Hearing the question, several people turned around together.

The person in front of me is a graceful and elegant lady, with her hair neatly tied into a bun, a simple long skirt, and a belt embellished with diamonds.

She didn't have many accessories on her. But House, who had been taken by Lann to see the Cintra royal collection several times, knew that the few pieces of jewelry on this lady were worth as much as the jewelry of the entire table not far away.

"We are servants of the Lannister family, and I am the Earl's steward." House said an identity that was allowed by Lann and matched the occasion. "Which lady is here?"

The old lady opposite was not surprised when she heard House's self-introduction.

A respectable enough earl's household should have a complete team of butlers, and it is not unacceptable for a young man under 20 years old to call himself a butler.

A gentleman next to the old lady looked at the three attendants with a scrutinizing eye: "This is the Duchess of Minole."

Hearing the title of "Duchess", the three attendants saluted again. However, they did not seem nervous at all and their expressions were still relaxed.

The people of the North uphold the class concept of "my lord's lord is not my lord, and my vassal's vassal is not my vassal." When facing an unknown noble lady, even a duchess, as long as it does not cause trouble for your lord, it is enough to follow basic etiquette and not be too nervous.

This is also the reason why the courtesy he received from people around him dropped sharply after he left Cintra.

Especially in the free city of Novigrad, there are so many nobles, bankers, artists, and masters of various industries.

Of course, if you have enough swords in your hands, everyone will respect you.

"Mr. Karn, could you please give me some space? I want to discuss some private matters with the Lannisters."

The man named Kahn seemed to be a banker. Before leaving, he kept talking to the Duchess about his business capabilities: "If you need anything from me, I'm always at the other end of the room."

After the banker left, Duchess of Minole said to House, "I have heard rumors that Lord Lannister is a demon hunter. Is this true?"

House neither confirmed nor denied it. He was unsure of the lady's intention.

"I'm sorry, but as a squire, it's against my honor to discuss the Earl's private affairs with a stranger."

Mrs. Minole chuckled: "So, the rumors are true?"

House paused.

"Then, honorable squire, please tell me, has your Lord Earl ever been accompanied by a demon hunter wearing a wolf-head necklace?"

House was silent for three breaths, organizing his words, and was about to speak -

As a result, Mrs. Minole interrupted again: "It looks like she is pregnant, great."

House opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

"Honorable squire, could you please give me a message for your lord? I hope to meet him."

The old woman confirmed the news she wanted and was in a good mood. "I hope this meeting can be held as soon as possible. It may be a bit rude... So, Lord Lannister must have taken a fancy to some auction items when he sent you here. It should be a gift worth enough to have you come all the way from Cintra to here.

Tell me, what are you doing here?"

Things soon developed beyond House's expectations.

Without waiting for the first round of auction to end, Mrs. Minole led her three attendants directly inside and found Horst Borsodi amid the bows of the auction house guards.

The patriarch of the Borsodi family has a look that fully matches his status, with luxurious and flamboyant clothes, a big belly, a bald head and a carefully trimmed beard. It seems as if all the hair that should grow on the top of the head has run to his face.

"Mrs. Minole, you are our most distinguished guest. You have almost never missed our auctions in the past few decades. Even if you want to reserve a certain auction item privately, we have nothing to say. Distinguished guests deserve distinguished treatment."

Horst Borsodi spoke in a deliberately polite manner. He did not even look at House and the others for a second, as if he could not see them.

"But what you are asking for now is the House of Maximilian Borsodi, the relic my father gave to me and my brother! Especially after my brother disappeared, it is the only thing that can carry the past of me and my family."

Borsodi said with a tone full of regret: "It is not a very valuable thing in itself, and I can't think of what you want it to do. But I'm sorry that I can't give you this treasure that carries our family's memories."

Mrs. Minole seemed to have anticipated this situation. She said calmly, "I am deeply saddened by the story behind this treasure. Your father and I were close friends, and I miss him all the time. I think he would be pleased to see that you have managed the auction house to its current size."

"But I need this treasure now to find my treasure, so - name a price, for the sake of my friendship with you for two generations."

"It's not about money." Horst Borsodi shook his head, "I'm not short of money either."

Mrs. Minole revealed the nature of businessmen: "But you can't resist making more money. This is the nature of your family."

Horst Borsodi continued to shake his head: "Please listen to my explanation, madam..."

"3,000 crowns. If you need it, I can also help you change it into equivalent marks, orens, or florins."

The crown is the currency of Novigrad. Due to Novigrad's strong economic influence, it is widely used in the Northern Kingdom and is showing signs of becoming the standard currency.

"Mark" refers to the weight of one mark of silver, "Oren" is mostly used in Temeria, and "Florin" is the currency of Nilfgaard.

As a well-known auction house in mainland China, Borsodi Brothers often uses different types of currencies.

By the way, it is known that the price of killing a water ghost in the countryside is half a crown. In most cases, villagers cannot afford crowns and use "copper coins" as currency.

Mrs. Minole's offer stunned everyone. For a model with no practical utility and no collection value, the price was too high.

Milva calculated silently that the money was enough to buy ten high-quality bows from overseas - better than the mahogany bow given to her by the Earl.

"Ma'am, this is not about money..."

"Five thousand crowns."

Levin swallowed his saliva. This was enough to buy war horses for everyone in their group - except the Earl's Black Wind.

"Madam, that is my father's legacy..."

"10,000 crowns."

House took a deep breath. This was a year's estate tax for a great nobleman - a nobleman greater than Earl Lannister.

…

After listening to the three servants' stories, Lan rubbed his brows with a headache.

He knew who this Duchess was.

This Duchess was different from the "enlightened lady" of Toussaint. She had no real military power, but had amazing wealth and was closer to the court nobility.

In other words: she has nothing but money.

This was also a character that had appeared in the game, and Lann was very clear about the reason why he did this. He expected that he would go to great lengths to achieve his goal, but he didn't expect it to go to this extent.

After all, Cintra is now in ruins, and Lan's personal financial situation is no longer as free as before. This is one of the few times since his debut that he was defeated by someone else's money ability.

"So, the House of Borsodi is now in the hands of the Duchess of Minole?"

House nodded with hesitation. "She said she wanted to give this to you as a gift - after you come to visit her and discuss things with her."

Understood.

"Please prepare the visiting card for me. I will change my clothes." Lann nodded and said, "The Duchess of Minole must have told you her address, right?"

House affirmed, "I'll show you the way in a moment."

After rummaging through the sewers for half the night and catching a toad, he then explored the warlock's secret laboratory, killed a golem with great difficulty, and then dived into a deep pool with the corpse of a water ghost. One can imagine Lan's current health condition. He really doesn't seem to be in a state to talk to people.

Didn’t you see that even Triss was keeping a distance from him?

Hot water was quickly provided.

Lan chased away Milva, who was holding a brush and wanted to join in the fun, and lay down comfortably in the bathtub.

Then, consciousness sank into the system panel.

Before going out, you still need to distribute the harvest.

This exploration of the Warlock ruins gained three skill points. Although not as much as what I gained in Thomas Moreau's laboratory before, it was still an unexpected surprise.

Lan thought about the three skill points and decided to keep one. After all, now he has the [Follower] function, what if it comes in handy?

The remaining two skill points were invested into [Spell] by Lann without any hesitation. He was now only one breath away from activating the second-level skill of [Spell].

Add points - [Seal] major category, [Yaden Seal] minor category - [Effect Extension]!

[Effect Extension]: Extend the duration of the seal, increase the number of magic traps that can exist, and increase the number of magic trap attacks. (2/2)

The skill level of [Effect Extension] is only two levels, and now it is directly maxed out with the blessing of [Magic Tide].

This "number of magic trap attacks" does not refer to the current Aden Seal, but the function that will be activated by the secondary skill later. At that time, the [Aden Seal] will have the additional function of automatic attack.

At the moment when Lann clicked on [Effect Extension], the skill points invested in Lann's first-level skill of Seal officially reached 8 ([Magic Tide] + 4).

The entire [Seal] skill page shook.