After agreeing to his suggestion of partying up again, everyone split up to do their own things. Sheri said goodbye to Nora before heading off on her own. Now Nora was truly alone.
Since Evelyn had to follow Candy to make sure she didn’t get into any trouble, Evelyn had to leave Nora’s side.
Though Nora could still talk to Evelyn and Candy with their telepathic link, Nora still felt a bit lonely. The warm presence of Evelyn that always stayed by her side was going to be gone for a week.
But hey, at least I have a week of alone time. I’m finally able to check and try some things out without Eve watching me.
Sweeping through the fancy hall of the Grima auction house, Nora walked towards the receptionist. This was the same receptionist that the party had just gone to to sell their loot.
“Welcome Miss, how can I be of service to you?”
Being an employee of the Grima auction house, the receptionist service was of high quality. She asked politely and tried to give the best service possible.
The Grima auction house was an ancient, and was quite a powerful force in the city of Arendal. The Grima auction house had been in the city for decades. Back when the city was just starting out, the Grima auction house was one of the few companies which invested in the city.
Moreover, it was rumoured to be the daughter company of Global Market. Thus with its long heritage and various connections in the commercial world, no matter how enticing the profits of the auction were, no one would dare to try anything against them. This made Grima auction house one of the safest and most trusted auction houses in the city.
“I would like to sell some things to be auctioned, where can I get my goods appraised?” Nora asked.
“Please head over to the blue doors by the side, miss, we have the best appraisers in the city.”
Following her directions, Nora quickly found the side rooms. On the doors which led to the rooms were the shiny words “Appraisal Room”. Walking inside one of them, Nora saw that the room was quite empty. Only a middle aged man who was obviously bored sat there. Hearing the door open, the man raised his head and, upon seeing Nora, his face changed to a professional smile: “Miss, do you plan on having something appraised?”
The appraiser gazed at Nora with a hint of amazement as she slowly placed a multitude of items onto the table. Without even seeing what she placed, he was able to judge that the young lady before him was quite extraordinary.
Her body carried a dense fog that even he could not see through. This was something which seldom occurred. Having more than 10 years of experience, he knew that he had enough skill to see through an A rank. This made him curious about the young lady before him.
“My master is a master enchanter, he is thinking of selling some of his completed works here!” Nora spoke straightforwardly after placing a small heap of enchanted items onto the table.
Of course, she had with her many more enchanted items that were more valuable than those on the table, but to keep a low profile, she didn’t show everything. Only the items with one or two small enhancements were placed on the table. Only when she was stronger would she dare to show them off.
“So…… So many!” his eyes widened instantly in surprise. He then lost that last bit of calmness in his expression as he soon recognised some of the enchantments placed onto the items. Even though all the items were made of low quality materials, with the enchantments placed onto them, he knew they were strong enough be able to rival great master pieces.
His eyes sparkled as his doubts were answered. Ah no wonder! That’s why I can’t see through her strength, her master must have given her an enchanted item which hid her strength.
No matter where, proficient potions masters, enchantment masters, and artifact crafters always enjoyed preferential treatment.
The ranks of enchanters, crafters, potioneers, blacksmiths, and many more similar professions were all very similar.
For enchanters, lowest was, novice, the rank for enchanters who just started learning about rune writing. Second was, apprentice, the rank for enchanters who were able to engrave runes into items. Third was, adept, the rank for enchanters who were able to regularly enchant an item with one small enchantment. Forth was, master, the rank for enchanters who were able to regularly enchant multiple small enchantments. Fifth was, grandmaster, the rank for enchanters who were able to enchant one big enchantment.
As for the highest rank, it was rank of supreme grandmaster. It was the highest title given to enchanters. Only the best of of the best of enchanters could reach it. This was a rank given to enchanters who were able to stack two big enchantments onto a single item. This was the rank Nora was at.
“Hoho……” As she watched the man lose his composure, Nora smiled kindly. Just by showing items with small enchantments, she was able to scare the other party.
Enchantment masters were always given special treatment even among strong organisations. The scarcity of such masters in the world was very high. This was because of the high costs of trying to raise one. To practice enchanting, one had to acquire primers, enchanting rod and materials to practice engraving on.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Such for a beginner to begin training in how to engrave runes, he or she would have to spend hundreds of gold for primer. This was not even counting the gold needed for strong materials. With the weak mana control of beginners, weak and cheap materials were too flimsy to handle the mana. Thus, to even reach the adept rank, the amount of gold needed was something truly frightening. Only big organisations or mid nobility could afford the cost needed to raise them.
“This…These…” Drops of cold sweat slid down the appraiser’s forehead, and even more so, he had an embarrassed look on his face.
“My apologies, honourable guest! This deal is beyond my abilities, please wait a moment……” Even if he was at the Grimer auction house, an ordinary appraiser like him was not of high enough rank to partake in such deals. He knew the company’s protocols with situations such as this, he had to get the higher ups. Even if he had the skills to appraise all the items, he still had to get the higher ups to complete the deal.
Seeing how panicked the appraiser was, Nora couldn’t help but giggle. Nora wasn’t worried about her identity being known. Nora wanted the best treatment possible. Moreover, she knew that if she hid her identity by wearing a mask, it was going to be more suspicious than lying about her master.
With her age, looks, and skills, Nora knew that she could pull off the ‘young apprentice of a master enchanter’ look very well. It was easier for her if she used this identity than wearing a mask, and telling everyone she was a master enchanter.
Moreover, even if they decided to investigate her identity, she knew they wouldn’t be able to find anything. The most they would find was that she came from the portside town. The amount of links she had were so few that Nora wasn’t worried. It was too far of a stretch to link anything substantial to her.
Almost within a minute after the appraiser left, a polite knock sounded again, “Honourable guest, may I enter?”
“Please do!” Nora smiled.
However, right after the new appraiser walked in, Nora immediately frowned. You’ve got to be kidding me.
The reason she frown was because the new appraiser was a dashing young man.
“Let me introduce myself. My name is Harry, Harry Grimer! I am the son of Lucian Grimer and heir to this company. The administrative matters of the Grimer auction house, as well as Miss’ business, will be fully handled by me!” The dashing young man smiled and bowed. He was confident he could charm the young beauty in front of him to help his company. With his charming manners and poise, he had done it multiple times before. He was confident he could do to same here. However, Nora was no ordinary noble girl...
Dammit! You think I don’t know what game you are trying to play!
Realising what he were trying to do, Nora immediately regretted her actions. She knew that organisations such as this would usually send vixens to charm men but she didn’t think they would do the reverse too. Dammit, I should have gone with the second option of hiding my identity! At least Eve isn’t here to see this, she would never let me live this down.
Nora cursed internally as she returned the bow with a smile. She knew that since there was nothing she could do about it, she decided to just go with it. She wanted to use this chance to learn how to socialise better.
“Miss, how may I address you?” Harry looked at Nora and smiled. As if practiced a thousand times, his smile was full of charm and confidence.
“Just Nora will do!” Nora softly spoke while cursing internally. Dammit! He’s trying to honey dick me! I’m going to puke!
“Hoho… Miss, are you planning to sell them all!” Harry trotted forward, waving the sleeves of his primed suit as he sat down in front of Nora languidly. He leaned forward and gazed into Nora’s blue eyes. His face was so close that Nora wanted to punch him.
Dammit! I don’t think I can last any longer. Anymore of this and I’ll puke. I need to end this.
Deciding to give up, Nora spoke bluntly. “Yup, can you auction it as soon as possible? And by the way, I’m only interested in girls.”
Hearing the words come out of Nora’s mouth, Harry’s smile instantly froze. He stood there like a deer in the headlights, trying to process what Nora just said.
Harry’s eyebrows furrowed, but they relaxed shortly after. Like a professional, he took no time to recover. With his plans foiled, Harry decided to change his tactic. “Ahem…. Ahem, that will be of no problem miss, our monthly auction is held tomorrow. As your items are of high price, we can most definitely slot your items into the auction. Here, take this card.”
Taking the card in hand, Nora saw that it was gold in colour with the words ‘VIP’ on it.
“I’ll first explain the rules of our auction. These items can all be auctioned here. No matter what price they are dealt for, our Grimer auction house will have to take out 20% of it as a commission fee!”
“However, with this VIP card, all commission fee will be reduced to 1%. Moreover, you’ll be able to enter upper areas of the auction halls. This card is only given to customers when their transactions involve a total of over five thousand gold, making things much more convenient for them. However, since Miss is a apprentice of a master enchanter, you are also eligible to obtain it!”
“May I know, if your master is attending the auction? He’s most welcome to partake in our auction. If your master is willing to grace us with his presence, we’ll provide the best service possible. Moreover, we are willing to build a personal booth in our best auction hall.”
“Hmm… My master is very busy travelling right now, that’s why he tasked me with selling his works. Perhaps in the future, he might be interested. I have to ask him first.” Nora spoke coyishly.
Seeing that she was toying with him, Harry wanted to click his tongue and snarl. It had been a long time since a girl last played with him. However, he kept his professionalism and checked the items one by one.
There were a heap of random enchanted items on the table. There were swords with sharpness enchantments, shields with hardness, arrows with wind resistance and many more.
He counted that in total there were 9 items. 8 of them had 1 small enchantment on it while the last, a glowing blue blade, had 2 small enchantments.
Harry was baffled by the blade. This was the first time in his long career of working as a senior appraiser that he saw an enchantment which he didn’t recognise. He recognised that the blade had a sharpness enchantment on it but he couldn’t recognise the other.
Watching Harry struggle, Nora smirked and laughed internally. Though she felt that he was quite commendable for knowing what most of her enchantments did, she was still quite upset with him. Thus, she sadistically watched in joy as he tried to keep his wits.
After a while, Harry swallowed his pride and asked, “erm… Miss, would you educate this one on the effects of the enchantments on this blade? I can see that it has sharpness enchantment on it, but i’m not sure of the other one.”
“Ohohoho, I thought you’re the son of Lucian Grimer, and heir to the Grimer company? Why does the great son of Lucian Grimer, and noble heir to the Grimer company not know of this simple small enchantment?” Nora teased with a devilish smile. Nora couldn’t help but kick him when he was down. The grudge against him wasn’t going to go away so easily. She wanted to see him squirm before she was satisfied.
Seeing that Nora wanted revenge for what he tried to do, Harry decided to bite the bullet. He knew he was in the fault for this one and thus he decided to take it like a man. With teachings his father taught him, he knew what he had to do. He needed to curry favour with the mysterious master behind her back. And to do that he needed to go through the girl in front of him. Thus, he continued to belittle himself, and praised Nora in hopes that she would forgive him.
It was only after an hour later that Nora finally relented and told him about the powers of the enchantment. The enchantment on the blade allowed it to absorb electricity to empower its attack. It was an enchantment she found after looting the ancestral libraries of the beastman back when she was Kel Kazan.
After telling him about the enchantment, Nora turned around and left the scene. She knew that her act of acting like a noble was strong enough to fool the person that has been watching from directly above. She didn’t need to stay any longer. She was satisfied with just berating him. If it was the old her, she would have killed him long ago. Thus, she felt quite good about herself.
I’m learning to be more diplomatic.