"We can accept whatever we see fit as an increase to the bid. No one is forced to participate in this auction. Now is there a higher bid? No? Then congratulations to hegemon booth 3 for winning the last bid with 10'000 platinum coins.
"This concludes today's auction. We would like to thank everyone for participating in this auction and we hope to see most of you again for our next auction. As for all those who won an item during the auction, please remain in your booths or move to the redemption counter."
Arahnia bowed slightly and retreated from the stage meeting us backstage. She looked exhausted since this was her first time holding an auction as the auctioneer. We told her to get some rest and went our separate ways.
Aurelia would man the redemption counter in case any of the winners wished to redeem their winnings there. Since all the bids had been won by people in private or hegemon booths it wasn't likely that the redemption counter would come into use.
Meanwhile, I summoned some shadow servants to bring the items to the booths. All the items were handed to the shadow servants except for the items for prince Albion and Adrian. I personally went to prince Albion's booth and knocked on the door.
"Please enter."
After obtaining the prince's permission I entered the room. Inside were four people, the prince sitting with his back to me and three retainers watching me with hawk-eyes and hands on their swords.
All of them were fully armored and totally ready to cut me down. Did they not feel hot under those multiple layers of fur and metal? Actually, based on the slightly sweaty scent in the air they probably were.
"Greetings prince Albion, I'm here to deliver your items and also propose a special deal to you."
Prince Albion motioned for the guards to relax a bit and stood up. He turned to face me while slowly looking me over. He seemed to be searching for something but failed to find it.
"You have my attention. What is this deal you wish to propose?"
"During the auction, you showed great interest in the five sets of iron boar hide armor but lost the bid. The winner has unfortunately left without paying so the armors can't be claimed. Since you were interested before we decided to privately sell them to you at your previous bid of 5000."
"That's very considerate of you but 5000 seems like a bit much to me. Without Adrian butting in I could have gotten it at 3000."
"That is debatable but why not, 3000 gold coins it is. That brings your total to 9000 gold coins."
Prince Albion motioned to one of his guards prompting him to pull out a coin pouch from his armor and offer me 90 platinum coins. I accepted them and began to pull the items out of a separate space.
Prince Albion's eyes went wide at my casual use of space magic. I pulled out the 20 crates holding the potions and the 10 sets of armor. After I had placed them all down the room became a little cramped.
"May I ask, what is a venerable user of space magic doing in a merchant guild?"
"No particular reason. Though merchant guilds are a rather good way of expanding one's influence."
"I see. Should you ever consider expanding into Glacialis, please come visit me in Nix, our capital city. I will do my best to help you settle down."
I was leaving the room and was going to meet up with Aurelia when I felt a danger signal from one of my shadow servants. It was the one who carried the gauntlets.
I moved my mind over and discovered that the high priest of Eclesias had tried to attack my shadow servant. Too bad for him that these shadow servants were all quite strong and the one he attacked had easily blocked his attack.
The high priest was about to unleash another burst of light magic so I teleported directly into the room. Upon arrival, I exuded some killing intent and effortlessly dispersed the light gathering in the high priest's palm.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Space mage!!!"
Leonard was the only one in the room who managed to remain standing but like the others, his expression had grown incredibly pale. Seeing them pressing their backs to the wall trying to get away from me I restrained my killing intent.
"Considering that you are a well-paying customer I will forget about this transgression. Do not attempt such a thing again or there will be consequences!"
I felt it necessary to be a little harsh and make it clear for both the king and the high priest that we were not to be messed with. A well-placed display of power could save us much trouble in the future.
I stay to supervise the exchange but they don't dare to make another bold move in my presence. Everyone paid up, took their stuff, and left. The high priest completely disregarded both his age and image as he sprinted out of the guild as fast as his legs could carry him.
After that Aurelia and I met up in her office to count our earnings. Counting the coins from both the auction and the entry passes we had amassed a whopping 690'000 gold coins and the best thing was, we wouldn't be paying any taxes for it!
"Safe to say our financial problems are solved for the time being and we can concentrate on other things."
"Stop being so pretentious. You just want to go look at those ruins some more! Anyway, I'll be busy getting the guild up and running so go have some fun. However, once I'm done with that I want you to party up with me so I can raise my rank more quickly."
"Sure thing. I'll go check up on Arahnia and then set out with Isetta. See you in a few days."