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...

Yang Jing returned, bringing an auction invitation and...

"Uh, can you introduce this fellow?" Siegfried asked, pointing to the man at Yang Jing's feet.

A man who looked like a wealthy merchant lay there, covered in wounds, especially his lower body, which was a bloody mess. He was barely breathing, clearly on the verge of death.

Yang Jing spoke expressionlessly: "I went to ask him for an invitation. He said he wanted me to spend the night with him. Then he ended up like this."

Yang Jing concisely summarized what could have been a 4000-word adventure story, making Siegfried's eye twitch.

"Ah... I see..."

Siegfried glanced at the merchant's lower body, instantly feeling his own manhood shudder.

(Better not provoke this woman in the future...)

He bent down and patted the merchant's face. "Hey, brother. Answer one question before you die."

The merchant opened his eyes groggily, mumbling with his last breath: "Legs... legs... white... pain..."

Seems that was the murder weapon.

"Brother, where's your treasury?"

"You... who are you..."

"I'm your cousin, remember? You said you'd leave your fortune to me, don't you remember?"

"Cousin... oh yes... yes..."

The merchant's eyes regained some life, clearly a final burst of energy before death. He grabbed Siegfried's hand, his expression full of regret: "Brother..."

"Yes, big brother."

"Beware... beware of women..."

With that, the merchant kicked the bucket.

Siegfried was dumbfounded. He grabbed the merchant's collar and lifted him off the ground.

"Hey! Where's the money? Where's the money? Damn it, where's the money? Quick, call a priest! Make him spit out the money before he dies!"

Siegfried was heartbroken, feeling like he hadn't received all the rewards in a game.

...

In the evening, the company's executive meeting was held as scheduled at the dinner table.

Yang Jing, the intelligence director and one of the shareholders, spoke first: "This is an invitation to an auction."

Her speech was abrupt. She stood up, said just this one sentence, and sat down again, knowing someone would explain for her.

Everyone instinctively looked at the major shareholder, waiting for him to speak.

Siegfried picked up the invitation and waved it in the air, "This is an underground auction, understand?"

Kriemhild: "I don't understand."

"The participants of this auction are wealthy merchants and nobles with vast fortunes, understand?"

Roland: "I don't understand."

Catalina, the deputy captain of security, suddenly jumped up with a look of sudden realization: "I know! You want to sell the teacher's sword!"

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Roland's Durandal was currently the most valuable item in the company. If sold, it could buy an entire earldom.

Roland slapped his silly disciple on the head, scolding, "Is this something that can be sold?!"

Catalina sat back down, covering her head pitifully.

Siegfried couldn't be bothered with these two and continued: "The goods at these auctions are all things that can't be brought to light. From the list that came with the invitation, there are even slaves."

The air in the dining room suddenly froze.

Twenty years ago, a woman named Vivian was crowned queen in the royal capital.

At twenty-three, she consolidated most of the power within five years, completely sidelining the incompetent old king, and then carried out sweeping reforms in the kingdom, with the primary focus on completely banning the slave trade.

The reforms, of course, met with fierce resistance from the vested interests, but were bloodily suppressed by the Rose Knights, who reported directly to the queen.

This queen forcefully gave the declining Moen a new lease of life with her iron-fisted methods, but also wore herself out and passed away early.

By now, everyone must have guessed that this woman, later known as the "Rose Queen," was the mother of Roderick and Kriemhild, and the former regent of the Kingdom of Moen.

This year marked the fifth anniversary of the queen's passing, and the slave trade, which was once suppressed the hardest, had made a comeback.

Kriemhild's usually gentle face was tinged with anger, while Roland slammed his fist on the table, nearly knocking all the dishes to the floor.

"These bastards, we didn't kill enough of them back then!"

He was one of the last members of the Rose Knights, and the shield carved with a bright red rose still hung in his room.

Kriemhild was burning with anger. The ban on the slave trade was one of her mother's proudest achievements. To this day, she still remembered the scene of her mother, without any elegance, hands on hips, boasting to her when she was only four or five years old.

"Little Hild, mommy did a great job this time, maybe she can save thousands of people. Don't suck your thumb! Quick, give mommy a round of applause!"

She was a gentle, strict, yet humorous mother, like sunshine, and the last backbone that God gave to this decaying nation.

(It's only been five years, mother has only been gone for five years...)

Kriemhild's fists were clenched white. She stared at Siegfried, trying her best to summon the surrounding light spirits to read this man's intentions, but to no avail. She could only open her mouth to probe: "Mr. Siegfried, you must have a reason for bringing this up."

Siegfried waved his hand, gesturing for everyone to calm down, then spoke unhurriedly: "We will attend this auction and purchase slaves..."

Bang!

Roland slammed his fist on the table again, roaring in anger: "Are you joking? Do you know what you're saying?"

Catalina hurriedly tried to pull Roland back, "Teacher, Lord Meilan must have his reasons for saying this."

"What reasons could there be for this!"

Kriemhild remained silent, but from her gloomy expression, it was clear she was not happy.

"Um... everyone, please don't fight..." The cute half-elf boy Darren tried to mediate with tears in his eyes, but his voice was too small and easily drowned out by the agitated Roland.

Siegfried coldly observed this scene, his gaze sweeping over each person, his expert-level cold reading skills in full force.

(Kriemhild and Roland will oppose my opinion. Catalina has already started to trust me unconditionally, which is good. Darren... still neutral? Worth winning over... Hm? Why is Bobo so quiet?)

This was why he spoke in this fragmented way, to check the internal power dynamics.

Some of his methods in the future would certainly be questioned, and to avoid this, preparations had to be made starting now.

"Are you done making a fuss?" A cool voice rang out at just the right moment, like a bucket of ice water instantly dousing the boiling dining room, "If you're done, let's continue listening."

Yang Jing swept her expressionless gaze over everyone. Now she understood why these people were beaten so badly by Roderick, they were simply a bunch of rabble.

Siegfried threw a grateful wink at Yang Jing, receiving a disgusted look in return...

He coughed and continued to explain his plan unhurriedly:

"..."

"......"

"........."

"Do you understand now?"

A strange atmosphere began to permeate the dining room.

If this atmosphere had to be given a name, it would probably be called "conspiracy."

"Lord Meilan, you're so devious... but I like it!" Catalina praised Siegfried as always.

Kriemhild buried her head low, but her shoulders were slightly shaking, she was trying hard not to laugh out loud.

"This doesn't seem quite right... it completely goes against the spirit of knighthood..." said Roland, the model knight who loved ambushes, with an eager look on his face as he spoke these high-sounding words.

A cold smile bloomed on Siegfried's face. Everyone noticed that whenever this man showed this expression, it meant someone was about to be in trouble.

"I believe this auction will be very exciting!"