Chapter 44: Night of the Antiques
As soon as Lucius returned to the room, Clara bombarded him with questions.
Questions that Lucius mostly ignored, but he still took the time to answer a few of them as they walked out of the restaurant.
Once outside, Clara finally asked a sensible question: "Where are we going? It’s pretty late. The academy doesn’t allow students who live in the dorms to stay out this late."
The moon shone brightly overhead.
"I know," Lucius nodded.
"Should we go back? I’ll head to my dorm."
"Go back? No. That would be stupid."
Clara looked at him. "What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously.
"This is when the real fun begins, Clara," Lucius replied with a suspicious smile.
Clara frowned. Her steps suddenly slowed, causing her to fall behind. Her mind was filled with confusion, questions, and a whole lot of strange thoughts...
Her body grew warm; she wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment or something else.
Lucius turned to look at her, puzzled. "Are you staying? The Night of the Antiques—have you ever heard of it? It’s the best place to buy antiques, Clara!" he said.
He’d been waiting for this ever since he arrived in this body. He wasn’t going to miss the famous Night of the Ancients.
Especially now that he had money.
He checked, and inside that system check Thalion had given him, there were 100,000 mana credits!
My God, 100,000 credits!
Lucius never thought he could be so happy over the measly sum of 100,000 credits—which used to be the cost of a single meal for him—but it was the largest amount of money he’d ever seen in this new life.
His words struck Clara with a strange chill, and she shuddered. "Ah..." Her face flushed immediately, and she lowered her head completely.
"Sure, I’ll go," she muttered under her breath, forcing herself to stop thinking such nonsense.
Lucius didn’t notice her odd behavior; he simply walked on as he headed toward the area beyond Ancient Square.
The event, the Night of the Antiques, is a market for antiques, tools, fossils, and all sorts of items related to magical tools and ancient themes.
Many vendors—both street vendors and those with permanent stalls—set up shop from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. along Ancient Street to sell their products, which are specifically chosen for the night.
It takes place once a month and is the perfect place to find hidden gems that no one else notices. Which, for someone like Lucius, is a perfect blessing.
It’s like going to a store that sells rocks that might contain jade, with the superpower of seeing through the rocks. You could make a fortune or find lots of great tools.
But you’ll have to be careful, because just as it’s called "Night of the Antiques," it’s also known by another name... "Night of the Con Artists."
At 10 o’clock sharp, most of Ancient Street was filled with all kinds of shops of various sizes, and a festive atmosphere filled the entire street.
The only areas not filled with these kinds of shops are those beyond Ancient Square; but the rest of the street suddenly came alive.
"Wow, this is so much better than Thorne City." Clara was genuinely surprised, to the point that she had forgotten her earlier embarrassment.
"The antique market in Asturias has always been the best, thanks to the fact that the Seven Ancient Families are based here," said Lucius.
"It’s also because of the proximity to the island’s borders. It’s very easy to go down to the Kalgarth Ground and look for tools there," Clara added. "I heard there was a part of the Iron Suburbs where you could see the ground with your own eyes."
Lucius nodded. "I was there not long ago. It looks incredible," Lucius recalled.
Nothing compared to the views in Gaia or those of Kalgarth’s Ground itself. Ever since he’d reached the pinnacle of power, he’d spent more time there than in the Islands of Civilization, so he had a good sense of the place.
But this was the best view he’d seen since he’d taken on this body.
"Really? I’ve never actually seen the Kalgarth Ground... I’ve heard it’s fascinating, but that it’s full of a lot of cursed energy. It’s a little scary."
"Well, the Kalgarth Ground is certainly scary." Lucius agreed with her on that.
Although perhaps not for the same reasons...
One seemed to fear the cursed energy.
The other... simply feared the Ground itself and its secrets.
"Hm?" Lucius suddenly stopped at one of the stalls run by a man who was constantly shouting.
"Everything for 100," read one of his signs, next to some of the items he was selling.
On the same table, next to that sign, was another one.
"Everything for 500," that one read.
And finally, the third sign:
"Everything for 1,000."
His gaze was fixed on the "Everything for 100" and "Everything for 500" sections—those were the two most interesting ones.
As soon as he stopped in front of the stall, the vendor, who was constantly shouting, ran up to him. "Welcome to my little shop, young sir. Would you like to buy something? Everything in my shop is cheap, in good condition, and also..."
"I’m interested in a few things," Lucius interrupted, realizing this guy was going to talk too much. "That box of tools and tool-repair supplies—are you sure it’s 100?"
The man nodded quickly. "Of course."
"Why so cheap?" Lucius asked as he reached out to touch the supplies.
The materials were good quality, though they looked like they’d been worked on...
"It’s because I made them myself, sir. Those tool repair supplies were restored or created by me from scratch. I just had to melt down some metals I got cheaply, so it’s only fair that I sell them cheaply."
’A nice guy,’ Lucius thought, smiling.
Lucius then carefully examined several half-destroyed magical tools of various kinds.
"Those are sold as a set. Two or three of them for 500 credits. However, those three are sold separately. They’re in very good condition."
Lucius was deep in thought.
Everything here would be useful for teaching those kids, but also for his workshop. This little vendor had some really good stuff.
Lucius took out his cell phone. "From the 100-credit items, I’ll take these three things..." he said, pointing to the toolbox with spare parts and two other items.
"300 credits in total, young sir," replied the man, smiling as he realized this customer wasn’t the type to say he’d be back later.
"And as for the 500-credit items... well, just give me everything you have. How much is that in total?"
"E-everything?" The man stammered a little, then coughed loudly to cover up his slip.
He smiled and spoke again. "Do you really want all of this, young sir?" Although his voice was still trembling, he was able to speak more clearly.
"Yes. I want all of the 500 ones."
Lucius watched as the man’s face lit up as if he had seen some kind of god standing before him.
And suddenly, with a shout, he said, "Very well, young sir! I’ll get it ready for you right away!"
Then he stuffed everything into a bag.
"The total comes to 5,300. You can give me 5,000 and that’ll be fine. You can take the 100-unit ones for free," the man replied with a grateful smile.
Lucius didn’t want to owe anyone anything, so he simply gave him the exact amount. "I won’t rip you off. Thanks for the sale," he said, before turning around and leaving.
After stepping away from that display, Clara approached him. "Why buy useless things? Even though they were cheap for what they are, isn’t it better to invest a little more in some that are fully restored?" she asked.
"Have you ever seen a tool restorer buy restored tools, Clara?" he asked her suddenly.
She was momentarily speechless...
"You’re right..." She smiled sheepishly.
A tool restorer as talented as he was could buy many of those low-value tools, restore them, and then put them up for sale. For each restoration, he could make several times the cost of a batch of them.
’Why didn’t I ever think of that?’ She tapped her head lightly.
It was one of the best businesses in the world!
"Although I didn’t buy these for what you’re thinking," Lucius said suddenly. "I bought them for the students. If they can’t fix these tools within a month under my guidance, then I’ll know they’re useless and not worth my effort."
"That’s cruel..."
"The rankings are cruel. The system is cruel. Everything in this world is cruel, Clara."
She smiled slightly but didn’t reply.
"Let’s go over there. Looks like there are some good things there," Lucius said.
Clara looked at the stall he was pointing to. "Isn’t that a little expensive? Everything costs over a thousand credits, and I think you just spent your whole fortune there..."
"Hehe, don’t worry, I’ve recently come into a new fortune. We still have a long night ahead of us, so let’s see what we can get. If we find some fossils at a good price, that’ll work for us too."
