Forgotten Juliet

* * *

The next morning.

Juliet was alone at the entrance to the auction house.

Eshel and Teo had managed to secure admission tickets, but both were busy with their own affairs so Juliet had to tour alone.

As she handed over her ticket and was about to enter, a man dressed in a purple suit blocked Juliet’s path.

“Excuse me, Lady. Do you happen to have something to prove your identity?”

Proof of identity?

Juliet cocked her head in confusion.

An identity card at an illegal auction?

Why would they need that?

Especially since she didn’t need any identification to enter Carcassonne thanks to the Marigold Medal, she had left ‘Lillian Seneca’s’ ID card behind.

Juliet slowly blinked her eyes.

“I don’t have it….”

Upon hearing this, the man in the purple suit looked Juliet up and down. He seemed to be guessing her identity by her dress.

‘I wondered if she might be of high status because of her eye-catching looks.’

It was obvious without even having to look. A young lady who came to the underground auction house without any attendants. She must be a naive country bumpkin who loves to have fun or a pampered child of some noble.

The auction house’s middle manager, Merat, licked his lips in his mind.

He had been in this line of work for quite a while, and his specialty was distinguishing the small fry.

Due to the nature of underground auctions, all sorts of people who seemed flashy but lacked substance would flock in, so Merat took pride in his skills.

Just like this lady in front of him.

Her face was half-and-half, but her outfit was plain. And a young woman without an escort? There was nothing more to see. It meant that there wasn’t much to extort money from.

Merat snickered inwardly as he took the ticket envelope that Juliet held out to him.

However, he didn’t even bother to open it, and pretended to check the guest list seriously.

“Let’s see… Oh dear. What to do, Lady? There aren’t many seats left today. What will you do?”

Juliet cocked her head.

“But I brought a ticket?”

“The ticket is just an admission ticket. Today’s auction items are so big… Ahem!”

At this, Juliet, who had been slowly blinking her eyes, smiled as if she understood.

“Will this do?”

Juliet flicked a silver coin with her finger.

Pinggg,

The silver coin, skillfully tossed, landed on the guest list.

“Oh my, what’s this… Ahem!”

The silver coin disappeared into Merat’s pocket.

Juliet was smiling brightly, but Merat, distracted by the silver coin, didn’t notice.

“You can go to section 3 on the first floor, Lady. I’ll even guide you to a table seat!”

But that was a blatant lie. Section 3 was the worst seat in the auction house.

“Come this way.”

A servant boy guided Juliet inside the auction house. Merat watched her walk away with a content smile. His face showed no trace of guilt.

There is only one rule in this underground auction house.

“Fools are always the easiest to deceive.”

Merat hummed a tune to himself, thinking that his luck was good from the start of the day.

“People really should use their heads.”

Unknowingly making the worst mistake.

* * *

Juliet was sipping a drink and looking around with a bit of amusement.

The inside of the auction house was like a luxury opera house. Red banners and soft lighting created a secretive but upscale atmosphere.

Although the view was blocked by the drapes, there were separate seats on the 2nd and 3rd floors.

It was like the box seats at the opera house.

The people sitting in the box seats were all dressed in fancy clothes. However, some were wearing masks, perhaps to avoid revealing their status.

Meanwhile, the first floor where Juliet was seated resembled a restaurant with several round tables gathered together.

The table she was guided to was in the corner, but Juliet didn’t really mind.

‘I didn’t expect Teo to get a proper entrance permit in the first place.’

In fact, it was just that Merat hadn’t properly checked the entrance permit and arbitrarily decided to give her a corner seat.

While considering how unfair Teo would feel if he knew about this, Juliet carefully looked around the area.

The auction method was simple. When an item came up on stage, the spectators would call out the auction price in turn.

Just then, the auctioneer introduced the next item to be auctioned.

“The next item is… the Soul Stone!”

What?

Juliet quickly raised her head.

The Soul Stone is an all-purpose item that allows people without divine power to use power. Just like how a magic stone allows people without any magic power to use magic.

The only downside was that it was very rare and expensive, so she didn’t expect to find it here.

Juliet, who raised her head on a whim, was quickly disappointed.

The item that came up on the stage was just a shiny white bead the size of an adult’s fist.

‘Of course.’

That was obviously a scam.

It seemed to take advantage of the fact that few people could recognize a Soul Stone.

The reason why Soul Stones are so rare and expensive is because they are derived from the remains of saints or priests with high divine power who have accumulated virtue.

Moreover, it was almost impossible to obtain them as they are strictly managed by the temples.

It was not the kind of item that would appear in the black market in the first place.

Not many people seemed to catch on that the Soul Stone was not genuine, as there were few bids.

The turn moved quickly. As she was observing the next items up for auction, she got a rough idea of the system.

Although there were hardly any items that were obviously fake like the first Soul Stone, about three out of ten magic tools were either fakes or subpar.

‘What about other relics?’

Juliet took a quick look at the glass piece she was holding.

‘If I use this, I can find out,’ the relic she had taken from the temple of Lobell reflected light when it detected divine power.

Soon, Juliet lost interest and stood up from her seat. She had waited to see if there might be a monster egg, but it seemed like those were in a different auction.

‘I should let Grandpa know.’

Juliet got up to leave the auction house and head home.

However, she seemed to have lost her way and ended up exiting through a side door instead of the entrance she had used to come in.

‘Huh?’

While wandering a bit, Juliet discovered a suspicious warehouse.

When she peeked inside, she could clearly tell it was Merat’s warehouse from the auction house.

The lock was loosely hung, so she sneaked in and looked around, discovering an astonishing sight.

The items in the warehouse were identical items in pairs.

‘Ah, so that’s how it was.’

When Juliet shined the mirror piece she was holding on two pieces of pottery at the same time, she understood the full story.

One reflected the light unique to relics possessing divine power, while the other didn’t reflect any light at all.

One was genuine, and the other was a fake made to look exactly the same on the outside.

‘So, not only do they sell fakes at the auction house, they also show the real thing and give out the replica when the item is handed over? And then they sell the real thing again somewhere using the same method?’

It was a typical and cheap scam.

‘But the best way to catch this kind of thing is to catch them in the act…’

If she reported it without preparation, they could deny it, and they could also sneak away the evidence.

As Juliet quietly exited the warehouse, she happened to spot a familiar red head fiddling around between the auction house buildings.

“Teo!”