Ero-Game: Power and Sword

There were quite a few people in the waiting room. Old people mostly, holding onto some antique or another. An old guy with a teapot looked especially  nervous, trying to protect it from the people’s eyes. I took a look at  it with [look-a-look] and shook my head. He had no reason to be nervous;  it wasn’t worth much.
We got a number from the greeter and took a seat.
I’d decided to sell the one with the charm value of 157. I was restless as more and more people went into the rooms and came out disappointed. I felt like maybe I should’ve bought a case for it or something and made it more presentable. Right now, it was just in my pocket.

“What are we selling?” Nikola asked me again.
I’d been sidestepping that question for a while now. At this point, I was just too lazy to answer her. “You’ll learn about it soon enough. Just wait.” I said.
“Hmm.” She didn’t like it. She slouched and looked around at the other people in the waiting room. “Oh, that looks like a nice sword.” She  said, looking at one of the people in the waiting room.
The person who heard it perked up their ears and smiled.
I looked at it with [look-a-look]. “Yeah.” It was certainly better than the teapot. The person heard me and nodded. I ignored it.
“What do you think about those?” Nikola pointed at a pair of nunchucks.
I wanted to slap her hand and tell her not to point! Did her parents not  teach her any manners at all!? I pulled on her floppy ear and whispered into it, “Don’t point.”
“A a a. Don’t pull. Don’t pull. Okay, I’ll stop.” She begged.
I let go of her. “Just sit still.” I was starting to wonder how Dixon and Woodie could manage to live with her.
She soothed her ear and said, “That hurt.”
“Good,” I told her.
“I wish Garth was here.” She grumbled and crossed her arms. “Or Dixon or Woodie…”
“Yeah, yeah,” I replied. It was like dealing with a child. No wonder she came to the human queendom with nothing; she’s an idiot.

It took them a few hours to get to us, but eventually, we were ushered into an appraiser’s office.
We sat down on the chairs.
The appraiser saw that we had nothing in our hands and asked, “How can I help you, ladies, today?”
I was looking around and remembering the layout from the game that, for a second, I forgot why I was here. “Oh, right. Hahaha.” I chuckled at my own silliness, reached in my blazer pocket, took out The Bracelet of  Eros, and handed it to the appraiser. “We’d like to auction this.” I had complete trust in the capital’s auction house. It had a flawless reputation in this world and the game. If you’re below level 50 and  wanted to auction anything, your safest bet was to use this auction  house. It’s not that other auction houses were bad. This one just went above and beyond. They completely protected your anonymity and the product till it was delivered to the buyer. No other auction house on this continent can boast of having delivered a 100% of their products to the buyer. Or of never having leaked the seller’s identity to the public. It’s run by an S-rank, after all.
Of course, they also charged you a 40% commission. Which isn’t that bad compared to some other ones.
Of course, if your level is high enough and you didn’t care about being  exposed, you could always go to a smaller auction house, leverage your  power, and take all or almost all of the profits. And if you’re of an even higher level, an S-rank, for example, you could just start your own  auction house… The laws of the continent mean less and less the higher  you go. That’s the way of the world.
The appraiser put the bracelet under her big magnifying glass and  studied it closely. She didn’t have [look-a-look] like me but had a more  limited skill. What surprised me was the amount of time she took. It  never took this long in the game. We had to sit there for half an hour  while she fiddled with the bracelet.
“J, can you go get Lusi.” The appraiser said to the assistant standing by the door after inspecting the bracelet for 30 minutes.
“Oh.” The assistant was surprised. But he thought something was up when  she’d taken so long with the inspection. “Right away, miss.” The  assistant ran out the door.
“What’s going on?” Nikola asked, getting bored of sitting.
“It’s nothing, madams. I’m just going to have the manager look at it.” The appraiser was being a lot more respectful now.

“Why? Is there some problem?” Nikola asked.
“No. Not at all. I just need a second opinion.”
“Hmm.” Nikola huffed.

An elegant lady with rimless glasses came into the room. Her suit was immaculate, and her hair was in a bun.
“What’s the matter, Nor.” The manager gave us a passing smile and went to her desk. “Why did you call me for?”
“Take a look at this.” She handed her the bracelet.
“Hmm. [item lookup].” She used a skill I recognized. It was better than  [look-a-look] with inanimate objects but was useless on living things.
“What do you think?” The appraiser asked, “I got the sense it has 100+ charm, but that’s…”
“It has 150+ charm.” The manager confirmed.
“Oh.”
The manager then turned to us with a smile and said, “Would you like to come to my office.”
“Sure,” I said.

At her office, she gave us some tea and snacks and spoke to us with a smile.
“What you have here is a Rare rank item. Almost a World rank item.” She said. “J, can you bring it a case.”
“Yes.” He ran out the door.
“World rank!?” Nikola was shocked. I wished she wouldn’t express it so loudly.
I nodded. I was glad she understood the value of the item. Though I knew they would.
“I’m hoping you can auction it before the end of the month,” I said.
Her expression was one of hesitance. “That’s… I… The end of the month is less than a week.”
I nodded. Yeah, I wanted to sell it before we stepped into the dungeon, but Otto and all those other distractions popped up in the way.
“That won’t be good.” She warned. “It’s best to give it at least two weeks. We’ll have the advertisements go out tomorrow. Giving it at least  two weeks will spread the news wider and draw in more fis- people.”
“Ah, but I’m planning on leaving the capital by the end of the month,” I said.
“That’s not good. An item like this needs more exposure.” Lusi, the manager, stroked her chin and thought about it. I understood what she  meant, a week was too little of a time, but I wanted to keep to my  schedule. “The auction house could buy it from you.”
“For how much?” I asked.
“Our business motto has always been one of honesty as the founder laid  out, so I won’t lie to you.” She said, looking over at the portrait of  the S-rank hanging in her office. “We’ll only be able to buy the product  from you at our starting price.” The moment she said starting price, I was already ready to reject it, but I let her finish her thought. “Which for an item like this would be 5 platinum.”
“5 platinum!” Nikola again burst out in surprise. Thankfully, the manager realized who was the boss around here and ignored her just as  much as I did.
“That won’t do.” I shook my head.
The manager smiled. “I thought as much. Wherever you’re moving to, we can send you the profits if you provide us with an address. Our group has a good reputation of always delivering.”
“No, it’s fine.” I changed my mind. “We’ll stay till the product is sold.” I knew this would happen. I had a terrible feeling this would  happen. I can only accept it.

“Great.” The manager was happy to hear it. I smiled wryly. “Then we’ll put out the advertisements, and in two weeks, we’ll have the auction. We’ll prepare one of the VIP rooms for you.”
“Thanks.”
“Hahaha.” She laughed joyfully. “Think nothing of it. Where are you staying right now?” She asked.
“Manger, I got the case.” The assistant came into the room holding a jewelry box in his hand.
“Ah, good.” She grabbed the box from him and put The Bracelet of Eros in it. It looked much better and more presentable in the velvet box. The  jewelry box alone looked around one gold. It’s what you’d expect from a  high-class auction house.
“I’m sorry, you were just about to tell me where you were staying.” The manager turned her attention back to us.
“No problem.” I smiled and told her the inn’s address.
And she ordered the assistant to get us a carriage. “J, get one of our carriages to take them back. They’re our honorable guests.”
“Yes.” He answered and ran out of the room.
“He’s very… responsive.”
“J?” The manager asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Hm. Never thought about it.”
I smiled. I wished Garth was here to take some notes.

***

I’ve  been listening to Nikola mumble incoherently for a while now. The assistant, J, led us through the back of the auction house to one of their carriages.
“Hey, Rony,” J woke up the carriage driver, who was taking a nap.
“Ah a! I wasn’t sleeping.” She came alive.
J rolled his eyes. “I don’t care. Take these guys to their inn.”
“Ah, okay.” The driver said.
I gave the driver our address and got in the carriage.

As soon  as the carriage door closed and it was only the two of us in the carriage, Nikola burst, “150+ charm! Why would you sell it! And! And! 5  platinum! Oh god, we’re rich. But the bracelet, we could’ve… We could’ve shared. Ah, the men, why would you sell it! Goddammit!” She pulled at  her ears and hair. Then she sighed and said, “Did you sell it because  you think it’s wrong? It’s not wrong! It’s good!” She yelled at me.
“Stop yelling,” I said. She didn’t know that I had more and could make  more. I was annoyed, but at the same time, I was kind of enjoying her  stupid reactions.
“Increasing your charm is good. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s not like the Toad potions.” Toad potions are a general term for all kinds of drugs that hypnotize and affect men in a certain way. Mainly inducing unwanted erections. But there’s a whole range of them, and many have  other additional effects as well.
“I didn’t sell it because I thought it was wrong to use it,” I told her.
“Then why!?” She yelled again. “Is it the money!? That… 5 platinum is a  lot… Do we need the money? We can adventure, we can explore more  dungeons. When Garth sells those cores, we’re bound to make a lot. No?” I  didn’t answer her. Though she was bringing up a good point about the  ethics of it. It’s a tough line to draw in a world with magic like this  one. It’s a strange line too. Being charming through your body, clothes,  mannerisms, eloquence, etc., is never force. But in a world with magic,  the line becomes blurry. The Bracelet of Eros falls somewhere on that  blurry line where some people oppose it and praise it. For the most  part, people of this world didn’t consider results achieved through  increasing one’s own charm to be force or rape. But it also depended on  how the charm values were gained and by how much. Clearly, Nikola was  like the majority of the people in this world who thought increasing one’s charm through magic was the same as increasing it through normal  means. It’s understandable, given it’s hard to distinguish between  normal and magic in this world. It was somewhat easier for me, who had  memories of Earth. “5 platinum is a lot. I can understand it, but I  can’t… accept it. Why?” She was still going on about it. I ignored her and let her lament.

***

When we reached the inn, she was still lamenting.
As we climbed the stairs up to our rooms, she sulked. But as we reached  the front of my door, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into my room, “Come on.”
“What is it?” She asked, sulking. “I don’t feel like it right now.” She  said, thinking I’d drag her to the bed. Though despite her words, she  didn’t resist much and came along as I pulled.
I pulled her past the bed and to my desk. Opening the drawer, I took out an Ero bracelet and put it in her hand. “Don’t show it off. Use it  discreetly.” I gave her the one with 169 charm. I was planning to use  the one with 170 myself.
“This.” Her eyes lit up, and her mouth hung open. “You have more. How?  Wait, where did you get these?” Finally, she was asking an important question. The auction house manager hadn’t asked me about its origin  because of their policies. They’ll do a background check on me  themselves to ensure it wasn’t stolen and that I wasn’t a criminal or something, but that’s where their check will end. They won’t dig too deeply into it since it went against their principles. It wasn’t a universal principle of auction houses. It was simply the way of the  capital’s auction house.
There was no point in hiding its origin from Nikola. “You need to keep  this a secret.” I was very serious in my tone. “But I can make them.”
“You can make them…” She repeated my words and became speechless.