Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1493: Chapter 220: Women and Women and Women

“This potion is fake—! It must be fake—! Absolutely fake—!”

Suddenly, a piercing and shrill woman’s scream sounded in the silent auction venue. The shrillness of the sound made many of the men present think of those women they once held under their bodies, always seeming to emit a high pitch at the last moment.

Of course, in this serious setting, under the eyes of many industry bigwigs, no one would be doing anything shameful in the room—this isn’t Xiao Bai’s literary level where spoiled rich kids wander around in chaos.

So, this must be a passionate fan of the Legendary Witch, unable to accept the destruction of the witch’s potion by the auctioneer’s gavel, expressing their rage… that must be it!

“That’s right, it must be fake! Absolutely fake! I absolutely do not admit that a work of the Legendary Witch would be destroyed by an auctioneer’s gavel—! Absolutely not acceptable—! This is an insult to the Legendary Witch—!”

… Whether it’s an insult or not is questionable, but seeing the increasingly excited crowd, Zhong Luoyue, who followed Phantas to the venue and had a reserved box, couldn’t help but frown; the fervor of these Secret Medicine industry bigwigs for the Legendary Witch’s work even exceeded her expectations.

“Phantas, what would the auction organizers do in this situation?” The third young lady couldn’t help but ask curiously… Of course, it wasn’t just pure curiosity, but rather to understand the rules here—surely the Unhuman Domain market trading conventions must differ greatly from those of human society.

Phantas thought for a moment, then chuckled bitterly: “Yue, even if you ask, I’m afraid I don’t know how to answer you. After all, such a situation never seems to have happened before… Why was the bottle broken like that? Nevertheless, it was the work of the Legendary Witch… It’s really a shame and a folly. Fifty million Mithril, I estimate that this time Shaun’s family is really going to bleed.”

Shaun is that unruly child of the black market merchant family competing with Phantas to win the favor of the third young lady; naturally, Phantas was delighted with such a situation, but he had to maintain his composure, his composure!

“I can wait for the auction to announce its resolution… Haha, the boss here probably doesn’t know what to think at this moment.” Phantas chuckled… only to be abruptly hit on the head.

But this gentleman didn’t dare to get angry, because the one who hit him wasn’t an outsider, but his teacher, an advanced Secret Medicine Practitioner within the Association.

“You scoundrel, you still can laugh? It’s the Legendary Witch’s potion, the sacred Secret Medicine destroyed by an auctioneer—this is a disaster for the Secret Medicine community! It’s a sad day—! You scoundrel, you’re laughing, actually laughing! I’ll kill you!”

“Teacher… ouch!”

Unable to bear the sight of the scene, the third young lady shook her head and quietly left the box; although Phantas was somewhat of a showpiece, he had his merits for easy control, but this character…

“Still, the woman’s scream just now…” The third young lady furrowed her brows and instinctively headed towards the room from which the woman’s scream emanated.

…

…

The atmosphere in the room was chilling.

The auction’s steward was currently engaging in urgent communication with the potion-holder of the Legendary Witch—Maria!

“I’m serious! Fifty million Mithril, you must compensate me! Otherwise, I’ll plant sunflower seeds all over your boss’s backside! Trust me, I’ll turn him into a walking sunflower… and not just your boss, but you too! Your entire auction house! Do you know who I am?!”

The furious older unmarried witch Miss Witch pressed her foot on the table, grabbed the steward’s collar with both hands, lifting the elderly steward halfway, revealing a fierce demeanor!

“I know who you are, Miss Maria! You’re Maria the Witch of Destruction, the witch who single-handedly defeated the Sinful Dragon Poaching Group… Who in the black market hasn’t heard your name? Spare me, I’m so old, I can’t endure the torment of sunflower seeds.” The white-haired steward pleaded continuously.

Maria directly pushed him away, crossed her arms, and said, “I don’t care, you must compensate me for my loss! Or else I’ll plant sunflower seeds all over your back!”

The steward nervously wiped his cold sweat and replied weakly, “Miss Maria, you can’t blame us for this… How could we have known such a valuable item could be broken so easily by a gavel? You say our auctioneer is just an ordinary guy, not a power-type hero like Kuluo Luoya… “

“What do you mean? Are you trying to argue against me?” Maria snorted coldly: “According to you, is it my fault that I gave you a fake item? Don’t forget, when I took out this potion, three Secret Medicine Practitioners were present to verify it was error-free!” Maria sneered: “You verified it was error-free and took the properly packaged item from my hands, now it’s broken in your hands by your people and you’re doubting me?! Fed up with living?!”

“That’s not what we meant, Miss Maria…” The steward’s face looked as bitter as a gourd, nearly crying, “But we’re just a small business… in such a short time, where could we get fifty million Mithril for you? Even if you sold our boss, we couldn’t produce so much!”

Maria fell silent, coldly watching the old man, then directly reached into her collar and took out a handful of sunflower seeds, “Fifty million! Seeds! You choose!”

“Miss Maria, I’m this old… Stop, stop, stop! Stop… I understand, I’ll talk it over again with the big boss! I’ll give you a satisfactory answer… stop—!”

“Go, you have half an hour!”

Only to see the old steward at this moment in a pardon frenzy, dragging the pants that had sagged halfway, stumbling out of the box door.

“You old fool, late by a step and see if I don’t fill your backside!” Maria exhaled slowly, then wore a face as though mourning, “My fifty million… fifty million!”

The witch Miss was quietly saddened, only for the box door to suddenly swing open, causing Maria to stiffen with a start, asking angrily, “Old fool, how dare you come back without money… eh… it’s you?”

Only to see that the one pushing the door open was none other than Miss Zhong… Zhong Luoyue!

…

…

“I just saw an old gentleman rushing with his pants… hmm, do you have such a hobby?” Zhong Luoyue slightly raised her brows.

Maria opened her mouth, suddenly realizing she couldn’t explain the situation, so she chose not to explain instead, thinking for a moment before saying, “How come you’re here… you being here means that Miss Vampire is nearby too? I’m really grateful for last time.”

“I knew it was you.” Zhong Luoyue nodded at this time, “Previously I wasn’t sure.”

Maria couldn’t help but pause for a moment before remembering that when she met this woman, she was always wearing a paper bag mask… So that first sentence was a way of probing? What a sneaky person.

Maria shot a glare at Zhong Luoyue… They had argued for a long time about how to escape when they first met, so she had always found this tough woman difficult to deal with.

Zhong Luoyue, probably guessing Maria’s thoughts, gently closed the door and walked in, “I’ll pass your gratitude to Queen Elizabeth… She’s not here, I came to this auction with someone else and didn’t know you were here beforehand.”

“Oh… I see.” Maria nodded, then lost interest—she didn’t care about meeting acquaintances here, in fact, she saw many old acquaintances at the auction, but didn’t feel like greeting anyone. Her mind was full of the issue of those fifty million Mithril.

There’s one thing the old steward got right… How could a good potion just explode like that?

The bottles used by Secret Medicine Practitioners to store potions are usually specially made, and even if you hit them with a wooden mallet, advanced potion bottles shouldn’t break even when struck with a big iron hammer—Maria could ensure the potion she handed over was genuine. If it weren’t, she wouldn’t risk her reputation by auctioning it here… Is it possible that someone at the auction secretly swapped the original masterpiece of the Septcolor Geranium Master with something else?

Miss Witch calmed her mind, increasingly convinced of this possibility… After all, this isn’t an ordinary valuable item but a work of the Legendary Witch, containing a secret that can upgrade a secret potion’s star-level effect… This secret would likely drive every Secret Medicine Practitioner insane, wouldn’t it?

“Are you thinking someone inside the auction swapped your potion?” Zhong Luoyue suddenly asked.

“How did you know… huh?” Maria instinctively looked up to find this annoying woman looking at her with a half-smile. She realized she was too loose-mouthed, spilling the beans with just a little prompting. She frowned.

The third lady said calmly, “Actually, it’s nothing special. It’s normal for people to think this way when something like this happens… Just look at how much was bid for that bottle to see how precious it is.”

“Do you… do you know something?” Maria asked directly, “I’m taking a big loss here, but if you have any clues that can help me recover my loss, I can offer you five… three percent of the potion’s final value profit!”

“Twenty percent, nothing less,” the third lady said calmly.

“Was your ancestor a pirate?” Miss Witch looked incredulously at the other, as if seeing some rare animal.

“My ancestor was a soldier who made great contributions to the nation,” the third lady said with a respectful expression.

Maria was silent for a moment, then shook her head, “Twenty percent is too much. This potion was hard-earned… Ten percent, that’s the most, and only because you helped me leave the castle before… More than that, no deal. I can solve this myself, given time.”

“Deal!” Zhong Luoyue said immediately. “Ten percent is fine, but I have an additional condition.”

“What condition?” Maria asked cautiously.

Zhong Luoyue smiled, “Let’s be friends… Miss Witch.”

Maria looked at Zhong Luoyue, as if seeing her anew, and suddenly said, “A businesswoman?”

“Used to be.” The third lady gave a slight smile, adding, “Starting now, I am again.”

“Alright… So what do we do next?” Maria, straightforward as always, asked.

Zhong Luoyue said, “Honestly, how likely do you think it is that causing a scene will make the auction house owner compensate you?”

“Basically zero,” Maria replied casually. “The auction house owner is notoriously stingy. If not for their credibility, I wouldn’t bother working with them… The fees at other places are five points lower.”

“That’s right. Making them willingly hand over those fifty million Mithril is indeed improbable,” the third lady nodded. “Since the deal wasn’t finalized, the master who won the potion obviously won’t be foolish enough to hand over the Mithril… I imagine the auction house is in a headache over there as well.”

“Don’t say things even kids understand, it makes me feel like throwing ten percent profit into the sea,” Maria shook her head.

The third lady shook her head and waved Maria over, “Come here, I’ll tell you precisely what you should do.”

“You better have a good plan,” Miss Witch said calmly, “My sunflower seeds, no matter where they’re planted, will make you soar!”

“I won’t disappoint you,” Zhong Luoyue smiled.

The smile was pure and not pretentious, yet it made Maria feel as if she’d fallen into a trap.

…

…

“What did you say? [Fragile] Attribute?”

In a luxurious room inside the auction house, the owner was dumbfounded, listening to a magician nearby—a freelance magician unattached to any Magician’s Association… hired by the auction house owner at great expense.

“Yes, the potion bottle has a [Fragile] attribute magic technique etched inside,” the consultant nodded. “It made the special bottle holding the potion become just an ordinary bottle… even more fragile. It would shatter from a mere tap. That’s why it cracked with a casual hit from a mallet—of course, your auctioneer hitting the bottle was simply bad luck for you.”

The auction house owner’s cheek twitched slightly… They had already sent the auctioneer backstage to be disciplined.

“But… who would etch such… such a trivial magic technique on such a valuable potion bottle?”

“I wouldn’t know…” the consultant shrugged, casually speculating, “Maybe the person giving the potion never intended to do so willingly.”

“Hmm…”