Rias's evidence review confirmed the courier's classifications and nothing more. By the time they accepted the private invitation, every claim had been labeled as testimony, evidence, or inference. The auction began inside a dining hall with no windows and twelve empty seats at the head table. No one sat there.
Masked bidders occupied smaller tables below, each separated by curtains thin enough to show movement but thick enough to hide faces. The market replaced names with temporary titles.
[Unhoused Collector]
[Lineage Buyer]
[Broken Retainer]
[Beastslayer Procurer]
[Guest Recovery Crew]
Rias remained outside the hall in a contract archive alcove. Her trade mask and movement could still identify her to anyone who had studied Flash Fang's public footage, so she monitored the party through evidence wards and the private channel instead of entering the social center.
[Flash Fang: Four visible exits. Two are false. The auction room has another route beneath the head table.]
