I was scurrying around, looking at the whole place.
At the front of the platform, slightly lower down, there is a space for merchants like me, surrounded by the nobles’ seats where the nobles are.
In the merchants’ space there are simple chairs, and each person seems to sit in the seat with his or her own tag number.
In contrast to the simple merchants’ chairs, the nobles’ spaces are fitted with luxurious-looking chairs.
And apparently, the position of the seats and the luxury of the chairs varied according to the rank of the nobility.
The Kilket Central Auction is said to have been originally started by merchants in Kilket, which originally flourished as a trading centre on the western continent.
It was in the middle of a war with the elves that lasted until about 200 years ago.
The gold and other goods taken from the elves and the elves themselves were sold at auction to merchants from the central continent who came to buy them.
Time passed.
Those who had made their fortunes through the trade in its plunder settled in the land of Kilket. After the country became the Empire of Aul Nostalucia from the Empire of Norn, they became a privileged class of nobility with the power of gold manna. They have since acquired further wealth through various other trades.
The nobles have gone from sellers to buyers, but they still have an incredibly strong passion for auctions.
“Ladies and gentlemen! We will now begin the Kirkett Central Auction. I, O Cushonia, will be the host. Thank you..”
The auctioneer gave the opening remarks and the auction finally began.
“According to the schedule, Mr. Albus’s goods…”
Gandra’s face clouded as he checked the schedule saying this.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re tenth from the beginning.”
“Yes, I’ve checked. It must be before Sir Warren’s mansion.”
Of course, that part of the house has been checked first hand.
“The detached house site in the western part of Kilket is quite far back.”
“Oh…”
Regarding the order in which the items were displayed, Sir Warren seemed to have really moved it.
Even after reading the letter and hearing it from Sir Warren’s own lips, I still couldn’t believe it until I actually checked the schedule.
Nobles, for example, would break any number of promises to commoners.
“But I have the feeling that the order is too early.” (Gandra)
“Is it bad?”
“If the place hasn’t warmed up, it may be hard to get a high price.”
“It should be alright.”
The nobles must have heard that we were the first to successfully treasure hunt the ruins in two years since the hero party.
The unearthed goods should not be bought at such a low price.
I had three items on display.
A number of pieces of armour from the equipment of Lord Gallon, the Ancient Duke.
Estimated value 2 million.
Holy Fist Aluminas (remote attack, wind/strike)
Estimated amount 2 million.
“Letters from the great merchant Grill and the jewellery presented by Grill to his wife Sally.
Estimated value 3.5 million.
All together, the estimate is not less than 7.5 million manas.
But I didn’t know this until just before.
It seems that 10 per cent of the proceeds, 750,000 manas, are taken directly to the auction headquarters.
Therefore, when these were sold at the expected price, I received 7.5 million manas minus 750,000 manas (10%), which was 6.75 million manas.
Combined with the 5,450,000 manas I had already deposited at the management headquarters, I estimated that I would have about 12,200,000 manas on hand when I went to the auction of the mansion.
This is more than double the 6 million manas that is assumed to be the minimum price.
This is enough to fight.
“This will somehow… beat Jimmy Radiak!”
All that was left to do was to put the auction production through its paces.
“By the way, what are these missing pieces?”
I asked Gandra.
I was curious about the words here and there in the schedule, which were crossed out.
The sword is said to be a item taken from the fish scale tribe of the southern continent.
It has a skull-like ornament on the handle.
It was quite a rare item with an attribute-granting skill as well as a skill that strengthened certain types of attacks in combat.
“120,000 mana!”
“Now, 125 Sir Sybil’s 120,000 manna is on the table. Anyone want to bid higher?”
A flippant Auctioneer’s voice echoes.
I will probably hear this voice all day today.
“130,000 mana!”
“150,000 manas!”
“Now, 150,000 mana from merchant 248, Master Gametra!”
“200,000 mana!”
“Here we are, 200,000 manna, number 1, Lord Warren. Is there no one else…?
Gilbert Warren offers a slightly higher amount than the others.
The auction stopped there.
“Are there any others?”
The auctioneer urges the bidding, but the hall is not moving at all.
So everyone is not willing to pay more than that…
“Well then, Merchant Togamel’s bid for the Skull Sword Miraglas (Water Attribute Granted/Strengthened Slashing) was sold for 200,000 mana by the number one bidder, Lord Warren! Congratulations.”
“Gandra… it’s too cheap.”
I couldn’t help but let it slip.
What was on offer now was a weapon with two different granting skills.
Me the other hand.
I was selling the weapon “Dagger of Cyrel (with water attribute)”, which we brought back from the Earth Ruins, for 150,000 mana to adventurers.
As for the item on display now, 200,000 mana is too cheap for a weapon with two different skills.
If you factor in the 10% payment to the management, the merchant who exhibited the item made a profit of 180,000 mana.
That’s not that much different from my Curél dagger.
If I were to sell it in the wagon square, I would sell it for about 200,000-250,000 mana for the weapon now.
“Damn…”
I thought that with auctions, everything would sell for more than the market price, but apparently that is not the case.
Is this what Gandra means when he said ‘place hasn’t warmed up!’
“These auction enthusiasts……Sometimes it becomes a heated competition and far exceeds the market price. But sometimes it’s hard to get a good price and they just observe at each other like this.”
If the order of bidding is early, participants have more money on hand, but are often able to wait and see what happens in preparation for later items.
Conversely, if it is late, participants may have less money on hand and may not be able to bid high.
In the end, the power of the goods and the flow of the place are what matters.
How do the aristocrats and merchants who participate in the auction want it to be ridiculous?
And my goods are between ten and twelve items…
It’s not too early, but the situation depends on luck.
I need to have a flow of bids at a slightly higher price before I get to my goods.