"Very well, who will be the first to bid for this item? Do we have 17 million platinum coins...? Come on! Don"t be shy! We all know that a sword is very practical and one of the most commonly practised weapons! This would be a steal even at 30 million platinum! How about it? Do I--Yes! We have our first bid!"Aquino"s professional hype speech kept up a buzzing atmosphere in the underground auction hall, especially with festive but tasteful and soft orchestra music filling their surroundings.
In some ways, this auction reminded Lars of a carnival or fun fair from back home, except that the focus here was not a performance but a host touting his wares... And that he had never been to such a posh event before.
Even his conferment as the youngest Legendary Mage and Hero of the War of Worlds had not been as grand, given the fact that the world had still been reeling from the damage of the war as well as the austerity practised by the military.
He had been halfway about to input his bid into the keypad - which only had the numbers 1 until 9 with a red "0" b.u.t.ton sitting below the 3 by 3 grid of keys. Beside the red "0" b.u.t.ton was a simple square that read, "BID".
At the side there was also a note that reiterated the explanation - as the minimum increment was in multiples of 100,000 platinum coins, any number input would be multiplied by a hundred thousand times i.e. if a user input 100, that would be 100 times 100,000 = 10 million platinum coins or 10 MP.
Lars had a wry look on his face as he saw the veritable essay printed as a "short note" beside the bidding control panel and wondered if the writer were being paid by wordcount... Perhaps it was true, as the note was already slightly bigger than the keypad itself!
He was halfway inputting his bid of 17 MP when he heard the host announce - there had already been a bid before his.
"Thank you to our first bidder... And it is not just so simple as the first bid, no! On behalf of the organisers, we would like to thank you deeply for your great show of generosity!" Host Aquino bowed deeply at his waist, forming a right-angle of 90 degrees as he bent his body.
"I"m sure you"re dying to know the amount, right? Be amazed! We have received a phenomenal opening bid of 50 MP! What a marvellous bid!" Aquino clapped his hands enthusiastically and the music accompaniment grew louder to help cover the fact that not a single person joined him in applause.
On the contrary, Lars and the other bidders began to grumble at the irritating person who went right ahead to grossly inflate the prices! What a boor and a worthless show-off! Even if you were filthy rich, there was no reason to flaunt it right...?
As there were many arrivals just in time for the Gorun City Auction this morning, there were many n.o.bles, royal entourages and other important guests arriving under the cover of anonymity here to browse the wares that would be displayed.
And from the rumours milling about, the turnout this year was very encouraging despite the devil invasion. Some said that this was a sign of the quality of the "secret" items that would be auctioned today!
Aquino then completed his overly enthusiastic applause and then continued to speak, "Esteemed guest! Just to preserve your anonymity while also confirming we have accepted your bid, your screen should have lit up GREEN. This will indicate that you are indeed the one whose bid has been accepted first, just in case there was someone else who tried to input the same bid amount simultaneously. If there is a dispute, whoever"s screen lights up will be the rightful first bidder whose bid is accepted! I hope you are pleased with our auction"s services!" He once more bowed deeply and was about to continue when a loud voice answered him, coming from a room above Lars.
The voice boomed out, resounding through the entire auction hall as the unseen speaker made himself heard with an announcement to everyone present.
"Most courteous host, you have my grat.i.tude for your kind show of hospitality in keeping my ident.i.ty confidential... However, there is no need to do so! For I am not so weak nor poor that I fear anyone knowing that I, indeed am the purchase! Yes, I, Duke Moron of the Wiarno Kingdom am proud to announce my arrival as the representative of King Soron! Hahahaha! Fellow guests! Feel free to outbid me, do not fear! I am not petty nor one who takes revenge.... Please, please outbid me! That is, if you can! Hahahahaha!"
The laughing speaker continued chuckling as he apparently had said what he came to say. And despite many seething bidders and members of the audience who resented such an abrasive and outright abusive personality, they could do nothing to refute him!
After all, they were definitely poorer than the representative of an entire kingdom, especially a Grade 3 kingdom like the Wiarno Kingdom ruled by the tyrant King Soron! In addition, as a t.i.tled duke, even if his name was incredibly stupid, he was also at least a beginning Legendary powerhouse - someone not to be trifled with...
And that was not even including his likely repertoire of mighty artefacts, runes, weapons, seals and plethora of things that only the incredibly rich could even dream of having!
Charley at Lars" side sighed and pursed his lips in discouragement. Lars looked at him with raised brows.
"Yo, what"s up? Isn"t he just a spendthrift splurging his money uselessly? It"s just the first item anyway... And it"s not really that valuable, certainly not worth 50 MP."
Charley sighed once more and shook his head with a smile as if though he were a wise old man disappointed in a young"un. At least he had that look on until Lars" fist began to rise up, ready to rap him on the head for being such a stuck-up smart-a.s.s.
Then Charley grinned sheepishly and sucked in a deep breath before he explained.
"Bro... Everyone is like, super upset right now at that Duke Moron the... The moron over there. But at the same time, there is a name for people like these... Whales!"
"Whales...? What do you mean...?"
"You see, what happens is that in every community, you would think that for the organisers, the more customers they have the better, right...?"
"Yeah... And...?" Lars tilted his head in curiosity as he asked.
"Well you"re wrong!" Charley grinned widely as he quickly continued his explanation. "Actually, nowadays, most organisers, companies and stuff bring in 90% of their earnings just through less than 10 customers! No, you didn"t hear me wrong! Just 10 customers usually make up 90% of their earnings! And the same is true for Gorun City"s Auction!"
Lars stared at Charley for a long while as Aquino called out inviting others to contest the bid. Instead of merely waiting for 10-15 seconds and ending the bidding round, he seemed to be tireless in his attempts to coax just one more bid at least, at least one more person to drive the prices up even further.
"So... This Duke Moron... He"s a whale...? What does that have to do with us...?"
This time, Charley earnestly did look surprised that Lars didn"t get it. Then he clarified.
"Lars... Putting together every item on auction... The auction house will probably bring in, I don"t know, 40? 50 billion platinum coins...? And if 90% of that comes from just a few people, then how much do you think that one Duke Moron has on hand to bid with...?"
Lars" eyes slowly widened as it dawned on him just what Charley was getting at and why everyone was so upset.
"Yes...! That Duke Moron probably has more than 15-20 billion platinum coins all by himself! Lars, do you understand now...? It"s not funny that he"s exorbitantly overbidding and raising the prices sky high! At this rate, it means that most likely, our 600 million platinum can only get us half as many items....!"
Lars looked shocked for a moment, but then his eyes turned sharp and murderous.
"Why don"t we... Ahem, I mean, why don"t people just kill him and rob him of his riches after the auction then...? After all, he"s been so generous as to announce his ident.i.ty! I"m sure it"d be easy to do that. He"s just a Legendary level right?"
Charley shrugged helplessly as he replied, "First off, the city is guaranteeing his safety! Secondly, and more importantly, have you never heard the story of Power Overwhelming...?"
Lars shook his head, saying, "Tell me."
"Well... There"s an old story telling of the power of wealth and the importance of equipment. It was said that once upon a time, there was a World-cla.s.s level mage who offended a Mythical-realm cultivator!"
"This mighty and seasoned senior cultivator was so greatly incensed that he immediately travelled across nearly 5,000 kilometres of distance between to seek out this World-cla.s.s youth. When he arrived, he found that the youth was feasting casually in a restaurant without any high-levelled guards, and immediately struck out to end the perpetrator"s life!"
"To his shock and surprise, his serious claw-strike bounced off the youth"s body directly and he ended up injuring himself, the force of his blow reflected back on himself! Then the youth stood up and showed no great battle techniques nor any special talent for fighting..."
"Instead, all he did was challenge the senior Mythical fighter by pulling out treasure after treasure, weapon after weapon, seal after seal and eventually, beating down his opponent just by the unstoppable power of wealth!"
"And that"s the moral of the story... Even if he"s, ahem, *JUST* a Legendary realm cultivator... He"s f***ing rich! So f***ing rich, he could probably buy half of the Kingdom of the Sands alone! Ok, I"m exagerrating, but you get my point? There"s no way anyone would dare to lay a hand on him!"
Lars nodded at that, "Yes... Thank"s Charley. I..."
Then his eyes seemed to glint evilly and mischievously as he said, "I understand COMPLETELY."
Then his fingers flew into a flurry of motion on the keypad at his side before he slammed his palm down on the b.u.t.ton, "BID"!
"Thank you, looks like that will be the closing for the first item! 50 MP going once! 50 MP going twice! 50 MP, sol... What? Are you serious???" Aquino was about to close off the bidding for the sword but suddenly blurted out some words, completely losing his charming and suave flow of speech.
He seemed to be speaking to someone backstage as he spoke out loud several times to confirm what he had just heard, then he shakily straightened out his clothes before making a hesitant announcement.
"Ladies and gentlemen... There has b-been another bid! T-thank you to our anonymous and generous bidder whose funds have been confirmed... The bid is for 70 MP! A staggering increase of 20 MP!"
"WHAT??!?" A great shout of outrage arose from the room above Lars... Causing Lars to smile wickedly even as Charley trembled in fear.
What was wrong with his boss" brain?!?
"RAISE THE BID! I"M BIDDING 100 MP! LET"S SEE YOU BEAT THAT!!!" The sound of someone slamming his fingers and fists on the bidding controls was heard.