Inside the auction house.

Richard, Pandora, Gro, and Gro's bodyguards walked into the auction hall and followed the instructions into a box on the upper floor of the venue.

The box is not small, more than ten square meters, and there are several soft and comfortable seats, and Pandora unceremoniously occupies the largest one, yawning and pounced on it and began to sleep. Richard and Gro had no choice but to choose two smaller ones, while Gro's guards stood around.

Pulling back the curtain on one side of the box, Richard looked outside, looking down at the entire auction hall, and found that it was very exquisite.

The whole auction hall is not very large, after all, there are not many people who can participate in the auction in the first place, either nobles or rich people. However, the venue is not too small, with almost 300 seats, plus some private rooms, which can accommodate nearly 350 people, which fully meets the needs. At this time, more than half of the seats in the venue were occupied. There was a lot of discussion, and it was so lively.

Gro in the box spoke up: "Basically, they came for the 'test-free certificate', originally they wanted to get their hands on it by snatching, but they all failed, so they had to sit here honestly and compete for financial resources." Last night, every family had losses, and I heard that some of them even had their bloodlines killed, so it was inevitable that there would be anger, and it would be a good show to watch later. ”

Richard glanced at Gro, who looked a little gloating, and said loudly: "Don't you worry, these people are snatching the 'exemption certificate' with you?

"Heh, just them?" said Gro with a slight disdain, "Although, they are all not small families, and they all have a lot of money. But most of the money has to be used for daily use, to maintain the operation of the family, and there is not much that can really be taken out.

If I can mortgage the territory, real estate, and shops, I really don't dare to compare with them, but the auction house does not accept physical objects, only the official gold coins of the Emerald Kingdom. And when it comes to gold, I really don't know who has more than me. I'm a prince, and it stands to reason that the entire Emerald Kingdom has a part of me, so don't you have as many gold coins as you want?"

"Alas. Gro suddenly thought of something again, sighed and said, "It's a pity it wasn't earlier. I heard that earlier, when the Emerald Kingdom was still strong, the words of the royal family were much better than now. At that time, if there was really such a thing as a 'test-free certificate', there was no money at all, just a word, and the nobles below would obediently dedicate it to the royal family. It's a pity that now the power of the royal family has weakened a lot, and the nobles are becoming more and more disobedient. However, even so, I have the confidence to smash them to death with gold coins. ”

"So, you're going to auction off all three 'exemption vouchers'?"

"I had that idea. Gro smiled slightly, full of confidence, and looked at Richard, "But if you want one, Your Excellency Richard, I will naturally give it to you." ”

"No, just feel free. Richard smiled.

"Uh......" Groh only thought that Richard was a kind word and didn't think much about it.

Richard continued to look outside the box, and saw that the number of people in the auction hall had increased a lot, and the attendance rate had reached almost sixty percent.

And then seventy percent......

Probably......

After eighty percent, the number of people entering the venue began to decrease, and finally reached about eighty and a half, and then it no longer increased.

It's no wonder, after all, it's impossible for all the nobles in the entire Emerald Gold City to come here, eighty and a half, and it's already nearly three hundred, which is an extremely terrifying number.

At this time, an auctioneer about fifty years old in a black dress appeared, walked up to a high platform in the center of the auction, knocked on the gavel on the table, and said directly: "The auction begins!"

There was silence in the audience.

"Please have the first lot. The auctioneer said sharply, "It's a miniature stone statue from the famous master sculptor Harbacs." ”

After the auctioneer finished speaking, someone walked up to the stage with a tray and showed a pink miniature stone statue more than ten centimeters high for everyone to see. I saw that it was the appearance of a naked girl, the carving was lifelike, whether it was the expression on the face, the realistic facial features, or the bulging breasts, there were no flaws in the tight thighs. It is considered a masterpiece in the craft, and it can be seen that the author has spent a lot of effort.

"Master Harbacs, the name of this statue is the Dream Maiden, which is his latest work in the past six months, which definitely satisfies many people's imagination of the dream lover. Whether it's a decoration at home or a free time, it's good. The auctioneer pointed to the statue and boasted, and then announced: "The starting price of the statue is 5 gold coins, and each increase must not be less than 20 silver coins." ”

"Okay, is there anyone bidding?" asked the auctioneer, waiting for the crowd to bid.

The way to call the price is also simple, everyone has a number plate, and a number plate represents a price increase, of course, you can also directly shout out the number of price increases.

Gro's number plate is number 1, and Richard's is number 2.

Richard guessed that this was definitely not a coincidence, and that the auction should have been an attempt to curry favor with Gro, leaving the smallest number plate for Gro. This also shows from a certain point of view that Gro is the highest-ranking person in the entire auction.

The reason why Gro is confident that he will auction off all three "test-free certificates". There is no other reason, it is just that he oppresses people with power, and he is rich and capricious.

Thinking about this, Richard looked into the auction hall with interest, watching the reaction of everyone, but found that it was very deserted.

It's not just deserted, it's just dead silence, for more than a minute, and no one is screaming. The atmosphere in the venue suddenly became a little weird and awkward.

This is not because the statue is rubbish, according to the quality of the statue, it only sells for 5 gold coins, which is already a low price, after all, Richard spent 100 gold coins to buy a huge ruby at that time. The reason why the nobles are silent is because most of them came with the "test-free certificate", and they didn't want to waste money on any "dream girl" at all, and they didn't want to waste a single gold coin.

As a result, the first item in the auction is about to be auctioned.

The auctioneer's face on the stage was a little ugly, and many nobles looked at him coldly without cooperation.

The auctioneer wiped the sweat from his face, took a deep breath, and was about to announce the result helplessly, when Richard held up the sign and quoted the price.

"No. 2! Increase the price once, 5 gold coins and 20 silver coins!" The auctioneer immediately shouted, so excited that the muscles on his face were trembling, "No. 2 once, did anyone increase the price?"

"No. 2 twice, 5 gold coins and 20 silver coins, did anyone increase the price?" shouted the auctioneer, pulling his neck.

"No. 2 three times, 5 gold coins and 20 silver coins, did anyone increase the price? No, that's good, deal!" the auctioneer made a final decision, and then breathed a long sigh of relief.

Although the stone statue was sold for 5 gold coins and 20 silver coins, it almost did not make any money, but at least it avoided the embarrassing scene of unsuccessful auctions. Regardless of the gains and losses, the auctioneer waved his hand and asked the staff to send things to Richard and Gro's box.

Originally, according to reason, it is generally not until the end of the auction that the payment will be handed over, but that is the system established by modern auctions, and in the Middle Ages, where the auction system was not perfect at all, it was basically how convenient it was.

Soon, the things were delivered to the box, and Richard paid for it.

Gro looked at Richard strangely, and asked in a puzzled voice: "Your Excellency Richard, what is the use of asking for this thing?"

"Well, it's just that I like it, and the price isn't expensive anyway. Richard said.

"Uh, okay. Gro didn't ask any more.

In fact, the reason why Richard auctioned off the stone statue was naturally not because he liked it, and he couldn't like it. The real reason was because Richard fell in love with the material from which the stone statue was carved, the pink stone.

Richard was very suspicious that the pink stone was not an ordinary material, but manganese zoisite. Manganese zoisite is a variant of zoisite that is pink in color because it is rich in manganese.

Richard auctioned the stone statue to prepare to smash the stone statue and extract the manganese element inside. After all, because of the production of cobalt blue glass, a part of manganese was used before, and the reserves were already somewhat insufficient, and they needed to be replenished in time.

This kind of behavior is naturally suspected of buying pearls and returning the price, but Richard doesn't care.

Compared to the stone statue, Li felt that the scarce manganese element was more precious, and it was completely worth more than 5 gold coins without putting a lot of effort into finding it.

Thinking so, Richard put away the pink stone statue and looked out of the box.

In the venue, the auction continues.