Transmigrated as a Ghost

As the first item was brought out onto the stage, numerous people looked on with intrigue, but after just a glance Marcus knew he had no interest.

"Today our first item is a painting by the renown Raphaël Dupont. His work is known far and wide throughout the kingdom, and it is said that the landscapes that he paints are some of the most beautiful places in the kingdom. And this rare piece is actually one of his earlier works and depicts the beautiful scene of all three moons reflecting off of a tranquil lake in the middle of the Great Gome Woods. I am sure that any of those who are coinsures of fine art understand how rare and valuable this piece is. Now the starting price for this painting will be twelve hundred gold coins, and every subsequent increase must be a minimum of one hundred gold coins."

The crowd of people within the auction house did not hesitate to begin bidding, as a representative of a baron's house called out, "Fifteen hundred."

With the first bid starting off quite high any casual bidder quickly passed up on winning this item, but the war for the piece of art from Raphaël Dupont quickly turned heated.

"Sixteen hundred."

"Seventeen hundred."

"Two thousand."

"Twenty-three hundred."

"Twenty-four hundred."

Quickly the price made its way up to twenty-nine hundred gold coins, as an art loving merchant spent most of his disposable income for the year to obtain another painting from his favorite artist.

"And the Raphaël Dupont painting is sold, to bidder number 128." Amelia said bringing down a small wooden hammer.

After that, the next item was brought forward, and this one was actually a box filled with a dozen natural treasures, that eventually sold for fifteen hundred and fifty gold coins.

Continuing on, item after item were put up for auction, though none of them really piqued Marcus' interest.

Of course, he knew they were still at the beginning stages of the auction, and right now, items with a value of between one thousand and three thousand gold coins were being sold.

Yet as the third to last item in this batch, was being wheeled out Lilia's eyes lit up.

"Here we have the original copy of Escapades of Soren Reeves. It is an acclaimed book that has sold thousands of copies and is a favorite of many. It is the fictional retelling of many epic journeys and battles, based on the exploits of numerous different adventurers and knights, all being brought together under the name of Soren Reeves. However, unique to the original copy there is an extra story at the end that was never released in any other copy at behest of the original author. It is a true collector's item that is one of a kind and offers and even greater experience than any other book of the same story. Now bidding will start at seventeen hundred gold coins, and all subsequent bids must be a minimum of one hundred."

As Amelia finished her explanation and hyping of the item, numerous people began bidding on this one of a kind item, and its price soon reached twenty-five hundred gold coins.

However, surprising Marcus, Lilia grabbed the magic tool that allowed them to bid, and spoke into it and said, "Twenty-six hundred."

With shook on his face Marcus had never expected Lilia to just start bidding on items and figured that if she wanted something she would simply ask.

And along with Marcus' surprise many people looked towards the private box that had been silent this whole time and wondered who might be in there, as anyone who knew anything about the auction house knew that it was Amelia's private box.

Still Marcus had a bigger problem to deal with than all of the gazes pointed at his box, as he looked towards Lilia and said, "Lilia what are you doing. You cannot just start bidding on items out of nowhere. If you want something you need to ask me first. I only have so much money and there are some items I absolutely have to obtain, so I cannot be spending it on random items that catch your fancy."

For the first time, his well-behaved little sister had gone and done something to upset him, and it had really shocked him.

Of course, if any other person's child or younger sibling had done this they would have been in for the scolding of a lifetime, since twenty-six hundred gold coins was not a small sum for most.

Luckily Marcus let out a sigh of relief as the bid jumped up to twenty-seven hundred as the pause caused by Lilia's bid quickly dissipated.

"Three thousand."

Looking, at Lilia completely astonished Marcus could not believe she had bid again, and this time she had upped it by three hundred gold coins.

At this point Marcus was ready to make a move and take the magic tool away from Lilia when she turned towards him and said, "Do not worry I have my own money, and will pay for this myself."

Stopping himself from taking back the magic tool, Marcus could see the serious look on Lilia's face, but he wondered where she had gotten all of this money from.

'I know she earned a good amount back in Lethallan when she was working as an adventurer. But did she really manage to get this much money.'

However, seeing that Lilia was serious and she had always been an upright person, Marcus sat back and told her to do as she wanted, but not to go over what she had since he would not be giving her any money

"That is fine, I should have enough." Lilia said, as she bid again going to thirty-three hundred gold coins.

"Congratulations to our esteemed guest in box number eleven for winning the original copy of Escapades of Soren Reeves for thirty-six hundred gold. Your item will be sent to you during our intermission." Amelia said, as she eyed her own box.

Of course, she new exactly who was inside, and also knew that Marcus had come here toady for the express purpose of buying adamantine ingots.

'I wonder why Lady Irene wanted that book so badly when she is going to need her funds to purchase the adamantine ingots that should easily exceed twenty-five thousand gold coins.'

Naturally, Amelia had no idea that it was actually Lilia who had bid on the book and that apparently, she had enough money to afford such an item.

"Lilia do you actually have that much money? Where did you get all of it?" Marcus asked wanting to know where his soon to be twelve-year-old sister got ahold of three years' worth of a new knight's salary.

"Yeah, that is almost all I have but, I have been saving up." Lilia said to Marcus with a smile on her face.

After that she explained to Marcus about all of the money she had made in Lethallan taking the most profitable requests she could, and since their return to the capital she had been using her time off to work as an escort.

"Since you gave me that golden orb, and I got a unique skill, I have not had to sleep as much. So, during the nights or whenever I had the time, I would often take mission within the city to act as a guard whenever valuable goods were being transported." Lillia said, as if it was completely natural for a little girl to be working as a hired guard.

In fact, Lilia had actually started to make a name for herself, since it was unheard of for someone so young to be a gold rank adventure and be accompanied by two rare grade magical beasts. Also, she had actually repelled a great number of thefts against valuable goods being moved through the city brining her even more renowned.

Rubbing his head, Marcus was not sure if he should commend or admonish Lilia for her work.

He understood all too well, the loneliness of the night when being unable to sleep, and most of the time he would simply go out to his forge and work if he did not feel like sleeping.

'I trained Lilia up and gave her that unique skill so that she could take care of herself when I am not around. Still can I really accept her going out in the middle of the night and fighting all manner of ruffians.'

Toiling with this problem for a couple of minutes, Marcus ultimately decided to let Lilia do as she pleased. She had been successful so far, and even if he told her to stop, there was little he could actually do to prevent her from taking requests without taking drastic actions that were likely to cause her to resent him.

"Lilia seeing as you just spent most of your money one that book. Would you mind telling me why you wanted it so badly?"

Nodding her head Lilia said, "Yeah, it is because that is mine and Alaric's' favorite book, and I wanted to give it to him as a gift."

Sighing, Marcus could not believe that Lilia had just dropped that much money on a book simply to give it away. But it was her hard-earned money so who was he to tell her what to do with it.

"Lilia just be careful with your money in the future. You never know when you might need it." Marcus said wanting to give her just a bit of advice.

The first part of the auction then soon wrapped up, and the first intermission started so that people could get up and move around, but more importantly so that the already purchased items could be obtained.