“What are you doing here… boss,” I say, ignoring the looks I get for that.

Meanwhile, the granddaughter of the lynthari matriarch sits on my lap. Shamelessly. The matriarch called her Eris before, so I guess I should call her that.

“Grandma said that I should go there and buy myself something nice if I want to. She even gave me her card,” Eris takes out a card made from transparent white crystal and with delicate blue circuits that create something like a panorama of the city.

Unlike my card, there is no number on it.

Don't tell me… is it unlimited? Looking at this silly lynthari girl, I get an idea. Should I use her to buy me everything?

But seeing her happy expression, I quickly change my mind. Even I'm not that evil.

“Underling, nya, I will buy you one thing you like, so pick anything, okay?” Eris says.

“Really? In that case, I also want to buy something for the boss, so pick something too,” I tell her almost automatically and shift a bit so she sits more comfortably.

No matter how much I think about it, I just can't force myself to treat her too harshly. I mean, I would be able to do it if my life was at risk or the life of someone from group 4, but in situations like this? There is no need for that.

Eris continues to chirp something, quickly telling me about her day while the auctioneer keeps showing item after item and selling them off. Then I wonder. What happened to the original Eris. Did her world get destroyed by Calamities? Did she grow old, get a family, and then die in bed surrounded by her grandchildren?

Seeing how Obelia acts now, did humans find out that lynthari are invaders and try to fight them and either got eliminated by the matriarch or were able to win?

And Myrra? She is a Champion candidate; was she able to reach that level or died before it? If she did, is she still alive? Did the system copy her world millions of years ago, and there is nothing left of it anymore, maybe even the planet was destroyed, and only shadows of all these dead people exist in the tutorial?

Their lives, struggles, hopes, and sadness used to make it feel more real for people who are taken in here.

The more I think, the less I like it. It's disgusting.

“Underling, you have a scary expression, does your tummy hurt?” the young lynthari asks, and there is even a hint of worry.

Great, now even I have little children to worry about myself.

“I’m fine, boss, but you were telling me about how you tricked one of your servants, so what did he do when he found out?”

“Yes! He was so surprised, nya…” Eris continues to tell me about it while I listen and also pay attention to the auctioneer and wait for the items I wanted. I think they should be numbers 113 and 189.

“Going once, going twice...the item was sold for five Heart Stones!” the auctioneer shouts.

One Heart Stone is worth around 5 thousand dollars, so the prices are slowly but surely going up, the items are also auctioned in order from cheapest to the most expensive.

“First underling!” Eris grabs my shoulders and shakes me slightly.

“Yes, boss?” I ask absentmindedly while watching some weird book being auctioned off.

“Who are the humans with you? Are they your underlings?”

Now that I think about it, I'm the guild master, am I not? So probably?

“I think so.” I answer her.

“I see, that means they are my underlings too since I’m your boss!” she declares.

I mean, she is not wrong, and there is some logic in it, and I just nod, which makes her laugh happily, and she jumps from my legs to examine her newest targets. For the following few minutes, I observe as she bullies Tess, who just goes with it in a similar way I do, and then switches to Lily and Hadwin, who are less successful.

Before coming back, she plops on the ground and pets Biscuit, who patiently lets her.

Unlike other lynthari, she doesn’t seem to dislike him. “Cute,” she says.

At that moment, I start liking her a bit more. At least she is someone who can recognize the majesty of the divine beast that is Biscuit.

“I will buy him from you,” she immediately says something that sours my mood.

“Biscuit is not for sale,” I tell her without hesitation, and a surprised look appears on her face.

“One Eclipse Stone,” she says.

Ha! Does she think Biscuit is worth...I quickly remember the worth of the mana stone...only worth one million dol...what?

She misunderstands my expression and quickly says again, “Ten Eclipse Stones!”

“Boss, I've never been so insulted in my life and neither has Biscuit,” I say, curious how high I can get the price.

“Fifty Eclipse Stones!” she offers a price that is higher than two epic items.

Just how spoiled is she to be given so much by her granny?

But she confirmed to me that Biscuit is worth more than some random items, and now I can say "I told you so" to Tess who kept disagreeing with me when I joked with her about it.

“Sorry, boss, he is my friend and not for sale,” I refuse the offer.

That seems to surprise the family member of the most powerful person in the city, but she doesn't push it and plops back on my legs. “I see!”

Her mood changes and also the tone of her voice is a bit off.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

So that's how it is.

I lean closer to her ear, “I also wouldn't sell the boss for any amount of mana stones,” I tell her.

She doesn't say anything, but hearing what she wanted to hear, she starts swinging her legs and continues to watch the auction.

Ha! Kids are easy to deal with!

POV Aaron Dalton

I look at Kim and Maya and only then turn my card around.

“Oh, come on!” Maya groans and pulls more mana stones from her pouch, sliding them to me.

(Well, that was easy,) I receive from Dennis.

“Hey! No cheating!” Maya notices it somehow.

Damn, she couldn't sense our conversation before. Is Nathaniel teaching her more annoying stuff?

“It's something we got too used to, Maya,” Dennis defends us, “We did not cheat, I swear.”

“You better not,” she squints her eyes and then just leans back on the couch. “This was the last round for me.”

“Are you going to play that violin thing you bought?” Kim asks her the moment she does so.

At that, she smiles at him, and Kim even blushes a bit under her gaze, and she notices that, making her smile even more, “Come on, Kim, you can't blush so easily. You won't get Tess like that!” she pokes him jokingly.

“Isn't he already a lost cause?” Dennis asks her, “Tess seems to be going a different… way?”

“Oh? Do you think that? But that's not true. I don't think Tess cares if it's a woman or man.”

(Oh, that's spicy, isn't it?) I send to Dennis, and Maya notices that but doesn't do anything.

Meanwhile, Kim only innocently stares at her and slowly understands, blushing a bit more and his eyes big from surprise.

“Damn, it's almost cute how innocent you are sometimes, Kim,” Maya reaches and pinches his cheek while smiling at him.

After seeing that Kim doesn’t say anything else, she just sighs, “Anyway, there's something else I wanted to ask you guys. But did you also realize how different Nathaniel is from the first floor?”

“You may have forgotten our holidays under the old capital,” I tell her, and through our link, I feel that even Dennis shudders.

“That's not what I'm talking about. I know Nathaniel is quite ruthless if someone steps over the line. What I meant is overall. He seems… less harsh overall.”

“It can be caused only by a woman,” I say.

“Do you think Lily finally got her fangs into him? She is an Initiate of Lust, so probably?” while taking a sip of his drink, Dennis smiles.

"You and your theory about her subclass; Nat sees Lily as nothing more than a kid. The way he treats her is similar to how he treats Izzy," Maya sighs, “I mean, he is still scary when he wants to be, but it's harder and harder to call him an asshole,” while shaking her head, she reaches and steals some snack from the bowl in front of Kim.

“I think it's simple,” Kim says in a somewhat somber tone, “Nathaniel is someone that is nicer the stronger he is.” The way he says it is really confident.

(Should we make fun of him?) I hear through our link.

(We can a bit later, let him cook.) I send back.

Seeing that we don’t react, Kim continues, “Nathaniel acts harshly only in a few cases. If he feels threatened or if someone threatens someone he likes,” he shrugs his shoulders, “During the 1st floor, it was really scary, and we didn't know what to expect, and there were monsters all around. Nat also wasn't that strong, so he was a bit cruel at times.”

As always, there are a few orbs made of weird metal floating near him. Kim does this almost constantly and practices even as we play.

“But the stronger Nat became, the less of a threat we were to him, and the more confident he was with his powers, so he kind of calmed down.”

(Oi, that somehow makes sense.)

(Shh, listen to him.)

“Right now, we are almost no threat to him, so he acts nicer. Of course, if we betray him, it will change." Kim shrugs, "I thought about it a lot, you know? I was really scared of Nathaniel for some time, but then I slowly realized how it works.”

Kim smiles a bit and shakes his head while looking at his hands, “Nathaniel is someone who becomes nicer the stronger he is. Because that's when he thinks you can't hurt him.”

I swear, when I become stronger, I will bully the entire lynthari population into oblivion. I will force them to use 'nya' at the end of every sentence, and skills that allow invisibility will not be tolerated, and their usage will be punished. While at it, I will order them to annihilate every single monster with such an ability.

Oh, and calling me “feral one” will not be allowed either.

The reason?

The goddamn bidding stone item in my hands. I tried to bid on one of the items, and not knowing how to use it properly, I bid one Eclipse Mana Stone. Yup. I bid one million dollars' worth on an item maybe worth fifty thousand.

“Calling once, calling twice…” the auctioneer quickly shouts, even his eyes showing his surprise.

What annoys me are the giggles of lynthari who even know who did the bid and stare towards our balcony, not even caring that I'm here with the granddaughter of their matriarch or that I'm something Champion candidate Myrra cares about.

No, they giggle, smile, cover their mouths, and their ears and tails move in an amused manner. Some even shout “Cute!” at my reaction to my blunder.

“Oh, you are quite rich, underling!” Eris is not helping this either, and what's left is to act like it's all according to plan.

“Yeah, I didn't want it to take that long,” I say simply, trying to keep what is left of my dignity.

“Sold to the rich young man with black hair and unusual eyes!” the auctioneer shouts, even giving my description.

Okay, dude, you're the next.

“The next item is the rarest consumable on our list…” The man on the podium lets his voice sound into the room, the last words quieter than a whisper.

Once again, all of the attention turns to him.

“We would usually auction it later in between one of the last items, but why don’t we spice things up?” he smiles and steps to the side, allowing a big glass box to be brought next to him.

Inside that box, a chunk of meat as big as the auctioneer lies. I could swear that even through the glass, I can smell the aroma of it.

“This, my dear guests, is the oldest piece of meat that we ever had a chance to auction off.”

A few people start to whisper with excitement.

I'm not that surprised; old meat is quite a delicacy here, the older, the better. Obviously, it’s not every meat that is capable of keeping such worth. No, only the meat of high-leveled animals or monsters is either resistant enough because of a high constitution or high mana that remains in it.

Meat of such a monster can be hundreds of years old and if stored properly, it's safe to consume it. Not even mentioning its often delicate taste or rarity that makes the right people want to get it just to show off.

“An estimate is two hundred twenty-nine years old,” he says, pausing, knowing his audience, and as he predicted, people talk even more, “Estimation on the level of the animal is close to two hundred fifty!” the volume of his voice increases, “As for the animal it belonged to, it's believed to be the Archdeer that our Matriarch personally helped to slay!”