The Amber Sword

TL: I had food poisoning and I couldn’t concentrate on my work for days, plus there’s one RL issue that is really serious so the schedule is changed. In any case, enjoy this late chapter, and expect another one coming soon (check back a few hours later).

Chapter 47 – The high note at the end of the auction

Ciel looked at that card and smiled faintly.

“My lord, this is a rare Wind Card, and a particularly rare one amongst the Wind Cards. The Wind Card series are versatile and can be used for defense and offense. Even though it is difficult to control, it is quite powerful.”

“Why don’t you just tell me how to use this.” Brendel rolled his eyes.

Ciel snorted with mirth.

“When my lord pays 1 Wind EP from your Element Pool, you will also pay 1 MP from your Mana Pool to summon one Wind Spider Spirit.”

[I have 2.9 Willpower and 15 Mana Points. So I can summon 15 level 5 Wind Spider Spirits?]

Brendel started to work the details in his mind, while Ciel continued to explain.

“With the death of a Wind Spider Spirit, a Mana Vortex will appear and devour the enemy’s Mana.”

Brendel felt a chill.

[What do you mean this is a spider summon, this is a living Mana Bomb... If I have hundreds of MP in the future, I can summon an army of spiders? If I’m lucky enough to get the legendary gem of mana regen, Tear of the Goddess, doesn’t that mean I can always have an overwhelming number of Mana Bombs?]

Brendel licked his lips in excitement as he realized that this was not a terrible card but a trump card. Before his excitement ended, Batum who was behind him suddenly slammed his hand onto his chair and spoke.

“Finally! The highlight of the show is here.”

Brendel raised his head and looked at the cener of the stage. The glittering Dwarven sword had already been placed onto the display stand. The ghastly green light on the surface of the sword seemed to indicate the nature of the sword, but the organizers of the auction apparently made this the highlight of the auction—

The auctioneer brought the sword up: “This is a Dwarven’s masterpiece. The blade design and the patterns on it are like art. I don’t really need to say how priceless it is. Yet the beauty of this sword doesn’t end here, an excellent alchemist had turned it into a Magic Sword—”

The auctioneer paused for a while and turned his head around, then slowly spoke once more. “A Magic Sword.”

The auction site was silent for a moment.

Items that could do low level magic items or had artificial magic properties in them were typically called with a {Alchemists’s} prefix. Items that were more powerful like the sword in the auctioneer’s hand, had the word {Magic} as a prefix.

There was not one adventurer, mercenary or knight who did not want to have a powerful sword, so they held their breaths upon hearing the words.

As if to prove himself, the auctioneer suddenly turned back and sliced on a metal anvil that was placed there. Sparks flew throughout the air, and everyone heard a thin metallic sound. A long gash appeared on the anvil’s surface, but it was the corrosion on it that made the deepest impression.

There were audible gasps of breaths being drawn in, and even the nobles in the Boxes failed to find words for a while.

The auctioneer placed the sword down and clapped once.

“This sword is called The Tree’s heart. The base price is twenty-five thousand Tor, and each increment must be at least five percent of the base price.”

He paused again.

“Let the bidding begin—”

Amandina frowned a little when she heard the price. She was a noble lady who did not understand what the weapon really meant to those who faced death all the time.

“Isn’t this a little too high?”

“Of course not,” Batum shook his head resolutely: “If I didn’t know that this sword is our lord’s handiwork, I might actually bid for it. The majority of the adventurers and mercenaries here have some savings that they can use. A magic sword like this, I doubt they would pass on it, unless they don’t use it as a main weapon.”

As if to verify his words, the first bidder had raised his card. People started to follow his action and raised their cards to bid the sword. There was not even a need for the auctioneer to spice up the scene, and it was a fight for the Magic Sword.

The price quickly climbed to sixty thousand Tor, and there were only four or five voices that continued to raise the price up.

Roen recognized one of them, and told Brendel that the man represented the vice-captain of the Silver-Winged Cavalry.

[I wish the captain of that cavalry unit joins in for this bid. Since he’s a working dog for that {The Unifying One} guild, that sword can actually come back to my hands again once I kill him in the future.]

The price climbed up to seventy thousand Tor, and two more dropped out from the bidding. It was only the vice captain and two other nobles in the Boxed areas.

The vice captain raised his bid to seventy-five thousand Tor, and one of the nobles backed out. However his remaining opponent did not seem to want to give up, and after a short silence, the assistant to the auctioneer read out his bid.

[Ninety thousand Tor.]

The audience stopped moving as though they had been frozen, before turning their heads to the Boxed area to see who exactly it was. Even Roen wondered if the person was a representative of Earl Nakkin.

“If it’s that bastard Earl Nakkin, this will be a political fight between the White-Mane army and the regional nobles. This is good news, my lord.” Roen said a cunning smile.

But right at this moment, a voice suddenly cut across the murmurs.

[One hundred thousand Tor.]

Brendel and the people surrounding him turned their heads over to the source of the voice. Batum’s expression changed when he saw the person’s face, and spoke before Roen.

“My lord, that is Lord Foltest’s man.”

“Why is he down there and not at the Boxed area?” Brendel asked

“Only the Gods know.” Batum shook his head.

[It’s fine if the sword lands up in that Foltest’s hands. It might appear to be a wonderful sword to Batum and the others, but it’s really nothing that special. In the Port of Freedom, Ampere Seale, items of such quality appears every day in the auctions, while Bruglas is basically too remote of an area.]

The vice captain thought for a while and raised the price again, but the representative for Lord Foltest finally deterred him from bidding again.

[One hundred and ten thousand Tor.]

[One hundred and twenty thousand Tor.]

[One hundred and thirty thousand Tor.]

The noble in the first Box continued to bid against Foltest.

“This person doesn’t seem to be the representative for Earl Nakkin.” Amandina said.

Brendel nodded. The price in his heart was one hundred thousand to one hundred fifty thousand Tor. The results right now was satisfactory, and even with the procedure’s fee, he was able to obtain one hundred and sixty thousand Tor from this auction. It was enough money to realize his next plan.

But it seemed that Mother Marsha wanted to give him a surprise. Right when Foltest was about to quit, a new bidder entered into the fray.

[One hundred and fifty-five thousand Tor.]

This time even the auctioneer put down his hammer to look at the third Box in astonishment, wondering who was the noble who bid for it. Brendel had already turned around to ask Roen, but he was not able to come up with an answer.

The noble in the first Box finally hesitated, taking a long time to consider. He gave a bid of one hundred and sixty thousand Tor, but the mysterious person in the third box immediately gave a counter of one hundred and seventy thousand Tor—

Brendel and the people around him looked at each other. The bid had already surpassed what was the price for a Magic Sword.

Nobody answered the bid and silence hung in the air.

The auctioneer took a deep breath, recovered from his stupor and raised his hammer shakily. Three hammer strikes and the show finally ended.

“One hundred and seventy thousand Tor?” Batum patted Roen’s face: “Cripple, have you seen so much money before?”

Roen felt a little unsteady. Even though it was not the first time seeing a high bid like this, the money had nothing to do with him. This time however, it was related to him. He had only saved tens of thousands of Tor after working for nearly thirty years, but the bid that happened just now made him a little delirious.

Amandina’s hands grabbed the front of her dress tightly, trying hard to suppress her shock. Ciel tried to hold back his laughter when he saw her twisted expression.

When Brendel looked at Romaine, she was holding a small notebook and writing something in it. She looked delighted: “Brendel, we have the budget now.”

Brendel smiled.

The organizers seemed to want to make sure the night ended with a bidding war. When Brendel’s sword was taken away, another new item stole the people’s breaths.

“Fire seed!”

“Mother Marsha, a Fire Seed!”

“Someone’s selling a Fire Seed!”

Voices kept ringing throughout the place.

Brendel turned back to Ciel: “This is the best item, saved for last. It’s a pity, otherwise our sword could be the highlight of this auction.”

Ciel nodded.

But Brendel’s intention was not to pick at this small issue. “Every single Fire Seed in Aouine is produced by the Holy Cathedral of Fire. For Church Havel to sell it so openly, it looks like they are trying to raise money. It’s known that the Church Havel supports the royal family, but the royal family is planning something since they have to use a method like this to raise money—”

Ciel thought for a while and said: “Perhaps it has something to do with the war?”

Brendel closed his eyes and contemplated as well, but there was nothing in his memories related to this. He nodded and raised his head up. The atmosphere in the area had changed considerably. There was an urgent feeling spreading everywhere, and he felt that some people here had already received the news and was ready for the item.

“Should we participate?” Amandina asked.

Brendel shook his head. He had already decided not to participate in this particular bid when there were so many people ready for this. At least for the current situation, that two hundred something thousand Tor would not be able to gain an advantage at all.

He shook his head and wanted to say something else, but the lights around him suddenly dimmed. When he turned to the center stage, he saw that the auctioneer’s face had changed.

[Something is wrong!]

The young man reached for his weapon when all the candles on the wall were extinguished at the same time, and the place plunged into darkness.

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