"Huh…" At the very moment his spear was shown on stage, a faint trace of confusion appeared on the young man's face. "That's odd."
"What is?" Hearing Valyr's words, Julian looked back at him with a curious expression.
"The spear is being sold so early," replied Valyr as he looked back at Julian. Looking directly at the man's eyes, he had a strong feeling that the man beside him had a strong idea of what was going on.
"Didn't you mention earlier that the spear I forged would be the main attraction of the auction?"
"But it is?" said Julian, now feeling a bit confused. Fortunately, it did not take long for him to understand what Valyr meant by his words, swiftly clearing up the confusion with his next statement.
"Ah… you thought your spear would be the final item sold in the auction? Is that correct?"
"Isn't that why it's called a main attraction?" At this point, a slight frown appeared on Valyr's face.
"Well…" Scratching the back of his head for a bit, Julian let out a slightly apologetic chuckle. "In the Leio Auction House's case, the item that they consider the main attraction is the item they use as advertisement for the auction. With how popular your fake name has become these past few days, it's a no-brainer that they would use it to their advantage, especially with how sudden this auction had to be set up."
"That sounds misleading," replied Valyr, the frown on his face gradually disappearing.
"It is." Julian didn't deny it. "However, since it's an item that they used as the main attraction for this auction, I'm sure Sirius will bump up the price of the spear as high as he possibly could."
Coincidentally, at the moment Julian said those words, Sirius began to explain the backstory behind the spear Valyr forged, making sure that everyone knew what kind of item they were going to possibly bid.
Though, with how recent Ylvar's rise to fame was, even though his name was being spread around the kingdom, only a few truly had interest in bidding them, considering it an investment of sorts to the younger generation.
However, as Sirius revealed more and more information about the spear, such as how it was forged using the artifact Valyr had created during the forging duel, or the fact that the spear was of Epic rarity, more and more of the audience had their interests piqued. After all, it was incredibly rare for an Epic grade weapon to be sold to auction, even in a prestigious auction house like the Leio Auction House.
Then again, what truly piqued everyone's interest was the fact that the spear had all three possible attributes awakened, which scaled accordingly to the strength of the user. Naturally, everyone was quite skeptical of the claim, with Sirius allowing everyone to use their respective identification skills on it so everyone could see that his words were true.
As more and more people shared the additional stats they saw on the weapon when they identified it, it went without saying that almost everyone in the audience wanted to obtain the weapon for themselves at the point. In fact, some even wanted to commission Ylvar to forge a weapon for them that had the scaling attributes because of it.
Though, aside from the fact that it had attributes that scaled to the user's strength, the innate skills that came with it were incredibly superb, causing some to wonder where Ylvar had been all this time. Of course, the same went for its build quality, prompting everyone in the auction house to unanimously agree that the spear as a whole was undoubtedly on the level of an heirloom for a large clan.
"Alright. Has everyone gotten a good look at the spear?" Feeling like he had given enough time for the audience to identify the spear, Sirius brought everyone's attention back to the matter at hand. "Since everyone has already seen what the spear is capable of, let us now open the bid for the Halberd of Great Beginnings."
…
"Listen closely, Valyr. I'm certain that you'll be satisfied even with its initial price." Hearing Sirius announce the beginning of the bidding process, Julian nudged Valyr with his shoulder, prompting the latter to pay close attention to Sirius' next words.
"The initial bidding price for this weapon… is three platinum cards." Seeing that everyone was now on the edge of their seats, a faint grin adorned Sirius' face as he signaled the beginning of the bidding process. "Any bid after the previous must be higher by at least 50 platinum coins."
"With that being said, the Leio clan would actually like to start this bid off with five platinum cards." Though, just as Sirius had announced its beginning, he surprisingly placed a bid on the spear, causing everyone to become speechless for a brief moment as he looked towards a certain private room with a smile. "Consider it the Leio clan showing goodwill towards a incredibly prodigious blacksmith."
…
"What…" Hearing Sirius directly bidding on the spear he had forged on behalf of the Leio clan, Valyr was left at an immense loss for words, passively listening to the clamor the audience was making as they continued to bid on the spear. Surprisingly, they were able to increase the bid on the spear to nine platinum cards, which was already triple the amount the young man had made from the nine weapons he sold.
"On behalf of the Spearman Guild, I would like to bid 12 platinum cards." Though, just as he had finally gotten a grip on the situation, a voice familiar to Valyr echoed from one of the auction house's private rooms, causing him to take a few deep breaths to compose himself.
'Elder Noel's here?' As the thought lingered in his mind, he took a look at the audience around the stage, seeing that a great portion of them had been intimidated after hearing Noel's words. Then again, such a feeling only lasted for a brief moment, with the audience bringing up the price to 15 platinum cards.
"On behalf of the Blacksmith Guild, I'll bid 20 platinum cards." However, just as Valyr thought that the price of the spear wouldn't get any higher, Julian's voice echoed throughout the entire auction house all of a sudden. With that, the young man looked at the middle-aged man behind him in shock, wondering what was going on through the latter's mind at the moment.
"Hehe." In response, Julian only looked back at the young man and grinned.
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on (f)reeweb(n)ovel.com