“And this is the last of it,” Mr. Bloom sighed as another pouch of jingling gold coins was placed on his desk by his aide.

This past month of partnership with Nick to sell the Thunderhoof herd clearly benefited the man, as his warehouse had expanded into the next one over, and his once spartan office had become much more respectable, fitting for a man with a thriving business.

It wasn’t surprising he was so hesitant to hand over the gold, since this would be the last tranche for quite a while. Nick had mentioned he might have the man sell the matriarchs for him, but the Duke’s offer had been too good to pass up, and while Bloom didn’t necessarily like it, he understood there was no written agreement or even a verbal understanding, and that business was business.

“Thank you again. I will make sure to go through you, should I get another opportunity like this,” Nick replied as he made the pouch disappear in his ring. With this, he was at four hundred and ten gold, and once the day was done, he’d have that number nearly doubled if the agreement with Statius held.

It better hold. I’m leaving a lot of cash on the table here. Bloom has been building up his contacts all over the city and would have made me some good coin.

“I appreciate that,” the man grunted, pulling at his mustache. It was clear he wanted to ask more about this sudden opportunity Nick had received, but the mere mention of it being connected to House Alluria stayed his hand.

Whatever could be said about the city’s security, everyone who ran a business knew the Duke paid well and on time. It was a no-brainer to sell to him if his people expressed interest.

“By the way,” Bloom said casually, stopping Nick before he could get up, “have you heard anything about what happened to Anthony? I haven’t seen the kid in quite a while. I know he can take care of himself, but I can’t help but worry after I heard that his mother was asking around for his whereabouts. That poor woman doesn’t deserve this.”

Nick looked at him sharply. He could tell that the question wasn’t truly selfless, and he even suspected Bloom might have been encouraged to ask it by some of his new contacts among the noble houses, but there was a real hint of concern.

He was tempted to shrug the question off. The Duke had made it clear he wouldn’t release Anthony until he’d been thoroughly questioned and the situation with the Circle of Pure Souls was resolved, if he ever did.

He couldn't be sure if it was even possible, but it was notable that outsiders to the investigation had heard about Anthony’s involvement. Even more striking was that they directly associated him with the situation, despite his involvement being supposedly a secret.

Either the castle leaks secrets like a sieve, or the Duke is trying to sniff out who’s a bit too interested. Either way, I shouldn’t get involved.

But the thought of poor Miss Perry wandering around the city without any news of her son didn’t sit right with him, so he promised himself he’d let her know if Sonya and Devon hadn’t already done so.

Actually, they probably did. They have much softer hearts than I do. I should check with them first, and if not, let her know subtly.

Having made his decision, he shrugged. “I haven’t the faintest idea where he might be now.”

Bloom wilted, clearly disappointed. Whether because he was ignorant or because he thought Nick knew more and didn’t trust him with it, he didn’t know, as his emotions were surprisingly complex and would require some time to untangle, time he didn’t have right now. Either way, it didn’t really matter.

Nick stood up, nodded to the aides, shook the man’s hand, and prepared to leave, but he paused at the door and looked back at the last moment. “But I heard he’s been found,” he revealed with a wink, and then finally left.

———

“Nick, good to see you,” Statius greeted him as he was let into the warehouse. The directions he’d received the other day had been clear that he needed to go through several checkpoints to get in here, and he’d wondered why such security was needed, but a quick look around explained everything.

The most valuable items that would be sold at the auction were kept within the castle, under lock and key twenty-four seven, but that was not all that would be put up. For the larger items, especially those that couldn’t be stored in spatial items, there needed to be a separate location for them, and it seemed he’d found it.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Stacks upon stacks of heavily enchanted crates filled a significant portion of the massive warehouse. The protections carved over them were so strong that he couldn’t even begin to guess what they contained, though he didn’t need to speculate much to realize that even without the most valuable items, the stuff accumulated here had to be worth more than tens of thousands of gold coins, if not more.

He was tempted, for the briefest moment, to simply misplace a crate or two. Causing a distraction to divert the guards would be easy for him, and he doubted they’d notice something was missing until it was too late, but the feeling of Statius’ keen gaze on him told him this was just another test.

They could have taken him somewhere else. Requisitioned another warehouse or even done this in the castle. He was sure they had enough space, considering the supplies Alluria’s garrison needed, but the fact that he had been brought here, knowing he was very interested in the auction, suggested that something else was going on.

It’s not necessarily another test. Statius doesn’t seem to expect me to do anything untoward. But exposing people to so much wealth can be very revealing.

Was it just a way to disarm him? He was definitely impressed by the security measures, and he’d love to stop by and examine some of the enchantments, but he was here to do a job. Once that was finished, he needed to track down One-Ear for the final part of his preparations for the auction.

“Statius, thank you for having me,” he finally greeted back, before turning to the only other person in the cavernous space. “Good morning.”

“Yes, yes, good morning. Now let me see the goods.”

Nick had not expected the auditor to be a dwarf. Alluria seemed fairly accepting of other races, but with the war in the north escalating, he had expected anyone even remotely linked to the kingdom’s enemies to be at least sidelined, if not completely removed from the picture.

The kingdom of Berea didn’t have a great history of fair treatment; he knew that very well. Few beastmen lived in the city, despite its closeness to their old haunts, which was enough to know that the peaceful present hid a darker past.

Yet this dwarf was clearly trusted by the Duke to hold such an important role. I should learn more about the relationship between dark dwarves and regular ones. Any book on other races I’ve come across so far has been full of political nonsense, but maybe there’s something worthwhile in Tholm’s library.

Not wanting to make the surly dwarf wait too long, since he was clearly not in the mood for pleasantries, Nick did as instructed and released the matriarchs from his ring for the first time since gathering them.

Twin sharp breaths told him they hadn’t expected them to be that big.

Since it had been a while, Nick himself had to admit he was impressed by their sheer size. Each was at least twice as large as an Alpha, which was already much bigger than a regular thunderhoof.

Some of them showed signs of battle damage. One had a portion of its skull missing from where he'd slammed a [Spirit Crunch] into it. Another was almost torn in two from a highly violent spell. Several others had broken necks and bones from when they’d fallen in the pits he’d prepared in advance before unleashing an earthquake on them.

But the other half was almost eerily pristine, with the only signs of having been in a fight being the mud and dirt covering them.

All in all, they cut a very impressive sight.

“I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical. I believed you, of course, but seeing them is quite different than hearing about them,” Statius said, eyeing the one that had been torn apart with morbid interest.

The dwarf, on the other hand, had already moved past his surprise and was inspecting the bodies, muttering to himself the entire time, taking notes on everything from the condition of the hide to the length of the horns.

Nick and Statius stepped back, letting him have at it.

“So, still firm on your price?” Nick asked slyly. He doubted he’d be able to get much more than he already had in the initial deal, since a couple of the matriarchs were in rough shape, but he’d be a fool not to use the shock Statius was feeling to push for more.

The man chuckled, “Well, we’ll have to see what Master Brass here has to say, but I’d be open to a minor revision if needed. The Duke has already authorized the disbursement I proposed, with enough flexibility to keep everyone satisfied.”

Nick smiled. He didn’t even need [Empyrean Intuition] to know that Statius was intensely curious about why the Duke was so generous to a mere apprentice, but he was a loyal servant and wouldn’t step outside the boundaries that had been set.

It’s a good thing the Duke remembers that this is supposed to be a reward. Selling them all at once is a big deal, but it wouldn’t be much of a gift if I only received what I would on the open market.

Still, the final word belonged to Master Brass, who seemed just about done. Nick had watched him work with great interest, and since the dwarf’s motions reminded him of Ogden directing the dissection of a wyvern, he was quite sure he had earned his title.

“Two of ‘em are only good for the meat and some of the bones, as the organs got damaged, but another couple are salvageable, and the rest are almost too well-preserved.” He finally pronounced himself, meeting Nick’s gaze with his own fierce stare.

“I don’t know what you did, kid. I’m not a mage, so I can’t tell just from the aftereffects, and this was no mind magic, which is usually the culprit for perfect bodies like this. You must be something special, huh?”

Nick merely tilted his head to the side, smiling bashfully. “Ah, you are too kind.”

The dwarf grunted, “Wasn’t a compliment. But anyway, this is good stuff. Higher grade than what hits the market, I’d say. Matriarchs don’t really come up for sale all that often, so their value is hard to pinpoint, but I can tell you that more than half of these have never been seen in this condition. I’d normally handle the sale of each separately, but if I had to average them into a single buyout, I’d pay no less than thirty golds per head.”

Nick grinned broadly and turned back to Statius, who was sighing in resignation.

But Brass wasn’t done. “Buying all of them together is an even bigger deal, because it means no one else is getting any for months, maybe years. Four hundred gold for the lot is more than a fair price, in my opinion.”

“Thank you, Master Brass,” Statius said quickly, clearly wanting to prevent any more bombs from being dropped.

Nick also thanked the dwarf, who shrugged. “Just doing my job. It’s what I’m paid for. Anyway, if you’re going through with the sale, I’ll take these bad girls with me and start processing the uglier ones. The rest will go into stasis for the Duke to decide what to do with.”

“I can almost see the greed shining through your eyes, Nick. It’s not a good look,” Statius chuckled, but Nick was too far gone to care.

Now I just need to find a target that won’t mind losing a few hundred more, and I’ll be set.