260 Selling [3]

"You want to sell this sword?"

The lady said, staring at the sword and then me. I didn't hesitate to nod my head.

"Yes, I want to sell this sword."

Take it from me.

If there was one thing that I desired, it was them taking the sword from me.

".Please wait a second."

The young lady immediately left, and I stood patiently at the waiting desk. From time to time, I'd find myself looking back.

My face was changed, and nobody could recognize me.

Still, I didn't feel safe and every second that I stood there with the sword felt like forever.

Seconds stretched into minutes and shortly after a gentleman with long white hair, a finely trimmed mustache, and a nicely fitting suit came from the back.

"Is this the product?"

He walked forward, took out a small monocle from his pocket, and analyzed the sword.

I stood behind the counter and watched as he took out the sword from the box and traced his finger over it.

He went on to inspect the sword for the next couple of minutes before settling it down.

"This is quite a nice sword. I can see that it was very well crafted. How do you want to go about this? Do you want this up for an auction or do you want to put it on display over here to sell? If you do choose the second option we have a 20% commission fee that you would need to pay, and we will contact you once someone decides to buy it."

"I see."

I nodded and thought about the two options. In the end, I opted for the second option.

This was the best one for me.

"I'd like to sell it in the store."

"Understood. We will inspect the item and put on a price for it. Is there any request that you would like of us?"

"Yes, actually"

I lowered my head to stare at the sword before raising it to meet the inspector's gaze.

"I do have one request if possible."

***

Augustus Residence.

With the upcoming Summit, the three empires were given their own residential building for resting and planning.

The August Residence, located near the city center of Bremmer, was where the Aetheria Empire was hosted.

In terms of overall power, they were second to the Nurs Ancifa Empire.

It was due to such circumstances that a lot of their warriors died, but it was also due to this that they were incredibly strong. Their population was smaller than the other Empires, but their individual strength was greater.

"Is everyone here?"

A middle-aged man with graying hair looked around the room.

Bastian V. Persilon.

He was the overseer of the group. As he scanned the room with a large oval table in the middle, surrounded by various youths, he did a quick headcount.

"....We're missing two."

Bastian didn't need to check to know who was missing.

Clank

Thankfully he didn't need to wait for long as the door soon opened and a figure walked in. The moment he entered, as if his appearance had some sort of magnetic effect, all eyes fell on the young youth.

With golden eyes that matched his hair, he looked radiant.

"It seems like we're late."

With a smile, he looked around before settling his gaze over to Bastian who lowered his gaze the moment their eyes met.

It wasn't done out of volition, but it was more of a subconscious action.

Caius M. Aetheria.

He was the son of the current Emperor and the direct lineage of the Aetheria Empire. His bloodlines were amongst the purest, and the sense of reverence he felt was all due to the pressure that stemmed from his bloodline which was said to be a mix between human and draconian, stemming from an Elder Dragon belonging to the Solaris tribe.

Within the Aetheria Empire, status was determined through one's bloodline and Caius stood at the pinnacle of the Empire.

But despite that, Bastian had a job to accomplish as he soon raised his head.

"Where have you been?"

"Hm? Well, nothing big. I went around the city to have a look."

"We have already taken a tour over the past few days."

"Yes, but there's a few other things that we haven't seen."

"Like?"

"The theater."

Caius replied with a smile, and Bastian tilted his head. Theater? Since when was he interested in such things?

"....Did you enjoy it?"

"No, not really."

Caius went on to take a seat.

"It was rather boring."

"I see."

Is he being serious or not? Narrowing his eyes, Bastian looked at Caius for a brief moment before taking his eyes away from him. He couldn't tell. He could never tell.

In the end, he decided to go on about what he had called the meeting for.

"The opening ceremony for the Four Empire Summit will begin in a couple of days. Here are the schedules for the events."

He went on to hand several papers to the youth's present.

For the next ten minutes, he talked about what to expect, and how they should behave. None of the members seemed remotely interested in the talk, with all of them lazily looking at the papers in front of them.

Bastian could understand where they were coming from, but he had no choice but to relay the information to them.

"This over here is the list of people that you need to watch out for."

Following the introduction to the events, he also handed over several files. Within the files was a long list of different profiles belonging to the participants from the other Empires.

"Only seven files?"

Taking out the files, Caius looked at them with a frown as he looked at Bastian with a look that seemed to demand an explanation.

"....These are the only five people we deem to be a threat to you."

"I see."

Caius scratched the side of his face before pausing his gaze over a couple of files.

"Leon and Aoife. Are these the only two from this Empire?"

"Yes."

"Hmm."

Staring at the papers, Caius frowned. Noticing his reaction, Bastian approached him in confusion.

"What is wrong?"

"No, I thought that there would be someone else here. I heard that there was a talented Emotive Mage in this empire and that he was the Black Star. What happened to him?"

"Ah."

Bastian realized what was going on and closed his eyes. It was no secret that Caius was an Emotive Mage. He was the greatest Emotive prospect that the Empire has had in its entire run. But he did not only excel in that. He also excelled in the [Body] category.

But unlike the [Body] category, it was much harder to find someone that he could compete with in the Emotive aspect.

He was clearly interested in seeing how much more superior he was compared to the Emotive Mage of this Empire.

"You don't have to worry about him."

Bastian replied with a wave of his hand.

"Yes?"

".....From what we've been told, he has been injured severely and only recently came back. He lost his position as Black Star and isn't anywhere near the best of his group. If it had been before, his file would've been included, but we no longer felt the need to."

"Ah, I see."

Caius replied with a disappointed nod.

His deep yellow pupils flickered slightly as he put the papers down.

"That's disheartening to hear."

Still, as he put the papers down, his gaze found its way toward a certain profile. Out of all the seven he had received, it seemed to be the most interesting one.

'Leon...'

Caius inwardly mumbled, tracing his finger over the paper.

'....I wonder if he's interesting.'

***

"Thank you very much for letting us handle your product. Here is your product number. On the chance that we do end up selling the product, we will contact you."

"Understood."

I received a small slip from the inspector at the counter and left the premises. As I did, I felt my shoulders lighten up.

It was as if a heavy burden had been lifted off my shoulders.

'I wonder how much I can make from the sword.'

I was in need of quite a bit of money. I was currently extremely poor, and while I had collected a fair share of savings, it was now gone.

The hope was that I could make the lost money back with the sword.

"Haa."

Sighing, I ruffled my hair before heading towards the meeting point for those representing the Empire. From what I was told, the other team members had already arrived. I was now quite close to the meeting point, which was a fair walk from where I had been.

The sun was scorching down, but it was slowly starting to set, casting an orange glow over the sky.

<nulli>'Supposedly, there should be a few people I met before.'

During the mid-terms.

A few of the stronger cadets from back then had also been invited.

I did remember a few faces from back then.

Haven wasn't the only place where the representatives were being selected. There were other Academies within the Nurs Ancifa Empire, and twenty representatives were far from enough.

It was for this reason that we weren't the only ones present.

<nulli>Btzzz

I was just about to begin moving when I felt a small vibration in my pocket.

"Hm?"

Fiddling with my pocket, I took a small orb out.

"Ah."

My steps paused.

".....Looks like someone is already interested."

***

Buxlom Merchant House.

"Make sure you handle the sword with care."

George ordered as several workers handled an old wooden box with care. Within the box was a nice sword that George managed to get under his jurisdiction.

He was thinking of selling the sword for around 150 to 200 thousand Rend.

This was a lot of money for a sword.

While the sword wasn't a strong relic, it was still an incredibly well-crafted sword. It was also quite new which would make it easy to sell.

With the 20% commission, this was easy money for him, and this was all that mattered.

"Make sure you don't break the box."

But if there was one thing that George wasn't satisfied with, it'd be the strange request from the seller.

<nulli>'Please keep the sword in the box, and don't throw it away. The two must come together.'

George had refused at first, but the seller seemed adamant about it.

"Well, whatever."

It couldn't be said that he was satisfied, but he couldn't let go of such easy money and accepted.

That said, the seller did have another odd request, and at first, George refused, but things changed after hearing his proposal.

"....I wonder if he's playing a joke with me or not."

Sighing to himself, George had just gotten the two workers to place the box on display when he noticed a man standing before the box.

With his back turned against him, and wearing a gray coat, he stared at the box with his hands in his pockets. Next to the box was a small piece of paper with the image of the sword.

There was something strange about the man, but George didn't put much thought into it and approached him.

"Sir, are you perhaps interested in purchasing the sword? It is currently closed within the box, but I can open it for you."

"....."

He didn't get an immediate reply.

In the silence that followed after the question, George rubbed his hands together and prepared to speak again when a voice cut him off.

"That box."

The voice quietly echoed, smoothly entering George's ears like a soft whisper.

"...Can I see what's inside?"