Enigma of Sin

During the lunch hour, Kayn went ahead and ordered a lot of extra food. He would be able to eat all of it himself if he really wanted to, but he was doing this for the girls.

The young butler was a bit skeptical at how much Kayn was eating. Jack figured he was giving his leftovers to the young women, but that didn't really matter to him. He was a little jealous that they got to eat the good food while he was eating what he called slop.

Jack returned to the room once more in the middle of the afternoon to remove the dirty food plates before returning to cater to all of Kayn's needs during the auction that was about to start.

There was no curtain of magic concealing the girls this time, and he was able to see clothes strewn about around the bed with the three girls sleeping. He sighed. He definitely had it much better being sold and used as a butler.

Little to the young butler's knowledge, this was all a part of Kayn's plan. He was meticulously distorting any information that was passed off to the butler's superiors in order to ensure that they thought he was a perverted rich young master type that would buy anything that caught his fancy.

Even if they couldn't see his face, his voice distortion made him sound a little younger and his impulsive actions should lead them to think he was younger. No suspicious actions could be reported about him if this whole thing was going to pan out the way it was planned.

The standard items were auctioned off quickly, and Kayn only made a single purchase. He spent a total of 75 gold on a black orb that even their appraisers had no clue what it was for or what it did. Kayn figured that maybe he would be able to figure it out with his Analyze skill later on. It's not like he was losing money by buying it, he could only gain something potentially valuable.

"To spice things up, before we get to our main batch for the night, we will get you all excited for what is to come!" Denji the auctioneer announced to the gathered crowd of potential bidders.

A small girl with blue skin, bright purple eyes, and midnight black hair was then brought to the stage. There were many oohs and aahs from the crowd, but Kayn could only clench his fists without letting his butler see it. This child couldn't be more than 5 or 6 and she was captured and being sold as a slave, how could this not irk him?

"We have here a pure and rare demon race succubus. She comes from a lineage of mages, so her chances of becoming a mage are not low! The starting bid will be 100 gold coins!"

Kayn sat in silence as he watched the price quickly shoot up into the 200s, then the 300s.

Then finally, another VIP finally put in a bid for 4 platinum coins. Thus, the bidding war between VIP rooms began, quickly raising the price for the girl to 6 platinum coins.

To Kayn's surprise, the one who had the current top bid was the person that he recognized, but couldn't figure out who it was. However, rather than being distracted by this, he had a job to do.

"VIP room 13 bids 8 platinum!"

There was silence for a while as Kayn had just raised the price by 2 platinum, but not long after more bids started pouring in from the other VIP rooms. Apparently obtaining a young female slave with a high chance of forming a mana core was worth a lot, especially since they would probably start to groom her and brainwash her right away.

That wasn't even taking into account her rare succubus race.

The price for the girl began to stall around 12 platinum, and so Kayn put in his bid for 12 platinum and 50 gold. Repha's sister, which he purchased the night before, would have probably sold for around this price originally.

"12 platinum 50 gold! Going once!"

"Twice"

"Sold to VIP room 13 for 12 platinum and 50 gold coins!"

Kayn wasn't necessarily a fan of him announcing which room was bidding now, but it there wasn't anything he could do about it unfortunately.

Denji paused as the small girl was led off of the stage by an assistant. They returned shortly after with a whole slew of adults ranging from younger to older, male and female, and of many different common races.

Humans, beastkin of all varieties, and demons of all varieties were lined up in an orderly fashion along the stage floor. Once they were all in position Denji began speaking once more.

"Today folks, we have a special opportunity for you! Typically, each of these slaves would be sold individually, however, we will be offering you all the opportunity to purchase all 12 of them at once if anyone bids at the minimum value for all 12! Would anyone like to bid 50 gold coins for all 12?"

Kayn was taken aback, 12 slaves for 50 gold? He just spent 1250 for a single one! Though, if he thought about it logically, none of the women were young and only a few men were in their 20s. There was even an old beastkin that looked like he was about to die any second.

If Kayn were to guess, a few of the slaves presented would normally only sell for a few silvers at most while the others in the group would go for gold coins, such as the young men that would be good workers.

No one raised a bid. Just as Denji was about to start selling them individually, he received an alert notifying him that a VIP had actually placed a 50 gold bid. Not to his surprise though, it was VIP room 13.

So far, Kayn had purchased the only auctioned slave and three others privately, maybe this customer, Hasan, just really needed to increase the number of his servants or he had other intentions for them all. It wasn't his business what happened to the slaves after they were sold, only that they were sold.

"We have a bid of 50 gold for all 12!"

"Going once!"

"Twice"

"Sold! The lot will go to VIP room 13 for a total of 50 gold coins!"

For the next hour or so, more batches of between 5 to 15 slaves were brought out. Denji always offered a lump sum price for the entire batch that was more money than each individual would probably bring in, but Kayn didn't hesitate to buy up each and every single batch.

The other VIPs as well as the rest of the crowd began to whisper and some even became disgruntled. VIP 13 was purchasing every slave for astronomical prices. The VIP wasn't even giving them a chance to obtain one!

The night ended with a special weapon auction, which Kayn had no interest in. Supposedly it was a tier 4 sword with multiple passive buffs and an active skill. It was probably somewhere in the same realm as his Akikani if he had to guess.

About an hour after the auction ended and all of the guests returned to their respective rooms, a knock was heard on Kayn's door as he expected. The young butler, whose name he didn't know, not that he bothered to ask, answered the door.

To Kayn's surprise, when he peered at who was coming into his room, it was not just Denji and an assistant, but also a person he didn't know. He recognized them as being another VIP due to having probed their room, but that was it.

This person was a man with short neatly trimmed black hair and a trimmed beard. He was only wearing what Kayn considered a masquerade mask, so he wasn't hiding a whole lot about himself.

"Mr. Hasan, this is Maneet, another VIP here at the DeMarco auction house. He had wanted to inquire you about potentially buying a couple of the slaves which you purchased today, I was assured that he would give you fair prices, netting you with a profit." Denji spoke, but he was clearly bothered by something.

Kayn could only assume that this VIP had some pull with Denji's bosses. This meant that even though the auction house had a strict no bothering other buyers policy, this man could force Denji to bring him to a buyer's room in order to try and negotiate deals.

Kayn shifted his attention from Denji back to the man who was now staring lasciviously at the three girls who were currently awake and sitting together on the couch. Kayn had them put on the skimpy clothing they were brought in with after they woke up to keep up his act, but clearly he didn't expect for this perverted man to be brought into his room.

Kayn coughed and cleared his throat in order to get the attention of Maneet, and only then did he pry his greedy lustful eyes away from the three girls who were doing their best to cover up their bodies with their hands and arms. Repha even stood between Maneet and her sister so that he wasn't able to see her.

"Aha, sorry Mr. Hasan, you got prime picks from the batch and I couldn't help but admire them. As Denji here said, I'm here to negotiate the sale of a few of those slaves you purchased today. I was hoping to get three or four of the younger women under 30 years of age with no race restrictions. I will pay a total of 50 gold for four, which is definitely a profit for you!"

Maneet paused for only around a second before he opened his mouth again, "And I'll throw in an extra hundred if you allow me to spend this last night with that one there."

Maneet pointed to Repha, causing her to shudder at the blatant lust that this man was letting radiate from his body. It was clear that he assumed Kayn would accept his offers as he was smiling quite perversely.

Kayn replied to him in a calm voice though, causing the man's smile to turn in to a frown. "I apologize Mr. Maneet, but I have a purpose for each and every slave I bought today, I have no intention to sell them. As for the girl over there, I will once again have to turn down your offer."

Maneet was gritting his teeth at this point as no one would normally disrespect him, even if his face was covered. Most of the VIPs knew each other as they operated in the same circles, but Kayn was obviously new to the scene.

"How about 60 for the four then? I'd even go as high as 75!" Maneet loudly offered as he was getting desperate at this point since he had insider information about tomorrow.

"I apologize, but I'll have to disappoint you once more Mr. Maneet. Maybe you can buy some tomorrow when more are offered up." Kayn replied with a sorrowful tone while shaking his head, trying to appear like he was truly disappointed that he couldn't sell any of his slaves to the man.

It was at this point that Denji interfered, "If I may give you some information Mr. Hasan. Tomorrow, there will only be one slave auctioned off and it doesn't meet any of Mr. Maneet's criteria, hence why he is here."

"I apologize, but I have no intentions to sell off any of the purchases I made. You know well I overpaid for a few of them to meet the batch purchase option. If Mr. Maneet wanted some, he should have outbid me." Kayn spoke in a snarky manner, completely changing his tone to one of haughtiness. 

Maneet only stared at Kayn for a few seconds while he ground his teeth together before he turned around and stormed out of the door. On his way out he mumbled something that none of those in the room should have heard, but Kayn did and it made him chuckle a bit.

Maneet said that Kayn would regret his actions today or something to that end. Kayn began to consider adding this guy to the list of those to not let get away.

"Now, Mr. Denji, I was of the understanding that buyers are not allowed to bother each other or request goods previously purchased. However, instead of complaining to the DeMarco family or holding it against you, I would like to make another private purchase."

Kayn spoke calmly, but Denji showed surprise. He clearly didn't expect Kayn to let this go with only a private purchase, but he would need to hear what he wanted to buy first.

"Okay, what is it you are interested in?" Denji asked.

Kayn then pointed his thumb behind his right shoulder, at Jack. "I would like to purchase my butler here. He's quite competent and will serve me well at home. Considering he's human, probably 19 or so, and trained, I will offer 50 gold coins."

50 gold was actually a bit of a low-ball offer and Kayn knew it, but he didn't think Denji would raise the price after what had just happened.

"50 gold coins it is then." Denji reluctantly spoke. They typically wouldn't sell their butlers or entertainment slaves like they had. In a place like this though, everything had a price, and Kayn just happened to be giving good offers.

"With this purchase, your total for the day comes to 59 platinum coins and 423 gold coins. Would you like to put half down as your deposit or pay the full price as you have previously?"

Kayn waved his hand over the tray Denji had set between them, causing the full payment of coins to be displayed before Denji. "I'll pay the full cost now."

"Thank you for your business, Mr. Hasan. I do apologize for the events of tonight, my hands were a bit tied you see. I will have Jack's beacon delivered shortly. I hope we have some merchandise that will interest you tomorrow as well, until then."

After saying that, Denji swiped up the money tray and exited the room, leaving Kayn, the three girls, and Jack all alone.