"Thank you all for waiting for the auctions! We'll now move on from the weapons to the herbal products auctions! See this Eluba marrow cleaning two leaves herb will give you an instant boost equivalent to a fourth-stage essence user! It lasts for about two hours and let me tell you..."

The assistant began to yap on about the benefits of the herbs, and Karathra tuned him out as she focused her attention inward instead. She began to think about the changes that had happened to the Stronghide so far.

The bulk of the Stronghide was still at their territory under a new ChainLord, while they here were the secret power of the former chief. '...will we return? From Galthor's intention, he wanted us to return and even do more than just return. He wants to rule over all the Stronghide like a lord but make everyone free...'

Galthor's grandfather was the one that laid the foundation, and his father took it several steps further, but Galthor... this new chief of theirs was pushing it to the very edge.

At first, Karathra thought he would fail because, well, he's Galthor, but things were far from reality, and even now she was satisfied with him. It was strange; Galthor used to be a weakling of the highest order, but now... now.

She did not know what the future held for her, and that's what made it so exciting.

"....it's about to start. Karathra? Karathra!" Brakthar snapped.

She blinked and looked up at him. "What is it?"

He scowled and gestured. "The slave auction is about to start, and it's going to be Marchant Birdy doing it personally!"

She looked towards the stage, and she instantly knew why he was called Birdy.

The marchant was skinny and tall, with a wide mouth and a long hooking nose. At the moment, the marchant was rubbing his hands together as his eyes scanned those sitting on the stand. His attention was on the banners.

Karathra blinked. Was it an illusion, or did his attention linger on her and Brakthar more than the others? Yes, it must be her mind.

"Thank you all for coming to this auction and thank you for all the gold spent so far!" Marchant Birdy laughed, and then he gestured behind him where the curtain rippled as his assistant rolled a cage in.

The cage was covered by a black cloth to block the sight.

"I have lots of interesting slaves today, and I'm going to sell all of them through auctions! If you want, then you'll have to buy them here!"

A lot of grumbling followed that announcement. Many people would like to buy slaves to aid them in whatever work they did, but auctioned slaves were more expensive than normal. And often, they were just as valuable.

"To start with, this is a human..."

Lots of grumbling also rose in the air, even from fellow humans. The thing is, humans are often troublesome—not only because they have gods but because they're hard to maintain. They are physically weaker than most races and get tired easily.

Marchant Birdy let it die down before he continued. "Wait! Although this slave can't fight or cook, he can possibly be taught how to clean..."

By this, a lot of people had already lost interest. Most slave traders would train their slaves in particular skills and then sell them as niche slaves. But the black marchant usually sold their slaves 'raw'.

"Don't be like that! This slave is a blacksmith! And a very decent one at that!" Marchant Birdy looked around expectantly.

But the reaction still wasn't what he expected. For one, the normal people in the Revolutionary base did not care about blacksmiths, and the only people that could be bothered were the banners, but they already had such before.

The only people that should be interested were the barbarians.

Karathra and Brakthar frowned as they sneaked a glance at each other. Why did it sound like a coincidence that was so targeted at them?

They did not like the sound of it at all.

Karathra shrugged and continued to look on.

"Well? Anyone?" Marchant Birdy called.

When nobody answered, he gestured, and the black cloth around the cage was removed. Inside the cage was a human, alright—bulky, with thick arms and neck, and a dull face.

He wore only short trousers.

"See? He's a fine specimen! With his skills, the starting point is fifty gold coins!"

Fifty coins were enough to feed a poor person for two or three months.

But for the people gathered there, it wasn't a particularly large sum, though they could also get two better work slaves for that amount. So they just kept looking.

The look of desperation and disappointment flashed on Marchant Birdy's face. "Come on! This blacksmith is really good. Anyone? Anyone?"

Suddenly a voice called, "Fifty coins!"

Eh?

Everyone turned to Karathra, and she in turn looked at Brakthar. "We're bidding?"

Brakthar shrugged. "We are."

"But the chief said we only buy the enchanter." She kept her voice low.

"If we get the enchanter, then we'll still end up needing a blacksmith. I don't know what's going on, but we better get the full set we need."

Karathra couldn't argue with that, and she grunted. "Well, at least it would be an easy bid..."

"One hundred coins!"

Another voice suddenly called.

Everyone swung their attention again, but this time towards the Winged people, where Casper was glaring at them with venomous eyes.

Karathra looked at him flatly and then smiled. She raised her hand and then did the imitation of twisting a head off. "One hundred and one coins!"

Casper's face darkened as he was reminded of First Commander Oryn, just like Karathra wanted. "One hundred and fifty!"

Brakthar grimaced as he looked at her anxiously. What he wanted was to take the blacksmith for a steal, but what now? "Maybe you should leave him alone? Let's not get into a bidding war with them!"

"One hundred and fifty-one!" Karathra shouted and punched her palm with a fist.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.