In their course of conversations, Jack learned that Dylan had gone to two towns till now. They were just small towns, not even one-tenth of the capital, but he had scored a decent profit from the travels. He said after this auction quest, he should have scored enough points to attempt another caravan travel.
“We almost arrived. Here, wear this,” marquess Fernando said as he fished out two long black coats.
“What for?” Jack asked.
Dylan’s reaction was a bit stronger, “no way I’m going to wear something that grotesque!”
Marquess Fernando gave Dylan a sharp gaze. “Remind me again the arrangement of our deal with your faction regarding you joining this auction.”
Dylan’s expression was as if he had just swallowed a bitter pill. He said, “I am to follow your every instruction…”
“Good, now wear it!” The marquess shoved the coats at them.
“What for?” Jack repeated his question again, he still received the coat though. He observed that the coat was large enough to cover their whole body. There was also a hood that could cover his head.
“So that no one will recognize you guys,” marquess Fernando answered.
“What?! So how am I going to make acquaintances with the other nobles and influential officers?” Dylan protested.
Marquess Fernando looked at him with an amused expression. “I was just about to give you people another instruction that you are not allowed to communicate with other people in the auction venue, whether natives or outworlders.”
Dylan’s mouth twitched, speechless at the instructions.
“Now you want to wear it or go down here?” The marquess said.
Dylan grumbled and snatched the coat with an unpleasant mood. He put the coat on while he continued grumbling.
When Jack used Inspect on the coat, he found out that its description said that it was a rare grade cloak piece and had the ability to conceal the wearer’s data, it didn’t increase any attribute though. Jack assumed that the concealment ability served the same function as face cloth masks that Blackjack’s people wore when they ambushed him in the past.
Jack already had Cloak of Shadow which concealed his data. But unlike this coat that Fernando gave, his cloak did not cover his entire body. So someone could still recognize him by eyes. With this coat, he would be completely unrecognizable even visually.
Jack equipped the coat. So did Dylan, albeit begrudgingly. Jack used Inspect on Dylan, as he had expected, he could still see his info due to his God-eye monocle, just like what had happened with Blackjack’s group in the past. But as Jack’s Inspect was still on him, Dylan coincidentally pulled his hood up and covered his head. The info that was floating above him suddenly all turned to question marks.
Huh? It’s got hidden after the hood was up? Not even my God-eye monocle could look through the concealment? Jack thought a bit about it. The conclusion that he could come up with was because this coat was a better grade compared to Blackjack’s face mask.
He decided to ask Peniel about it. Peniel replied by emphasizing again that she had no idea what Jack’s God-eye monocle could or could not do, but she did acknowledge that this concealment black coat was at a higher grade compared to the previous Blackjack’s face mask.
“We are here,” Marquess Fernando informed them as their carriage slowed to a stop. “You both pull your coat’s hood up. Do not take it off and do not talk with other people unnecessarily.”
The journey took a bit more than half an hour. The auction venue was still in the noble district, so the journey wasn’t long. When they got off from the carriage, they saw they were in front of the gate to a courtyard of a huge domed building. Inside the courtyard, there were many people in fancy clothes hanging around. Several tables were set up around the courtyard providing snacks and refreshments. Jack assumed these were the participants of the auction who were enjoying their time while waiting for the auction to start.
There were two armored guards at the gate into the courtyard. After the marquess showed the guards his identity, the three of them were allowed to pass. The marquess took them across the courtyard without stopping at any of the refreshment tables. Jack could see Dylan’s head under the hood looking around. He could tell that the kid was very eager to join the other guests in hanging around.
The marquess went directly to the entrance of the dome building. There were two other armored guards there blocking the entrance.
When the three of them came near, one of the guards put up a hand asking them to stop, and said, “please wait outside patiently. An announcement will be given once the auction is about to start, you cannot enter until then.”
The marquess showed the guards some sort of token. They checked it for a bit before one of them said, “Come with me, I will take you to the VIP spot.”
One of the guards stayed, while the other led them to another door into the building.
“VIP?” Jack said to marquess Fernando.
“You expect anything less?” the marquess replied with a smug face.
After passing the other entrance, the guard left them with a female attendant who then took over and led them to the upper floors. They came into a small waiting room which also had snacks and beverages prepared. There was no one else in the room except for them.
Once they had all entered, the female attendant said to them, “please make yourself at home. You will be informed when the auction was about to start, you can go through that door into the main auction hall. A private VIP viewing stand was beyond that door, where you can join the auction and make your bid from there.” She pointed to the other door opposite from where they entered. “If you need anything else, I will just be outside at your service.”
The female attendant then left and closed the door of the room for their privacy.
Dylan took off his hood and went to check on the snacks and beverages. He tried some of them.
“Hey, these are pretty good,” he said.
“Hm? Do they give any extra effect?” Jack asked.
“You gaming freak, does it have to give extra effect for it to be good? I was referring to their taste!”
Jack took a sip of the red wine. It did taste good. He filled up a cup and brought it to one of the lounge chairs in the room and sat down. He didn’t try the snacks.
The marquess joined Dylan in enjoying the refreshments. They waited less than half an hour before the female attendant reentered their room and informed them that the auction was about to start. She went across the room and opened the other door before ushering them into it.
The marquess reminded Jack and Dylan to put their hoods up before the three of them went into the door. After passing through, they were greeted by the view of a humongous hall with a half-round shape. They were at a small platform at the most upper part of the viewing hall, below them was the normal seating place, facing a large center stage which Jack assumed would be the auction block where they showed the auctioned exhibits.
They could watch the entirety of the auditorium from their platform. They saw many attendees trickling in and took their seats below. When Jack was observing the people below, he noticed some of them looked intangible, something like a hologram.
Jack pointed it out to marquess Fernando, who then explained, “this auction was a royal arrangement which spanned across the entire kingdom. So the participants are not only from the capital. Many others from the other cities within the kingdom also attend, but they don’t have to come all the way here. There are auction facilities in the other cities, which are linked here. So they can attend from there and their presence is projected here.”
Sort of like remote online auction then, Jack thought. Very practical, considering the space between the cities was infested with monsters, making travels inconvenient.
There were seats at their viewing platform. They took a seat while waiting for the auction to start. The female attendant brought some of the refreshments out and put them on a small table beside their seats.
There were other VIP viewing platforms as well besides theirs. They could see them getting filled up as well. One of them which was three platforms away from theirs, was occupied by two hologram figures. Jack took notice of that particular platform because when the hologram appeared, the radar in his God-eye monocle registered two extra blue dots in his vicinity apart from Dylan.
Players? Jack thought with astonishment.
