Chapter 107: Chapter 107

Chapter 107 - Round Robin (1)

As if completely unconcerned by the chilling silence, Regina walked across the corridor with a playful gait.

And Kirios, upon seeing the Imperial Princess...

"...I greet Her Imperial Highness, the great Imperial Princess of the Empire."

The anger from moments ago was nowhere to be seen, as he respectfully bowed.

"Hmm~ Yes, Sir Kirios."

Regina naturally accepted the greeting.

But it didn't end there.

"By the way... the commotion was so excessive that I think I overheard something I shouldn't have."

"What are you referring to?"

When Kirios replied, Regina covered her mouth and chuckled, then spoke.

"Hmm, what was it you said? Crawled into a place you shouldn't be... was it?"

"It's rather hard for me to ignore those words, you see. Because it was I who vouched for his identity, after all?"

At her words, Kirios' eyebrow twitched.

He might have heard rumors, but it seemed he hadn't actually believed that the Imperial Princess and I were truly close.

"Do you have some dissatisfaction with my judgment?"

However, such agitation did not disrupt Kirios' demeanor.

After all, he was the eldest son and legitimate heir of the Duchy of Enlight, a family widely considered the epitome of aristocracy.

He did not commit any discourtesy in front of someone of higher authority than himself.

"Well—people are bound to make mistakes."

"Alright, you may withdraw now."

Whether living up to his reputation as a character who, though hot-blooded in the original , never let his temper ruin his affairs, Kirios passed us without any further complaint.

And, before he left the corridor.

"As a knight of the Empire, I would humbly advise... that you choose your retainers carefully."

Kirios turned to Regina and left those words.

"Huhu, the view one sees changes depending on where one stands, you know."

But Regina also retorted without backing down.

'What would you, a mere retainer, know, not a member of the Imperial Family born to lead?'

Considering Regina's personality, wouldn't that be the underlying message?

After that, Kirios left the corridor. Thus, only I and Regina remained in the corridor.

"That was quite a predicament, wasn't it?"

"...That's not wrong."

"But, I said what needed to be said."

When I said that, Regina's expression seemed somewhat surprised.

Even that quickly turned back into a smile.

"I didn't think you'd be able to say such things."

"I am human, after all."

Anyway, we started walking back down the corridor towards the dining car.

And we chatted a bit during that time.

"Having faced something so unpleasant, I don't think I'll be able to eat properly."

"...It wasn't a pleasant experience."

Regina shrugged, feigning nonchalance.

"Huhu, it wouldn't be bad to simply disrupt the auction, even with the intention of thwarting them..."

However, her lightheartedness didn't continue to the end.

Regina stopped mid-sentence, abruptly stood still, stroked her chin, and fell into thought.

"...This thought actually isn't bad at all."

Time flowed once again.

Although a rather significant incident occurred on the first day, there was no particular commotion afterwards.

Thankfully, the train was quite spacious, so I didn't encounter Robelia or Kirios again.

'It would have been troublesome if I met them... it's a relief.'

Anyway, although my body had left the Academy, my daily routine didn't change dramatically.

I woke up in the morning, used the training facilities within the train, and practiced magic using the books I brought, or refined the Origin Magic Arien had taught me before.

Other than that, well, I chatted with the others who came along. It was a life where only the stage had changed, but nothing substantial had.

And finally, on the third day of boarding the Railroad Mysterium.

I walked down the corridor and knocked on the door of the Imperial Princess' cabin.

And, I opened my mouth and said.

And shortly after... the cabin door opened.

Naturally, the one who emerged from the opened cabin door was the Imperial Princess.

Her pure white hair and fiery violet eyes, now completely accustomed to, having melted into everyday life.

"My, how thoughtful you are."

And the same playful innocence as always.

"...Didn't you tell me to come meet you yesterday?"

Yes. I originally had no intention of this. But you called me…

"You have no romance, do you?"

I swallowed the words 'I don't think that's something I should hear from you,' for now.

Afterward, we slowly walked towards the rear car where the auction hall was located.

Unlike the first day, my steps were not heavy. They were probably closer to light.

The car where the auction hall was located was noticeably more spacious than the others.

With an overall white theme, and chairs arranged in a circle around the central podium where the auctioneer would stand... it was, so to speak, an auditorium-style hall.

Since the very purpose of the train was this auction, a rare crowd, for a train, was seated in this auction hall.

Our assigned seats were…

As I was looking around, a familiar male voice was heard.

And when I turned my head in that direction, the short-haired blond boy, Elwin, was seated there.

Beside him, Serene was seated on the left, and Yuna on the right.

Since there were two remaining seats on the right, I sat next to Yuna. Naturally, Regina ended up to my right.

"You're a bit late, aren't you?"

As I sat down, Yuna spoke to me.

"...Well, something came up."

As Yuna tilted her head, Regina, who was sitting next to me, smiled brightly and interjected into the conversation.

"Huhu, Young Master was so insistent on escorting me."

What on earth was she talking about?

Moreover, Yuna, having heard that story, somehow looked at me with strange eyes.

Even so, I hadn't done anything strange, had I...?

Did she think I was too opportunistic? Or a flatterer?

For some reason, Elwin seemed to sigh upon hearing the story.

...I don't know, I didn't do anything wrong.

Anyway, sitting there, I realized one thing.

'It's not as quiet as I thought.'

I had expected it to be quite solemn, considering it was an auction only accessible to those with considerable status, or those vouched for by them, but unexpectedly, it wasn't.

People were freely chatting with their companions. If anything, the atmosphere was closer to a social gathering.

The important thing was that the auctioneer was now ascending the podium.

And as the auctioneer appeared in view, the voices circulating among the people subsided.

As if everyone was focused on the auctioneer.

Indeed, the auctioneer's attire was... attention-grabbing in many ways.

A gender-unidentifiable figure, dressed in pure white clothes and a mask, matching the pure white interior.

After ascending the podium, he opened his mouth after a moment of silence.

"From now on, I will open the Round Robin."

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Round Robin. That was the auction method we were well acquainted with.

An auction method that sought bidders from a designated starting price, allowing intervention by calling out a higher amount. In other words, a competitive auction.

I, too, had witnessed such competitive auctions when I lived in my original world.

Of course, I didn't see it in person, but in videos.

What was my impression of seeing it here, in the world of ?

First of all, the amounts were astounding.

"Next, we move on to the 『Fire-resistant Circlet』. The starting price is 9.5 million Crescents."

The starting price alone was 9.5 million Crescents. Roughly 95 million Korean Won... an amount close to 100 million.

But this was only the starting price.

These were the nobles, I suppose, the units were increasing by millions. Just one shout meant 10 million Korean Won was being thrown away.

Yuna, sitting next to me, was utterly horrified.

"...Hey, the amount is a bit strange...!"

I could tell from her whispering to me.

As Yuna had lived among ordinary people until now, her sense of money would be ordinary, like mine.

'The scary thing is that this is the early stage of the auction.'

As I learned from the catalog, the auction order of artifacts here was not random.

The higher the starting price, the later the auction order. What did this mean?

It meant that the amounts called out would increase exponentially as the auction progressed towards the latter half.

"Next, we move on to the magic sword 『Bloodgale』. The starting price is 13 million."

'『Bloodgale』, that sounds like a name I heard in ...'

It didn't seem to boast amazing performance or anything.

Anyway, even as I was thinking that, the amount was steadily increasing.

To my right. More precisely, about two seats away, a familiar boy's voice was heard.

Yes, I was referring to Elwin Van Cardenas.

"Yes. 『Bloodgale』, successfully bid at 19 million, number 58."

Since no one bid higher, it was successfully bid by Elwin.

Yuna's eyes were wide as she looked at Elwin.

With an expression that asked, 'You can spend money like that?'

I merely let out an exclamation of awe. Well, he was the legitimate son of one of The Three Founding Families, so I assumed he had the authority to handle that much money.

After that, another person in our group made a successful bid.

And the protagonist was the emerald-eyed girl with her blond braided hair trailing behind her.

I was referring to Serene.

Serene simply raised her hand with a serene expression and shouted.

"『Delnos' Fist』, successfully bid at 20 million, number 88."

It was successfully bid, as expected.

And as if noticing Yuna's wide-eyed expression, she whispered softly beside me.

"...Ahaha. It seems my father was interested in an artifact, so he asked me to purchase it on his behalf."

Yuna didn't hear her.

And Yuna quickly turned her head towards me and whispered softly.

"...Hey, I felt like we had just gotten a bit closer mentally... but somehow... I feel like we've grown distant because we live in different worlds..."

That's a bit awkward.

I also had something to buy.