Chapter 60 – Part 1 Hunter – Ray (1)

“Then I’ll go.”
“Everyone, go home, master.”

The fateful day has dawned. Today is the day Ray’s auction is held.

In recent days, I’ve been running hard to get Ray’s bid. In order not to fail even one in a million, one in a billion.
VIP was also renewed to the highest level, 12th grade. Thanks to that, I have now become a high-ranking aristocrat called an honorary count.
I’m a high-ranking aristocrat… A country boy like me is a high-ranking aristocrat. Is there another aristocrat that doesn’t fit like this?

“Gufufufu… Millene. Please give me a kiss of luck.”
“Ugh, master. With that figure…”

As I pursed my lips, Mylene forced a smile and stepped back from her.

“What’s wrong? The outside is like this, but the inside is the same? Buhihihi.”

FYI I’m now disguised as a pervert aristocrat that I showed Jean to participate in her auction.
The women in this house know that this pervert aristocrat is me in disguise. But even though I know it in my head, I can’t seem to accept it in my heart. Even Melissa ran away as soon as she saw me in disguise.

“Now. Come on. Kiss the master.”
“Hee…”

I forcibly hold the frightened Milene and stick out her lips. Milene closes her eyes tightly and frowns on her, but she doesn’t run away.
Chun chun, chong chun.

“Ugh~~!!”

Overlap your lips Milene keeps her eyes and mouth shut tight. I lick her closed lips with a deliberate groan. Each time, she fidgets as if Millene doesn’t like it.

Cheek. Sometimes it would be nice to play forcibly attacking even if you hate it like this. Next time I’ll hit it with this look.

“Buhihihi. Then I’ll be back.”
“Bye…”

I walked out of the mansion while receiving the tearful Millene’s farewell.
In front of the main gate of the mansion, a slave dealer was waiting with a carriage waiting.

“Guhuhuhu. Then let’s go, evil slave trader.”
“Right… How many times have I told you my name is Zairun! And I’m not a slave trader, I’m a civil servant!”
“I can’t remember the man’s name.”

And I hop on the wagon. Now my body looks fat in disguise, but in reality it’s not very heavy. It is the mystery of magic items.

“So, when does the auction start?”
“It’s another 30 minutes. And the important slave auction is quite late in time, so it doesn’t matter if you arrive late.”

“I see. Anyway, I’m not interested in anything else, and she just needs to win that woman. But if she doesn’t, you’re dead.”
“It’s a successful bid, sir… It depends on how much money the Count has prepared. How much gold do you have?”
“Two billion.”
“…Don’t play around.”
“It’s true. I had a hard time collecting this too. If it’s not enough, I can ask for up to 500 million more.”
“There’s no way there could be two billion slaves…”
“You don’t know what will happen to people. Who knows what kind of crazy guy will put 3 billion won on the grounds that he fell in love at first sight?”

I’m not the only one in the world getting billed. If there’s another guy like me, there’s no law saying it shouldn’t be a chicken race.

“Anyway, I don’t think that’s the case…”
“For now, it’s okay if you don’t have enough. It’s fortunate if you stay.”
“The highest amount of slave auction ever was 120 million gold. That was 20 years ago, when the princess of the Brigantes Kingdom, which had fallen, was auctioned off.”
“Originally records are supposed to be broken. That could be today.”
“Sigh…”

In the swaying wagon, he kills time by talking nonsense with the slave trader.
It’s not too far from the auction house. It’s a street where you don’t even need to ride a carriage, but it’s said that this is also related to the face of the nobles. First of all, I’m participating in the auction as a high-ranking nobleman, not just a hunter.

It’s not like I won’t be able to win the bid thanks to the special seats for nobles, but I want to do everything I can.

“We have arrived, Count.”

A large auction house located in the corner of the entertainment district in District 2. Auctions are held here once a week.
The items on the auction range from art to jewelry, items, equipment, rare books and materials, and anything else that makes money.
That includes humans, of course.

I got off the carriage and looked up at the dignified auction building.
Is Ray here… Thinking that we’ll meet soon is somehow complicated.
Now I don’t even know if I want to meet Ray or not. Emotions are not properly organized.

I heard the story from Jin about why Ray made such a choice.
He said he did it because he was worried about Jin and Kun. He said he was thinking of calling me when he gets a place in the clan.

However, in the end, I was betrayed by that clan and Kun and became a slave, and I, who was left alone, came to save it, so it’s ironic.

I knew Ray had no intention of betraying me. But that doesn’t mean that she felt betrayed, and my emotions at that time also disappear. I had already shaken off her feelings for Ray once, and now I don’t feel as passionate affection as I did back then. Rather, I think it’s difficult to meet.

But I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know. You can’t let it be another man’s plaything.
I don’t know how to express these feelings… I think I’m still too young to control all my emotions.

“Then go in, Count.”
“OK.”

I entered the auction house with the arrogance befitting the countenance of Pervert.
Most of the people who participate in the auction are aristocrats or commoners, even if they are rich. Naturally, such people have no choice but to have many attendants, and even if the auction house is large, it cannot accommodate all of them.

Therefore, only one attendant can be brought into the auction house. I brought a slave dealer as an attendant.

“Count. Please pay the bid deposit first.”

The bid deposit is a deposit that is deposited with the auction house in advance of 10% of the amount to be bid during the auction. If I put 10 million gold as a bid deposit, I can bid up to 100 million. Conversely, if you pay only 10 million gold as a deposit, you cannot bid after the auction price exceeds 100 million. This is a system to prevent possible false bids.

I put 200 million gold, 10% of 2 billion, on the transaction window of the auction house employee who collects the bid deposit. The employee looked at my face once, checked the transaction window once more, and said.

“I’m sorry, but if you raise the deposit by 10%…”
“The amount I’m bidding on is 2 billion. So I only raised 200 million?”
“Ah, ah, yes…”

The tips of the staff’s lips twitched.
Haha. Are you surprised, Woomin? You can earn this much if you have sex hard for about 3 days!

“Really giving 200 million…”

The slave trader speaks in amazement.

“Are you getting it back anyway?”
“That said, the Count’s financial sense is not normal.”

It’s definitely what it says. Not too long ago, it was amazing to see a gold coin worth 100,000 gold.

“If it’s 2 billion won, I’ll be able to win all the auction items today.”
“Is that enough?”
“…Ehh.
“What did you say?”
“I didn’t say anything…”

The place assigned to my seat was the terrace on the second floor. This is the so-called special seat for the upper class nobility. It was a solitary room, and telescopes, drinks, and fruit were also prepared.
I picked up fruit in moderation and passed the time until the auction started. You can’t even draw equipment until you win the bid for Ray. If you’re in a hurry, you might have to buy more gold with rune stones.

But it’s boring to stay still like this. I didn’t know anything about the auction, so I brought the slave dealer, but if I had known this, I would have brought the other girl.

“Hmm, now we’re starting.”
“Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you very much for visiting the Royal Auction House today! Today, in your eyes…”

I overheard the emcee’s lengthy remarks on stage.
After the stage greetings, the first auction item came up on stage. It was a man-sized mirror.

“This is a silver mirror made 20 years ago, when Master Brainyuk was at his peak. Let’s start with 1 million gold!”
“Million gold for a single mirror. You can’t afford to buy something so expensive.”

I, who thinks that a mirror is enough to reflect only my face anyway, was of course a luxury brand and I was not interested in sleeping. The dirty expensive mirror was sold for 2.55 million gold.

After that, works of art came out one after another. Among them, there were drawings like children’s graffiti and statues like lumps of mud.

“I’m sure I’ll draw that much too?”

The words spontaneously came out of my mouth. It was absurd that there were people who could buy something like that for millions of gold. Should I become a painter if I fail as a Hunter?
So, I didn’t bid at all, and in an instant, about 30 items were auctioned off.

“Part 1 of today’s auction ends here. After a 20-minute break, see you in part 2.”
“Huh? A slave?”
“The slave auction comes in part two.”

I was taken aback by the emcee’s declaration and asked, and the slave trader answered like that.

“Then you should have come on time! You came early for no reason!”
“Didn’t the Count ask you to come to the auction on time…?”

The slave trader gritted his teeth and laughed.
I did say that. Chet.

After all, I had to wait impatiently for the break to end.

“Kek. Count Ruiderun.”

In the meantime, the slave trader was wearing his arrogance while looking at the seat across from me.

“Huh? What’s that?”
“The pervert aristocrat who often sought Melissa is Count Louis Derune. Yesterday, when he heard that Melissa had been sold, he came to the Slave Office and behaved rudely. He really thought he was going to die.”
“Hmm. That pig is Melissa.”

I looked through the telescope at the real pervert aristocrat. I was getting fat from how good I ate. It was a disgusting appearance that could not be defeated even by my perverted aristocrat in disguise.

“Count. Just in case, don’t get close to him. There’s nothing good about being involved. Yesterday, too, I was scolded for making a fuss about who bought Melissa.”
“Who’s got anything to do with that? I’m remembering faces to keep them away from my girls.”
“That’s good, but… Just in case, be careful. You never know what they’re going to do.”

Chit. You’re not asking me to give up Melissa, are you? Shall we kill them in advance so they don’t do useless things and bury them without anyone noticing?

“You know that Hunter’s murder records remain in the log, right?”

The slave trader spoke as if he had read my thoughts.

“It would be helpful for world peace if such a pig died early.”
“Really. Last time too…”

After that, for some reason, the slave trader’s complaints began. Just then, the second part of the auction started, so I focused on the stage while listening to the slave trader’s words in one ear.

“The item I’m going to show you this time is a sword made by master craftsman Azushiron.”

Why are there so many people in the world who say they are master craftsmen and masters? It would be nice to have any number of names.
Also, hunter equipment such as weapons, armor, and accessories were put up for auction for a while, but nothing caught my eye. They weren’t good enough for me to wear, and they weren’t very pretty, so they were only subtle things to buy for Minerva.

“Oh. A slave.”

About an hour to wait. Finally, the long-awaited slave auction began.

“This young lady’s name is Ellen. She is the third daughter of a certain author…”
“Most of the noble ladies who appear in auctions like this are illegitimate children born to the noble’s lover. Although they have blood, they are sold by their mothers who have debts.”
“Hmm.”

It is also like a vicious slave trader. When you come up with a field of expertise, you play around with your mouth.
A young lady named Ellen had a pretty face, but she wasn’t worth paying for. However, to her surprise, her bid was quite competitive, and she ultimately won the bid for 8.5 million gold.

And the winning bid for her was the pig count the slave trader had mentioned earlier. Oops. Not even pitiful

That’s how the slave auction went smoothly. Occasionally men also came out, but they were about half cheaper than women. Rarely, there was a beast tribe woman, but it wasn’t as competitive as I thought, maybe it was my taste.
My attention was on Ray, so I didn’t notice the other slaves.

And slave number 7.
Finally, the auction I’ve been waiting for has begun.