It took Dante nearly half an hour of commuting to reach the commercial area where the Alliance Auction House was located. Looking at the entrance of the building in front of him, Dante expected it to be more gaudy and filled with gold plates.
Instead, the front of the building looked like a corporate building, with many bodyguards and their Pokemon visible within the perimeter. When Dante was about to enter, he felt many lines of sight fall on him and Pikachu. They only decreased after the guard in charge of the entrance scanned his body and verified his Trainer ID before letting him through.
Because of the many precious items inside, the auction house is very strict about who can enter. At first, Dante even wanted to use his Illusion ability to disguise his appearance. However, when he learned they needed his Trained ID in order to enter and conduct a transaction, he gave up that idea.
After entering, Dante was greeted by a beautiful female staff.
"Good afternoon, sir. My name is Danica and I'll be in charge of serving you for your stay. Please don't hesitate to ask if you need any assistance."
"Thank you, Ms. Danica. Can you point me to where I can auction my items?"
"Sure! Right this way, please!"
Dante followed Danica towards one of the hallways and then into a counter where a middle-aged man was standing. After seeing Danica and Dante, he quickly stood straight from his slouched posture and gave the two of them a business-like smile.
"Greetings guest! How may I help you today?"
"Hello, I want to register an item for auction."
"Certainly! However, please be informed that we only accept items with a valuation of more than 100,000 credits. And an appraisal fee worth 10,000 is needed to ensure the item's authenticity."
"Sure, this is the item I want to auction."
""GASP!!""
Both the attendant and the middle-aged man took a deep breath of air after realizing what Dante had taken out of the bag. Because of the nature of their work, they are required to familiarize themselves with the various Pokemon items. And the Mega Stone, worth hundreds of millions, is definitely one of them!
"I-I'm afraid I'm unqualified to give a quotation on something this valuable. Please wait a moment, I'll have to report this to the manager."
After seeing Dante nod in agreement, the middle-aged man quickly excused himself and hurriedly entered the door behind him. Soon, a pot-bellied, friendly-looking man came, with the middle-aged man from before following behind him.
"Hahaha, young friend, I heard that you are going to auction a Mega Stone. Please, come with me. I'll accompany you to the appraiser. I'll even waive the fee off as thanks for choosing to auction it with us."
The pot-bellied guy had a big smile on his face as he familiarly greeted Dante. However, when listening to him, Dante felt uncomfortable. He doesn't know why, but he feels that this guy had bad intentions towards him.
Dante can only reluctantly smile back at the guy while secretly taking out his phone, covering it with his Illusion ability, and then recording everything that happens. He followed his lead into one of the rooms where an old guy was sitting in front of the table.
"This is Master Bobby who has decades of experience appraising various items here. Master, this gentleman has claimed to have brought a Mega Stone. Can you help us determine its authenticity and which Pokemon it is for?"
Master Bobby's eyebrows raised in surprise, looking at the simple-looking young man in front of him.
"Let me see the item."
Dante took the stone out of his pocket again and placed it in Master Bobby's outstretched hand. His intuition told him that this old guy didn't have any bad intentions towards him.
With the increase of his IQ, in addition to allowing him to use his Ability, it seems he also obtained a Pokemon's intrinsic ability to sense whether a human has a good intention towards him or not.
Master Bobby carefully turned it over, using the magnifying glass on the table to examine it closer. His eyebrows became increasingly furrowed, and he closed his eyes as if recalling something. Finally, he opened them and gave the stone a look of appreciation.
"How is it, Master Bobby?"
"Well, how should I put it…this is most definitely a Mega Stone, possibly even a newly discovered one! It should correspond with a Rock- and Fairy-type Pokemon. And from the Alliance's currently recorded data, the only Rock/Fairy Pokemon we have is a Carbink."
"How wonderful! A newly discovered Mega Stone, and for a Carbink no less!"
Seeing the pleased expression of the two, Dante didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He had to interrupt the two of them now, otherwise, if the stone was sold under the pretext of allowing Carbink to mega evolve and it didn't work, he may face some repercussions.
"I don't think it's for Carbink. I found the stone while exploring an area with no such Pokemon. Maybe there are other undiscovered Rock/Fairy type Pokemon that are a match for that stone?"
"Hahaha, don't worry. Our auction house definitely won't label it as such before getting a verification from the officials. Still, because this is a newly discovered Mega Stone, you as the seller will probably attract unwanted attention from others. Hmm…"
"Oh never mind! I can see that you have a promising future as a Trainer, young man. I am willing to suffer a loss and trade the best Thunderstone in the auction house for this! After using it, your Pikachu will evolve to become the strongest Raichu!"
Dante stared dumbfounded at this pot-bellied guy. Did he, did he really look so gullible? A possible billion credits worth mega stone to be traded with…a Thunderstone worth a million?
The guy continued to spout some more nonsense about gaining the auction house's friendship and a 10% discount on all Alliance products he would buy in the auction house in the future.
"Thank you for the reminder, but there is no need. I still want to auction this item."
Dante suddenly felt a wave of malice from the guy in front of him. But his face maintained a constant smile from beginning to end!
"I see, I guess my goodwill was not appreciated. Well then, shall we talk about the deal someplace else? Thank you very much for your time, Master Bobby!"
The old man ignored his words, choosing to just silently close his eyes.
"By the way, I think we still haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Richard, a manager of this auction house."
"Dante, a Pokemon Trainer."
"Well met, Dante! From your age, you should still be in university, right? Can I ask which school you are studying at?"
"I don't think that's related to auctioning off this Mega Stone."
"Well, I'm just trying to make some small talk hahaha, oh we're here. Come in and make yourself at home. This is my office, so there's no need to hold yourself back."
Richard took out a Pokeball from his pocket and released a Liligant.
"She's Liligant, my helper around here. Please prepare some tea for us, Liligant."
"Lili!"
After the both of them sat down, Robert continued making his sales pitch. He added more benefits such as adding 10 million to the offer, being able to choose other items, being able to pick a Pokemon from the official daycare, etc. The tea handed by Liligant to the both of them was already empty yet this guy still kept talking!
Dante sighed. He was beginning to get tired of his conversation with this two-faced guy. His words were full of concern yet Dante could clearly feel his greedy intentions! He just wanted to auction off the mega stone and get over it. He swears, if this guy continues wasting his time, he'll just leave.
"Mr. Richard! As I said, I want to auction this item! Unless you offer me 3 billion credits, then nothing you ever offer will make me accept it!"
After his words, Dante felt the atmosphere surrounding Richard suddenly shifted.
"Look, Dante, I can tell you came from a civilian family, so you probably don't know much about the world of the rich. It's a cut-throat world out there, with many people targeting you and the ones you love, just to obtain a portion of your wealth."
"One day, you may come home to suddenly find your mother or father missing, and your house ransacked! I'm telling you, too much money is dangerous! If I were in your shoes, I would accept the offer and use it to train your Pikachu. Maybe even get a stronger Pokemon."
"After becoming a strong Trainer in the future, you will be able to earn much more money without having to risk you and your whole family's life! Is earning money now really worth more than you and your family's safety?"
Seeing that Richard was still trying to persuade him, Dante sighed.
"I'll let your superiors know that your auction house lost a big business deal because of your greed."
Dante stood up and prepared to head out of the door. Suddenly, he felt the malice behind him intensify to a palpable level.
"Wait! Fine, fine, no need to walk out on me. I'm sorry if I came across as being greedy, I'm just genuinely concerned about your well-being."
Richard stood up and quickly placated Dante, the smile ever present on his face. Dante stared at him for a few seconds before sitting back down.
He finally gave Dante the paperwork needed and the contract they would sign for auctioning the Mega Stone. Dante had to check each line, cautious that the man in front of him may have added some clause that would screw him over.
According to the contract, the auction house will obtain 10% of the total price after being sold. However, they will also be responsible for promoting the auction items on the official Alliance website as well as its storage and maintenance.
In the event that the Auction House is to lose or damage the item before or during the auction, they are required to pay Dante 5 times the items' market price, which in this case is 2,500,000,000 credits.
Dante carefully read all the other fine details of the contract and was surprised to see nothing suspicious. After Dante filled up all the required information on his papers, the two of them walked to the legal department where the contract between Dante and the Auction House was signed.
A/N: Whew, it seems I don't have to rush tomorrow. Traffic was so bad I had 6 hours to write a chapter.