Chapter 80 - - 80: The Auction House

Chapter 80: Chapter - 80: The Auction House

The pass we got as a reward from the royal court was for the upcoming friday when the grand auction will be held in the royal auction auction house.

And the day arrives much sooner in my busy schedule. ℴ

So I along with Elena, Dalas and Maya headed towards the Royal Auction House, in our carriage.

The Royal Auction House was located in one of the busier districts of the capital, surrounded by expensive shops, restaurants, and several other establishments that seemed to exist primarily for people who had considerably more money than they knew what to do with.

Even before our carriage reached the street where the auction house stood, I could already see the difference between an ordinary street and this one.

There were carriages everywhere.

Some carried the crests of noble families I recognized, while others bore unfamiliar emblems that probably belonged to wealthy merchants, influential organizations, or noble houses from outside the capital.

The road in front of the auction house was crowded with people arriving one after another, and several attendants were constantly moving between the carriages to guide their occupants toward the entrance.

The Royal Auction House held auctions almost every day, but those ordinary auctions were usually nothing particularly remarkable.

They had plenty of useful items, certainly, and there were always people interested in purchasing them, but truly rare commodities were not common enough to justify gathering a huge crowd every day.

But today, or I should Friday is different.

Every Friday, the Royal Auction House holds what is known as the Grand Auction, where the rarest items are put up for sale, and because of that, the building was practically guaranteed to be full.

It reminded me of theatrical releases from my previous world.

New movies were often released on Fridays, and if one happened to be particularly popular, the theaters could become completely packed.

The comparison was admittedly strange, especially considering that nobody here was going to sit in a dark room and watch a moving picture for two hours, but the basic principle was similar enough. Friday meant something special was happening.

Of course, there was one rather important difference.

The Grand Auction is not an event that ordinary people could simply walk into and enjoy. The best items were usually far beyond what commoners could afford, and access to the highest levels of the auction house was restricted to nobles, influential merchants, prominent adventurers, and other people with enough status or money to justify their presence.

But I don’t think that is something truly unfair considering it is just the way of life.

Besides everyone has their own forms of entertainment.

Our carriage eventually stopped in front of the auction house, and Dalas opened the door for us. Elena stepped out first, followed by Maya, while I came out after them.

All four of us were dressed appropriately for the occasion, although none of us had gone excessively formal.

Elena wore a dark dress that suited her black hair and eyes, while Maya had chosen something somewhat simpler. Dalas and I have gone with formal clothes as well, mostly because walking into a place like this wearing casual clothing would have attracted more attention than necessary.

The staff immediately noticed us and approached us.

The royal reward we had received included a premium VIP pass to the auction, and the pass itself carried enough authority that we did not need to stand among the ordinary guests waiting to have their invitations checked.

I took it out and handed it to one of the attendants. The moment he saw it, his expression became noticeably more respectful. He checked the pass carefully before returning it with both hands.

"This way, please."

We followed him inside.

The interior of the auction house was even larger than I had imagined. The main hall was several levels high, with rows of seats arranged around a large central stage. There were balconies surrounding the upper floors, allowing the wealthier guests to watch the auction from more private spaces.

Our attendant led us past the ordinary seating areas and continued upward.

Eventually, we reached the highest level where there were only six balconies on the floor. That alone told me how exclusive they were.

Each balcony was large enough to comfortably accommodate four to six people, with a clear view of the stage and the seating below. They were separated from one another by considerable distances, ensuring that people occupying them could maintain a reasonable degree of privacy.

Our balcony was number five.

The announcer would refer to bidders by their balcony number rather than their names.

As for the balcony number one. It is traditionally reserved for members of the royal family or their representatives. I glanced toward it as we entered our own balcony.

Several people were already seated there. Unfortunately, I could not identify any of them because they are all wearing masks.

Actually, masks are not particularly unusual here as most of the people in the VIP balconies are wearing them, including us.

Even quite a few people in the normal seating area had concealed their identities.

There were obvious reasons for that.

An auction like this could involve enormous amounts of money, and there was no particular benefit in letting everyone know exactly who had purchased an expensive magical artifact.

We took our seats on the 5th balcony. From here, the entire auction stage was clearly visible. Elena sat on my left while Dalas took the seat on my right.

Elena urged Maya to also take a seat, besides her.

The staff here is really good in their work, because there are a perfect number of seats in every balcony for the people there are. For example there are four seats in our balcony despite us not notifying them that there will be four people coming which means they might have removed or added the seats after we entered the venue.

Elena leaned slightly toward me and looked around the balcony "It is much bigger than I expected. I have been to Murlin city’s auction house several times but it is nothing compared to this."

I nodded "it is the biggest auction house in the capital after all." Cerulean city’s auction house is also much smaller than this one.

A few minutes later, the lights in the auction hall dimmed slightly, and the conversations gradually quieted.

Then a man stepped onto the stage. He was probably the auction house’s most experienced announcer, judging by how naturally he handled the attention of several hundred people.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to this week’s Grand Auction." The announcer waited until voices of conversations were lower down.

"We have prepared a selection of rare magical artifacts, materials, weapons, and other treasures gathered from across the kingdom and beyond. As always, I ask everyone to remain respectful toward fellow bidders, and I hope you will all find something worthy of your interest....."

Soon after the briefing, a staff member brought forward the first lot of the day.

It was some kind of magical artifact, although I could not remember its exact description until the announcer introduced it properly.

The bidding began at several hundred gold and quickly climbed.

Within a minute, it was sold for slightly more than one thousand.

The next item followed which reached around three thousand.

Then another.

Most of them were sold somewhere between one thousand and five thousand gold, while one particularly desirable artifact managed to reach eight thousand before someone finally claimed it.

I watched several of the auctions without much interest and Elena seemed to be doing the same.

None of those items were what we had come here for. We could have bought some of them, obviously.

Forty thousand gold credit is enough to buy three items equivalent to any of the rewards given to other students and still have some credit left.

That meant that even if Elena and I each purchased something comparable to the rewards given to the other participants, we would still have a substantial amount of credit remaining.

But that did not mean we should spend it carelessly.

There was something specific I wanted. Something I had already decided to purchase before we even entered the building.

I had learned about it several days ago when I checked the catalogue and the moment I saw its description, I had already made up my mind.

*I will have to buy that*

The price does not matter much.

If necessary, I would spend all forty thousand credits on it but, I doubted that would be necessary given how small the number of purchasers there might be for it.

Elena occasionally glanced toward me, perhaps wondering how long she would have to wait before I finally showed interest in something

I just signaled her to wait a little.

The auction proceeded smoothly, with the announcer maintaining a steady pace and the bidders occasionally competing aggressively over something particularly useful.

Eventually, the lot I was waiting for was announced as a trolley was pushed onto the stage. There was a small box resting on top of it.

My attention was immediately fixed on it.

Elena noticed it and asked "is that the one you were talking about?"