Orin also noticed the cloaked figure. He was quite taken aback when the bid suddenly turned so high. 15000 gold coins was a lot of money, and with that amount, he could already be considered a rich person in the town. He knew that he would turn rich, but not this fast.
'Who is this person' Orin wondered. He then suddenly shivered because the room got very chilly, which soon again turned normal. "What happened?" Orin asked Phil, puzzled. Phil looked like he had just seen a terrifying ghost. He turned to Orin and said, "That person, who just bided on our soap, might be a mage."
'A mage?' Orin pondered quietly. 'If I could interact with a mage, my path would be a lot clearer.'
Orin was conflicted about whether he should try to meet the mage or not. He had heard that mages treat most of the normal people with contempt and are very elusive, so he was not sure if his idea of meeting the mage would turn out well for him. And to make the matter worse, he couldn't meet the mage right now because of the auction, and who knows where that mage would be after this auction finishes?
"16000!!" A voice came from the VIP booth. Nobody wanted to back down from the battle, and the competition was rising.
"25000," a sweet voice rang from the common crowd. It was the cloak figure again, yet again surprising the crowd with an astounding number. No matter how exclusive and wonderful the soap was, nobody thought that it was worth that much money. And they were right. It was not even worth 1/100th of that price.
Hearing the bid, Phil's face turned white. 'I might be fucked' He thought anxiously. It was already decided that once the auction finishes, we would slowly start selling the remaining product for high prices, and after a few months or a year or two, we would start mass producing it for a pretty cheap price, making it accessible for most of the people. However, this auction might lead to their doom instead, because of this variable.
Although he was not completely sure if the cloak figure was a mage, he believed that anything that could go wrong will go wrong, so he feared that if he starts selling the soap at a low price after, this potential mage might bring unimaginable consequences to him and his business.
He then glanced at Orin, getting a bit relieved because Orin had a mage as his master. Which would lower the consequences by a lot. Orin was also just as shocked and thought the same as Phil. "Hey kid, do you think your master will help us if we get into trouble?"
"I don't know," Orin replied. He truly didn't know, since the master was made up of delusions and imagination.
"I hope he does, because the odds don't seem too favorable for the near future." Phil stated.
There was a moment of silence as the bidder contemplated, but nobody bided after the outrageous by the cloaked figure. 25000 gold coins was a lot, and to be frank, nobody could fish out that much money for a single item that would disappear after a few uses.
"Last chance!" The auctioneer announced, "25000 is the highest bid. Going once...going twice..."
"Sold! To the cloaked bidder for 25000! Congratulation!" The auctioneer announced with a booming voice.
All eyes turned to the cloaked bidder seated at the back. Without hesitation, a midsized figure in dark robes stood, moving toward the front steadily. Although her face was hidden, her body movement alone entranced the people.
"Please approach the desk to finalize the payment," the auctioneer gestured politely, a trace of curiosity in his eyes as the mysterious bidder came closer.
An assistant appeared beside the auctioneer, holding the coveted item—soap, glistening under the auction house lights. The bidder's face remained hidden beneath the hood, their gloved hand reaching out to take a small velvet pouch from beneath the cloak.
"This way, please," the assistant guided, leading the bidder toward the secure payment area where the participants couldn't see them; another staff member was waiting to process the transaction.
After a brief exchange with the staff, the staff quickly turned around and went to look for the owner of the house upon the request of the cloak figure.
Soon the auction house owner came to the hall.
"You must know about these mana stones, right?" The cloaked figure spoke softly. Her voice sounded extremely pleasing to normal ears, but to the owner, that voice made his legs go weak.
'A mage,' he thought fearfully.
"Yes," the owner replied immediately.
"You must also know about its value. So I'm giving you this for the soap. Is that okay?" The owner knew that the cloaked figure was not asking but stating her demand.
"Yes, that will work. Thank you for visiting our auction, reverend mage." The owner replied as sweats formed in the back of his body.
The cloaked figure handed over about five strange reflective pebbles. The owner nodded, confirming the legitimacy of the payment, albeit fearfully in case he offended the mage.
The soap was then carefully passed to the cloaked bidder, now the rightful owner. Without a word, the figure turned and disappeared into the crowd, leaving the rest of the room buzzing with quiet speculation.
'These stones should fetch me a very high price in the black market.' The owner pondered as he sighed a big breath of relief.
"Do you think that the cloaked figure was a mage?" Phil asked, his voice filled with a tinge of worry.
"Might be. But I doubt a mage would come for a soap because my master said that for them it's not a big deal and is very common among the mages," Orin replied, trying to sound as convincing as possible.
"I hope so," Phil prayed silently. Although he was worried, he was also very excited. He was going to be 25,000 gold coins richer. Well, not really since they had to give 5% of the total amount earned to the auction house and the remains would be split between 2 of them, 60-40. Orin would get 60% while Phil would get 40%, as they had agreed.
Soon the crowd left the auction house with disappointment, but Orin and Phil stayed to take their payment.
"Phil, you have made quite a scene today. Your soap has attracted a lot of big fish." A person who was also from the VIP room commented.
"Not at all," Phil chuckled. "Do you perhaps have more of those soaps?" I want to gift it to my dying father in the hopes that he would live even a few months more." The VIP asked.
"I do have them. But I don't plan to sell them currently." Phil stated, "But I'll sell it in another auction a few weeks from now." He added
"However, if you plan to buy it right now, without waiting for the auction to begin, I can sell it to you for a lot less than 25000," he explained.
"How much?" The VIP asked expectantly as his eyes lit up.
"Just 20k gold," Phil replied while grinning.
'This fucker' The VIP cursed silently.
Orin was observing the negotiation unfold from the sidelines. 'This guy is something else.'