Reincarnated as a step-dad in a fantasy world-Chapter 372: Worth

"It's time to begin the auction for the artifact," she declared, "the starting bid for this artifact is set at fifty million gol—"

Before Maya even had time to finish her sentence, a voice rang out from the auction hall.

"One hundred million!"

"...."

"......"

"..."

A sudden, almost surreal silence fell over the hall, even Maya was momentarily stunned by the bold overbid.

However, she quickly composed herself and raised her voice with renewed energy. "A bid at one hundred million gold coins for this... artifact. Is there anyone willing to offer more?" she asked, her tone brimming with excitement.

"This must be the Earl," Alex muttered inside his booth, his expression serious. It made sense—it could hardly be anyone else. He was the only one with that kind of money... aside from Alex himself, of course.

But Alex was wrong.

In another private booth, a man sat alone behind the one-way glass, his face obscured by a hood, eyes locked onto the twin daggers, gleaming with interest.

"Why did you bid? We would have secured it eventually," said another hooded figure standing behind him.

"True," the bidder replied with a shrug, "but I've always wondered what it feels like to throw money out the window. Besides, getting this artifact now might prove useful for the coming battle—and we'll recover the funds either way. To me, that's a win-win situation. Frankly, we should have done the same for the sword this morning."

He had barely finished speaking when another voice echoed through the auction hall.

"One hundred twenty million!"

This time, it was indeed the Earl who had decided to enter the fray.

Almost immediately afterward, another voice cut in:

"One hundred fifty million!"

Now it was clear to everyone present—three determined bidders were going head-to-head for the artifact.

'Don't bid again, damn it!' Alex thought in panic, beads of sweat forming on his brow after placing his latest offer.

He knew he had to get his hands on this treasure no matter the cost, yet part of him hesitated. Spending such a colossal amount on a single item when he could use that money for so many other things made his heart clench.

Unfortunately for him, his competitors clearly didn't share the same financial restraint.

"One hundred seventy million!"

"Two hundred million!"

"Bastards," Alex muttered under his breath, clenching his fists in frustration.

"Two hundred fifty million!" he nearly shouted into the microphone, unable to hold back anymore.

A heavy silence fell across the auction hall as the crowd waited with bated breath. It seemed that this time, the competition had finally quieted.

But just when everyone thought it was over...

"Two hundred seventy million!"

"Three hundred million!" Alex fired back instantly, not even giving himself time to second-guess the decision.

The hall fell silent again. Seconds ticked by, but no new bids came. Finally, Maya stepped forward with practiced grace, her voice calm yet filled with anticipation.

"Three hundred million gold coins for this one-of-a-kind artifact... going once," she said, sweeping her gaze over the private booths. "Three hundred million, going twice..."

She gave a final pause, but no one else spoke up.

"Sold! Three hundred million gold coins!" she announced with a dazzling smile. "The new owner may now proceed to the transaction room to complete the purchase and claim their artifact."

She gave a respectful nod to the audience and continued, her tone polished and warm.

"With that, tonight's auction comes to a close. We thank you all for your participation and hope to see you again tomorrow evening, where yet another star treasure will take the stage. Until then, I wish you all a pleasant and restful night."

As the curtains closed around her, shielding her from the view of the audience, Maya let out a deep sigh of relief. She turned her gaze toward the pair of daggers beside her and muttered under her breath, "I wonder who the lunatic is that threw that much money at these."

It wasn't that she thought the daggers weren't valuable—they were certainly worthy of this price—but three hundred million? That was an absurd amount for a single item.

"Well, I suppose I shouldn't complain," she added, her expression lighting up as the thought crossed her mind. "That means my share of the transaction is going to be even bigger than expected."

***

Inside one of the private booths...

"I thought you said you wanted those daggers sooner rather than later?" the hooded man standing over the couch asked, arms crossed as he looked at his companion.

"Sure, but not for that kind of price," the seated man replied, breaking into hearty laughter. "Let him enjoy his little victory—for now. We'll just take it from him later."

'Stingy bastard,' the other man thought with a scoff, though he let the subject drop. As far as he was concerned, his companion was right. Sooner or later, the daggers would end up in their hands anyway.

***

"Sir?" Kradwell asked hesitantly, breaking the long silence that had fallen over the Earl after he'd lost yet another bid.

"It's him," Earl Drickon muttered darkly under his breath. "I know it's that bastard."

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he finally turned to face the old man with a cold, measured gaze. "I want those daggers. And the sword. You get them from him. Do I make myself clear?"

"Right now?" Kradwell asked, uncertain. This was the first time he'd seen the Earl so openly shaken, and he wasn't sure what the man might be planning.

"No, not now," Drickon said as he rose from his seat. "There are too many witnesses here. But send a few men to tail him discreetly. I want to know what he plans to do with those treasures."

"Understood," Kradwell replied with a bow.

As they left the booth together, a new thought crossed Drickon's mind, one that brought a smirk to his lips.

'Now that I think about it, it's actually better that it was him. I'll just take it back later—without paying a single coin.'

***

"Congratulations," Freya said with a beaming smile. For her, this situation was a win-win. Her man had gotten the artifact he wanted, and her family had made a ton of money. So, she was in an excellent mood right now.

The same couldn't be said for Alex, who had just spent three hundred million gold coins in a single transaction.

'Never did I think that I would one day spend that much money on a single item,' he thought with a complicated mix of awe and resignation on his face, 'I should definitely keep this from Candace... she might faint if she hears about this one.'

Candace was the one who handled all the finances — and more than that — for their barony, and Alex had no doubt she would absolutely lose it if she found out how much he had just spent.

'Fortunately, the money didn't really come from my own pockets,' he thought, trying to lift his spirits.

Technically, the money belonged to him now, but in truth, it had all come from Night's treasury. Every valuable he currently owned had been looted from there.

'Those bastards were really rich beyond reason,' Alex mused as he recalled that the amount he had spent was nothing compared to the rest of his spoils. It made sense though — before he had stored everything in spatial rings, there had been literal mountains of gold piled up in Night's main base.

"Thanks," Alex smiled at Freya, his smile quickly turning into a grin. "Let's go retrieve these treasures. I'm very impatient to have them in front of me."

Freya nodded with a smile of her own and led the way. Before long, they entered the transaction room where everything would be finalized.

Upon entering, Alex immediately noticed the presence of four people, three of whom he recognized instantly.

The first two were Maya and Frieda. It didn't strike him as odd to see them here — Maya was the heiress of the family, and Frieda was the head of the main branch. Besides, they had both played active roles in conducting the different auctions.

The third person was none other than Froze — the very man Alex had fought and defeated just the day before.

As Alex and Freya stepped into the room and Froze's eyes landed on Alex. He froze in place. A chill ran down his spine as fear crept up into his chest. But that fear was quickly burned away by indignation, which morphed into a simmering rage. Despite the fire raging within him though, Froze didn't speak a word — he just stood there, unmoving, staring daggers at Alex.

"M-Master?" Maya stammered, clearly surprised. "What are you doing here? Did you... purchase something?"

"Of course I did," Alex snorted. "Why else would I be here?"

He then turned his gaze toward Frieda. "So?"

Feeling the weight of his gaze, Frieda's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment for the briefest second before she coughed and gestured toward the fourth person in the room.

The man stepped forward, pushing a wheeled cart on which all four of the items Alex had purchased were carefully displayed.

'Wait... wait... wait... was he the one who bought the daggers?!' Maya thought, absolutely shell-shocked.

Looking at the treasures, Alex paused for a moment, briefly wondering how Frieda knew he was the one who had purchased them. But it didn't take him long to realize how silly that thought was. If the auction house went to the trouble of creating private booths for anonymous bidding, of course they would also have ways to track who bought what.

"You can inspect them to verify their authenticity," Frieda said in a somewhat subdued tone.

Alex glanced at her and chuckled. "With the deal we have going on between our group and your family, I'm sure it's in your best interest not to try and deceive me. So I'll believe they're authentic," he said matter-of-factly. "Besides, how could I ever doubt my allies, right?"

Frieda simply nodded, and the transaction was completed without further incident.

Alex, along with Freya and Maya, made their way back to the matriarch's mansion. Once there, Alex quickly parted ways with the mother and daughter and headed straight to his bedroom, where he made sure to close the door securely to avoid being disturbed.

Not wasting a second, Alex pulled out each of the items he had bought, one by one.

"Now," he said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation, "let's see what you're all truly worth."