Ch64.Auction.

After completing my objectives of getting a few Bosses to join in on the auction, I started getting all the products that we were going to sell sorted. I had to check in on the progress my clan members had made in contacting some families and asking them to participate. And then the least taxing task was making the tickets for the event, that were relatively simple to complete, as I had been creating similar ones for a while now.

All that was left was to prepare a venue, now I didn't have the time to organize a building company to create a proper auction venue, at least not one that I would like to create, therefore, I just found a large Hall that already had an underground basement. I couldn't use any of my personal ones because those are mine and I didn't want any of the other Bosses to enter my territory or gain knowledge of anything that was under my control.

I found a nice building in one of the less popular Neutral Zones, this building had a large basement, I proceeded to 'officially' buy it and then had my building company merely expand the basement as much as they could. I then had bought some multi level bench stands and some platforms to create the seating arrangements, I didn't separate the areas into segments for each status group, I just had the seats surround a platform in the center of the room and anyone who joins in the auction can chose their own seats.

On the center platform, I have made it appear to be a simple stage that only had a few features, which included a few magnification Rune devices so that everyone can clearly see the stage and so that the auction items can be properly explained before the bidding as well as a podium in the middle that reflects the auctioneer so that it looks like he is facing every direction, this is in place so that nobody thinks that the man selling all the items has his back to anyone.

There were many more specifics that I had to organize, but I tried to make everything as simple as possible while still having a decent appearance. It took me two days of constant effort to get everything sorted out. I had a few conflicts with some of the other bosses, but the Dean stepped in as an authority figure and put them all in their place, 'The Dean is truly a scary guy when he is annoyed, he almost killed two bosses just because they asked for a larger profit margin...'

Anyway, the day of the auction has finally arrived, and I believe that I have prepared all I can for what is about to come. I have made sure to get my clan members to inform everyone that has been asking about my drugs that our supplier has been running low and that we will be Auctioning off everything we have left as we are still waiting for the next shipment.

I have decided to put up quite a deliberate scheme so that people don't think that I am the one who creates the drugs. I intend to get another territory some time soon, but I dont want anyone to know that I am in control of that territory since I still don't have to power to control more than one territory right now.

Therefore, I plan to have Oga take over the Drug territory and this will also build up a mysterious 'drug supplier' persona as well as distancing myself from the responsibility of having to supply too many people. As I have recently found out, it's not fun to have desperate addicted people constantly bugging you for more products, no, I plan to hand this responsibility off and just be another 'customer'.

This way I will be gaining large amounts of profit without having to take any significant risks, and if I play my cards right I could become much more influential than I currently am without anyone the wiser. But that is talk for another time, right now I have to deal with the immediate situation, the Auction.

The middle stage is set up in such a way that there is a mirror on the roof that acts as the main Magnification Rune Device, this Mirror only appears to be one from the Hall, but from above it is just a large glass window. Above the Auction, in the ground floor building, there were a few people seated around the 'window' watching the proceedings and making sure that nothing went wrong during the Auction.

In these seats, were Me, Nafets, Maxont, Roxana and then two More Underworld Bosses called Naxine and Troctow. The Dean was in the main Auction Hall, acting as the head of security making sure that none of the Families caused trouble, and he was seated on the main stage, at one of the corners sitting on a nice comfortable couch with a few drinks and foods to snack on as the Auction continues.

While I was sitting above, waiting for the auction to start, I was having a few drinks with Nafets, chatting about some random things as the other bosses were also chatting amongst themselves. Roxana then cut into my conversation and asked me, "Little Robs, I thought you said that there was another Boss you invited? Why don't I see him here? And you still haven't told me who he is?"

I turned my attention towards Roxana and replied, "I do apologize about that, but even I don't know who he is, I merely know how to contact one of his subordinates who then provides me with the product I need to run some of my business ventures."

"I do wish I could say more, but unfortunately, that is all I know, I did send out the invite for him to join us, but he has yet to reply, so I can only assume that it will just be us attending. I assume his subordinate will be around at the end of the auction to collect his profits."

I quickly killed that conversation topic as I didn't want to reveal too much, I haven't quite completed my plan in that aspect just yet, therefore, it would be best to just leave it as is for now.

After everyone had arrived at the Auction, the lights dimmed and the stage was illuminated as the Magnification Rune Devices did their job, allowing everyone to clearly see the stage. Some soft music started playing as someone walked onto the stage, his name is Piqulor and he was one of the DJ's at my nightclub and is great at talking fast, I had especially trained him in the manner of entertainment as well 'Earth Auction talking' to hopefully bring some more 'excitement' into this mostly bland event.

As he walked onto the stage, he straightened his tie and started talking slowly at first, explaining the first few items, these items consisted of some of Roxana's products, which were in essence, slaves. She 'acquires' people from all over the country, trains them in a certain field and then sells them off to wealthy individuals. She has supplied Nafets with quite a few of the employees in his 'special bars' and when I am too lazy to find people for Ylarics payment, I tend to contact her and buy her failures.

From my point of view, this is purely a business transaction, if you are wondering whether I feel bad or negatively about what she is doing, all I can say is that I don't really care… These things happen everywhere and even if I were a 'good guy', I still wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Therefore, the best method to deal with the whole 'slavery' topic is to take advantage of these resources and further my own influence and power.

------(A/N) I don't know how you guys take these darker topics, but considering his end goal, I don't think slavery should be seen as anything too serious. Let me know your thoughts, should I dive deeper into this topic at some point in the Novel?------------

Other products that were being presented before the Auction starts, include some Weapons and unique Rune Devices from Maxont, my Drugs, Nafets high quality alcohol, some animals and Magical Beasts from some families as well as from Naxine and then just some random stolen items, ranging from golden utensils to Books on Magic Runes and other things related to these aspects.

After Piqulor had finished giving a brief introduction on all of the items being Auctioned today, he then started explaining the bidding Rules, "As everyone arrived and took a seat, you should have seen a wooden paddle with a number on it placed on top of your seat. If you would like to place a bid, all you need to do is raise your paddle and state your bid. If you don't raise your paddle, we won't be able to link the Bid to a particular person and the bid will, therefore, not be valid."

"This Auction will be divided into three sections, separating the items Auctioned by rarity. In between the sections will be a short break where you may handle some business. Now that everyone has understood the rules, let's get started!"

He then banged on the desk in front of him with a gavel and started presenting the first items, he would talk rapidly on the bid as he started goading the audience members to place more bids and then as soon as he counted to three, he would slam the Gavel down and shout Sold to number xxx. Another Clan member would then take the number down and what they bought before starting to separate the items for when the Auction ends, in order to not get any of the items going to the wrong person.