Isekai Again [Book 3 is Out]

The grand hall, which had been buzzing with feverish excitement, began to quiet as the event came to an end. The light chatter of merchants finalizing deals quickly gave way to the quiet, efficient movement of the staff.

Servants, groomed and professional, began discreetly moving through the rows and toward the VIP rooms, guiding successful bidders and sellers, those who needed to settle payments or arrange for the collection of their goods, toward designated exits. The process was swift, turning the formerly vibrant crowd into a stream of well-ordered departures.

In our VVIP room, our assigned attendant straightened from her post by the door and approached us with a respectful bow. “Sir, Madam,” she said, her voice low and composed. “As a purchaser of one of today's premier items, Mr. Afrasiab requests your presence for a brief word and to finalize the details of your payment. He is waiting in his private office, on the floor above.”

I nodded, exchanging a glance with Sarya. Her expression held a mixture of anticipation and amusement. “Lead the way,” I instructed. Since she didn’t know I was the one who had sold the items, she must have thought I was the one who had to pay. As I had to visit him anyway to get information about the payment, it was still fine.

The attendant turned, leading us out of the spacious room and toward the quieter, upper corridors reserved for the highest-tier guests. The venue now felt noticeably emptier, leaving behind only the cold, hard logic of transactions. Sarya and I followed the polite attendant, leaving the wide hall behind.

As we moved toward the place where Afrasiab was waiting for us, I saw that other people were also moving in the same direction. I did not see anyone from the top floor coming this way, as I was sure that they would be paying later since they all must be quite influential people.

The small crowd gradually thinned out as people were redirected into various rooms along the sides of the corridor. When we reached the end of the corridor, we were left alone.

“Sir, Madam, please wait for a few seconds.” The attendant said politely and knocked on the door two times.

“Come in!” A loud voice was heard from inside, and the attendant opened the door.

“Excuse me, Sir.” She said, then got closer.

Their voices would be hard to hear normally, but I heard that she was informing him that she brought us along. Then he thanked her before asking her to invite us in. Then she stepped out of the room.

“Sir Afrasiab is waiting for you.” She said and bowed lightly.

“Yes, thank you,” I said with a soft smile and handed her a gold coin before entering the room. Sarya also nodded to her with a smile and followed me.

“Sir Han, welcome. I am Afrasiab Bulan. I am humbly grateful to be able to host you here,” He said with a friendly tone.

“Yes, thank you. I am Han. We enjoyed today very much.” I also said with a smile while shaking hands with him.

“I am glad to hear that.” He said while beaming, then turned toward Sarya as if noticing her just now and said with an apologetic voice, “Oh, Madam, I heard that you were accompanying Sir Han. You are welcome as well.”

“Thank you,” Sarya replied with a soft voice while inspecting him. “I am Sarya Asen. I heard much about you, Sir Afrasiab. So it is a pleasure for me to meet you.” She said and raised the hem of her skirt to greet him.

“Hahaha!” He laughed before replying, “No need to be so formal, my lady. I heard you two are coming from Yargan. So it is flattering to hear I am known there as well.”

After the greetings, we sat down and talked here and there before Afrasiab asked, “By the way, Sir Han, please forgive me if I am being rude, but do you have no surname?”

“No, it is not rude at all.” I shook my head. “I am currently residing in Yargan, but I am originally from Targonia. As you know, it is not common there for most people to have a surname, unlike here.”

“Oh, is that so?” He showed a bit of surprise before asking, “Do you perhaps know how to speak our language?”

“I am running around and meeting all kinds of people, so I naturally can understand to a certain extent. However, I am not very fluent when it comes to speaking.” I explained.

“Really? That is quite a feat. Our language is known for being hard to learn and even harder to be proficient in. So that alone is good enough.” He praised with a satisfied face.

It was true that people coming from outside the Union have a hard time learning their language. Fortunately, the rate of people who know the common language in the Union is higher than in other nations. The rate increases even further the closer you get to the capital.

Most of the people in the capital know the common language. Especially, there are no merchants who don’t know. Since the capital and cities that are excessively exposed to caravan visits can’t contain anyone who loses those opportunities because of the language barrier.

Even the speech the Grand Prince and his cousin made during the parade and the auction itself were in the common language. Many people visit the capital on normal days, but it increases even more during the event phase. So it was essential.

“Ahem!” He cleared his throat and straightened his posture as a sign of getting into business. “Let’s get to the topic then.” He said, and I nodded for him to continue, “The lot you provided is sold for 3,000 Hazaroth platinum coins, or in other words, for 300,000 Hazaroth gold coins. We, the auction house, get 5% cut as a commission fee. The royal family also gets another 10% cut as a tax. So you will be getting 255,000 Hazaroth gold coins.” He calculated the amount I will get.

“In addition to that, you have bought an item for 2,400 gold coins. We can deduce it from the amount you will get. So we will be paying you with 252,600 gold coins.” He said professionally.

“That is only natural.” I nodded. “When can you give the payment?” I asked.

“It will take 2 to 3 days until we can collect all the money from the buyers. If you are not in a hurry, you can tour around the capital during this period of time.” He said while glancing at Sarya as if hinting at us to go on a date in the meantime.

“Hmm…” I put my hand on my chin as I thought. After a bit of thinking, I said, “Okay. Please call me when the amount is ready. Ah! By the way, will you deliver the amount as gold or platinum coins?” I asked.

“The merchants would prefer to pay in gold normally, but if you want, we can provide some of them with platinum.” He said.

“That would be best.” I nodded. “Please give 50,000 gold coins as 500 platinum coins. Then divide the remaining gold into bags of 2,500 gold coins each.” I requested.

“Sure.” He nodded. “We can do this much.”

“Good, then. I am pleased to meet you, Sir Afrasiab.” I reached out my hand. “I hope we can work together again.”

“The pleasure is mine.” He said and took my hand firmly with a smile. “Please, reach out to me whenever you wish to auction an item.”

“Of course,” I said as we released the handshake.

“Thank you for attending today’s auction, too, Madam Sarya,” Afrasiab said to Sarya.

“I am the one who is thankful, Sir,” she said, shaking her head. “I had fun.”

After that, we left the building. It was midnight, and the gates would be closed, so I rented a room at an inn inside the inner city. Thanks to the auction hall’s help, we managed to book an empty room.

We asked the innkeeper to give us some snacks, so we wouldn't have to go to sleep hungry. It was also unclear whether we would be sleeping right away anyway. So, we enjoyed snacks while chatting about today’s event.

“Fuh!” I sat down on the bed with a sigh after we entered the room. “That was one hell of a busy day,” I said.

“Are you that tired?” Sarya asked with a mocking expression.

“...” I just looked at her without saying anything, then I also smiled before opening my arms and saying, “Come here.”

She flushed a bit, then sat on my knee and hugged me as I hugged her back. We stood like that for a while, then I gave a light peck on her head.

“We will be here for a few more days,” I said as she raised her head to look at my face in return. “Let’s go on a date, look around the capital, and enjoy all kinds of stuff,” I said, and she nodded with a smile. “But before that, let’s enjoy tonight.”

When I said that, I put her on the bed and started to take off my jacket. Then asked, “Is it not a good plan?”

“... Yes. Let’s have a lot of fun.” She said with a seductive smile.