Castle of Black Iron - Chapter 256

Early the next morning, soon after Zhang Tie got up and ate the breakfast, he heard knocking on the door.
Opening it, he saw a 20-odd blond girl standing outside.
"Nice to see you, sir; I'm from Sauls Auction House. Here is your costume and mask for attending the auction. It will start at 8:00 am. It's best if you can enter 5-10 minutes in advance. After 8:00 am, the underground gate accessing the auction will be closed!"
Watching Zhang Tie, the blond revealed a coquettish smile. "You have 40 minutes before the auction starts. In this period of time, if you have any requirements, I can accompany you. You can call me if you have any problems!"
"No, thanks!"
Zhang Tie took the items from her tray and closed the door. The moment he closed the door, the girl outside looked a bit frustrated.
The old man in the Golden Roc Bank had told Zhang Tie that as long as he lived there, Sauls Auction House would send a person to invite him in. What Zhang Tie had not imagined was that this auction would start so early.
People who were qualified to attend Sauls winter auction were all rich and noble both in the former Andaman Alliance and now.
Zhang Tie himself entered the auction due to the rune ring. Many girls working in the auctions and hotels were like Mary. They were not bad, but only liked rich and powerful men. They dreamed everyday to become a phoenix. After experiencing the "Mary" event in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie felt nothing weird about these women any more.
The clothes consisted of a black burnoose and a delicate brass mask which could cover one's whole face. The eye part of the mask had two pieces of yellow glass, so people could not even identify the mask-wearer's color of the eye. Zhang Tie tried the mask on and found that the two pieces of yellow glass didn't influence his vision.
There was a number in German Script which was used to identify the status of the mask-wearer on the forehead of the mask. Zhang Tie's number was "E26". In this auction, all the activities that Zhang Tie carried out would be recorded by the number. After the auction, the Sauls Auction House would clear his properties and transfer them back to the Golden Roc Bank. It was a one-stop service.
Sauls winter auction was very secretive which meant that none of the people attending this auction should expose their status. They had to cover themselves tightly before entering the auction. This made the atmosphere very mysterious and excited Zhang Tie. After all, it was his first time attending an auction.
Besides the cloak and mask brought by the girl, Zhang Tie prepared a high-end costume for himself in the shopping mall of the hotel under the suggestion of the Golden Roc Bank. He didn't wear his refugee clothes that he had used to cover his status.
The clothes he wore now were the most expensive ones that Zhang Tie had worn since he was born. The seven-eight pieces including leather shoes and socks cost him over six gold coins in total. Their materials and workmanship were all very good. Although they were not the best, at least they made Zhang Tie look like a rich man.
Actually, Zhang Tie still owed more than 100 gold coins' service fee to the Golden Roc Bank. Along with the interest, they would finally be deducted from the final price of the rune ring today. The auction commission of the Sauls Auction House was 2% of the final auction price. As to whether the Golden Roc Bank would share a bit more profit from the auction commission of this ring, Zhang Tie didn't know.
After putting on the mask and the cloak which could even cover his hair, Zhang Tie looked in the mirror and couldn't recognize the person in the mirror at all.
The space spiritual being would form into being after 11 am, which was still over three hours away from now.
On the 17th floor of the hotel, besides Zhang Tie, there were other people who would attend the auction. Soon after he walked out to the corridor, under the leadership of the staff of the auction house, Zhang Tie took an exclusive elevator and descended one floor by another.
When he arrived at the 12th floor, the elevator stopped and two more people like Zhang Tie entered. They were also going to attend the auction. Besides a beautiful girl who was operating the elevator, the other three just exchanged glances with each other. They didn't even greet one another, causing the atmosphere to be a bit weird.
"Ding!"
The elevator stopped and its doors opened. There was a deep, luxurious underground tunnel in front of Zhang Tie. The ground was covered with a red carpet and on both sides of the tunnel bright lamp lights were lit. Two rows of ceremonial usherettes were standing at the entrance of the elevator.
"Welcome to the underground facility of Sauls Auction House, the auction will start in the underground house here. Wish you great achievements!"
When the three of them walked out of the elevator, three ceremonial usherettes walked towards them and guided them to the entrance of the auction house one by one. The entrance was like the lobby of the hotel. It was magnificent with several steam-driven ventilating fans leisurely running at the top of the auction house, refreshing the air inside.
Two teams of warriors in gorgeous armors stood guard, making it look very mighty. Zhang Tie carefully sensed it and found that all the warriors were above LV 6. This made his heart pound and he gave a high evaluation for Sauls Business Group's power. He thought inside, as the partner of Golden Roc Bank, this business group was really special.
"Sir, do you need a voice-changing pill?" the ceremonial usherette asked Zhang Tie after guiding him in. "If you use the voice-changing pill, your voice will be unable to be identified by others for twelve hours!"
"Fine, give me one, please!"
Voice-changing pills were put at the entrance of the auction house. The other two people who had descended together with Zhang Tie also received one.

After opening the wax sealed package by pinching it, Zhang Tie saw a white bean-sized pill. Since the other two people directly ate it, considering that pill was provided for all the attendees for free, Zhang Tie ate it too.
The pill instantly dissolved in his mouth with a biter taste. After swallowing the liquid of the pill with his saliva, Zhang Tie felt that his throat was a bit cold. He then coughed and found that his voice had become much lower.
There was a main auction hall and some mini auction halls in the auction house. This auction would be held in the main auction hall. When he arrived, Zhang Tie received a brochure on the items that were going to be sold in this auction.
There were already some people in the main auction hall who were sitting in their seats according to their numbers. Zhang Tie glanced over the main auction hall and found it was like a mini opera stage as all the seats were surrounding the stage in a fan-like pattern. There were over 300 seats in total, above which were more advanced and hidden rooms which allowed more special figures to attend the auction.
Coming to the seat marked E26, Zhang Tie sat down and took a careful look at the brochure with the items to be sold. There were many classifications on the brochure. Zhang Tie soon found his target from the item "animals/pets".
——Number MC 1368
——Name: Golden uangs.
——Quantity: 20 groups, 2000 in a group.
——The starting price of each group is 300 gold coins.
——Point of Delivery: Kalur City.
Zhang Tie's ring of energy was part of special equipment.
——Number B136.
——Name: Ring of Energy.
——Introduction of the equipment: made of secret-silver. As a rune equipment, it can increase the recovery of the wearer's physical strength by 4%.
——Quantity: 1.
——Starting price: 12000 gold coins.
——Point of delivery: Sauls Auction House.
'I've not imagined that such a small rune ring could be that valuable.'
Zhang Tie was stunned inside.
While Zhang Tie was broadening his vision by studying the brochure, the auction's starting time drew closer and more and more guests entered and took their seats. Then, the entire house became boisterous. All the guests were wearing masks. Besides their partners, nobody else knew who others were.
When there were only five minutes left till the start of the auction, a noise drifted over. Zhang Tie turned his head in the direction the noise had come from and looked at the entrance of the auction hall. He then became slightly shocked.
A 50-odd man with a gloomy face walked inside. He was holding a golden mace and wore a red pastor-like robe of the Sun Dynasty. There was a pattern of three moons on his red robe, reminding everyone of his status— he was a three-moon muling of the Sun Dynasty.
He didn't wear a mask or a cloak, and so did the two powerful military officers of the Sun Dynasty behind him. Entering the auction house, the three of them glanced at the noisy population with a cold expression before turning towards a rented room.
The guests were shocked by the first VIP; however, two minutes later, when a general of the Norman Empire who was wearing a mustache entered with two military officers , nobody was shocked any more.
Except for Zhang Tie.
He saw Reinhardt following that general. In a mask, Zhang Tie opened his mouth, but he uttered no word.
A general of the Norman Empire, Reinhardt, and the other military officer went to a rented room upstairs too.
The auction then started...