Chapter 90: The Auction (3)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
Angele stopped talking and stood quietly in front of the glass, sipping the fruit wine slowly.
The room’s temperature was higher than outside, and Angele decided to loosen his collar. His strong chest was exposed to the air while he looked attentively at the auction hall.
The hall got noisier as more people entered through the door. After about ten minutes, all the red chairs in the hall were filled up and the door was closed. Two guards in black heavy armor suits with axes in their hands stood on both sides of the door.
An old man wearing glasses walked toward the auction block. His hair was all white, even the on his beard. The man had a serious look on his face, and there was a gavel in his hand.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Mincola Auction Market. I am Pierre from the Nalin Street, and I will be your auctioneer today. I think you all already know where today’s items came from, so I will stop it here. All right, everyone, the auction starts now!” The old man wasted no time and hit the sound block with the gavel.
The auction hall quieted down after several seconds, most of the people staring at the auction block. Some people were still whispering, but they were not disturbing the auctioneer.
“First item to start the auction is the Silver Sand from Merfolk. It’s beautiful and very valuable,” the old man shouted out.
Two strong half-naked men carried in a black metal box with two swordsmen escorting them. The latter were wearing leather armor pieces and kept glancing around.
The black box was put down by the block, and one of the men opened it quickly. The box was filled up with silver sand. The sand was very smooth and shined under the light.
“Silver Sand is one of the Merfolk’s major exports. It’s very rare, and it will make your skin smoother if you apply some on your body during showers. It is also great for general skin care.”
Before the old man could finish his words, the ladies and girls were already getting excited.
“2000 gold coins!” a middle-aged noble lady shouted out, swinging the number sign in her hand.
“2200!” A young girl raised her sign.
“2300!” someone else shouted.
The number kept increasing during the next several minutes, and many people were still bidding.
Finally, several bidders gave up because the number was getting a bit ridiculous, but there were still people bidding.
“5000 gold coins!” a young noble man stood up and yelled out.
“6000,” someone in the first private room on the second floor said.
“7000.” The young man looked at the private room and increased the bid again.
“8000 gold coins.” The man in the private room did not stop.
The hall became quiet after hearing the number, but the young man was still standing. He wiped off the number on the sign and wrote down something else.
“10 000!” he yelled and raised the sign. “I will pay 10 000 gold coins.”
Most of the nobles shook their heads and lowered down the signs. A full box of Silver Sand cost about 6000 gold coins in regular luxury markets. It was hard to find, but they would not pay 10 000 for the sand in an auction market.
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Inside the first private room.
Tinos grunted. “Seriously? 10 000 gold coins for a box of Silver Sand? Whatever. Silver Sand will be shipped to the auction market every month. Why can’t this guy just let it go?”
It seemed like Tinos did not care for the sand but just wanted to win the bid.
Angele shook his head. Actually, he felt relaxed when Tinos was around. The pretty man was a bit selfish and stubborn, but he was very simple. He did not like to be treated as a high-class noble, but people would not do such thing just because Tinos asked. Most of the nobles feared him due to his position.
Beside Angele and his relatives, no one would treat him like an ordinary friend.
Tinos considered Angele as his real friend after the encounter with the Glowing Elephants. He liked Angele a lot because he did not care about his position, and Tinos thought that Angele was the only good friend he had.
“Dumb*ss!” Tinos gave the young man a hard look.
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The hammer came down. No one else bid so the hammer price was 10 000 gold, and the box of Silver Sand now belonged to the young man.
“Wait!” the young man suddenly yelled. “I would like to let everyone know that I will gift this box of Silver Sand to the one and only, Mr. Tinos! I admire him!”
The young man bowed in the direction of the first private room. “Mr. Tinos, please accept the heartfelt wishes from a humble admirer!”
People in the hall started laughing and clapping their hands.
“Rogen, you are so generous.” Some of the people knew the young man.
The noble girls and ladies around were staring at him enviously.
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In the first private room.
Angele could not help laughing. He turned back and looked at Tinos.
“Someone’s trying to please you. I’d be happy if someone just gave me 10 000 gold coins, whatever his reason may be.”
Tinos had an elated look on his face.
“Humph, at least he is tactful.” Although Tinos did not say anything about the young man, he looked happy, and his vanity was gratified by the young man’s gift.
This was just an interesting episode to Angele. Rogen from the Michelle Family paid 10 000 gold just to please Tinos, and everyone in the city would learn about the story within one day.
The next item was an antique black goose-neck vase. The auctioneer said that the vase was more than a thousand years old and was from the Vlasov’s era.
Angele was not interested in antiques at all, and Tinos did not place any bid, either. The hammer price for the vase was 2000 gold coins.
Half an hour passed. The next four items were all antiques, nothing catching Angele’s attention.
“Next one is a treasure from the owner of the previous antiques. It’s a leather book from the Vlasov’s era, and it is more than a thousand years old!” the auctioneer introduced the item in a loud voice.
A young girl in a white one-piece walked to the stage with a silver plate. There was a dictionary-sized book lying on the plate. Its cover was brown, and the book was sealed with a leather band.
“The book is more than a thousand years old, and it represents the knowledge of the mysterious Vlasov people. Collectors of books will not want to miss an item like this!” the auctioneer shouted.
Angele stood in front of the glass and looked at the thick book, still sipping the fruit wine. He remembered seeing the Green Ear Masa for the first time when he was on the way to Marua Harbor. His father had told him about the Vlasov people. It all felt like it had just happened yesterday.
Angele recalled the sad look his father had in the ruins of Masa.
“Angele, do you know this language? I mean the Vlasov,” Tinos asked, curious.
“A little bit.” Angele stopped thinking and nodded.
“What’s in that book then? Can you understand the words on the cover?” Tinos questioned.
“On the cover, it says ‘My dearest Paul, God bless you’. It looks like a book that lists codes for certain rituals, or it may be a memoir,” Angele responded.
“It’s crap then.” Tinos shrugged.
The bid already increased to 20 000 gold coins, and people in the other three private rooms also placed their bids. There were only four private rooms in the hall. Besides Angele and Tinos, everyone else joined the bid. The hall was noisy, and the nobles all had the excited looks on their faces.
*Thwack*
The hammer came down.
“34 000 gold coins. Congratulations to Mr. Cains. The book is yours,” the auctioneer shouted.
After the book, a heavy-looking white box was slowly carried to the block by four people.
“The next item is the most wanted item in this auction.” The auctioneer corrected his glasses and grabbed an information sheet from the table.
“The incredible jewelry that represents liberty and dream, the most beautiful and rarest, Stone of Lisa!”
The box was quickly opened after the auctioneer finished his words. There was another smaller box inside the large box, and a girl opened the smaller box with a key, but there was another box inside.
Another girl opened the box with a different key, and a black rhombus box was sitting inside. There were many complex patterns engraved on the center of the box, and the combination of the patterns looked like a silver-blue rose.
The last girl opened the black box with a weird-looking key and opened it slowly. Rays of bright light shot out of the box when the girl lifting the lid.
People in the hall gasped after the box was completely opened.
“Impossible…”
“This is the most wonderful gem I’ve ever seen in my whole life…”
“Stone of Lisa… It’s true that this is the most beautiful gem in the world…”
The noble ladies were in shock, forgetting to close their mouths. People stood up, and everyone praised the gem.
An egg-sized oval gem was lying on the black silk quietly, and the light it reflected was like a rainbow.
Angele stared at the gem, but he did not feel the excitement the others were experiencing. He had seen better gems on Earth, and they even looked better than this one, so he did not lose himself.
However, Tinos was fascinated by the gem.
“Stone of Lisa, the purest gem in the world. You can display it at your castle for sure, but what else can it do?” Angele shrugged.