The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 204: Public Auction

Alpha was now relaxing on her VIP balcony. In the afternoon she had successfully placed the materials Victor wanted her to sell on Auction. They were reluctant to take the materials at first as the auction catalog was already printed, but after they realized that the goods were all A-ranked, they quickly accepted.

She had just witnessed Victor who changed his room to follow that hot singer. He was definitely a pervert. An absolute pervert.

She sighed wondering why her luck was so bad, ending up in his filthy hand. Only if she didn’t act like some badass and lick his blood back then… If she killed him first none of this would have happened.

The talisman in her hand suddenly shone. It was that pervert.

“Alpha, what is your room number?” Victor said she could see him across the stage licking his lips as he inspected that singer.

“I am in room 37,” She said,

“Good, I can see you. A change of plans. Stay there and put your mask on. After the auction, leave after I give you a signal and follow Troy, you will be responsible for taking him out.” Victor said,

“What happened?” She asked as she heard his disturbed voice.

“Sebastian is here. He is in room 22” Victor said, making her gasp and firmly close her curtain then use her Sky eye to look outside. Sure enough, That room’s curtains were wide open with that bastard standing there with his hands crossed like a cute kid who was accompanying his parent.…. She felt like he needed a hug.

“Didn’t you lock him up in that Vault?” Alpha asked as a shiver ran through her spine when she realized that she was somewhat attracted to Sebastian… What was she thinking!

“He was supposed to be locked, But as I told you before, scions are like cockroaches, impossible to kill, and very hard to defeat. Do you see the other man? A member of the Von Zwei… A Fake Blood.” Victor said, making her gasp again and look at that man sitting behind. She didn’t earlier as her eyes couldn’t leave Sebastian.

She knew what a Fake-blood was. After the Von Zwei family destroyed her own, they realized that they needed their bloodlines to undo most of the locks and to use the resources stolen. For that reason, they used an artifact to change the bloodline of some of their weaker heirs into that of the Von Reichter. Turning them into Fake Bloods. Not only can those guys open all their vaults and learn their exclusive skills. They can also feel their presence!

“He must have opened the vault for Sebastian.“ Victor said, “Don’t worry about your safety, I will be using my skill to mask your bloodline. And as long as you don’t use your skills and stay more than 10 feet away from him his detection skill will not pick you up.” Victor reassured as her hand involuntarily shook.

Alpha nodded and squeezed her fist. “What is that man’s level?” She asked.

“99” Victor replied. “Even if you can defeat him, you will make too much noise, and my hands are already occupied here… Remember that Sebastian is with him, that guy is a Scion! He knows you and is probably still holding a grudge over the spider incident, so you better keep a low profile.” Victor warned again, making her nod as she activated her artifact eye to carefully check on them.

“That bastard is destined to get your family’s legacy, don’t make it easy for him.” Victor reminded her in a soft voice.

“Um… Anything else?” She asked.

“I will be taking care of many idiots tonight, so I will leave Troy to you. He is in room 7, make sure to follow him when he leaves, you must kill him on his way back and not at the auction site… Nora is probably here following him too, she can help you.” Victor said, making Alpha look at the number 7 balcony, which was covered by blinds. She could make out the shadow of a group of people through it… Through her eyes, she could see inside, A young master with four guards and two sluts.

“I understand.” She said, “Just make sure to get Hana and keep her safe.” She added with a sigh.

…

“Master Evan, you must help me save big sister Hana,” Sebastian said to his new master, the super powerful man who saved his life and then took him as a disciple.

“I know” The man in black said, “Are you sure she was the one who opened the vault back then?” Master Evan asked again.

“Ah… I am not. But she knew its position and she was the one who dug the hole leading down.” Sebastian said, making the man nod.

“Master, are you truly an elder of my big sister’s family?” Sebastian asked.

“Ah… Yes, how could I have opened the vault and saved you if I were not one? That lock is bloodline locked! I also want to save her.” The man nodded while hoping that Hana was a real von Richter surviving heir. If she was, he can absorb her soul and blood to increase his strength… And maybe get a chance to make a breakthrough and increase his Authority.

A week ago, the monitoring device in the family detected a Von Richter bloodline signal from the Golden Waterfall town. Too bad that when he reached there the battle was already over and only this idiot was locked inside an empty vault while suffering from some backlash curse.

Having no other choice he tried to heal him, but too failed. Sebastian was suffering from a backlash where many evil souls were trying to invade his body but for some reason, they couldn’t eat his soul and were wreaking havoc on his flesh. After some thought, he decided to teach him how to control the evil souls that infested his body to gain his trust. And gain info about the true heir then kill him.

He expected the process to take some time, but to his surprise, Sebastian quickly learned to control the souls ravaging his body and began to use them to his advantage. And after regaining consciousness, he told his savior what happened that day, hoping that he will help him find and save his elder sister.

Evan decided to keep Sebastian around after that, just to help him recognize that girl Hana. He would not live long anyway, as the souls in his body were being forcibly controlled and would become berserk sooner or later.

Having spent a few days with Sebastian, Evan began to notice some pattern, that after some thinking almost made him yell in surprise. Especially after Sebastian accidentally found a rare herb in the mountains that would help him fully control the evil souls.

Sebastian was definitely a Scion, he was pretty sure. As someone who read the entire von Richter archive, he knew things and knew what signs to watch for. And Sebastian fit them all. How else can someone survive the effect of evil souls' erosion for 24 hours in a locked vault? It also caught his attention that the business that he was preoccupied with on that day, before coming to check the vault, was canceled out of nowhere, forcing him to arrive earlier and save Sebastian’s life.

He was not 100% sure about his guesses, just 60% but that was enough for him to decide to keep Sebastian around as his disciple… This is a perfect chance for him to rise.

As if to affirm his guesses, the auction that he was planning to attend had the girl Hana advertised as one of its merchandise. This can’t be a coincidence!

With renewed confidence, he came here with Sebastian… Luck was already smiling at him… As long as he keeps Sebastian happy, he can do whatever he wants.

…

Victor kept an eye on Sebastian and Evan. Although he didn’t know how he could have escaped, he had a few theories. But he really underestimated a scion’s power again.

He could only shake his head, he still didn’t have enough info on how scions worked, all the knowledge he had came from some incomplete experiments, ancient books, and the top secret letters that a certain hidden sect sent to the top powers after the reckoning, telling everyone about scions and that they should stop trying to kill them. The powers were not convinced at first, but after a few sects got obliterated by natural phenomena, they got the message. Too bad that the Von Weise family was long burnt to the ground by that point.

“Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the annual Golden Auction.” A young pretty lady declared, making Victor look back at the stage. She stepped lightly on her high heels heading to the center as the last arriving guests took their seats and the hall’s door closed.

“First allow us to welcome you all here and to thank our host, Young master Gary Goldmann.” She said pointing to the highest balcony where Gary sat with a stern old man, the woman didn’t know him, but if she did, she would be kneeling on the ground.

Victor only heard of this legendary man, he never met him. He was dead when he came here in his past life

This was the strongest man Victor met since he returned… He was Gary’s grandfather and the current patriarch of the Von Geldstadt family.

Victor watched him carefully as the guests clapped their hands. This man was using a talisman to hide his sickly complexion. As far as Victor knew, this man would die in a month or two from now, and that would cause the troubles in the Von Geldstadt family to explode.

Victor decided to help him as he returned his eyes to the auctioneer lady. It is never a bad idea to ruin some people's perfect plans. Victor had the feeling that whoever poisoned him was probably the same one who targeted his grandmother before.

“I invite you all to take your seats… And I wish to remind you all to keep in order and that photography and filming are strictly prohibited.” The pretty lady said as she took out a gavel and a stack of cards, “For those attending for the first time, your lots would be delivered directly to you if you were in a private room. For those in the audience, you are free to go pick up your lots from the back at any moment during the auction… Or you can wait until we are finished. Just make sure to have your payment checks ready.” She clarified.

“Now, We shall start the public Auction.” She added as the assistants began to bring the auctioned items.

“Our first lot today is an antique painting by Duke Ray, it depicts his burning of the old castle tower from which he kidnapped his first wife….” She began to explain,

Victor didn’t care, he just casually watched the auction progress… This was just the first part, a show for the public. The real stuff would come later.

The items kept coming one by one. Victor only bought some random jewelry for his girls every once in a while. In addition to that, he got himself a painting of a few naked pretty girls in an ambiguous setting. He was the only one bidding for it, and he felt that if he didn’t buy it, people would suspect the genuinity of his pervertedness.

“Do you want to appraise this piece of art together later?” He asked Zena who glared at him through his illusion. She turned her head and completely ignored him.

Margret took care of the payments when the purchases were delivered to the room. As Theta acted as a maid who whispered some random things in her imaginary young master’s ears every once in a while.

Most of the attendees in the balconies were players so they didn’t care to participate in the public auction and just watched and picked some interesting trinkets every now and then.

On the contrary, the commoner participants at the auditorium were losing their minds over the amazing treasures being offered. There was even a fight between two guys over an earring that some “Influencer” girl on the internet promised herself to whoever buys it for her… Both lost in the end and were kicked out of the auction after prince Troy got the earring.

The public auction contained many lots and took three hours to finish… Victor bought no less than 10 items. And to his surprise no one competed against him most of the time, only one purple-gold ring had some fierce competition but Victor just increased the price by a few millions and directly crushed the competition as he felt that Lily would like this one.

At last, the public auction was over with a famous painting that was sold to an old bald man who cried as the auctioneer declared his winning.

“Thank you for your participation in our auction.” The pretty lady said after the final transaction was done. After that, she stepped to the side as an old man in a formal silver suit entered the stage.

“The public Auction is now over. We invite those with the public tickets to exit the hall.” He said in a firm voice as he looked around as the young lady bowed to him and gave him the gavel.

Many of the attendees sighed. They really wished to attend the private auction just to watch. What kind of merchandise would be offered there?

Too bad for them they didn’t have the private tickets and didn’t dare to stay, as they knew the consequences of making trouble here. So slowly, one by one all the commoners made their way out of the venue.

After making sure that all the non-players left the hall 15 minutes later the doors were closed and a spherical artifact that was placed to the side as a decoration piece was suddenly activated. In the next moment, 4 individuals in the auditorium collapsed. Those were normal humans who didn’t leave and used various means to trick the auction employees. This device only worked to knock out mortals and didn’t work on players.

Every year some idiots would end up staying, mostly aspiring journalists and troublemakers.

The auctioneer quickly gestured to the guards who grabbed the unfortunate unconscious attendees and dragged them away to become fish food.

“Some people just never learn.” He said with a chuckle then cleared his throat after no one laughed with him…

“Let’s begin then.” The old man said as all the players who were relaxed in their seats up until now sat straight. The real battle had just started.