Chapter 1232: Sunset At Sea
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
However, doubts were doubts, and Grand Duke Vidi didn’t forget what his duties were. He first praised the painting endlessly before bringing up the friendship between the Gilded Kingdom and the Octopus Clan according to Monterey’s instructions lest the Octopus Clan thought too much about it.
In the end, Grand Duke Vidi announced the official start of the bidding for the painting of the sunset at sea that was created by Heldanos with a starting price of 1,000,000 gold coins.
However, unlike the other auction items, which many of the guests had gotten into a frenzy for right after the bidding began, no one started bidding for this one. This time, there was complete silence, and it seemed possible to hear the sound of a pin drop!
1,000,000 gold coins was indeed not a large sum of money to the people participating in the auction. Even the ones who had the least financial power probably wouldn’t take the sum of 1,000,000 gold coins seriously. However, no one would be willing to do such a silly thing as to spend 1,000,000 gold coins on a painting.
The people here had participated in the auction with the purpose of buying things that they really needed. As long as something was useful to them, they would definitely fight for it regardless of how high the price might be. However, they really couldn’t think of anything they could use the painting for. Although the painting was significant, it was only so because others gave meaning to it. However, it was completely insignificant to the people at the auction. In that case, who would be willing to spend 1,000,000 gold coins on something they didn’t need?
On the other hand, Lin Li, who was seated in the private room, seemed to have understood something. In fact, the reason for the Gilded Kingdom’s actions was already very obvious. If Lin Li still couldn’t tell by now, he wouldn’t be worthy of being the longtime president of a Guild of Magic. Lin Li didn’t place his bid immediately, not because he didn’t want the painting, but because he didn’t want others to know that he wanted it.
Although Lin Li was not short of money, it would naturally be best if he could spend the least amount of money to get what he wanted. He was well aware that if he acted like he was bent on taking that painting home, the other participants of the auction would definitely start competing with him. At the very least, he knew that Grina of the Giant Shark Clan definitely wouldn’t mind raising the price higher just so he could take revenge on Lin Li for snatching the Dark Gold Magic Dragon Armor away from him just now.
Grand Duke Vidi secretly resented Bradlor for making him do it, but he had no choice but to talk about the positive attributes of the painting again and again. Although it was common for items to go unsold at an auction, such an occurrence at this auction would definitely greatly affect their reputation.
However, a painting was a painting, and it couldn’t be compared to more powerful items like the Mirage Sphere. Grand Duke Vidi racked his brains to think of ways to promote the painting on an artistic level. Even if he described it as the most precious artwork that no one in this world had ever seen before, he still couldn’t change the fact that it was just a piece of art.
It seems that this item is really going to go unsold this time! That would undoubtedly become a flaw of this auction, and it might even turn into a laughingstock, Grand Duke Vidi thought to himself helplessly.
Faced with such a situation, Bradlor and Monterey, who were in the Gilded Kingdom’s private room, looked at each other in puzzlement. Didn’t Felic set his sights on this painting? Why hasn’t he placed a bid for it yet now that it’s up for auction? Did we get the wrong idea, or does he think 1,000,000 gold coins is too high of a price?
However, when Grand Duke Vidi was ready to announce that the item was going to go unsold, someone from the private room of the Octopus Clan interjected.
“2,000,000 gold coins!”
No matter what, that painting was a gift from the Octopus Clan to the Gilded Kingdom and a masterpiece created by Heldanos, a legendary figure of the Octopus Clan. If it ended up being unsold at this auction, the Octopus Clan would definitely feel embarrassed too. Hence, when they saw that no one was bidding for it, they had no choice but to offer a price of 2,000,000 gold coins themselves.
Hearing the Octopus Clan’s offer, Grand Duke Vidi was somewhat relieved. Although there wasn’t any frenzied bidding, it was good that the item at least didn’t go unsold.
“3,000,000 gold coins!” Lin Li finally placed his bid. 3,000,000 gold coins for a painting was quite an absurd price to others, but what Lin Li saw was not art, but the inscription knowledge that the painting contained. If it wasn’t in the form of a painting but a journal, the Guru of Inscription Heldanos’ notes would probably be worth more than 30,000,000 gold coins.
Grina of the Giant Shark Clan was feeling a little bored at first, and he even wanted to see the reaction of the Octopus Clan once the item was announced as unsold. To his surprise, the Octopus Clan first offered to buy their own painting, and later on, Felic of the Tower of Dusk placed a bid too.
Now, Grina was immediately interested too. Not to mention the previous feud that they had, the fact that Lin Li had snatched the Dark Gold Magic Dragon Armor from him made him furious too.
Now that he was aware of Lin Li’s interest in the painting, of course Grina had to create trouble for him. Although he didn’t want the painting, nor did he know what the painting could do for him, he would be able to somewhat get back at Lin Li if he could raise the price high. With that thought in mind, Grina raised the bidder sign in his hand high.
However, Cantory, who was beside Grina, quickly stopped him, and said, “Prince Grina, don’t you find this a little bizarre?”
“Bizarre? What’s so bizarre about this?!” Grina turned around and looked at Cantory. He smugly said, “Since he wants that painting, I’ll make him spend a hundred times more than he should for it. Otherwise, how can I vent the anger within me?”
Cantory smiled and shook his head while glancing at the private room opposite theirs. He calmly said, “Prince Grina, don’t you think that it’s really strange for a painting of such little value to appear at such a prestigious auction? There must be something fishy about this.”
“What? Do you mean that he’s trying to lure me to bid for it?” Grina was not a fool, either. After getting Cantory’s reminder, he immediately thought of such a possibility, and also thought of many other reasons.
If Lin Li were to place his bid first, Grina wouldn’t mind making things hard for the former, but after hearing Cantory’s reminder, he felt that there was some conspiracy involved! Grina tapped his fingers on the desk a few times, and couldn’t help but develop such thoughts.
It was especially so because both Lin Li and the Octopus Clan were not on good terms with him. Hence, he had no choice but to suspect if they were laying a trap for him.
It was no wonder that Grina would think that way because such occurrences were extremely common at auctions. A useless item would usually end up being sold at an extremely high price because of competitive bidding between spiteful parties that were out to get at each other. Of course, it also involved psychological warfare. If one party was better at thinking, they could have the upper hand.
However, Grina wasn’t good at psychological warfare, so he looked at Cantory, and asked, “Are you going to give up just like that?”
“Give up? Nah, we can try testing them and decide what to do next based on their reaction. We might be able to feed them with their own medicine.” Cantory had a strong feud with Lin Li too; hence, he naturally wasn’t willing to give up such an opportunity, and he came up with that idea for Grina.
“3,500,000 gold coins!” Grina exclaimed as he decided to test the waters after a moment of hesitation.
As soon as Grina finished speaking, Lin Li placed a higher bid again. “4,500,000 gold coins!”
He raised the price by another million gold coins, seemingly trying to get Grina into the mood for bidding higher. Lin Li raised the bid price by a million at a time, but Grina had merely increased it by 500,000 gold coins. How could the prideful Grina be willing to do such an embarrassing thing? If the price was increased by a million gold coins at a time, the price would soon exceed 10,000,000 gold coins after just a few rounds. 10,000,000 gold coins might not be considered much to financially powerful figures like them, but in some situations, it might come in handy.
Grina was about to raise his bid by another million gold coins, but just as he was about to raise the bidder sign in his hand, he lowered it again. Although he was impulsive, he wasn’t a fool. Since he had long thought of the possibility that it might be a trap for him, how could he have not kept his guard up? Hence, he couldn’t help but look at Cantory again to ask for his opinion.
Cantory didn’t say anything, and simply raised his hand and extended two fingers.
Grina immediately figured out what he meant. Hence, he raised the bidder sign in his hand, and exclaimed, “6,500,000 gold coins!”
Cantory wanted Grina to raise the price by 2,000,000 gold coins at once just to give Lin Li the false impression that they had fallen into his trap. However, it was just a painting, and there wasn’t much they could leverage on. Hence, after calling his bid, Grina said, “It’s okay, if he places another bid, we can stop.”
Grina didn’t oppose Cantory’s idea, since he didn’t fall into the trap anyway. Making Lin Li pay 7,000,000-8,000,000 gold coins above what he could have bought it for was also a means for him to vent his anger.
As Cantory and Grina had expected, Lin Li, who was in the private room opposite theirs, raised the bidder in his hand again. However, this time he didn’t raise the price by 2,000,000 gold coins like he did previously, and instead just raised it by a million gold coins to 7,500,000.
“Just as I thought! Stop here, Grina,” Cantory said while clapping his hands. The rhythm of the increment of 1,000,000 gold coins was completely different from that of 2,000,000 gold coins, and there was a very subtle psychological reaction involved. He was now certain that Lin Li was trying to use the painting to lay a trap for Grina, so there was no longer a need for him to do anything else.
Grina trusted Cantory’s competency in mind games that involved schemes and tricks. In the eyes of the Sea Clans, humans were extremely cunning. Hence, Grina didn’t oppose Cantory’s analysis and judgment. Instead, he returned to his seat and tossed the bidder sign onto the table with a smile. “Haha, this feels awesome. Let’s see how Felic can continue pretending. I bet he can’t cry even if he wants to now.”
Cantory had schemed against Lin Li several times, but he had never gotten the upper hand. This time, it was definitely an unforgettable experience for Cantory. If he didn’t have to continue staying for the auction, he would go outside to drink to his heart’s content in order to celebrate.
Grand Duke Vidi, who was on the stage below, finally lowered the hammer and confirmed the validity of this successful auction. He announced, “We don’t have any higher bidders. This painting, Sunset at Sea, which was created by Heldanos, will go to President Felic of the Tower of Dusk!”
All of a sudden, the people in the auction hall cast their gazes at the private room that Lin Li was in. No matter what, they couldn’t figure out why anyone would be willing to spend more than 7,000,000 gold coins on a painting. Perhaps everyone had already perceived Lin Li as a lunatic at this point.
However, Lin Li, who got the painting, couldn’t even care less about that. The painting contained the notes left by a Guru of Inscription who was on par with him. Even if he had spent 70,000,000 gold coins on it, he would’ve thought that it had been worth every gold coin of his because it was a treasure in his opinion.
At this time, the door of the private room was knocked on again. Prince Monterey personally delivered the painting to Lin Li. After completing the handover, Monterey didn’t leave immediately, and instead asked, “President Felic, the painting belongs to you now, but I’m very curious about something. If you don’t mind, can you tell me what is so special about this painting that you’re so attracted to it?”
There were rumors that Lin Li had bought the painting because his plan to scheme against Grina had backfired. However, Monterey knew that Lin Li had been interested in the painting since a long time ago; hence, he naturally wouldn’t believe the rumors.
Lin Li did not hide his intentions. After putting the painting away, he said to Prince Monterey, “Actually, I have you to thank, Prince Monterey. This painting is actually of no use to ordinary people, but I managed to see some knowledge related to inscription when I saw it in the exhibition hall previously. This painting is like the inscription notes belonging to Heldanos as it contains all of his experiences and knowledge in the field of inscription. However, these things can’t be seen by ordinary people.”
Although Lin Li was telling the truth, Prince Monterey didn’t really believe it. It seemed ridiculous to him that a painting would contain any knowledge in inscription. If it had really been that amazing, the Octopus Clan members, who were experts in the field of inscription, wouldn’t have given the painting to the Gilded Kingdom as a gift.
However, after all that Lin Li had said, Prince Monterey couldn’t possibly probe any further. Hence, he merely shook his head, and said, “Congratulations, President Felic. The auction hasn’t ended yet, and I shall not impose on you further.”
Although Prince Monterey didn’t deliberately try to spread what Lin Li said, many people nevertheless caught wind of Lin Li’s explanation. However, in their opinion, Lin Li was just making it up to save himself from the embarrassment.