Chapter 45: The Auction

The auction district was packed. Luxury vehicles lined the streets, private security stood outside every entrance, and wealthy Awakeners moved between buildings with assistants carrying their equipment behind them.

A few hours ago, Reinhard would have looked at these people and seen rich strangers. Now he saw a line of future customers who didn’t know it yet. Maybe I’ll come back after the auction, he thought, and smiled.

The auction house rose ahead of him, massive, with Awakener guards stationed at the entrance, and a staff member stepped into his path. "Invitation, sir?"

"I don’t have one."

The man’s expression turned politely apologetic. "Then you’ll need to register as a bidder. Bidders need to demonstrate sufficient funds for..."

Reinhard turned his phone around, his balance displayed on the screen. The staff member stared at it, then at Reinhard, then at the screen again, as though the number might be a typo. It was not a typo, and he stepped smoothly aside. "Welcome, sir."

Reinhard smiled. "Thank you."

The noise of Marvello vanished the moment he stepped inside. The main hall was enormous, with rows of seats stretching toward a wide stage and private balconies overlooking the room, and everywhere he looked, people were discussing million-credit purchases as casually as lunch.

So this is where all the rich idiots gather. Reinhard smiled. "Perfect."

Somewhere inside this building were two things Emily needed, the Bone Remaker Paste and the Oath Keeper Water, and Reinhard had thirty-two million credits to get them.

He found a seat near the middle and settled in. Without thinking, he pulled out the coin the old woman had dropped at his feet that morning and slowly turned it over his knuckles.

That morning, someone had mistaken him for a street performer, and now he was sitting in the most expensive room in Marvello with more money than half the people in it.

Not bad for one day.

A few minutes later, the lights dimmed, the conversations faded, and an auctioneer stepped onto the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome."

Reinhard flipped the coin once, caught it, and closed his hand around it. This time, he wasn’t here hoping he could afford Emily’s treatment. He was here to buy it.

The auctioneer spread his arms as the lights settled over the stage, and while he delivered a long and very polished welcome speech, Reinhard listened to the room instead.

Two men in the row ahead were talking in low voices. "Did you bring the authorization documents?"

"They’re with my assistant."

"Good. I don’t want another incident like last time."

Reinhard very much wanted to know what the incident had been. Nobody told him.

A few seats over, someone was flipping through a glossy auction catalogue. "How much did the Heartseed go for last time?"

"Seven point eight."

"Then eight tonight wouldn’t surprise me."

Reinhard glanced over. Eight million, discussed in the same tone he would use for the price of eggs.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the auctioneer finished, "let us begin."

The room went quiet, and Reinhard settled in. He wasn’t here to browse. He had exactly two items on his list, and everything else could wait.

The first item appeared on the enormous display. "Our first item is the Complete Recovery Elixir." The auctioneer described what it could do, mending broken bones, torn muscles, severe blood loss, and serious internal injuries, all within its limits. "For an Awakener, there are few things more valuable than another chance to stand after being broken."

Reinhard thought about Emily, and about the word stand, and kept very still.

"The opening bid is two million credits."

A paddle rose. "Two million."

"Two point three."

"Two point eight."

The number kept climbing, three million, four, five, and nobody so much as flinched. Eventually, someone called out six million, and the hammer came down. "Sold."

"Our second item," the auctioneer announced, "is the Heartseed Fruit."

A strange fruit rotated slowly inside a protective case, deep red and faintly pulsing like something alive, and the auctioneer explained that under the right conditions, it could regenerate a severely damaged heart, even one destroyed beyond conventional treatment. A murmur passed through the room.

Reinhard laid a hand flat against his chest and felt the steady beat of the Enlightened Heart beneath his palm.

Where were you last night? he thought, looking at the fruit.

"Opening bid, three million."

"Three point five."

"Four."

"Five."

"Six."

It climbed exactly the way the man with the catalogue had predicted, and a thin woman in pearls finally took it at eight million with the bored expression of someone buying a sandwich.

"Called it," the man with the catalogue said.

The auction rolled on through a stamina-enhancing tonic, a defensive relic, a rare weapon, and a mana recovery crystal. Millions left people’s accounts one after another, and Reinhard watched all of it with interest without lifting his paddle once.

Then he noticed people looking at him.

"Isn’t that him?"

"Who?"

"The Mirror guy. The one Lucien used."

"That’s what I heard."

Reinhard’s eye twitched very slightly.

The Mirror guy. That was what they were calling him? He had been hoping for something with a little more menace.

The Oracle.

The Seer.

The Unnaturally Handsome Prophet of Marvello.

Anything but the Mirror guy.

"Wait," someone else whispered. "Is that Reinhard Ashcroft? Emily Ashcroft’s husband?"

The name slipped quietly through the nearby seats, and Reinhard didn’t turn around.

Already? Apparently, Lucien had been better advertising than any billboard in the city.

The auction went on through several more items, and Reinhard stayed perfectly still. He had thirty-two million credits and a very strict list.

Then the auctioneer paused. "Our next item belongs to the medical category."

Reinhard’s attention sharpened instantly as staff members carried out a sealed container and the display behind the stage changed. Bone Remaker Paste. He sat up a little straighter, his fingers settling on the armrest.

This one mattered.

The auctioneer explained how the paste rebuilt damaged bone and reinforced it as it formed. "Opening bid, two million credits."

"Two million."

"Two point two."

"Two point five."

Reinhard watched.

"Three million."

"Three point five."

"Four million."

He still didn’t move, and someone nearby whispered, "I thought Ashcroft wanted the medical items."

"Maybe this isn’t the one he’s after."

Reinhard almost laughed out loud. Oh, you have no idea.

"Five million," the auctioneer called. "Do I hear five point one?"

Reinhard raised his paddle, and the whole room noticed. "Six million. And I’m being polite."

Heads turned, and the previous bidder, a tall man in a gray suit, raised his paddle again. "Six point two."

"Seven."

A ripple ran through the crowd, and the man in gray studied Reinhard for a moment. "Seven point two."

Reinhard raised his paddle one more time. "Eight."

The hall went quiet. The man in gray looked at Reinhard, and Reinhard simply sat there looking back at him, relaxed, pleasant, and completely unbothered.

"Eight million credits," the auctioneer said. "Do I hear eight point one?"

The man in gray slowly lowered his paddle.

"Going once."

Reinhard leaned back.

"Going twice."

The hammer fell. "Sold."

Reinhard smiled and gave the room a small nod. "Thank you. Lovely doing business with all of you."

The murmuring started up again as people repeated the number and his name, and someone muttered "the Mirror guy" again.

Reinhard’s eye twitched a second time.

A staff member came over to process the payment.

[Purchase Confirmed.]

[-8,000,000 Credits.]

[Remaining Balance: $24,175,000.]

[Investment Opportunities Updated.]

[Target: Emily Ashcroft.]

[Objective: Find the items capable of restoring the target’s legs.]

[Materials Acquired: 1/2.]

One down, one to go.

The staff member quietly told him his item would be waiting in a private room after the auction, and Reinhard thanked him and turned back to the stage.

Eventually, the auctioneer returned to the medical section, and his voice dropped slightly. "Our next item is an exceptionally rare treatment resource."

A sealed container appeared on the screen.

"Oath Keeper Water."

The atmosphere shifted all at once, and whispers broke out across the hall. People wondered aloud how the auction house had even gotten one, and someone muttered that the shipment had supposedly been held for the eastern consortium.

Reinhard’s smile grew. So this one was popular.

The auctioneer raised a hand for quiet. "This is not ordinary healing water."

He began telling the room its history, how a legendary S-Rank Awakener had once suffered catastrophic internal injuries on an expedition, but Reinhard didn’t need to hear any more. His mind went straight to Cassian’s warning about the damage hidden deep inside Emily, the kind nobody had ever found. This wasn’t something that would simply make her recovery easier. She needed it.

He glanced at his phone.

[Current Balance: $24,175,000.]

He smiled. Let’s have some fun.

The lights dimmed, and the sealed container was set on a raised platform ringed with protective seals as a pillar of white light descended from the ceiling onto it. Inside was a small amount of nearly clear liquid, tiny golden particles drifting slowly through it like stars.

The room went silent, and Reinhard nodded in approval. Now that was showmanship. He respected it.

"One vial," the auctioneer said. "The opening bid is five million credits."

Paddles went up immediately.

"Five point five."

"Six."

"Six point five."

"Seven."

Reinhard didn’t move.

A sharply dressed corporate representative raised his paddle. "Seven point five."

A broad-shouldered Awakener near the front answered. "Eight."

Then an older collector with a silver cane finally entered. "Nine million."

The room reacted as the price climbed to nine and a half, then ten.

Reinhard watched with a faint smile, and someone behind him whispered, "Isn’t that the man who bought the paste? The Mirror guy?"

Reinhard decided, then and there, that he was going to have to do something very memorable so people would stop calling him that.

"Eleven million."

"Eleven point five," said the corporate representative.

"Twelve," said the Awakener.

"Twelve point five," said the collector.

"Thirteen."

The tension in the room had become almost physical, and Reinhard finally raised his paddle. "Thirteen point five."

Every head in the room turned toward him.

The old collector studied him for several long seconds, then lowered his cane and his paddle together. The corporate representative checked something on his phone, winced, and lowered his too.

Only the Awakener near the front was left, and he hesitated, clearly doing painful math in his head, before he raised his paddle one more time. "Thirteen point eight."

Reinhard smiled and raised his. "Fourteen million."

The hall went silent. The Awakener near the front had his paddle halfway up, and it stayed there, trembling slightly in the air.

Reinhard leaned toward him. "Sir, please," he said warmly. "I believe in you."

A few people laughed out loud.

The Awakener’s paddle trembled a moment longer, and then slowly sank back into his lap.

Reinhard looked around the room, and nobody else moved. "Anyone?" Nobody answered, and he sighed. "No?"

The auctioneer’s mouth twitched. "Apparently not."

Reinhard nodded sadly. "That’s unfortunate." He glanced at the Awakener. "I was just starting to have fun."

"Going once," the auctioneer said.

Nobody moved.

"Going twice."

Reinhard smiled.

The hammer fell. "Sold."

[Purchase Confirmed.]

[-14,000,000 Credits.]

[Remaining Balance: $10,175,000.]

He looked at the number, then at the stage, and laughed softly. Twenty-four million had just become ten, and he had become poor again. He was starting to notice that he became poor again at least once a day, and so far, every single time, it had been worth it.

[Investment Opportunities Updated.]

[Target: Emily Ashcroft.]

[Stage Three: Gnosis Recovery.]

[Objective: Find the S-Class items capable of restoring access to the target’s Gnosis.]

[Materials Acquired: 1/3.]

One of two for her legs, and one of three for her Gnosis.

Two down, three to go.

...

When the auction finally ended, the winners were led off to private rooms to collect their purchases, and a staff member guided Reinhard into one where two containers sat side by side on a polished table.

The Bone Remaker Paste and the Oath Keeper Water.

Then he smiled. "Got them."

He turned toward the door, and it opened before he reached it.

The auctioneer stepped inside with a faint smile, and behind him, looking considerably less happy, was the broad-shouldered Awakener who had lost the Oath Keeper Water.

"My dear guest," the auctioneer said. "I hope the items were to your liking."

"They were."

"I’m glad. I came to congratulate you personally." He gestured over his shoulder. "And this gentleman asked if he might have a word with you before you left."

The Awakener stepped forward. "Fifteen million," he said without preamble. "For the Oath Keeper Water. You’d walk out of here with a million-credit profit for doing nothing."

Reinhard looked at him. "No."

"Sixteen."

"No."

"Seventeen."

Reinhard smiled. "Still no, but I admire the enthusiasm. You negotiate like a man who’s trying very hard to make me rich."

The Awakener stared at him, clearly unsure whether Reinhard was joking. "You’re really willing to spend that much and not even consider selling it?"

Reinhard’s expression softened slightly as he glanced toward the container holding the Oath Keeper Water. "It’s for the most important person in my life."

The Awakener opened his mouth, then closed it again. The auctioneer, who had been watching the exchange with increasing amusement, quietly looked away to hide his smile.

Reinhard leaned back against the table and casually crossed his arms.

"Besides, I can make more money."

The Awakener stared at him. "You just spent fourteen million, and you’re already talking about making more?"

Reinhard shrugged. "I spent fourteen million." He smiled. "I didn’t lose fourteen million."

The man frowned. "What’s the difference?"

"The first one sounds much better at dinner parties."

The auctioneer let out a quiet laugh, and the Awakener shook his head slowly. "You’re strange."

"I’ve been told."

The auctioneer studied Reinhard for a long moment before holding out his hand. "I’m afraid I never caught your name."

"Reinhard Ashcroft."

They shook hands, and the auctioneer’s grip stopped for the briefest moment. "Ashcroft..." His eyes moved back to Reinhard’s face, and his expression slowly changed.

"You’re are her husband!"