also expressing both amusement and interest.

"Your Highness is it really alright if we aren't able to buy the Mermaid Tear and the slaves?"

Instead of answering his question of his servant. "Min, do you know the identity of the person next door? The one who buy the slaves in a high value" A melodious yet deep voice of a man resounded. He was wearing a white flowy tunic with golden patterns. And his belt stash had a jade emblem. He had this air of grace and at the same time authority within his every movement. He had long striking silver hair and under his half-white mask, his beautiful purple eyes glistened. 

"I am so sorry to say this, Highness but the Auction House has a strict policy in maintaining the privacy of its customers." The servant whose name was Min said with politeness.

"I see. Then we just need to talk to them after this. Prepare a meeting room at the Golden Flower Inn."

"Yes your highness, MuyangKija," Min said and left the room.

Muyang Kija tapped his fingers on the table. 'It seems I was right this time to go outside. Since I found something interesting. Customer 81, I wonder what kind of person was someone who spent a ridiculous amount of money like simply throwing rocks?' But then his gaze went to the stage. 'And what is your intention on buying those slaves?''

He stood up with grace and two of his guards followed behind him.

'I also have to give you my gratitude for making my time more interesting.'