NOVEL NEXT [Vol.5] Ch.29 Auction Part 4
The greeting banquet took place on the nineteenth, the day after the final warlord arrived. Although the banquet was interesting, I didn't get much of a chance to do anything, which also meant I avoided doing anything wrong before the auction. I was seated at a table with a handful of retainers from the warlords. We partook of the same food as the warlords themselves, but conversation at our table was limited and hushed. I only picked up on a handful of things said in dwarvish at our table, but none of it seemed particularly interesting. I believe our table was relatively quiet out of respect for the warlords, who were having lively conversation amongst themselves at their table.
Part of the dwarvish tradition for a greeting banquet apparently holds that each warlord bring food for the rest of the warlords to partake in. Most of the food was very similar, probably due to the proximity six of the warlords have to each other. Some of the food was a bit different though, and I assume, though I can't be certain, that it was brought by the warlords from near the capitol and further on.
The conversation at the main table seemed to remain friendly through the evening, and near the end of the banquet, Kao had the crates that I'd designated as gifts brought out and presented to the other warlords. I was, rather abruptly, called to stand next to Kao briefly as he spoke, then he drank from a uniquely shaped, and large, goblet. He then passed it to me, and nudged me to drink it. It tasted slightly familiar, and burned somewhat, but other than that seemed fine. I was then urged to pass it to the next warlord, and after each warlord had drank some, Kao finished the goblet, and the banquet ended.
It was until shortly after the banquet was over, and I checked my status that I realized why that burn had felt familiar. I initially thought it might have just been alcohol, and I can't rule out that some might have been present, but what I realized is that it was the feeling of mana being removed, like that plant on the mountain does.
<APEX LESSER EARTH DEMON>
Level: 22
HP: 2029/2029
MP: 988/1321
Traits: Mana Affinity, Earth Manipulation, Improved Dexterity, Heat Resistance, Partial Sleep
Magic: Improved Stone Shaping, Tectonic Sense, Improved Earth Spike, Thermal Hands, Pulverize
I'll have to be sure to remember to ask Shasta about that whole process, and the reason for it. Tomorrow is the auction though, and the day after is the exit banquet, so that question will need to wait until after both of those are done.
The auction itself wasn't very exciting, mostly due to the pace it was held at. Long story short, each warlord was addressed individually, then asked for an initial bid after they were allowed to observe the crystal. Once initial bids were down, the highest bid was announced, and the process repeated. It was like a repeated silent auction, with the previously highest bid being the minimum you can bid in the next round. At the end of a bidding round, the highest bid was announced, and they also announced the number of other bidders who hadn't submitted a bid.
I assume the system was devised so that no individual party would feel intimidated by the potential political power of their competitors. By lunch, three of the seven warlords had bowed out of the auction, but had to remain in their boxes, and participate as if they hadn't. Seemingly to, again, prevent political power from potentially influencing the outcome.
I did find that part of the process quite sophisticated. Usually, when politics is involved, I'd expect corruption and abuse of power, but their system actually did do a pretty decent job of preventing that abuse. On the other hand, we only went through about one round of bids per hour, which meant things were progressing at a fairly slow pace. I can only imagine how long this whole process would take if there had been thirty-some odd warlords all having to bid. Each round would probably take half the day!
Though the auction wasn't very exciting, the amount of money certainly was. As the time approached for the new highest bid to be announced, I found myself filled with anticipation. The first round's bid was somewhat tame in comparison to what they rose to throughout the day. The first round's highest bid came in at about two-thirds of our annual trade budget.
By lunch, the highest bid came in at a bit over six times our annual trade budget, and only three of the seven had dropped out of the auction. From there, the next two round's bids came in slightly larger jumps, at eight, then eleven times our annual trade budget. At that point, another of the warlords bowed out, and it became a three way race.
I was getting quite anxious at this point. The bids were becoming quite significant in size. I had been thinking about this in terms of improved worker efficiency, which, for us, would perhaps give us 50% more work efficiency for certain, mana intensive jobs. That'd still mean that this crystal is currently being valuated at something close to 25 years of improved labor of our country for a single item before it starts paying dividends back.
Though to the dwarves, it probably holds an additional meaning, since up until recently, an important fixture in the capitol was their giant crystal. For these dwarves, this is probably also something like a symbol of wealth and status that they can display. Which is why I probably shouldn't have been surprised as the bids continued to increase steadily higher.
16, 20, 25, 29... then, finally, after the dinner break, a final bid came in, the winning bid, as the last competitor dropped out. Just over 32 times our annual trade budget in value in dwarven coins, plus the previously required temporary defensive pact. This one auction brought in more foreign wealth to our country than our entire history of trade. Though it's currently in the form of unrealized wealth, since we haven't actually traded it yet for any goods.
At that point, the winner was announced as Goppok Kanaga, which seemed to surprise quite a few of the other warlords present. Another thing I'll need to ask questions to Shasta about later, when I get the chance. Though again today, after I had gotten the crystal secured in it's shipping crate, the chance had passed for any questions, as everyone else had gone to sleep. Tomorrow, I might get an opportunity in the morning to ask Shasta a few short questions, but I have a few other duties to attend to during the day as a consequence of dwarven traditions for their exit banquet, so I might not get the chance.
As I thought might happen, I didn't get an opportunity to ask Shasta any questions the next day. Despite having some free time, she was also busy, so ultimately the only times that I could have asked questions like that were at the banquet itself, which would have been inappropriate.
During the day, I showed the various warlords the content of the gift crates they received, since they were solidly sealed with stone shape. Ultimately, they can break them open when they want to get to the contents, but since I have stone shaping, I can easily open and reseal them with little trouble. Through the translator we had present with us, it seemed a few of the warlords were somewhat impressed with the idea of airtight stone crates for ocean transport.
Currently, a lot of their water based trade goes through the inland sea between the continents of the mainland. To prevent humidity and water from spoiling goods, watertight barrels are made, and they aren't particularly cheap. Stone is in abundance though, and they feel like it's a shame that they don't have access to anything similar to stone shaping for the crates to be reusable. Perhaps in the future, when our demons aren't banned from the dwarven kingdom, we could set up our own trade company in other countries. Stone shaping would give us a bit of a leg up in the packaging department, so it might be competitive.
At the closing banquet, thankfully, Kao kept most of the warlords from asking me too many questions, though there might have been some amount of self-interest on his part in doing so. I was glad to get the opportunity to open talks with the warlords present at least, though most of the discussions were all tangential to the large crystal in some way. I never did get an opportunity to ask about establishing further trade, which was a disappointment.
I gained a little bit more insight into Goppok Kanaga during the banquet though. He's apparently the new warlord of his region, after his father passed away a little over a year ago. With dwarves, I have a hard time judging their age, so the only thing I can really tell is that he's an adult. Perhaps it's because I've been a demon for so long now, but I've really started to lose that sort of ability to distinguish age. For demons, age doesn't seem to be as much of a concern as your current prestige and species, which are fairly easy to tell apart, though sometimes traits can confuse it somewhat.
Everyone, myself included, is planned to leave tomorrow, so it'll be a busy day. I'll be helping with loading the crystal onto Goppok's ship, then, once all the warlords have left, our ship will also leave with our riches. Then I'll have to get on the process of making the crystal for payment to Kao for organizing this whole thing.