495 Invitation to the Graymoon Auction House

“Is there something wrong?” Vincent asked promptly without introducing himself. He had a hunch they weren’t here for a pleasant conversation. Not to mention the bothered expressions on the half-sister’s faces.

The two men glance quickly at Vincent from head to toe. On their faces, a surprised expression appeared. They respectfully bowed and greeted, “Good morning, Lord Vincent Lionheart.”

“It looks like you already know who I am. Are you two perhaps here to cause trouble?” Vincent asked. He was curious about why they were here and how they knew him at first sight.

“No such thing Lord Vincent. We are here to complain about losing customers because of your benevolence.” The man on the left said.

The man spoke politely, yet his words sounded venomous. It was obvious he was used to glorifying someone and making himself look pitiful all in one sentence.

“The salesman of my herbalist shop informed me how we have also lost a few regular customers. I came here to meet with Lord Vincent Lionheart’s alchemist and see their skills.” The man on the right said with a frown on his face.

[Sigh. Trouble in the morning already. I hope this is not a ploy by the noble families that hate us.]

Vincent looked at the man on the right and responded, “Why do I have to show you my person? You might be a criminal playing as a herbalist shop owner.”

Vincent moved his gaze to the man on the left. “Smooth words will get you nowhere. The two of you lost customers because you forgot rule number one when doing business.”

.....

“Could your lordship explain what the rule is? I would like to know how your lordship, a gentleman who isn’t experienced in business like us professional businessmen, thinks about running a successful business.”

“Rule? How do you know about business when you are a lower noble?”

Vincent looked at the two men and sighed. “Treat others how you want to be treated because we are civilized people and not animals.”

“The two of you sell medicine and herbs. You are selling a service to people who are sick or worse, yet the people who visit to purchase the medicine leave your shop more troubled than before.” Vincent said with his voice slightly raised. He became angry when thinking about greedy business owners who want more than fifty percent profit with every product sold.

“But your lordship...”

“I demand compensation.” The man on the right interrupted the man on the left.

[The gall on this man!] Kazumi exclaimed in anger.

Vincent also didn’t like how the two men were acting. “Stop playing the good and bad person. Leave before I report you to the soldiers for disturbing and scamming a noble.” He angrily said.

The man on the right became angry. He spat on the ground and threatened, “It looks like you do not know who back’s my shop, do you?”

“Why do I have to care?” Responded Vincent in promptly as if it was on the tip of his tongue.

“Please calm down. We do not need to involve our noble backers if Lord Vincent Lionheart agrees not to steal more of our customers.” The man on the left slyly said.

Eliara and Fliara stepped forward and warned, “You two better leave, or we will have to be rude.”

The man on the right raised became furious and approached the half-sisters. He raised his hand and swung it to slap them. *Crack* “Arggh!”

“You can use your profits to buy yourself medicine now.” Said Vincent, the man’s now broken hand held tightly in his grip.

“Lord Vincent Lionheart. You do not need to make our backers and us your enemies. We can still work this out.”

“Why do I care? I bet the two of you are here because of the noble families I pissed off.” Vincent released the broken hand and grabbed the sly man by his collar. “You better tell them to decide on what they want to do with our current relationship. If they want a war with us, then a war they will have. In a war, there is no winner.”

Vincent pushed the sly man and threatened, “Go and take this person with you. If I even see the two of you here again, I might start helping everyone in need out of spite.”

The sly man helped the injured man, and they left together.

“Thank you.” Eliara and Fliara thanked.

“Remember to tell Maid Xu, Ganni, and Russo about any people acting strangely. ” Vincent said before going to sit beside Sofy.

The two half-sisters responded, “Yes,” and they opened the gate.

The carriage finally arrived in front of the mansion. There he saw Sakura, Zefine, Russo’s adoptive mother Luisa, and Maid Xu waiting for them.

Vincent jumped down and saw an old lady holding Zefine’s hand. He focused his gaze and checked her status window.

.

[Name] Luisa

[Race] Human

[Age] 72

[Condition] Healthy, Dementia

[Traits] None

[Class] None

[Stats] Strength 8 || Agility 7 || Perception 9 || Mana 0

.

Vincent approached Luisa and greeted, “Good day Luisa. I am Vincent Lionheart, a friend of your son and the owner of this mansion. I hope you are pleased living here.”

“How kind, dearie. This good girl helps me all the time. I am pleasantly fine, but I feel terrible for letting this good young girl take care of me all the time.” Luisa said.

“Please don’t talk like that, grandma Luisa. I like helping you.” Zefine responded with a frown.

[The two of them look good together. Additionally, Luisa looks like she has already settled in.]

Vincent noticed Sakura remained standing beside them without saying a word. He grabbed Sakura’s hand and pulled her beside him. “Luisa. I hope you are not afraid of my wife.”

“I am not afraid of your strong wife, dearie.”

After spending a week worried about frightening the sweet old lady, Sakura was relieved to hear this. She smiled, and her nervously fluttering heart was finally put to rest.

Maid Xu and Lilith approached them. Lilith handed Vincent an opened letter. The letter didn’t have many words in it, and on the envelope was the wax seal of the Graymoon family.

“I received a letter yesterday from the Graymoon family.” Maid Xu said. She gazed at the letter in Lilith’s hands and continued, “Lady Lilith read the letter. The two of you are invited to attend today’s auction.”

Maid Xu apologetically bowed. “I am sorry, Lady Lilith, but I haven’t completed a suitable dress for Lady Lilith to attend with. Going to the auction house with the uniform will bring trouble with the academy.”

“I wasn’t planning to attend anyway.” Responded Lilith warmly.

[Hmm... this is an invitation to visit the auction house to buy or even to sell an item. They also mentioned how they were thankful for helping Nick find love.]

[With that summary out of the way, I wonder what the special mysterious item for sale is going to be.]

historical

-How about we take the offer and sell the summer crop we bought? It should make a profit now. What do you think about selling them on this occasion?-

[Not a bad idea. Furthermore, Lilith will prepare some disguise-related materials to escape the ranking match invitations. How about you disguise yourself and let no one discover your identity?]

-How about a cultivator like Feng Mengli?-

[Good idea. You can show them the identity plate of the Heavenly God Mantis sect, and no one should be able to doubt you.]

After Vincent and Kazumi agreed to disguise as a cultivator, Vincent requested Maid Xu to prepare him a robe with long loose sleeves, a couple of long fabrics to tie the robe to his waist, a shirt, and long pants that match the robe.

The frown Maid Xu displayed almost sent a shiver down his spine. Even Kazumi felt goosebumps on her wisp body.

“Please, Xu Xao Long.” Lilith held Maid Xu’s hands and continued, “Can you make Vincent the robe? I will help, and I believe my sisters will too.”

Lupa’s ears perked after hearing a fascinating subject. After wearing her skirt, she dashed out of the carriage and approached them with a grin.

“I want to help make my mate’s clothes too.” She enthusiastically said.

Iris looked at Jun Ye Rim and saw how she was looking around without caring what was being said.

“Do you want to come with us? It will not be boring.” Iris offered.

“I do not need your company. I can stay by myself. But...” Jun Ye Rim faintly blushed. “If you insist, I can come with.”

Maid Xu looked at Vincent with a frown and said, “The letter said the auction would start at two o’clock in the evening. I believe the outfit should be done by noon if we start now.”

Maid Xu turned around and went inside. Ester, Lupa, Lilith, Plow, and Iris, pulling Jun Ye Rim to follow her, went inside next.

“Zefine, dearie. How about we let the two lovebirds alone.” Luisa said with a warm smile.

“Sure, grandma Luisa. Let’s leave the lord and lady alone.” Zefine said before leading Luisa inside.

Vincent and Sakura went to the workshop.

Sakura showed Vincent one of the dozen gauntlet prototypes made out of wood. Each wooden gauntlet had a slightly different shape and size. Additionally, each had a different carving on it.

Sakura explained how she was practicing creating new runes, and the one now placed in Vincent’s had was the first success.

Vincent looked at the wooden gauntlet placed on his arm and became impressed.

Vincent felt like learning more about the nice-looking wooden gauntlet. He focused his gaze, and the inspecting window appeared.

Vincent didn’t blink while reading, and he almost forgot to breathe as well.