VOL 2 Chapter 22: Why are we at an auction?

When Laura left the room, Seraphina quickly turned to look at Erik, who had begun to once again examine the design of the place with interest. She then asked in a warm and professional tone, without the slightest trace of the annoyance and vigilance coursing through her heart.

"What building do you want her to design for you, young master?"

"Well, the truth is, I've been seriously thinking about starting my own business. And since the patents are almost fully approved, I decided to take advantage of the upcoming university journal publication to start off on the right foot. After all, they've already confirmed that some of my works will be published in the next issue, and from what I've researched, they'll pay me a good amount."

While looking at the bar with curiosity, Erik responded in a rather cheerful tone. After all, with the confirmation of his work's publication came the announcement of the royalties he would be paid—something that surprised him quite a bit, since the academic journals he remembered didn't operate under that model. But apparently, these journals were incredibly popular in the Arcane Order, so they could afford to share the profits, which he greatly appreciated. After all, this would be his first honest income in his new life.

"Congratulations on being featured in the university journal, young master."

Hearing her young master's joy, Seraphina gracefully congratulated him with a beautiful smile on her lips, not showing in the slightest that she knew this information even before Erik himself received the confirmation. After all, security work is very important, and they can't allow any kind of variables. Yes, that's the reason—and certainly not for things like obtaining information in advance to be able to 'persuade' the peer reviewers of her young master's works in case they rejected them. Yes, it's just a matter of security and nothing more.

"Thank you." Erik replied with a smile as he looked for a place to sit, at which point Seraphina asked with curiosity.

"But young master, why start a business and not just sell the licenses? Won't it distract you from your classes and research projects?"

"Don't get me wrong; I'll still be selling the licenses at a reasonable price so they become popular. But I've been thinking, and I want to develop a brand that represents the best version and maximum quality of my creations."

As he walked near the floating chairs, Erik answered with a smile, keeping the rest of the reason to himself. After all, developing that kind of brand was what he dedicated himself to in his previous life. This, after a lifetime of tireless dedication, ended up becoming a fairly powerful business group that suffered from monopoly lawsuits and the like sporadically.

Although it never fell because of any of those lawsuits—after all, he never competed unfairly and even gave opportunities to his competitors by offering them licenses of his patents at good prices so they could develop variants while he focused on maximizing quality. For Erik, his brand was something more sentimental than commercial and, therefore, more valuable than anything else.

"That's an interesting thought, young master, but how will you balance your classes with your masters, the university classes you'll have to resume soon, and your personal research projects with the development of that brand?" Seraphina asked with a smile on her face, closely following her young master like the perfect maid she was. He responded with a confident and self-assured tone.

"I've got it all planned out. The best option is to hire good collaborators who can help me with the brand while I become a sort of reviewer or something like that. So I'd only have to set the general guidelines for the brand and offer some innovation from time to time. Everything else would be done by other people, which would give me the free time necessary to do everything else."

"Young master, but how are you going to find those 'collaborators' when you haven't even been able to get your assistants for alchemy and artificery? By the way, you have little time left before the maximum deadline to register them expires." Seraphina asked with a professional smile, though slightly distorted by the amusement she felt, while looking at her young master's back, who trembled a bit upon hearing her.

"…"

Receiving a fatal blow from his reliable personal maid, Erik could only remain silent and sit on one of the floating chairs in the beautiful hall. He then gazed unfocused at the gorgeous constellations on the ceiling, causing Seraphina to laugh softly at the 'miserable' expression of her beloved young master.

For Erik, finding trustworthy collaborators had always been a great challenge. Even in his past life, it took him almost ten years to find a group sufficiently capable and in whom he could place enough trust to delegate important tasks in his business. This allowed him to focus on more critical aspects of his company, marking a period of unprecedented growth for his business group.

But it seemed that his rebirth only worsened his problem. After all, his sense of time was becoming increasingly distorted—after all, looking exactly the same for almost twenty years does that to you. Time passes without you realizing it, and before you know it, his five-year deadline to find his assistants was almost up, and he didn't even have a single candidate, which worried him quite a bit.

"Fufufu, don't worry, young master. In case of emergency, you can always take some of the assistants from the young lady or Master Silverwood to present them as your assistants, or even take some of my subordinates who have training in alchemy and artificery."

After having a bit of fun with her tender young master, Seraphina approached his back and began to massage his shoulders with a polished technique, speaking in a calm and comforting tone. This caused Erik to sigh softly before commenting somewhat resignedly.

"I suppose I'll end up relying on that, given how things are going…"

"It's alright, young master. There's still some time left, and you can always start training your own assistants from now on." Seraphina added in a warm tone, while Erik commented more casually, taking a notebook from his storage ring to jot down some things.

"Yes, you're right. I'll pay more attention to that."

The main reason Erik didn't want to end up relying on his masters' assistants or Seraphina's subordinates was mainly for two reasons. First, getting capable assistants was almost like a 'test' of skill for artisans and tended to reflect poorly on those who could not find and train them on their own. This often ended up affecting the artisan's reputation, much like a master's reputation is affected by their disciple.

The second, and main reason Erik wanted to avoid it, is because it had always been his weakness. He wanted to work on it and improve, since if he wanted to expand his brand throughout the galaxy, he'd have to be constantly discovering trustworthy talents and training them on almost industrial levels. He couldn't rely on his masters or Seraphina forever for that. His brand was his baby, his most prized possession, and the jewel of his crown, so depending too much on other people made him feel incredibly uncomfortable.

"By the way, Seraphina, why are we at an auction?" After putting away his notebook, Erik asked somewhat curiously, to which Seraphina immediately responded without the slightest hesitation.

"It's to buy some quality artifacts, as they can only be obtained at auctions like these. So we're stopping by to see if there's anything useful for the tournament and the subsequent exploration."

"I see… I didn't know they were acquired that way…" Erik commented in understanding, as he made himself more comfortable in his chair to better enjoy the incredible massage from his reliable personal maid.

For some reason unknown to Erik, since Sigrún and Eleonora's return to the university planet, Seraphina had officially become his personal maid, leaving her duties as Sigrún's maid. In the star-haired boy's books, this was a full-fledged demotion, which led him to ask his master to reconsider, since Seraphina had been very good to him over the years he had been with them.

But to his surprise, what he got in return was a sad Seraphina asking him in a subdued tone if he didn't want her, which left him both stunned and confused, while his masters mocked him. But well, that ended up with him now having a beautiful and very capable personal maid who followed him everywhere and pampered him all the time, so he wasn't complaining.

"Yes, generally speaking, good magic artifacts are difficult to make, and few have the necessary skill level. Add to that the fact that they require very costly resources to create, and it can only result in a scarce supply of high-quality magic artifacts, which is why they are often auctioned off."

Seraphina explained in a professional tone, while a beautiful comb appeared in her hand that seemed made of a material similar to platinum. She began to gently comb Erik's hair, then asked with curiosity.

"But, young master, how did you think magical artifacts were obtained until now?"

"Honestly, I thought they were custom-ordered from a skilled artisan like my masters, obtained directly from the faction, or that there was a specialized company somewhere. I thought auctions were more for relics, art, or similar things."

With his eyes closed, Erik responded in a clearly pleased tone, greatly enjoying the tingling that ran across his scalp with the gentle passing of the comb. Seraphina nodded in understanding before explaining with a smile.

"Well, you're not too far from reality, young master. Art, relic, and other such auctions are quite popular, and there are also companies specialized in the production and distribution of all kinds of magical artifacts. But that's more for common artifacts, like appliances, cars, and things like that.

"But in the case of magical artifacts for combat, or so-called 'specialized' ones, things change a lot. First, because making them is complicated—the requirements are generally quite high, which makes it mandatory to use very costly resources. And most importantly, it requires the skill of an experienced and capable artificer, which is the most complicated part to obtain."

As she explained, Seraphina put the comb back into her storage ring, then took a carved crystal flask inscribed with an infinity of runes. It contained what seemed to be a kind of lotion or transparent oil, which she applied to her hands before starting to massage Erik's temples and forehead, continuing her explanation.

"Like Alchemy, Artificery is a highly demanded profession throughout the galaxy, even more so because the supply of high-level artisans is scarce. The level of difficulty to reach an outstanding skill level is very high, which means the best are people of high status and very respected—like the young lady and Master Silverwood, although obviously, they are in their own league, far superior to the average high-level artisan.

"Because of that, placing a direct order for a specialized artifact isn't something just anyone can afford, as a great artisan generally only works for people of similar or higher status. That leaves the other possibility you mentioned: obtaining them from the faction, which is also possible but similarly complicated. You need to have sufficient merits, and usually when you do, it only results in the faction making the artifact request to an artisan of the faction or directly providing one from the treasury.

"So the only option left to obtain them is auctions. Artisans like to auction their works because, besides being an important income—since they generally sell at quite high prices—it also gives them something even more important than money: fame and recognition, especially if their works are highly contested.

"Additionally, in auctions, apart from artifacts from renowned artificers, it's also very possible to find ancient artifacts obtained from hidden mausoleums or things like that, which increases the chances of getting something good. So it's well known that if you want to look for a good specialized artifact, it's best to first stop by a recognized auction house before anything else."