The venue for the auction held in Village Five was constructed at the foot of the mountain, occupying the space usually reserved for the baseball ground.
The area had been leveled, and a sea of tents now stood there, housing the various items up for bid.
The auction was divided into two main formats. The first was the outcry style, where participants called out prices until the highest bidder won. The second was the bidding style. In that format, you wrote your name and the price you were willing to pay on a slip of paper and left it in front of the item; once the deadline passed, the seller would choose their preferred buyer from the pile.
This particular auction utilized both methods. Items with boxes in front of them were for the bidding style, while those with numbered tags were for the outcry style. The numbers represented the order in which they would appear on the block. Since I planned to be a mere spectator, either was fine by me, though I noticed an abundance of boxes. I wondered if the bidding style was the standard here.
I was mistaken. Normally, these auctions lasted several days, but this one was restricted to a single day, so there simply wasn't enough time for everything to be handled via outcry.
That made sense.
The reason the Village Five auction was limited to a single day was that a baseball match was scheduled on this very ground tomorrow. I wondered if they couldn't have just pushed the date back, but then I learned one of the teams belonged to the Demon King. Worse yet, the match had been scheduled over six months in advance. There was no moving that. I was convinced.
The four of us—Yoko, Galf, Daga, and I—walked around to look at the exhibits. It seemed lively enough, though once you accounted for the sellers and the security detail, it wasn't quite as bustling as it looked. I heard that only about thirty people were actually registered to participate in the bidding.
That seemed like a small number. Perhaps the change in venue had something to do with it? I worried if the auction would actually get heated with so few bidders. Since the Goroun Company took a percentage of the sales, I felt a bit bad for Michael, but worrying was probably rude. As the Village Head, I’d just have to trust that it would be a success.
While browsing the items, we ran into Yuri’s group. She was accompanied by several noble daughters who had come along with their parents. They were five acquaintances of Yuri’s, though I didn't recognize any of them. After she introduced us, I felt a brief moment of wariness, but I apologized in my heart once I learned they all already had fiancés.
Yoko handled the introductions on our side. The reaction to me, Yoko, and Daga was lukewarm at best, but the girls went wild when it came to Galf. The title "God of War Galf" carried a lot of weight, apparently.
I had to tell them to settle down—didn't they have fiancés? They shouldn't be hugging him or acting so scandalous. Their parents would surely weep. Galf just looked embarrassed and flustered.
When I returned to the village, I’d have to make sure to mention this to his wife.
The noble daughters had been staying in Village Five since yesterday and were full of praise for the local hotels. Since they were high-ranking nobles, they were likely staying in the best accommodations we had, but it still felt good to hear they were comfortable.
They enjoyed the food, too. They were especially fond of Noodle Shop Buritoa, though they mentioned waiting in the long line was quite an ordeal.
They actually waited in line? I glanced at Yuri. We were supposed to offer delivery services to nobles to avoid friction, but the girls had apparently insisted otherwise.
"We wouldn't dare demand special treatment at a shop bearing the Buritoa name," they had said.
Apparently, Yuri had mentioned the delivery option, but they refused to use it. They wanted to do exactly what everyone else did. That meant these noble daughters had stood in a cramped line just to eat ramen at the counter.
I wondered if the shop had been okay. I’d have to stop by Noodle Shop Buritoa later to thank the staff for their hard work.
After some light conversation, we parted ways with Yuri's group. I thought about paying my respects to the girls' parents, but I couldn't find them anywhere. Perhaps they hadn't arrived at the venue yet?
Since most of the item information was distributed in advance, some people skipped the exhibition entirely. Apparently, some also avoided looking too closely at the items to keep from drawing the attention of potential rivals. It was that classic psychological trick where something looks better just because someone else wants it.
I had received the item list too, but I’d been too busy to look at it. Lu, Tia, and the Civil Official Girls had pored over it, though. They might even show up to participate. Regardless, it was a shame I couldn't find the parents, but Yoko had greeted them the day before, so it wasn't a major issue.
I went back to browsing the exhibits and soon ran into the Demon King's entourage. It was the Demon King himself, Beezel, and for some reason, Tiselle riding on the Demon King's shoulders.
"Father!"
I was happy to see her after a while, but I noticed she was connected to the Demon King by a rope. Why was she on a leash?
"Ehehe. Big brother told me I absolutely mustn't untie it while I'm out."
I didn't think she was quite at the age where she needed a harness, but Alfred was clearly a worrier. I turned to the Demon King and apologized for my daughter being a nuisance.
"Nonsense! Lady Tiselle has been an immense help," the Demon King replied. "I'd hire her to work at the Royal Palace this instant if I could."
I laughed. No parent hates hearing their child praised, but I wasn't going to be swayed by such obvious flattery. My face was definitely breaking into a grin, though.
The Demon King was there to do scouting for tomorrow's game, but he planned to join the auction too. He had his eye on a few things and told me to go easy on him. I reminded him I was just there to watch.
"Oh, I don't know about that. I'm certain there's one item you won't be able to resist," he teased.
I wondered what it could be. Something related to agriculture?
"Well, you'll have to wait and see. It's item number seventy."
In auctions like this, the high-value items were usually saved for the end. Since there were a hundred items in total, seventy was well into the home stretch. It was likely quite expensive. If I ended up wanting it, I'd need to be prepared.
I spent the time leading up to the auction walking around with the Demon King's group. Though, instead of looking at the exhibits, I found myself mostly just staring at my daughter.
"Tiselle is just so cute."
"Ehehe!"