Yore

The City of Yore: A marvel of nature's ingenuity; a remnant of an age long forgotten. An age before the age of Men, and even the age of Elves. An age when Yore was the World Tree, around which all life centered, in those simpler times when a tree could be the center of the universe.

Now it is a repurposed corpse, not an inch of it gone to waste. Just like all physical bodies rot and wither, they then become nourishment for the life that comes after; so too are the Stump and Trunk of Yore now the life sustaining foundation for all the peoples of the Fae Alliance.

Indeed, despite the World Tree having been felled, it is no less a vital component of Fae life and culture. Now, behold Yore in all its glory; the city built into a hollow stump the size of a colosseum. Gaze in awe at the panoramic horizon resting beneath the stars of the open night sky, and all seven moons besides.

Moons which were said to be the favorite fruits of the First Child, who planted the seed of the World Tree countless Millenia ago. The Lime, Cherry, Tangerine, Peach, Pomegranate, Blueberry and Cantaloupe Moons—so adored by her that she decided to pick these seven fruits of the World Tree and place them directly into the firmament, to be preserved for all eternity.

All of this information poured into my mind as if I were listening to a professional narration through earbuds. I was, however, more focused on the rather intense sensation of teleporting, after being reconstituted on the other side of the tunnel.

While not the worst thing in the world—certainly nowhere near as bad as being buried in an avalanche—it wasn't exactly pleasant. Or maybe I could say that it was too pleasant, kind of like being tickled, only a thousand times more intense. 

Really, if you want an idea of what it's like to teleport: imagine a giant, ethereal granny, swiftly pulling you apart with her crochet needle, then deftly weaving you back together somewhere else, one organ at a time. That was the best way I could think to describe it.

The bizarre lingering sensation, however, quickly faded as I lifted my head to behold the glorious wonder that was the city itself.

I was never much of a city girl. But, if any city ever had any hope of changing that, then it wasn't Tokyo, nor London. It wasn't even Paris.

It was Yore.

The architecture of this place was nothing short of a marvel. There were various kinds of fungi lining the interior, which served as the houses and establishments of the city residents. There were the typical toadstools, just as there were in Faunhaven, only much larger. Yet there were also massive clusters of oyster mushrooms, which seemed to serve as the residential apartment buildings. 

At the city center were countless shops and trade buildings linked together by rich cobblestones painted all the colors of the rainbow.

Even now, in the middle of the night, the city was vibrant and alive, well lit by the countless giant fireflies found all over the city. Like the cobblestones, these too came in every color. Some were standing, some hovering, some where waltzing together in pairs and some seemed to be sleeping while hanging upside down from the lampposts, situated at every ten meters along the central avenue.

Quaint, yet marvelous—the City of Yore managed to exhibit this perfect balance.

And I couldn't wait to explore every inch of it.

The first order of business was to find the auction house. Both of us had quite a few items to sell. Me, I had my spare Sock Monkeys; Leilei, her various trade items she'd painted. Among them was an animation kit she'd made. That would allow someone to perform something like the binding ritual she'd done for me, the one that brought Kosuke to life, but failed to resurrect him (we tried). So we also had to find someway to do that.

I also needed to search for new Doll-Making schemata.

Lastly... and please don't laugh at this... but I'd been examining the mysterious scroll that my Elven hero had given me... and well... I was just a tiny bit curious if there was something like a translation dictionary I could procure, or else some other way to begin learning this language which looked as beautiful as dancing flames...

"There it is!" said Leilei, pointing to a strange structure up ahead.

The auction house. 

It was, as expected, the least auspicious building in all of Yore. It was essentially a giant pinecone stuck in an even greater chunk of amber, where it had evidently been fossilized and preserved ever since Yore was felled. It had to be one of the last pinecones it produced before that happened, and perhaps the only one that remained.

I vaguely wondered if it were possible that it was so well preserved that it could have been extracted from the amber and then planted, which would then presumably sprout a new World Tree... 

Well, if anyone had had that idea before, they obviously decided against it in favor of hollowing it out and turning it into a center of commerce.

Despite the profound sense of wonder that this city evoked in me, and despite this being my first time here in person, something was beginning to feel... off. 

It got stronger as we entered the auction house. 

It was probably nothing though, merely a lasting byproduct of the pain and misery I'd felt since losing the duel to Reems.

Despite my gut telling me otherwise.

Focus Minori, I told myself, get your goods listed, and maybe find some kind of enchanted item to resurrect Kosuke.

Grabbing Leilei by the hand, I pointed toward the general auction tables, situated in the back of the room.

The auctioning system of Witch Kraft had two components. First, there was the general auction, a typical in-game feature, where you could set any items you wanted to sell, and put a minimum asking price for it. You also had the option to add a buyout price, in case you wanted to get rid of something quickly.

That was my plan: check the lowest asking price, then undercut it by setting my buyout price at around 20% less. This way, people would see it as a bargain and hopefully buy them all out so that I could get paid before leaving the capital. Otherwise, if you didn't put a buyout price, then anyone could come along and outbid the previous bidder, and so on and so forth all the way until the auction expired.

Besides this player-driven, general auction feature, which was pretty standard for MMOs, there was also the stage auction. This was where exceptionally rare items—which were advertised around the city via magical holograms—were sold off to the highest bidder. 

You would often find armor, weapons, or extremely powerful consumables being auctioned there. Occasionally you would even find mounts. Something you would never find for sale, however, were other people—and by people I mean any playable race from any faction. 

That was why I, when I turned to look at main stage as we walked by, found it odd to see two terrified Elves being led away in shackles.

Slaves?!

Okay, well that was certainly new. 

And that definitely explained why something felt off.

Perhaps they were captured spies, shackled into bondage at the center of all attention to be made an example of? But then why was some well dressed Behemoth walking away with them with an evil grin? And why did so many others in attendance have similar expressions? 

Again, it wasn't my business, and it wasn't like I could do anything about it anyway. We just went over how my main issue was weakness, and the entire point of coming here was to lay the foundation for changing that. Getting involved in the city's politics at this point would have been a waste of time, at best.

I ignored the gnawing sensation in my gut (despite its increasing intensity) and made my way over to the side counters to tend to my errands.

"Greeting, adventurer, will you be needing our General Auction Services today?" asked the NPC behind the counter, another smartly dressed Satyr.

"Yes," I said, not bothering with the pleasantries.

"Wonderful," he said and then another floating screen appeared between us. I took one of my (Empty Vessel) Sock Monkeys out of my inventory and held it up to the screen. Its name appeared in the search field, then a listing appeared showing the standard asking price for one.

There were already over a hundred listed, and the lowest buyout price was asking 5 silvers each. That was great news, as it meant that I could technically put all mine at 4 silvers and 99 coppers and mine would likely be the first to sell. 

I, however, was a veteran of MMOs.

I put all 10 Sock Monkeys up for auction, setting my buyout price for 3 silvers and 33 coppers a piece. 

Why that number specifically? Well, it looked like a lucky enough number to me. Moreover, because I put them at such a discount from the next highest buyout prices, anyone seeing them listed would likely scoop them up without delay, even if they only put them right back up for 4 silvers and 99 coppers a piece. 

You'd be surprised how many people play MMOs just to game the auction house like some kind of Wall Street trade junkie.

As I turned to leave, my eyes nearly popped out of my head, and my lower jaw nearly fell off my face, so surprised was I to see the next array of "goods" currently being lined up. 

Two Pixies—nearly identical to myself, save for the fact that they were bound and shackled, with expressions of pure terror and misery plastered on their faces—were led onto the auction stage.