Chapter 36: The Second Auction and Promotion to S-Rank

 

“Everyone, it really has been too long since last time! But let us now begin this auction!”

And with the auction’s host’s declaration, the month’s auction began.

“Mm, this month’s auction is also packed.”

I thought to myself whilst looking down upon the participating guests beneath me from a seat on the upper floor.

My name is Rairahba Gaiba.

I am the owner of the auction venue, and am the person in charge of managing the whole event.

I had been secretly looking forward to watching the guests from up here when the auction started.

I enjoyed seeing the sight of them all gathered here in search of the dishes served at this mealtime of an auction.

Simply by offering them a place, both products and guests to buy them came by themselves.

They, possessors of both money and standing, vainly came here in search of new products, rejoicing like children if they managed to procure what they wanted, or holding their heads in frustration if they failed to do so, even if they were amongst the elite even for nobles.

And seeing that humorous performance was something I enjoyed immensely.

And at this auction, there were a number of faces that would not normally show up.

Not only had people who would usually leave auctions to their subordinates here, but even people with apparently no interest in auctions.

And it was not only nobles attending, but influential merchants were also present.

They had all come for the same product.

“The Ancient Plant, Kaiser Hawk, and the Shadow Fox’s magic stones, eh.”

The auction venue here in the royal capital had been unusually busy in the past couple of months.

It had all begun at an auction a couple of months ago.

A Dragon had been put up for auction back then.

Materials from Dragons were occasionally put up for auction, so it hadn’t been all that strange at first.

Nobles in decline in need of money would sometimes put Dragons’ scales or bones, which had no danger of rotting away and that they had inherited from their ancestors, up for auction.

However, an almost unharmed, freshly hunted Dragon’s materials were a different story.

Their internal organs, which would rot away easily, could be used as catalysts for difficult magic or ingredients for high-grade potions, or even components for Magic Items.

Moreover, since the wings and scales, which were usually quite battered, had been in almost mint-perfect condition, many people had attended the auction in search of the Dragon’s materials.

Moreover, it seemed as though many people who had neglected information-gathering or not been able to attend that time were present as well now, likely having greatly regretted not having been able to get their hands on a part of the Dragon.

Although, they probably wouldn’t have been able to participate and place a winning bid anyway, since the people with good information networks and really influential nobles had raised the price up extremely high in the blink of an eye.

Especially the Dragon’s most valuable part, its Magic Stone had been bought by Viscount Grimoa for 30000 gold coins.

Seriously, what was he even thinking, spending that much on it.

However, while I liked watching the reactions of the winners, I had no interest in what the items they had purchased would be used for, so I hadn’t gone out of my way to find out what he had used it for in the end.

The Dragon’s other parts had sold for quite a large sum as well, but the auction still hadn’t been over with just that.

Two Evil Boars had also been put up for auction on the very same day.

And, I know not how, they were almost completely unharmed.

The auction had become unprecedentedly loud, and twenty platinum coins’ worth of money had been brought forth.

The amount of money spent at that month’s auction had been the largest ever.

And such incidents weren’t limited to just the auctions.

A Cursed Viper, Blade Wolves, and even Elder Plants, all of them rare and difficult-to-kill monsters, also made their way onto the market.

Of course, there were only a few of them, but merchants, famous magicians, and even famed blacksmiths clamoured after these rare materials.

“To think this many rare materials would appear in such a short length of time…”

Something was happening.

One couldn’t help but think that such incidents had grown more frequent lately.

The case where a certain someone had been attacked by a Dragon while on a secret trip.

The (unconfirmed) case of the appearance of a Demon.

The creation of highways through the Forest of Magic Beasts.

The last of those had had an impressive impact upon all of us whose professions were intertwined with logistics.

There were rumours about it all being the work of a single adventurer, but that was impossible.

It was impossible for a single adventurer to do such things.

If it were possible, the state would have had them done so long ago.

“It was likely some country’s military testing something.”

Having them act like ordinary adventurers to test out some type of Magic Item sounded plausible enough.

The Dragon and Evil Boars might also have been results of those tests.

I don’t know how close it is to completion, but once they decide to fully roll it out in their army, the power balance of the surrounding countries will change drastically.

“And not only that, the series of events that have been occurring lately seem to have no connection to each other at first glance, but I get this feeling they’re still connected somehow…”

The increased number of monsters near the royal capital, the arrival of an S-Rank adventurer in the country, and…

“Those Monster Repelling Potions.”

They were another never-before-heard-of occurrence.

Developed and perfected in a small village, Monster Repelling Potions had the effect of chasing away monsters, no barrier magic needed.

Many people had come from neighbouring countries in search of these potions.

“There are too many things happening.”

Thus, I could say the following with certainty:

This wouldn’t end here.

“““““Wooooooooo!!!”””””

The guest’s cheers brought me back out of my thoughts.

The main attraction this time was the timber that came from an Ancient Plant.

“Oho, the one who won was Lord Argyle from the military.”

He didn’t usually have any interest in auctions, so he must have been planning on using the materials for the army.

He must have been deeply regretting not having been able to be present for the Dragon last time due to a top-secret mission.

Perhaps he would use the materials to increase his sway in certain matters.

Perhaps he would use the wood to construct something?

“Ah, I see, the sea.”

I laughed a little at having figured out Lord Argyle’s objective.

“If things go well, there might even be a new S-Rank one put up for display.”

After that, as I was expecting, all the Ancient Plant’s materials were bought up by Lord Argyle’s proteges.

♦ ♦

“Here is the money from the Ancient Plant, Kaiser Hawk, and Shadow Fox.”

The receptionist said, handing me the money from the auction.

“The Ancient Plant sold for 40 platinum coins, the Kaiser Hawk for 35, and the Shadow Fox’s Magic Stone went for 1500 gold coins.”

“Uwaa, that’s a lot of money…”

My senses regarding money have already been paralysed.

“Eh? Platinum? What’s that?”

Liliella-san said, looking at me with a confused face.

“Huh, you don’t know about platinum coins?”

“I don’t.
What are they?”

“Jairo-kun didn’t know either.
There’s a surprisingly large number of people who don’t know about them, huh?”

“Platinum coins are mostly used in transactions between merchant companies, used when the number of gold coins would be too large.”

The receptionist politely explained to Liliella-san.

“Hee, I never knew such things even existed… wait, when the number of gold coins is too large!? How much is one of those things even worth then!?”

“10000 Gold coins.”

“Ten thousaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand!?”

Huh, she’s reacting the exact same way Jairo-kun and the others did.

“W-what will you even do with that much money!?”

Liliella-san asked me, bewildered by the huge amount.

“What, you ask?”

“That’s right! You can spend the rest of your life playing around with that much money!”

Should I?

“Would you like it to be deposited in your guild bank account?”

The receptionist asked as if nothing had happened.

“No thank you, I have a magic bag so it’ll be all right.”

“That’s a pity.”

I applaud your efforts though, receptionist-san.

“So, what will you do with the money!? Start a business!?”

A business? Hmm, to be honest I feel like I’d be scammed by bad people if I were to start a business.

“How about buying a house?” the receptionist chimed in.

“A house?”

“Yes.
Many high-ranked adventurers have their own houses which act as a sort of base of operations.
You can use it to store your belongings, as a place where your party members can be on standby or stay at, and above all, it’s real estate.”

I see, a house.
I guess having one could prove useful.

“Sounds good! Having a house would make it actually feel like we made money!”

“Indeed, and having their own hideout is a common sign of a powerful party.”

I see, so many people want a house as a sign that they’re proper adventurers.

“Especially since you were approved for promotion to S-Rank due to defeating two S-Ranked monsters, having your own base would be a good idea.”

“Eh?”

“Congratulations on your promotion to S-Rank, Rex-san.”

The receptionist said without missing a beat.

“That’s amazing! You’re really an S-Rank now! Congrats, Rex-san!”

Liliella-san said, celebrating my promotion to S-Rank.

“T-thank you very much.”

Still, I somehow thought there’d be more fanfare around something like this.

“Hahaha! I heard about you, Rex-kun! You’re finally S-Rank as well!”

Said none other than Rody-san, appearing next to me.

“Rody-san!”

“Congrats on your promotion to S-Rank, Rex-kun!”

“T-thank you very much.”

“Fufu, now we’re equal in rank too.
Hahaha, I won’t lose the next time though!”

Then, having said what he wanted, Rody-san disappeared as he had come.

“I never said I wanted to have another duel!”

However, Rody-san left the guild in high spirits, grinning to himself.

“Uhhh, what were we talking about?”

“Hey hey, let’s celebrate your promotion to S-Rank!”

Said Liliella-san, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the reception.

“Celebrate?”

“Yes, let’s have a lot of tasty food!”

“Kyuu!”

The furball reacted to the words ‘tasty food’.

“Jeez, what a money sink.”

I fell into thought while Liliella-san dragged me to some establishment she recommended.

My own house, huh.

I guess I could hole myself up inside if things ever went south.

And I could do way more with and in a house belonging to myself than in an inn.

“A house would be okay, I guess.”

“Eh? What?”

“I was thinking it would be fine to build a house.”

“I’m also in favour, we might meet new party members, and having too much luggage would make travelling difficult.”

“You said it.”

“So then, what kind of house should it be? I know of one in a good location, although it has been lived-in before.
Well, if you want the ideal house, we’d have to have one built, but that would take quite long.”

Liliella-san asked me what kind of house I wanted.

“Let’s see… well, why not go the extra mile and build a new one?”

I then began thinking up plans for the layout and functions of the house.

“Maan, rich people sure do think different.
Well, I do know where we can hire a top-notch builder at least.”

“What? A builder?”

“What? You need a builder to build a house, don’t you?”

“What? Don’t you build your own houses?”

“What?”

“What?”

We stared at each other in silence.

“…What do you want to build?”

“A house?”

“A house? For real?”

“Yeah, for real.”

“Really, a normal house?”

“Of course it’ll be a normal house?”

“It really will be a completely normal, within-the-bounds-of-common-sense, no-strange-functionalities added house, right!?”

Liliella-san asked me seriously.

Oh come on, of course I’ll make a normal house.

Yes, a very normal house.

Well, I guess I did get some extra motivation from being promoted to S-Rank though!

Ah, right.
I really miss everyone too.