164 MIDNIGHT AUCTION (2/2)
”40,000 gold coins!”
”40,000 gold coins, going once, going twice, and sold to the lady in green!” Viper announced.
”Well, one thing's for certain. If he ever gets tired of being an assassin, he could just be an auctioneer. He certainly has the talent for it,” Aurum commented.
The next item to be auctioned was a painting that was sold at 300,000 gold coins. It continued on for the next three hours, auctioning 14 items in total. The later items were quite rare, making it a lot longer to be sold. Because people really fought for it.
Then the moment they're all waiting for, the presentation of the finale item, arrived.
”I heard that our finale item is very special. I also don't have any idea what it is. I just know that it's very special because it will be presented by a very special person - the one who's responsible for all of these. Please, let's all welcome, His Eminence, Archbishop Stillwell!”
A man wearing an almost over the top priest's robe walked towards the center of the stage. His chin was so high up that he almost looked like he was looking at the ceiling. Following him was a big box covered by a black fabric. The man pushing it stopped just beside the Archbishop.
”First of all, I would like to thank everyone for coming here. As the auctioneer said, this last item is very special. Something that most of the world hasn't seen for the past 500 years or so. But tonight, you'll have the honor of seeing this special item. One of you might even be able to possess it.”
There's a murmur of speculation in the audience. The Archbishop seemed very satisfied by this reaction.
”Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...” He looked up at the center box at the third seat level - the box where the Pope was. He smirked arrogantly before taking off the fabric covering the cage. ”An elf!”
Marcus expected surprised gasped and shocked expressions, but what he got instead was silence. Dread suddenly crept up in his heart. Slowly, he turned his head and found the cage empty.
He kneeled down beside the cage, frantically looking inside. ”No... no... no!”
His mind suddenly turned blank when he realized that the elf was really gone.
”What's wrong with the Archbishop?”
”What elf was he talking about?”
”Did he become delusional or something?”
When Marcus heard those, he clenched his fists so hard, his nails deeply burried in his palm. The elf was here! He made sure of it. He never left the side of this cage since that assassin showed him the elf. No one came close the cage aside from him. So why, why did the elf disappeared? Why?!
No. Someone must have done this. Someone wanted to embarrass him in front of all these people. He stood up and looked again at the center box.
Then he just saw red.
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Lynx was jumping from building to building with the elf on his back. He successfuly took him out of the cage when that Archbishop was taking him out on the stage. They just got out of the Goddess' Tower and was now going to the direction of the Holy Temple. He needed to be as careful and stealthy as possible so as not to alert the patrolling knights.
”Where are we going?” the silent elf suddenly asked.
”Somewhere safe.” Or at least it should be.
Lynx was not really sure since the duke only told him that he had to jump at the top of the center of the Holy Temple and he had to do it while using his Gift. Then he would know what to do after that. He was extremely dissatisfied with that. Why could that duke just give him a straight answer?
He could already see the Holy Temple. He quicken his steps. They arrived at the center of the Holy Temple and just as he was told, he used his Gift - not forgetting to also surround the elf with his Mana - then jumped.
To his surprise, he just felt his body passing through a solid object. But there was clearly nothing there! Before he could think more, he and the elf already landed inside the object they passed through.
And watching their sudden arrival were two kids - a girl with white hair and a boy with black hair.