"Master, your son wants to speak with you," the supervisor bowed down before conveying the message.
"Tell him to come to my office one hour later."
"Alright…"
The middle-aged man looked at his son's picture before going back to his work. He didn't remember when was the last time he talked with his son, but it must be a long time ago. Because he was very busy, he only sent
some money to Panto. Later at that time, the boy became a bully since there was no supervision to him. The lack of parent's teaching made Panto to indulge on his fake authority. Thankfully, the boy still had conscience about who he could bother and who he could not. In the time of studying, he never messed up with nobles.
Panto's father continued his work. Overlooking other documents at the table, there was one paper that made him a headache. It was an invitation of the coming auction held by certain noble. Usually, all the
surrounding merchant were invited in this event. They could provide one item to be auctioned at the special venue. It might look a simple transaction, but in this case, there was a hidden competition among the merchants.
For them, face and reputation were very important during the business. The item they would auction needed to be expensive so everyone could see they had a channel to procure something uncommon for everyone. The more expensive would be better, but a unique item was also acceptable since many
people would praise it highly. Unfortunately, he didn't have any good item for the auction.
This was quite troublesome for his business. If he couldn't come up with unique and expensive item, then everyone would laugh at him. His opponents would gloat while his friends would be too embarrassed. Not to
mention his reputation would be bad among the merchants, the customers would also think his goods was only the average at the best. His sales would soon plummet and the worse would soon follow up. Just imagining it, his face flushed in anger. The man already sacrificed much, so he wouldn't let the business crumbled in front of his eyes.
He kept thinking about it, but it was hard to find a unique and expensive item in the short time. He could buy it from black market, but
the price must be surely more than the auction. In the end, he would bear the loss and it was unacceptable as the merchant. Time went by until the supervisor came again to remind again that one hour had already passed. As promised before, his son would like to meet him.
"Master, your son is waiting for you."
"I know…" the man sighed, "Let him in…"
Panto then entered the room and greeted his father, "Good afternoon, father. There's something I want to ask you on behalf of my friend."
"What is it?"
"It's about this thing…" Panto put the ice bead on the table, "My friend wants to sell it, but I don't know much about the price. I
suggest him to talk about it with you to get the best result."
"This is… This is an ice bead…" his father was shocked, unable to comprehend the matter in front of him.
He had a headache regarding the auction item, yet his son suddenly gave a him a hope. This hope by the way was so bright that he was unable to see what would be the result if he auctioned it. He could figure out
many acquaintances would envy him. Although he was elated, he still wanted to
make sure it came from trustable source.
"Panto, where did you get this ice bead? I mean who is your friend?"
"My friend's name is Baston. He stays at the nearby inn because he's not sure whether he should meet you directly regarding this ice
bead."
"Why not?" his father chuckled happily since the opportunity came to him, "Let's go meet him right now. I want to ask a few questions if he doesn't mind. Is there anything I should know before?"
"Of course, he doesn't mind it…" Panto was talking on the way, "Baston is a fallen noble at present. He's a bastard son from a noble
man."
"Oh… I see…"
Panto told exactly what Baston ordered him to do. Of course, this simple background helped his father to have a good impression. Even though Baston wasn't a pure blood noble, he still had a noble bloodline in him. Just by this identity, Panto's father already believed him that his son's classmate had a capital to get the ice bead. It would be different though if Baston confessed that he was a poor person. At that time, the old man might slap his son to wake him up from his own imagination.
Both of father and son then went to the inn. It was a simple guesthouse, but Panto's father frowned when seeing such a precious customer stayed in here. Usually, for this kind of person, he would pick the better one
so the customer could feel his kindness as to smooth over the next transaction. Panto could see his father was dissatisfied so he quickly explained that Baston was the one who picked this place. Listening to the reason, he couldn't reprimand him since it was the customer's request. Still, he wanted to leave good impression so as to make this transaction would run successfully.
"Baston, are you there?" Panto knocked the door, "My father wants to talk with you."
"Come in…" Baston answered from behind the door.
When Panto and his father entered the room, they were surprised since not only Baston was there, but there were also 2 hooded people. They couldn't pinpoint whether they were a man or a woman, but the only thing
they could feel was both of these people emitted quite a pressure on the surrounding atmosphere. Panto didn't think too much, but his father already worked his brain to the limit.
Baston might be just a bastard son from a noble, yet the fact he had 2 guards who could give such an intimidating pressure was very convincing to him as a person who had a deep mystery about his identity. Just
standing in front of the door, he could sense there was kind of magic among them. Usually, he only met with simple guards here since they thought any wizard would be expensive to hire and maintain. Only a handful merchants who had this luxury. The nobles often had several wizards and knights to guard them, but most of them treated it like experts for the family. In this simple
negotiation, just several simple guards were already enough to keep them safe.
"Greetings, I'm Panto's father. You can call me Rembrant. I heard from my son that you want to sell the ice bead."
"Yes, it's true…" Baston nodded, "Is there anything I need to know?"
"I want to confirm the source of this ice bead. Don't take me wrong. It's because some buyers sometimes will ask about it, so I can only tell them a little description."
"I see… Well, this ice bead comes from Zeverius Academy. It was a gift from them to me, but since I don't have any use for it, I decide to just sell it."
"I understand. Thank you very much about your explanation. By the way, I have small request regarding the method of selling," Panto's father looked at Baston seriously, "It's like this. Recently, there will be an
auction where all the surrounding merchants gather. Each one of us will put one or more items to be auctioned there. I wonder if I have a permission to put the ice bead for the auction. I can promise you that the price will be more expensive rather than selling it in ordinary channel."
Baston pondered about something before nodded, "Alright. Just do what will be the best. I will just wait for the news then."
"Thank you… Thank you very much…" Panto's father bowed down repeatedly, "In order to show my appreciation about this item, I will give some money to you first as down payment. The rest of it will have to wait until the ice bead comes out from the auction."
Baston might not know, but Panto's father was in desperate condition for searching a worthy item to be auctioned. Who knew that his son brought back the savior from the academy? Not only he got the ice bead, he
could also see Baston wasn't a simple boy. Having a connection with this boy might give him something better in the end. On the other hand, Baston didn't think it would be this easy.
At the beginning, he brought the 2 puppets out in the world. By making them a guard beside him, they exerted a kind of pressure he would use to initiate the conversation. Baston thought as the old merchant, they would haggle to the end until they got the better profit for them. In the end, Rembrant didn't do anything and simply stated his purpose of coming here. He even paid part of it first to make good impression in front of Baston. At the present, he had a magic card with 10,000 pounds inside.
Baston thought he was dreaming, but it was real right now. Since the amount was too much to keep in wallet, the magic card was used. The use of this thing was almost like debit card. He only needed to tap it for paying. Some stores might like this method and some only accepted the cash. That was
why in every side of the city, there would be always a trade machine to convert the amount on the card to real money. Baston also happened to saw it in Prius Academy before where someone liked to flaunt his money. If someone waved with magic card, people didn't know how big the amount. It would be different if he showed the real money so that everyone could see that someone was really rich.
While Baston looked casual, his heart was having a problem to contain such happiness. He knew sooner or later, he would be rich, but he couldn't sit still when he realized the money was in his hands already. When Panto and his father wanted to go back home, Baston sent them back and even
wanted to go with them. They were such a good guy for having him to get free from poverty, so the least he could do was to escort them back. Just treated it like his service as bodyguard for them to make them felt satisfied.
"I feel bad to let you go with us…" Rembrant felt conflicted, "There's nothing to see in our house. It's very crowded, so I'm afraid it will make you uncomfortable."
"That's alright, you don't need to worry about me," Baston simply replied, "I'm staying too long at the inn, so it's good to change the
atmosphere. By the way, what products are you selling in the store?"
"Just a daily product…" Rembrant chuckled sheepishly, "There are few of magic goods, but it's in small quantity. It's not worth mentioning in front of the ice bead."
"Not really. As a businessman, we must seek all opportunities, even though it's just a tiny one. Once it can make profit, it will be deemed as good trade."
"Ha… ha… ha… You're right. Young master Baston is really different. He has a mindset of the merchant."
"Well, it's just a simple knowledge…"
They walked for a short while until Baston reached their home. The store was big, the same as the supermarket in his previous world. No wonder Panto could act nonchalantly in spending his money back at the academy. With this kind of store, he was sure the profit wouldn't be small. When he
entered the store, there was a tremor suddenly from the old book in his jacket.
Baston acted calmly, pretending to go as customer yet he was happy at this time. The book finally gave him a new quest. It was rare nowadays if he just stayed inside the academy, but now he was outside, his theory should be right about it.
"Let's see what kind of quest this time…"