The auction is a real bloodbath.
Both sides are raising the price like crazy. It is as if they have so much money and they are afraid that they would die if they don't spend it all.
They are raising the bids by at least a hundred million.
Sam has divided the auction into four different items.
The first one, the brewing methods of the wine made by the fruits that Sam brought to this realm. The second, the brewing method of the wine made by the fruits that are produced locally, the third one is the rum and the fourth one is the beer.
Except for the beer which was auctioned off to a relatively low amount, the remaining three bids are extremely high each almost hitting one billion spirit stones.
This not just cleared the target, it even made an excess.
As for who got what. Faction 1 got their hands on the beer recipe. Except for the remaining three are all bought by faction 2. They are adamant about keeping their hold on the alcohol industry. They are not planning to lose it anytime soon.
Sam signed the deals with both of them and there is a clause in the contract that the first five shops would be the lifetime customers of both the breweries. They shouldn't just cut them off.
And they happily agreed.
The five shops in the towns are almost like the flagship stores of the new alcohols, they would be idiots to disturb the already established market.
They are the five favorite bars in the five towns, so they are their target areas to establish more business. They are not exactly keen on destroying it.
A large amount of spirit stones are moved to make a payment. Faction 1 is still okay, but faction 2 has to pay billions of spirit stones which is not exactly a pleasant thing. And they did all this to keep the industry that was already supposed to be in their control.
That is the reason, faction 1 is not so adamant on getting it. They just want to make faction 2 go to lengths to keep what is already theirs in which they lost billions of spirit stones.
Sam paid the tax and went back to the city with Raunak.
Raunak cleared his target and applied for promotion while Sam went to an inn and relaxed a bit.
He broke through recently and felt like he should digest the new gains a bit.
He decided to wait while Raunak's promotion was being processed.
By this time, the trio also came to the city, and even though they are not talking much, they are still trying to make the conversation and they are trying hard to not mention the separation.
At least, their relationship doesn't have that much tension as before.
While Sam is relaxing a bit, someone in Planet 1 is talking about him in a heated discussion.
There is a special estate in the Capital city of Planet 1 which is the Elder's estate. The elders stay there and this is also the place where they have meetings and the place where the future of so many people in this realm is decided.
But what people don't know is, it is not the dozens of elders that are truly ruling them.
There is another group of people on top of the food chain. Even on top of the King or Queen, they are going to elect, even on top of all the elders.
They are called the Grand Elders.
In a secret room within the estate, there are four elves.
They are sitting around a table and one of them spoke.
"The faction 2 has spent almost three billion spirit stones today. They started moving funds from the past week. What is happening?"
The elf to his right answered immediately.
"It is a desperate attempt to keep their hold on the liquor business. They are afraid that faction 1 would just swallow them."
"Why did that happen?"
"A young man named Sam. A human made some new wines and different types of alcohols that taste better than the wine faction 2 makes. My agents said that it is ten times better and his business just grew in two months.
Within a certain area, faction 2 lost all their customers. He hit them like a storm. Completely unexpected and unprepared. And he made it clear that he would be auctioning the recipes and techniques off and he did exactly that.
Faction 1 took this opportunity to make faction 2 bleed a bit.
They just jacked the price up like crazy and these three billion spirit stones are the result of that."
The first elf who seemed to be the leader of the team thought carefully and said.
"Where did this Sam come from? What area is he based on?"
"His first identity was created in the Cane town. He and his friends formed a group of four. It was told that they struggled a lot to save the required capital to open their first business all the while improving the cultivation and surviving.
They are orphans. After getting the capital, they started their first business. But then the elections are happening in the town and his food recipes have a good influence on the people. In fact, one recipe is extremely useful for the elves of lower-level cultivation which attracted the attention of the two factions.
He seemed to have understood that it would be hard to keep them with him, so he decided to auction it off, before they are strong-armed him and earned some big money.
He came to the city with that money and started this alcohol business."
He paused a bit before and continued.
"But there are some anomalies with him. At first, faction 2 wanted to deal with him immediately due to some personal issues, but the assassin sent was burned alive and even the envoy who planned the assassin was set on fire.
It took a lot from the healers to save his life.
It was suspected that he has someone supporting him and protecting him. That hidden figure was named Robin Hood.
But we still don't know if it is true. Because the name was given by Sam himself."
"Is there anything else?"
"Yes, he seemed to be having some friends with a person named Raunak. A bureaucrat from a normal background. He got promoted twice in two days and all the tax target was cleared by Sam himself.
It is almost like the businesses are created just to clear Raunak's target." Then he went on explaining about Raunak's special petition for a larger promotion.
"Keep an eye on both of them and report to me, if there are any big moves they are going to make. If the data until now is wrong, he would be certainly creating some more new businesses. Ask some of our agents to study the businesses and try to guess his mindset and approach towards this business.
His actions already tilted the balance between the two factions a bit. If he makes too big of moves, it would be more chaotic. The finances of the two factions are important for the upcoming king/Queen elections.
There shouldn't be too much of a difference.
But don't dispose of him. His ideas are good and everything is for the improvement of the realm. So, let him make what he wants but make sure that both factions lose an equal amount of money or gain an equal amount of money.
We can take this as a test for him and see if he can get promoted further to our headquarters. Nowadays, the candidates are not that useful, it is almost a waste to send them up. This Raunak is also not bad. If he gets promoted this time and makes use of this Sam properly then we can add him to the shortlist for the final tests.
After all, the most important elves would know how to use the inferior races properly and he did that greatly until now."
They went on discussing things on various planets and making decisions.
Meanwhile on another place of planet 1. In a beautiful small estate, there is a smaller mansion in which a female elf who was dressed gracefully is looking at the back garden where two firebirds are standing on the branches of the large tree as they lovingly cuddled together.
She is holding a wooden token in her hands which is usually used to send large amounts of information.
She had a longing smile on her face as if she envied the romance of the two firebirds.
The scene is like it came out of a painting.
At this moment, a person walked into the room and yelled.
"Ramya."
She came out of her daze and looked at the man who came into her room. She sighed and stood up and bowed her head reluctantly before greeting him.
"Greetings Father."
"I said, you shouldn't contact Raunak until the bet is over. So where did that wooden token come from?"
"It is not a message father. It is the new report sent from the faction regarding the new liquor auction that happened in Planet 2. They said that the plan has succeeded and also the details of the people behind the auction. It just happened that Raunak is also behind this.
He managed to clear his second tax target and got another promotion. In fact, he managed to gain special permission from the Elder's council.
I am happy for him, but I didn't deliberately contact him, neither did he."
The man snorted and left the room with a gloomy expression. He didn't have anything to refuse his daughter and he knew that is the truth. But he just couldn't help but feel grumpy at the fact that his daughter is thinking about that low-life.
He has a similar token in his hands and muttered to himself.
"This Sam is messing up my future plans, I would see how Raunak will get promoted from now on."
