Isekai Nonbiri Nouka

● Character Refresher

Frau – Beezel’s daughter.

Malbit – Chief of the Angels. Mother of Kierbit.

Belle – Representative of the Mercuries from Village Four.

Yoru – One of the Mercuries from Village Four. In charge of weaponry. Currently stationed at the hot springs area.

Bulga – An ancient devil. Currently caretaker of Rasuti’s children.

Stiffano – An ancient devil. Currently caretaker of Rasuti’s children.

Rananon – Rasuti’s daughter.

Kukulkan – Rasuti’s son.

Midday of the final day of the auction being held in the royal capital.

I was in the royal capital.

Since I used the teleportation gate that Glatts uses, the trip was easy.

Really easy.

I was also able to check in on Torain, who’s staying in the royal capital, so that was good.

-0-

Then, I met up with the team called the Team Auction Acquisition Force.

The leader of the Team Auction Acquisition Force is Prada.

The members are Frau, Malbit, Belle, and Yoru.

Also, to act as a brake on Prada, there’s Bulga and Stiffano.

This Team Auction Acquisition Force had been participating since the first day of the auction, and they’ve successfully won nearly everything they wanted.

Yes, nearly everything.

This auction used two types of formats.

Bidding format and live auction format.

The bidding format is where individuals write down the amount they want to bid.

By the final deadline, the person who submitted the highest bid wins the item.

The live auction format is the one people usually picture—competitive bidding.

Bidders raise their offers, and the highest offer at the end wins.

In the bidding format, it seems the Team Auction Acquisition Force missed out on a few things, but in the live auctions, they didn’t fail to win anything they were targeting.

They went wild.

How much money did they spend?

…areh?

They didn’t spend as much as I expected?

Well, they did spend a fair amount though.

Let’s see, starting with the weaponry category.

They won twenty-two items.

The total bid amounts were surprisingly low.

「For people unfamiliar with them, they just look like mysterious objects with no clear purpose. There was no competition, so we were able to win them at near base price」

When Frau said that, Yoru got angry.

「How can they not understand the value of those weapons! They’re completely blind!」

Well, wouldn’t it be worse if we had to fight for them and lost?

Let’s be happy.

So, are these usable?

「With some maintenance, yes!」

So they need repairs, huh?

「I can handle the maintenance, so it’s not a problem. Leave it to me」

Yoru said proudly.

It seems they also won the materials needed for maintenance, so there shouldn’t be any issues.

That covers the weaponry category.

Ehto, what about the artificial lifeform royal warriors (Jupiter)?

「We’ll need to do a bit of research on these before trying to activate them. It’s too risky otherwise」

Belle said this as she handed me some documents.

They had won six items related to the royal warriors.

Compared to the weaponry, some of them were clearly more expensive.

「Some were listed under the bidding format, so we placed higher bids to make sure we got them」

I see.

「The rest would be the items listed in the document we submitted to the Demon King」

Right.

This auction also serves as a way for the Demon King to financially support the nobles.

Because of that, some items are expected to be sold at prices above their usual value. To avoid getting caught up in that, we had submitted a list of the items we wanted ahead of time to the Demon King.

So, the items won by the Team Auction Acquisition Force are all things unrelated to the Demon King’s list.

Come to think of it, how’s the Demon King’s side of the bidding going?

Originally, the Demon King’s team was planning to bid the minimum amount and let the rest be determined by free competition. However, for the items on our list, they have to win the bids in order to sell them to us at fair value.

If people realized the Demon King was involved, wouldn’t that lead them to bid higher just to compete?

「It’s all taken care of. That part was adjusted in advance」

Malbit said as she pointed to the placards on the bidding-format items.

These placards show the item names, but what about them?

Without saying anything, Malbit pointed to a subtle mark on the edge of one of the placards.

It’s something you’d miss if you didn’t know to look for it, but once you do, it’s obvious.

「It’s the mark showing that the Demon King is involved. No matter who bids or how much, the Demon King will end up buying it at the highest price」

Isn’t that kind of unfair?

「It is unfair. And if that highest price ends up too far from the market value, the deal gets cancelled」

Ah, so that’s how they’re handling it.

「Yes. So we should be able to get everything on the list without much trouble」

I wasn’t too worried about that part.

I was just concerned that we weren’t making anyone take unnecessary risks to get them.

-0-

Ehto, besides those, we also won a bulk lot of books, some ancient documents, magic tools, art pieces… about a hundred and sixty items total.

That’s a lot.

So then, Bulga, Stifano.

Was Prada well-behaved?

「Do you think she’ll ever be well-behaved?」

「If you really think that, I’d like to hear the reasoning behind it」

Bulga and Stifano were smiling, but I could feel the anger behind it.

…Sorry about that.

It’s the last day, after all.

I’ll make sure to tell Kukulkan that you two worked hard.

「You better」

「And tell Rananon-sama too, please」

Alright, alright.

-0-

And Prada? She was skipping around as usual.

She seemed to be in a great mood, which was good to see.

Today was the final day, and honestly, I’d hoped to leave the auction entirely in the hands of Prada and her Team Auction Acquisition Force.

But then, Prada called for me.

I came because I was curious to see what was going on… but why did she call me?

「There’s a secret item up for sale」

Prada said that, but hadn’t we already reviewed the secret listings in advance with Goroun Company and Dalfon Company?

「Yes, but apparently a noble forced in an item after the deadline」

Ah, so it’s something we haven’t seen yet.

「Exactly. It was brought in late last night. With all the chaos of the final day, the auction staff didn’t have time to let us inspect it」

That really is last-minute.

The auction organizers must be scrambling.

「Seems they had intended to submit something earlier. But after seeing how much money was changing hands, they probably panicked and scrambled to find more goods. So I don’t have high expectations, but I had a strange feeling about it」

That’s why you called me.

When Prada has a strange feeling, it’s usually worth paying attention to.

Or sometimes terrifying.

Well, she just wants a second opinion on whether to bid on it or not, so it’s not like anything strange is definitely going to happen.

I’ll just take it easy and enjoy the event.

-0-

Night.

To get straight to the point, everything turned into a scramble at the end.

Just as nearly all the auctions had wrapped up, a large-scale raid broke out with over thirty attackers.

Their target was the auction items.

But the auction venue had guards, and most participants had brought their own escorts, so stealing anything wasn’t going to be easy.

Fighting broke out in multiple areas.

I was evacuated to a safe location, protected by Gulf, Daga, and Reginleif. I was unharmed.

Frau, Malbit, Bell, and Yoru were evacuated with me, so they were safe too.

Only Prada got angry about the art being damaged and ran off to engage the attackers.

Before I could even stop her.

In the blink of an eye.

Bulga and Stifano turned to me and asked what to do, so I told them to back her up.

I don’t want them doing anything reckless, though.

Well, I’ve seen their strength at the martial arts tournament.

They should be fine.

And as for the captured attackers.

There were thirty-three of them in total.

Of those, Prada blew away twenty-seven, and Bulga and Stifano took care of restraining them.

The Goroun Company and the Dalfon Company, essentially representing the auction side, expressed their deep gratitude, saying all the items had been protected.

But… is it really okay that the guards only managed to capture six?

Huh?

Actually, it was only three?

The other three were caught by escorts of other participants?

Were there too few guards?

Or did Prada end up getting in the way of their work?

No?

Prada was just that strong?

I… see.

Prada herself seemed annoyed that some of the attackers escaped.

But all the items we won were safe.

Let’s just be glad for that.

-0-

Now then, regarding the captured attackers, they won’t be executed right away.

They’ll be detained for a while and an investigation will be conducted.

Well, the detainment and investigation will be handled by the Demon King’s Kingdom, so we won’t interfere.

I thought it was all over, but…

It wasn’t.

Just as we were about to return from the auction hall to the academy grounds, a man blocked our path.

Middle-aged… late thirties or early forties.

A bit overweight.

Not an adventurer.

If anything, he looked more like a merchant.

But he didn’t have the air of someone earning money.

To be blunt, he looked like the kind of man who always draws the short end of the stick.

When Prada said he was one of the attackers who had escaped, Gulf and Daga gripped their swords.

However, the man showed no intent to fight.

He didn’t reach for the sword hanging at his waist. Instead, he raised both hands to shoulder height, signaling surrender.

But that didn’t mean he intended to let us capture him.

He kept his distance.

Especially from Prada.

「I have something to say」

……

Even if you say that.

Unfortunately, we don’t have anything to say to you.

We should just capture him or drive him off.

Or maybe retreat into the academy grounds?

「Just a moment of your time, that’s all I ask」

Ehto, but if we’re seen having a friendly chat with someone who attacked the auction, we might be mistaken as allies.

「Even if I get caught, I’ll say I’m not one of you」

Nice words, but how much can we trust them?

Still, we really should either capture him or send him away.

Yeah.

「W-Wait. I have something to say to those women over there」

The women he pointed to were Bell and Yoru.

Bell and Yoru, do you know him?

Both of them shook their heads.

But the man continued speaking as if they were acquaintances.

「You are Fogumas, right? Royal Guardian Mercuries? I am a Kissinley.」

The moment he said that, Bell and Yoru’s expressions changed.

「Kissinley, is it? I see. Then you will die now?」

「How fortunate for you. We’ve just acquired the very weapons meant to kill your kind. After maintenance, we’ll use you as a target for testing」

「Wait, wait, wait! I don’t want to fight. And I don’t think I can win against you anyway. Just hear me out. It’s something that could benefit you as well」

Bell and Yoru looked at me.

Even if you look at me like that… I don’t know.

…

Fine.

We’ll listen to what he has to say.

But we can’t take a suspicious person into the academy grounds…

So we decided to borrow Beezel’s mansion nearby.

Sorry, Beezel.

I didn’t mean to drag you into this, but Frau suggested it.

Yeah.

Frau said it’d be fine.

-0-

Frau: 「There are guards stationed at the mansion, and we also have a detached building available」

Beezel: 「You’re not wrong, but still…」

Pugyaru, who had just returned earlier: 「My tummy hurts! I’m going home!」

Headmistress: 「Ten points to Village Chief for not bringing him inside the academy grounds!」

TN: It’s the school principal. It’s a Hairy Potter reference so I changed it a little.