"Young man, if possible, I hope you can hand over the dragon fruit to Ross Bansai's auction house."
Noticing that the young adventurer in front of him had casually exposed the Ambergris and dragon fruit to the public, Luke guessed that he probably didn't understand the true value of those two items.
However, he had just bought the Ambergris from Zhou Kun and had basically taken advantage of him in truth. Hence, Luke kindly reminded Zhou Kun. After all, he knew that Ross Bansai was just showing him face and was probably not going to harm Zhou Kun.
Otherwise, Luke cannot guarantee that Zhou Kun would be able to leave Lan City alive.
Originally, Zhou Kun was a little bit disappointed after hearing Luke's refusal. However, Luke actually took the initiative and suggested to hand the item over to Ross Bansai.
"What price can you offer?" Initially, Zhou Kun meant that as long as Ross Bansai offered a reasonable price, he would hand the item over to him. To his surprise, Ross Bansai misunderstood him.
"This dragon fruit is too precious. I'm afraid our auction house can't afford to pay such a high price. Nonetheless, we can offer you some auction services. Please come to our auction house to talk about this in detail." Ross Bansai was also a little anxious and eager. After all, when Zhou Kun took out the dragon fruit, he was right in the vicinity. He felt that there would definitely be a lot of competitors showing up afterward. He felt that he had to take Zhou Kun the adventurer to his auction house before they did.
"Well..." Zhou Kun appeared a little hesitant.
"Go, boy, Ross Bansai' auction house is rather reputable in Lan City." Seeing that Zhou Kun was worried, Luke comforted him.
Zhou Kun munched on the dragon fruit all the way to the Bansai auction house.
It couldn't be helped. Since he had already peeled the dragon fruit, he couldn't throw it away.
However, Bansai felt the pinch when he saw it. If he could manage the dragon fruits well, it wouldn't be an issue to sell them for 10,000 Dragon Crystals. Yet, the wastrel Zhou Kun finished them.
Ross Bansai led Zhou Kun to the VIP room courteously. Along the way, they attracted the attention of many staff in the auction house.
The last person who could make their boss entertain them personally was the governor of Lan City. They wondered just who the young man was.
In the private room, Ross Bansai dismissed the waiters around him and poured a cup of tea for Zhou Kun himself.
"Hello, brave adventurer, how do I address you?"
"You may address me as Zhou Kun."
"Leave it to us to handle these dragon fruits. We will hold a large auction in ten days, and we will be able to auction them off at a good price by then."
"I'm not going to wait that long, I'd like to let them go now if that's possible."
"If you are in a hurry, I am afraid that the final auctioned price will not be too high," Ross Bansai said with a frown after hearing Zhou Kun's words. Of course, if he was given ten days to promote it, he was confident that the dragon fruit would surge to sky-high prices.
"The price is not a big issue, when can I start putting them up for auction?"
"The earliest would be tonight." The Bansai auction house would hold a small auction once every five days and a large auction once every month.
"Okay, let's do it tonight then."
"Alright, we'll proceed according to your wishes. However, the commission..."
Zhou Kun also had a certain understanding of auction houses and knew that handling fees and commissions were indispensable. After all, those fees were what auction houses relied on for revenue.
"I don't have much money now, and I might not be able to pay the commission. How about this? There are still seven dragon fruits here, six of which will be auctioned off while the remaining one is your commission. How does that sound?" said Zhou Kun who felt that it was nothing much since he still had hundreds of cartons of dragon fruit in his inventory. By doing so, Zhou Kun would be able to earn money without having to spend a single cent.
"This is really...too..." Ross Bansai was so excited that he couldn't speak for a while. After all, he was initially planning to make Zhou Kun pay the commission, only after the dragon fruits were sold. To his surprise, Zhou Kun gave him such a hefty offer that made him stunned.
According to Ross Bansai's estimation, the value of each dragon fruit was worth at least about 10,000 Dragon Crystals.
A commission of 10,000 Dragon Crystals was almost as much as the revenue that the auction house would generate for a quarter.
Although Ross Bansai had a large auction house, he was actually not even a core member of the Bansai Family.
The sum of 100 Dragon Crystals that Luke casually gave Zhou Kun previously, made him develop a less objective understanding of the currency there.
Some adventurers may only earn three or five Dragon Crystals throughout their lives. Essentially, each Dragon Crystal was worth 100 gold coins and each gold coin could be exchanged for 100 silver coins. Each silver coin could be exchanged for 10 copper coins.
Zhou Kun also miscalculated the value of the dragon fruit in his hand, but of course, he soon discovered the low-level mistake that he had made.
The Bansai Auction House was rather quick to act. It didn't take long for the invitation letters to be sent to the noble families in Lan City. In addition, Zhou Kun had created quite a scene on the streets today. Hence, when the auction was held in the evening, almost all the noble families in Lan City turned up.
Due to the fact that the dragon fruit, which was the finale of the auction, was way too attractive, those nobles were not interested in the items that were up for auction at the beginning. If it were not for the dragon fruit, the auction would have been regarded as the most deserted one in history.
However, the atmosphere began to warm up after Ross Bansai took the stage.
As the director of the Bansai Auction House, Ross Bansai usually wouldn't preside over the auction. He would only do so during rare and special circumstances.
"Good evening, everyone, let us take a look at the final auction piece, which is also the star of the night, the dragon fruit."
"Perhaps, many of you are unsure of what dragon fruits are. Let me do the introduction."
"Previously, there was a brave adventurer who fought and wrestled with the evil dragon Pilux, with wisdom and wit. After successfully dealing with the dragon, he brought out two things from its lair. One is the precious Ambergris while the other is the dragon fruit that's in front of you now."
"These precious dragon fruits grow in the dragon's lair and give off a rich vitality. They are currently the only thing that can generate stable vitality, other than the church, because they contain seeds."
"What..."
"It's impossible. Isn't the church the only one that can control the vitality?" The nobles in the audience were not interested in the introduction that Ross Bansai had given at the start. After all, there was a legendary story behind every item that was put up for auction.
However, when Ross Bansai mentioned that the dragon fruits contained rich vitality and seeds, there was a huge uproar among the audience.
Several of them thought that it was impossible and that it was just a gimmick of Ross Bansai's.
"I have a half-eaten piece of dragon fruit here that was left behind by the evil dragon. The seeds can be seen clearly. Next, we will invite a Botanical Mage to help use induce life into the seed and make it sprout."
While speaking, Ross Bansai held onto a piece of dragon fruit, on which there was a row of teeth marks.
Yes, there was no evil dragon at all. That piece of dragon fruit was the one that Zhou Kun had munched on during the day.