Chapter 182: Open and Secret Struggle

As for the military person in charge of this bidding meeting, it was the Gale Sword Saint Skatz. He was originally an Archer. Although he was also a Saint Domain Expert, his strength was still in bows and arrows. So, rather than calling him a Sword Saint, it would be more accurate to call him an Arrow Saint.

The entire bidding meeting proceeded under a strange atmosphere. Because the matter of the Augustus Family successfully tricking the Stephen Family out of their bow and arrow manufacturing Formula had already leaked out when the two sides were fiercely fighting over bow and arrow manufacturing materials. Everyone, including the Gale Sword Saint Skatz, clearly knew that today would be a battle between two giants. And, starting from today, the two Great Noble Families would formally break up and embark on a path of mutual hatred.

In fact, regarding the Grudge between the two families, the Gale Sword Saint Skatz knew a bit more. Because when he came, the Emperor personally called him over to give him secret instructions, telling him to be impartial in this bidding. It would be best to make both the Augustus and Stephen Families press their prices to the lowest. He was strange at first. Usually, it was a matter for the Stephen Family alone. Why did the Emperor mention the Augustus Family today? The Emperor then told the whole story of the dispute between the two families.

It turned out that ever since Fatty’s wife reported the matter of the 5,000 bows according to what Old Xie taught, the Emperor was furious and urgently ordered the Royal Secret Agent to investigate. Under the efforts of the secret agents, they quickly found out that the mastermind covering up the smuggling actually pointed directly to the Augustus Family.

However, just when the Emperor was angrily about to deal with the Augustus Family, the Queen, who had already sensed something, suddenly appeared. With her sharp tongue and the temptation of beauty, she finally quelled this matter.

Of course, letting the Emperor let go of the Augustus Family also required a price. This price was those 5,000 bows. Originally, the Augustus Family bought them from that bastard, but now they were cheaply given to the Emperor for nothing.

In addition, the Augustus Family also promised that as long as they could master this technology and participate in the Military Department bidding, they would guarantee to lower the quotation of bows and arrows by at least 30%.

The Emperor thought about it. This was a good thing. In the past, the Stephen Family had a monopoly. Whatever price they said, that was the price. The profit was too big. He was jealous just watching. But if there was now competition from the Augustus Family, the quotation for bows and arrows would definitely go down. Wouldn’t that mean it was cheaper for him?

Under these circumstances, the Emperor finally decided to remain silent and no longer pursue the matter of the Augustus Family smuggling.

And in the whole matter, the point that satisfied the Emperor the most was that the Stephen Family had clearly suffered a loss but didn’t dare to publicize it at all. Because if they dared to make a big fuss about it, then the first one to be blamed would be the idiot child in their family. So the Emperor could enjoy the profits brought by this incident with peace of mind without worrying about any dissatisfied voices from the Stephen Family at all. With such a cheap thing, why wouldn’t he do it?

Thus, with the joint efforts of the Emperor, the Stephen Family, and the Augustus Family, the major smuggling case of 5,000 military bows and arrows disappeared without a sound. The Emperor made a huge profit. The Augustus Family, although they lost some money on the surface, actually earned the bow and arrow Formula, so they took advantage. Only the Stephen Family lost big time. Not only was the Secret Method lost, losing the foundation of the monopoly, but even the payment for those 5,000 bows was lost by that idiot, effectively returning it to them. And the most depressing thing was that they didn’t dare to publicize it. They couldn’t find anyone to reason with. They could only admit it. It was simply a huge loss.

So under these circumstances, when Fatty and the Augustus Family Clan Head Frank met, sparks couldn’t help but fly from their eyes.

“Ha, respected Duke Stephen, I thought you wouldn’t come!” Frank said with a smug look on his face.

“Oh? It’s so lively here, why wouldn’t I come?” Fatty sneered, “My respected Duke Augustus!”

“I thought you would be at home educating your child right now!” Frank said with a treacherous sneer and mockery.

“Haha!” Fatty laughed instead of getting angry and said, “It doesn’t matter if the child is wrong. Just saying a few words is enough. I am a very generous person. But you appearing here is very puzzling to me!”

“Huh? What’s so strange about me coming here?” Frank immediately asked in puzzlement.

“I thought you would be at home taking care of your son who has a broken leg!” Fatty sneered with great contempt, “But having said that, I really admire the courage of your Augustus Family. You don’t even put a Sword Saint in your eyes. It’s simply too audacious!”

“You~” When Frank heard this, his face turned green with anger. Fatty was obviously exposing his shortcomings while cursing. It poked the deepest scar in his heart all at once. How could he not be angry? If this weren’t in public, he might have gone over and beaten Fatty up directly.

“All right, all right, you two, you two!” Seeing this, the Gale Sword Saint Skatz hurriedly came over to dissuade them, “Everyone, don’t hurt the harmony!”

“Hmph, I’m too lazy to bicker with someone who has no taste!” Frank snorted coldly, then walked in angrily.

“Only thieves have the worst taste!” Fatty chased after him and cursed from behind.

Frank knew he was in the wrong this time and didn’t reply. He pretended not to hear, just sneering in his heart, “You just be arrogant. In a while, I’ll make you cry until you can’t cry anymore!”

“All right, all right, Duke Stephen, you also calm down. Go in quickly!” The Gale Sword Saint Skatz hurriedly pulled his hand and said.

“Sigh! All right!” Fatty sighed depressingly. Then, while following the Gale Sword Saint Skatz in, he smiled bitterly and helplessly, “The family is unfortunate, calculated by that bastard. It made me lose my composure a bit. I made a fool of myself in front of you!”

“Hehe, I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare!” What else could the Gale Sword Saint Skatz say? Although he was also a Duke, and even a Sword Saint, that was entirely because of his strength. As for himself, he used to be just a poor boy from the countryside. He had no foundation in high society at all. So even though he had a certain status now, he still didn’t dare to offend these old Great Nobles. He could only smile and play dumb, not daring to make any comments.

Fatty also knew his difficulties and didn’t mind. Instead, he enthusiastically started introducing Old Xie to him. Old Xie was originally unwilling to engage in such social niceties. However, seeing that the Gale Sword Saint Skatz had good strength, he reluctantly said hello. The Gale Sword Saint Skatz naturally saw Old Xie’s reluctance. But he didn’t say anything. Instead, he praised Old Xie a bit, displaying the hypocrisy of a Noble vividly. He didn’t know that this pretentiousness might work on others, but in front of Old Xie, it only backfired. He was already despised to death in Old Xie’s heart.

To cut the nonsense short, everyone sat down in a luxurious large private room. Frank and Fatty were naturally separated to prevent them from fighting.

The Gale Sword Saint Skatz sat in the middle. First, he said some clichés according to past experience. But he was sensible and didn’t give a long speech. Instead, he ended it quickly and went straight to the point. This practical approach somewhat gave Old Xie a good impression of him.

The first bids were a few small ones. They were just bows and arrows needed by regional garrison troops. The quantity usually didn’t exceed a few thousand. And the bow and arrow samples they brought out weren’t great either. One look and you knew they were ordinary goods. But they were cheap, and their power could threaten ordinary people without protection. It was enough to maintain local law and order.

These were appetizers and didn’t attract much attention. It seemed that everyone knew there would be a wonderful commercial war later, so they unconsciously sped up. Not much time passed before it was all done.

Finally, it came to the last item, which was the procurement of bows and arrows for the Kingdom’s Regular Army. This was a big business worth hundreds of thousands of Gold Coins. Everyone present couldn’t help but widen their eyes to see how the two Great Noble Families would compete.

The Gale Sword Saint Skatz smiled first and said, “Next is the last item. I wonder, who is willing to take this bid?” His words were not directed at Fatty and Frank, but at those bidding. As Dukes, Fatty and the others were only here to supervise today. They wouldn’t directly participate in the bidding. That would be too degrading. Naturally, the Managers below would be responsible for this matter.

But after the Gale Sword Saint Skatz asked, he was met with a cold reception. He waited for a while, but no one answered him. It turned out that both Fatty and Frank were resting with their eyes closed. Neither gave any signal to their subordinates. Without their nod, the Managers naturally didn’t dare to speak.

The Gale Sword Saint Skatz didn’t expect such a thing to happen. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly and asked again, “Everyone, please don’t waste everyone’s time, okay?”

But after waiting a while, still no one paid attention to him. The Gale Sword Saint Skatz felt a bit embarrassed. He couldn’t help but say unpleasantly, “If you don’t hurry up, then I will have to declare the bid failed!”

Finally, hearing this sentence, Frank couldn’t sit still. There was no helping it. Who asked him to be more anxious than Fatty? You know, he was holding a belly full of bow and arrow materials now. They were almost piled up like mountains, occupying a large amount of the family’s funds. If he didn’t win this bid, wouldn’t he be bankrupt?