the silly alchemist
Chapter 12 – With the purpose of squandering money
Translated by imakeusssmile
Sponsored by Neo Jayson
When the little thirteenth prince entered the auction house, the auction had already been halfway through. The auction would of course not wait for him. Leaving the point aside that they didn’t know when the little thirteenth prince would come, and even if they did know, they wouldn’t wait for him, as they had their own regulations.
However, the majority of the items auctioned at the beginning of the of the auction were common and lower in quality. The majority of the good stuff was kept for the later part of the auction, and the best ones were only revealed at the end.
After many items were auctioned, the little thirteenth prince finally started to move as he raised his plate and bid. As soon he shouted a price, everyone immediately stopped bidding, and in the end, the item was smoothly obtained.
This was not because the price he bid was high, but it was because this item was not very important and no one wanted to offend him. At the very least, they would not bid against him over this kind of thing.
Sometimes, there were also indeed advantages for being a prodigal son where one would be able to take such some small advantages.
It was just that, the problem lied in –
“Young master, what are you buying this for? You are not intending to give this as a present to Princess Qi right?” Tigress frowned and asked.
This auction item was a sword, a decorative sword. Although this sword had some historical value, for a martial artist it was completely useless, which in other words also meant that this sword had no practical value at all.
This kind of decorative sword, usually only a prince would wear it on his belt as an accessory for them to look cool, and it was not something which noble young ladies or madams would bring along with them. Perhaps, some noble young ladies who had some practice in martial arts would bring along the decorative sword, but Princess Qi was a magician.
“Oh, that’s not it. This sword is bought for myself to play with. How can such a cheap thing be given to my wife as a present. I will buy a much better present later on.” The little thirteenth prince said while shaking his head. And the meaning behind the words “much better” that he had just spoken of, actually just meant, more expensive.
Numerous amounts of auction goods passed again and within all of them, the little thirteenth prince himself had also bid for a few. However, the little thirteenth prince’s bidding was due to it being fun and the items which he had bought, they were either strange magic transmission devices, or they would be magic scrolls which he would use as fireworks to play with.
Magic scrolls, and similar things, there isn’t much of a need to explain what they are, as there is very little to explain. Though one point that should be made, is that in the entire continent, the manufacturing of magic scrolls was not easy and the materials costs were also very expensive, therefore magic scrolls were very expensive and luxurious.
And all these expensive and luxurious items were instead to be used as fireworks by the little thirteenth prince, to look at when he has nothing to do. This was indeed luxurious and prodigal enough. However, to speak the truth, the effect of magic was indeed much more gorgeous when compared to normal fireworks.
“Right now, it is time for the last three auction goods for our auction, which is also our entire auction’s focal point. Firstly, this first item on display is the Moon God Laurel Crown which was spoken of in the legends. This laurel crown was Great Emperor Xi Si’s present to his most beloved empress. It was the heart’s blood crystallization of close to a hundred craftsman. And on top of the laurel crown, it also currently has the largest sapphire presently known. Now, the starting price will be at 50,000 gold coin. For those who are interested in it, please start bidding.” The auctioneer familiarly introduced the item for a while and immediately went into the auction sequence.
“Young master, this one is not bad. You can give this as a present to Princess Qi.” Although Tigress felt that this item was a bit too expensive, but up till now, this was the best choice.
It was just that, she instead found that, the little thirteenth prince seemed to not have much of an interest in it and totally had no intent of bidding.
“Oh, is this item good? Let’s buy it then, 100,000……” The little thirteenth prince said casually. From this sentence, it was clearly told to everyone that, if Tigress didn’t remind him, he would absolutely not know that this item was an item which girls would like a lot.
“The Ye Family’s thirteenth prince bid 100,000 already, is there anyone higher than him? 100,000 one time……”
“110,000!” Due to the worth of this Moon God Laurel Crown being more than 100,000, there were still many people continuing to bid. Unless the amount of the bid exceeded that of the item’s worth, there would still be a lot of people bidding.
“120,000.” The little thirteenth prince did not think at all and just immediately bid once again.
“150,000!” That person continued shouting out a higher price and not out of everyone’s expectation, just after that person finished calling out a higher price, the little thirteenth prince’s voice once again rang out.
“160,000.”
“……, 170,000……”
“180,000.”
“……”
In the end, with an unusually high price of 180,000 gold coins, the little thirteenth prince successfully bought the Moon God Laurel Crown. However, for the little thirteenth prince, the more expensive it was, the better it was.
The next auction good, which was also the second last item of the auction, was a sword. And this time, it wasn’t for decorative use, but it was instead a high quality sword which was forged by a present age weapons master. This sword was a weapon which was the dreams of most swordsmen.
When everyone was currently shouting out a high price time and time again, the little thirteenth prince however had no reaction or movement at all. It wasn’t that he was waiting for the last person to bid before bidding, but it was instead just that, he was not interested in the sword at all.
“Things like fighting and killing isn’t suited for a prodigal son like me. This type of weapon is useless for me.” thought the little thirteenth prince.
“The last auction good……This item belongs to a hidden auction good which is this box. The starting price is 100,000 gold coins.” When the auctioneer was introducing the item, he was obviously lacking confidence.
A hidden auction was also a type of auction, and there were many types. In some cases, it was in the situation where the auction house knew what the item was being auctioned. While in other cases, just like the one right now, even the auction house didn’t know what the item being auctioned off was.
It was just that, in the past, even if they didn’t know what the item being auctioned off was, there would still be more or less some hints, and at the very least, they would know how much the item itself was worth.
Though this time, someone auctioned this box and did not reveal any information about it at all, straightforwardly requesting for a starting price of 100,000 gold coins. Right after the person who auctioned the box finished paying enough for the service fee, he no longer paid any more attention to it.
No matter how the auction house investigated, they were still unable to find out what the item being auctioned off was. It was just that, since the customer had already paid for the service fee, they could only auction the item off like this.
The problem was that, an auction item like this, how many people would even have the courage to buy it? 100,000 gold coins, if the item inside the box was not worth that much, what would the person who bid on it do then?
Therefore, the auctioneer did not have any confidence and felt that no one would bid for this item.
“100,000 gold coins? What is the item inside the box?” Someone started asking questions. After all, for a box on which there was very little information, it would be very hard for someone to make a firm resolution to buy it.
“As for what was specifically placed within the box, we ourselves don’t know about it. We can only say that, those who are willing to take risks can try to buy it and perhaps, there may be an item worth more than 100,000 gold coins in it. And if there isn’t anything of worth in the box, our auction house will not be responsible for it.” Said the auctioneer. He was also reminding his own customers that they should not take risks rashly, but of course, the most important part was still the final sentence – even if the buy goes wrong, they would not be responsible for it.
Perhaps, some people may not be able to understand why there would be a situation like this. But actually, this was just one of the existing rules, just that very few people would use this rule. After all, no one would be willing to take the risk and buy such a mysterious item.
At the same time, the more information there was about the hidden auction good, the more the amount of people willing to bid for it. After all, hidden auctions like this one rarely occur, but instead, the more normal hidden auctions, with more information, would occur more often.
Of course, there were no lack of people who would appear with special motives and carry out hidden auctions. It was just that, more or less, they would reveal a bit of information about the item, and the information given out must absolutely not be fake. During the time when carrying out a transaction with the auction house, the auction house would confirm this point.
It was just that, this item was just too particular. Nothing was said about it, and the price was straightforwardly starting from 100,000 gold coins. One doesn’t even need to talk about the situation surrounding the item, just the starting price alone of 100,000 gold coins, was something which was rarely seen. At this kind of level, it was already basically a national treasure.
This situation made everyone feel very curious, and at the same time, it also caused them to have the mindset of just observing.
At this time, when everyone present, including the auctioneer, thought that there would be no one bidding for this item, a sound suddenly rang out, letting everyone at the same time feel that it was unexpected but that it also made sense.
If it was someone else, everyone would be surprised. But if it is this person, everyone instead felt that it was normal, and within everyone present, only this person would bid on such a strange box.
This is because this person was basically a prodigal son. A complete and thorough prodigal son whose purpose was to squander money. This person was indeed our little thirteenth prince.
“100,000!”