Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 1448: Chapter 26: Countess Stelter’s Iron Grip Technique

The expression on Delgado’s face changed drastically in an instant, which was clearly noticed by the onlookers.

Those with the best view, located right in the middle of the North in Count Stelter’s box, even noticed his subtle hand movements.

Count Stelter’s face turned livid in an instant… not because of Delgado’s shamelessness, but because of the two fingers as tight as iron clamps from Helena at his waist.

Countess Stelter wore a simply cut blue velvet dress, her long dark brown hair neatly tied behind her head, and eyes as big as Ellie’s, green like a jungle after the rain… that was the fire of burning anger.

“If… it wasn’t for Lord Belfran, were you planning to send our Ellie as an apprentice to this disgusting fellow?” Helena’s low voice contained intense fury, “Our green Rose is still budding, and you plan to pluck it and make it into dried flowers?

Is your head filled with sand by the Desert People? Even willing to harm your own daughter!”

“No…” Count Stelter said in a low voice, “You see… how could I possibly place all hope on someone like him?

What I wanted was not him.

It’s Yanos Hanna, the student who has been with Delgado the longest… though nominally still an apprentice, Yanos is already a Fifth-Level Mage. Although he has only learned the basics of Alchemy, it’s enough to teach Ellie!”

“Yanos?” Helena repeated the name with interest, “You’ve certainly got a long reach!”

In noble society, addressing someone by their first name usually implies closeness of relationship.

“Yanos was forced.” Count Stelter sneered, “He clearly could have advanced to a Sixth-Level Mage long ago.

But in the world of Mages, the status of Mid-level Magicians is not low, and Delgado cannot continue to treat him as an apprentice.

Yanos originally thought that after working hard for Delgado for over thirty years, doing everything for him… have you ever seen a Mage serving tea and cleaning rooms?

Delgado should have given him the opportunity to advance.

However, in the past three years, he has had explosions six times during experiments, one of which nearly caused permanent damage.

That’s a Sage’s Magic Tower, how could it have problems so easily?

No matter how loyal, one should still find a way out for themselves.

So, this time, my goal was merely to have Delgado keep Yanos!

But his shamelessness exceeded my imagination!”

“I won’t ask how you know about Yanos.” Helena’s beautiful face showed a sly smile, “But I can tell, if Delgado hadn’t behaved so shamelessly, Yanos was just your backup plan, right?”

She glared at her husband fiercely: “Just so you know, if you dare let Delgado into the castle, I will send Ellie to the Capital!

My daughter might choose not to marry, but… it must not be because of a bad reputation!”

Count Stelter weakly defended, “You see, in this world, who cares about the affairs of the superior?

Isn’t Delgado doing perfectly fine?

If the result is good, then it is good!

Why care…”

“But as her mother, I care!” Helena snorted coldly without hesitation, “When the time comes, I’ll take Lind to the Capital! Incidentally, my teacher has returned to the Capital Guard!

Although only a deputy captain, it is sufficient as support for me and the two children… Even if Ellie isn’t Count Stelter’s daughter, she has enough support to marry a good man!

Let alone the Royal Family… Ellie might be more popular than being your daughter!”

“Don’t say that… why get angry over something that won’t happen again?” Count Stelter’s voice lowered further, “Look, our little Rose always has the best luck.

Aren’t we just in line for a more suitable teacher?”

Helena couldn’t help but sneer repeatedly… What does your daughter’s luck have to do with you?

Joshua, sitting a little in front on the left sofa, looked forward with a serious face, pulling the not-yet-mature young Lind, whose expression was still naturally uncontrolled, pointing out which family was behind each merchant below who had realized the Stelter family didn’t intend to compromise and started bidding… explaining why they didn’t care about offending Delgado at all.

As the most loyal and trusted subordinate of the Count, he has been directly involved in many things… otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so excited to see that even a twelfth-level Hill was an Alchemist.

He certainly wouldn’t stop the Count from taking risks, but compared to the more柔和 Attitude of Count Stelter, Joshua also disagreed with letting Miss Ellie have such a disgusting experience at such a young age.

However, the Count’s head has always been direct and hard, feeling his child would be as strong as him, never thinking a little disgusting thing could defeat his daughter.

But, why endure suffering if you can enjoy it?

However, as Joshua, a subordinate of the Earl, the only thing he could occasionally do was to show some respect to Lady Helena!

Of course, this also required the cooperation of the old steward.

This was quite easy since the other party never wanted the Earl to act that way from the beginning.

The Stelter Family’s small schemes probably haven’t fooled anyone… so these people simply kept silent from the start.

After all, if the Stelter Family was willing to endure Delgado’s extortion, no one else could possibly compete with the self-sufficient, bottomless Stelter Family.

Therefore, of course, they wouldn’t help the Stelter Family raise the bid… if they can’t have it, they might as well make the Stelter Family suffer a loss!

Otherwise, why bother coming here? Is the Stelter Family worth all these people coming together to support them?

Of course, the thorough attendance was because the well-informed knew about the Earth Traveler who had just arrived in Basia City a few days ago… although the Stelter Family still had a fifty percent chance they would choose the shameless Delgado to gain entry into the Royal Capital, it was better than having no hope at all.

If it weren’t for this unexpected event, the auction would likely be attended by young members from various families and associations… whenever there’s excitement, it’s appropriate to let the youngsters witness it.

But even those well-informed attendees didn’t expect Delgado to act… so shamelessly.

Many small nobles or business leaders looked regretful: why didn’t they spend a bit more to buy two more tickets?

Witnessing firsthand the terrifying elasticity of the famous Sage’s bottom line, they’ll likely make those pampered children understand what it means to conduct business with ruthlessness and thick skin.

Or make them understand why sometimes an excellent item is simply unattainable for their association… when a family with insufficient backing encounters such bastard-like high-level Professionals, what can they do?

Like the Earl raising the bid effortlessly, it requires profound strength!

After witnessing this scene, many young people will likely return home with a clearer understanding of their family’s position.

After all, those so-called courteous, composed, and… wealthy Mages are mostly legends in books.

They do exist, quite a few indeed.

But even just one or two scoundrels like Delgado can ruin many commercial families!

Especially the emerging small nobility, they really cannot withstand this!

If it weren’t for the later stage, box participants started to compete, the overly bustling whispers at the auction would nearly drown out the bidding calls in the hall.

The amplifier in the box might not be much better quality than those below, but since the bidders were specially trained attendants, they had stronger and deeper voices.

Hill watched with great pleasure.

Especially the ever-changing expressions of the puzzled Vice President Delgado opposite him, adding to Hill’s enjoyment.

Hill felt some of his people were a bit off-pace in bidding… after all, for such high prices, only with their signals could the attendant dare to bid each time.

But there’s always someone lagging a bit… it seems having too good a view has its disadvantages.

However, on the east side of the auction hall, it’s actually Basia City’s local powers, while opposing it is the area for the Capital or some great nobility.

These two sides would rather leave seats empty than accommodate others.

The box Hill occupied originally belonged to the Stelter Family’s private space.

As for the south side, it’s reserved for those with lower status but can afford the expensive box fees… so to avoid unnecessary trouble, they must be furthest from the north side which has only one independent large box.

The hall’s seating is fan-shaped, with the north being the isolation area where auction items are brought to the central auction platform… right under the large box.

Unlike auction venues Hill had seen before, but this was understandable, as it’s a world rife with killers and spies.

The price of Mithril had been bid up to 3 million… Delgado still wore an incredible expression, but he wasn’t utterly clueless and began joining the fray.

“I remember the Alchemist Association has a location in Garcia City?” Hill wondered aloud… so why hasn’t anyone gone to enlighten Delgado?

“Vice President, from the Finch Family,” Ellie said calmly, “otherwise, how would our Basia City Alchemists be so well-behaved?”

Hill nodded… no wonder his Illusory Realm trapped so many thieves, even Mages later, yet people dared to rush in.

The level seemed indeed a bit high… but Hill thought they were rescuers, wouldn’t it make sense to have a higher level?

And Ismael, the somewhat two-faced Young Master, only changed his first words upon meeting Hill after no new “guests” appeared in the Illusory Realm, no longer demanding he release them.