Emperor's Reckoning

One look was all it took for the auctioneer lady to notice how powerful his presence was. Sitting between the two beauties, hands clasped, legs crossed—she could definitely tell but his name.

"Dear me, I'm spacing out," said the auctioneer before she bowed and made an apology. "Please forgive me."

"Just hurry up with the items already! I don't want to waste my time here unnecessarily," said Ning as she berated the auctioneer with her strict tone.

"Y-Yes, certainly Miss Ning!" the auctioneer bowed and apologized, but only to hear a loud pout in response.

"Chill out woman," uttered Lyon before the whole seventh floor gasped with Hilde crossing her fingers together.

The auctioneer was taken back by Lyon's response. She would have never thought that someone would be daring enough to stand up against Ning of Red Lotus, let alone for her sake.

"W-What?!" Ning stood up but she couldn't berate Lyon in time as Mavis stood up.

"Calm down, Ning! He is right, you should get your act together," said Mavis as he crossed his arms. "I have things I need to buy too."

"KH! You're taking his side now," said Ning as she put her hands on her waist.

Mavis shrugged before he sat down and left her boiling.

"U-Um, please don't fight! L-Let's continue with the auction!" said the auctioneer before she spare a glance toward Lyon with her cheeks blushing red.

"Oo~" Kesya who was sitting behind Lyon grinned. She leaned forward before hanging her head on his shoulder. "You really strike the first impression well, emperor."

"I know," said Lyon as he smirked before he felt his ear being nibbled. His lips twitched, "If you keep doing that the first impression would be for naught."

"P-Please, the first item!" said the auctioneer before she once again stole a glance at her temporary hero. (Eh... why is that girl eating his ear like a pacifier? I-Is he into weird things?!).

"Oi, look, she already felt disgusted!" muttered Lyon as he furrowed his brows.

"Hehe," Kesya stuck her tongue out, "It's better this way, or do you want to face Empress Selena's Void Sword Art?"

"Are you threatening me? Aren't I the emperor," said Lyon as he furrowed his brows. He turned around and looked at the three generals avoiding their glances. "W-Wha—"

"Sh! It's starting emperor."

"Kh!" Lyon swallowed their obnoxiousness as he turned back. He saw a tray with four wheels being pushed forward by a person in butler attire that significantly brought Assid's furrowed brows.

"Tch! Wanna be!" Assid cursed deviously.

"Nobody is going to beat you in this regard, calm down, Assid," said Kesya.

"Of course, nobody can beat me in this regard, what are you talking about Kesya," said Assid as he readjusted his glasses.

Kesya twitched her lips before she replied, "Alright, alright, he definitely beat you in choosing the right glasses frame size."

Assid was petrified.

"The first item is a type of ingredient that is highly sought by alchemist experts!" said the auctioneer excitedly. "A thousand-year-old Blue Ginseng!"

"Blue Ginseng?!" exclaimed Lyon.

"You never heard of it?" asked Lumina before she followed up, "Oh right, why would I be surprised."

Lyon twitched his lips. "I never saw a Blue Ginseng but a normal ginseng, I can buy it online if I wanted."

"Online?"

"Forget it," said Lyon as he shook his head. He was adamant not to give any of them an explanation about what it was.

"We will start the bid at two Imperial Beads!" said the auctioneer lady.

"Three!" one of the alchemists raised her hand.

"Four!" one of the cultivators raised his hand.

"Four going once!" said the auctioneer as her eyes oversaw the room briefly. "Going Twice! Sold!"

"The thousand-year-old Blue Ginseng goes to the handsome cultivator over there," said the auctioneer with a smile.

The cultivator called out was smiling as he received the ticket for the item he bought.

"Next item please," said the auctioneer lady.

"That was fast," Lyon muttered with a smile.

"Oh? Were you looking for that item?" asked Cecile.

"Nah, I don't know what it's used for," said Lyon as he shrugged his shoulders.

Cecile smiled before she asked, "Have you perhaps, never gone to an auction before?"

"The second option is yet another ingredient—" the auctioneer lady continued.

Lyon nodded. "I did, it was actually owned by your family," he chuckled.

"Oh really?" Cecile raised her brows, "Well what did you buy?"

"I buy and sell," said Lyon as he nodded.

"You sell?" Lumina raised her brows. "What did you sell?"

"A magic scroll?" said Lyon as he raised his brows. "It's for extracting memories of a living person— I think, but at the cost of one's life. However, it won't work if they were too powerful. Hmmm... now that I think about it, I guess I didn't include that little bits of information there, haha!"

"What?! You can do that?!" Hilde exclaimed.

"Hm? Sure, why not," said Lyon as he nodded.

"T-That's really useful!" said Hilde as she leaned to his side before whispering, "You can change the fate of a kingdom with that kind of thing!"

"I know, that's why I sold it and get a ton of cash, which values had dropped to zero—kinda like crypto," Lyon sighed before he raised his finger, "Don't ask me what crypto is."

"It's the ten-thousand years old, Basilisk's Root!" announced the auctioneer lady.

"Woah!" The room was awed effectively—except for Lyon and his group.

"What?" Lyon furrowed his brows, "Is it something important?"

Lumina nodded, "It is amongst the rare items, especially for the age of ten-thousand years old."

"Oh really? Must be expensive then," said Lyon as he stated the obvious.

"The starting bid will be three Imperial Beads," said the auctioneer before she saw the sea of raised hands.

"Seven!"

"Ten!"

"Fifteen!"

The numbers went up faster than Lyon had expected and they were not stopping. However, he noticed that the two he met on the second floor didn't raise their hands and joined the bids.

"Hmm, whatever they are looking for I wonder," muttered Lyon as he rubbed his hairless chin.

Kesya leaned in, "Emperor, are you going to buy something?"

"Perhaps, how much money do we have?" asked Lyon as he grinned at his auburn sugar mama.

Cecile shook her head with a smile, "In regards to Imperial Beads, we only have like, hmm... ten."

"Well, that's depressing," said Lyon as he sighed. "Look's like we only watch today fellas."

"Fortune won't run away if you work hard," said Cecile with a smile.

"Yeah, that's what they always say," said Lyon as he rolled his eyes and caught Hilde in his glance. "Oh right, can I borrow you some money?"

(R-Really?! Don't you have any shame?!) thought the princess as she shook her head, "Nope, I'm sorry young master Lyon, but I can't spend the money that my parents gave to me so lavishly."

"Alright," said Lyon as he nodded with a heavy heart. "Then we will only watch for today."

"Who knows, maybe we can buy something off of this day's items," said Cecile. "After all, ten Imperial Beads is not cheap."

(Well considering that they are from the Mortal World, it is an astounding feat to even have them) thought Hilde as she furrowed her brows.

"You mean like a surprise item?" asked Lyon

"Huh?"

"You know, the item that they auctioned last, it's usually something that you do not generally find any use of it—wait, you should know this!" said Lyon as he squinted his eyes at Cecile.

"Oh, that, but that in itself is quite rare of an event," said Cecile as she nodded. "I forgot about that part, however, I don't know if this auction has that kind of thing set up."

"Anyway, what did you buy, emperor?" asked Kesya.

"Oh right, what did you buy from us?" asked Cecile before she giggled. "You should have just said so, I would have given full authority to give you that item."

"Well, you're not there and I'm not even sure where you are then," said Lyon as he raised his brows. "I bought a dog."

The group was stunned.

"What?"

"You auctioned a dog?" asked Lumina at Cecile.

"No?" answered Cecile albeit slightly unsure.

"Then?" Lumina shifted her glance back to Lyon.

"Technically I bought a rock," said Lyon as he nodded. "The rock was by no means special then, thus I left it in my room. Lo and behold, the rock cracked when I was outside, a dog then came out of it—went to the kitchen, screaming cooks, I jumped in, cooked him a steak, he is now my pet."

"Oh, you mean that wolf Fenrir?" asked Cecile albeit the surprised looks from the others at how simplified his story was.

"Yup that little shit," said Lyon as he clenched his jaws. The accident in Mabia still made him resentful.

The group laughed before the third item came.