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Volume 8 Chapter 5 Part 4

Someone from the Merchants Guild staff makes the announcement, catching up the attention of everyone currently gathered in the room. So, it’s finally starting, huh? The time for me to obtain a brand-new member of my harem has finally come!

Prompted by the staff member, I head to the second floor of the Merchants Guild as instructed.

A papyrus is posted on the door of the hall to which we have been guided to. Apparently, it has the order of the slaves that are going to be exhibited listed on it. However, since i can’t read the letters, I don’t know what’s written on it. This makes me think that maybe it is high time for me to start seriously learning how to read Brahim letters from Roxanne.

「Good, the Wizard’s turn is at the end, so you guys just go ahead and spend all your money on the others, leaving the best purchase for me!」

The old man is still shouting his nonsense.

It looks like Alan’s exhibition will be the last, not that it mattered to me either way since I don’t intend to be placing any bids on the Wizard slave.

I go inside the hall and pick a suitable seat for myself. I can’t say that the auction venue is filled to the brim, but if I were to estimate then I would have to say that about eighty percent of the entire venue has already been filled by other participants.

Still, quite a number of people seem to have showed up. That is much more attendee’s than I was initially expecting.

「Gentlemen, thank you very much for visiting us today. We will now begin the slave auction sponsored by the Slave Merchants Guild. The order of the exhibitions has already been decided via a lottery conducted fairly and impartially. Now, without further ado, may the first exhibitor please come forward with their slave?」

The auctioneer, who’s standing to the left, starts the auction. Two men then come on to the stage.

The slave is that man from the Dragonkin tribe that I saw in the first room that I entered upon my arrival.

「Nice to meet you all, here’s hoping for a fruitful auction for us all.」

「First exhibit: a fifteen years old male from the Dragonkin tribe. The minimum bid is one hundred thousand Nars. Without further ado, you may go on and proceed with the bidding.」

Once the slave merchant bows his head, the bidding starts in earnest.

「Two hundred and twenty thousand!」

Someone bids quite a large sum right off the bat. The starting price was only one hundred thousand Nars, and they have started with more than one hundred percent of that sum, two hundred and twenty thousand Nars? Normally, shouldn’t the first bid be same as the minimum bid, or raised only by something like ten percent or the like? Or maybe it’s that the auction is attended only by the brokers who are used to such sudden or unexpected movements?

「Two hundred and thirty thousand!」

「Two hundred and fifty thousand!」

「Two hundred and sixty thousand!」

That must probably be the case, since the bidding proceeds without any complaint from any of the other attendees or the organizers.

「Two hundred and seventy thousand!

「Two hundred and eighty thousand!」

「Three hundred thousand!」

「Three hundred and ten thousand!」

The auction continues as if nothing had happened, which made me raise a brow in surprise. Internally of course, since I cannot allow myself to show any kind of obvious weakness that other bidders could exploit when the time for me to bid comes around.

「Three hundred and twenty thousand!」

「Three hundred and thirty thousand!」

Eventually, there were only two people who were still bidding for the Dragonkin tribe male. The first bidder is a man, and the other one is a man, too.

「Three hundred and fifty thousand!」

「Three hundred and sixty thousand!」

「Three hundred and seventy thousand!」

「Three hundred and eighty thousand!」

Both of them are increasing their bids by ten thousand Nars at a time, which admittedly made that first auction a little monotonous. Then suddenly, a long line forms in front of one of the two men in the back. I wonder what is that line for?

At closer inspection, it looks like many people are lining up and putting money in front of that man. Silver coins are piling up in front of him at an astonishing rate, and a good amount of them at that. Is that for some kinda betting, or perhaps…

「I will not lose to an asshole who breaches etiquette!」

The man whom the coins were put in front of, raises his voice while using some rather direct words. Is this donation drive in order to punish the bidder that committed a breach of etiquette? Although no one donated a gold coin just yet, if a hundred people donated a silver coin each, it would easily amount to another ten thousand Nars, and that might constitute a serious threat to the other bidder.

That also means that if I commit a breach of etiquette, will I receive the same treatment like this man, so I have to make sure that does not happen at all costs. Also, I place a silver coin in front of the man as well and go back to my seat.

「Three hundred and ninety thousand!」

「Guuh… then, three hundred and ninety five thousand!」

「The minimum increment to the bid is ten thousand Nars. Anything less than that will not be allowed.」

The man who started the bidding gets his bid rejected by the auctioneer due to not placing enough Nars.

I see. So the breach of etiquette is allowed, but when it becomes a breach of rules, it’s going to be rejected no matter what. Since he didn’t know about the rule regarding the denomination of increment in the bid, does this mean that this is the first time this man is participating in an auction? Well, sucks to be him I guess.

「Khhhh… I understand.」

「Very well then. Three hundred and ninety thousand Nars. The current bid is three hundred and ninety thousand Nars. Is there anyone else who wants to make a bid? No? If there is no one else who wants to place another bid, then three hundred and ninety thousand Nars going once… three hundred and ninety thousand Nars going twice… sold! The Dargonkin tribe slave has been sold for the price of three hundred and ninety thousand Nars to the gentleman over there. Both the successful bidder and the exhibitor, can you please move to the room backstage where the formalities for the purchase can be taken care of?」

The winner gathers the silver coins placed before him and leaves for the back room along with the seller and his Dragonkin slave.

The donation drive for this auction was serious. Really serious.

「Four hundred thousand Nars for a Dragonkin with a Dragon Knight Job is not a bad price at all, but if I were him, I would have hold onto my money in order to save all of them for that Wizard slave.」

I hear someone behind me muttering to himself. It seems that the price of four hundred thousand Nars for that Dragonkin slave was not all that different from the usual market price, it seems. That being said, the guy is still just a Dragon Knight Lv.1, so in my book that purchase was not all that worth it as everyone else seems to be thinking that it was.

Another thing that I noticed is that more and more of the auction attendees seem to be thinking that it might be better to save their money to try and obtain the Wizard slave, and since his turn is going to be at the very end of the auction, that might affect the rest of the biddings when people are going to save up as much funds as they possibly can.

From their standpoint, such a tactic makes sense, of course. One can not but hesitate about bidding if their second choice is exhibited right before the first choice. Is this how the order is decided via lottery?

Because if so, then I would be immensely grateful if it turned out that Vesta is going to be exhibited pretty early in the auction so that I wouldn’t be forced to sit through the entire thing.

* * *

Did my prayers actually get answered for once? They must’ve been, because Vesta was actually the third slave that has appeared on the stage together with the Slave Merchant responsible for selling her. Fate must really be smiling on me today for her to appear before that Wizard guy or the beautiful-looking young lady.