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"Hmph, that gray-haired village girl has a decent look, but unfortunately, she has a sulky face."
The blonde young earl’s lips slightly drooped, forming a stern arc as he let out a derisive scoff.
His gaze swept across Talia and Lanci, as if appraising two cheap items, filled with disdain.
The young earl gestured to the auction house official next to him, signaling him to come over.
"Bring me your merchandise catalog, I’m interested in buying everything at a fixed price."
He spoke his piece indifferently.
Some of the items at the Petras Auction Event were offered with a fixed price option.
Generally, the fixed prices at Petras Auction House are far higher than the regular sale prices, with few customers willing to buy at a fixed price.
But the domineering tone in the young earl’s words, like his noble demeanor, was beyond doubt.
Clearly, he wanted to flaunt his wealth and the absolute gap between them in front of Lanci and Talia, as well as to strip them of any chance to participate in the auction.
It seemed that because of that one glance from Talia, he had decided not to let her, that rude creature, get anything she wanted today.
However, Talia still looked at the blonde noble’s distant VIP seat with a slight frown, without speaking.
"Tata, let it go."
Lanci’s tone was gentle, seemingly trying to dissolve Talia’s displeasure, glancing back from time to time along Talia’s line of sight.
"I’m not angry."
Talia stared at that outrageously wealthy Poson noble, knowing he was not to be trifled with.
To compete in wealth, they would probably have to call over Hyperion, and that too under the premise that Hyperion had inherited the Duke’s Mansion’s wealth.
Moreover, in such a central city-state’s auction house, there was almost no room to use force, not even Loren could freely use high-level spells. Once a battle state was entered in town, or there was a high magic power reaction, it would trigger alarms and suppressive responses.
"Country bumpkins who have never seen the world..."
The blonde young earl narrowed his left eye and his lips parted softly, easily conveying his intent.
It seemed he found it amusing to provoke Talia, who appeared to be a ticking bomb at the slightest touch.
"..."
Talia’s eyes gradually grew colder.
If this was a hundred years ago, she would not have tolerated such provocation for a second.
Lanci quickly grabbed her wrist.
He feared Tata might act faster than she thought.
Showing any sign of violence would risk them being seen as offenders.
No matter how lively the auction house still was.
Silence hovered between the blonde noble and Talia, with a cat in their separate seats. Talia seemed to heed Lanci’s advice. Her gaze shifted from the blonde noble’s seat and turned to watch Lanci’s face.
Talia, for the moment, slowly wriggled free of her wrist held by Lanci.
"Lanci, do you have a way to teach that guy a lesson?"
She finally spoke up.
Although she did not like asking Lanci for help, and was not sure if he would be willing to help her, she indeed felt irritated.
She had no way of dealing with nobility without breaking any rules in an unfamiliar place.
The more it came to such times, the more difficult it seemed to fight against others while mired in rules and regulations.
"...Of course not, we can’t break the rules."
Lanci looked at her seriously and replied.
"I see."
Talia said.
Her tone lacked disappointment.
That was the nature of her relationship with Lanci. She never expected him to treat her with the same caring as he did for Hyperion. She wasn’t the type of girl to harbor grievances.
He actually liked provoking her the most, so seeing someone else provoke her probably didn’t bother him much.
However, she saw Lanci raise his hand, signaling the staff member in the aisle to come over.
"Hello, I have an extremely rare creature for contractual servitude available. Is it possible to insert it into the lineup of offerings?"
Lanci inquired to the approaching auction house staff.
"Uh, according to our auction house regulations, disrupting the order is not allowed. Although there are precedents in such circumstances, it has to be ensured that the creature’s contract is extremely precious to allow for an exception."
The staff member explained.
He didn’t believe this man could have a particularly precious contracted beast.
Yet, it wasn’t his call to make; they still needed to meet with the manager to decide if the item could be added to the catalog on short notice.
"Sorry, Cat Boss, we’ll have to part for a while, but to save the Demon Race, I have no other choice."
Lanci, with a look of regret, lifted up Cat Boss with both hands and spoke to it.
"Meow meow meow, no!!"
Cat Boss screamed.
"Hey, Lanci, are you serious?"
Talia grabbed Lanci’s shoulders.
Although she somewhat understood that only with a lot of money could they compete against the blonde noble and start a gamble.
But that’s not how you earn money.
Selling Cat Boss was a bit too much, however you looked at it.
Lanci could only shake his head helplessly.
...
Twenty minutes later.
Cat Boss and Lanci had been away from the auction venue for a while.
Talia still sat in her original seat, silently watching the stage.
"We’ve received news to share with everyone here. An unprecedented item has been added to the lineup!"
Suddenly, the auctioneer received a message, his face lit up with a mysteriously conceited smile as he announced to all in the venue.
It was an exceptionally special and rare contract for a species.
Even in his many years as Petras Auction House’s chief auctioneer, he had never seen anything like it.
"Of course, the species determination has also been completed!"
In an instant, a wave of commotion rose from the crowd below.
They hadn’t expected any surprises at today’s auction event.
Usually, in such situations, only exceptionally rare treasures would cause the auctioneer to add items to the catalog spontaneously and hype up the atmosphere extensively.
What followed.
The curtain was drawn.
On stage, staff members escorted Lanci up.
"Species name: Lanci Clan! Starting bid: ten thousand pounds!"
Talia: "Pfft!"
She almost choked on her saliva.
Whoever won that auction would surely have a hard time getting rid of him!
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