Chapter 1269: Chapter 1269: Gold Mine and Silver Mine
"Regarding the Osenfort Family, Miss Milia, what do you know? I know they are a declining family, only reappearing due to Ston Osenfort’s resurgence. Apart from this, do you know anything else worth mentioning?"
Shard suddenly asked, the young maid flipping through the account records thought for a moment:
"Ston Osenfort frequently entrusts us to auction antiques, which are mostly relics from the fallen Stonville Kingdom. Besides this, he often buys various expensive porcelain, oil paintings, or antiques, without caring about the price; he buys whatever he fancies."
Shard thought for a moment:
"Does this kind of spending align with his own economic situation?"
The auction house has a duty to keep clients’ secrets, but fortunately, Shard does not count as an outsider of Cassandra Auction House:
"No, it does not align. With Ston Osenfort’s spending habits, even the likes of a grand noble family like the Granger Family couldn’t bear it."
Miss Milia said, clearly knowledgeable about the local situation. Seeing Shard in a pensive mood, she added new information:
"Additionally, more than a year ago, Ston Osenfort secretly visited here on a rainy night and requested to acquire divine statues or similar items to resist evil. At that time, I wasn’t responsible for the area; these insights are derived from records I found."
"Resist evil? Did the auction house take on this business at the time?"
"No."
Miss Maid slightly shook her head:
"Such potentially troublesome matters, we only engage in if familiar faces make the request. Ston Osenfort’s rise wasn’t glamorous; as an ordinary person, he’s not even a good man. Hence, another director who received him suggested he seek help from the True God Church, and gifted him a silver cross for free—which in fact, has no real use. This matter had no follow-up afterward; it’s only after coming here that I uncovered it from old documents."
The local Cassandra Auction House, due to business reasons, has more frequent dealings with Ston Osenfort than Golden Dawn; therefore, Miss Milia has better insight into Ston Osenfort than Miss Lathis.
"So, what do you believe Ston Osenfort is like?"
"Definitely not a good person. Moreover, according to rumors, his relationship with his wife is very indifferent, rarely seen bringing Haila Osenfort to town for business. In reality, apart from the wedding two years ago, most people in town haven’t seen the current mistress of the Osenfort Family."
"Do you know about the family heirloom ring of the Osenfort Family, the ’Carsonrick Third-Class Battle Hero Badge’, and the sapphire ear pendants embedded with a drop of blood?"
"Sorry, what?"
Miss Milia asked puzzledly, Shard shook his head:
"Are you aware of the discovery of a gold mine locally?"
"There’s such a rumor; the auction house has investigated deeply due to certain situations. It seems Osenfort found a mountain gold mine and collaborated with big figures from Velindale to develop it. However, these are just rumors, and there are questionable aspects."
"It’s William Anjou."
He frowned suspiciously, looking at the photo of the Osenfort Mansion tucked into the file. Regarding Ston Osenfort, the mysteries seemed to be multiplying.
Searching for clues within the auction house wasn’t going very smoothly, so Shard planned to jot down suspicious records and discuss them with Miss Benanis in the afternoon. While examining auction records, interesting auction pieces occasionally appeared. Expensive antiques and oil paintings were undoubtedly worthy of note, but special rules Roder Cards were also a business the auction house liked to dabble in.
Aside from that, Shard also noticed a live cat being auctioned off. It was a beautiful kitten of the ’Rhode Island Desert Short-haired Cat’, with sandy-colored fur resembling grains, blue eyes, large ears resembling a fox, and a very large tail. The photo showed its seemingly clueless appearance, looking quite unintelligent.
At that time, the cat was purchased by a Marchioness who specially traveled from Velindale, with a transaction price of 230 Krone, approximately 3,000 pounds.
"Look at this cat."
Shard deliberately held up this photo to show Mia, wanting Mia to understand what her expensive fellow species looked like. Surprisingly, little Mia actually extended her paw to scratch the photo, showing a somewhat combative demeanor.
Once all the files and ledgers were organized, it was already half past eleven in the morning. After a busy morning, Shard stretched lazily on the sofa, while Miss Milia inquired whether Shard wanted to have lunch at the auction house.
"No need, I... is the auction Princess Margaret participated in over?"
He asked, prompting Miss Milia to send someone to inquire immediately, quickly learning the auction had not ended, and Prince William Anjou and Princess Margaret Anjou were not in the same box.
Five minutes later, feeling idly bored while waiting in the box for the item he wanted to make its finale appearance, Margaret heard a knock on the box door, shortly followed by her personal maid opening the door without permission.
The blonde princess turned around, surprised to see Shard entering with a very ugly dog in his arms:
"Where did you get a... Oh, it’s your cat. Good morning, Shard, sit down quickly! Are you here to see me specifically? After we parted last Sunday, although I heard from Miss Benanis about you, I was worried for quite a while."
She gently hugged Shard, happily pulled him onto the sofa with her.
Margaret came here today for a batch of old stone statues from the Stonemason Guild. They were works by a master sculptor who passed away last year, very valuable for collectors. Margaret wanted to use these statues to establish an initial relationship with the Stonemason Guild, to ease their prejudice against the Anjou family heirs, so she decided to raise the price a bit:
"The estimated price for those statues is 200 Krones, I plan to raise it to 300 Krones."
"Did you see the information Miss Lathis handed over to you? MI6 of Draleon can also influence the Stonemason Guild; if you need help, feel free to ask."
"Of course, I won’t be polite with you."
She laughed and wrapped her arms around Shard’s neck. The goods that the Princess wanted had to wait for a while before going on stage. In the meantime, the passionate girl wanted to properly test her lover’s affection:
"Since coming to the Randall Valley, I haven’t properly kissed you yet."
She said coyly, putting her hands behind her head and tying up her golden hair, then passionately kissed him. As "a lover who can only kiss," this was the extent of intimacy she could maintain with Shard for now.
After some special training with the witches, Shard’s kissing skills could finally be called proficient. Unfortunately, just as they made contact, there was a knock at the box door:
"Your Highness Margaret, His Highness William is looking for you!"
"Seriously."
Margaret let go of Shard, not very pleased. Shard quickly hugged his cat and walked towards the wardrobe—he didn’t know why there was a wardrobe in the auction house’s box.
Once Shard was hidden, Margaret let her brother in. Shard covered his cat’s mouth, watching through the wardrobe door gap; the sound was very clear.
"What is it?"
Margaret seemed very cold, as any girl would show a bad face when interrupted like this.
The door closed; His Highness the Prince, dressed in a black suit, walked in:
"The local mining business we talked about last time, have you decided? 30,000 Krones, I’ll give you ten years with a 20% shareholding dividend."
"What exactly are you doing? Are you so short of cash lately?"
Margaret frowned slightly:
"Also, do you have some misunderstanding about me? Although I’m doing some small business, how could I possibly come up with 30,000 Krones in cash all at once? I can lend you some money for emergency, but you have to tell me, what exactly are you doing? Don’t use the gold mine in the mountains to brush me off, I don’t trust Ston Osenfort."
Actually, this was because Shard said Mr. Osenfort was very strange, and Margaret had already established a connection with Lecia. The two princesses cooperated in some businesses, completely ignoring industries like gold mines that required substantial early investments.
"Osenfort is a very capable person indeed."
Prince William shook his head slightly, then scanned the room and spoke in a lowered voice:
"To tell you the truth, the gold mine is indeed a rumor I let out; how easy could it be to find a gold mine in the mountains? The gold mine news was to divert attention. In fact, Osenfort’s people discovered a silver seam near the West Coast offshore. It’s very close to the continental shelf; a captain familiar with the sea and land can reach the island in three days by ship. My men have already gone to see it, and it’s an open-pit rich mine, with estimated reserves of..."
He made a gesture that Shard couldn’t see due to the angle.
"To tell you the truth, my trip to Randall Valley City is not just for the shipyard ribbon-cutting. The gold mine in the mountains is a rumor I spread to recruit people for the development of an offshore open-pit silver mine. Margaret, my dear sister, this is genuinely big business, you couldn’t imagine what I’ve found this time. If I could handle it alone, and if you just happened to be here, I wouldn’t have shared the opportunity with you."
"Silver Mine?"
Margaret looked suspiciously at her brother:
"Gold mine and silver mine, have you thought that this Osenfort might be a fraud?"
"Don’t worry."
His Highness the Prince understood his sister’s suspicion:
"My people have personally checked, and that island does indeed exist. I’ve recruited an old geology professor from Velindale under the guise of a scientific investigation, and he took his students on a ship, proving that the silver mine indeed exists. The mine’s reserves are twice as large as Carsonrick’s largest Wolf Silver Mine! We’re going to get rich!"