Enigma of Sin

The five people in the room waited in silence until the control beacon for Jack was delivered. The young butler was clearly nervous as this was not something he was expecting to happen. He wasn't treated well here, but he also wasn't abused, so he was worried about Kayn's intentions.

Once the beacon was delivered and Kayn placed it into his ring, he finally addressed the young man. "Jack is it? From today onward, your loyalty is to me and only me. No longer will you report anything to the DeMarco family.

"When you are getting food or running errands in the next day or two, you will tell them that things are as expected. I'll tell you more about what your future will look like when we leave from the auction house, do you understand?"

"Yes I do, Master." Jack spoke while giving a small bow.

"Just Sir or Mr. Hasan is fine. Also, please ask the chefs for a serving of everything on the dinner menu and have it delivered as soon as possible." Kayn spoke and shooed Jack off to go get the food. Jack thought his master saying please was weird, but it wasn't a bad sign to be treated with kindness.

The three girls decided to go to the washroom to freshen up in order to keep up the act. Kayn returned to his usual chair and focused his Mana Sense on Maneet's VIP room.

Unfortunately, it seemed that his actions had some unintended consequences as he was clearly taking his anger out on the slaves he was provided for entertainment. Kayn decided to mark him down on the list of people to capture or execute, this filth wasn't going to live past the next few days.

When Jack returned with a cart full of food, Kayn instructed him to sit at the table, which the three women were already waiting at. Each had a towel or blanket wrapped around their body as the skimpy clothes were far too revealing for them, plus one was a mere child. Jack stared in awe as this was not what he was expecting at all.

"Dig in," Kayn spoke as he walked away with a plateful of his own food as he wasn't about to eat in front of them and reveal his face. Jack watched as a curtain of darkness was raised around the chair Kayn sat down in. Repha noticed the stupefied look on his face and decided to help him out a bit.

"Hey, Jack right? Just eat, he's always like that, doesn't want to show us his face even though he owns us now. He has treated us well though, so you can probably expect the same." Jack only nodded his head as he watched the three girls plate food for themselves and start eating.

He had been jealous just hours ago because he knew that the girls were eating the delicious smelling food that was served by the chefs for VIPs, and now here he was, eating the same food. It didn't take long for his mouth to salivate and his hands to move, shoving food into his mouth as quickly as it could, fearing that the food would be taken away from him.

The three girls stared in awe as the young butler was shoving one food item after the other into his mouth, if he wasn't careful, he was going to choke.

Once Kayn finished eating and disabled his spell, he glanced over to see how the other four were doing. The girls had already returned to the bed and were talking amongst themselves, but Jack looked like he was about to go into a food coma. Unfortunately for him, he had to wait a bit before he could sleep.

"Jack, take the empty dishes and trays back to the kitchen and retire to your usual quarters for the night."

Jack snapped out of his daze and promptly stood up before beginning to gather all of the dishes and bowing to Kayn as he left the room. Even though Kayn had fed him good food and subtly commanded him to be loyal to him, he was still being careful.

The girls had done as instructed and removed their towels before getting to the bed in order to keep up some of the act in front of Jack just in case.

The young butler should just assume that Kayn was going to have his fun with the three and didn't want to have an observer in the room with him for the night. Maybe he would assume that feeding them well caused them to be more willing or something of the sort.

…

Time quickly passed as Kayn split his time between the Void Star technique, probing the building, and reading his book. He even cleaned himself up in the washroom to help relax a bit as things would get hectic after the auction ended today.

He had given Jack a silver coin earlier in the day and told him to ask his superiors about buying three sets of clothing. The young butler returned with the clothing, unfortunately they were all in bad condition, but Kayn expected that. He took the clothing and put up a curtain around himself before washing and drying the clothing with magic.

When he was finished, he handed a set to each of the girls and instructed them to wear it, which they were more than happy to finally have clothing that fully covered their bodies.

Jack gave Kayn a funny look as he had seen several people who bought slaves before, and none of them treated their slaves with this much respect and kindness. Kayn noticed this and decided to come up with a small lie for now, "I just don't want them getting sick when we leave here, that's all. Can't have those three falling ill after I spent so much on them now can I?"

Kayn chuckled a bit as Jack quickly realized that he had an odd expression on his face and that Kayn had spoken to him.

After waiting for a bit more time, the auction for the third and last day began. Once again, Kayn wasn't interested in much and didn't end up bidding on anything until what he had been waiting for finally showed up on the docket, a small boy of 8 or 9 years old in a healthy condition.

Kayn once again entered into a bidding war with the other VIP rooms, and in particular Maneet and the person he recognized were bidding. As the room numbers were being announced for slaves during the bidding, Kayn could only assume that Maneet was bidding to try and gouge Kayn of more money for revenge.

Kayn ended up winning the bid for far more than a typical human boy would be sold for, but it didn't matter.

As Denji had stated the day before, the next item was an actual item and not more slaves, leading Kayn to believe that his target was the only one being sold for the day.

Knowing this, he began to get ready so that after the auction ended, he could promptly pay for and retrieve everything he purchased before safely escorting the slaves off the premises so that the others could do their job.

However, just as he was giving instructions to the other four that were with him, his ears caught wind of what was being sold.

"We have two more items tonight folks! The first is a dimensional ring that was previously owned by the famous Harbinger of Lightning of the Carnet Empire. Unfortunately, it is unable to be opened due to a powerful seal placed upon it. However! If you're able to open it, all of the riches inside will be yours as well as having a dimensional ring itself!"

Several whispers could be heard from all around the auditorium wondering about the general's death as well as if they had to worry about a new powerful enemy from the south. Many knew that the Harbinger of Lightning mainly performed missions related to the Inmortuea Empire even in Mancea. So, if a new enemy from there appeared, they would have to start making preparations in the case that they were invaded as well.

"To ease your worries, no the Harbinger was not slain in combat with the Inmortuea Empire of the south. It was discovered that he was a traitor to the Empire, so they executed him. We were able to obtain this ring and one other item as a bundle for quite a bit of money as they had given up on trying to open the ring. 

"Now, back to the auction. The ring is quite elegant with a dark dragon design and purple gems socketed for eyes. It is unknown the actual storage capacities the ring has. Though it is sealed, we anticipate that it is full of items and wealth.

"However, do take note of what I stated previously, even the Carnet Empire's experts were unable to disable the seals placed on this ring, so there is some risk in buying it. Even if you can't open it, it will serve as a fabulous display piece being the ring owned by a famous and powerful rare element user!

"The bidding will begin at 500 platinum coins!" Denji shouted aloud. The price jump was massive in comparison to the rest of the items sold in the auction so far, but how often would a dimensional ring be on offer?

Kayn had tuned out everything after the bidding began. He had to close his eyes just to calm himself down, but his fists were still clenched so hard that his palms were bleeding. Black lightning began to crackle around his fists, but fortunately for the other four in the room, he was able to keep it restrained to his hands.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down even more and circulated the Void Star technique to enter a semi-meditative state for a short time. He opened his eyes not even a minute later. His fists were still clenched, but Extinction lightning was no longer present.

Kayn immediately paid attention to the current price of the ring and placed his own bid, one that would surely be unmatched.

"One emerald coin from a VIP!" Denji shouted out with eyes wide, excitement clearly written all over his face.

The Demarco's didn't expect for the ring to go for much more than 600 or so platinum coins as it was sealed and would practically be impossible to open, but there was always someone among their VIP group that liked to test their luck.

The crowd that was sitting below was in awe. Some of them didn't even know that emerald coins existed and those that did had never heard of anyone purchasing something with them in public.

"Going once!"

"Twice"

"Sold to VIP room 13 for one emerald coin!!"

Kayn sighed as he relaxed a little, he was finally going to be able to get his family's heirloom back. Even if it was sealed, Kayn had a hunch that he would be able to unseal it with no problems. But just as he was starting to calm down and relax, the next words came out of Denji's mouth.

"Don't be too disappointed everyone! If you remember, I said that we purchased the ring as part of a bundle! Now on to our last item! The peak stage 5 mana core of the one and only Harbinger of Lightning!!"

The auction house remained silent as abruptly a massive pressure washed over the entire building and for several kilometers in the surroundings. A tyrannical and violent aura that made everyone who felt it despair and fear for their lives.