The presence of the Continental sword brought some look of surprise amongst the people, but not enough for them to show any more emotion than they had for the other weapons.

“You didn’t make this?” the woman with the red earring asked.

“No, I did not,” Ning said. “But this is the greatest artifact I own.”

“What is this? Looks like an… Earth sword?” one of the men questioned.

“It is an Earth sword,” Ning said. “It is also a Fire sword. A Water sword. A Wind sword. A Crystal Sword. Light, shadow, ice, magma, whatever you can think of. This sword can create.”

“Bull**!” one of the men cried out. “Such a thing is impossible.”

Ning shrugged. “If you think so,” he said, not saying anything more and simply holding the sword.

They started to second guess their assessment at that point. Was there something special about the sword that they weren’t aware of? Were his words true at all?

Ning put back the sword. “You might not know it, but some of the royal families would. Or should, I should say. This sword was created many years ago, and it was shown to everyone considered powerful at the time. Tell anyone you know to find out about it and you’ll know how good this is. It’s called the Continental Sword.”

They showed not much reaction again. Once again, that was to be expected.

Ning started taking back his weapons and as he did, he remembered something. He turned toward a blonde man with short hair on a square head and with a clean-shaven beard. His mustache had some dark color to it, but it was still blonde.

“Ah right, I forgot another weapon,” Ning said, bringing out what he wanted to show.

The group looked at his hand and were immediately confused. Ning was holding onto the pair of shadow scythes and they weren’t sure what they were to do with the weapon.

“Did you make a copy?” one of the women in blue dress asked.

“No, this is the original,” Ning said.

“I thought you sold this,” another man asked. “Why are you showing us this? We’ve already seen this.”

“I know, and it has indeed been sold,” Ning said. “Sir Bass here bought it after all. His man came to my shop and paid for it, but told me to bring it to you here. Thank you for your kind generosity, Sir Bass. 20 thousand Fire Coins is no small price for this artifact.”

The blonde man looked stunned. “I… I didn’t buy it,” he said.

“Did you not send the man named Jamie to bid for you on my auction?” Ning asked.

“I— I don’t remember doing so,” the man said.

“Hmm… then why did the person who dropped off the money at my shop earlier today tell me to meet you here? I don’t think anyone can just bring out such a sum of money,” Ning said. “Or… maybe does sir Bass have a secret benefactor? Such a handsome man like you would have no shortage of people wanting to impress you.”

The others in the group grimaced.

Bass’s face was one that even a mother would find hard to like. He had known that since childhood and for that reason alone had worked hard in his life to reach where he had, including using underhanded means.

Hearing Ning call him handsome brought forth anger that he found hard to control, but he did.

“Anyway, here is your weapon. Whether you bought it or not doesn’t matter. I was paid and was told to bring this to you, so here you are,” Ning said, handing over the weapons fully.

The man took it absentmindedly. His brain wasn’t working well for some reason today. Had it been all the shock and surprise, or was it the anger?

He had sent Brian to the shop and he had told Bass that he had bid 20 thousand Fire Coins and thus won the auction. Their plan was never to buy the item but rather to cause trouble for Ning.

How could he have known that someone would have paid Ning for it? 20 thousand Fire Coins, what sort of an idiot would pay such a price?

“This man,” Bass asked. “Do you remember what he looked like?”

Ning nodded. “He was a short man, about this tall, and had a sundarked face. His hair was… short, and he had some dark bags under his eyes. The face was not that… oh right, there was a scar along her jawline. Right here,” he said, gesturing along his chin.

Bass did well to hide his shock, but not good enough.

“Anyway, thank the person for purchasing my weapon at such a steep price. I’ll see you all later,” Ning said and walked away.

Bass remained there for a while, lost in thought, not hearing the words that the people around him spoke.

“Excuse me,” he said and turned around to walk away, leaving the premises of the Briggs estate quickly. He returned to his home on his carriage which was just a couple of minute’s travel away and quickly went to find Brian.

The man wasn’t home. Bass shouted at his servants to find the man and 10 minutes later, Brian was in the hall, smelling of tavern whiskey, and nearly half drunk.

“Did you go to that damned shop to get the item?” he asked.

“What? I received no such order, lord Bass,” the man said.

“No, did you go back to that damn bastard Ning’s shop where you put the bid for the auction,” he asked.

“No,” the man replied, exasperated. “Should I have?” Follow current ᴏᴠʟs on Novlꜰre.et

“Then how did he perfectly describe what you looked like?”

“I… I don’t know, lord Bass. I’ve been with my people for most of my day,” the man said.

Bass frowned. That was right. Why was he letting his anger take over? Whatever, he should forget about. Bass dismissed the man, forgetting about tonight. He had gotten a free artifact for some reason, so there was nothing to be worried about.

Unfortunately, tomorrow morning he was woken up by a shout that they had been robbed.

20 Thousand Fire Coins had mysteriously vanished from the safe overnight. And no one knew where it went.