Items continued to be devoured by various greedy parties that gathered on the auction in a stable peace. Contrary to my expectations, no matter how many swords did I auction, the price of the better ones continued to oscillate around six, seven thousand, while the worse ones reached the astounding number of up to two thousand.

While it didn't seem as much for a single sword where there were bids as high as seven thousand, one had to keep in mind that I didn't use even a bit of rare materials while producing them. They were nothing else than a mass-produced ware, that I could push to the market in any number I could ever want.

Through the next two hours, where the first customers that already left the auction a fair bit of time ago, more and more of my items were auctioned down. Even at times when I was supposed to kick the price a bit by relying on Venna's bet, I decided not to. Her actions strained the trust that I put in our relationships, so unless she did something to regain it, there was no way I would continue as usual.

It all came to the profit and loss balance. If the Heavenly Sword sect couldn't offer me what I sought after, there was no point in sticking with them. Seeing how Venna opposed the idea of creating a grudge between me and the servant of either Katenaris or Dracons, it becomes apparent that in reality, they didn't want any escalation of their surface conflict.

This was what woke me up. Most of the times, if such a proxy war was going on, in reality, no one was interested in annihilating the opponent or even showing who was stronger. All that really mattered was the business that thrived in the grey area between the spheres of influence of both sides!

Just like when back on earth, two major countries continued to fight over a small plot of relatively worthless lands, later on, historians discovered that the smuggling business that thrived there, allowed the rise of the four main families that split the entirety of those nations inner politics between themselves by just relying on the funding of this insanely profitable business.

If any of the countries managed to gain and secure the upper hand, not only would the business stop, the one to pull the profits from the smuggling turned into trade, would be the entire country. And as everyone knows, with such a huge apparatus and millions of mouths to feed, even the greatest profits would dissolve in the sea of country needs.

"Four thousand, five hundred once, twice and sold!"

Here goes another sword of mine. With only one of them remaining in my storage ring, the auction was already nearing its end. I had no other way than to focus back on it, figure out how will I pick the people to attend the after-party and try to get in touch with Naturals to negotiate the terms of switching allegiances from Heavenly Sect to them.

Even with Nadia's scaring me initially off, personal conflicts were far less important than the politics of the entire sect. And thinking about it rationally, if I managed to secure their backing, Katenaris wouldn't be able to do anything.

Like always, even if some parties were making insane profits from the state of constant war in a stalemate, that didn't mean others weren't interested in ending this conflict with an upper hand! As long as the Dracons decided to make an enemy with so far neutral Natural sect, I could easily convince and support the warmongering factions within the Heavenly sect for the sake of ending the history of Dracons all together!

"Ladies and Gentlemen! This is the sword that will mark the end of today's auction. While it was made with similar materials to the previous weapons, the blacksmith responsible for creating it was even better than the craftsmen that provided us with the previous weapons! While I plainly admit that the difference is only slight, it can be reforged into a victory in the hands of a proper expert! To change the pace a bit, this time the starting bid will be… four hundred and ninety-nine arena coins!"

No matter what, for now, I had to focus on the auction. The money would be just one of the resources that would help me elevate my position, no matter if I decided to stick with the Venna's side or turned with a friendly offer to the Naturals. That's why I decided to make this small and insignificant change to the starting bid. While it didn't bring any difference to the auction itself, just from the smirks on the faces of the most clients that were sitting below the stage, it became apparent that I managed to reach my goal.

"Two thousand!"

"Three thousand!"

Right away, two bids already aimed for the middle spot all of the weapons reached before raising to their individual end prices. The real war would begin only now!

"Four thousand!"

"Five thousand!"

With most of the major sects already in possession of at least a single sword that came out of my hand, the competition to gain just one more than the others was fierce.

"Six thousand!"

"Eight thousand!"

At this moment, I was ready to swing the hammer at any given moment. With the price already crossing the highest mark that I any item except for the suddenly intruding magical beast managed to reach, I expected for the price to stabilize soon.

"Blue ethernal pill!"

Out of nowhere, one of the spectators that didn't even lift a finger through the entire auction so far, raised from their seat with a small ball coated with a shiny barrier in his raised hand.

That was unexpected. Auctions weren't the place of equal exchange place, but a place where you used your money to bid for items, not your own wares!

"I know what esteemed sir think, but please, let me ask you. Have you ever heard about the miraculous effects of the ethernal blue pill and the following tragedy of the Dark Imperatus the wise?"