The two weeks waiting for the auction flew by. Ann and Lin gave me a tour of the confusing city and we bought some clothes along with doing some window shopping. Ann was right and there were no magic bags to be found and unfortunately the auction didn’t list any either. On our walks through the city, we had quickly noticed that we were once more being followed.
This time the members of Red Fang didn’t try to hide themselves and just followed us around openly. We ignored them even though it was annoying. They didn’t try anything and seemed content to watch us from a distance. Our guess was that they were now waiting for us to get paid by the auction before robbing us and getting revenge.
Lin was itching for a fight and had to be talked down from confronting them in the street. There was no need to cause an incident and find ourselves in trouble with the city guards. Speaking of the guards, they had noticed the Red Fang and were keeping an eye on them as well. According to Lux’s contacts, our report had been verified and the mercenary company had to pay reparations to the family of the coach driver.
They had claimed it was a rogue party and some higher ups were shielding them from more severe punishment. That was a good indication of who had hired them in the first place. Once the auction was over it would be best to head to Lake City or East Harbor although I would miss the hot springs. Our daily soaks were addicting.
While not wandering around the city, Ann and I continued studying. She was getting close to finishing her telekinesis spell while Lin and Ann were taking turns teaching me how to read and write the common language. I hadn’t decided yet which spell I wanted to tackle next. I had looked through some of the books from Ann’s collection but nothing had peaked my interest.
Similar to learning the common tongue, I was quickly picking up how to read and write the language. The girls claimed it was due to their excellent teaching and who was I to argue. The day of the auction we dressed in our best clothes and went to see how rich we would be. The VIP area was equipped with snacks and drinks with a server waiting on us. There were a few richly dressed people already there who ignored us as we were clearly not fancy enough for them.
The auction room had stadium seating leading down to a central stage where the items would be shown. The VIP booth was along the top in its own area. There wasn’t anything in the auction list that any of us was interested in so we would just be watching and not bidding. I had studied up on the local currency which was about the same as the Old Empire knowledge I had. There was a large gold coin followed by a quarter sized gold coin and then it went to silver and copper with 10 copper making up one silver and so forth.
Lux and the girls had done all the paying so I didn’t have a real good sense yet of what goods and services were worth. The auction started filling up and was soon filled to capacity. That bode well for our items achieving the most money. A scantily clad bunny girl was placing items onto tables atop the stage. Most of our items were toward the end of the auction. Saving the best for last as the saying goes.
We watched with interest as the auction got underway by a well-dressed elf auctioneer with the bunny girl holding items up for the bidders to see. The first set of items were some ornate weapons. The bidding was fast and furious. I hoped they saved some money for our items. As items went by one after the other, we snacked on the buffet style food and talked amongst ourselves. The rich snobs still ignored us or it could be that Lux was too intimidating.
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Finally, our first items went up. It was some of the jewelry we had scavenged. “Here we go.” I murmured. All the jewelry sold at about the same price as other items that had been sold so no premium price for being Old Empire which was disappointing. The selling price was still decent so there wasn’t too much to complain about.
After that more of our items sold until it was time for the beginning of the potions. We expected these to do really well due to their popularity and rarity. They were being sold in small batches of the same variety. I could sense a definite stirring in the crowd when they were brought on stage. The first batch was of healing potions and the bidding seemed to be never ending, finally stopping at a ridiculous amount.
All of the rest sold much the same. We were speechless at first, all of us in shock at what the potions were selling for. Soon the girls broke the spell by celebrating and hugging me tightly. I could only stare dumfounded at the auction stage. The rich snobs stared at us in contempt but we were too happy to give them any attention.
With the potions done, it was time for the main event. The bunny girl brought out the lightning rod we had removed through much effort. Ann had told me that both the magical metals that the lightning rod was made of were very rare to find in large quantities like what was present in the artifact. Both materials conducted mana extremely well and were very hard to damage with the mythril being light weight.
Like the appraiser said, it would most likely be made into magical weapons. I had asked Lux and the girls if we shouldn’t save it and get them outfitted with weapons similar to my sword but they weren’t interested. They were happy with the weapons we had found in the cursed city. It would take a skilled smith used to dealing with such materials to turn it into a legendary weapon. As you would imagine such smiths were hard to find and their services expensive.
There was even more murmuring in the room as the artifact was placed on the table than when the potions were brought out. “Good gentle sirs and ladies, we have finally come to what I’m sure you have all been waiting for. This seemingly plain piece of metal has been verified by our experts to be pure orichalcum with a core of pure mythril. I don’t need to tell you how rare these magical metals are or what they can be used for. Please let us not dither any longer and let the bidding begin!” the auctioneer called from the stage.
I had already noticed there must be some form of magic amplifying his voice to reach the rear of the room. I couldn’t see any devices in use so just chalked it up to more magical tomfoolery. The auctioneer had started the bidding off high and it just continued to climb. After all the money that was thrown at the potions, I had been a little afraid that they wouldn’t have enough left for the lightning rod. It seemed my concerns were unfounded.
We were once again in shock at the astronomical value that the artifact finally stopped at. There would be no problem buying a mansion now I was sure. The real problem would be to keep our newfound wealth safe. There was no banking system on the island evidently, so it was up to the individual to keep ahold of their funds. That isn’t to say the local guards would condone theft, but it was a big city and they couldn’t be everywhere.
After the auction concluded, we were ushered out of our VIP room and back to the front desk. There we were given a paper showing the results of the auction. We would have to return the following day to receive our money as the winning bidders still had to pay the auction house. The auction would take their split and the rest would be ours.
We would use that time to make sure everything was ready to secure our wealth. The Red Fang weren’t the only mercenaries in town and Lux had history with a few of the outfits. Things wouldn’t go as easy for the Red Fang as they imagined, of this I was sure. If anything, it will be fun to see the looks on their faces.