Jjhutto_Son of Flame
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B3. Ch. 24 AP Fantasy World History
🕑 Added 2024-08-02 01:26:10 +0000 UTC“Forgive me for that Mr. Tillman. She caught me on the street and asked politely where I was headed… It is not wise to lie to an Assesor, something I am very thankful you did not try.” she said, a load visibly falling from her shoulders as she poured both of them more tea.
“Yeah, I figured something was off. How did I do?”
“Honestly? That was drastically better than I feared. The inscrutable use of a full-body fire Ability was an incredible way to take the initiative, one that someone of her stature would never dream of addressing, but would wonder about for the rest of the meeting.
“Yeah, that's exactly what I was going for.” Tilly laughed nervously.
Mochizuki’s eyes sharpened, her gaze zeroing in on Tilly’s newly acquired ring, “Now, tell me… Is that what I think it is?” She asked. Her expression had moved from relief to wonder in a split second, the shift so jarring that Tilly almost did a double take, before narrowing his eyes at the female lapin.
“What? Didn’t you plan all this?”
“Mr. Tillman! After Ichiro’s report, I thought putting the Guild further in your debt would be prudent considering what we are about to face. I hoped for a report to headquarters, or perhaps another payout for damages… but this? I can’t even Identify what you are wearing! It must be Third Tier.” She breathed, leaning in close to Tilly's hand.
Tilly watched her for an uncomfortable few seconds as she examined the ring from multiple angles. She had done her share of scheming, but it appeared that even their resident ninja could be caught flat-footed. He decided to let the suspicion of her higher-level scheming go and just trust her.
“I did what you suggested, Mochizuki. I paid for and received a Keystone, one that is appropriate to my stat levels.” He finally answered, allowing a sheepish smile to break up his harder gaze.
“Apparently, no one expected me to have any stats in the fourth tier, especially Endurance. It made bonding with anything under the Fourth Tier impossible. I didn’t know this and neither did the branch Chief, so he committed early in the conversation to upgrade me without charging more than the base price.”
At that, Mochizuki jerked her gaze up at him sharply, almost as if she had been struck, “Jonathan Tillman! Did you say Fourth Tier?”
“Yep.” He smiled, feeling only slightly smug at her surprised reaction.
“When I saw you in the capitol, I would never have thought that you would be striking dragons and wearing their skin.” She said, her shock softening into a somewhat teasing smile.
“Yeah, you know that's not what happened.” he deadpanned back, “This is still my armor, it’s just that it can change forms depending on what I give it as a catalyst.”
“Yes, we’ll leave what you have been feeding your clothes out of this for now.” She said, pivoting, “Now, I may not have been able to recognize this ring, but others will, and with your level completely obscured by this form, our capabilities at the auction tomorrow have just vastly increased.”
“Yeah, about that. If at all possible, I need as much information as I can get if you don’t want me to shove my foot in my mouth the whole time. I guess we just found out that I can play ‘rich asshole’ with the best of them but I definitely need more of a game plan than that. I know we want to sell our Dragon Glass, and somehow gather information. The rest… I need you to fill in.”
Mochizuki nodded firmly at his request, her expression growing serious, “The Alliance can and will purchase what we need through the Auction House kiosk at their markup. This will be essential in procuring some rarer crafting ingredients that we do not have access to locally. The most recent report from the Rangers hints at a much richer untapped region in our surrounding mountains than what was first surveyed by the empire.”
“Our mission is about much more than procuring a few Epic items. I do have a target list to look out for during the auction phases of the mission and our budget will be set by whatever our dragon glass ingots sell for. We will even have some help to make sure the price goes as high as possible.”
“Wow, we have ingots already?”
“Yes, in what is becoming a surprise to no one, the forge the smithy received for its participation in the most recent Quest can melt the glass at a high mana cost to our crafters. We can’t make anything complicated yet, but everyone who works with the substance is gaining experience at unprecedented rates. We are also iterating a few ideas with our new priests and acolytes that will make the few things we are able to produce before the auction very attractive to the right buyers.”
“Ok, so we hope our stuff sells for a ton of gold, then we use that money to make some purchases of our own… wait, how do you know when our goods will sell?”
“We do not know for sure, but we have been informed that typically the newest sellers to the auction are given the unfavorable position of an early spot in the event. This should actually work to our advantage, so we will hope nothing has changed.
“Got it. Keep an eye out for whatever is on your list, and buy it with our new funds. Why do I feel like that is the easy part?”
Mochizuki’s serious expression slipped again, and the edges of her mouth twitched briefly, “Yes, Mr. Tillman, that is very much the easy part. What comes next is far more dangerous. If we don’t perform well, we risk moving into the next arena of this war almost completely blind. Now I need you to pay close attention as I outline the typical procedure for these events, and the major player expected to attend.”
…
They prepped for hours, only interrupted by a kind elderly lapin woman who dropped off a new tray for tea, and then dinner an hour later. Mochizuki covered everything from the typical order of proceedings at auction to how bidders, buyers, and sellers were all kept anonymous.
They would be given teleport access to the venue just before the start and then be led to a private booth, one with a full view of the auction stage and the “bidding arena”. In their booth, they would receive a control crystal that would connect to a randomly assigned auction flag. The flags would all be planted on the arena floor and would rise as the owner of each respective control crystal bid on an item. The flag that soared above all others represented the winner of each item. The item would then be packaged and delivered discretely to the winner after the event was over. Tilly found the whole thing fascinating and might even have been excited until he heard about what made the auction a must-attend event for many of the powers on the Plane.
Every ten items, the whole event would pause for a short break. The bidding arena would be opened to the occupants of the booths and the flags would rise out of the way, clearing the space. Then tables and drinks would be set out, allowing the guests to mingle until the next round of items was “prepared” This was of course a fiction and a key part of the allure of the event.
You could meet on neutral grounds with possible future allies or even better, collect intel on enemies. For some of the major powers, not showing up to the event was tantamount to a declaration of weakness. Other more obscure forces on the Plane attended the event but never bothered to emerge from their booths.
To make matters even more complicated, the view from the booths remained active the entire time, so instead of participating in the ‘cosmic cocktail party’, you could choose to observe and take copious notes on the other attendees. Mochizuki even believed that her natural hearing was good enough to catch many of the conversations happening on the floor, depending on their position.
She also warned him not to Identify anyone due the the backlash he would undoubtedly suffer because of level disparity. Instead, she made a list of possible attendees, their expected appearance, and the name of the Faction they represented. Reginald, the spymaster for the Tower of Light had come through big time, sharing a full report with Mochizuki. The current leader of the Tower would be in attendance but would be keeping well away from them to maintain their cover. She had received the report through Mateus the day before, memorizing it and passing it along to the council before they tasked her with preparing him for the auction tomorrow.
They worked on it for hours, even with Mochizuki cutting out as much nonessential information as she could so as not to “unnecessarily burden him when he had such an important role to play”. Tilly however could read between the lines just like anyone else, and he was sure that the whole thing was set up with his… below average Intelligence stat in mind.
Anyways, she would be with him every step of the way and would be able to help him navigate anything they didn’t anticipate. That is not to say there wasn’t a lot of information to cover. After four fascinating hours of lecturing on the major powers and alliances currently ruling the plane, Tilly was wrung out. It was just a lot.
He felt like he was back in high school, taking AP Fantasy World History, but everything he was learning might help him stay alive if he managed to survive whatever plane-wide fight was building. It genuinely was fascinating, but by the end, Tilly was seeing dots. Even the occasional cute distraction of Kindle popping out of his pocket and demanding to be fed stopped breaking up the giant information block after a while.
Seeing that they had run out of mental roadway, Mochizuki gave one final run-through, covering the names of the largest Factions and their likely representatives. Tilly nodded along, even mouthing some of the unfamiliar terms to try and get them straight. As she completed the list, she clapped her hands in triumph and pulled out a clay bottle with fresh glasses. Tilly raised his eyebrows as she poured out a light green liquid that smelled slightly vinegary and sweet.
“Mr. Tillman, everything we have reviewed is important, but none of them equal the importance of the start of this lesson. The rules that govern this event are paramount. I will repeat them one more time, and then we will drink.” she said, sliding Tilly’s cup over to him.
“These laws are practically sacred. To break them is to lose access to the Auction House for your entire Faction. No exceptions. They are simple to remember and incredibly complex to navigate in a room full of exceptions to almost every natural law on the Plane.”
Comments
Wyatt Hilbert
Thanks for the chapter
