Lucas’s eyes lit up the moment he saw Louis Smith take out the multi-headed flail. He strode over, gently picked it up, gave it a shake, and said, “The enchantment has completely collapsed. Can you repair it?”

Louis Smith replied with a smile, “Leo the master is here, so repairing the enchantment won’t be a problem at all.”

Lucas nodded and said, “I’ll take it. How much?”

Louis said, “We’re old friends. I’ll only charge you one hundred and forty écus.”

Lucas nodded and said, “Once the enchantment is repaired, send it to my residence.”

Louis agreed with a smile. Lucas said nothing more and went back to chat with his friends.

Louis brought Charlotte to a quiet corner nearby and said in a low voice, “This multi-headed flail needs to be re-enchanted. The repair cost is about fifty écus. I’m willing to pay seventy-five écus to buy it from you. What do you think?”

Charlotte smiled slightly and said, “No problem.”

This price was already higher than he had expected.

Louis took out his wallet and cheerfully counted out fifteen fifty-forint notes, handing them to Charlotte, saying, “Pleasure doing business.”

To be honest, Charlotte had never handled such high-denomination bills before. Not to mention fifty forints, he hadn’t even handled a twenty-forint note; the largest he’d ever seen was ten forints.

Charlotte took the bills, used a method he’d learned at school to check their authenticity, put them into his wallet, and smiled, saying, “Louis, I’m lucky to have run into you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known what to do.”

“This is my first time doing business.”

Louis laughed and said, “In the future, please keep my little shop in mind for this kind of deal.”

After a brief chat, Louis Smith said, “With Miss Anne accompanying you, it would be rather tactless for me to linger. I won’t disturb you two any longer. Next time, I’ll make a point to share some secrets of the business world and the auction house with you.”

He handed the package to the servant who had been following him and left with a smile.

Anne whispered, “Louis is a very shrewd businessman. You should be careful when dealing with him.”

Charlotte nodded. He really didn’t think he’d have many chances to do business with Mr. Louis Smith.

Where would he get a supply of magical items?

The other party was in the high-end business.

Charlotte discreetly put his wallet into the inner pocket of his coat and pressed it down. The thick stack of bills inside gave him a strong sense of security.

Even in his previous life, he had never held so much money at once.

Seventy-five écus was roughly equivalent to two to 2.2 million RMB.

Even in his previous life, that would have been enough to buy a house—or at least cover the down payment.

Charlotte and Anne walked a few laps around the old mansion and got a general idea of what auctions were like in this era.

Before the auction officially began, guests were allowed to make private deals. Only those who couldn’t close a deal or weren’t satisfied with the price would formally submit their magical items to the auction.

The Fars Empire didn’t yet have formal auction houses, and commerce wasn’t very developed, so these auctions relied heavily on the host’s reputation.

Charlotte and Anne hadn’t been wandering long when Anne whispered, “I see him. Let’s not interact for now—pretend we don’t know each other.”

Charlotte smiled slightly. With Anne’s guidance, he also spotted Mr. Mills, with whom he had quite a complicated history.

Mills was a tall, brooding man, probably in his forties or fifties, impeccably dressed, with every detail of his clothing carefully chosen and stylishly matched. He held a cane in one hand, inlaid with gold filigree and a gemstone, looking extremely expensive—worlds apart from military gear. His other hand was clenched in a fist, betraying a hint of turbulent emotion.

Charlotte walked briskly past behind Mills.

Chapter 16: The Sleeping Girl, the Young Man Cleaning His Gun

Mills simply assumed that Charlotte had run into an acquaintance. He never imagined that the young man who brushed past him was actually his greatest enemy—the one he most wanted dead, bar none.

As Charlotte passed by Mills, he secretly slipped the magical beetle Anne had given him into the man’s coat pocket.

A few minutes later, the two met again.

A faint blush colored Anne’s pretty face as she whispered, “Thank you, Mr. Charlotte.”

Charlotte smiled slightly and said, “It was nothing. I also wanted to do something for Mrs. Mills’s reputation.”

This was truly heartfelt, because the lady’s reputation was closely tied to Charlotte’s own. If her reputation remained flawless, his would be rock solid.

If Mrs. Mills’s reputation were ruined, Charlotte’s would collapse as well.

No one in this world wanted Mrs. Mills’s reputation to remain pure more than Charlotte did.

Mills didn’t wander around. He waited quietly in a guest room until the auction began, then entered the hall.

Anne and Charlotte hid in a corner of the hall, pretending not to know each other, but both kept their eyes on Mills, wanting to know what he was up to.

Soon, the famous Duchess of Mesu made her proud entrance.