Ximo couldn’t quite explain its use yet, but luckily, Xiliya trusted her little maid unconditionally and immediately raised her paddle.
“Ten gold coins.”
Ten gold coins equated to about one advanced magic crystal. In Xiliya’s view, even factoring in its age, that’s all it was worth. No one else should bid on this useless crystal ball.
But to Xiliya’s surprise, right after she spoke, a voice came from a high-up private booth.
“Twenty gold coins.”
Ximo glanced back involuntarily, but the booths were fully enclosed. She couldn’t see the bidder. She recalled Xiliya explaining before entry that those upper booths were reserved for regular VIPs—not something money alone could buy.
“Thirty gold coins.”
Xiliya bid again. She’d made a tidy profit on the previous staff, so she didn’t mind splurging a bit for her maid.
As expected, no one else cared about this item. Only Xiliya and the mystery bidder traded offers back and forth a few rounds until the booth occupant lost patience.
“One hundred gold coins!”
The hall fell silent. Many attendees were knowledgeable; they could see the crystal ball had no practical value. How loaded was this booth guest to bid so high?
A hundred gold coins wasn’t a fortune to Cantelot’s nobles, but money didn’t mean stupidity. Everyone knew it wasn’t worth that much.
“Just give up. This lady wants it. I’ll match whatever you bid.”
The booth’s amplifier carried a girl’s disdainful voice—arrogant enough to rile anyone.
The crowd figured it was some spoiled young miss in a fit of pique, determined to win. The two girls up front were doomed not to get it.
“One hundred ten gold coins.”
Xiliya bid calmly. Ximo jumped, looking at Xiliya, whose face had darkened.
“Miss, you…”
“It’s fine. I trust Ximo’s judgment. And if I’m not mistaken, I know this person.”
Ximo had thought the words had angered Xiliya. She hadn’t expected Xiliya to recognize the bidder.
Even so, after a few more rounds, Xiliya bowed out when the booth bidder slammed down four hundred gold coins, ending the contest.
“If you can’t afford it, don’t bid at auctions,” the amplifier mocked. “Swelling your face to look fat—what are you pretending to be?”
Ximo bristled at that. Auctions were for the highest bidder—why mock after winning?
She suddenly thought of the bank card she’d picked up… but the idea vanished in under a second.
Forget it. Annoying as she was, spending someone else’s money wasn’t right.
Ximo deflated. Nothing else interesting appeared until the auction ended.
“It’s okay,” Xiliya comforted as they dispersed. “Cantelot’s huge. We can check out other spots these next couple days.”
Per the auction house procedure, Xiliya took Ximo to collect the staff after paying. She weighed the short staff in her hand.
Not bad—at least it would tide her over at the Academy.
“Please wait a moment,” the manager attending them said. “For this item, would you two still like to purchase it?”
The manager presented a tray and removed the white cloth. There sat the crystal ball Ximo had wanted.
“Huh? Didn’t someone else buy this?”
Ximo recognized it instantly—the item info matched perfectly.
Name: Seed of Hephaestus
Ability: ???
Grade: Saint-Level Magigear
That’s why she’d wanted it. She didn’t know the ability, but the description screamed valuable!
The manager scratched his head. “Per our rules, if a winner can’t pay, the item goes to the previous highest bidder.”
Ximo’s heart leaped. She hadn’t expected to actually snag this bargain. For a transmigrator like her, such luck was rare.
“The previous guest discovered their bank card missing at payment, so…”
But at the manager’s words, Ximo paused, then realized something. She pulled the black card from her pocket.
“Uh, speaking of which, I happened to pick up a bank card earlier…”
The manager hadn’t anticipated this twist. They stared at each other until hurried shouts broke the silence from nearby.
“Wait! My family’s sending money soon. I won this—you can’t give it to others!”
The fuming noble lady who rushed up received only a polite smile from the manager. “Miss Mira, I fully believe you didn’t bid maliciously, but rules are rules. I’m just staff—please don’t make this hard.”
“You know Miss Selina values rules above all. By auction rules, this now belongs to these two ladies…”
As he explained, the lady called Mira spotted Ximo and the card in her hand. Her eyes lit up. “That’s my card! How is my card in your hands—it’s you!”
Mira instantly recognized Ximo as the one she’d bumped into before the auction. Though Ximo hurriedly explained she’d picked it up, Mira refused to believe.
“What a coincidence—you just happened to pick up my card? Now I get it—you stole my bank card when we collided!”
Mira was seething with rage. She hadn’t expected so many complications when handling this matter today. Before the auction began, she had approached the manager once, hoping to buy the item outright at a high price ahead of time—that was why she had hurried off back then.
But the manager had refused outright, insisting that auction items had to follow the standard bidding process. At first, she hadn’t minded, confident that she had more than enough money to secure it. Yet who could have foreseen such a fiasco at the critical moment!
“No way, you’ve already stolen my card,” Mira snatched the bank card back from Ximo’s hand. “But we can’t just let this thing slide!”
“It’s all because this person stole my card that I couldn’t pay up during the handover just now. Isn’t your auction house being unreasonable? On top of that, I clearly bid higher.”
Mira waved the bank card in her hand. “Four hundred gold coins—this item is mine!”
