Transmigrated as a Ghost

Seeing the adamantine ingots center stage, the excitement that had been building up in Marcus had reached its peak.

This was the reason he had come to the auction, so that he could obtain this rare material for himself.

'I will finally be able to make a new scythe, and hopefully some new armor. I have been working on designs for weeks now, and these adamantine ingots are the only thing left that I need.'

"Our first item as many of you will recognize are three ingots of adamantine. Each of these ingots comes to us from a group of adventures who wish to not be named. But do know that each of them comes from a dungeon's chest and are of the highest quality. Now I am sure that many of you out there would want these ingots, to make weapons or armor, or maybe even as a decoration as their green luster is quite appealing." Amelia said, trying to raise interest.

However, as Marcus heard the last part he thought, 'If I ever find someone using adamantine as a decoration, I will haunt them.'

As Amelia continued to draw out her speech before the bidding started, it could be said that her tactics were very effective and many people's anticipation to bid was rising, and Marcus was certainly one of them.

'Come on already, we all know what it is. Hurry up and let us bid.'

Luckily Marcus did not have to wait much longer as Amelia said, "The bidding will start at fifteen thousand gold coins, and all subsequent increases must be at least one thousand or more gold coins. Now let the bidding begin.

"Thirty-two thousand." Marcus said right as the bidding began.

He wanted everyone to know that he was serious, and by starting with such a commanding bid that was more than double the starting price and slightly above the average value of past winning bids, he had done so.

And it certainly was an effective tactic against most, as many people that had come here to bid on the adamantine, had only just enough to secure a normal winning bid and Marcus had inched out their upper limit.

Yet, even then, there will still other serious contenders that while surprised, were not going to back down just yet.

"Thirty-three thousand." A man down in the auction hall said.

Tch!

Clicking his tongue Marcus was a bit miffed that someone was still willing to up bid him, but when he looked down and saw who it was, he knew he was in for a fight.

'Conall. Damn I should have known he would be here. I guess probably most of the best forgemasters are here hoping to get their hands on some adamantine.'

Moving to make another bid, Marcus was surpassed when another bid came out, this time from one of the private boxes.

"Thirty-five thousand."

Jumping up another two thousand gold, the adamantine ingots had now reached their usual upper limit, but Marcus made note of something else.

The box that had just bid had been silent the entire rest of the auction, meaning that they were likely here for the express purpose of obtaining the adamantine.

'Looks like I am in for a fight.' Marcus thought seeing that he was going to have some fierce competition.

"Thirty-six thousand."

Bidding once again, Marcus took the lead, and as he looked down, he could see the conflicted look on Conall's face, but it appeared that the other forgemaster had decided to tap out and wait for the next batch to come.

Naturally he knew that there would be four other sets of adamantine ingots for sale, so there was no need to go all out on the first batch.

"Thirty-seven thousand."

Unfortunately, the other mystery bidder did not seem to want to back off, and was just as intent as Marcus on winning this bid.

"Thirty-eight thousand." Marcus said, raising the bid again.

Still his opponent was not going to stop and raised the value up again this time to forty thousand.

However, it was at this point that a sinking feeling began to overtake Marcus.

'No, it couldn't be?' He thought connecting some dots.

And taking a moment Marcus put down the magic tool that allowed him to bid and opened up his mind.

Certainly, he could not make a telepathic connection with someone he could not see, but he could reopen one that was already made.

'Mraz, is that you bidding on the adamantine in box three.' Marcus said sending out a telepathic message.

Then for a moment there was silence, before he heard, 'Marcus?! Yeah, I am in box three, and I am bidding on the adamantine for you. Wait, don't tell me. Are you the one in box eleven?'

'Yes, I am in box eleven. We have been fighting each other.' Marcus sent back.

Sending back a mental groan, Mrazivý could not believe how much money they had inflated the price by bidding against each other.

"Sold to our esteemed guest in box number three, for forty thousand gold coins." Amelia said, as both Marcus and Mrazivý had lost track of the auction as they were having a mental conversation.

Luckily, no one else tried to outbid Mrazivý while she and Marcus were occupied talking, and she came out the winner.

'So, this is the important business you had to attend to.'

'Yes, it was supposed to be a surprise. Don't you remember I promised I would get you some adamantine when you decided to sacrifice your rewards for winning the tournament to help me.' Mrazivý telepathically said to Marcus a bit exasperated by their current situation.

'Yeah, but I lost, so I thought that the agreement was null.'

'So, what if you lost. You still broke off my engagement to that bastard Krenston, and you have given more happiness than I ever thought I would have. Of course, I was still going to repay you as we agreed.'

Sighing Marcus realized now that he should have told Mrazivý that he would also be participating in this auction. That way they could have avoided this situation.

'Sorry I made you spend so much and thank you.' Marcus said happy to see how much Mrazivý cared about him.

'It is no real problem. It does not look like I would have had enough to get you three sets as I had planned anyway.' Mrazivý said a slightly forlorn tone.

Yet hearing this gave Marcus and idea.

'Mraz how much money do you have on you.'

A bit perplexed by this question, Mrazivý said, 'I have around ninety-six thousand which is the majority of my saving from my years of adventuring and the funds I have been given as a member of the royal family. Though now forty thousand of it is already committed to that last bid. So, I have around fifty-six thousand now. Why do you ask?'

Smiling deviously a plan to guarantee that between the two of them they would be able to get at least four of the sets of adamantine ingots, began to formulate in Marcus' head.

'Mraz I am sorry I ruined your surprise.. But now we have the opportunity to work together to make sure we get as much adamantine as possible without much of a fight.'