(MC POV)
taking a sip of the tea that was served to me, I looked at the man and woman who were standing in front of me, with the woman's head bowed and the man talking.
"You see master Zen we did not actually intend to sell the storage ring and the flying sword, but after we realized that you were in the auction we had no choice than to bring it out for you to see--" The man tried explaining.
"You are doing a bad job at this; I thought you were the manager," I turned to the lady.
"I, uh, yes, and no, master Zen, I am just his supervisor; I am just here to observe how good of a job he is doing," She said bowing.
Well, he is doing a bad job then.
"So you did not tell him the unwritten rule concerning the things I make?" I asked again, taking another sip of my tea.
Okay, this tea is surprisingly good; I was not expecting that at all, since the person in charge of this place was this stupid and short-sighted.
Let me explain. Remember when I said that I am the only one that can use the space element in the mortal realm? Well, storage rings need the maker or crafter to have knowledge about space magic before they can make it.
It was just about a year ago that it became popular since I was the one that made them and sold them to other practitioners and auction houses. I made them in different ranks, but since I was too lazy to give them another ranking system, I used that of the elemental affinity ranking to rank them, from wood to jade tier.
Now this is where the problem is: I have only made twenty diamond-tier storage rings and two jade-tier for me and mom. The reminders are to be sold to those that can afford it since the price for one gold-tier ring is five million gold coins. The funny thing is, I only need a magnet stone and voila, a storage ring, but to make the storage appear hard to make, I add things like mithril, gold, copper, and other scarce and not easily obtained metals to make it appear hard to make.
The diamond tier and jade tier are never to be sold nor auctioned in private auctions or public ones; if one is found, which is unlikely since I only gave those rings to the elders and sect master of my sect and some other elders of sects that are affiliated with us, the person selling it would be blacklisted from doing business again.
One could say I have a monopoly on storage rings.
But here I am at an auction, seeing one of my diamond-tier rings about to be sold.
That is bad for business since if people found out that they could get these rings and sell them, there would be a hunt for those with these rings, and they would be forced to sell them. The sect master and elder of the sect are okay, but those sect masters and elders I gave these rings to from other sects would not be.
"I did, but since he is the one in charge, I cannot make any further comments," She explainied with a strained smile.
"Excuses," I simply said, releasing my gravity magic on them, slightly increasing the force of gravity around them.
"Who is the real leader of this auction house?" I asked, looking at the man and woman in front of me who tried to stand upright.
Increasing the gravity of a place is actually much better than just using elemental pressure; I like being practical, not fanciful.
"That..." They both looked at each other and then back to me.
Okay, what is going on here?
Are they hiding something, or did something happen to the leader of the auction house?
"Uh, well, the leader is not around here, sir. I mean, not in this region. We are just a branch, you see," The lady said.
"Yes, the only branch actually in the entire southern region," The man added at the side.
Why?... Oh, right, the wars.
"So this is the leader of this auction house?" I narrowed my eyes at the man.
"Yes, he is, sir." The woman nodded.
Okay, I guess there is really nothing I can do to them, but I can't just leave like that without dishing out some punishments, right?
"You are banned from selling any of my storage rings and other merchandise that comes from me again until your leader apologizes for authorizing this sale, the real leader." After leaving that statement, I got up and left with the storage rings that contained everything I bought at the auction.
"I would also need these ingredients delivered to my sect." I left a piece of paper that I took from my storage ring fly towards the woman. "Get them, and I might consider lifting your ban."
The only thing now that I have to worry about is who this ring came from and why they sold it and the dryads at Guming village.
As I made my way towards the entrance, ready to leave with Chuyan and the disciple who was actually waiting for us with the carriage during the auction, I bumped into someone unexpected.
"Sorry, sir, for stopping you. I know you might be wondering who sold us the ring , so I came to tell you." It was the hostess of the auction.
"Oh, speak then, so you know me?"
"Of course, who does not know of master Zen? The person that came was someone from the coiling wood sect. Before allowing a material that a practitioner wants to sell to be sold in auction, they have to be part of a sect at least, or affiliated with someone from a sect," She said and quickly left, looking around as if she was scared that someone might know, not even waiting for me to ask her how she knew this.
Looking at her as she left, I went to the entrance and met up with Chuyan, who quickly asked what that lady said to me, but I just answered her that it was nothing.
"Flirting with master is unforgivable," I heard her mutter, and I could only give out a laugh before entering the carriage, followed by Chuyan.
I then pondered over what the lady had just told me.
Why is it this coiling wood sect again? First the dark sect wanted to frame them, and now even the auction house is doing the same. I suspect the lady, but I have no evidence to back it up, so let's just wait and see what unfolds.
Hopefully it does not affect me and my cute disciple.