After that exhausting public appearance, it was time for the next daunting task; I had to part ways with one of my treasures, one of my kids.
The whole ride to the auction house in my mind lasted an eternity; having to pick one of my beautiful weapons felt like a total waste. I wasn't mentally prepared for that.
Somewhere along the way, I started to feel attached to the weapons I made; it probably began after I began making sentient weapons. I realized every single one had the same potential; they were all little seedlings, ready to blossom at any time.
I started giving them real names in the back of my mind, and before I knew it… I couldn't part ways with them, so I moved my bedroom from the uncle's house to the magazine.
And now the hardest moment of all: if I had maybe begun preparing for it way earlier, I wouldn't be as bad as I feel now.
Among the many choices, I knew I probably should've picked something that wouldn't overshadow the prize at the arena, but I didn't have many other weapons that fit that description, at least when it came to ranged weapons.
"So, have you decided on a weapon to sell? I have a few candidates that may make this easier." Leo proposed.
"Oh, please do tell; if it makes a difference, I'll consider it." I eagerly answered, hoping he could be of help.
"I was thinking of Iarumas, Alucard, Nodiesop, or Nahteivel." He proposed.
All weapons belong to the same theme, powerful close-range weapons. All belonged to the same set.
"No way, none of those weapons… they cannot be wielded by outsiders, and you know it… they're simply… too…" I quickly refrained from giving any details the moment I saw the mayor's son watching us in silence, eagerly listening to our conversation.
"At this rate they're going to rot in your magazine; I think keeping them there is not a good choice," Leo protested.
"If I have to hand those over, it'll be in a tournament like this; they do not deserve to fall into incompetent hands." I replied.
No, I think I do know who will probably fit the best here.
The flashiest weapons, the ones with the biggest presence, are Camillo and Camilla.
One of the few weapons I bothered to learn how to wield, something Leonhart mastered in just a couple of weeks.
The weapons were simple: two swords and two abilities that were meant to be used together so that one would counter the side effect of the other.
I grabbed my small pouch and extracted the two weapons out of there.
"No way you're giving out those two." Leo screamed in shock.
"I don't have much choice," I said.
I couldn't hide the bitterness in my voice as I held the two swords. One was a bastard sword, the other a flashy rapier.
Hopefully someone good will pick you up, and not someone that'll abuse you till you break.
I said to the weapon in my mind as I gave them one last hug before we headed outside.
Just like before, many eyes were on me, or rather, us. Everything was fixated on the two swords hanging by my right side. Even passersby were now filming us on their phones.
The public didn't give us much room to go anywhere; they had completely surrounded us and clearly made a path towards the counter.
Once we got there, we were quietly escorted somewhere far away from the crowd as they were politely kicked away from the building.
The room we were guided towards was fairly small, an office packed with paper files left and right, stored in large cardboard boxes packed onto many shelves.
At the center of the room a blonde man was waiting for us; he was cordial and offered us a couple of seats, wearing a strange smile on his face.
I saw him eyeing the blades the moment we met him and would constantly shoot glances at them.
"Welcome to Lewings Auction's house. I'm Chris Donnel; we spoke on the phone a couple of weeks ago, I believe." He said as he greeted us, offering a handshake.
Leo immediately took the handshake while I simply refused to touch him.
"So, regarding the demonic artifact, I assume it's those blades that you're trying to sell. Am I correct?" He asked as he put white gloves on his hands.
"Yes, you're correct." I bitterly answered as I grabbed the two blades and placed them over the table.
"They're part of a set; they should not… they cannot be sold separately." I warned the man.
"What does it mean?" He looked curious as he unsheathed the two swords to inspect them.
"Their power only works at full effectiveness when wielding both weapons." I explained.
"Their names are Camilla and Camillo; the rapier is Camilla, and Camillo is the bastard sword. "I added.
"What an odd choice of names. How about the powers?" He asked as he tried to balance the sword on his index finger.
"Camilla pushes forward; it can accelerate incredibly fast and push in just about any direction without needing to point the weapon in the preferred direction," I replied.
Before I could start explaining the power of Camillo, the man activated the rapier in his hand, sending it flying straight towards the wall.
"Camillo makes sure the force is equally applied to the whole body, allowing it to redirect the force to add maneuverability; it also keeps the body safe when doing dangerous turns, allowing the user to move in ways that would be impossible for regular humans," I added.
"I could easily demonstrate it for you or the public when you're auctioning this item." Leo proposed, his eyes shining like bright stars.
"We're not really prepared for a demonstration, so we can't really—"
"I and Lucifer can do it." He repeated, not giving the poor man a chance to answer.
He leaned closer to the table, emitting a chilling killing intent while smiling as usual.
Huh? Wait, no, I don't think I'm ready for this.
Even the poor guy seemed a bit uncomfortable with Leo constantly cornering him like that, so he took a couple of sheets of paper from beneath his desk.
"Ok, so here's where you need to sign; I assume you already know how this works." He said as he slipped all the sheets of paper my way.
I rapidly checked their contents to make sure there wasn't anything weird, and then I signed the contract and breathed a long, deep sigh.
Hopefully today you'll meet a good owner.
I thought about it on the back of my mind as we were escorted to the main venue by a young girl.
Unlike the man we encountered earlier, she had no colors; her uniform had a checkered pattern.
She was incredibly beautiful even with no colors; she possessed long, fairly white hair, and she also had clear eyes and had no imperfections on her face.
As she was accompanying us to a designated VIP spot where we could comfortably see the whole auction, I looked around us; there were many exhibits in the auction house not up for auction but sold at a fixed price.
Special furniture, trophies, statues, and more—some were hard to see properly because there were simply too many people crowded around the exhibit.
Many of those people were warriors, I could tell easily; they were unconsciously leaking demonic energy. Many of them seemed well-off; some even belonged to noble families, as they proudly showed their family trait to everyone.
One of them had one orange eye, another had green skin, and another had pink hair.
The lady remained silent the whole time, and once she brought us to our seat, she quickly returned to doing her job, whatever that was.
"Are you excited?" Leo asked me.
"Not really," I replied, disinterested.
"Wake me up when they're selling our weapon; I'm curious to see who's going to buy it."
"That's it?" He complained.
"Yeah, I'm super tired; I need some rest. It's not like they're going to sell something we actually need here, so we might as well use this brief moment to rest." I complained, ignoring the odd expression the mayor's son was making.
"Will you even be able to fall asleep? You've seen auction houses on TV. Haven't they usually been loud? Can you handle that?" Leo asked me.
"I'll find a way," I replied.
"What?!"
"Bye bye."
I leaned back against the chair, closed my eyes, and sank deep into the world of dreams on the spot.
It was all thanks to a neat trick the uncle taught me; it helped me fall asleep very quickly.
Despite everything, I could still hear the auctioneer and the people shouting absurd prices for weird and obscure items.
I thought for a moment that they sold a regular washing machine for like tens of thousands of lira, which would be over 15 times its regular price.
Things were also starting to get heated between the crowd, as many were throwing insults to one another, shouting constantly, and rarely getting physical.
Then Leo began violently shaking my whole body left and right to wake me up.
"Wakey wakey! Wake up, Luca," he shouted in my ears.
I lazily opened my eyes back, only to see the two weapons being carried to the center stage. They were stored in a beautiful box; both were sheathed.
The first reaction of many of those warriors was disappointment; some clicked their tongues, some threw insults, and some threw glares at us.
The loud host then began explaining the weapon's power, making a short and incredibly clumsy presentation that made the weapon look even more underwhelming.
This angered Leonhart, who was gritting his teeth for the whole presentation; eventually he got fed up and used his power to launch himself towards the stage.
"Get your hands off; you're doing it all wrong. Here's how you properly use this." He yelled at the host as he snatched the weapons off of his hands and began performing.
He would seemingly bounce in all directions, swinging his swords or spinning around at high speed; in less than twenty seconds he had bounced over forty times throughout the whole room, allowing everybody to take a proper look at the ability of the weapon.
It was probably out of consideration that he didn't go all out at the maximum possible speed, because he was a fiend while using those weapons; back when we used to spar, he would always overwhelm me with the sheer number of attacks he could throw at me at any given time.
The looks of indignation and the cursing all came to a stop. Some weren't impressed and left, while the others stayed behind.
Well… This sucks…
I hoped for them to invite us over to the stage so that everything could go smoothly, instead of us having to forcibly take the weapons out of their hands.
Once the performance by Leonhart was over, he bowed down and returned the weapon to the host and returned to his seat.
"I was a lot worse than I thought, man, that reminds me, I've got to practice more with it." He commented as soon as he returned.
To make such a powerful weapon, I used a little loophole: if the weapon's ability were split between two different and separate tools, the weapon's weight would be distributed on the weapons based on the ability they held.
Weight is not something that increases on a linear level, so when making complicated weapons, it's best to make it so that all of their abilities are not stacked on to a single item.
In the meantime, the host was getting swarmed with offers; everyone was raising the price one after the other to the point his speech became almost intelligible.
I didn't think someone could speak this fast.
"Hey, have you read my latest request?" Leo asked me.
"Which one?" I asked, puzzled.
I don't think there were any new commissions as of late.
"The latest one." He happily answered with the usual puppy eyes.
"I don't fucking know which one is the latest one; you completely filled the request box. I can't even read my own bodyguards' requests because they're lost in a mountain of others you submitted." I yelled back at him.
"Chill, just make sure to read the one on top of the large pile; I'm sure you'll like my idea. If it works out, it should work well when used in pair with the crown," he said.
I could see him giving a longing look towards the weapons being sold. Anyone else would've thought he had lost a loved one or something; instead, he was just making a fuss, hoping to convince me.
Huh, and I assume it's because of… right… it's probably so you can dish out even more powerful flames while also asking for more accessories.
He looked like Michael at times; unlike Michael, who adorned himself with gold, all his accessories were made of artifacts.
A golden chain, a couple of earrings, over fifteen rings, a bunch of piercings, bracelets, a collar, and the fucking hair tie.
Everything tailored to suit him and all of his strange abilities.
Eventually the weapon was sold for nine thousand Iura, which was a lot less than I expected.
Well, they still think a close-ranged weapon is not worth much, but it's only a matter of time before I can make them change their mind.
I thought as we finally left the auction house.
"So, how much time do we have left?" I asked Leo.
He was oddly silent on his way back, so I checked his watch, and I realized there were only two minutes left before the inauguration ceremony began.
"Shit!"
He quickly grabbed me, summoned his flames, and took off in the middle of the street.