It had been several days since Aura had entered a new cultivation stage, gaining her fifth tail, and the group had not only received their rewards from the Merchant Guild, but were now sitting at the auction. Next to them was the Richlow Group.

  They had stayed busy the last few days, getting lots of shopping done and just general work on the dungeons. At this point, they were ready to start creating new dungeons. After the auction, they would deliver all the items to the community near their home. Once that was done, it would be time to continue onward to New York.

  That was their last major stop, and then they could begin heading back home by a different route.

  Nate had finally gotten his self-created meditative art into a usable state as well. It still wasn’t perfect or anything close, but he could now begin using it, and it was more effective to cultivate with it than the void art he had gotten from the school. He would continue to work on it, and he now also had the information from Ryan’s father on how to create a dual-cultivation affinity art.

  Which meant that Nate had managed to accomplish the initial primary purpose behind his trip, and then even get a bonus. If it had been just him and Aura, like originally planned, then he would already be planning to head back at this point. However, that option had long since vanished; besides, he was glad that the other two had decided to come with him. It would have been lonely otherwise.

  *************************

  Please take a moment to rate the story. As the author, I am only putting this story on RoyalRoad at this time. If you are reading it anywhere else, please let me know as it was stolen.

  *************************

  One item after another went up for auction, including the healing pills, which they had decided to sell a portion of. The quality of the pills they received from the dungeon was far higher than the local alchemists were capable of creating.

  Each time a bottle of them appeared on stage, they sold well. Before this, the group had thought they were getting a good price for them whenever they sold the pills, but now they knew differently. They had been getting a good price for regular pills. For the ones they had, it was actually the opposite.

  Finally, they headed into the last act of the auction, and the storage bracelets began to appear.

  Nate leaned forward as the bidding got more intense. Next to them, the Richlow Group were all twisting their hands anxiously. They had been preparing for this auction for some time now, but so had all the others in attendance. In comparison, their merchant group was also rather small. Some of the groups in attendance were from large sects or merchant groups, more on the size of Angie’s family than their little group.

  In other words, they were groups with far more resources to throw around, but also groups that were already likely to have many of these exact storage bracelets. While they would also want more, the fact was, they didn’t need them anymore. That alone would keep them from driving the price too high on the regular items.

  It was the constant need that kept the price high and out of the reach of most normal people.

  The first storage bracelet went for a decent amount, setting the tone for every bracelet that was sold afterward. Nathan hadn’t originally been expecting that many storage bracelets to be for sale. As when the Richlow Group had originally told them about the auction, they had made it sound like there were only a few. Which was still true… after a fashion. It just required a change of perspective, was all.

  There were fifteen of the storage bracelets being auctioned off that day. A decent number for anywhere else, but at this location, where all these people were gathered, it truly was a pitiful amount.

  Angie waited until Jean managed to snag two of the storage bracelets before beginning to bid on them herself. Passing everything to Nate’s parents would be much easier if it were already inside a storage item or two. After which, the bracelets could be split amongst their parents, depending on how many they managed to buy.

  Unfortunately, she only managed to buy one of the bracelets before they were interrupted by the hulking secretary, Ryan, coming to find them.

  All of them, it wasn’t just their group he needed, but also the Richlow Group. Sharing concerned looks, they quickly paid for their items and then followed after him. He wouldn’t tell them what it was he needed, but he led them to the Expedition Facility next door to the associated Licensing Bureau. The Expedition Facility was the building that housed the showers and most other items related to active expeditions. The Licensing Bureau was more on the admin side of everything; for the most part, there were a few exceptions, but that was how it typically worked.

  Of the five trucks they had recovered from the bandits, they had decided to keep one. Using the others for parts before selling them, just as they had originally planned.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  The Overlander RV they rode into the facility was fully fixed and working again. It was equipped with the arbalests, just as they had wanted. The door had been fixed, and the shocks had even been redone as well, among other things. All the little things that they had noticed beginning to wear out or give them issues had been worked over and fixed.

  It had only been a couple of short months on the road, but they had all been fairly consistent in their harsh use during that time.

  Now pulling it into the Expedition Facility, they were greeted by an odd sight. The front of the building was completely deserted. All the people who were usually doing their business out there had been pulled away.

  Lindsay was the first to step into the facility alongside Jean, behind Ryan, and immediately stopped walking. “What’s going on here, Ryan? Why did you bring us here? Where is everyone?”

  The other merchant group nodded along at the younger girl’s question. They had all been getting weird vibes from this entire trip, even more so now that they had been brought to a seemingly empty building.

  The big, musclebound man reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “Aunt Nancy asked me to keep it a secret, but we need you all to confirm a few things. It’s nothing bad, despite how it looks, they’re just being cautious for some prisoners that were recently brought in, is all.”

  “Aunt Nancy?” Nate asked, reaching out to poke the man in the ribs.

  “Shut up,” He growled in embarrassment. “I get enough of that at the guild. She’s not actually my aunt, but you know how she knew my dad; well, she was always around when I was growing up. So, I thought she was my aunt and used to call her that and now she won’t let me stop.” He sighed and motioned for them to follow him. “Come on.”

  He led them to a locked door, which hid some stairs that took them down below. The floor was a wide-open space with no rooms. There were weight-bearing pillars, cages, and partitions made of a clear material that Nate doubted was glass. That was it.

  In the center of the room, they could see Nancy and several others standing in front of two seated people.

  Aura immediately growled, while Mika snarled. Lindsay's and Angie’s reactions weren’t much better, whereas Nathan merely found his fists clenched tight. The Richlow Group’s responses to the two in the chairs were even more explosive, as they didn’t even attempt to restrain themselves. One second they were next to Nate and the others, and then the next they were running toward the restrained duo.

  One of them was a severely injured Rudy, while the other was a man Nate thought might have been the bandit group leader who was fighting with Shane.

  One of Rudy’s legs beneath the knee had been chewed off, and a large chunk of his left hand was missing as well. The bandit leader was in even worse condition and showed clear signs of burns.

  “What happened to them?” Nate asked the Merchant Guild leader, Nancy, as they drew close to them.

  Nancy turned briefly, acknowledging his question, while the girls closely inspected the two strapped to the chairs.

  “Roy, that is the bandit leader, is apparently Rudy’s older brother. He was injured by Shane and the rest of his group, and they were forced to run away.”

  Nate’s head snapped toward her. “Wait, does that mean Shane and some of the other guard groups managed to survive?”

  It was good news, and yet it would also mean that they had left them behind. That they had been enjoying themselves in the city while they were still struggling to make it back.

  She nodded seriously. “They are all injured, some worse than the others, but about a third managed to survive. Two of their vehicles were still in working condition, and they were able to chase down these two.” She sighed. “That’s when they ran into even more trouble. You had mentioned that you ran into a giant lizard that you managed to scare off?”

  Nate looked closer at the injuries on the two before replying. “Yeah, we did. I take it they ran into one of them as well?”

  Nancy scoffed. “What gave it away?” She sighed. “The beast wrecked one of the vehicles and took a few tasty nibbles from these idiots before it could be killed. The remaining vehicle burned through its core fuel quickly as it was forced to carry them all.

  “One of the teams the bureau sent out to take care of the bandits came across them the other day and just returned.” She continued.

  “Where are Shane and the other survivors?” Nate asked her, looking around the basement level again. “I’d like to… thank them for keeping us safe and apologize for leaving them behind.” He ran a hand through his hair, unsure of what he was actually trying to say.

  Nancy chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much. It is what they were hired to do, after all. If they weren’t prepared for this sort of outcome eventually, then they wouldn’t have become guards.” She smirked. “Of course, that isn’t to say they are happy about the way this all turned out. No one wants their teams to be damaged or worse.”

  “What’s going to happen to them?” Lindsay asked, rejoining them. She had quickly gotten her fill of both men, seeing as they were unresponsive and in terrible condition. It wouldn’t be any fun or even interesting to get their revenge.

  Nancy glanced at Ryan, who shrugged. “Father hasn’t given me hints as to what is planned for them.”

  “Hmm, well, the best-case scenario is their cores are destroyed, and they are thrown outside the city walls.” She said after a moment.

  Nate felt a chill run down his spine. That was the best-case scenario?

  “And what is the worst-case scenario?” Angie asked, finally rejoining them.

  “Someone simply kills them and has their deaths on their conscience.” The older woman replied instantly. “Even if removing scum like this isn’t going to cause anyone to lose sleep, it’s still better to avoid that option, if possible.”

  “So, no matter what, they’re going to die?” Nate asked, wanting clarification.

  “There is only one ending for bandits. Death. All the cities out here have agreed upon the measure that even includes the more liberal cities. Once these two entered the bandit's life, seeking the easy path to power, there was only one ending for them, and they knew it.” Her eyes grew hard and a little sad. “They aren’t the first, and they won’t be the last.”

  In an action none of them were expecting, Lindsay spat toward Rudy’s remaining foot. Her spit splattered across the floor near him. “Good, I’m all for removing scum from the face of the planet. I wish someone would have done it to Jace before he caused us so many problems.” She growled angrily; her fists clenched tight by her side.

  Angie put her hand on her shoulder and slowly led her away. “Come on, let’s go see Shane and the others.”

  Jean, Lester, and the others from the Richlow Group had been standing off to the side the entire time, simply watching and thinking. Still not saying anything, they turned and followed the group as they left the basement.

  https://www.amazon.com/author/joshuakern

  https://joshuakernbooks.com/