Chapter 73: The Auction
The royal ceremony for conferring titles and the celebration banquet came to a perfect end, but the people of the capital were in an uproar. From the news of the great victory in the northwest until the end of the celebration banquet, they cheered and rejoiced for half a month before their excitement gradually subsided.
It is worth mentioning that after the celebration banquet, a shocking event occurred: their great King Celt XV suddenly fell ill yesterday. As the pillar of the kingdom, his illness triggered varied reactions from all sides. Both the temple and the Mage Association examined him and said that his condition could be delayed, but even if cured, his body could not sustain much longer—this was the law of nature; his lifespan was nearing its end, and nothing human could reverse it. The time they could gain was limited, at most extending his life by half a year, at a great cost.
As soon as this news spread, factions led by the two princes began competing for power in every way. Some impatient nobles rushed to declare their allegiance, while others adopted a wait-and-see attitude, staying neutral.
Donald, who had planned to return early and avoid getting involved in the chaos, decided to stay one more day due to news brought by Ferdinand. The reason was that the Celt United Merchant Association Auction House, bringing together various merchants and factions, planned to hold a large-scale auction on the third day after the celebration banquet. Such a large-scale auction was unprecedented in Celt, with even many foreign forces participating.
Upon hearing this news, Donald was immediately interested. Having come to the capital once in a while, how could he miss the chance to make a profit? Besides receiving the king’s rewards and following Mesel’s advice to visit the library of the Kingdom Mage Association, another goal was to promote the products of Nightfall Manor in the capital.
Originally, Donald planned to entrust Catherine as his agent to handle these matters. Though the female countess from a merchant family had not engaged in business for three generations, she still had considerable experience and connections in this field.
This auction saved them a lot of effort—just by participating in the auction, Nightfall Manor’s products could become instantly famous.
The auction houses in the capital were far superior to those in Giantstone City, with several operating there. The largest was the royal Celt Royal Auction House, while the most famous was the United Merchant Association Auction House formed by several major merchant groups in the capital.
Unlike the Celt Royal Auction House, which was only open to nobles, the United Merchant Guild Auction House was accessible to everyone, though one needed at least a thousand gold sols to enter. Whether they were nobles or wealthy merchants, skilled professionals or outstanding adventurers, or even lucky commoners, as long as they met the requirements, they could participate in the auctions or offer items for sale. So on the day Donald heard about it, he took the countess with him to the United Merchant Guild Auction House to arrange for an auction to be held. Of course, Ferdinand and his sister also came to join in the fun. As part of the younger generation of the Ansel family, they basically had nothing they lacked, but it was still a joy to bid on items they liked! On the day of the auction, despite the news of the king’s serious illness, the atmosphere in the capital remained lively, which eased some of the earlier tense mood. Donald and his group arrived early at the auction house and sat in the exclusive seats on the second floor reserved for the elite. Given Ferdinand and his sister’s status, and Donald’s status as a rising star in the kingdom and a key client for this auction, the auction house naturally arranged a good spot for them. Many attendees were whispering among themselves, discussing everything from the kingdom’s situation to the items up for auction. Of course, there were also those like Donald who weren’t very interested in politics and were chatting in a friendly manner. At that moment, a handsome middle-aged man stepped onto the auction stage. He was clearly a well-known auctioneer in the kingdom, and cheers rose from the audience as soon as he appeared. The auctioneer thanked them repeatedly, bowed politely to the audience, and then spoke in a strong voice, “Welcome to our auction house for this auction! First, let us thank His Majesty King Celt XV for his strong support of this auction. His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen are also here at our auction house today!” At these words, everyone was confused until the lights on the balcony at the center of the second floor, directly facing the auction stage, lit up. The king, who had been rumored to be seriously ill these past few days, sat there looking in excellent health, accompanied by a beautiful queen and guarded by guards. With King Celt XV appearing at the auction house after leaving the palace, the rumors of his illness were naturally dispelled. The crowd was shocked, and once they recovered, everyone, regardless of nobility or commoner status, stood up and bowed toward the central balcony.
Even Catherine, who had always been by the queen’s side, was unaware of this. Donald watched Ferdinand beside him, who kept smiling and seemed not surprised by the king’s sudden appearance—clearly he knew some insider information. Thus, Donald had some suspicions about what had happened. However, whether the king was seriously ill had little to do with him, so he didn’t think much about it.
King Celt XV nodded in response to the crowd, then gestured for the auctioneer to continue.
The auctioneer then announced that the auction had officially begun and introduced the first item for bidding.
The first item was a famous painting by a renowned ancient painter from the continent, highly valuable for collection, with a starting bid of 1,000 gold sols. This was a tactic used by the auction house to stir excitement among the attendees.
Donald had seen such tactics many times on TV in his past life and had little interest in ordinary art pieces. So, as he listened to the bidding around him, he focused his attention elsewhere.
Glancing around at the guests in the auction house, he noticed that aside from most nobles and merchants dressed in formal attire from various places, there were also many with unusual appearances—some even sitting there carelessly in dirty leather armor.
Out of courtesy, the nobles did not openly criticize them but whispered among themselves.
The middle-aged man seemed utterly indifferent to the nobles’ whispers, either because he didn’t hear them or because he dismissed them. The nobles, unaware of this man’s background as a country hunter, had no idea of his terrifying strength. Although Donald wasn’t using his mental senses during this special occasion, his keen sense of touch made him feel as if the man, despite sitting motionless, was a fierce, monstrous dragon ready to pounce and devour anyone—a mere glance at him made his eyelids flutter and his mind uneasy.
Seeing Donald observing the man, Ferdinand said, “I didn’t expect him to join in the fun too!”
“Ferdinand, do you know who this man is?”
“I’ve only heard rumors. He should be the most famous bounty hunter in the kingdom—Beheader Sorg, known throughout the southeastern part of the kingdom for his habit of cutting off enemies’ heads. He was the only adventurer below the Silver rank to enter one of the five most dangerous places on the continent, the Twin Dragon Swamp, alone and survive ten years ago. After that, he completed several highly notable and difficult missions. It is said that his strength is now very close to the Gold rank, though he still can’t break through that barrier. But considering he’s not even forty years old, there’s a good chance he could become the third Gold-ranked warrior in the kingdom after my father and Sword Saint Abel!”
Donald sighed in admiration after hearing this.
If the sparsely populated northern lands were producing so many strong warriors, what must the continent, filled with even more powerful ones, be like?
Time passed quickly. The auction of some of the initial artworks on stage had already ended, and now it was time for the luxury goods that the nobles sought. Leading the list was the black tea provided by Donald, packaged in a crystal box with exquisite gold and silk wrapping.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the next item for auction comes from the estate at the far north of Celt, featuring a unique mage beverage grown in the Dalaran region of the northern counties. The owner of this estate is our kingdom’s hero, Mage Donald, Baron Merlinna!”
The starting bid for this item was only one hundred gold sols, but thanks to the auctioneer’s persuasive words and Donald’s reputation, several nobles interested in this mage beverage began bidding. The price quickly rose to three hundred sols, which was already more than ten times Donald’s total cost, including packaging.
“Five hundred gold sols!”
At that moment, a dry voice rang out, raising the bid by two hundred gold sols at once, outpacing all other bidders.
Donald turned to look and saw that it was an old mage dressed in black robes who had made the bid. With this bid, those nobles who had heard of the black tea but had never seen it were doomed to be disappointed, because this old mage was not only a powerful Silver mage but also represented a giant like the Mage Association. So basically, no one would want to antagonize the Mage Association over such beverages.
However, not everyone feared the power of the Mage Association. Soon, another voice bid again.
“Five hundred fifty gold sols!”
Donald glanced in the direction of the voice again and saw a group of people dressed as nobles. The one who had spoken was a young woman who seemed quite interested in this previously unheard-of mage beverage. By their accents, they were not from Celt itself; they probably came from the central-eastern regions of the continent. They didn’t resemble the stern and rigid church nobles of Sendel, so they must be nobles from the Kingdom of Gardrel!
As descendants of the Banai Empire, Celt maintained good relations with both Gardrel and Yulan, unlike the constant struggles between those two countries over the title of Banai’s legitimate heir. Gardrel had the largest seaport in the eastern part of the continent, serving as the most important transit point for sea routes between the continent and the Northlands. The profits from maritime trade were enormous, so despite the risks, many people from Gardrel came to the Northlands every year for business and adventure. Even in the remote areas of the North Counties, Gardrelians could occasionally be seen.
“Six hundred gold sols!”
The mage in black continued bidding, growing annoyed by the outsiders’ bids, seeing them as a provocation to the Celt Mage Association.
The price rose to eight hundred gold sols. The noble lady wanted to bid further but was stopped by an old man behind her. Though too far away to hear their voices, Donald could guess from their lip movements that the old man must have said something like, “This is not Gardrel; avoid conflict with the local forces.”
In the end, the auction price for the ten-sol red tea reached eight hundred gold sols, won by the mage in black. After deducting the auction house’s commission, Donald still made a net profit of seven hundred gold sols. The bids from those two parties had actually benefited him.
The old man on the other side was clearly highly skilled and perceptive, having noticed Donald’s attention. He looked up at him. Donald still felt some goodwill toward these guests from Gardrel, so he nodded and smiled at the old man. Then he waved for an auction house attendant, handed him a crystal box, and whispered a few instructions, ordering him to deliver the item to those Gardrelians.