Volume 7: Foreigners in the Forest

Chapter 81: The Unexpected Surprise Brought by the Moonstone

Half an hour after Donald entered the VIP room, the guests invited for this event began arriving one after another. Looking down from the VIP room, Donald saw many familiar faces, including his old neighbor, Baron Red Cloak, and his new friend, Sir Jesse.

As the auction was about to begin, the crowd below stirred as a group entered the venue.

“Hehe! Our city lord has arrived!” said an elderly man with silver hair in the VIP room with a smile.

Donald glanced down and indeed saw the nobleman of the highest rank in the North County—Viscount Macbeth, the governor of North County. Accompanying him were his son Bolton and Lord Gryff, father and son. The four of them took the best seats in the front row right away.

“It turns out our governor is also interested in attending this auction. It seems your auction house has done an excellent job in promotion!” said Old Gwai shaking his head. “It’s also because the items you provided for the auction are of great value. Macbeth always considers himself a nobleman, but compared to true ancient families, he’s just a nouveau riche. His heritage and strength are far inferior, so he’s always been committed to collecting precious alchemical items and enchanted equipment, even resorting to various ruthless tactics. Now that you’ve brought these items up for auction, whether genuine or not, he won’t miss this opportunity. That’s why we didn’t need much promotion—just sending an invitation to the city lord’s residence was enough for this viscount to take it very seriously!”

Donald said nothing. He had already determined in his heart that no matter what the past grievances might be, as long as the Macbeth family refused to give up their ambitions to annex all the lands in North County, they would always be at odds, with no possibility of reconciliation.

The auction began with some artworks and other trinkets provided by the auction house. These were merely items to set the mood, and both the large auction houses in the capital of Kosovo and the smaller ones in the remote North County followed a similar approach.

Under the auctioneer’s clever persuasive tactics, many nobles bid eagerly, and it wasn’t long before several items of modest value but considerable collectible and aesthetic worth were successfully sold. In fact, just from these items, the auction house would already make a profit, not to mention the more valuable items to come, whose proceeds would constitute the bulk of the earnings.

Soon, the first item put up for auction by Donald was officially introduced.

“This is a bottle of medium-grade life potion. No matter how severe the injuries are, as long as the internal organs are not completely damaged, recovery can be rapid. This potion was crafted by the hero of our kingdom—the greatest mage in North County. Mage Donald, being a disciple of the silver alchemy master Mesel, also possesses extraordinary talent in alchemy. Although this bottle is only a medium-grade alchemical potion, its unique formula gives it effects comparable to those of high-grade alchemical potions created by masters.”

“Three bottles of life potion, starting bid at three hundred gold sols. These are miraculous potions that can save lives. Whether you’re an adventurer traveling abroad or a soldier heading to the battlefield, even nobles can bid on them to keep at home as a backup. Who knows, these potions might save your life one day. This is a rare opportunity not to be missed. Now, the auction begins…” Naturally, everyone would be interested in such items that can save lives in critical moments. Many people came specifically for this, including adventurers and nobles.

Although adventurers are usually from common backgrounds, some of them are powerful professionals with as much cash as ordinary nobles, allowing them to compete in bidding.

When the price rose to five hundred gold sols, Lord格里 called out a bid of six hundred gold sols, increasing it by one hundred gold sols at once. Everyone knew he was bidding on behalf of Viscount Macbeth, so they hesitated for a moment.

“Six hundred and ten gold sols!” But soon, someone couldn’t resist their desire for these three bottles of potion and raised the price further.

Since the first person dared to bid despite Viscount Macbeth’s intimidation, others followed suit bravely.

The price quickly rose to six hundred and eighty gold sols. At that point, Lord格里 raised it to seven hundred gold sols, leaving only two or three competitors left.

Among them, aside from an adventurer with an unfamiliar face, the most powerful was Baron Red Maple, Donald’s old neighbor. This baron seemed determined to get this bottle of life potion at all costs. If he competed fully against Macbeth, it was still uncertain who would win.

However, what angered the noble merchant Eustace was that the other party showed no respect at all, seemingly eager to drive him out.

Even if a lord receives actual lands, his title remains that of a lord—he simply progresses from a life peer to a hereditary peer, holding the same status as hereditary knights and belonging to the lower tier of nobility above gentry. When facing nobles of higher rank, although they are all nobles and there is no need to bow in worship, one should still maintain a humble attitude and show proper courtesy.

But Grii didn’t care about the hostile or disdainful looks from others. As long as his master was at his side, he wasn’t afraid of doing things that might offend others, because he and the Macbeth family were intertwined—their fates were linked.

In essence, Lord Grii was like a dog, a dog raised by Viscount Macbeth who had to obey orders no matter whom he was told to bite.

The competition between the two noble families ultimately benefited the adventurer who kept bidding. This cold-faced, quiet adventurer eventually raised the price to 1,300 gold sols, far exceeding Baron Redmaple’s expectations, so the merchant-noble immediately gave up bidding.

Seeing this, Lord Grii tried to bid again but was stopped by his master Macbeth. Thus, the three potions became the adventurer’s property.

“Interesting!” Donald said with amusement as he watched the competition.

However, Ungerwa, the behind-the-scenes boss of the auction house, sneered, “Do you think Macbeth will just give up like that? Wait and see—after the auction ends, he’ll take action. If that adventurer isn’t strong enough and lacks experience, he’ll likely end up as a corpse in the slums tonight, unable to leave Castle Rock alive!”

“Has Macbeth gone that far in his madness?” The silver-haired elder glanced at Donald in surprise.

“This isn’t the first time he’s done something like this. You can’t really think that Macbeth would let go of anyone who offended him, right? He’s done many such dirty deeds as a noble. Macbeth is just more thorough. If you feel sympathy for your enemies, I advise you to wake up soon—absolute scoundrels can’t survive long in the noble world!”

Donald naturally understood these principles long ago, but understanding them and fully accepting them were two different things. Deep down, he still had a conscience and a sense of compassion. In his view, if one lost their true nature completely, living would be like being a zombie—such a person could no longer be called human.

So while he was grateful for the kind reminder from the old man, he couldn’t fully agree. In this new world, Donald decided to retain his true nature while also finding ways to survive better— and the biggest prerequisite for this was to possess strength greater than that of his enemies!
The next few items up for auction were just as popular as the life potion: small purification potions that could dispel curses and restore mental strength, speed scrolls that increased the movement speed of teammates, beast scrolls that granted a group bloodlust effect and boosted overall combat power, and Reveal Dust that could break stealth.
Each of these was a rare magical scroll or alchemical item for ordinary people, leading to fierce competition among the guests.
Especially the Reveal Dust— the adventurer who had bid on the life potion without raising his bid once seemed particularly interested in it, as it could break stealth.
It was just a simple alchemical item with a rather niche use; aside from adventurers who often traveled and spellcasters who needed to ward off assassins, few people would use it.
Given the competition from that adventurer earlier, it was now Lord Macbeth’s side that started bidding. The starting bid for the Reveal Dust, which was only three gold Solars, was eventually won by that adventurer at a high price of one hundred gold Solars.
Ungwa, who was watching the auction in the VIP room, immediately asked Donald, “Do you see anything suspicious?”
Donald was a bit confused. “What’s suspicious?”
“Look, this adventurer is willing to pay dozens of times more for an item with little practical use. That means it must be extremely useful to him. But my guess is the opposite— it’s not just that something is useful to you that makes you want it; you’d also want items that can strengthen your enemies’ power. I think this person is likely an assassin who excels at stealth, which is why he doesn’t want an item that can counter his abilities to fall into the hands of outsiders!”
Hearing this, Donald was immediately amazed and impressed by the old man’s quick thinking ability. To figure out someone else’s intentions so quickly— no wonder he said he used to be Celt’s intelligence chief. Only someone who has spent years in intelligence work could have such keen instincts.
Next came the last item before the finale. It was a half-moon-shaped crystal fragment that was completely transparent and emitted a faint glow— it was the Moonstone, a low-level magical item from the elven shops that Donald had exchanged for from the Book of Truth.

The effect of this moonstone is simple: it creates a pitch-black darkness within a certain area, allowing Night Elf troops that can become invisible at night to escape danger and the battlefield. The moonstone itself has no offensive or defensive capabilities, so its price is relatively low. Logically, such an item should not be very valuable, but this is the real world, and nothing can be judged by the logic of games. The effect of the moonstone is very similar to a high-level spell called “Dark Veil” that Donald had read about in books, except it lacks the latter’s powerful effects. That’s why Donald named this moonstone the “Secondary Dark Veil Stone” and tossed it along with other items to the auction house. Such a miraculous magical item attracted great attention from the auction house’s executives. Once the silver-haired owner of the auction house learned about the moonstone’s functions, he immediately arranged for it to replace the items originally planned for auction, placing it among the top three precious items to be auctioned first.