Chapter 384 - Outbid the bidder
"500 coins!" A man shouted as he couldn't contain his excitement.
The bidding war was currently fierce and had already started at 100 gold coins. One of the highest amounts to ever have been traded inside the auction, and still, it showed no signs of slowing down, increasing by 50 gold each time.
While the trading was going on, an older man from the empire calmly sat in his seat. He was a scientist in the research department for the empire. They would often send him to the city of Zrey to find out if there were any new types of technology. However, he had never expected this, and worst of all, it seemed to be from the Redwing kingdom.
'How on earth were they able to get such technology?" The man thought. It was clear that this was a few years ahead of anything currently. Even if they obtained the carriage, it might take years to find out how to replicate it without having the original creator.
While the man was deep in his thought, the carriage price had already ridden to 700 gold coins.
"Ian, get the Dem family here immediately."
Behind the scenes, the auction workers were going mad at the amount of money brought in. This would definitely be the highest amount sold in the auction's history. At such an event like this, it was only normal to thank both the item bringer and the purchaser personally.
Quickly, the man had gone over to a communication crystal to inform the Dem family of what was happening.
By now, the old man from the empire had made his decision. It was scary to think they were making enemies with people who may have had better technology than theirs. They needed that carriage to progress themselves.
The old man then lifted up his paddle and shouted. "A 1000 Gold coins from the empire."
The room, which was bustling with excited people, had suddenly quieted down. There were two reasons for this. The old man was aggressive with his bid; he had caused the item to rise from 700 straight to 1000. This was often a tactic to show he was happy to spend even more.
However, the second thing he said was 'from the empire.' The others made a note of what the old man meant when he said this. It was a warning to the others if they were to bid against him; it meant going against the empire.
The auctioneer had snapped out of his daze as he could see gold signs going through his mind. He was already trying to decide what he would be spending his hard-earned commission on.
"If there is no one else winning to bid, then I must say the item will be going to…"
"1100 gold coins." A voice said from the corner of the room.
The others were shocked at this. After what the old man had done, they didn't think they would be anyone foolish enough to go against him. They all turned to look at just who had been such a fool.
Then when they found out who's paddle had been risen, they were even more shocked. For it was the very man who was trying to sell the item.
Before the auctioneer was able to hit his mallet down on the podium, Ray had come in at the last second.
"What, can I not purchase my own item if I wish?" Ray said.
It was indeed a strange thing to do, and normal auctions wouldn't allow such a thing. But this was not an auction, and there was only one thing they cared about, money.
If someone was foolish enough to put their own item up and then bid on it themselves, then why would they stop them. To the auction house, it was just free money.
Angered by this, the old man knew the auction house would do nothing and decided to raise the price once again.
"120.."
"1300 Gold coins." Ray interrupted once again.
Steven, standing next to Ray, was starting to sweat heavily, wondering what he was trying to do. He knew Ray didn't have that kind of money. It was the reason why they needed to sell the carriage in the first place. If the old man were to back out, they would have no real funds to purchase Rachel.
Both the carriage and Rachel would then go to the second-highest bidder. There was a high chance his whole plan could be ruined.
Ray looked over to the man and gave a smile.
Of course, the taunt seemed to have worked, and the old man once again raised the price.
"1400 gold coins." The old man now looked back at Ray and smiled back.
'Don't underestimate the wealth of the empire young man.' He thought.
However, Ray didn't look back at the old man, and when he expected him to interject at the last second, the auctioneer had banged his hammer down, selling the carriage for 1400 coins.
All Ray wanted to do was play with the old man a little. At first, he was going to allow the carriage to be sold as normal. But when he heard the old man state that he was from the empire. Ray decided that he wouldn't make it easy for them to get their hands on such a thing.
The auction continued as the next item was bought out, but now there was a bit of heat in the room, and more inside the Auction house was paying attention to the new guest.
Outside of the arena house, Jack continued to wait patiently with the kids. Each one of them wore their masks as disguises. The two teens were nervously pacing themselves backward and forwards, itching to do something. Jack didn't know what to say to them, he was never good at calming the situation, and honestly, he felt the same way.
He, too, wanted to act, mostly since he felt like the whole thing was his fault in the first place.
"I hope everything goes okay in there, Ray," Jack said.
At that moment, there seemed to be cheers and voices heard from behind. When Jack turned to see what was going on, he could see two people walking towards the auction house. The people around bowed down as they walked past.
Seeing these two started to make Jack's blood boil even more.
"Father and Mother, why are you doing this?" he said.