Chapter 57: The Encounter with Old Friends and Duo Duo’s Background

Stepping onto the somewhat cramped spatial teleportation array and signaling to the white-winged girl that they were ready, the other party waved back with a smile and pressed a spot on the wall.

Swish.

A glimmer of silver light flickered around them, and a subtle feeling of weightlessness enveloped the three.

Vilyric knew that this was indeed the sensation of spatial teleportation; to be precise, it should be called spatial jump.

Spatial jump differs significantly from the types of crossing between main worlds and smaller environments or mirror worlds found in the royal dungeons of the United Kingdom.

Describing it gets a bit complicated.

Simply put, if we compare the latter to a living creature moving through one passage to arrive in another world, the spatial jump happening here operates in an area akin to an interstice, allowing for logic-defying quick movement.

Just like the invisible spatial portal Vilyric set up next to Liliya’s chamber in the City of Courage, its principle is spatial jump, not the portal where demons descend from another realm, which undoubtedly is space crossing technology.

There are many nuances and theories involved, and Vilyric had only heard about them from a friend proficient in spatial magic in the game.

She remembered that the Priestess had jokingly remarked during a chat that it seemed just like game mechanics, yet Vilyric spoke of it as if it were real.

I wonder how she’s doing now…

The time required for short-distance spatial jumps is minimal; it took only a fleeting moment for that enveloping silver glow and feeling of weightlessness to gradually dissipate, and they stood firmly in another room.

Vilyric sensed her Soul Power slightly, maintaining a disturbance-free range to probe their surroundings.

It felt like they were still within Spris City, and not far from the location of the “Fragrant Chamber” storefront.

However, it seemed they were underground, or more accurately, it would be better to say inside the Floating Island?

In any case, the teleportation array worked properly, delivering them to an auction-related location.

Even though Philena had previously indicated that her investigation revealed the “Fragrant Chamber” was backed by official forces from the Kingdom of Azure, making it trustworthy, Vilyric was not about to lower her guard.

Auctions are notorious for backdoor dealings; regardless of whether the intel Philena received was completely accurate, even if this was indeed an official auction, staying prepared to retreat while on someone else’s turf is crucial.

In the game, Vilyric had suffered many times from being too trusting, which made her dislike interactions with troublesome people.

In the room, there was already another Winged girl waiting, and she was also a white-winged individual.

She wore a light blue off-shoulder dress suitable for attendants, with long white hair tied into twin ponytails split to the sides, sporting leather boots that revealed part of her smooth, fair calves, complemented by pure white silk gloves. The bare, rounded shoulders slightly concealed an alluring neckline.

It felt as if dipping her head a bit lower would reveal a full, white hemisphere.

This outfit rather perfectly blended allure with grace, and paired with the white-winged girl’s delicate and refined features, it was enough to make any fledgling blush and their hearts race.

Even Vilyric, being a woman herself, couldn’t help but steal a few more glances; if it weren’t for the girl effectively covering all key areas, she would genuinely wonder if she had stumbled into some strange establishment.

The white-winged girl gently folded her wings, performing a unique greeting from the culture of the Kingdom of Azure.

“Welcome, esteemed guests. I am Duo Duo, the attendant and guide of the ‘Fragrant Auction.’ I’ll be assisting you throughout tonight’s auction, and please feel free to approach me with any needs.”

Duo Duo—clearly a nickname or alias—but Vilyric and the others tacitly chose not to inquire further; there’s no need to fuss over real names or aliases, as long as they have something to call her.

“Alright, so what procedure do we follow now?”

“Procedure?”

The white-winged girl, self-named Duo Duo, paused for a moment before bursting into laughter.

“It seems you three are first-time visitors to the Fragrant Auction. Here, we don’t require any procedures, nor do we have membership registrations or grading rules. Once it begins, you can directly participate in the auction.”

“Huh?”

To be honest, the level of informality caught the Priestess off-guard.

Typically, large auction houses adopt various procedures to attract and retain wealthy clients by accumulating transaction amounts for tiered memberships, offering discounts on transaction fees, or even providing special services.

This “Fragrant Auction” is indeed a peculiar setup.

But on second thought, it’s true that normal auctions wouldn’t do something as bizarre as using a restaurant as a cover, randomly distributing invitations, as if afraid customers would show up in droves.

Duo Duo smiled slightly.

“It’s quite understandable that you don’t grasp this. While we do hold auctions, at the core, it’s merely a way for a certain individual of importance to dispose of items they don’t understand or need in exchange for funds. Let’s chat while we walk, shall we?”

Exchanging looks with Philena, who wasn’t entirely aligned with them, Vilyric nodded gently.

“Sure.”

So, Duo Duo led the way and began explaining to the three.

“According to the individual we serve, treasures are easy to obtain, but worthy recipients are hard to find. Good items shouldn’t be hoarded solely by the wealthy and powerful. That’s why we hold selling events here on Spris Island, a convergence of travelers from around the world, at irregular intervals.”

“Converting unused materials into operational funds is indeed one of our goals, but it’s not something we feel we *must* do. That’s why our rules are quite relaxed and informal. I hope you can understand this?”

“Well… that seems about right.”

To sum it up, it’s just selling for fun.

On one hand, Duo Duo was explaining the rules and reasoning behind the Fragrant Auction to the newcomers, while on the other hand, she was subtly reminding them that there’s deep backing here, individuals capable of casually putting these treasures up for sale, and it would be best not to do anything troublesome for both sides.

After all, the three of them had displayed signs of being newcomers and looked quite human, and humans are a race known for causing trouble.

But this was merely a “premature clarification” with no malice intended, or any sign of dissatisfaction from Duo Duo towards them, hence Vilyric and Philena didn’t comment.

As for the “individual” Duo Duo mentioned, the “person they serve,” who could that possibly be…

Given that this person could entice noble white-winged individuals to willingly act as attendants, their identity would surely be easy to guess, wouldn’t it?

   

---