Cursed Heroine

Chapter 68: Regrets of the ‘anything’ reward

When we got home, I went straight up to the bed and tucked Scarlet in for her nap. I also topped off my energy reserves since she would easily recover them in her sleep. Since I missed my normal morning cultivation, I went ahead and did my attribute cultivation for the next couple hours.

By the time that Scarlet woke up, the auction was soon to start. We ate an early dinner and hailed a carriage. The carriage took us into the noble district much easier than I had thought. We stopped at the entrance, a guard looked into the carriage while mindlessly asking for a pass. Then, he just gawked at me for a minute. I had to clear my throat to bring him back from wherever and tried to hand him my invitation for the auction. Which he ignored completely as his face got flushed. He flusterly closed the door and told the driver to move on.

I can’t help but to smirk a little, even if I don’t particularly like men. Having a beautiful appearance is useful. Think I could just waltz right into the palace? Hehe...

Here I was with my prewritten note, detailing my reasons why the auction invitation was sufficient as a pass. The excuse being: since the auction house is owned by a noble and I was invited, it was the same as being invited by a noble. All my effort went to waste since the guard didn’t even bother to check.

The attendant at the auction led us up to the second floor when he saw our pass. It should be noted that the first floor seemed to be wealthy merchants, while the second was likely for nobles. I started to feel a little uneasy. Impersonating a noble is usually a crime, no matter you go. The box he led us to ended up not being empty. That lecherous manager from earlier was inside. Fortunately, he wasn’t alone. His sister, whose name is Penelope Grant, was here. As well his second brother named Arthur. Arthur is much more reserved than his silkpants brother.

Penelope wasn’t an outstanding beauty, but she had her own charms. She quickly made friends with Scarlet and chatted with the two of us. It didn’t take more than a moment for her to notice that I was writing instead of speaking. Which led to an explanation about my mute curse, something the dunce had failed to notice at all up till now.

We girls sat together with Penelope protecting us, much to the chagrin of George. Yea, I know the dunce’s name now. He’s borderline being added to the list. Arthur is okay though. According to his sister, he’s a happily married man. Thanks to being seated with the owners, we got to look at the list of items being auctioned. It even included illustrations and starting bids.

“I want that dollhouse!”~Scarlet

“I don’t think I have enough crystals to buy it.”~me

“You have to buy me that dollhouse! That’s an order!”~Scarlet

I cringed a little. Scarlet had become somewhat of a tyrant after becoming small. She had given me more orders today than I had received since becoming her servant. Having little choice, I asked if the auction house would buy precious stones. The answer was yes and one of the appraisers was called in to make the exchange. I pulled out a chest of smaller gems from my inventory and traded them for a fortune in crystals. Arthur had a serious expression on his face when the total was announced.

“Why so serious?”~me(note)

“You just exchange for about one third of the auction house’s liquid assets.”~Arthur

“Oh. Meh, I have more anyways. Pena, said that you were here to buy a gift for your wife? Maybe one of the gems I have of higher quality would do? Maybe one that matches her eyes?”~me(note)

His mouth twitched at the first part, but he was intrigued by the latter portion of my note. I pulled out a few of the more valuable gems and he selected one to buy. Pena also claimed one for herself, which Arthur paid for. Such a good brother! As for why I’m calling her Pena now? Us girls had become fast friends and taken to calling each other by nicknames. She even gave me one of her noble tokens meant for guests so we could visit her in the future.

“George has become weirdly quiet?”~me(note to Pena)

“He’s also sweating. He probably just realized that you are not an easy lay. My brother may be a lech, but even he is not stupid enough to offend someone who can easily take out so much wealth.”~Pena

Scarlet ended up winning the dollhouse without much trouble. For strategic reasons, I had her stand by the railing and raise the paddle to bid for it. She would cutely glare at anyone who bid against her which garnered her much support from the other patrons. Some even started chastising the other bidders until they gave up. Loli power for the win!

*chuckles* “You’re quite evil. Though, your strategy mainly worked because the item being auctioned was too fitting.”~Pena

“That, and cuteness is justice!”~me(note)

The attendant quickly brought the purchase to us and I handed over the payment. Not a small sum by any means. Even though it seems like a children’s toy with a name like dollhouse, it’s still a genuine dungeon item. I’m somewhat eager to get it home and unlock its secrets.

[Dollhouse]
{Currently locked - unlock: 1000 full divine crystals-stage 1}
Effects: ?

Wow! The description I had read only said it needed divine crystals to unlock. This high of a requirement will probably end up being a really good item though. I also bought a few more items for us. Some effect transfer crystals, a few upgrade crystals, a tamer skill crystal, several snow lotus cores and a necklace that is actually the rarely seen living armor monster.

Now that I have some snow lotus cores, I only lack some virgin succubus flow in order to mix up some more beauty potions. I’m thinking to have Scarlet take the living armor monster as her first tamed familiar once she uses the tamer skill crystal. They have the traits: assimilate and remodel. The first allows them to, well, assimilate other armor pieces and accessories to gain the ability to produce the material it consists of and any of the effects when using the second trait. Remodel allows the creation of armor and accessories by the monster.

Scarlet saw the necklace with the big red gem on it and wanted to wear it since it was pretty. I managed to talk her down with a promise that she could wear it tomorrow after she learned the tamer skill. Thankfully, she finally caved when I told her it would make her look funny and mismatched with her current outfit.

Living armors can be extremely dangerous if worn before taming. Their core is that big gem. Its outer shell is a little tough, but it’s fleshy underneath. Kind of like a slime’s core. First, it will bind the wearer by making armor around them so that they can’t move. Then it will send out veiny tendrils from the core into the person to siphon off energy and nutrients, eventually taking over the nervous system and turning them into the monster’s puppet-like host. Only when it is tamed will it not try to control the host.

When the auction was over, I used shadowmeld to return us to our carriage. Several eyes had been watching me with ill intent by the time the auction was over. Scarlet called out for the driver to return us home and although he was surprised by our sudden appearance, he complied. We arrived home safely and went to bed. No fun time tonight, it just seemed wrong with her current mentality.

The next morning, we got up at the normal time and ate breakfast. I gave Scarlet another loli-pop right after so that the effect would continue until afternoon on Darkday. She played with the dollhouse after that for a little bit while I did the morning chores. I’d wait a bit to unlock it since I don’t currently have that many divine crystals.

When she got bored, she started demanding more candy. I couldn’t help but sweat a bit. All I had for candy at the moment were the loli-pops. If I gave them to her now, she would eat all of them. Fortunately, I was able to quickly bake up some cookies to satisfy her. We even had a little tea party together with her bear.

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME!”~Scarlet

Just after lunch, the mental effect wore off and I got zapped by the core executor...a lot!

I ended up being saved by Thessa and Az’s surprise visit. Az just jaw dropped near the door, but Thessa walked right in and swept Scarlet up into her arms. Then she proceeded to cuddle with her and exclaim about her cuteness. It should be understood that Scarlet is currently wearing the princess outfit.

“Why? No, how?”~Az

“Loli-pop. It’s a new dungeon item recently discovered.”~me(note)

I then take out the loli-pops to show them as I explain further.

“Okay, that explains how. Now, why?”~Az

“Because, like this, she’s really CUTE!”~Thessa

Thessa answered before me, very accurately I might add. I got inspired to share all about how cute she had been for the last day. Quickly writing everything down onto several pages, I then gave it over to Az to read aloud as I knew that Scarlet would quickly stop me if I tried to share this slowly. This sly trick caused Scarlet to blush worthy of her namesake while glaring at me. It also sent me back into my shock therapy session that had been interrupted by the sudden visit. I spent the next while on the floor trying to decide whether I hurt more from the shocks or from the side splitting laughter.