The Young Master in the Shadows

“Sorry master…. I couldn't get any info!” George bowed in front of Theodore who sat in his mansion’s secure room reviewing some top-secret documents.

“Even you couldn’t do it?” Theodore lifted his head and looked at his trusted butler in shock.

“Yes!” George replied. “I lost contact with the flame Ifrit I summoned for some reason, but the surveillance team reported nothing abnormal at that time!”

“Oh…”

“It was during a 30-minute blackout period when young master Max took a prostitute to a motel room, and he reported her dead afterward!” George frowned. “The surveillance team's report only included him being involved in some kind of ‘rough activities’.”

“Some kind of sacrificial ritual?”

“Most likely!” George replied. “I checked the family records and although his butler managed to hide it quite well, I did find out that Max might have quite a history with such incidents with prostitutes… “ he added. “About one or two casualties per month!”

“Oh!” Theodore's frown grew deeper as he let go of the document in his hand and looked up, lost in thought. He was clearly disturbed. Although it was common in the family for every heir to do whatever they wanted to normal people, Max’s actions meant that he was either a psycho or worse… A TRAITOR!

“After that, he called ‘Victor’ wanting to meet him, it is as if he had been given some kind of instructions!” George continued with his conclusion.

“No, as he didn’t explain anything on the phone, but Axel should tell us everything as soon as he finishes with him,” George replied.

“Then let’s wait and see, let the men be more careful not to reveal anything… I want to see what kind of game he will be playing!” Theodore said with a cold voice. “His future actions will seal his fate!”

He was super pissed, the only thing he hated more than getting cuckolded was being betrayed! No wait, those two were on the same level!

Anyway, if Max was really doing this on purpose, and if he were to try something to harm the family, Theodore was planning to be the one to act and finish him off!

“Understood…” George said just as someone knocked on the door.

“Enter…” Theodore paused for a moment then commanded, allowing his faithful maid Adel to enter and bow courtesy while lifting the tips of her fluffy maid uniform to reveal her fishnet stockings.

George clicked his tongue as he looked away. He never liked this woman’s over-emphasis on protocol or the way she seduced his master on every occasion.

“Is there anything?” Theodore asked, noticing Adel’s disturbed face.

“Young master Max, he got into a fight with young master Axel and now both of them are in the police station…”

“Eh!?”

***

“Ladies and gentlemen, now we will take a brief rest then begin the next collection…” the auctioneer announced with a grave voice then turned to leave.

“That was really intense!” Victor commented. He was not really watching, but he wanted to appear as if he were.

“You have no idea, wait until the real artifacts make an appearance later!” Aerith commented.

“Oh…” Victor nodded as the door knocked and a few carts were brought into the balcony containing the stuff that they bought.

Victor casually grabbed the things he bet for, including the tailbone meant for Emira.

“What do people downstairs do to get their stuff?” he asked as he paid. Those guys didn’t have the luxury of having their stuff carted in.

“They can go pick them up from the office on the third floor during the rest, or they can wait until the end to take them from the first floor where safe exits can be provided!” the maid who accepted Victor’s payment clarified.

“Oh…” he nodded as he put the final touches on his plan. “Thank goodness we are VIPs here!” he said. “I don’t want to mingle with commoners!”

The maid nodded with disgust, she hated those types of guys the most.

“By the way, where is the restroom?” he asked again.

“At the end of the corridor on each floor, there is one!” the maid, fulfilling her duty explained.

“Good… I will return in a bit! I need to take a dump...” he told everyone.

“You don’t have to explain that…” Rosette dismissed him as she inspected an Orichalcum ore that she bought.

“I do, my wife is very jealous!” he clarified, making Aerith shoot him a glare. “Emira, stay with Aerith and behave!” he told the little girl.

“Un…” Emira nodded, frowning a bit as she understood his other instructions that no one else heard.

Giving everyone on the balcony a glance he slowly walked out and casually made his way toward the restrooms. There were five on this floor.

He quickly chose the deepest one and as soon as he entered and made sure he was alone, he took out Yoss, one of the two elf girls, from the cauldron.

“Master!” she asked with a blush as she noticed that she was in a very cramped space with her body pushing on her Master.

“Shush!” he said as he put his hand on her head, making her slowly change shape into him. “Everyone will now see you as me. Stay here and act as if you have bad constipation, don’t leave no matter what you hear, even if this building collapses, I will return to get you later!” he said.

“Ah….” she didn’t expect that. “I understand!”

“You can use the Soul Perfume if needed, just focus on not getting discovered,” he added.

“Understood!” she nodded obediently.

Nodding he gave her a kiss on the cheek and phased out through the door.

Remembering the auction house’s layout from his exploration when he first came here, he made his way toward the backstage.

As he approached his target the corridors became heavily guarded, but thankfully the mean-looking guards there were kind enough to totally ignore him as if he was made out of air.

Five minutes later he entered the so-called Vault where a huge-bodied old man was supervising the treasures that were to be sent to the stage and those that were already sold and needed to be exchanged. He was also explaining what needed to be said about itch item to a dashing-looking young in a formal red-colored suit, This guy was probably the next auctioneer!

Victor watched the busy atmosphere there for a moment, finally confirming that the old man was the highest authority in this place with everyone calling him the Supreme manager.

He appraised him.

Victor frowned. This guy was a little too strong for him to take him out without killing or alerting others. But what caught his interest was the ‘Supreme array token’.

He had already noticed the said Array when he first walked in, and now he found the way to control it.

His first thoughts were to steal it, but… it was risky… Too risky. There might not be any need to do that though…

Victor was really feeling nervous. For the first time in his life he was going to pull a great scam, and this time the field was not his, so he had to use everything he got to make it work without anyone suspecting him!

It was as dangerous as mixing gunpowder with fire and wishing them not to cause an explosion.

In fact, all his preparations this time were for that reason. It was as if he was working against his own scam!

Thinking for a moment Victor suddenly smirked as he eyed the auctioneer who finished getting his instructions then nodded and headed to check on the items of the next collection. They included a little metallic inconspicuous box that no one could open!

All that was left were the final touches!

…

In a certain dungeon that smelled and looked like gigantic sewers, a huge rat the size of a house screamed in pain and shock and then fell down as a crimson-haired girl slid across using her sword to slit its throat. Not one drop of blood stuck on it, nor on her as each one of her movements was flawless!

“Sis, that was amazing!” Mana exclaimed as she watched Mona seith her sword. “When did you learn that move?” she asked in reverence. She had been training in the sword for the last 6 months, and she could barely follow her sister’s moments, hell, even the giant rat that had just died was having difficulty doing that!

“It just came to me!” Mona replied calmly as she looked at her artifact sword, squinting her deep eyes at it. This thing about being a player was really magical. How can someone like her who never wielded a sword before do it so naturally. Also, seeing her level go up so fast felt unreal!

“Sis, I really envy you…” Mana sighed. “If I could be as cool as you I would have been more useful to the young master”

“Why do you care about his opinion of you this much?” Mona asked. “And isn’t he your husband, why do you keep calling him young master!”

“Out of habit….” Mana pouted with a blush, it had become a kind of role-play for her and her sister at the moment, and her husband really liked it when they called him like that. “Victor is the coolest though! He saved our lives that day, and stood for us against his family to make us his wives… And although he appears a little perverted, he really cares about his own people deeply… One time I was really hurt in a dungeon, and you should have seen the look on his face!” Mana said with reverence.

Mona shook her head. She knew that lovestruck look on her sister, she had seen her on some of her female friends and they all ended badly when that guy… Wait… She paused… Who was that guy again? What… Why… Ah, right… Mr. X!?

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Mona screamed and let go of her sword as she held her head and fell to the floor grimacing in pain.

“SIS!” Mana ran quickly to her side. And pushed a healing and an antidote pill in her mouth without asking.

It didn’t help as Mona screamed. “NO! NEVE AGAIN!” she shouted as if fighting something, then startling the dismayed Mana, she reached and grabbed her sword, pulling it out of its old sheath again, she flipped it and inserted it in her own eye without hesitation!

“SIS!” Mana yelled in shock as she watched her sister push the sword into her own head and then while screaming pull it out again before collapsing to the ground with blood gushing out of her eye.

On the tip of the sword, a black-looking bird hatchling was squirming and screaming in pain before dying. Moments later it evaporated into smoke!

***

“Why is Victor late?” Meril, who watched the next stage of the auction start, suddenly said.

“Probably doing something perverted…” Lyra smirked.

“Lyra!” Rosette scolded.

“...” Aerith stood up.

“Leave him be…” Rosette said to her. “If he were to make trouble, it will be all recorded by the auction house’s array, you will be able to use it later to reign him in!”

Aerith frowned.

“You were the one who was shunning him…” Rosette added. “You should have expected him to grow impatient…”

“I know but…”

“It is ok, he might just be having constipation for all we know!” Rosette says. “Think of it as a test for him!”

“...” Aerith still didn’t sit down. “I want to have a look…” she said, turning and quickly leaving.

“I will come with you…” Ameira jumped to her feet and quickly grabbed Aerith's hand.

“..” Aeirht nodded and left with the little girl.

Rosette could only shake her head as she watched her jealous daughter leave and look down toward the stage where a young man entered to introduce the next collection they were selling. Rare and Mysterious Items.

“Ladies and gentlemen… We continue our auction! The first item is this black Sword hilt… It is completely normal, butt for some reason, whenever someone swings it, it screams in pain!” he said as he held the hilt and swung it in a random direction.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAA…” A lewd scream reverberated in the room as the young auctioneer quickly dropped it and shot the assistant behind the stage a glare. The assistant shook his head, it never acted like this before.

“Ehm… It might be that kind of pain!” the auctioneer said awkwardly. “It never did that before… ehm… How about we start with 70,000 COINs?” he asked.

“...”

“...”

“Really? No one wants to explore these things's secrets?”

“...”

“...”

Rosette shook her head. Although the item was intriguing, People at this auction who could afford it were at the top of society, and no one of them would risk his reputation for it.

“It can make normal noises too… Anyone can try it! Maybe it depends on the person!” he said, offering it to the audience again while shooting the manager who was telling him that this was against protocol and an apologetic look.

Finally, one other guy got the courage to go up and try it.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

It was a normal scream for a man getting killed!

“Interesting ha? Anyone else?” he asked.

This time a few people tried it, and the voice although a little different each time was still of a man.

Thankfully after many men tried it, one rich guy got enough courage and bet on it, buying it at the starting price!

“Congratulations sir! We will move to the next item!” the auctioneer said putting the Sword hilt away back into its own box and moving to the side before he picked the next item. “This is a coin that only displays a face when flipped despite it having two sides!” he said, showing a normal-looking golden coin with a dragon on one face and a phoenix on the other. “Anyone care to try it?” he asked, clearly nervous after that last incident.

One man in the audience nodded walked to the stage and tested it. And indeed when flipped into the air, it only displayed Face, the one with the dragon, and no matter what the man tried, it always landed on face. Even if he tried to cheat!

“Come… Any more people?” the auctioneer said, causing a few to go up and try it one by one.

“I guess dragons are always on top!” the auctioneer commented, earning himself a few laughs from the audience as he thanked the last man, and gestured for him to go back to his seat as he began auctioning it for 40,000 Coins. This time it went for 70,500 before being bought by one of the Elven VIPs.

As the auctioneer continued, the Balcony’s door opened and Aerith returned with a blush on her face. Emira was with her.

“How was it?” Lyra asked.

“He is in the restroom… That mushroom he ate earlier didn’t suit his stomach…” she spat looking away.

“This world’s food might cause such things to strangers!” Rosette said as she shook her head and continued to watch the auction’s stage where many strange items were inspected and then auctioned.

It was getting more livelier than usual!

Inspecting the goods in such a way was a little out of the ordinary and Rosette had never seen it happen before. But for this collection that contained mysterious objects, it made sense. And it seemed to be working as many people were encouraged to bid after trying the items for themselves!

Still, none of that concerned Rosette as none of those items were something she needed. Many of them were weak artifacts of failed products. They were only important if someone needed them for a specific thing or for research purposes.

It was only 30 minutes later that this segment came to an end with the final items being three boxes that were brought in on carts! Two were very big and ornamented, while the last one was an unadorned metallic one!

For some reason, as she watched, Rosette felt that something big was about to happen!

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