Auction Night

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 25, Post Number 623

-Capital Crocus, late afternoon-

Stepping out of The Elegant Dress wearing the custom black dress she had purchased almost two days ago and a pair of "loaner" black dress shoes with high heels with a loaned black clutch purse to hold her Jewels and her invitation to the exclusive auction, Leona carefully walked through the glass door and onto the streets of Capital Crocus to reach the auction house before the auction on the bottle of Maison D'Everett started. Leona had been given directions to the auction house by the helpful staff, who had been very patient with the Wizard Saint and who had also given her tips on how to walk in high heels without falling onto her face. Those were very helpful lessons because she was about to mingle with Capital Crocus' elite and did not want to look like a total desert bumpkin.

As Leona carefully walked down the street in her elegant dress that cost almost as much as a magically enhanced weapon heads began to turn. Apparently people were unused to seeing the Wizard Saint of Courage in a dress; at least six teenage males with their girlfriends and an equal number of older men walking with their wives had to manually pick their lower jaws up from the concrete after she had passed them by. At least one man was slapped by his significant other for looking a bit too long at the passing Wizard Saint... Leona felt bad about that but could do nothing to sooth the wounded ego of another woman without making matters even worse for the poor man in question. It seemed that she could cause trouble even without meaning to and she did not understand why... she was not even that beautiful. Compared to some of the other female mages she knew Leona was nowhere near attractive enough to be like the mythical Helen of Troy, who brought strife to two kingdoms because of her beauty.

-Twenty minutes later-

After much walking and causing a few more men to get stern rebukes from their significant others, Leona had finally reached the auction house. It looked like an old courthouse; it had neo-classical architectural elements like elaborate columns supporting a triangular roof and the auction house name being spelled in angular letters. Flanking the glass doors were two men dressed in conservative black suits with earpieces... they must have been the doormen for this event. Leona carefully walked up the granite stairs and eventually reached the top, where one of the men thrust his right hand out as a warning for her to stop.

"This auction is invitation only. If you don't have an invitation, you must leave at once." Came the curt message from the man to her left. Leona wordlessly opened her clutch purse and fished out the invitation, which was none the worse for wear despite being placed in a purse full of Jewels. She handed the invitation over to the man as his younger coworker looked on. The latter looked Leona over and it dawned on him just who they were dealing with.

"Do you know who you're talking to?" The younger man to the right asked his partner, who was busy looking over the invitation with a magnifying glass.

"Just some blonde girl." Came the answer in an uninterested tone that one would use to discuss the weather. Leona felt more than a little insulted by that casual dismissal. However, she was not going to start flouting her title to get her way because that was not who she was. She wanted a peaceful night at the auction where she did not have to fight anyone and no one got hurt... well, anyone else, that was. Several men had already been slapped just for looking at her a bit too long.

"She's a Wizard Saint! The Wizard Saint of Courage!" The man on the right reminded his coworker. The older man remained unmoved.

"She could be the Queen of Desierto, but she's not getting in without a valid invitation!" The older man answered with a complete lack of interest. His inspection finally complete, he looked up and found Leona looking at him with a neutral facial expression. The man panicked and quickly backed away from her, handing the invitation back and hastening to open the door.

"Sorry about that, Miss Jarnefeldt! Right this way, please!" He said in a conciliatory tone that was a complete reversal from his earlier dismissal of Leona as "Just some blonde girl." Leona, not wanting to make a scene before interacting with high society, decided to let bygones be bygones and let the matter drop.

"Thank you." Leona said to the man before walking through the door.

-Inside the auction house-

Leona walked into the lobby of the auction house and found herself standing on a spotless tile floor in a lobby filled with expensive wooden furniture. The lobby was also sprinkled with several wealthy individuals talking amongst themselves while casually sipping from champagne glasses brought by impeccably dressed butlers. All the men were wearing fancy black suits and all the women wore fancy black dresses plus jewelry that easily cost as much as Leona's dress, if not more than that. Leona did not last fifteen seconds before attracting attention from the gathered people.

"What is she doing here? I thought this auction was supposed to be exclusive!" An older woman in a black dress with pearl earrings commented derisively to her husband, who looked to be as offended by Leona's presence as his wife was. Leona kept a calm face as she strolled past them without comment. She had been warned that there was a price to pay for walking into the hitherto exclusive preserve of Crocus' elite.

"That dress is so last year! I honestly feel sorry for her... it must have been the best that she could afford!" A teenage girl in a much less conservative black dress than Leona's said to her mother, who chuckled in derision. Leona just kept walking past her detractors and hoped that the auction would start soon so that she could get out of here. The trouble was that there were several auction rooms looming in the hallway in front of her and Leona did not know which one hosted the auction for the bottle of Maison D'Everett.

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Leona continued to walk down the hallway in search of the room where the auction for the bottle of Maison D'Everett would be held. Aside from not wanting to be late to the auction, she also wanted to get away from her detractors, who seemed to take delight in making fun of her out-of-date dress and her desert heritage. Leona had learned her lesson from the cooking contest; after learning from Ruvel that taking Chef Ramsey up on his offer to fight would have gotten her disqualified, the blonde realized that she had dodged a hell of a bullet thanks to The Recheeserator capturing the bellicose chef when it did. She was determined not to let her temper flare out of control in a public setting no matter what kind of insults were hurled at her. Leona would have thought that her status as one of Earthland's most powerful mages would have made people think carefully before insulting her, but Capital Crocus' elite had the self-preservation instinct of lemmings.

Oh well.

Leona walked past another old couple glaring at her with disapproval and continued her search for the auction room. She even stopped a moment on the right side of the hall to fish out the invitation and scan it for clues. As she did a wealthy couple and their daughter walked by and dished out yet another insulting remark aimed at the Wizard Saint.

"It's that person from Desierto. They'll let anyone in these days." The middle-aged man wearing black-rimmed glasses snarked to his wife. The red-haired woman with a black dress and pearl necklace around her neck laughed aloud, as did their red-haired daughter. The red-haired young woman then glared at Leona with icy blue eyes and approached her.

"I'm surprised that you had the money to buy that dress. You must have spent a lot of time on your back to raise the money." The young woman remarked before laughing in Leona's face and walking away to rejoin her parents for a hearty chortle at the Wizard Saint's expense. Leona's temper was rising from "mildly annoyed" to "royally pissed" and it was all she could do to keep it under control. This night could not get too much worse... or could it?

Shoving down her feelings of anger, Leona renewed her search for the room and soon located a sign on an easel-like stand that indicated Room 201 was her destination.

"MAISON D'EVERETT AUCTION" the black sign read in white letters that were so beautifully made that it looked like calligraphy. Armed with the information she needed, Leona then walked away from the sign and paid attention to the golden letters positioned to the right of each doorway. She passed by a trio of youthful auction-goers and braced herself for yet another snide remark about her dress or another implication that she slept around to get the money for the dress. Instead they reacted with surprise, and for once it was the "good" kind of surprise.

"No way! Leona Jarnefeldt's here?" A young blond-haired man in a black tuxedo asked his two female friends, one a brunette with a ponytail and the other a blonde with waist-length hair hanging freely. The two girls squealed with excitement and approached Leona with their hands clasped together in excitement.

"No way! I can't believe this! A Wizard Saint, here, at this auction for old fogeys with too much money?" The blonde asked her companions. The brunette was equally surprised but just as delighted to see Leona as the male was. Leona was wary... this was almost too good to be true. After being insulted and looked upon with derision for not being wealthy and not being born into Capital Crocus' elite, three of them were actually happy to see her. Leona was not sure what the catch was, but she was sure that there was an unpleasant surprise waiting for her somewhere down the road.

"The dress is a little old-fashioned, but it looks good on her." The brunette commented. Leona could not muster a response to that because her dress was of a more modest design than the contemporary versions worn by almost all of the young women here, which showed off cleavage. It was custom-made for Leona, who had a big chest but did not want to show it off because she had been told that modesty was the best way to win the approval of the elites she would be mingling with tonight. Apparently most of the elites would not accept her no matter how modestly she dressed, but the younger generation seemed to be friendly to her. At this point Leona would take what she could get.

"I'm looking for the auction for a bottle of Maison D'Everett. I know it's in Room 201, but I was kinda hoping that someone could point me to it." Leona sheepishly informed the trio of admirers.

"No way! We're gonna be sitting in an auction with Leona Jarnefeldt? This can't be happening!" The young man exclaimed with happiness. The blonde quickly explained why he was so enthusiastic.

"My brother's a big fan of yours, Miss Jarnefeldt. He has your figurine from the Fairy Festival and he avidly reads Sorcerer's Magazine for any articles about you. He's always wanted to meet you and this is a dream come true for him." The young woman explained. Leona was surprised to learn that she had any fans outside of Desierto. This was certainly news to her.

"We'll be glad to show you the way, Miss Jarnefeldt. Follow us." The brunette requested. Leona nodded and the trio guided her to the room where the auction was to be held. Leona hoped that she was not being set up to be humiliated again.

-Outside Room 201, five minutes later-

Leona had been guided by her new acquaintances, who were still excited to be in the presence of a Wizard Saint. There were other people clustered outside the closed double doors waiting for the auction to begin. Leona was not sure whether they would greet her as warmly as the young people who had guided her here or if they would scorn her as nothing more than a desert upstart who dared to enter their exclusive preserve. She would find out their reaction soon enough.

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-Outside Room 201-

While waiting for the auction to begin, Leona waited to see how the people gathered outside Room 201 would react to her presence. She did not know whether to expect excitement, indifference, or outright contempt, but she was sure that her presence would generate some kind of reaction from the crowd. It did not take very long for the gathered people to notice the Wizard Saint standing not too far away from them. A brown-haired young woman with curly hair noticed Leona and spread the word to her fellows.

"Is that... Leona Jarnefeldt?" The brunette asked as her blue eyes widened, pointing towards the green-eyed blonde. The other young people in the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves and look in Leona's direction. Once she was spotted the young people began to surge out of the line and gather her, leaving behind the older people and a few youths who were either too awestruck by the Wizard Saint to approach or were not happy to see her for whatever reason.

"It IS her!" A brown-haired young man confirmed. The young people grew even more excited now that they had confirmed that the short-haired blonde standing before them really was Leona Jarnefeldt and not a body double or cosplayer. Leona was glad to see that not everyone in the auction house felt contempt for her because she was not born into the Silver Spoon Club of Capital Crocus. While she was forced to skip taking the etiquette class due to the emergency in Midi and her dress was not made by a fancy designer label, Leona liked to think that she had manners that were at least passable and her dress was modest enough to avoid negative attention, but for some reason the elite seemed determined to hold her up as an object of scorn. With the exception of a few youths aping the disdainful attitude of their elders, at least the young people seemed to like her.

Maybe it was because she was a self-made mage whose story was captivating to upper-class youths who had never gotten to experience the world outside the artificial world of Capital Crocus' upper-class society. Maybe it was because she was a fairly attractive young woman who the youth could relate to, like Serilda Sinclair or Nessa Cordelia Lux. Maybe it was because she was currently a celebrity in the magic world and was thus trendy; Leona herself preferred to believe the first thought because the thought that one day her celebrity would fade and she would be replaced by a new young up-and-coming mage was more than a little depressing, but that was the way of the world.

Leona would bask in the limelight while she could.

A few minutes after the crowd of upper-class youths gathered around her and vied for a chance to lay eyes on her the door to the auction room opened and everyone formed into an orderly double-file line. Inside the doorway were employees who handed out white paddles with black numbers on them. Leona found herself standing beside the same blond-haired youth who had been excited to see her. She had never gotten his name, but he was happy to give it without asking.

"I forgot to introduce myself earlier. My name's Taylor." He introduced himself to the Wizard Saint. Leona looked towards him and spoke, shuffling forward a bit to keep the line moving.

"Nice to meet you, Taylor." Leona said to him. The line continued to advance at a fairly quick pace and Leona was soon handed a paddle with the number 13 emblazoned on it. She was not sure whether to consider that an unlucky omen or not. She knew of the belief that the number thirteen was unlucky and an omen of ill fortune, much like a black cat crossing one's path or walking under a ladder. Maybe Leona could beat the odds to win the auction and get the bottle of Maison D'Everett for Kemal.

At any rate, Leona found herself proceeding into a cavernous room with abundant seating that was dominated by a wooden stage with a wooden podium standing off to the right and a marble pedestal in the center, which was presumably where the auctioned items were placed for the viewing pleasure of the bidders. The floor was dark green carpet with gold borders that may or may not have been hand-woven and the seats were all sturdy brown wooden chairs with red cushions in the seats. There were about twenty rows of seating with thirty seats apiece. Taylor made an offer to Leona, who was overwhelmed by the size and splendor of the room.

"You can sit with me and my sisters if you'd like." He said to her. Lacking any other real option and not wanting to sit near people who were hostile to her, Leona took him up on the offer. She followed him down the thirteenth row of seating and was followed by the blonde with waist-length blonde hair and the brunette. She was seated in the thirteenth seat with Taylor on her left and the blonde on her immediate right with the brunette just one seat to her right.

"Thanks Taylor. I appreciate that." She said to him as they waited for the auction to start.

"I'm Madison. My older sister's named Margaret." the blonde introduced herself to Leona. Margaret waved at Leona from her seat and the Wizard Saint returned the gesture. They then faced forward as a well-dressed older man with a golden monocle over his left eye and white gloves on his hands strode onto the stage and stood behind the podium like he belonged there. Two men in conservative black suits with earpieces walked onto the stage carrying a silver briefcase which they laid on its side and opened to reveal a green bottle with a white label. The two men walked offstage and the man behind the podium began to address the audience.

"Tonight's auction is for this bottle of Maison D'Everett, which is only one of a hundred left in the world. The starting price will be 100,000 Jewels." He announced to the bidders. Leona was already starting to feel like she was in over her head and the auction had not even started yet. She recalled the suggestion from the woman at The Elegant Dress that she would need to be willing to spend large sums of Jewels to stand a chance of winning the bottle of wine because people would bid high just to keep Leona from getting it. Leona was afraid to think about how much the bottle of Maison D'Everett would cost to win, but she needed it to trade for the book on Ancient Muserian.

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Leona had been so distracted by the thought of how much the wine would cost to win that she had lost the initiative in the early stages of the bidding war and was now a little behind. By the time she had regained focus the figure was now 250,000 Jewels. Leona took a deep breath... this was going to be one very costly bottle of wine. Kemal had better do everything in his power to protect the bottle because the odds of her finding another one without having to spend a king's ransom for it were rather low. In fact they were so low that there were better odds of Leona wearing a dress again before she would find another bottle of Maison D'Everett.

"Do I have 300,000 Jewels?" The auctioneer asked. Noticing a lull in the bidding, Leona raised her paddle with the number facing forward and was acknowledged.

"13 with 300,000 Jewels! Do I have another bid?" The auctioneer asked. A paddle on the fifth row was raised and the bid was now 325,000 Jewels. It was a steep figure to the Wizard Saint, but to most of the people in the audience that was pocket change. The figure would only continue to rise as the bidding war began with renewed intensity. The auctioneer called out newer, higher figures and someone with a paddle and money to burn met the challenge; by the end of two minutes of intense bidding the bid now sat at a princely 500,000 Jewels with no end in sight.

"Now things are gonna get interesting. People are really gonna get aggressive with the bidding now that the casuals have been weeded out. I hope you brought your wallet." Taylor whispered into Leona's left ear. The auctioneer asked for a bid of 525,000 Jewels and a paddle was up before he could finish the sentence. A series of paddles rose as new figures were called out until the bottle was now going for 700,000 Jewels. Leona was starting to question whether the cost of victory would be worth it. While she had roughly five million Jewels to spend, she was not willing to wager them all for a bottle of wine that she would never see again once Kemal got his hands on it.

"Don't get suckered into a bidding war, Leona. If the bid's too high for you to afford, there's no shame in quitting. Most of these people have a lot more money to spend than you do." Madison advised her. Leona did not want to walk away empty-handed, not when she had spent so much on the dress and had endured so much ridicule. She wanted something to show for tonight, but the odds of her winning were rapidly vanishing as the bottle now commanded an 850,000-Jewel price tag. Within a few seconds of frenzied paddle-raising the price leaped to 900,000 Jewels and Leona met the challenge.

"13 with 900,000 Jewels! Do I have 925,000 Jewels?" The auctioneer asked. The crowd began to whisper amongst themselves and looked for someone to meet Leona in a contest of bank accounts and bravery. Leona herself looked around to see if anyone would raise their paddle... there might be a chance that she could get away cheaply if no one else offered a bid. However, a paddle shot up and her hopes were dashed.

"26 with 925,000 Jewels! Do I have 950,000 Jewels?" Came the question. Leona raised her paddle and the auctioneer acknowledged it. The figure sat at 950,000 Jewels and Leona was beginning to doubt the wisdom of continuing the bidding war. She needed to set a limit and stick to it, but what would that limit be?

"I have 1 million Jewels from 26! Can I get 1.25 million?" Came the question. Taylor whispered into Leona's ear again.

"Man, this is getting crazy! I'm out! You'd better do the same before you get stuck with a bill in the millions of Jewels!" Taylor advised her. Leona focused on the stage and heard that the asking price was now 1.5 million Jewels, a figure which made her blanch. She could not throw around that kind of money and have enough for emergencies... the most she could spend and still remain solvent was 2 million Jewels. That was her limit.

"Do I have 1.5 million Jewels?" The auctioneer asked again, scanning the audience for a response. Leona raised her paddle.

"13 with 1.5 million Jewels! Can I get 1.75 million?" He asked. A paddle was raised.

"26 with 1.75 million! Can I get 2 million?" He asked. Leona hesitated to raise her paddle. This was getting crazy.

"Can I get 2 million Jewels?" He asked again. Leona was not sure if she should go for it. Number 26 had a lot of money to spend and was not afraid to spend it. Leona was already at her spending limit and could not afford to challenge again if Number 26 met it. Still, who dares wins.

"13 with 2 million Jewels!" The auctioneer announced. Leona was already feeling like a colossal idiot for bidding that much... it would probably have been cheaper just to skip the auction and buy the book. Now she was beginning to hope that Number 26 would come in with a bid and take the initiative.

"Do I have 2.25 million Jewels?" The auctioneer asked. Leona waited for a response with bated breath. The audience was murmuring expressions of amazement and intent to quit while they were ahead. There was even one older gentleman with a top hat sitting in his lap who claimed that whoever put up 2 million Jewels for the Maison D'Everett was an idiot with more Jewels than sense. As a tense silence filled the room and no one rose to met the challenge, Leona felt that she might as well be sitting under a neon sign that proclaimed "I'M AN IDIOT!"

Would Leona win the auction but rip a gaping hole in her bank account?

Would winning the wine be worth the cost to get it?

Was even coming here a big mistake?

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Leona waited with the rest of the audience in tense silence to see if anyone would bid higher than her. She saw the auctioneer reach for a wooden gavel and begin to raise it to bang on a small circular block of wood. This was going to be one costly bottle of wine.

"Can I get 2.25 million Jewels?" He asked the audience, scanning it for a response. No one raised their paddle.

"Can I get 2.25 million Jewels?" He repeated the question. Leona felt her pulse quicken and her breathing gradually get shallow as she waited to see whether she would win or lose. Fifteen seconds passed and the question was repeated again.

"Can I get 2.25 million Jewels?" He asked one last time. Leona was not sure how to feel. She was about to get a very costly win, but if she won the Maison D'Everett it would be a lot easier to get the tome on the Ancient Muserian language. Leona held her breath as the countdown began.

"Going once. Going twice..." The auctioneer announced, lingering long enough to allow a surprise bid to happen.

But the bid never came.

"Sold to Number 13 for 2 million Jewels!" He announced. The tense atmosphere immediately dissipated and polite clapping for the winner began. Leona was both relieved that she had won and disappointed that she would have to pay 2 million Jewels for the wine. She was probably going to regret winning this auction for a long time.

"You did it! You won!" Taylor said to her, patting her on the shoulder. Madison and Margaret offered expressions of congratulations to the Wizard Saint for her courage in sticking it out to the end. Leona took a deep breath and felt euphoria flood her mind. The bottle of Maison D'Everett was now hers. Then she frowned once she realized what that meant.

The bottle of Maison D'Everett was now hers.

That meant that she would have to go to Desierto and spend time with her mother. That meant a mother-daughter trip to the Tri-Council City and to Kemal's bookstore.

Great. Just great.

"You got off lightly, Miss Jarnefeldt. The record winning bid for a bottle of Maison D'Everett at auction was set two years ago at 10 million Jewels." Madison informed her. Leona now knew what Madison meant by quitting if the bidding got too high. Thankfully it did not reach that point. Leona could not even begin to comprehend spending 10 million Jewels on a bottle of wine.

-Thirty minutes later, outside the auction house-

Leona had paid for the Maison D'Everett and was now carrying it down the steps in a special protective case that was waterproof and shockproof. Her loaner purse was now 2 million Jewels lighter, but she had won the wine she needed to trade for an equally valuable book. Now she needed to return the purse and shoes and get her green, white, and gold outfit back. Once she returned the loaned items and got her clothing back she would then need return to Silver Wolf Guild Hall and prepare for yet another trip to Desierto... and to spend time with her mother, who was almost certainly going to bring up the topic of Leona giving her grandchildren and Leona resigning her positions to live in Nebdoui. The trip was going to be about as much fun as sticking a fork in an electrical socket.

The trip to the Tri-Council City was going to be a long and eventful one.

Hooray for Leona.

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