"An information broker, huh…" Hearing the question Valyr asked him, Julian pondered over it for a bit as he watched the accessories go towards a person within one of the Leio Auction House's private rooms. By the time the next item had been put up for auction, the man had given the young man his answer.
"Though I know quite a lot of people and organizations that would give you that information without much difficulty, it's not really something I'm willing to share in a place like this, even if it's considered a private room," said Julian to the young man, giving him a slight apologetic smile.
"The information regarding the Zeihardt clan is pretty much public knowledge, with only parts of my explanation being known by only those with higher authority," he continued. "Since Sirius is considered one of those, I don't really have any problem sharing with it since he also knows what I know. Perhaps more than that, even."
"In any case, is it fine with you if we talk more about this after the auction is over?" Looking at Valyr as he asked the question, the man let out a faint sigh of relief as the young man nodded in response, causing a soft smile to appear on his face as he nodded back.
With that, the two of them focused their attention towards the next few items being sold in the auction, with Julian telling the young man that his spear was going to be put up for auction quite soon.
…
"What we have right here is a skill book that has been appraised by the Leio Auction House numerous times to ensure the fact that it contains a special skill." As the pair of accessories sold earlier were being removed from the stage, Sirius went ahead and introduced the next item that the auction house was selling, having a beautiful woman hold the item as usual as she flaunted it around the stage.
"Though we haven't checked what kind of special skill it contains exactly, the name of the skill that the skill book contains is the [Altair Shadow Dagger Combat Style]. Its rarity is presumed to be Rare grade or Rare+ grade." Continuing to go through more information regarding the skill book they were selling, it was no surprise that the entire audience was enchanted by his words at this point, with some of them already having thoughts of bidding on the item and getting them no matter what.
"As far as the appraisers can deduce, the skill seems to focus on dagger combat specializing in stealth and assassination," said Sirius, causing the interest of some of the audience to increase. "Of course, whether such a skill is good or evil depends on how its eventual owner uses it."
"With that, the bidding for the skill book is now open with an initial bidding price of 50 platinum coins! Any bid that comes after must be higher than the previous by at least 10 platinum coins!"
"One platinum card!" Surprisingly, at the very instant Sirius had allowed the audience to start betting on the item, the first bid had already increased the price by a lot, prompting many of those hopeful in the audience to let out a sigh as they instead focused their attention on what would be its final price.
"A platinum card and fifty platinum coins." Forming a stark contrast to the gravelly voice of the middle-aged man that bid first, an old-sounding man resounded throughout the auction house, making everyone feel a slight hint of fear as the man spoke.
"Two platinum cards!" However, rather than be intimidated by the old man, the middle-aged man bid once more for the skill book, exclaiming a few words after that made the audience realize that the two were actually rivals. "Give up, Charles! You will never get your hands on this skill book!"
"Three platinum cards." With that, it was no surprise that the old man bid back. "Two can play at that game, Rain. As representatives of our respective organizations, I'd suggest we have our bidding do the talking instead."
"…five platinum cards!" Gritting his teeth in anger, Rain took in a few deep breaths before making a counteroffer, only for Charles to give a counteroffer of his own not long after.
In the end, the price of the skill book had ballooned up to 15 platinum cards, which had been won by the old man. Though Rain felt an inordinate amount of rage towards Charles at that point, he restrained himself from doing anything rash at the meantime, considering that the two of them were still within the confines of the auction house.
…
"With that out of the way, we're finally approaching the final half of this auction!" Having the skill book be moved to backstage for the meantime, Sirius' face was all smiles as he introduced the next item, gesturing towards the sides of the stage as he spoke.
"To make things lively for this final half, let us begin with a weapon that I'm sure everyone would like to get their hands on." As he introduced the audience to the next item that was being brought out, a woman in tight-fitting leather armor appeared on stage while carrying a halberd that looked to be simple in design.
"As esteemed guests of the Leio Auction House, I'm sure everyone has caught wind of the name Ylvar becoming more popular in the past few days." As he said these words, a great portion of the audience nodded in agreement, with some of them talking about the feat that had put the name into prominence in the first place.
"The forging duel that had occurred within the Blacksmith Guild showed that one of the blacksmiths of the younger generation actually had the capability to forge an artifact," said the man with a grin. In the meantime, the woman with the spear proceeded to do a few basic combat movements with it, showing her expertise in using the weapon.
"Now, I'm pretty sure everyone might be wondering at this point. Where has Ylvar gone?" Seeing that the audience leaned forward to listen with interest, the grin on Sirius' face became wider. "Well, according to the Blacksmith Guild, he has forged a series of weapons using the artifact, selling almost all of those weapons through the guild's markets… except for one."
"Yes, what you see right here is the only weapon within that series that hasn't been sold, being given to the Leio Auction House specifically to give the masses a chance at obtaining Ylvar's weapons." Unexpectedly, unlike the other items that had been sold earlier, almost everyone was eager to get their hands on the spear, wanting to be the first one to own a weapon that had the name Ylvar attached to it.
"To give all of you more information on the weapon, it is a Level 40 weapon, though it could be enhanced to suit your current level," said the man, enticing the audience with every new statement. "Its rarity is Epic grade, with the weapon containing two innate skills, one of which is a passive skill that increases your Attack stat."
"However, the most striking feature of this weapon is its awakened attributes," continued Sirius, causing the audience to become curious.
"Now, why would its awakened attributes be its most striking feature?"
Fortunately, Sirius was going to tell them either way, wanting to make sure the auction house could obtain the most profit out of it.
"Well, Ylvar here hasn't just awakened one or two of the three possible attributes within the weapon…"
"Instead, he was able to awaken all of them."
"On top of that, it seems like the awakened attributes on the weapon scale from the person's stats."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"With that, the bidding is now open."
"The initial price starts…"
"…at three platinum cards."
