Warlock Apprentice

“If I were the maker of such a music box then I wouldn’t allow the auction house to throw it away at 150 crystals!”

“Nevertheless, we found its true value, didn’t we? See, the bid’s already above 10,000.”

As people recovered from the amazing journey in the illusion, they started talking about the price again.

In fact, new bids were already being called before Theron resumed the auction.

“Thirteen thousand,” Leona cried.

“Fourteen.” Shildeen followed up and gave Leona’s room a hateful glare.

Leona sneered and wouldn’t give up yet.

“Twenty thousand.” Sumesh suddenly joined them.

That was a raise of 6,000 in one go. Everyone including Theron glanced at Sumesh’s room in shock. Never once did the monthly auctions go through such intense bidding during the first half.

Dave, on the other hand, was glad that he could at least earn 2,000 crystals from the sale this time. Previously, he thought Angor’s new music box would sell for the same price as “Land on the Sky”, which meant 8,100 crystals. Now, this was unexpected.

“Mister Sumesh… You and Angor are training under the same teacher. There are massive chances for you to obtain such an alchemy illusion. Must you compete with me?” Shildeen protested.

Leona also mumbled her similar opinion.

“I will buy it when I like it. I can pay the price, so what’s the problem?” said Sumesh.

“Are you trying to ruin my breakthrough?!” Shildeen yelled.

And this confused the onlookers. What did a music box have to do with the breakthrough of a wizard?

Shildeen wasn’t going to explain. He simply kept calling new bids.

“Did his tongue slip, or did he say that on purpose?” Leona muttered.

“Hey, you’re not going to keep up with them?” Kate asked her.

“Soon, what Shildeen meant or meant not to tell us will be known by everyone, by which I’ll have no hope of winning. I’ll just quit for now. Let’s see if the final price goes beyond what I can afford.”

“How much can you afford?”

“A hundred thousand. If it exceeds that, I think I’ll just… wait until Angor returns to Brute Cavern so that I can do something to mend our relationship.”

“A hundred thousand for a music box? I don’t think so. That’s crazy even for rich wizards, just to buy something that MIGHT help them gain a level.”

Leona shook her head. “Those who are only one step away from the path of truth are willing to pay anything to gain the slightest opportunity. Besides, wizards who can get such money can always do it again.”

Kate still didn’t believe it would happen, but she was immediately convinced when someone called 100,000.

“That’s… Did someone just raise the price from 30,000 to 100,000?”

The apprentices who visited the auction out of boredom today could no longer believe what was happening. Throughout the entire history of Remnant Auction, the highest recorded price for “opener items” was 200-300 magic crystals. And now, they were looking at something that was worth six digits, and it was still going up.

As more people heard that Angor’s alchemy illusion was a useful tool that helped with Greya’s achievement, the price of the music box was rising madly without waiting for Theron’s cries.

Madelyne, Duncan, and Dumartin already gave up, while Leona withdrew soon after the price went above what she could pay.

As for Sumesh… he merely joined the fracas for fun. He was confident that he could always ask Angor for such an item later. And when the price reached 150,000, he simply pulled out.

Shildeen continued until 140,000. But now, he didn’t have a choice but to sulk over the defeat in his VIP room.

He knew the true value of the music box would get exposed soon since there were so many people from Brute Cavern attending the auction. He said those words earlier just to reveal the fact and hurry up the price race, and hopefully, he could leave a good impression on Angor by doing so.

Besides, there were always other ways to get the item later.

The current bid was called by Ryne from Moxa Westland, but not someone from Brute Cavern.

He came to the auction to buy a monster cub he heard about. He wasn’t interested in the music box a moment ago, but he soon changed his mind when he heard about Greya’s challenge of truth.

When he called 160,000 crystals, most of the competitors had decided to drop out.

Some of the wizards had enough money to keep going. They didn’t because they were planning to directly request Angor for crafting service later. It was unlikely for an apprentice to ask for an insane price from a wizard.

They could all see that the base components contained in the music box weren’t so costly. They could probably pay Angor 100,000 for a music box, which would get him a net profit of 90,000 or more. There was no point in wasting extra money now.

Ryne thought he finally won the item since no one was following behind his bid. However, Theron received another call before he could raise his gavel.

“Two hundred thousand.” It was Jellal from VIP room 7.

Ryne sat back.

It seemed Jellal planned to obtain the music box from the beginning. He waited until people reached their limits before showing his trump card.

When Theron declared the new owner of the music box, the other customers fell into a heated discussion while they glanced at Jellal and Dave. It was rare in this world for an apprentice to carry such a huge fortune—and people were getting restless.

Dave soon woke up from his fantasies when he sensed the hostile looks from people. Now both the customers and the auction house had bad intentions against him. Before counting his coins, he had to worry about how to get away in one piece.

Leona suddenly spoke from her room, “You’re the shop assistant working for Mister Prome, aren’t you?”

Dave nodded subconsciously. He was in no condition to properly answer a question.

“I love that illusion as well as the music shown by Angor. I mean, it was so impressive that I could probably hum that song for the rest of today. Can you tell me what it is called?”

Theron was preparing to bring out the fourth item. He stopped and looked at Dave.

Not only Leona. Many arty wizards and apprentices would like to know the answer.

Dave scratched his ears. “Angor didn’t tell me. He only said something like, the music was presented to that dancer lady.”

While the wizarding world was mostly corrupted by malevolence, people still knew how to appreciate goodness and virtue, which were plain to see from the dancing woman.

“Was that Angor’s lover?” an apprentice took a guess.

“Possible. Hey, have you heard that he has a lover?”

Dave quickly explained something else before the subject was led astray. “I-I’m not sure if the woman has anything to do with Angor, but he told me that her name is ‘Elise’.”

“A piano composition made for Elise? I see,” said Leona.

Theron was going to continue with the auction now. Of course, he knew that the remaining items would appear rather boring after the music box. But there was not much he could do right now. He had to do his job.

“Ahem. The fourth item sold today was delivered from—”

He halted his speech when he saw almost half of the crowd leaving, while Sumesh was walking in front.

Wait! Is EVERYONE from Brute Cavern going to quit?

…

Soon, Chalon was informed that half of the customers had disappeared, whereas almost all the VIP guests had gone.

He almost vomited blood due to the sudden rage. It was like Brute Cavern meant to embarrass him today!

Still, the VIP rooms didn’t completely clear out. Leona and Kate remained behind.

“Aren’t you going to return together with Mister Sumesh?” Kate asked her partner in confusion.

Leona glanced at Dave’s position. “You see, I’ve been looking for a chance to fix my relationship with Angor. Now here it is.”

“Oh… you want to help that shop assistant and use him as a bridge to get to Angor?”

“Not really. I’m rewarding him for telling me the name of that song.”

As a canny witch, Leona knew that being too straightforward might instead further annoy Angor. She was going to use a milder approach.

“But he never told you the name of the song.”

“It doesn’t matter. What is important is that I have a good excuse to help him later. Besides, he seems smart enough. He’ll understand what I want with him.”