On this unusual afternoon, the always noisy Xingar seemed a little quiet.
Most of the business people on the street have been reduced. Even the opium dens that never closed their stalls have disappeared. The drug addicts slumped on the street can't even find the source of goods.
All kinds of lawless elements that could be seen everywhere in the past have disappeared, and Xingar, this chaotic city, has turned into a feng shui treasure land with good security overnight.
This is mainly because almost all the major forces in the city work together to maintain the 'stability' of the city on this day.
Tahir sent his army to patrol around the city, Dusk Knight Order's slaves were patrolling back and forth, and Ramon's men in black were also guarding the streets.
These guys with different forces and different beliefs became quite harmonious this afternoon.
Because Ramon's auction is currently going on in the huge hotel in the center of Xingar.
This auction venue is located on the second underground floor. It is a semi-circular venue with a circular stage with passages on both sides in the middle. The bidding seats are fan-shaped and semi-encircle the stage, and the seats are divided into two levels: inner and outer.
The inner level is closer to the stage, but they are all ordinary seats and can be regarded as the hall inside the venue.
The outer layer is actually composed of private rooms, which are located slightly higher than the seats in the lobby.
There is a curtain hanging in the private room, and there is a number on the curtain. People inside cannot be seen. Only the people in the private room can lift the curtain and peek into the venue.
Ramon's auctions clearly take customer privacy very seriously.
Ramon's men were all dressed in black and stood in a circle outside the box, separating the hall from the box. They should be waiters for the customers in the box - Ramon does not allow anyone to bring an entourage, so he naturally has to provide an entourage for the distinguished guests.
These private rooms are naturally provided to certain special people who are inconvenient to show up. The entourage provided by Ramon is not only responsible for serving tea and water, running errands, but also responsible for helping the customers in the private rooms hold up placards and bid for the auction.
In fact, this auction is not just about selecting a husband for Ruha, Ramon also got some extra auction items to warm up the event.
For example, some extremely exquisitely crafted equipment, as well as some rare antiques and works of art.
These are actually things that go with the engagement ceremony - gorgeous ceremonial armor and beautiful artworks can not only demonstrate financial resources, but also show the bidder's sincerity in choosing a son-in-law.
"... the deal is done! Congratulations to the distinguished guest in Box 6 for bidding on this set of Noldor sigil artworks for a price of ninety-six thousand dinars. This is a genuine object with a magical sigil. I must say you have earned it!"
Ramon knocked down the gavel in his hand on the stage, and the volume gradually increased. "Next... gentlemen! The last auction item of this auction is about to be unveiled - this is what you have been waiting for for a long time... the rule of Aishikeman, and the marriage of Ruha, the beloved daughter of the noble Caliph Bahaman!!"
A girl in a golden ceremonial dress brought up a silver plate with a dagger and a brass seal on it.
The girl walked around the stage carrying the plate, and finally placed the plate on the sloping stand in front of Ramon.
You can vaguely see a scorpion engraved on the blade of the dagger.
The people in the audience were breathing heavily, especially those Xingar and Dexian people.
"Perhaps many friends have already noticed... these two items..."
Ramon pointed at the seal. "This is the Aishikeman lord's seal, which is the authority of the Aishikeman ruler!"
After speaking, he pointed to the ancient dagger. "And this dagger is as important as the seal! It represents the recognition of Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood! In other words... the person who successfully bids will be regarded by Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood as the legal Aishikeman ruler - I think everyone should understand what this means..."
The people in the audience made a buzzing sound, and they were all obviously whispering to each other.
Most people know that the last auction item in this auction is the right to rule Aishikeman, but few people can imagine that the right to rule is auctioned at the same time, and there is actually the approval of Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood!
Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood, as you can tell from the name, this is a killer organization.
Dexia is a country that pays attention to revenge. Almost all Dexian peoples are willing to turn their resentment into swords and blood. If you can do it, try not to do it blindly. After all, most Dexian peoples are not very good at verbal disputes.
If insults or grudges are involved, they will usually be dealt with through private fighting. Both parties can designate any agent as their representative to solve the problem with a knife, without any grudges in life or death.
Therefore, sometimes a quarrel between two naughty children often turns into a fight between the parents of both parties...
In fact, even more regrettable situations than this often happen - two children have conflicts, and then both families find swordsmen in the family to "wash away the shame." If one party suffers a loss and is more violent, then this situation may escalate to endless revenge, and eventually become a life-and-death battle between the two families.
The story of retribution is not a story at all in Dexia - every family has experienced it, or it is happening now.
But don't think that these Dexian people will engage in any duel full of chivalry. They never advocate fair duels, they just advocate revenge.
Dexian people's private fights usually use ambushes and raids...
For Dexian people, no matter how the enemy died, as long as the enemy's blood is shed, it is enough to cleanse their 'honor'.
But this kind of hands-on revenge isn't the only option.
Sometimes the enemy family is too powerful to defeat, or it may be that the other party is protected by a big noble. Anyway, for whatever reason, those who are rich enough or desperate for revenge usually turn to Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood to help them solve their problems.
These assassins marked with the Scorpio pattern are unparalleled in assassination. Once they become their targets, they will face endless daggers, flying knives and poisons. They will not stop until they complete their goals. As long as they accept the task, they will definitely do it.
Occasionally there are people who really can't be killed, but they will still send people to assassinate them year after year and never give up - this is the most terrifying thing about them.
Most of the members of Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood are orphans, and of course there are a small number who have given up all loyalty to their former family and instead sworn allegiance to the Brotherhood - most of them are people who have hired Scorpion members for revenge at their own expense.
And once you join, you can never leave, otherwise... any killer organization deals with betrayers in the same way, and the only difference between Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood is that they never fail, or never finish.
Such an assassin group is of course quite terrifying, and the prices for their services are also quite high, and there are many ways to bid.
Children can be given to the brotherhood as tribute to be trained, they can be offered political deals, they can be large sums of dinars, or they can be their own lives.
At the same time, this is also a very trustworthy assassin group - as long as they accept a task, they will definitely carry it out, even if the target is their Grand Commander...
The most ironic thing is that an assassin group like Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood, which values money but not people, is actually a legal knighthood recognized by Valides Charter.
Yes, this killer group is actually a legal 'Knights'!
Because Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood was originally established by the Duke of Desha, Balta Il·Akalab, in the name of the Family Guard Knights. It was indeed a legal knighthood at the beginning, and the Scorpion was actually Balta's family crest.
That was in Pendor Calendar 198, Pande Continent was facing the invasion of the Bacchus Empire General Osa, and Duchy of Dexia was divided into two factions at that time because of whether to be independent.
In those years, Baltar used his "Family Guard Knights" to assassinate many opponents. Duchy of Dexia also broke away from Kingdom of Pendor and Lionheart Kingdom a few years later and declared independence.
The capital of Dexia at that time was Aishikeman.
But Desha did not pay attention to hereditary inheritance at that time. After Balta's death, his family split into several parts-several sons divided their families.
Balta's 'Family Guard Knights' became an independent organization, and then transformed into Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood, and took root in Aishikeman for a long time.
Probably because of Scorpion Assassins's illustrious reputation, Valides Charter did not judge it as an illegal group - the nobles naturally cherished their lives more, and no one wanted to form a grudge with Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood. After all, no one wanted to be wary of the killers who might appear in the darkness at any time every day.
At this moment, the dagger engraved with the Scorpio crest that Ramon was pointing at represented Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood's recognition of this auction.
The person who gets this dagger can get the protection of Scorpion Assassins - but this is not to ensure the life safety of the bidder, but to ensure the success of revenge...
In other words, if the person who took the dagger was killed by someone else, Scorpion Assassins will definitely take revenge.
At the same time, whoever dares to use force to attack Aishikeman will face the threat of Scorpion Assassins.
Although Scorpio would not take the initiative to intervene in the disputes between kingdoms, after all, they were based in Aishikeman, so Li Ang was unwilling to provoke them even with a large army.
This dagger is obviously the greatest guarantee for this auction.
"Everyone, with the approval of Scorpion Assassin Brotherhood, you should understand that the seal of the city lord Aishikeman is completely reliable, and I believe that no fool will dare to take it by force after the auction is over..."
With a smile on his face, Ramon raised his voice again. "Then, I declare the dominance of Aishikeman, the marriage of Miss Ruha, and the recognition of Scorpion Assassins - the base price is 800,000 dinars, and the single increase is not less than 50,000 dinars! It is allowed to bid with land, troops or slaves... The auction begins now!"
"Coax..."
There was a commotion in the audience, but no one bid in the hall for the time being.
It wasn't because the base price was too high, but Ramon's last words once again exceeded everyone's expectations.
Allow land, troops and slaves to be used as price...
Ramon himself was the most successful ransom broker in the entire continent, and he was certainly good at assessing the price of people and land. Such a rule would balance the financial resources of everyone present - merchants had an advantage in dinars, but lords with large amounts of land could bid to the end even if they didn't have much cash.
"Eight hundred thousand!"
A woman's voice came, that was Alina's voice.
Outside the box, a man in black under Ramon held up a sign with the number '2'.
"No. 2 bids 800,000...800,000 for the first time!"
Ramon explained the bidder's number to the others on the stage.
"Nine hundred thousand!"
"One million!"
"No. 1 bids one million..."
"One million and fifty thousand! I want to assess the value of my land..."
A young voice came from Box 6, and a man in black turned and entered the box - they were all professionals under Ramon and could directly evaluate assets such as land.
"One million and one million!"
"One million and one million for the first time... one million and one million for the second time..."
"One million and two hundred thousand!"
The price was slowly increasing, and no one impulsively shouted out any high price that was beyond logic. Most people only raised the price by fifty thousand or one hundred thousand - after all, the unit was ten thousand, and fifty thousand dinars was already a huge amount of wealth that most lords would find difficult to come up with.
"Ha... how much is Xingar worth?"
During the bidding process, an unharmonious voice suddenly appeared.
The voice came from box number 5. Ramon's man held up the sign for number 5, but he held it horizontally - this only marked the speaker's position and did not count as a bid.
"The distinguished guest in Box No. 5, please use your own property to bid... Your voice is neither Bahad Khan nor Tahir. I'm afraid Xingar does not belong to you..."
Ramon said jokingly, there are always various situations in auctions, sometimes it's just a joke, and he doesn't care too much.
"I ask again, how much is Xingar worth?"
The people in Box No. 5 still asked calmly, and the place became quiet at this time.
Obviously, most people realized that someone was going to cause trouble.
"Xingar is not for sale... shut your mouth! If you make such a joke again, I will kill you!"
The speaker was a rough voice, coming from Box 3 - this was the voice of Xingar City Lord Tahir.
"Ha... I'm not kidding! Let's do this, Ramon, I'll use Xingar for two million dinars, is that okay?"
The people in Box 5 still didn't shut up.
"Then I'm afraid you have to ask Mr. Tahir for his opinion first... I don't care, but I have to advise you, Mr. Tahir's temper has never been very good..."
Ramon shrugged. He knew who the person in box No. 5 was, but this person was in a special situation and Ramon felt it was not easy to deal with it.
"Ramon! Shut up! Get him out!"
Tahir's temper is indeed not very good, and he also has a strong objection to Ramon stirring up trouble.
"Sorry, Your Excellency Tahir, I think this matter should be handled by you. I am not the Lord of Xingar City."
Ramon shook his head and simply waited for Tahir to sort it out on his own...
Anyway, this is provoking Tahir, and Ramon doesn't intend to be a peacemaker.
"Then let your people obey my command... I'm going to kill this bastard!"
Tahir opened the curtain, got out of the No. 3 box, and walked straight to the No. 5 box.
But as soon as he arrived at the door of box No. 5, an arm stretched out through the curtain and grabbed Tahir.
Then a knife was pressed against Tahir's throat. "Tahir, can you tell me now, how much is Xingar worth?..."
"Ikram! It's you!... You will regret it!"