Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

The old man nodded his head and the first girl removed the drape from the silver plate in her hand.

OHHH~ a noise of exclamation came from the crowd down below as they gazed at the item that marked the beginning of the auction. Lying on the silver plate was a dagger less than fifteen-inch in size and made with a peculiar material that gave its blade a crimson sheen.

"This item was found from a [C] tier dungeon and its name is [Rogue Blade]. A [C] tier item that further enhances your strength and bestows you with many powerful skills. Feel free to [Analyse] the item and see for yourself how good the weapon is. The starting bid for the item would be five hundred Blackgold coins".

Blackgold coins were more in circulation in their kingdom of Ellesmere than the higher denomination platinum coins. Thus, the auction mostly used Blackgold coins to trade.

The result of the analysis wasn't far away from what the old man said, the item was indeed a [C] tier item, Refinement rank 2 and gives +200 buff to your Agility and Endurance stats when equipping.

It also has quite a few skills like [Dagger Mastery], [Cutting enhancement], [Piercing enhancement], [Lethal Strike] and [Faint Slash].

The crowd immediately became awed by the appearance of the dagger. This was the first item that went up for auction, one had to imagine what sorts of treasures were sitting around to be auctioned for later.

At the same time, some of them became disheartened by the astronomical price. There was no way they who had brought a limited sum of money, would be able to contest for it.

A fierce bidding war started for the [Rogue Blade], the bid started with 530 blackgold coins and immediately inclined up to 850 coins. Some of the people in the hall who were still bidding for the dagger when they heard a voice come from one of the VIP rooms on top.

"1200 Blackgold coins".

The man who spoke out was the crown prince of Ingolf Kingdom, Oman. He lazily sat in his seat and took joy glancing at the unhappy faces of the crowd below.

Simon who was watching this scene from his own VIP compartment, closed his eyes. Although the dagger was not a bad weapon, it wasn't something that he was interested in especially when he had the Crimson sword and the twin blade with him.

Plus, dagger techniques were different from sword techniques and even their reach and way to use were different.

Perhaps because the people seated in the other VIP rooms were thinking on the same line or had their own agendas in mind nobody increased the bid after Oman and the item was sold to him.

Simon leaned against his chair and supported his head with his arms. He knew that the first few items would be appetizers to fill the hunger of the ordinary mass below, the true highlight would only appear later.

With his laidback attitude, Simon appeared to be enjoying a show as he saw one item after another come up the stage and be fiercely bid for. During this period, he did not participate at all.

As time passed, the artifacts and items that were being auctioned, gradually started becoming valuable and some of them even started holding his interest. For example, one of the artifact that just came up now, bestowed the wearer with a [Flight] skill.

Although the skill had a duration and a long cooldown time, it must be said that humans unless they reach a specific skill do not manifest a flight skill. Thus when the item came up, it stir quite a war between different parties, each eager to win the item no matter what.

Simon was a Demon Noble born with a pair of wings thus he had no interest in these items. Nonetheless, it was not like none of the items was able to catch his interest.

Satina's earrings, an item that gave the user Wind resistance for a fixed period of time. There was an intense bid for this item before being auctioned to Lucas who had offered the highest bid for it.

As Simon was observing Lucas, the person in question seemed to detect something and hurriedly glanced towards him. However, since Simon was covering even his appearance with a hat and a black robe, Lucas wasn't able to notice anything peculiar.

"The next item for sale is an old scroll containing space laws within it. But because it was recovered in an extremely rough condition, it was damaged and may or may not be able to work like usual. The tier of the item is [B] and the starting bid is 2000 blackgold coins, let the bidding begin".

The audience voiced out sounds of exclamation when they heard it was a scroll that contained some kind of space magic within it; however, when they heard that it was damaged and might not work, they immediately lost their interest.

Space magic was one of the rare forms of magic even rarer than the Light and dark magic. There might be a few light magic users in their kingdom; however, they had no person capable of using space magic.

That was because to learn space magic, one needed a very high level of aptitude and talent. One had to be a genius at controlling mana and have a teacher who is willing to bestow his knowledge upon them.

That is why, there is no space magic user in their kingdom. A few seconds passed; nevertheless, there was none from the audience who wanted to bid for an old damaged scrol for that amount.

The old man auctioneer knitted his brows, he too knew that the item might not be bid for at all but because he couldn't reject the supplier, he took his chances though it seemed that it was all for nought.

Just when it seemed that the item would go without getting any bid, "2000 blackgold coin" from inside one of the VIP rooms, came a voice. 

The crowd was stunned for a moment, they couldn't believe that there was someone from the VIP rooms foolish enough to go for a damaged scroll. In 99 % of the cases, a damaged scroll would always end up being a dud not to mention a space type scroll would cost a lot.

One had to know that a scroll type artefact engraved with a magic can only be used once before it gets destroyed. The old scroll for auction even though had the incredibly rare space magic, it can only be used once not to mention there is a high possibility that it might even not work.

No matter how they saw it, the item was not worth that amount of money.  All the eyes turned towards the black-robed man with a hat, the bid came from his room.

Cynthia who was observing the auction calmly, gazed at the black-robed man. Her beautiful eyes lingered on him for a few seconds before she shifted them towards the auctioneer.

The old man getting the hint was just about to auction the scroll to him when an unexpected bid that came from another VIP room stopped him from doing so.

"2500 blackgold coins"

A cold mocking voice sounded out from the VIP room designated for the guests of Ingolf Kingdom. The one who spoke out was none other than Oman. He was lounging in his seat and had a playful smile on his face.

The crowd was thrown into surprise once again, there was someone who was willing to offer even more for something which did not have any value in their eyes.

Those with sharp eyes and intuitive ones could see that the crown prince of Ingolf Kingdom was deliberately making this harder for the person in the black robe. Some looked at the scene with amused eyes, ready to see a good show. 

Simon glanced at Oman and narrowed his eyes. There was no way he would not understand the intention of the other party, they just wanted to make it difficult for him by increasing the price and making a counterbid.

"3000 Balckgold coins" Simon calmly raised his offer.

"3500" Immediately after which came the counter bid of Oman.

"4000"

"4500"

"5000" Simon narrowed his eyes and declared, his heart becoming cold.

"5500" Sensing the atmosphere, Oman raised the price once again, a ruthless smile on his face.

"Your royal highness, it would be foolish to spend this much amount of money for a damaged scroll. Instead, we should save the money for the highlight of this auction, the Serene Palace Merchant guild is sure to bring out something good for this occasion" an attendant behind him, suggested.

Oman glared at the attendant before dismissing him with his words.

"You think I don't know that idiot? I'm just livening up the atmosphere of this auction by providing everyone a good show".

He wasn't interested in the thing anyway, he just wanted to goof around and make the other party look like a clown. With his identity as the crown prince of Ingolf Kingdom and his deep pockets he could easily achieve something like that.

"6000" When Simon raised the price once again, Oman snickered and lazily yawned on his seat. His attitude seems to say that he was no longer interested in the item.

The auctioneer had a bright smile on his face as he observed the audience for any possible counterbid before tapping the hammer in his desk thrice and selling the item to Simon.

"Congratulation to this sir for buying a Gold Scroll for 6000 blackgold coins, truly an extraordinary treasure" as if to mock him for his idocy, Oman clapped loudly from his VIP room.

Simon flashed a smile from under his hat but his eyes were frigid cold. If not for the man, he would have been able to buy the scroll for 2000 blackgold coins.