Considering all of them didn't need to go, we separated into two groups: Kurama and I headed to the back of the auction house, where the clients would receive their items, while everyone else went to the entrance.
"Right this way, Count Vestalis." Bowing slightly, a demi-human servant gestured to the door, which Kurama and I entered; once inside, instead of a large area where everyone could collect their items in the semi-public, we were given a private room.
While the servant closed the door behind us, Kurama and I sat down beside each other. "You look tired. What happened to all that excitement earlier?" Gently shoving Kurama's hand as she poked my cheek, I yawned while shrugging. "I don't know. I guess after the excitement receded, I'm only left with the years of stress." Massaging my jaw, I grabbed a lock of my hair.
"Since my hair is white, would it turn black under prolonged stress?" "Hmm, no clue… If you wish to know, I can craft a stress-inducing potion to find out." "Ha. Ha, I-I think I'm good." Dryly laughing, I brushed my hair aside and leaned back, though a few moments later, from a door on the opposite side of where we'd entered, someone entered.
"Oh, don't you seem happy, Director." Sitting up slightly, I glanced at the well-dressed elderly Goblin, whose face-splitting grin only widened. "Happy? I suppose you could say that, Count Vestalis." Although he tried to regain some composure, his split-grin only slightly receded; it was evident that tonight's auction was incredibly successful.
"Thanks to your items, being auctioned, we've acquired nearly 1000 Diamond Coins. That is more than the yearly National Budget of small Kingdoms." I just faintly nodded at his words. "Well, glad it made your night."
As I leaned forward, placing my elbows on my knees, the Director, understanding the gesture, cleared his throat and reached into his breast pocket, retrieving three space pouches as he put them on the table between us. "Here are the two items you bought, as well as your earnings… Exactly 776 Diamond Coins." As he gestured to the space pouches, I gazed at the last one intently, astonished that I was able to amass such wealth in merely one night.
"I'm assuming that's after the 10% commission and item?" To my question, the Director, of course, I didn't achieve this position based on my looks after all." I had to agree with him on that; it definitely wasn't his looks that got him that position. "Oh, the class crystal, she was the one who actually bought it." As I gestured to Kurama, she leaned into my embrace, acting all coy.
"Oh, don't be like that, dear. You don't need to act so distant. What's mine is yours, and what's yours is mine." "Okay then. I want 25 Diamond coins then." Narrowing my eyes at Kurama, who was affectionately rubbing my thigh, she promptly clicked her tongue and reached into her space pouch, handing me the twenty-five coins, which I pocketed.
"Thank you, and here you go." Flashing Kurama a smile, I tossed the space pouch with the class crystal to her while I grabbed the other two and stood up, though as I did so, the Director stopped me. "Count Vestalis, before you leave, would you be interested in a partnership, perhaps?" With an expression that reeked of greed, he smiled at me.
"Could you elaborate?" "It's simple, really. Your company, Vertainment, supplies the Tiba Auction House with a set number of TVs, which we sell monthly during our Auction." "I don't see how this really benefits Vertainment?" "Oh, but it does. I can waive the 10% commission, dropping it to just 1%, specifically for you."
I raised an eyebrow at his proposition, though, as I really thought about it, while it was good, I had the assistance of the entire Roswald Kingdom; I only sold through the Tiba Auction House this once, as it was a good way to spread word about the TV to the upper echelon of the Kingdom. Not to mention, I wouldn't have to pay any commission.
"Apologies, but I'll have to refuse. Have a good night, Director." Shaking my head, I turned around and walked away with Kurama, though with [Heroes Gaze], I could see him growing a little anxious.
"Okay, you drive a tough bargain. How about this: you'll gain privileged information on all items the Tiba Auction House sells?" I briefly stopped, giving his proposal another thought as it was pretty good; even if I didn't like some of the stuff, knowing what they'd auction is a pretty big benefit.
"Hmm, I shall consider it." Glancing back at him, I gave a nod and opened the door for Kurama, following immediately after.
"Do you intend to accept his proposal?" As Kurama curiously glanced at me while we walked down the private hallway, I shook my hand. "Don't know. I'll actually have to think about it… Anyway, why did you want the class crystal?" Placing my hands behind me, I curiously eyed Kurama, who hummed. "For a potion, what other reason?" "N-Nothing, just curious… Crazy."
Walking side by side, Kurama and I went through the bustling lobby and exited the auction house. Approaching our carriage, which Jackal had been watching, we stepped inside. "Why didn't you tell us we were in debt!?" Immediately, I was assaulted by Jasmine as she grabbed my collar tightly.
"E-Eh, what are you talking about?" I gently grabbed Jasmine's arms, removing them while trying to feign innocence. "Lazuli told us everything! She said we were tens of Diamonds in debt! How long have we been in debt for!?" Immediately, I shot Lazuli a glare. "Do not fret, it is now pointless to be upset or worried. With our earnings today, we can easily pay off all our debts."
Without a care in the world, Lazuli folded her arms and closed her eyes, though her words didn't do much as Jasmine and everyone else anxiously looked at me. 'Tsk, couldn't she have just stayed quiet? No one would've ever needed to know.' While I glared at Lazuli, Yuki grabbed my arm. "Um, if needed, I-I'l eat less meat." 'God, that's adorable.'
"Listen, first off, calm down, secondly, while your heart is in the right place, we'd never clear our debt that way, Yuki." Rubbing Yuki's head, causing her to meekly nod, Jasmine took a step back, taking a breath. "Lazuli said the debt should be fine with tonight's earnings. How much did we make?" At Vanye's question, I smirked while everyone's eyes were glued to me.
"Tonight, we made a total of 801 Diamonds… However, given our deal with the King, we'll only get half, so we actually only have 400.5 Diamonds. If we take into account the debt of 11 Diamonds, we'd have a net profit of exactly 389.5 Diamonds." As I finished calculating, the carriage was eerily quiet save for the sound of the wheels turning.
"Oh." Nodding with a distant expression, Jasmine cleaned my ruffled suit and quietly sat back down. "See, I told you. Listen to me next time." Giving everyone a sharp look, Lazuli closed her eyes once again.
"Anyway, let's go home, I'm tired." Plopping beside Lazuli, I yawned and leaned back.
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One Month Later
It's been a month since the auction and the reveal of my company, and a lot has happened.
First things first, I paid off my debts, making a free man, something which left the nobles I'd borrowed from confused, but I had no need to tell them. Secondly, now that I had money and income, I could finally develop my estate; it was already a great place, but I'd been holding off for now. Now that I had money, I held nothing back, hired more servants, put out a recruitment for soldiers and knights, etc.
Since I was the hero of Cassandra and an adventurer, lots of people signed up, though, of course, since they'd be protecting us, I was personally involved with the selection process.
Afterward, I spent half the remaining money on expanding Vertainment, buying more business involving plays, hiring actors, and writers; I wasn't stopping at recording plays, no, I wanted to expand and create sit-coms, reality TV, comedy, movies, basically, my goal was to reinvent the entire TV industry from Earth.
Something I found out while hiring actors, though, was that Vanimo was naturally gifted at acting, and combined with his phenomenal good looks, he was basically born to be a TV star.
As for the remainder of the money, I turned most of it into gold coins and stored them in the vault; having diamonds made them hard to use. They were basically like a billion-dollar bill. When would I ever need to use them?
"All this wealth is nice, but damn, this is a lot of work." Muttering softly, I finished signing a paper, placing it onto the right-most stack while I grabbed another paper. I've been so busy with paperwork, it's cut into lovey-dovey time, which is unacceptable; I should be getting suffocated by Jasmine's breasts, but instead, here I was working.
"Haa, I'm going to need to find help."