Silver-Grade Shield

"Alright everyone, I know you're all excited about today's auction. I've noticed tons of big shots from Misty Isles City and Hot Wind City here because of a certain piece of news. Today, we, the Cloudy Blue Auction will be auctioning several Gold-Grade items!" The host of the auction, who was a woman with dark silky purple hair that touched her shoulders, said.

She wore a tight red dress that revealed each and every curve on her voluptuous body. Many people within the crowd were just barely containing themselves as they gripped the handles of the seats.

Her enchanting purple eyes gleamed brightly as she examined the crowd of people impatiently waiting for the auction to start. Her gaze swept over everyone, slightly halting on someone near Eren.

Eren unconsciously looked to his left and noticed a young man with golden-blonde hair sitting next to him. His right leg was crossed on top of his left leg and he had and he fanned himself with a white fan that had golden tips on it.

There was also a beautiful picture of a blazing red dragon flying around on the fan. The young man had an arrogant look on his face as he eyed the woman on the stage with lustful eyes.

Eren turned back to the woman on the stage and began listening again.

"It's not often that we auction Gold-Grade items, and when we do we always cause a storm in the nearby towns. I can't help but feel proud whenever I think about the reputation of our esteemed auction! Alright, without further ado, the auction will now officially start!"

The woman spat useless chatter for a while before finally bowing and walking off the stage. The crowd was mildly displeased but was soon excited when the first item entered their view.

"This is a shield crafted by master blacksmith Siegfried! It's one of his greatest masterpieces! It's a Silver-Grade item that can rival even peak Silver-Grade weapon and energy cultivators! The starting bid for this amazing item is 120 gold!"

A petite woman whose black hair was in two buns said. She wore a tight red dress as well, revealing all of her curves and giving off a lustful charm. Most of the nobodies in the crowd could barely focus on the item.

They were infatuated with the girl, but the big shots completely ignored her. They observed the shield and nodded slightly.

It seemed as if they were inspecting it themselves.

"Leney, I want this shield, prepare my money please." The young man to Eren's left carelessly said. His words imbued looks of awe on the faces of those around him.

Eren was also a little surprised that someone would say such words carelessly like they were at a cheap market.

'Who's this big shot I'm sitting next to?' He thought to himself. He quickly went back to minding his own business.

He had read too many novels in his previous life to realize that involving yourself with bigshots like young masters and the likes was a big no!

Especially at an auction? Definitely not!

"200!"

"350! Don't compete with me, less you know what's good for you!"

"500! You poor persons should exclude yourselves from this auction immediately! I don't want you peasants to mess up the bidding!"

"750! You don't have what it takes to outbid me!"

"1000!"

"2500."

"W-Which bigshot bid so much for this shield? It's only Silver-Grade after all..."

"Y-Yeah... Why don't you give us mediocre people a chance..."

"T-That's too brazen!"

Many people were hastily bidding for the shield, but they were all silenced when the young master sitting next to Eren spoke.

His tone wasn't the smallest bit intimidating, but the amount of gold he proposed for the shield deterred the rest of the bidders. They all looked around, trying to find which bigshot decided to bid so much.

One of the people noticed the young master's expression and instantly spoke, informing the rest of the people.

"I-It's Young Master Pragus! He really attended the auction, I thought it was only some baseless rumor!"

"Young Master Pragus is truly here?! Us poor people really don't have a chance in this auction anymore. We might as well stick to the bottom-feeder items like Iron-Grade..."

Eren silently agreed with the poor people as they sulked. He was, or rather used to be, within their class. That was until he acquired his gold finger after nearly an entire decade.

'With this ability of mines, I can turn even the most useless of items into something amazing! Though I doubt I'll get anything as good as Gold-Grade again any time soon. Even I know how rare Gold-Grade items are...'

Eren and his family quietly watched from their seats as 'Young Master Pragus' destroyed the bidding process just by speaking once. They were all in awe and felt a little anxious about the future.

What if this young master took a liking to the spirit apples but didn't want to pay for them?

What if he sent one of his subordinates to assassinate them and take back the gold he used to buy the spirit apples?!

This was mostly Erwin, as everyone else within the family wasn't thinking about such things. He was the only one sweating bullets for no apparent reason.

'I wonder how much the spirit apples will sell for.' Eren thought to himself.

The bid for the shield quickly ended and the next item was sent out. It was an Iron-Grade sword that looked measly and weak. The only people to bid for the sword were the poor people with less than 1000 gold to use.

Surprisingly, Erwin took the initiative and bought the Iron-Grade weapon. It was called the Sword of Ten Open Eyes.

Apparently, it was found within the nearby Thornblood Forest. The one auctioning the sword claimed that it was broken and needed to be repaired. He also said that upon being repaired, it could probably be Bronze-Grade.

Until then, it was still useable as a weapon; it was just exceptionally weak. Erwin bought this weapon just for that reason. Eren was about to turn ten soon and he thought Eren would be of age to start training as a weapon cultivator.