Chapter 059 Imperial Capital Auction 5
Lin Muqiu was not at all flustered. Every word he spoke was smooth and fluent. After he finished speaking, he sat down quietly.
At this moment, all the guests in front of her became her foil.
The auction was so large, with a strong sense of depth, and everyone was looking at her.
She swung on her toes slightly and looked down at the gilded ground.
The golden light was reflected in her pupils.
Kede Luo next to him felt very uncomfortable and straightened his back subconsciously.
"Okay, let's get started."
Finally, the Chamber of Commerce manager slowly spoke.
His clothes were soaked with sweat and stuck to his body. He wiped the sweat from his head, his heart pounding.
Just now, he had invisibly sensed a huge magical threat, a suffocating feeling of impending death, which made him really dare not act rashly.
His hair stood on end and all he wanted to do was run.
After saying this, he went backstage in a daze.
Without any speeches or usual greetings, he ordered his men to begin.
The men, wearing white gloves, took out equipment from a transparent acrylic plate. "The first item for auction is the Flame Gem Staff. The user will enhance the effectiveness of their magic. Starting price: 100 gold coins. Each bid must be no less than 1 gold coin. Bidding begins now."
Under the orange light, every detail was perfectly magnified. It was a staff crafted using ancient craftsmanship, its base made of gold and its sides inlaid with fine diamonds and gemstones. It shimmered brilliantly under the light, and the Philosopher's Stone, held in the center like the moon among the stars, shimmered like moonlight beneath the stars.
Kedero's pupils slowly dilated.
He had never seen such an exquisite treasure in his life, and even his palms were wet with excitement.
If he wasn't poor, he really wanted to buy it and give it to Lin Muqiu or the academy.
"150 gold coins."
"I'll give you 170."
The sounds of bidding in groups of three or two mostly came from the back row. It was then that Kedero realized that what he considered to be an extremely exquisite object was just a drop in the ocean in the eyes of the imperial capital. Everyone was still waiting for the finale.
Wouldn't a blood drop pendant as the finale be even better?!
He felt his heart thumping like a child seeing for the first time the most exquisite light reflected from the finest gemstone, a state of utter fascination.
Some nobles around him saw his expression and couldn't help but sneer, with contempt in their eyes.
Humph! This Lin Muqiu is just a bit clever. I guess few of these people can afford it, right?!
Kedero glared back without hesitation, then glanced to the side worriedly. He was about to remind Lin Muqiu not to bid rashly, but he found that she was concentrating on editing messages using the lord system, and her eyes clearly reflected her desire for money and career.
Kedero: “…”
Could it be that Lin Muqiu came here just to advertise?
After listening to the auctioneer reading out the 170 gold coins on the stage, he slowly leaned back in his chair and relaxed. Perhaps there was nothing left for him and Lin Muqiu to do here.
Unexpectedly, a deep voice came from the side: "I offer 171 gold coins."
Kedero suddenly jumped up and sat up straight, looking at Lin Muqiu beside him in disbelief.
The equipment will only get more expensive later on, so why not save some money?
The focus of the audience returned to her.
"I'll offer 200 gold coins." Someone shouted as soon as they saw it was her.
"Then I'll bid 201." Lin Muqiu was not annoyed, but just smiled.
Everyone was speechless.
He is only willing to pay one more gold coin and then slowly lower the price. This is indeed Lin Muqiu's style!
Everyone was thinking in their hearts, and they inexplicably felt that it was a mistake to ask Lin Muqiu to come today.
*
While everyone was completely focused on the auction, Cesare sneaked backstage and found the Chamber of Commerce's steward. "What's wrong with you?"
The Chamber of Commerce's manager's face turned pale. "Lin Muqiu is not someone we can afford to provoke. Her magic is far superior to mine."
Cesare's expression grew increasingly serious. "Really? That's interesting... Her self-introduction was essentially saying she wasn't interested in power struggles, but simply wanted to make money. Was she saying that on purpose, or did she really mean it?"
The noise at the front desk interrupted his thoughts.
He couldn't help but lean over to listen to what happened:
"322 gold coins for the first time, 322 gold coins for the second time, 322 gold coins for the third time... Deal!"
"Congratulations to the buyer, Lin Muqiu, for winning the fifth auction item, the Heart of the Deep Sea. This item allows the wearer to consume 60 points of physical strength to listen to the other person's inner thoughts. This item can only be used once a day."
Hearing the unusual noise at the front desk, the manager suddenly woke up from his dream and looked at the system, only to find that the first five pieces of equipment had been bought by Lin Muqiu.
"What does she want to do?!" The butler's scalp tingled.
Cesare narrowed his eyes slightly. "Used to start a weapons rental business? But can a rental shop use such fine equipment?"
The manager was also suspicious. "Could it be that you can't afford the ones at the back, so you're taking more pictures of the equipment at the front?"
Both of them had different speculations in their minds, but without exception, they shuddered at the same time.
When things are out of the ordinary, there must be something fishy going on. The most crucial thing is...
That person is Lin Muqiu!
Sure enough, the next moment, they saw the smile on Lin Muqiu's lips growing wider and wider on the big screen. "I will donate all the equipment raised in this auction to the Civilian Academy to be established for public use."
After she finished speaking, she spoke slowly, "I will buy everything at this auction."
These words, half a threat and half a joke, caused a huge uproar at the auction.
Some people marveled at her courage to make such a direct declaration.
Some people laughed at her ignorance and fearlessness, not knowing that the Duke had a lot of money.
Kedero also looked at her in disbelief.
Where would the money come from? It's true that her assets have increased more than 20 times, but the question is, isn't she saving the money to run a civilian academy? How much money will be left for them to buy equipment?
And what did he hear… donate everything?!
Why couldn't he believe that Lin Muqiu would do such a completely loss-making business?!
*
"Wow, the Lord is so handsome."
A group of Ankang Town residents gathered in the town center, chattering excitedly around an ice screen.
The signal on this large screen is extremely unstable, the screen is dim, often freezes, and the color scheme is compressed, turning it directly into black and white.
Someone pleaded with Russell, who was casting the spell, "Please try harder, please? I really want to see the Lord overpower the others."
Russell, struggling to cast a spell, endured the soreness in his muscles, sweat dripping down his temples. "It's already very difficult for the two of us to keep the screen in the imperial capital projected here."
He worked together with another wizard who had obtained the magic stone during the beast tide and was training, and they barely managed to project the image on the screen.
It can be said that the auction is the focus of the entire continent every year. The emperor will project the auction scenes on the walls of the town centers in major cities for people to watch, in order to enhance the influence and popularity of the nobles present.
It also allows civilians to see the continent’s strongest strength and equipment, and to feel awe.
Unfortunately, small towns do not have this benefit. Unless the town has its own space mage, it will miss it. However, the residents of Ankang Town did not care much about it in the past. After all, it was none of their business.
But with Lin Muqiu, everything is different.
"Oh my god, did I hear that right? The Lord is actually going to donate all his equipment?!"
No matter how calm Alex was, he couldn't help but exclaim.
"My Lord..." Linde murmured, tears welling up in his eyes, and he was about to run home.
"Where are you going?"
"Go and donate more to the Lord!"
“…”
*
At this time, other big towns and townspeople are in the center.
Everyone is looking at the screen and discussing:
"Oh my god, who is Lin Muqiu? Why is she so powerful? Is it true that she, a barony lord, wants to build an academy? Is she trying to scam people out of money?"
"She made the ice jelly you're eating. Don't you think she's amazing? And I heard she's a triple-element mage! She's also the first territory lord to successfully ebb the tide this year! Even Archmage Otto Hunter couldn't defeat her!"
"You two stop arguing and just focus! She's so pretty, and has a nice personality. I envy the people of Ankang Town... It would be great if our town could offer some kind of course. I don't even want to build a college."
"Oh, forget it. How could adults possibly be willing to teach us? Otherwise, if everyone is equally talented, how can we highlight their uniqueness?"
"That's right! This is exactly why lords like Lin Muqiu are so precious... Then I'm going to donate money to her!"
"From 100 copper coins, are you crazy? That's a day's wages!"
"Silly! I'm only donating 5 copper coins as a token of my appreciation! No more than that!"
“…”
*
Ankang Town.
Some of the new refugees who had poured into the town after the beast tide had despair on their faces. They had just experienced the destruction of the city and the separation of their families, and they had not yet reacted.
Not to mention what to do for a living.
Even when they looked at the screen in the center of the town, saw the gentle and powerful profile of their new lord, and saw the building models rising from the ground in the town, they could not muster any interest.
The first problem is survival.
After licking their dry lips, they saw that there was no recruitment notice posted at the town center, and they couldn't help feeling disappointed.
Just as they were about to leave, they received a message:
【You have received the Lord's mission:
Mayor Lin Muqiu sincerely invites you to apply for the university town construction team. We are currently short of 5 engineers, 40 blacksmiths, and 700 construction workers. The town will take care of your food and drink, and provide a daily allowance of 60 copper coins until the construction is completed.
Please confirm whether you accept:
accept:
Reject: ×
Note: First come, first served. Registration will close when the quota is reached.
Candidates with special skills will be given priority, salary can be increased, negotiable.
A woman with a child was stunned and immediately clicked to accept.
The system pops up a message indicating that the registration is successful.
She couldn't hold it back any longer and tears came to her eyes.
I thought I would starve to death, but unexpectedly, things took a turn and I actually found a good job!
Elizabeth, who was standing next to him, saw this and couldn't help but introduce him: "Don't worry, the lord is very considerate. He has an eight-hour work system and won't exploit you!"
"Really? Thank you." The woman sobbed. "Thank you too... Lord."
Elizabeth patted her shoulder comfortingly, feeling a sense of sympathy that made her unable to help but comfort her, "I think the lord must have planned this long ago. She knew that a large number of refugees had poured into the town, so she built the Civilian College to alleviate the employment pressure. You came to Ankang Town at the right time. The lord is kind and considerate. Ankang Town will definitely get better and better in the future."
Grace nodded sharply, a burning hope in her eyes.
*
"This is the seventh item in the auction, the Beast Taming Bracelet. It helps the wearer gain experience in beast taming faster and is also very effective in pacifying wild beasts. The starting price is 300, with increments starting at 10 gold coins."
At this moment, the auction has changed the rules for Lin Muqiu.
Starting from ten pieces.
However, Lin Muqiu raised the price by ten gold coins at a time, not feeling ashamed at all.
But no matter how much the other party adds, Lin Muqiu will follow suit, as if he is determined to win.
However, Kede Luo couldn't help but worry about Lin Muqiu and stopped her, "If you keep filming like this, we might not have enough money."
Lin Muqiu raised his eyebrows and showed him the remittance page of the lord system. Kedero's eyes jumped and he finally chose to shut up.
The boss is the boss, it turns out that everything is under her control.
But he was still a little confused. How come these donations came from all over the country?!
But that's true, the other territories around Ankang Town also want to benefit from the Civilian Academy, so they will definitely donate.
At this moment, all the earls and viscounts present were so angry that they were about to spit fire.
In the past, everyone would tacitly let them grab the first ten auction items. After all, the Duke and the Marquis did not want to lower the price, so they would only bid for the last five top-notch equipment. However, they really did not expect that this little baron would show up and catch them off guard!
Now, if they were to compete with Lin Muqiu, he might give up, leaving them with a worthless red dress that was way overpriced. And if they couldn't get it, they might be considered to be playing dirty and driving up the price. But if they gave up, they wouldn't want to see Lin Muqiu dominate the auction and win everyone's hearts!
What’s even worse is that the money Lin Muqiu is using now is the bet money he asked them for at the beginning!
At this moment, they were almost biting their back teeth off before they made up their minds secretly.
Forget it, let Lin Muqiu give it to him! With the Duke behind him, it is impossible for Lin Muqiu to shine again.
This year, let’s just assume that things are going badly!
So the person who had been bidding against Lin Muqiu smiled and said, "Since you are using it to build an academy, it will be a good thing for the continent. Of course I can't take away someone else's love."
So I just gave up.
Kede Luo curled his lips: This person talks nicely, but in fact he still can't keep up!
Lin Muqiu smiled at the man and said, "Thank you very much."
From then on, until the tenth one, no one followed suit in bidding.
In everyone's mind, everyone on the mainland is watching, so instead of bidding all the time, it is better to do a favor and appear reasonable and humane.
After all, Lin Muqiu won because he had a legitimate reason.
As a result, Lin Muqiu obtained the last three red-level equipment at the lowest starting price.
Many people present looked at her with complicated expressions, and it would be a lie to say they were not jealous.
There were also many people who were expecting the dukes and marquises to slap her in the face and help them get back 10% of their losses.
The Kedero people standing by were all dumbfounded.
Only he knew that if the richest earls started bidding again, Lin Muqiu might not be able to afford it!
But Lin Muqiu is very good at using psychological tactics.
So this is why Lin Muqiu said he wanted to donate!
The last three pieces of equipment auctioned at low prices directly reversed Lin Muqiu’s previous losses. Maybe Lin Muqiu could make a profit by selling them at low prices.
Kedero breathed a sigh of relief and slowly sat back in his chair.
They definitely have nothing to do with the last five pieces of equipment.
After all, the call for donations should have reached the upper limit.
Ankang Town and the surrounding towns have donated all that they should and can donate. Towns in other parts of the mainland cannot take classes at the Civilian College. They donated at the beginning just for the sake of novelty, and there is no reason to donate more money now.
But it’s better this way, otherwise Lin Muqiu would be so scary trying to make money.
He was about to close his eyes and pretend to sleep for a while, but he heard Lin Muqiu beside him slowly speak with a heavy tone:
“After the Civilian College is established, we plan to cooperate with other towns.
The cooperation will take the form of live teaching similar to today's live auction, or recorded and played back online classes, so that every town without a college can afford to go to school.
It can be said that the equipment auctioned by the Civilian College is not only related to the teaching effect of Ankang Town, but also to the teaching effect of thousands of students who want to go to school."
Kedero jumped up: "..."Fuck!
Many earls and viscounts: "..."
What a big lie!
Dukes: "..."
I have a bad feeling
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