CH 163

‘So this was his plan…!’ Boothroyd exclaimed inwardly.

He had just discovered why Siegfried wanted to host the sale at a theater.

The Head Blacksmith of the Bavarian Workshop, Quandt and a few elders of their workshop were about to enter the theater.

It seemed that the people of the Bavarian Workshop saw them as well as Quandt flinched and shouted, “Ha! Those bastards! The morons who only know how to waste materials and make shitty artifacts are actually here?!”

Quandt dealt the first blow.

“Shut up, Quandt! You ignorant fool who doesn’t have even an ounce of artistic sense! Do you even know what technology is?!” Arfal retorted.

With that, a war ignited between the Bavarian Workshop and the Autonika Workshop.

First, it was a war of words.

“Why don’t you just open up a jewelry store if you’re going to blabber about design all day? I think that would suit you a lot better!”

“Can the artifacts you make even kill a goblin? Haha!”

“Let’s see how far you can go with that design of yours! I’m sure your products are only famous to spoiled noble children! Haha!”

The Bavarian Workshop’s attacks targeted the Autonika Workshop’s design-centric approach and the fact that their artifacts were weaker than the other two workshops.

“Ha! Big words for a ragtag bunch whose artifacts belong to scrapyards!”

“Is that why your revenue is so good? I heard you guys are giving out discounts these days! Keke!”

“Can you even craft lethal weapons with your level of technology? Pfft!”

The Autonika Workshop targeted the fact that the Bavarian Workshop recently gave out discounts for their artifacts. The war of words between the two soon escalated as all sorts of curses flew from both sides.

“Look at this moron! Have you gone insane? Let go of me!”

“What are you going to do about it?! Keke!”

Quandt, who had a nasty temper, grabbed Arfal by his collar.

“You ill-mannered bastard! Die!”

“Kuheok!”

One of the elders of the Bavarian Workshop got so worked up that he drop-kicked an Autonika Workshop member.

The dropkick signaled the start of the second war—a brawl.

“Die! You cowardly bastards! Can you even call yourself a man?!”

“Shut your trap before I close it for you!”

“What? You bastard…! Let go of me! Let go!”

“Ha! Did you just bite me? If you’re going to bite, then bite properly! This is how you do it!”

“Ack! This bastard actually scratched me!”

“Heeelp!”

The two workshops seemed like they weren’t satisfied with just punching each other, so they started scratching, biting, pulling, hair-pulling, and all sorts of childish brawl tricks available out there.

“What’s going on?” asked Siegfried. He had just arrived and saw a brawl taking place between the two workshops.

Search "pawread dot com" for the original.

At the sight, he shamelessly uttered, “I-It seems that they get along… Hahaha…”

He knew that the two workshops were at odds with each other, but he didn’t expect that they would go on an all-out brawl against each other.

“E-Excuse me…?” Siegfried tried to stop the brawl to no avail.

The two groups were so worked ups that they were in a tangled mess.

They couldn’t even hear Siegfried’s voice.

He couldn’t go around pulling them apart one by one, so he mustered his mana as he started regretting his idea of calling both of them here at the same time.

Wooong…!

A black field materialized beneath Siegfried’s feet.

Sreuk… Ssreuuuk…!

Shadows emerged from the ground, and they turned toward Siegfried.

“Try to pull them apart without hurting them. Ah, don’t even think of hitting them there, got it?” Siegfried said, emphasizing the word there.

What did he mean by there?

It didn’t have to be explained.

“What the hell?!”

“H-Heup..!”

“This is?!”

“Ack! I can’t move…!”

“What’s going on?!”

The shadows subdued them one by one, stopping the brawl between the two workshops.

“Excuse me, everyone? Why don’t we just stop here and take a seat?” said Siegfried.

He then turned around and walked away.

Quandt and Boothroyd’s eyes sparkled while they were looking at Siegfried’s back.

‘Hooo… An ability to summon a field that brings forth shadows… Where did you learn such a mystical skill, Siegfried?’

‘He is indeed unique. He is unique even among the multitude of Adventurers I have met so far…’

Quandt and Boothroyd could finally somehow understand how Siegfried managed to achieve all his achievements, even though the latter didn’t really look that strong.

***

The two workshops sat on the right and left sides of the private theater.

“Those damned bastards…”

“Petty little shitheads…”

“Those cowards…”

They were in a horrible state. Each of them either had swollen eyes, bruises, and scratch marks all over their faces. In addition, some of them were even bleeding from their noses.

‘Sigh… Are you guys kids or what…?’ Siegfried sighed inwardly and shook his head.

After inwardly lampooning, Siegfried snapped his fingers.

Pop!

The curtains covering the stage slowly opened, and Hamchi wobbled over to the platform in the middle of the stage.

“Kyu! We are now going to start the used artifacts auction!” Hamchi cried out.

Then, the officials of the two workshops started muttering among themselves.

“Auction?”

“Is he asking us to compete with money against those fools?”

“Hahaha…”

“So this is why he called the both of us…”

The officials finally understood Siegfried’s intent, and they laughed in disbelief upon realizing it.

Had there ever been someone daring enough to summon both the Bavarian Workshop and the Autonika Workshop to one location and made them compete in an auction?

Nobody had been brazen enough to do such a thing, and aside from Siegfried, the officials of the two workshops reckoned that no one else would do such a thing.

However, the king of this particular small and weak kingdom was different. He showed awe-inspiring courage by calling both rival workshops and forcing them to compete against each other in an auction.

‘Hey, you could have just sent a few staffers. Why did all of you have to come here? Now, I feel pressured…’ Siegfried grumbled inwardly.

The fact that the high-ranking officials from both workshops were here to compete against each other in an auction for used artifacts burdened him.

“Kyu! We will now start the auction! This is the first artifact! The price will start at 150 gold!” Hamchi showcased an artifact and signaled the start of the auction.

“160 gold!”

The Bavarian Workshop started bidding with a ten-gold increase from the base price.

“161 gold!” The Autonika Workshop made a counterbid.

The third war between the two workshops finally started, and it was a bidding war.

“What? 161 gold? 170 gold!”

“Pfft! Look at you getting all worked up over 170 gold! 200 gold!”

“210 gold~”

“You crazy bastards! You’re going to buy that thing for 210 gold?!”

“Just go home if you can’t match it~”

“250 gold! What about that?!”

“250 gold?! You’re crazy—Ah, whatever! 300 gold! HAHAHA!”

“Are you insane?! Who in their right mind will buy that piece of crap for 300 gold?!”

“It’s my money! I can do what I want with it! Just fuck off if you’re poor! Keke!”

“What? Poor? Ha! Listen to that senile fool! Allow me to show you our workshop’s wealth! Next! Bring out the next artifact! I’ll show that fool how to spend money!”

The auction turned into a full-blown bidding war with the pride of both workshops on the line, and both workshops bought the used artifacts Siegfried auctioned for at least three to four times their market price.

In the end, the true winner of this war was none other than Siegfried.

Smirk…!

The smile on Siegfried’s lips would get bigger, the more artifacts were auctioned off. The auction finally ended when the Bavarian Workshop bought the artifact that the Starved King had dropped the Starving Incense Burner, for eleven times its market price.

However, the Bavarian Workshop didn’t really win because they fell into the trap that the Autonika Workshop had created for them.

“Pfft! Stupid fools. Did you really just buy that artifact for that price? Tsk, tsk…”

“…!”

“That artifact is undoubtedly valuable, but it’s not worth that much. Do you guys have that much money to throw away? Hohoho!”

“Y-you…!”

“Have fun with that expensive~ artifact you bought~ Kekeke!”

The Autonika Workshop was also interested in the Starving Incense Burner, but they didn’t desire it as much as the Bavarian Workshop because of the strong concentration of dark energy in it.

The Autonika Workshop used that fact to its advantage by driving up the price of the artifact. They managed to raise the artifact’s price eleven times its market value.

Tremble… Tremble…!

The Bavarian Workshop officials were trembling in anger, while the Autonika Workshop members were rejoicing at their success.

‘Let’s try not to smile… Try not to smile…!’ 

Meanwhile, Siegfried was struggling not to show his joy.

***

After the auction, Siegfried personally thanked the representatives of both workshops who had fought with their pride on the line. The first person he thanked was the Head Blacksmith of the Autonika Workshop, Boothroyd.

“I have heard that you can be quite ruthless, but I had never expected that you’re ruthless to this extent,” Boothroyd said with a smile.

“No way! Me? Ruthless? I just wanted to make a bit more money, that’s all.” Siegfried denied the allegations against him.

“Hmm… I guess you are right, but I cannot seem to discard the thought that you are indeed ruthless, Your Majesty.”

“Haha…”

“However, our Autonika Workshop promises to always treat Your Majesty with the service that you rightfully deserve.”

“Thank you very much.”

“And this is the artifact set that Your Majesty has commissioned,” Boothroyd said as he handed over the Quad-Turbo Set to Siegfried.

[Quad-Turbo Set]

[An upgraded version of the Bi-Turbo Set crafted by the best department of the Autonika Workshop, the Smithy of Advancement.]

[It is equipped with two more turbochargers than the Bi-Turbo Set for a total of four turbochargers.]

[Set Effects: Skill Power +30%, Skill Area +80%, All Skill +2 Levels.]

Siegfried finally acquired the set item that was perfectly suitable for his class, the Debuff Master. It was obvious, but the Quad-Turbo Set was far superior by at least three times compared to the Bi-Turbo Set.

Needless to say, it was far more expensive than the latter.

“And…” Boothroyd trailed off before whispering, “Our workshop is confident that we can treat you better than the Bavarian Workshop, so please come to us at any time.”

“Ah… sure…” Siegfried replied with an awkward smile.

“Then, I shall wait for your visit,” Boothroyd said with a bow.

After receiving the Quad-Turbo Set from Boothroyd, Siegfried immediately went over to the Head of Blacksmith of the Bavarian Workshop, Quandt.

“Thank you very much for participating in the auction.”

“Hoho! Not at all!”

“I apologize if you were offended in any way…”

“No way! I enjoyed seeing those Autonika bastards after a long time, and I was able to vent all of my stress by beating the shit out of them, too! Keke!” Quandt’s words didn’t really sound great when he had a huge black eye himself.

However, Siegfried decided not to say anything else after hearing that Quandt had no complaints about the matter.

“But, what is that? Don’t tell me you’re wearing something made by those Autonika bastards…? It looks like an artifact that went through a lot of tuning.”

“Hmm… it just so happened that way…”

“Oh, my god! Take that off! What kind of misfortune do you want to fall on you?! You might start looking for men at this rate!”

“W-What kind of logic is that?”

“Did you abandon us for those bastards? Are you in bed with them now?!”

“What…?”

“How far have you gone?!”

“Gone, where…?” Siegfried furrowed his brow in disbelief.

“You are in that kind of a relationship with them, aren’t you?! Tell me honestly! Is it us or those bastards?! Tell me! Pick!”

“No, it’s not what you think. I just needed something from them, and it turned out this way…”

“Ha! You sold yourself for some artifact?! Was the Blood Butterfly’s Dance not enough for you? Weren’t you satisfied?!”

“Please listen to me first—”

“Autonika? Forget about those bastards! I will buy your heart! How much do you need?! What do you need?! Tell me what kind of artifacts you need! I’ll make you anything you want for free as long as you bring the materials I need!”

“Really?”

“Of course! It looks like you still need a trouser, a pair of boots, and a headgear! We will fill that up for you!”

Ding!

A message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: Quest – ‘How Much Do You Need?’ has appeared!]

Siegfried had just completed a quest from the Autonika Workshop, but a quest from the Bavarian Workshop appeared right afterward.