Chapter 152 - The Highest Floor (1/2)
The auctioneer's smile seemed to have deepened as he heard this and he clapped his hands enthusiastically as he asked, ”I was right, wasn't I? You have been here before!”
Marvin nodded his head with a smile as he confirmed it.
”You were the one that bought the...” The auctioneer's eyes narrowed down on Marvin as he tried to remember what the boy had purchased last time.
Marvin chuckled as he shook his head and spoke, ”You don't need to remember it. I am a regular. I've bought so many things from here that even I have lost count of them.”
The auctioneer also chuckled as he heard this and nodded his head happily. It certainly felt good for him to hear that there was such a regular customer who was willing to waste money in these auctions.
”That's right. It's always a pleasure to work with such great customers like you,” The auctioneer flattered Marvin with a smile.
”I'm glad to know that you remembered me,” Marvin added as he returned the polite smile.
”Sir Hecathe, we have a special seat saved for you this time,” The auctioneer turned to look at Hecathe again as he spoke.
”You can lead the way,” Hecathe smiled as he responded and the auctioneer looked to be pretty happy with just seeing the man here.
Every time Hecathe was here, he would sell pure mutant beads to the auction house and those were certainly treasures that were rarely found. Hence, it was only natural that the auctioneer was always happy to see Hecathe.
The auctioneer led them towards the highest floor which was completely empty and had been kept that way especially for them.
In this auction house, the higher the floor you are sitting on, the more important you were to the auction house, and surprisingly enough, this time, Hecathe was given the highest floor which meant that he was the most important guest today.
The higher floors were always filled with mecha-suits and so it was certainly the first time that people were seeing someone else sitting up on the highest floor.
”What a surprise,” Marvin chuckled dryly as he commented once the auctioneer went back down.
”What is it?” Hecathe asked curiously as he looked at the boy.
”Hecathe, I wonder if it is just a coincidence,” Marvin smiled as he spoke and leaned in closer to Hecathe's ear as he continued in a voice that was barely above a whisper, ”The last time I was sitting at the top floor was when I came here with Alphius. And now you have brought me here as well. Ain't that funny?”
Hecathe felt as if what Marvin really wanted to do was point out how alike Hecathe was to Alphius.
Since Alphius was the leader of the mecha-suits, it was only natural that he was able to sit this high, whereas, the only reason why Hecathe was able to get this special seat was because he sold pure mutant beads to the auction house.
They both did their own things but got almost the same result. Didn't that point to how alike they were?
”I don't think Alphius ever came here,” Hecathe spoke as his eyebrows creased together with a bit of confusion and interest.
Marvin smirked as he heard this and nodded his head as he responded, ”You would never know but I'm his best friend. How can there be anything about him that I don't know?”
”...” Hecathe really wanted to point out that Marvin was also the one who had killed Alphius over a misunderstanding but he didn't bother ruining the mood and simply let the boy boast a little bit about his close relationship with his dead best friend.
”I helped him sneak away for a day. That was the only time he came here,” Marvin sighed as he continued, ”If I remember right, he was looking for something.”
The latter sentence seemed to have caught Hecathe's interest as the man asked, ”Looking for something? What was it?”
Marvin frowned a little as he thought about it but no matter how much he tried to remember that time, his memories were still blurry and in the end, all he could do was shrug his shoulders as he answered casually, ”I can't remember what it was but I do remember that he never found it. The illegal auction here was the last place that could have that item but when he didn't find it here as well, he simply gave up and never looked for it again.”
Hecathe frowned as he heard this and he couldn't help but feel a bit confused. There was no mention of this day in Alphius's diary which recorded almost every part of his life.
If there was nothing about this written in the diary, it meant that the boy had purposefully not written it down in order to avoid leaving behind clues and evidence.
But why would he do that?
Why would Alphius purposefully leave something out from the diary?
It wasn't like he was writing that diary for someone to read so why was he afraid of someone finding out what he was searching for...?
”I'll tell you if I ever remember it,” Marvin added with a small smile as he tried to seem a little helpful.