"WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, LET’S START THE AUCTION!" Barnaby scread, his voice echoing through the whole venue.
The excitent in the crowd grew hotter with the anticipation.
The companies, on the other hand, were just waiting for Barnaby to reveal the first item to decide if they were going to be purchasing it or not.
"For our very first item, I have sothing very special up in store..."
Barnaby stepped away from the center stage to make way. And suddenly, a platform suddenly levitated out of the ground, revealing a rectangular box the size of a human person to appear.
The item itself was covered in a red linen that slightly obscured its true nature. Still, one could clearly make a guess at what the item was because of the familiar shape and edges of the object.
"Ladies and gentlen, I present to you..."
Barnaby pulled down the red carpet.
"A full set of Dwarven Armor, Sword, and Shield!"
Everyone feasted their eyes upon a magnificent piece of tal work. Even from far away, the clarity and the unblemished tal made the whole armor look like it was ripped straight out from heaven.
"It’s not just one...it’s not just two...it’s not just three...but ten whole sets for you and for your crew! Companies, please place your bids, starting at 100,000 Gold Coins!"
As soon as Barnaby said those magic words, companies started knocking on their tinted window glasses to place their bids.
Judging from the sounds of knocks, it looked like every single company from the Minor Factions placed their bids imdiately.
After all, one set of Dwarven armor was good. Two sets were great. But ten? That was a ga changer. Being able to arm their major officers with suprely crafted tal armor would not only help them in the long run, but also in the short-term, mainly the auction itself.
Barnaby, even with all the chaos from the knockings, knew who was the first one to place his bid.
"110,000 from the Talon Speak!"
Just then, another knock.
"120,000!"
The knocking continued, leaving Barnaby not even a chance to voice out the bids.
KNOCK!
Barnaby excitedly pointed at one of the top rooms in the auction venue. "We got a 1,000,000 bid from Spice Vise!"
It was at this point that the other Minor Factions decided to bow out and refuse to bid any higher. The cacophony of knocks that plagued the auction now turned silent. The Dwarven tal set was good, but it wasn’t that good. They had better ways to spend their money.
"A 1 million bid. Is there anyone that can top that?!"
And as if accepting Barnaby’s challenge, a knock imdiately resounded out just right next to the Spice Vise booth.
"We got 1.2 million from Crocodile Leather!" Barnaby exclaid.
But it wasn’t long after another knock resounded through the venue.
"Oh! A huge jump! 1.5 million is now the top bid, coming straight from Alligator company"
The crowd on the ground floor looked up in awe at three companies vying for the bid. They expected this. After all, they were all in the Rising Six!
"Woah, the Rising Six are going to be spending that much on Dwarven armor sets?!"
"It’s not just the armor. It’s the knowledge engrained into those armors!"
"I see! So they’re actually vying to bid for a chance to learn how to make armors as good as the Dwarves!"
Another knock echoed in the venue.
"Another contender. 1.6 million is now the bid, thanks to Angelic Crafts!"
It wasn’t long after that did another bid co from another one from the Rising Six.
"1.7 million! Courtesy of the Mountain Movers!" exclaid Barnaby.
"Spice Vise ca up with another offer. 1.8 million!"
"1.9!"
"2 million!"
The Rising Six went back and forth on their bids, refusing to get out bid by the other.
anwhile, as the very heated auction was going off, Michael and the other Rebornians looked down at the glass and couldn’t help but be disappointed at what they saw.
"That’s it?" Zion scoffed. "They’re paying this much for run-of-the-mill armor sets?!"
"I don’t even think it’s in the Dwarven quality," Jaku comnted, peeking with one eye open and the other asleep.
"The Dwarven King would be very pleased to know that the armor that leaked out of their kingdom is only of low quality," Sheina said, smiling.
The other Vanderbilts were speechless when they heard what the Dragonborns were saying. The Dwarven armor wasn’t good?!
If Max or the other Vanderbilts got a hand on one of those armor sets, then they would treat it like a treasure and pass it down to the next generation like it was a priceless heirloom.
Yet for these Rebornians, they didn’t even consider it as passable?!
If they thought that way, then what kind of armors were they used to back in their territory?
Of course, Michael and the other Rebornians were so used to extrely high-quality Dwarven materials from the best of the best, that their criteria of good was completely skewed.
The armor set was perfectly fine and had no imperfections. But for them, it was one of the worst-quality Dwarven smithing they had ever seen.
"Michael...are you sure you don’t want to bid?" Max asked.
Michael looked back at him. "Why? You want one?"
Max imdiately waved his hand and refused. "No, no, no, that’s way too pricey for . But wouldn’t you like sothing for you or your friends here?"
"Fufu," Lylia chuckled. "Brother-in-law, that kind of tal isn’t worthy of my son."
Michael then noticed that little Willliam was looking over the Dwarven armor with stars in his eyes. The boy clearly wanted one for himself.
He approached him and squatted down. "Do you want one?"
The boy looked ekly at Michael before nodding his head.
Michael smiled and looked at Sheina. She knew exactly what to do even without him saying it.
She contacted the Shadow Orc inhabiting her feet and gave him so directions. It wasn’t long after that did the Orc show itself to the group with a new and shiny armor set in his hands.
"Here, try it on for size," Michael said as Sheina handed the armor over to William.
As his son excitedly put on the new armor, Max couldn’t help but gasp out loud once he realized the extrely beautiful quality of tal that it was made out from.
"Michael..what...what is that?"
He shrugged. "Oh, don’t worry. This is just so ordinary armor we had in store back in the Parched Lands."
Max gulped. Once he got a closer look at the armor, it bore a close resemblance to the one being auctioned off below. But compared to this, that one looked like a cheap imitation copy that a five year old made by himself.
"That wouldn’t happen to be...Dwarven-make, right?"
"I an...Dwarves did make it, so yeah. But don’t worry, it’s not that valuable. We have a lot of Dwarven apprentices looking to practice their skills. This is just one of them."
Max almost collapsed down into the couch.
Even the other Vanderbilts had their jaws completely fallen to the floor.
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