The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 474: The Auction House Meyham (1)

“So…. I have been wanting to ask, is that dungeon Xue going to conquer an unexplored one?” Axel, who was in a bathrobe asked.

Opposite him, Elise, who heard him, looked at Margret with some appreciation in her eyes.

“Yes!” Margret shrugged, not even lifting her eyes to look at him, she had a stack of papers in front of her. Due to her pregnancy, she had been doing her part of the business from the study at home.

“How are you sure it is a dungeon? Wouldn't that location only have some unnatural phenomena and such…”

“We have concrete info, including the Dungeon’s gate…” Margret replied.

“The source?”

“Not something you can handle!”

“Oh… This is outside of the family's network?” he asked.

“The family should never know!”

“Go then! Just make sure not to reveal a thing to the family… ” Margaret replied as she signed a document then put it to the side and grabbed another one. They seemed to be regarding some land acquisition. “It might also be a good opportunity for you to be away for a while and let Olaf worry a bit!”

“Yes…” he nodded. “I want Gloria to come,” Axel said after some hesitation. That girl gave herself to him and he would take care of her!

Hearing him Margret paused. “Look… I know you are impersonating Victor and everything,” she said as she looked at him disgustingly. “Butt... It is not appropriate to discuss your sexual fantasies with us, especially with Elise here!” she spat making Elise blush and look away. “And making a woman reach that requires skill, that, unlike the real Victor, I doubt you have!”

“Eh…” Axel paused for a moment before finally getting what she meant.

“... I didn’t mean that, Damn it!” he spat, this girl’s thought process was too lewd, even for him. And she was definitely bullying him! “I meant that I want to bring her along, to make her a player!” He corrected himself. As he ignored her smirk, if he overreacted and tried to ‘prove himself’ he would be playing into her hand!

“If you can make sure she keeps the secret, feel free to ‘make her come’,” Margret replied, making Elise, who was blushing, blush even further.

“I will make sure she does,” Axel spat angrily, realizing his mistake just after he said it.

“... Sounds confident, hopefully, you are not just all words!” Margret smirked, jabbing at him again.

“...” he decided not to reply this time. As her brother-in-law, he couldn’t do a thing or he would be the one appearing like a pervert. This girl was a bully!

“...” Margret raised one eyebrow. He was no fun! “Whatever… If Geroge asked you about it, tell him that your grandfather is asking you to check the location or something for some business… And it would not be strange for Victor to bring a lover or two along for something like that!” she explained, deciding to stop messing around.

“Good idea,” Axel nodded. Damn, his brother’s pervert persona was really useful!

“Since you are going I should show you this,” Margret thought for a moment then grabbed a file from a desk drawer and threw it at him.

He quickly grabbed the folder, hesitated for a moment then flipped it open. Inside there was a photo of a strange green jade key. “This is?” he asked.

“Jade skeleton key, if you find it, keep it and don’t show it to the family.… If you get more than one, I will take them off your hands at a good price,” she replied seriously.

“What is it for?” he asked.

“Not sure, according to Victor, some good opportunities will be opened very soon, only the ones holding those keys will be able to enter,” she said. “It will be very dangerous!” she added, warning him not to think of keeping one for his harem.

“Does the family know about them?”

“The higher up had been collecting them for years. Officially they should be turned in to the Player Council or something, butt…” she shrugged.

“I understand…” he sighed. His brother sure knew too many secrets… It was as if he too was some kind of a regressor!

***

“Why are you contacting me?” the young man, through the mirror, asked as he yawned. It was still early in the morning. “Didn’t we tell you to be careful from now on?”

“Young master sixth, I have something very important to report!” Max, who was sitting on a bed in a cheap motel room, replied, ignoring the corpse of the prostitute on the ground.

“What?”

“It is just like this, the awakening artifact I mentioned before was real…” Max quickly said as he began to tell him what happened with him at the ceremony, making sure not to miss any detail, including ‘Victor’s’ behavior.

“Oh…” hearing him, the young master was no longer sleeping… Well, due to the mirror only showing a shadow, Max couldn’t be sure.

“That’s everything that happened, I am not sure about the others but the five guys who chose to work with me all had Authority ranging from 5 to 7! I will send the final report about them once I finish making them tell me all their skills!” Max finished his report.

“...” the young master frowned. This report had too much new info. “Are you sure the artifact was a Mirror?”

“Yes, although not sure of how it worked, it had something to do with the alignment of the stars!” Max quickly replied. “I tried asking my father casually afterward, but he refused to tell me anything… And I didn't want to insist!”

“Mhm…” the young master nodded, lost in thought.

“The only thing is that he seems to have informed Mike about it… “ Max added.

“That’s natural, Mike had been chosen to be the next Patriarch!”

“WHAT?” Max gasped, he had no idea. “When…”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“It was Ann’s decision, but it is yet to be announced. We don’t know what they are waiting for, but it might have something to do with not wanting to antagonize Bruce who wants his grandson to take that seat…”

“Ah…” Max swallowed. He had no idea. No wonder the young master’s plan changed.

“Don’t worry, you will also benefit from this… Despite your shaky relationship with him, Mike is still your brother!” the young master said.

“Just try to be careful not to antagonize him from now on!”

“I understand… “ Max squeezed his fist hard. That position should have been his! “Should I investigate Victor further?” he asked, clearly this was the thing he was mostly concerned about.

“Are you sure no one else heard what he said?”

“I can’t be sure… But his voice was very faint, and many people were screaming!” Max replied, clearly feeling that this might be a trap.

“...” the young master paused.

“Should I confront him and use the info to control him? Or should I tell Father… If this is a trap by Father to find out if I am a spy, not speaking would be problematic!” Max, who was not stupid at all, said.

The young master didn’t reply, as if weighing his options. “This is troublesome… ”

“You mean young master?” Max frowned.

“That guy might hold some info that we want, so making the family get to him would bring us problems!”

“Oh… Then…”

“Let’s bet on time…” the young master finally said after thinking it thoroughly. “just to be sure, try to collect a DNA sample from him, this way if it was a trap you could simply say that you wanted to confirm it before telling the family!”

“And if he really turned out to be a fake?”

“Tell your father directly! By that time our agents would have investigated him!” the young master smirked.

“Ah! Good point!”

“For now, focus on collecting info about Iris and her team, and also find out what your little sister’s class and states are!”

“I will!” Max nodded.

“Don’t contact us by yourself in the near future! Not unless something great were to happen. And your reward for the info will be issued as soon as they are confirmed”

“I understand!” Max replied with a frown then watched the mirror go dim.

He quickly collected it in his ring, then sighed as he headed to the dead prostitute’s corpse and pulled the dagger that was struck in her chest.

Immediately the gloomy room returned to its usual appearance. It was as if some kind of veil was lifted.

Max smirked, putting the ceremonial knife into his storage ring and then watching it blend with his skin before he took his phone and made a call. “Send the family cleaning team, I was a little excited and went a little overboard again!” he told his butler on the other side.

“Affirmative, Young Master!” The reply came quickly as if the other side had already known what to expect.

…

“So this is what an otherworldly auction house looks like!” Victor, who was dressed in a new maroon suit, nodded as he followed his mother-in-law to climb the grand stairs leading to a 7 story building, one of the few this high in the city.

“You speak as if it is any different from the one on earth!” Rosette spat, “Stop making trouble and follow me!” she said as they finally reached the gate.

The two guards who were stationed there immediately kneeled.

“Lady Rosette!”

She nodded to them and walked in followed by Maril, Macil, Victor, and Emira who was holding his hand.

The golden inlaid wooden structure inside was not bad, a bit too extravagant for Victor’s taste though, especially all the golden gothic arcs that filled the ceiling. It was as if the owner wanted people to know how rich he was.

As soon as they crossed the door, more than 10 servants who stood on both sides bowed down and a young man quickly ran toward them.

“Is Aerith here yet?” Rosette asked.

“Not yet, Your Highness, you are the first to arrive!” He said, “The auction will not start for another hour!” He added making Rosette glare at Victor, it was all because of this guy who kept checking the women at the clothing stores earlier, forcing her to drag him here quickly.

“Then lead us to our seating area!” she sighed.

“Yes!” the young man replied as he gestured them with his hand.

“Wait, I wanna sell something, is it possible?” Victor, who was behind, suddenly asked.

“What do you wanna sell?” Rosette frowned.

“Some trinkets that I have, I think they might fetch a good price and have been meaning to sell them!” Victor shrugged.

“...” Rosette glared at him. “You know that this place only sells the best goods right?” she asked, making the young man who was planning to refuse Victor nod.

“Don’t worry, the things I am offering are ‘otherworldly!’,” he clarified.

“OH!...” Rosette raised an eyebrow as she got his idea. “Fine…. Lead him to the appraiser's office,” she told the young man who was hiding his look of disdain.

“Ah….” the young man stuttered. “Right away!” he said, gesturing for an old servant who was following behind him to lead Victor to the appraiser’s office.

“Stay with Aunt Rosette… Will catch up quickly!” Victor told Emira, waiting for her to nod obediently before quickly hurrying after the old servant.

He was quickly led downstairs through a maze-like structure until they reached a certain door that the servant knocked on.

“Enter!” a voice from inside said, allowing the servant to quickly open the door and invite Victor in.

Inside there was a simple office setup with an appraising table in the center. An old man with a pointy goatee wearing a monocle was sitting behind it inspecting some kind of a book. In front of him was a young man clothed in a black robe that hid his features standing nervously waiting for his goods to be appraised.

“Master, this young man was sent by Lady Rosette to sell something…” the servant quickly declared.

“Oh… Please sit down and show me your turn!” the appraiser said, nodding to Victor before returning to his work.

Victor just nodded back then sat down on a couch to the side, casually checking both the appraiser and the young man.

The appraiser was your typical hidden expert that you may find in every auction house, nothing special. Just an appraiser.

The young man, who Victor didn't even care about at first, was something else entirely!

A scion?

Well, in a big auction like this, it was not a surprise to find a scion or two. Many treasures trade hands here after all!

Butt… Wait…

Victor frowned as he read the young man’s name QURAS TAR?

Where did he hear that name before? He was positive he had seen it… Maybe.

Victor almost gasped!

Right, this name was in Tulip’s appraisal… The name of one of her destined husbands! But this was a different world…. Could it be another guy with a different name?

Victor didn’t hesitate as he paid 10 order points to reveal Quras’s destiny list.

EH! No mention of Tulip but…

Kill Zifr? With ALTAIR V? Wasn’

t that guy also on Tulip’s harem list?

Very strange… Would Tulip come here or the opposite? Victor had no idea.

And that name LORTA ORPAK, it was also familiar… Ah! Right, it was the girl who was blending in with the demons at the sun temple!

Destiny was a really strange thing!

Victor kept a deep frown as he watched the young man take a few pieces of stuff from his cheap-looking storage ring and let the appraiser go through them. They were mostly precious stones, some talismans, and skill books. It was clear that he was strapped for cash! Sadly, most of his things weren’t even worth the appraiser's time, with only a few that got accepted.

Thinking about it for a moment, Victor's eyes began to twinkle as he changed his plan.

At first, he was only planning to sell some dragon bones here, then use them as anchor points for their fate tracker to find the rich people in the city and rob them before he escaped this world.

Although he was not sure what was going on,, he had some other thoughts! This guy might be a little helpful!

He just waited until the young man finished putting his goods into action, then squeezing his fist he turned to leave. At that moment Victor made sure to give the young man’s face a good look as he made his way to the door, leaving the room.

The moment the door was closed the appraiser turned to face Victor.

“This way…” he began to speak but was interrupted as the young man pushed the door and walked back in. “Yes?” the appraiser who was a little disturbed asked.

“I have one more thing…” the young man said, squeezing his fist. “It is a family's heirloom..…”

“You will have to wait until I attend to this young man first!” the appraiser said, angrily pointing at Victor.

“It is ok…” Victor who sat back down said waving his hand, “I am not in a hurry!”

The appraiser nodded to him then turned to Quarts “Let’s see what you have…” he spat.

Quras nodded, approaching the table and taking a box, not from his storage ring but from his pants… Was it always there?

“This is?” The appraiser’s expression changed as soon as he looked at the box. He could see nothing. No appraising information at all!

“It is a very strange locked box that I inherited. It can never be put into a storage device. I only know that a world-changing treasure is inside of it, but I can't open it, and no one I asked could do that… Something to do with authority…” he said, making Victor who was acting nonchalantly earlier, turn and look at the box with interest.

“Oh…” the appraiser nodded as he began flipping the strange-looking box made from black metal, he shook it slightly and indeed there was the sound of something inside of it… He tried to put it in his storage ring and indeed, he failed.

“How much will you give me for this?” the young man asked.

“I… I can’t say, you will have to wait until after the auction…” The appraiser said after some hesitation. Although he didn’t know what this box was, he was sure that many important figures would be interested!

“Ah…”

“Like with the rest of the stuff, I will send you the payment for it after the Auction!”

“I understand….” the young man nodded, then after hesitating for a moment, as if he was reluctant to give up the box he turned to leave. “I will leave it in your care!” he said as he opened the door and walked out, closing it right behind him.

“...” The appraiser was lost in thought for a moment before he put the box away and turned to face Victor. “How can I help you?”

“I have a few things here for sale… Hope you don’t mind giving them a look!” Victor smiled as he stood up and approached the table.

He didn’t know if his plan was going to work, but setting things in motion was never a bad thing! And this would defiantly solve some of his problems.

Yup, the young man never returned, and the one who just put Zifr's treasure box on auction was none other than Victor in disguise!