Bindings of Pleasure Ch. 30

Chapter 30: The auction

Minutes passed and the host monologue went on without end. It was not hard to understand he liked the sound of his own voice. Therefore, guests started to protest ignoring etiquette. Under the hostile crowd's protest, the host which still had not spoken his name pled for calm to return, yet his pompous attitude irritated the nobles in the audience. Under renewed shouts he attempted to calm the crowd. To do so, he ordered the first slave to take the stage.

A blond woman took the stage and walked to the pedestal in its center. Once there, she mechanically aligned her feet with her shoulders and placed her hands behind her head, ensuring all could inspect her body.

The host started to present her characteristics like measurements, place of birth, etc. But Corantin did not gave it any attention. He had already looked at this girl and knew she was nothing special. To pass more time until who he wanted showed up, Corantin started to imagine what he would do to her slutty body once he got hold of her.

Minutes quickly became hours, but to the dismay of the merchants hiding in the backstages few bids were placed. Even thought the first wave had been composed of the lowest valued people, almost all of them had gone for the minimal bid. After a while, they had to admit the audience was keeping a tight lid on their purse aiming for the once-in-a-lifetime elf.

Corantin had came to the same conclusion. And because of this, his opinion of his peers went down a cliff. How could they hope to get their hands on her, when hidden within the private lounges sat the richest people in this country? If any of those walking piles of money had come with the intent to acquire the mysterious beauty, lesser nobles and rich commoners had no chance to compete. It caused his mood to turn cloudy, one hand if Amari's turn came before the elf, it would make acquiring her a piece of cake, but on the other hand if she came after he had no idea how the defeated bidders would act. Would they leave dejected? Or would they start bidding on anything left on offer? Corantin would rather not see it but with the current situation he was sure the greedy flesh peddlers would soon push for the elf to be presented immediately before she crippled most of their profit.

It was exactly what was going on at the moment. Unanimously, the traders had ordered the high-end slaves to be brought forth despite the tradition to keep them for the end of the show. The only reason it had not happened yet was because no one wanted their slaves to open this segment, all knew this would mean losing value on their most valuable offer. At the same time, the elf seller had enough influence to shut down any idea she would go first. This left this current stalemate slowly diminishing their profit by the second.

Eventually, one merchant remembered that one of the high value girls had been disturbing everyone during the last two exposition days. When he brought it up, everyone started to agree with him that such an eyesore would be the best sacrifice, she had probably already shrunk her value to nothing. So little to no bids on her wouldn't hurt.

Amari's current owners was unprepared for this pile up. Combined to the fact he was already ready to get rid of her. Furthermore, since he had another girl he placed high hopes on, he gave up and accepted for her to be presented first.

***

Amari was still struggling in her mental battle when she felt a fist pushing on her back.

"Hey, get moving, bitch!" a male voice shouted behind her.

"I'm not a dog," growled Amari in a low voice.

She was uncertain if her words reached the man, but she felt the man knuckle pushing in her back again. Shaken by the push, she unsteadily moved forward, as ordered. She was halfway to the stage when she, at last, became able to walk steadily. Before climbing the three steps to the stage, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She was just quick enough to take the first step to avoid another push on her back.

Unwilling to appear weak minded, her head up high, she walked to the pedestal ready for her to be displayed one last time. She adopted the stance she had been taught that allowed maximum view on her body. She was showing a heartfelt wide smile on her face, anyone who had look at her earlier that looked at her now would be dumbfounded. No traces of her fears were left.

Her confidence created a mixed reaction with the crowd. Some, that preferred tame women, stopped looking at her. Some other, with taste like Corantin, became much more interested in her, especially a handful, that had never notice her during display. Finally, some that had witnessed her outburst in the two previous days were left confused on whether it was the same woman or not.

Having never been informed about the change to the order the presenter was disorganized and struggled to present Amari's personal information. He dug through sheets for a few minutes until he found Amari's data sheet. His momentum broken, he read difficulty through the information.

"... the starting price is 10'000 viclards!" finished the presenter.

The announcer last words send ripples through the crowd. The price a massive increase from the previous girl, which had barely fetched a tenth of that price. It signified to all that the traders had finally sent their best products; it would soon be the turn of the elven girl everyone was waiting for to open their purse.

Seconds quietly passed as no one knew if they should bid. Corantin hold his hand for now, before bidding he wanted to see how many would enter the fight with him.

"10'000 any bids," asked again the host anxiety showing in his voice.

Corantin silently raise his hand holding his sign. In the face of the complete lack of bidding, he concurred that it was time for him to go ahead.

"We have ten! Do we have 10.5?"

Corantin looked around the auditorium. He saw a few hands hesitating.

"Ten, once, twice, thrice! Sold for 10'000 viclards! Next item," concluded the announcer before anyone committed to a bidding war.

The announcer looked to see which slave was coming next. He went wide-eyed when he saw her coming.

"AAAnd now! What all of you were waiting for... a fair elven maiden," he shouted to trying to bring enthusiasm in the dead silent auction.

"This girl was found wandering outside the drifting forest, uncharacteristically for elves she didn't try to resist capture. She has..." the host continued by descripting her physique, but Corantin stopped paying attention knowing full well she would not go for anything close to only 10'000 viclards.

"The starting bid as been set for 100'000 viclards."

Corantin nearly choked when he heard the price, 100'000 viclards was not just expansive, it might have just eliminated everyone but the ten richest family in the kingdom. Heck! Considering Viclardie wealth, there might not even be twenty families in the world able to afford this price.

When the host announced the outrageous price, the auction room was filled with boos originating from the lower level. As the crowd expressed its disapproval, the host frenetically tried to keep up with the bids coming from the concealed lounges, the eye watering price had seemingly not stopped the richest of the attendee.

***

It took nearly ten minutes for the bidding war to end, ending with an insane price of 500'000 viclards. At five time the initial price it became the highest bid recorded. Murmurs on who would pay such a high price started to go around. Even the royal family could hardly pay such a price. Because of that it took another twenty minutes for order to be restored enough for the next session to begin.

When the next slave, a man this time, was presented, the slave traders bet showed its success when bids became less timid. Although, the man started at 2'000 viclards, in the end, he sold for more than Amari.

Corantin observed the auction until an intermission was declared. He chose this moment to and leave. For one, he had no other targets for this auction. And although it was a price he could pay, 10'000 was still a major blow to his finance. This meant he could not get involved in the bidding wars born from anger at the elf price.

Before leaving, he made sure Amari would be delivered to his city mansion the next day. He then returned to the mansion and planned Amari's travel to his main estate, as well as prepare how she would be confined until he returned to the mansion. After all, as much as he wanted to start training that sultry body of hers, he had one other thing to do before returning home.