[Nightmare]

"Thank you for making history giving Samma Shaw the reception she deserves!"

A three-minute standing ovation met Helix's words in the auction house.

Helix gave everyone a bow and walked off the stage.

"These numbers are a joke." He chuckled in bewilderment.

"I should've done this on Earth."

Helix sold five times as many items to the nobles at the [Alzerian Noble Exclusive Auction] with a full auctioneer staff.

The process was less of an [experience] and more of a professional endeavor without the otakus and weebs.

While the individual price of items lowers when you put more through supply, Helix wanted as many of the products in noble hands as possible.

Ultra-exclusivity stokes the flames of jealousy.

Helix thanked and tipped the auction house employees, who were panicking.

Their 5% commission fees raked them over 20,000 gold coins in two nights.

So it was awkward for their patron to be so kind when they were supposed to be buttering [him] up.

Moreover, sellers for nobles were rarely kind, so it was already uncomfortable.

They didn't dislike it, however.

Helix walked onto the cobblestone street after the traffic died down.

He looked at the massive moon in the sky and sighed.

"I'm doing this job [too] well." He chuckled bitterly.

"I can't wait until someone else takes over, so the prices drop.

Otherwise, I'll face the same problem just as quickly.

Thank god I've only sold the exclusive items so far."

Helix had thousands of items for sale and had sold a hundred.

He needed as many items in noble hands as possible.

If the supply were too low, he'd be a target of 95% of the nobles who were jealous.

It was a problem.

Fixing it wasn't easy because he couldn't sell the items at a lower price.

If he did that, the first buyers would be outraged if they bought clothing at a 1000% markup.

Therefore, he was glad he decided to only bring [unique] items to the first two auctions, so everyone won.

He would have never let the buying frenzy get out of hand if he had a choice.

However, he didn't set the auction price.

His hype made the products exorbitantly priced, but the nobles would have turned on him if he didn't make himself famous.

It was a mess.

Luckily, his relationship with Samma was ironclad.

Because as much as she probably hated him at the moment—

"A quarter-million gold is a joke by Earthian exchange value in a night." Helix laughed in bewilderment.

"After Samma's first paycheck, she won't hate me as much… probably."

Helix continued walking back to his living quarters in the castle.

When he walked out of the Kina district, the atmosphere cooled.

He wasn't in the commoner area because it was separated.

Unfortunately, that made things much worse.

"Oui! Isn't that the kid!?" A drunk man yelled out.

He was a tall man, around six-feet high, and had a disheveled beard on his chin.

He was walking with three men who were in different stages of drunkenness.

[All of them were wearing Alzerian soldier uniforms].

"Yeah, it's him alright. The fucker has a death wish." Another growled.

"Please let me pass. I'm not looking for trouble." Helix sighed.

"You're not? I would've sworn I heard you begging for it last night." A third yelled out.

"It doesn't look like reason, proof, or display are going to work on these people." Helix whispered bitterly.

He was considering how he would handle the situation without resorting to violence.

However, there weren't many options.

Helix could easily disappear from their sight with ghostly speed.

That wouldn't solve the problem.

It could make things worse.

He needed the loyalty and support of the Alzerian soldiers.

If he were to run or directly harm them, both options would fan the fires of discontent.

"Oui! What's happening here!?" A gruff man roared as he entered the scene.

"This is that Helix Margrave bastard." The first man chuckled.

"Yeah, I know." The gruff man replied.

"Then what's the problem? Step aside!" The second man sneered.

"The problem? Who the hell do you think you're talking to?

Answer my question, now!" The gruff man barked.

"Who are we? We're the people this fuck insulted." The drunk man yelled.

"Now we're gonna show him we don't take kindly to his Earthian kind."

The drunk man unsheathed his sword, and the others began snickering.

Each grabbed the hilt of his own sword.

Helix's eyes widened in shock when he saw the man was willing to fight for him.

"Saul?" He whispered in disbelief.

The same Royal Guard tried to kill him [the day before].

"He insulted you? You have three seconds to put away those toys before I break your limbs."

"Oui! Who in~the~fuck, do you think you are, pretty boy?" The drunk man taunted.

"Who am I? I'm the pretty boy that's about to break your limbs."

"Hah! We'd like to see you try!"

The three people with the drunk man unsheathed their swords.

"Fools!" Saul roared while grabbing his own.

Helix watched the scene with wide eyes.

He couldn't believe what he was watching.

He figured that Eliza had forced him to apologize, which wasn't an option the night prior.

However, the man was in his [Royal Guard] armor, and his cloak was on the ground.

In other words, far beyond apologizing, the man was [sponsoring] him.

Fighting the men was a non-issue for either of them.

So the protection was symbolic, and the symbol was extraordinary.

"You're going to break our limbs? Hah. You and what army?" A man sneered.

"There are 500 troops and a couple of dozen nobles that will back us up.

We don't even know who the hell you are."

Saul laughed in disdain.

"What army? The Royal Azerian army, you swine." He asserted with a cold voice.

"W-Wait… T-Tremon, look at… that…."

"Hmmm? What the fuck's so special about that flowery pict~chure, pretty boy?"

"No… that insignia. Tell me, whoever you are.

Is this an official decree you stand behind?"

"No. It's not. But when I snap your bones into dust, we'll see who has more support." Saul barked.

He unsheathed his dazzling sword.

"Mo~re support, eh? That sounds interesting."

Helix didn't know what to do.

Should he let the man risk his life for him or end it?

Or perhaps should he play a card?

The fight was symbolic, so intervening could be insulting.

He couldn't imagine Saul couldn't crush a dozen men simultaneously at 160+ stats.

The question was whether he should try rectifying the situation on Saul's behalf or try to meditate.

He sighed, not knowing what to do in the situation.

So he attempted to make eye contact with Saul.

However, Saul didn't look at him in the slightest.

He looked resentful or had another powerful emotion holding back his gaze.

"Right now, we have a lot more support, don'tcha think?" The drunk man asked his comrades with a snide smile.

"It's obvious this pretty boy doesn't know how to count."

The men roared with laughter, and their gazes became murderous.

"And it's clear that you don't know how to read." Saul gruffed.

"What'd you say to me?" The drunk man asked with narrowed eyes.

"Saul, are you sure you want to show that off?" Helix asked in a low voice.

"I'm pointing out that you're all idiots." Saul laughed while purposely ignoring Helix.

The drunk man thrust his sword forward.

Saul didn't even clash swords with the man.

He evaded and tripped the man with ease.

"Gahhhhhhhhhh!" The drunk man screamed.

"Hah. Pathetic. You can't even fall without maiming yourself with a sword." Saul sneered.

"Your defense stat can't even handle gravity? What a joke."

The other three men charged instantly.

Saul circled the men in a direction two couldn't hit him unless they wanted to stab their teammates.

CLANG!

Saul rotated the man's sword out of the way and kicked him in the chest.

The man flung back toward the other two.

"GAH!" The man screamed.

Saul's kick was hard enough to break down the man's defense stat, and the swords held by the others stabbed into the man.

"Hah! Despicable. You don't even know how to fight near another person." Saul declared mockingly

It wasn't a deadly wound, but he demonstrated that the men didn't learn battle formations correctly.

Helix was impressed by the display.

The guard was playing with the men.

With his agility stat, he could crush them.

However, he demonstrated his battle prowess to Helix while humiliating the men in a [fair fight].

The perspective was that he could win against them on equal footing, even if he didn't have stats.

He could point out their weaknesses as troops and not hide behind the emblem.

CLANG!

The first man to recover launched their sword from the top of his head.

The sound came from the sword crashing into the ground.

Saul kicked the disoriented man in the head.

"What was that? A suicide attack?" Saul gruffed.

"Have you not even learned how to fight with a sword?"

CLANG!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"Can't even hold onto your sword?" Saul laughed with disdain in his eyes.

He stared at the fourth man, who looked like a helpless lamb.

He no longer held a sword.

"I didn't use a fraction of my stats." Saul laughed.

"That's a sign that you don't know who you're messing with."

He circled his four opponents.

"If you fought this boy seriously, you would have all died."

The men's bodies started trembling.

"You swine. Did you not hear the address?" Saul asked mockingly.

"He's Winter General Tyrene's apprentice.

Even if you don't like him, you're disrespecting her by trying to fight him."

Saul spat on the ground.

"Is she so weak in your eyes that her apprentice couldn't take on four weak soldiers without proper training?" The look in his eyes was murderous.

—

[A/N: The word count is significantly higher than normal chapters to offset the already published content.

I figured it would be better this way, so you don't have to remember the flash.]

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)