Chapter 92: Eleventh Episode: Chapter 1 (2/2)
”Let me go! Do you know who my friend is? Let go of me!”
The major players all glanced at the entrance, it looked like it was only some drifter with unfortunate timing. Viscount Sukhoi’s rogue-play only invited punches from real gangsters in the depth of The Lair. When His Imperial Highness Prince O’Neil finally came to his rescue, Viscount Sukhoi had thrown up all the river water he had swallowed, and colors returned to his face.
”Thank you!” Torry clutched at his stomach, panting deeply. ”I feel so fricking better now!”
As the drums began to roll, the auction started!
”Is my taste really that unsavory?” Without anything to do, Oscar asked his friend.
”Mm… Hm… Umm…” Torry only made nonsensical sounds, but Oscar ignored it. ”I wouldn’t even look at these things twice, but why- oh look! That old fart and the other older fart started biting at each other! I don’t understand these people!”
Whining aside, Oscar’s eyes was still fixed onto the stage. The normal stuff in shops don’t deserve to be on his sister, so if Oscar couldn’t get anything from Teddy Lolo Club, he would really be out of ideas! It was a laborious task to find a good present for a girl one likes, if he misstepped, it would be a disaster.
”Next up!” The auctioneer announced grandly, ”A platinum necklace from the best jeweler of Italia! You should be able to see it clearly from your seat. The chain weighs 191 grams and the pendant weighs 174 grams! A sculpture of the God of Light was etched into the cross, can you see it? There are 365 days in a year, and the birth of the God of Light took 191 days, his ascension to Godhood took 174 days. This is to say, this necklace is crafted for the God of Light Himself! The bid will start at 8,500 Gold Tis!”
As the starting bid was announced, the crowd started riling up. If the necklace was blessed by the God of Light, 8,500 Gold Tis was too little a price. This could only mean two things, either the necklace is flawed, or it was a stolen loot! Everyone in the hall knew what business Teddy Lolo runs, but as someone who’s got a name in the world, they don’t mind how the items came about.
Oscar lowered the monocular and passed it to Snowstorm by his side. ”Look at this! Why does it look familiar?”
To take control of the situation, the host spoke again. ”Please settle down, the Teddy Lolo Club is renowned for its credibility. The low starting price we have set was only because of the letters ‘C.A.M.’ engraved into the back of the pendant. It’s the name of the jeweler, but that caused the value of the necklace to drop.”
Snowstorm had already lowered the monocular, sharing a look with Oscar. Jeweler their asses! C.A.M. is the initial of Caro Arsia Manuel, the Italian Princess! He had almost lost his life to this necklace, so he will never misidentify it! But how could this happen? The Italian Princess valued this necklace as much as her life, how did it turn up in Teddy Lolo Club’s auction?
A fashionably-dressed noble youth extended one of his fingers, motioning to add a whole integer on the largest digit on top of the starting bid.
”9,500 Gold Tis from the Faran Prince of Kristen County! 9,500 Gold Tis! Anyone with a higher bid?”
Everyone in the audience shook their heads at the excited host. They were real collectors, only the young ones would love these shiny trinkets, for example, the Faran Prince, he was well-known for his love of attention in Faran.
”Wake up, you luckless toad!” Oscar shook Sukhoi as violently as he could.
”Oh, God of Light have mercy! Can’t you do this lighter? I’m awake, I’m awake! I just had a headache!”
Oscar clicked his tongue at him. ”Look at that cockering garnished rooster! I know you haven’t met him, but have you heard anything about that Prince Kristen of Faran?”
”Ah… The brother of the Faran King, heir apparent of the throne due to lack of suitable candidates.”
”Oh…” Oscar nodded. ”Who cares! This lout can stuff it! The necklace is my friend’s!” He said as he extended three fingers at the host, waited for him to be noticed, and retracted his last finger. That meant adding three thousand to the last bid, and then round down.
”Oh… The lord from private room number one offered 12,000 Gold Tis!” For some reason, the auctioneer sounded like he was hesitating.
Almost immediately, Prince Kristen showed four of fingers and retracted one.
The auctioneer got his results, adding four to the largest digit and rounding down…
”50,000 Gold Tis? Your Highness! Are you sure?!”
Kristen nodded confidently, not forgetting to shoot a glance at the private room upstairs. Everyone in the audience would definitely be able to afford the price, but as a royal of Faran, he had already sent a strong signal of his intention to acquire it. As expected, the other attendees let out a low squeal, they knew the necklace is very important to the Prince.
Oscar pretended not to notice, his stretched his palm toward the host and flicked a single finger up lazily.
This meant… he wanted to add one to the last bid by one digit higher! The host discreetly tried to wipe away the sweat dripping down his forehead.
”The… the lord in private room number one offered… offered 150,000 God Tis!”
Kristen glared at private room number one, but Oscar had already slinked back into the shadows of the room.
”Brother Bal- no, Your Highness! You have got to help me!” As the organizer of the auction, Teddy Lolo Jr. almost started to beg as he entered the room.
Oscar looked at the heir of the smuggling family. He noticed earlier, when Kristen glared at him, he also exchanged a glance with Teddy Lolo Jr.
”Tell me. What’s the matter?”
”You know… My family has a lot of businesses in Faran, so we can’t possibly refuse His Highness Prince Kristen’s gift…”
Oscar understood immediately. ”You mean… the necklace was put here by Prince Kristen and he’s using your auction to buy it off of you.”
”That’s… right.” Teddy Lolo Jr. wasn’t sure if he should continue explaining, but this concerns his reputation! If Brother Balance doesn’t intend to give up the necklace, it would be a disaster!
”The reason is this, the Italians had been scrounging around for the necklace for about two months. The news had been spread so wide, Prince Kristen can only show the necklace publicly through us. When the Italians inevitably ask my clan about it, we’ll just find them a thief!”
The Prince had raised the bid to 200,000 Gold Tis! Noise started bursting out from the crowd, who would’ve thought a platinum necklace would set the record for the highest price of the day?
Oscar peered at the Prince downstairs, and then looked at Teddy Lolo Jr. with his pitiful face. Oscar was a smart person, he already guessed what the rooster wanted to do. A lost treasure that was found after two months would probably cause the very gruntled Princess Caro Arsia to throw herself at him! Oh, how Prince Caro Arsia had suffered for the past two months! What have this idiot prince done? One cannot simply use any means to steal a woman’s heart! Oscar sighed, it had been a while since he met someone so shameless.
However, if he doesn’t let go… Teddy Lolo Club would be held responsible by that Kristen. Besides, Kristen would do whatever it takes to get it back. It wasn’t worth it to fight him with money, nor was it realistic. Oscar had an idea, he guessed how the prince got his hands on the necklace, it had to be stolen from the princess. So…
”200,000 Gold Tis calling once… calling twice…”
”Paul!” Oscar pulled the King of Assassin’s ear to him. ”Ask Thomas if he has agile thieves. By the time we leave Dulin, I want that necklace with me!”
”Sold!” The auctioneer knocked his gavel onto the wooden block. ”Item number twenty one is now owned by Prince Kristen of Faran Kingdom!”
Due to the necklace having the highest turnover of the night, the audience gave it a standing ovation, and Prince Kristen stood to greet everyone before bowed slightly to private room number one. It was apparent he found out who occupied the room. Oscar showed himself from the window and motioned for Prince Kristen to take the prize.
Staring at the young figure, people started postulating who it was who occupied the room. Even though Prince Kristen only bowed as a gesture of cordiality, but is there anyone who deserve a bow from the Prince of Faran?
Oscar flashed a smile at Snowstorm. ”Hah! Looks like the rooster knew I’m not an easy target. He wouldn’t bother to bow otherwise.”
”Ladies and gentlemen!” The auctioneer’s voice boomed across the hall. ”Apologies, our second item had just been shattered during the transport here by a damnable apprentice! Heaven have mercy! The item is archaic, it didn’t survive the fall!”
The auctioneer had just enough drama in his voice, but anyone who knew the business would have guessed, item number two must have been bought by someone else, every auction hall had done that before. This has nothing to do with reputation, some things can be irresistable.
”...we had to remove item number two from the catalogue! However, to compensate for your time, the damned apprentice had been staked on the stone wall at the back alley of the club, everyone is welcomed to have a look!”
The speech from the host riled up the crowd even more!
”That’s right! A clod like that should be hanged!”
The crowd went even wilder as time goes by!
Oscar grinned, receiving the wooden box about 1.5 meters in length from Teddy Lolo Jr.. He knew his patience would pay off. After all, the same objective would be met, so why not strive for an even better outcome? Oscar was much more mature than before! Some time ago, he might threaten Prince Kristen with a knife on his neck and grab the necklace from him. Anyway, Teddy Lolo Jr. was really a understanding person. Oscar was really satisfied with his way of repayment!
”How much was it?”
”Oh! Your Highness! Why would you ask about that? I can see your eagerness to the necklace, but you helped us in more ways than one today, so let’s not even talk about the price of this thing!”
Oscar declined, it cannot be settled this way. ”My friend, if an object is on one end of the scale, I will definitely put in the gold that has the same value on the other end. But, you know, the object that maintains the balance of the scales is our friendship. So, how much would that cost?”
Teddy Lolo Jr. was moved. The person standing in front of him was Brother Balance, one of the Princes in the Titan Empire! On the other end, he was just a caretaker for a club, someone lowly who walks on the fence with the law.
”If… if you insist, but still, please don’t worry about the price! I will invoice Baron Thomas with the purchasing price!”
Oscar nodded, ”I won’t take up much more of your time then. Please continue with your work!”
In the dimly lit room, Snowstorm pulled the curtains together, and Oscar opened the wooden box. He didn’t notice it, but Viscount Tove Van Sukhoi had rid himself of his paleness the moment his gaze fell upon the object.
”This thing… exists?”
”What is this? You have heard of this?” Oscar waved the weirdly-shaped pike-thing.
”Careful! Softer! You’d want to be more careful with this!” Viscount Sukhoi delicately picked up the pike-thing like it was his own baby.
”Your Highness! Do you know my father and my few uncles would be so jealous if he saw me holding this thing! It’s only 30,000 Gold Tis? Heavens! To be honest, this thing could easily worth ten of those firearms research groups in the Imperial Academy of Sciences.”
”Firearms? I’ve never heard of this!” Oscar frowned.
”Of course you haven’t! It’s got the highest level of confidentiality of the Empire, and my house only know this because we were responsible for its metallic parts.”
奥斯卡从塔里手里抢过刺枪.”行啦!你总得先告诉我这东西是干嘛用的?叫什么?”
”我...我不是十分确定!”塔里望着”刺枪”直流口水.
”你欠揍是不是?”连暴雪都扬起了拳头.”你不确定干嘛做出那副样子?”
”我只见过东方流传过来的一些图画,还有一些根本搞不懂的文字记录.我觉得就是这
件东西!按照东方人的说法,它...它应该叫火...火铳!但我不知道是不是这么发音.”
”火...火铳!”奥斯卡模仿了一遍塔里的发音,”哦不!这太拗口了,还不如叫枪
呢!”
塔里趁亲王不注意又把火铳夺了过来,他在确定整个机簧部件基本完整之后不禁兴奋的
叫了起来.
Oscar took the pike-thing from Torry. ”Enough of that! Tell me what this is used for, and what is it called?”
”I… am not sure!” Torry was almost salivating looking at the pike-thing.
”Do you want a punch to your face?” Even Snowstorm raised his fist threateningly. ”If you’re not sure, why make that face?”
”I’ve only seen it from some pictures that came from the East, along with the confusing written records of them. I think it’s referring to this! According to the Eastern language, it should be pronounced hoo-war… hwar-shawn*? I’m not sure how it’s pronounced.”
”Hoo… horseshoe!” Oscar mimicked Torry’s pronunciation. ”Uh, no. This is too hard, we might as well call it a cannon ball blaster!”
In Oscar’s lack of attention, Torry took the weapon back. After making sure all the parts were intact, he yelled in excitement.
”Your Highness! My lord! Our names will be written into history for this! This is an actual, intact hwooshone! A working one!”
Oscar was slightly excited, ”But… it doesn’t have a blade, and it doesn’t look very sturdy. What can it actually do?”
”Your Highness! Oh, God of Light! What can it do? This is an invention of the East for killing! Some…‘cannonballs’ that activate by firing the black powder to kill from dozens of meters away!”
”Really?” Oscar couldn’t believe it, but so claims the son of a weapon merchant family.
”Of course! I wouldn’t lie to you! As the person who discovered it, Your Highness should name it!”
Oscar rubbed his hands together in excitement. ”Uh… Hmm… cannon… hand cannon? Let’s call it hand cannon! What do you think? Huh?”
Torry repeated it a few times, and gave Oscar a thumbs-up. ”That’s… excellent!”
Translator’s Note:
1. A mangled pronunciation of 火铳 (Huochong). It’s a hand cannon.