"And now! We are presenting the final pair of the night!" The auctioneer declared, raising her voice loud enough to hype the customers.
The grand curtains parted one last time, revealing the final two candidates kneeling under the harsh glare of the spotlight. Heavy iron anti-magic cuffs bound their wrists together, the cold metal clinking with every slight movement.
Nada let out a grunt under her breath, her eyes narrowing as she took in the sight of the cruel gaze on the auctioneer's face. Beside her, Helio shifted his weight, crossing his arms over his chest as a low whistle escaped his lips.
"Well, well," Helio muttered, leaning in slightly toward Nada. "Look at that selfish, betraying woman... She really is the receptionist Fifteen was talking to at the counter."
He then turned his head away. "But looking back, maybe Fifteen is to blame for whatever is happening too. She just left like that after buying Sasha with so much money that she doesn't even have. And they didn't question her? They have every right to have her caught and caged!"
"Shut up for one second, Helio! Aefia knows what she is doing. If I hear you say one more assumption about her, I will tell her to not save you." Nada warned through gritted teeth.
The audience stared at the products on the stage, gaping in surprise and awe.
Unlike the previous pairs who had cowered under the gazes of the aristocrats, these two looked ready to tear the guards apart the second the anti-magic cuffs came off.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" the auctioneer shouted, her voice echoing off the high domed ceiling. "To conclude our unprecedented emergency liquidation, we present our final pair! Possessing remarkable physical resilience and high magical aptitudes! We shall open the bidding at a baseline of five hundred gold pieces! But think carefully... One has healing magic and the other has extremely powerful Ice magic!"
Silence swept over the hall for a brief second before the bidding exploded.
"Eight hundred!"
"One thousand!"
"Fifteen hundred!"
Nada ignored the rising numbers, her gaze drifting casually toward the far corner of the VIP gallery.
The young nobleman—the one who had dropped fifteen thousand gold earlier—was sitting completely still. His top hat was pulled low. But no one could miss the subtle twitch of a smirk at his face.
"So," Helio whispered, following Nada's line of sight. "Why did Fifteen look like she was about to rip his throat apart earlier?"
"Can we just shut up and let the bidding play out?" Nada replied calmly, her tone devoid of worry. "But maybe while at it, I will tell you a bit more about the game."
Her head turned towards him, but her face stayed grim. "It will be much easier if you see it as a boardgame. In this auction, we have four roles. One as the auctioneer, which is already taken. One as the slaves, which is us. One as the customers, which would be the NPCs out here. And the final one... The 'Assassin of the Night'."
Her eyes trailed over the audiences. They narrowed down as soon as she saw how a ripple of distortion occur, and the entire place froze over.
"Did everything just... Pause?" Helio blinked. Nada only nodded.
"Now let us get back to where I was. As always, everyone has a role and an objective to accomplish. The auctioneer wants the sales to go normally, so their objective is to find out and avoid any sort of damage, harm or manipulation from happening. The customers are here for the slaves, and they are usually seen as the neutral group.
"However, among the customers, stand another position. One person among them act as the hidden detective, and their objective, is to look out for suspicious activities and contribute to help catch the 'Assassin of the Night'. And then we have that role.
"The objective is simply to kill the auctioneer and the customers to take over the sales and the products—causing the entire auction house to go down. For the slaves... The main goal is to take freedom before the sales end, and take revenge against the auctioneer and the auction house. If you want to team up with the assassin, you are free to do so.
"Those are the roles. Now, we have the rules. Since this is a cardless and boardless game in the novel, you have free will to converse normally—but with care for your words and actions. Because this game was created to introduce indefinte endings to the players, you can choose what will happen, what move you want to pull, and how you want to play out the scene. You don't know who wins at the end, but the process in between is the actual thrill."
"So... Like murder-mystery?" Helio asked, his brows furrowing.
"Something like that. Although, the only thing here... In each round, their is a new rule. In the novel where the character was just playing the 'myth' ending of the game, they said that we needed to team up with one group. Four can be divided by two, that is why. And apparently—in this round—it seems like the auctioneer has chosen to team up with the 'detective'."
"And that already leads us to siding with the assassin."
"Well? What did you expect?"
"But how are you certain that we really are playing the 'myth' part of the game? It could be so that the plot changed to another unknown round?"
Nada let out a sigh through her nose. "I am not trying to say you are just assuming things. However, in the that setting only will you ever find out that the slave teamed with the assassin and the detective... Isn't really a detective."
Helio's eyes widened.
"That nobleman who had been looking at Aefia all this time? He was the with the detective role. And he also happened to use dark magic, which Fia had warned me about with a hand sign before leaving."
"But what if it was just the shadow element—"
"Then tell me how immense elemental magic can deflect the dark magic in a tap?" She turned her head to Helio.
"Wait..." Helio stared at her, the pieces slowly clicking into place behind his eyes. "If the detective is using dark magic, and elemental magic blew it away... then he is abusing a role perk? Or he isn't playing by the board's rules at all?"
"He is corrupt," Nada said flatly. "In the 'myth' route, the detective isn't working for justice. That guy is a dirty cop using the auctioneer's protection to buy the most powerful products and use them to grown his own powers. And when someone has enough magic, their sixth sense to detect more powerful magic gets heightened. That's why he was lurking around Aefia—he realized someone among the customers is even more powerful and if he can corner and kill her once, he didn't even need to stay associated with this auction house anymore."
She gestured toward the frozen stage, where the auctioneer stood locked mid-sentence, mouth wide, arm raised over the podium.
"And besides, remember that Fia had already known who the auctioneer was? And she even told us in the open about it?" Nada continued, a small, sly smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "She deliberately did so to catch the detective's ears and lure him at her to catch the hidden role. It would make things easier since humans have a tendency to spit out sometimes even secrets if they are excited and forced enough."
"And... How?" His eyebrows twitched.
"Because it gave the detective a hope that he had caught the assassin, got a priced asset and also didn't need to get involved with the auctioneer in this round. In his mind, he was thinking all this was a win for him."
Helio scratched his head, looking back toward the frozen gallery where the young nobleman sat paralyzed in time. "Alright alright, I get it. However, I still can't seem to understand how Aefia is powerful. Except for the very first dungoen where she used her fire element—and maybe a bit of strength-push—she hasn't displayed any more of her powers."
"Exactly..."
"So..."
"So you know, that you know nothing about the 'Instincts' element that she carries. And even if she ever did show-off her powers, no one would believe she used it. They would think a clone or a person in her disguise did it."
He immediately shut his mouth, then looked away. "I get it. But what now? This place looks frozen in time."
Instantly, the place returned back it's original timeline. The auctioneer moved again.
"—Five thousand gold!" She screamed into her microphone, her voice resuming at full, jarring volume as the frozen veil shattered into dust.
"Ten thousand gold," he projected, his voice carrying across the entire hall. "For the final set."
The venue fell completely quiet.
"Seriously...?" Nada scoffed.
The auctioneer's hands trembled with sheer delight as she raised her gavel high into the air. "Ten thousand gold going once! Ten thousand gold going twice! ...Sold! To the esteemed gentleman in the upper gallery—!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Gunshots echoed form every corner of the room.
The crowd gasped as one of the customers fell dead onto the ground. Black blood pooling beneath where the bullet pierced their head.
"What is going on?!" The auctioneer shouted in disbelieve.
Helio's eyes widened at the sight. "The Assassin..."
Alongside that, the crowd was already downstairs, trying their best to get up and leave—but the doors were jammed shut. Some shouted and screamed for help.
The auctioneer's eyes flew up to the gallery above. "This isn't... Fair!"
She dropped her microphone and hammer, stomping towards the centre of the stage.
"You filthy assassin! Show yourself! You dare destroy my domain?!" She shouted, her raw voice ringing out with a cruel volume as it echoed back and forth between the four walls of the room.
The sound of reloading came from somewhere.
Her eyes drifted that way.
"Now... Helio... Watch what happens. This is the big deal." Nada muttered, a smirk surfacing on her face.
Thump!
"Pfft. What a beautiful chaos I created." A familiar voice rang out from somewhere as a figure hoped down from the high-railing to the path leading up the stage.
A shotgun slowly came into view. The aristocratic hat, trench coat, heels, and that clean hairstyle were gone.
Aefia casually rested the long, heavy steel barrel over her shoulder, her thumb flicking the safety off with a sharp, distinct click. The scent of gunpowder and copper drifted through the air, mixing with the panic of the trapped crowd.
"I am hoping your conversation was done though..." Her eyes flew to where Nada and Helio stay kneeling. Her hand resting unimpressedly at her hip.
Helio honestly felt like he wanted to just return to Earth instead. Too much is happening right now... And I understand nothing.
The auctioneer gritted her teeth so hard, a muscle visibly twitched. "You!"
"Me?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Kill those customers first..."
Aefia's eyes widened in surprise. Though without turning, she did fire shots at them. When she ran out of bullets with the shotgun, she pulled out her reloaded pistol with her left hand.
"Done..." She said after most of the NPCs were dead.
"..." The lady looked down at her. "Open your mask."
She tilted her head slightly to the side. "Why?"
"Just do it."
"Will you do it if I do it?"
"...Yes."
Aefia stayed still for two whole seconds, then dropped the empty shotgun to the floor and reached her hand up to her sheep mask. With a flick of her wrist, it crumpled into dust and collected in front of her.
She looked up with her bare face. "Happy now?"
The auctioneer smirked. "That is a crime... You knew that."
Aefia let out an amused chuckle. "Same goes to you, dear auctioneer."
"I was expecting you would say that. That is why I had you kill those customers."
"I wanted to do so anyways. This isn't my world though."
"Hah... I knew when you approached me so oddly. Everyone round brings surprises. This one brought the biggest surprise..."
The auctioneer slowly brought her hand up to her mask.
"I really want to know... In this round... What the plot would go like."
*********************
First draft: 13.11.2025
Rewritten: 04.10.2026