Attending the Otherworld Auction

Mia shared some of the magic knowledge she had recently learned with Matthews, and Matthews asked curiously, "What kind of magic have you learned lately?"

"Our teacher taught us the incantation for the primary-level spell, Whirlwind."

Matthews said with great interest, "Cast one for your brother to see."

Mia began her demonstration earnestly: "Oh, free spirits of the wind, in the name of the master of winds, please listen to my call, omnipresent whirlwind. Whirlwind!"

A tiny whirlwind formed on the ground, only strong enough to stir up a few fallen leaves.

"Ah, that's it?"

Mia nodded; she was considered a genius in her class. In just two months, she had mastered the art of meditation, learned to absorb elements and refine them into her own mana, and now, she had even mastered the primary-level Whirlwind spell.

"My mana can only produce a Whirlwind of this level for now, but your sister is a genius. I was the first one to master this spell!"

Looking at Mia's proud face, Matthews smiled and patted her head. He gave her an encouraging head-pat, and Mia squinted her eyes slightly. Having received her brother's praise, she looked just like a cute little kitten.

Matthews thought to himself that this was quite different from his own experience. When he first cast Thunderball Spell, it was already much stronger than hers, but none of that mattered.

Mia stayed at home for two days before leaving. Aside from practicing magic, Matthews now had another goal: the Pearl of Beginning glass products.

When Mia returned home the following month, he asked her, "Next time you come back, remember to invite Winter to the house."

"Ah, no way."

Seeing the clear refusal in his sister Mia's eyes, Matthews asked patiently, "Why?"

"Hmph, whenever you two are together, you do stupid things. I don't want to hang out with him!"

Matthews understood; girls generally matured mentally faster than boys. The posturing behavior of little boys like Winter might seem silly in their eyes, so Mia was likely subconsciously refusing to get involved with him.

"Alright, brother promises not to do anything silly this time. I really have serious business with him."

"Is that so? Are you trying to swindle his money again?"

Matthews tapped Mia on the forehead and pouted, saying, "How could you think that of your brother? The money I earn isn't it all used to buy you little dresses?"

"Tch, as if I believe you."

"Come on, there really is something."

Mia replied, "Fine, I'll try to see if I can invite him next time."

Although glass was simple to prepare, achieving a high level of purity was quite difficult. A month later, looking at the two bowls in front of him that had relatively few impurities, Matthews was quite satisfied.

"Big Brother, you were looking for me?"

Winter had indeed been invited home by Mia, and Matthews warmly invited him inside.

Winter had assumed that since Matthews was a noble, he wouldn't be a blacksmith, but he didn't dwell on it and instead asked, "What is it that you needed me for, Big Brother?"

"I wouldn't have wanted to trouble you, but unfortunately, my sister and I were originally nobles. Due to certain circumstances, our elders have passed away."

"Ah, I see."

Although Winter was young, as a child of a noble family, he instinctively knew that this "Big Brother" had a favor to ask, which put him in a difficult position.

"Ah, don't worry. It's nothing major."

Matthews took out the two glass items he had wrapped up in advance and said directly, "It's just that my little sister is studying in the capital, but our pockets are a bit tight. I wanted to ask for your help in selling these two family heirlooms!"

As he spoke, Matthews watched Winter's expression, seeing that he was indeed captivated by the two treasures.

Winter said in shock, "Big Brother, you actually have something like this?"

"Ah, these were obtained by our ancestors by chance. Have you seen such things before, Brother?"

"Yes, my grandfather has a collection piece. It's a pair of small wine cups; he never lets them out of his sight."

"Hahaha, then I shall leave it to you to sell them, Brother."

After a moment of contemplation, Winter said, "There is an auction next week. I will send them to be auctioned under the name of our Utteridge family."

"Really? That's great! We'll split the proceeds fifty-fifty!"

Considering that such items would likely incite greed in many, Winter said, "Agreed."

"Then I thank you, Brother!"

A week later, inside the third room on the second floor of the Imperial Capital Auction House, Matthews, Mia, and Winter sat together. Standing next to Winter was the warrior named Lodi, whom they had seen at the gate of the Imperial Capital Magic Academy.

To be honest, this was Matthews's first time attending such an auction; he had only ever seen this unique style of auctioning in television dramas.

"Big Brother, it's starting."

Winter introduced the background of the auction house to Matthews. It seemed that this auction house had intricate relationships with many major powers, and even their Utteridge family couldn't afford to offend them.

"The first auction item: a piece of special ore."

The auction host began to introduce the special ore, a stone about a meter square. Various iron objects were attracted to it and stuck to the iron ore.

Matthews clicked his tongue in wonder as he looked at it; wasn't this just natural magnetite? He hadn't expected the magic world to have such natural magnets.

Mia was quite curious about it: "This thing is actually quite interesting."

Seeing this, Winter explained, "This stuff is brittle and can only attract iron; it can't be used for forging. It's useless!"

Matthews also asked curiously, "Logically speaking, the first item at an auction is meant to set a good tone. They wouldn't put up something like this, would they?"

Winter said, "After all, there are always some people who don't know the value of things. Besides, even if no one bids, the auction house will have shills step in at the end; they won't let the first item go unsold."

"That's true, I suppose."

Just as Matthews and Mia were nodding, they saw the auctioneer announce the starting price.

"The starting price for this lot is twenty gold coins, and each increment must not exceed five gold coins."

Matthews had originally thought that if this natural lodestone cost only a few silver coins, he might have made a move to acquire it, just to test out his hypothesis.

"What the hell, that's so expensive!"

Seeing the look of disbelief on Matthews' face, Winter said calmly, "For an auction in the Imperial Capital, this is already the floor price. It's not that expensive."

Matthews thought to himself that this thing was, at most, just a piece of natural magnet. In his world, a magnet would cost a few dollars at most. Of course, one of this size would be more expensive, but it shouldn't be anywhere near this much.

He then thought about his current assets of only about a dozen gold coins, and looked at Winter, who wore an expression that suggested this was all perfectly normal. He had to admit, he just didn't understand the world of the wealthy.