CHAPTER 525: CHAPTER 525 - EXPLORING CERYNEIA (PART 7)

He bowed his head once in greeting but before speaking to me, he looked at Lir and smirked back as if taunting him, "I thought you were someone important to her". He then looked away smugly.

Lir’s reaction was instant as his eyes widened then he actually glared back intensely very quickly before he turned back to his usual cold face but this time with a hint of a confident smile on his lips. All these things happened in a span of a few seconds but I did not miss a single bit of this silent but heated exchange between Lir and Levi.

Honestly, I do not know if they are friends or enemies at this point. Why do I feel like there was a sudden rivalry happening between them. Then a question arises, "What are they fighting about?" I can only imagine what happens if Marius was added to this mix.

Levi finally looked at me, his face did not betray any hint of the earlier exchange with Lir as he answered, "I am the head of this information office and I have connections throughout Cobalt City and Coral City as well. I would like to strike a deal with the things that you want to sell. My offer is simple: your products, my connections, an auction led by my auction house, 80% of profits for you and 20% for me. Would this deal be plausible for you?"

I couldn’t help but smile at how direct, simple and detailed his offer was. I have always liked people that know what they want and are not scared to strike a deal to get it. This type of approach was similar with Dimitri during our first meeting minus the topic of engagement of course. Now, I understand why Marius believes that he will become an asset to the new Ceryneia if we can convince him to come with us.

I simply looked at Levi without saying anything and I can see the confidence in his eyes faltering bit by bit as the seconds ticked by. After scaring him a bit, I answered, "Deal. Where and how will we auction these things?"

He beamed at me with a smile that brightened his whole countenance and even his whole office. I couldn’t help but squint my eyes from the bright smile from his face.

He then responded enthusiastically, "I own the biggest auction house here in Cobalt City, though I still try to keep it a secret since I want to keep a low profile. The evening has just barely started and with my connections, I can set up a surprise auction tonight to sell your rare items. I am sure those nobles and merchants that do not have anything to do with their money will be glad to use it to buy your products and in turn, eat something rare for a change."

I nodded my head in understanding and replied, "For payments, I accept pearls, merfolk-made items and valuables that I can sell on land. You own the auction house so I trust that you can appraise if the offered payment of the other party is enough to pay for my wares. You can dictate the starting bid prices of the items since you know the market here better than I do. Where can I show you the wares then?"

He excitedly stood up and we went our way towards the back of the office then down a flight of stairs towards a basement-like tunnel. I followed wordlessly and instead of being nervous, I feel excited to go through this path. It was like a secret mission while passing through a secret passage of some sort. On the other hand, Lir seemed to have been off putted by the sudden dimly lighted tunnel that we have to pass through as he held to the sleeve of my clothes tightly.

We only walked for a few minutes before we reached the end of the tunnel, as I saw the light on the other end of the path we were taking. When we exited the dim tunnel, the room suddenly became wide as we entered what seems to be a warehouse underground filled with equipment for appraisal, preservation and storage.

After arriving, I heard a relieved sigh from Lir since finally, we were out of the dimly lit area. He also looked around the place just like me, curious of the items inside this huge room.

As for me, my eyes couldn’t help but show a child-like admiration of the whole place. Don’t get me wrong. Their items and tools were the same ones that can be found on land but it is just that they were created using indigenous materials that are only available under the ocean so I find everything very novel and amazing.

Levi guided me towards a huge rectangular table in the middle of the room and told me that I can put a few samples of the items that I wanted to sell there for appraisal. I started pulling out from the storage and placing a few pieces each of the fresh vegetables and fruits that I received from Dimitri.

To maximize this opportunity that I found, I did not forget to also bring out products that come from animals and plants too than can surely be sold like wool, cotton, silk, leather, sugar, tea leaves, chocolate, coffee, eggs, cheese, butter, cream, mayonnaise, milk, honey, toasted nuts and an assortment of candies and sweet desserts. The ocean has tons of salt but it was novel to introduce other condiments like ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce and chili sauce to their cuisine.

I believed that no matter where beings lived in this world, it does not change a fact that they still want to feel beautiful and attractive especially men since they are all preparing themselves to find a wife or stay married to their current wives. In this light, I also added a few hygiene and beauty products like shampoo, conditioner, soaps, shower gels, lotions, beauty creams, toothbrush, toothpaste, lip tints, face powder and perfume as well.

Since there was a huge bulk of product samples, I started to patiently teach Levi and the auction house employees that he called in earlier about the name, function and effects of each product on the table. They all made sure to take notes since it is part of their job to explain and sometimes even demonstrate how to use products on the auction stage to be able to sell the item out.

It took about half an hour to orient everybody about the items for sale. I also allotted some samples of the hygiene products so they know how it feels to use them and how they smell like. I also have cooked versions of the vegetables and sliced fruits for them to taste so they will be more effective when the time comes that they need to do the live auction.

After all the things I needed to were out of the way, Levi told me that the auction will take place at about 8pm as all the invitations had been sent over to the important people in Cobalt City. He smiled at me meaningfully and added that nobles and the rich have nothing to do but gossip on their free time so most likely, people from Coral City and even some of the central may attend the auction later too. He was implying that we will get free advertising from the innately boastful elites of Ceryneia which will make this event bigger than it should.

While Levi and his staff were planning the order of how the items will be auctioned off, Lir followed me around as I curiously looked on to each and every item and tool inside the warehouse. I even asked the prices of some of them and Levi gladly gave them to me on discounted prices. I am quite happy that I do not have to buy them via auction which I think was a waste of my limited time here in Ceryneia.

Just like what I though earlier, Levi ended up buying some of the items straight out from me. I then started unloading the items in sacks and boxes on to the warehouse. I also taught everybody in the auction house the idea of selling items in small bundles. With this, buyers get just enough number of the items to satisfy them. If I were to use a comparison, we want to avoid the feeling of only having the chance to eat one piece of something very delicious leaving you even more unsatisfied afterwards.

He understood quite easily what I meant and the potential profit it could ring him. He put my suggestion into action and quickly taught the idea I shared in more detail to his staff to make them more effective in selling things later in the auction. They also started efficiently using some nice looking packaging boxes and placed the items from the sacks into bundles like I taught them, making sure all the products look clean, presentable and expensive.