“…” As silence surrounded the entire auction house once more after someone had made a counteroffer to Valyr’s offer, everyone in the audience was a slight loss for words at how much the price for the Nascent Rebirth Pill had increased.

Though everyone there knew that paying such a price was more than worth it to obtain an item created by the Imperial Alchemist herself, 1,510 platinum cards was still an insanely high value. It was to the point that even class guilds would have difficulty pooling such an amount, especially if the class guild was not focused on production.

Nevertheless, after a bit more silence, Sirius eventually started the count, officiating the final bid. With that, everyone decided to give a small round of applause to the one who had gotten their hands on the Nascent Rebirth Pill.

“I got it…? I got it!” Unsurprisingly, the one who had gotten the last laugh on the Nascent Rebirth Pill jumped for joy once Sirius had confirmed that they had indeed gotten it. Because of that, everyone in the audience had focused their attention towards the person who was celebrating their success, their eyes widening in slight surprise as they did not know who the person was.

However, with a bit of searching through their respective networks, almost everyone in the audience had come to know the winner’s identity, being the leader of a noble clan that’s incredibly close to returning to a normal clan.

The reason why that was the case was because he was the only person within the noble clan with a true rank of nobility, unlike other clans who had multiple members that had ranks of nobility.

With that in mind, even though the auction house had reminded everyone that they would be protecting those that had obtained items from the auction, that still did not stop a small few among the audience to have malicious thoughts, deciding to keep an eye on the winner of the Nascent Rebirth Pill as Sirius officially thanked everyone, closing the auction.

“Well, I guess that’s that.” As everyone gave a round of applause in response to Sirius’ gesture of showing gratitude, Julian looked at Valyr with a bitter smile, letting out a faint sigh as he thought about how close the young man was at obtaining the Nascent Rebirth Pill. “That just goes to show that some people are far richer than what they seem.”

“I wonder if he’s going to be safe, though,” said Valyr in response, taking a brief glance at the man who had outbid him. Though he initially had no idea on who the man was, Julian was more than eager to share the information he had gotten through his network with him, allowing him to become privy towards the man’s situation.

“It would be a miracle for him to return to their clan estate unscathed,” replied Julian after pondering over the question for a bit, slowly shaking his head in pity as he let out a sigh.

“In any case, your haul in this auction isn’t half bad,” said the man not long after. “A vial of Might and an old book that you decided to buy on a whim. If you got your hands on the World Resonance Fruit or the Nascent Rebirth Pill, it would’ve probably been better, but that’s just life, I guess.”

“Either way, let’s wait for your items to arrive and for the others in the auction house to leave before we head back.” As Julian said these words, Valyr nodded in agreement, thinking that the man had taken his true identity into consideration.

With that, the two of them decided to chat about a couple of things regarding the Blacksmith Guild for a bit, only for someone to knock on their door a couple of minutes into their conversation.

“That was fast,” said Julian with a tone of slight surprise. Getting up from his chair, the man opened the door, revealing one of the many attendants assisting the audience in the auction house earlier.

“Sir Julian Pyrrhia and Sir Ylvar, correct?” Seeing that the door before him had been opened, the attendant gave the two a respectful bow before asking them a question.

“Yes? What do you need?” Nodding in response, Julian answered back with his own question.

“Ah, yes. I was instructed by Sir Sirius to have you two follow me,” the attendant replied, prompting Julian and Valyr to look at one another with slight confusion. In their minds, they wondered what made the man seek out for them.

Fortunately, as if he knew the reason for their confusion, the attendant continued to speak.

“He mentioned that he has something to give to the prodigious blacksmith, as well as talk a bit about something with the Blacksmith Guild’s leader.”

“Is that so?” Seeing as the reason seemed to be giving Valyr more gifts in preparation for the inheritance, Julian scratched his head before eventually nodding as he looked at the young man behind him, who nodded as well.

“Lead the way, then.”

…

“Julian! It’s been a while!” As the two followed the attendant from behind, Julian and Valyr eventually arrived at what seemed to be Sirius’ private office, meeting the man in question while he was looking out the window.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting you to send an attendant to us, Sirius.” With Sirius approaching him with an embrace, Julian decided to reciprocate it back while asking the question he had in mind.

“Well, I have my own reasons for contacting you, Julian,” said Sirius in response with a chuckle, releasing himself from the embrace. “After all, we agreed that you would get a small cut from organizing this auction in the first place, right?”

“Ah… I think I did mention that yesterday.” Mulling over his words for a bit, Julian eventually nodded, recalling the statement the man had brought up. “Then again, we could’ve just done that tomorrow, no?”

“True. True.” Sirius nodded, letting out a bit of laughter once more as he shifted his gaze towards Valyr. “However, I always aim to make my actions as efficient as possible.”

“You’re Ylvar, yes?” asked the man, leaving Valyr with no choice but to nod.

“I’ve heard quite a lot of things about you from many people these past few days,” said the man with a soft smile as he made his way towards one of the large drawers in his office, rummaging something out. “They say you’re the greatest prodigy the Blacksmith Guild has seen in these past couple of decades. The fact that you forged an artifact only solidifies that belief.”

“In any case, the reason why I had the two of you come here was because of you, Ylvar.” Finding the item he wanted to get, Sirius walked in front of Valyr, looking at the latter with the same soft smile. “Or more specifically, what someone had tasked me to do involving you.”

“Here you go, Ylvar.”

…𝔬𝑣𝗅xt.𝒸𝑜𝑀

…

…

“Mystia told me to give you this.”