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Arthur muttered without answering his question, and she realized that his mana was getting out of hand. Dia hurried to grab his forearm, and he finally snapped out of his confusion.

"Calm down, Seika," she said with a frown. "You can't do the same thing as the duel from yesterday."

It seems her words had some effect on him, and the Seika calmed down somewhat. However, he was still looking puzzled by the monster's appearance, as he kept turning back to it.

"Do you know this hobgoblin?" she asked with confusion. This monster was one of the few races disliked by humans and demis alike because it was an evolution of a goblin.

Intelligent monsters capable of speech signified calamities. Alvan people might have monstrous traits, but they were, in essence, humans who devoured monsters long ago.

Monsters that transcended the limits of their species and evolved or retraced their origin were a similar case to the calamities. One of those monsters was Kar, the Vampire Overlord.

"I don't only know it," the man she loved looked heartbroken, "I raised it," there was some sort of guilt in his voice that she couldn't understand. "Yet, I couldn't feel its presence because I didn't think it would be here."

"That means you can save it," she said hopefully. "I don't recommend that you attack the auction house because that would ruin your relationship with the prince."

Arthur has mentioned these details to her before inviting her to the auction house. Dia felt that the Seika had more than one reverse scale that would make him erupt like a volcano despite being cold.

'How I long to make you feel such emotions,' Dia thought as she looked at his face, concerned and guilt-ridden. 'I never want to see you like this. However, it makes me wonder if I can make you feel this way about me too.'

***

There was a bond between them, and it was not something that the time they spent or social constructs could explain. Arthur felt connected to every one of his goblins, and he had fond memories of them.

However, his arrival to Alka made him avoid thinking about their fate. Even if he did not cause the temporal divergence, he should have tried to look for the people he knew.

The hobgoblin was one of the five that he strengthened before they got separated. However, it looked lifeless, almost unconscious as chains restrained every part of its body.

'I need to save it.'

The bond was getting weaker, and Arthur realized it wasn't due to the separation between the two worlds. Instead, their bond was getting weaker because this one was dying.

It was the same case with the other goblins he had a bond with, but he couldn't tell if they were in danger or simply far away. All he knew at the moment was that he needed to save the one before him.

"A hobgoblin?" a voice from below exclaimed. "Can it be one of that infamous group of monsters, led by one of the calamities?"

"It seems we have some wise eyes in the crowd," the lady said with a bright smile. "It is indeed the only imprisoned member of that group. We retrieved this one from beyond the gates, so everyone must be aware of its importance!"

"Impossible," the crowd muttered.

"Can it be true? Aren't we in danger if that was the case?"

The crowd was getting panicky when the lady clapped her hands. The cage lit up with colors as runic lines appeared on its surface before fading.

"No need to worry, dear guests. This cage is the only one capable of keeping this monster in check. It was created by King Solomon himself to apprehend one of the Seven Sins."

"Oh my," a lady covered her mouth.

"This is the first time I see it!"

"My visit has not been in vain if I get to see both of these rarities on the first item only!"

"Do you know what they are talking about?" Arthur asked with a frown. Dia was quiet, trying to recall before answering.

"I studied hobgoblins once before. They are said to be an extremely cunning and powerful race of monsters, with a few of its members speaking human language. They are considered to be members of calamities because their leader is a powerful monster."

"Do you know its name?"

"I... it is hard to recall, but I believe that there was a story about the previous king fighting against that monster. Before it disappeared beyond the calamity gates, it gave itself a name."

"What is its name, Dia?" Arthur turned at her with a frown, and she seemed to notice the urgency in his voice. After furrowing her brows for a few seconds, she muttered a name.

"Mero."

"...dammit," Arthur clenched his fist tightly. "Are you fucking kidding me? What is this to you? Some sort of game that you throw everything into?"

"Who are you talking to, Seika?" Dia was puzzled by his words, and Arthur had to breathe in to calm down.

"I am talking to the world," he said, gnashing his teeth together. "My life is a mess because of it. I understand nothing anymore."

"Do you know Mero?" she asked, but Arthur didn't reply. How could he not know a hobgoblin with such a name? He was the one to name it, after all.

Kira ended up at the trial while Mero and the goblins came to Alka. Furthermore, it seems they came before Arthur did in the timeline, and they grew strong enough to be calamities.

"Do you know where the monsters disappeared to?"

"The mountain range near Hidden City," she said. "You must have heard that a powerful group of monsters was there, and the kingdom wanted to murder them. However, the kingdom failed, and the monsters disappeared. Ever since then, Mero was known as a calamity, but not one of the ancients."

Arthur realized that the ogres worshiped a statue that resembled Mero, which was the source of the familiarity he felt. An entity asked Arthur to grow stronger in warning, but he never believed that it would turn out to be one of his goblins.

'You have grown so much, Mero,' Arthur grabbed the railings with emotions, his chest heaving up and down. 'I haven't grown at all, but you are already so powerful to be worshiped.'

It was a mix of pride and fear. Arthur was proud that his monsters grew to such an extent, and he was fearful that they had grown too strong for him to command anymore.

There were now three possibilities that resulted in his weakening bond: the distance, their lifeforce, and their strength. Arthur hated that his life turned out to be such a mess, intertwined beyond limits.

At first, the only thing he couldn't understand was what happened at the trial. Now, he didn't understand anything anymore. The point of chaos was the temporal divergence, which Ellen caused. After that, everyone he knew was thrown in a different direction, another time, and a different world.

"We are going to start bidding, ladies and gentlemen! This hobgoblin is our auction's first and best item, so bid to your hearts' content!"

"...not an item," Arthur gritted his teeth again as he felt as if a part of him was losing control. Finally, however, Diana tightened her hand around his wrist, and he calmed down again.

"You can save it," Diana said.

"I know," Arthur breathed out and raised his hand, which the princess released. All eyes turned toward him as he placed his bid. This was the only thing he could do to save it.

"Ten thousand golds," a voice said before Arthur, and he turned to see that it was the Knight of Nobility. "This monster is mine to slay."

The crowd gasped when they heard his bid. Ten thousand gold coins were the same price that Arthur sold his artifact for, and it was said to be astronomical, to begin with. However, that was the final price, but the Knight bid that from the start.

Arthur squinted his eyes as he lowered his hand. It was disadvantageous to reveal his desire to save the hobgoblin. Furthermore, if he couldn't buy it from the auction house, he could always steal it from the knight.

"Ten thousand gold coins!" the lady exclaimed with surprise. "This is a great start from our lovely knight! However, this monster is one of the few who can talk, as long as you can coax it!"

"A talking hobgoblin?" rose a man with a thick beard from the crowd.. "It would revolutionize our understanding of other species if we can research this creature! I bid eleven thousand!" And so, the bidding war began while Arthur tried to extinguish his rage.