NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 50: A useless-looking stone? Or not...
Chapter 50
"A characteristic for this style is 'Taking a life is never to be done lightly,' and in battles, it can be recognized by its distinctive footwork!"
"This is best suited for those using a two-weapon fighting style. The starting price will begin at 20 million Neden!"
"30 million Neden!"
"35 million Neden!"
"60 million Neden...!"
The bids were once again raised; Oliver heard people from the upper floors also bidding for this.
He fell into thought; according to the auctioneer, this technique was developed by the teachings left behind by Barcia Darbi.
In the novel, she was a side character who challenged the protagonist once due to her extreme battle tendencies but was defeated by the protagonist who at that time had grown significantly!
She was quite strong and even had a dedicated martial school associated with her name. She served as a stepping-stone for the protagonist to grow further.
From the battle, the protagonist learned a thing or two about her style and improved.
That's all the purpose she had served in the story in summary.
He calmly looked ahead; the technique was indeed good for him at his level but unfortunately he did not have enough funds at the moment.
In the end, it was sold for 120 million Neden.
Oliver patiently waited as more and more items came and went; most of the items were purchased instantly by the rich but there were still some items that were either not purchased by anyone or that were bid very low for.
These items were probably too lacking for these people who remained and he could understand why. These items were either lacking in esper and looked ugly, or did not sound too useful.
While the second phase of the auction was indeed way superior and better than the first phase, there were still things and items that were not worth it.
Oliver was just eating free snacks when the next item was brought out and the auctioneer announced its details.
"The next item we have on our list belonged to once-renowned exorcist family; it was said that the family fell to ruin after the war and their descendants are now living somewhere in seclusion. Present the item!"
The male attendants quickly put the item on the display table for all the audience to see.
It was an ordinary-looking stone with some esper flowing out of it and giving the stone occasional glows of light.
"The person who put this on auction claims that this stone is a powerful artifact that could 'guide the lost through treacherous path ahead' or so they said. Now audience, whether it's true or false is up to you to decide!"
The auctioneer said in enthusiasm but looking at the uninterested expressions displayed by the crowd, she felt slightly hesitant; even she could not feel anything out of the ordinary from this stone.
From her colleagues, she heard the rumor that the Mystic Purge Clan apparently had some ties to that family in the last war and thus out of basic courtesy, they allowed this item to be prioritized in the second phase of the auction instead of the first.
It all made sense to her that no one was interested; these people were all high-class exorcists from distinguished and wealthy families, such an ordinary thing had no place in their eyes.
Nonetheless, it was still her job to try and sell the items.
"Know that this once belonged to a famed exorcist family before their ruin; it might really be something extraordinary!"
The crowd murmured as they heard this, feeling slight apprehension; what if the stone was really something extraordinary?
"Hoho... they surely have no taste," An elderly voice rang out among the crowd; it was an old man in a white buttoned coat and pants, he had a long gray beard and a bald head.
Adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses slightly, he said, "This is just an uncommon rank artifact. I am sure the most it could do is help its owner walk at night by acting as an esper torch."
Some people who looked at him could not help but exclaim.
"It's Mr. Tesshu! He's also here! I can't believe it!"
"Who's that?" Another person asked in curiosity.
"Don't you know him? He's Sagara Tesshu, the retired junior artifact appraiser; he once worked with the Forging Association!"
"Such an expert! It does make sense for him to attend this auction."
The murmurs intensified as people bickered among themselves about the authenticity of the stone.
Since an artifact appraiser had spoken, there was no scope left.
The auctioneer glared at the old man for ruining her pitch but refrained from speaking; she did not want to offend him because of a few words, plus he probably spoke the truth.
She sighed as she looked at the disinterested faces.
In the end, she could only start the bid. She had done what she could and it was now up to the people whether to buy this or not.
"The starting price will be... 500,000 Neden."
Hearing her low price, people could not help but form expressions of disdain; sure enough, this was not worth it.
They all knew that every year, some people would either provide large sums of money or use their connections to supply some ordinary ranking artifacts into the auction.
So it was not an uncommon sighting to spot some trash among treasures every now and then once in a while.
These people simply had one motive and that was to be able to fool the crowd and earn big by scamming them.
A risky act considering the status of people present every year, but these people were gamblers who played such games; they were gambling addicts!
Of course, there were cases every year where an exorcist would fall for this and later realize that the artifact that they had bid on was a fake or a low-ranking one.
In the end, they would use their wealth and connections to hunt down the seller who might or might not be seen again.
Despite such risk, there were always people willing to do that. As long as they used sufficient connections in the market and used enough money, they could slide one or two such items.
Well, no one cared since it was their fault for not recognizing if the item was worthy or not.
The hall was silent; not even the people from the upper floor were interested in bidding this time.
Just as the auctioneer was about to move onto the next item and discard this one, a calm voice sounded in the silent hall, shocking everyone.
"500,000 Neden."