“Sorry master.... I couldn''t get any info!” George bowed in front of Theodore who sat in his mansion’s secure room reviewing some top-secret documents.

    “Even you couldn’t do it?” Theodore lifted his head and looked at his trusted butler in shock.

    “Yes!” George replied. “I lost contact with the flame Ifrit I summoned for some reason, but the surveillance team reported nothing abnormal at that time!”

    “Oh...”

    “It was during a 30-minute blackout period when young master Max took a prostitute to a motel room, and he reported her dead afterward!” George frowned. “The surveillance team''s report only included him being involved in some kind of ‘rough activities’.”

    “Some kind of sacrificial ritual?”

    “Most likely!” George replied. “I checked the family records and although his butler managed to hide it quite well, I did find out that Max might have quite a history with such incidents with prostitutes... “ he added. “About one or two casualties per month!”

    “Oh!” Theodore''s frown grew deeper as he let go of the document in his hand and looked up, lost in thought. He was clearly disturbed. Although it was common in the family for every heir to do whatever they wanted to normal people, Max’s actions meant that he was either a psycho or worse... A TRAITOR!

    “After that, he called ‘Victor’ wanting to meet him, it is as if he had been given some kind of instructions!” George continued with his conclusion.

    “Oh... Any idea what this is about?”

    “No, as he didn’t explain anything on the phone, but Axel should tell us everything as soon as he finishes with him,” George replied.

    “Then let’s wait and see, let the men be more careful not to reveal anything... I want to see what kind of game he will be playing!” Theodore said with a cold voice. “His future actions will seal his fate!”

    He was super pissed, the only thing he hated more than getting cuckolded was being betrayed! No wait, those two were on the same level!

    Anyway, if Max was really doing this on purpose, and if he were to try something to harm the family, Theodore was planning to be the one to act and finish him off!

    “Understood...” George said just as someone knocked on the door.

    “Enter...” Theodore paused for a moment then commanded, allowing his faithful maid Adel to enter and bow courtesy while lifting the tips of her fluffy maid uniform to reveal her fishnet stockings.

    George clicked his tongue as he looked away. He never liked this woman’s over-emphasis on protocol or the way she seduced his master on every occasion.

    “Is there anything?” Theodore asked, noticing Adel’s disturbed face.

    “Young master Max, he got into a fight with young master Axel and now both of them are in the police station...”

    “Eh!?”

    ***

    “Ladies and gentlemen, now we will take a brief rest then begin the next collection...” the auctioneer announced with a grave voice then turned to leave.

    “That was really intense!” Victor commented. He was not really watching, but he wanted to appear as if he were.

    “You have no idea, wait until the real artifacts make an appearance later!” Aerith commented.

    “Oh...” Victor nodded as the door knocked and a few carts were brought into the balcony containing the stuff that they bought.

    Victor casually grabbed the things he bet for, including the tailbone meant for Emira.

    “What do people downstairs do to get their stuff?” he asked as he paid. Those guys didn’t have the luxury of having their stuff carted in.

    “They can go pick them up from the office on the third floor during the rest, or they can wait until the end to take them from the first floor where safe exits can be provided!” the maid who accepted Victor’s payment clarified.

    “Oh...” he nodded as he put the final touches on his plan. “Thank goodness we are VIPs here!” he said. “I don’t want to mingle with commoners!”

    The maid nodded with disgust, she hated those types of guys the most.

    “By the way, where is the restroom?” he asked again.

    “At the end of the corridor on each floor, there is one!” the maid, fulfilling her duty explained.

    “Good... I will return in a bit! I need to take a dump...” he told everyone.

    “You don’t have to explain that...” Rosette dismissed him as she inspected an Orichalcum ore that she bought.

    “I do, my wife is very jealous!” he clarified, making Aerith shoot him a glare. “Emira, stay with Aerith and behave!” he told the little girl.

    “Un...” Emira nodded, frowning a bit as she understood his other instructions that no one else heard.

    Giving everyone on the balcony a glance he slowly walked out and casually made his way toward the restrooms. There were five on this floor.

    He quickly chose the deepest one and as soon as he entered and made sure he was alone, he took out Yoss, one of the two elf girls, from the cauldron.

    “Master!” she asked with a blush as she noticed that she was in a very cramped space with her body pushing on her Master.

    “Shush!” he said as he put his hand on her head, making her slowly change shape into him. “Everyone will now see you as me. Stay here and act as if you have bad constipation, don’t leave no matter what you hear, even if this building collapses, I will return to get you later!” he said.

    “Ah....” she didn’t expect that. “I understand!”

    “You can use the Soul Perfume if needed, just focus on not getting discovered,” he added.

    “Understood!” she nodded obediently.

    On the tip of the sword, a black-looking bird hatchling was squirming and screaming in pain before dying. Moments later it evaporated into smoke!

    ***

    “Why is Victor late?” Meril, who watched the next stage of the auction start, suddenly said.

    “Probably doing something perverted...” Lyra smirked.

    “Lyra!” Rosette scolded.

    “...” Aerith stood up.

    “Leave him be...” Rosette said to her. “If he were to make trouble, it will be all recorded by the auction house’s array, you will be able to use it later to reign him in!”

    Aerith frowned.

    “You were the one who was shunning him...” Rosette added. “You should have expected him to grow impatient...”

    “I know but...”

    “It is ok, he might just be having constipation for all we know!” Rosette says. “Think of it as a test for him!”

    “...” Aerith still didn’t sit down. “I want to have a look...” she said, turning and quickly leaving.

    “I will come with you...” Ameira jumped to her feet and quickly grabbed Aerith''s hand.

    “..” Aeirht nodded and left with the little girl.

    Rosette could only shake her head as she watched her jealous daughter leave and look down toward the stage where a young man entered to introduce the next collection they were selling. Rare and Mysterious Items.

    “Ladies and gentlemen... We continue our auction! The first item is this black Sword hilt... It is completely normal, butt for some reason, whenever someone swings it, it screams in pain!” he said as he held the hilt and swung it in a random direction.

    “KYAAAAAAAAAAAA...” A lewd scream reverberated in the room as the young auctioneer quickly dropped it and shot the assistant behind the stage a glare. The assistant shook his head, it never acted like this before.

    “Ehm... It might be that kind of pain!” the auctioneer said awkwardly. “It never did that before... ehm... How about we start with 70,000 COINs?” he asked.

    “...”

    “...”

    “Really? No one wants to explore these things''s secrets?”

    “...”

    “...”

    Rosette shook her head. Although the item was intriguing, People at this auction who could afford it were at the top of society, and no one of them would risk his reputation for it.

    “It can make normal noises too... Anyone can try it! Maybe it depends on the person!” he said, offering it to the audience again while shooting the manager who was telling him that this was against protocol and an apologetic look.

    Finally, one other guy got the courage to go up and try it.

    “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

    It was a normal scream for a man getting killed!

    “Interesting ha? Anyone else?” he asked.

    This time a few people tried it, and the voice although a little different each time was still of a man.

    Thankfully after many men tried it, one rich guy got enough courage and bet on it, buying it at the starting price!

    “Congratulations sir! We will move to the next item!” the auctioneer said putting the Sword hilt away back into its own box and moving to the side before he picked the next item. “This is a coin that only displays a face when flipped despite it having two sides!” he said, showing a normal-looking golden coin with a dragon on one face and a phoenix on the other. “Anyone care to try it?” he asked, clearly nervous after that last incident.

    One man in the audience nodded walked to the stage and tested it. And indeed when flipped into the air, it only displayed Face, the one with the dragon, and no matter what the man tried, it always landed on face. Even if he tried to cheat!

    “Come... Any more people?” the auctioneer said, causing a few to go up and try it one by one.

    “I guess dragons are always on top!” the auctioneer commented, earning himself a few laughs from the audience as he thanked the last man, and gestured for him to go back to his seat as he began auctioning it for 40,000 Coins. This time it went for 70,500 before being bought by one of the Elven VIPs.

    As the auctioneer continued, the Balcony’s door opened and Aerith returned with a blush on her face. Emira was with her.

    “How was it?” Lyra asked.

    “He is in the restroom... That mushroom he ate earlier didn’t suit his stomach...” she spat looking away.

    “This world’s food might cause such things to strangers!” Rosette said as she shook her head and continued to watch the auction’s stage where many strange items were inspected and then auctioned.

    It was getting more livelier than usual!

    Inspecting the goods in such a way was a little out of the ordinary and Rosette had never seen it happen before. But for this collection that contained mysterious objects, it made sense. And it seemed to be working as many people were encouraged to bid after trying the items for themselves!

    Still, none of that concerned Rosette as none of those items were something she needed. Many of them were weak artifacts of failed products. They were only important if someone needed them for a specific thing or for research purposes.

    It was only 30 minutes later that this segment came to an end with the final items being three boxes that were brought in on carts! Two were very big and ornamented, while the last one was an unadorned metallic one!

    For some reason, as she watched, Rosette felt that something big was about to happen!