The Magistrate: Chapter 11 (Patreon)

Chapter 11

Money, Money, and More Money

By the time the dust had settled, Tobias knew he'd made the right choice to go ahead with the auction. The largest lots received the highest premiums, ranging from 160% to 180% above the standard rate the sect offered once the sect points were converted to silver. The cheapest went for 130% above what they would offer.

Despite Tobias receiving half of what they earned above the standard rate for the pills, the gatherers were ecstatic. Receiving the pill value for their spirit herbs and Disciple Xi's efficiency at producing them meant they'd earned six times what they usually would for their work, and that was after Disciple Xi and Tobias took their cut. All could afford to pay for their accommodation without using sect points, freeing any spare points up to be traded for more spirit herbs.

Tobias had made it clear that there would be another auction the following year, and they were all on board with the idea of producing more. None of them cared that Disciple Xi and Tobias had left the auction with a fortune. They all agreed they deserved it for earning such high returns.

A week after the pills had been delivered to the winners and all the money had been accounted for, Tobias held a private auction in the state assignment hall. Two dozen gatherers showed up, eager to purchase pills with their spare accommodation credits. After spending so much of his new life in poverty, Tobias found it shocking how little money meant to cultivators.

Since Tobias was involved with the bidding, he'd asked Disciple Wo to step in as the auctioneer. Disciple Wo was happy to do so and cheerfully stood behind the podium, introducing himself before placing the first item on the table.

"This is one of seven stomach meridian opening pills," Disciple Wo announced. "Who would like to start the bidding?"

Tobias sat in the back row, beside Disciple Xi, holding his paddle, dreading what was about to happen. Neither he nor his assistants thought any of the cultivators would be interested in any of the pills besides the general meridian opening and cleansing one. The cultivators were too far along for the specific pills to do anything for them.

They had no use for stomach meridian opening pills, which meant to keep them and the sect happy, he would have to buy them, even though he didn't want to.

This theory proved to be false as several hands immediately shot up, waving their paddles. The bidding started quick and turned fierce as cultivators bid triple and then quadruple the pill's value in a matter of seconds, outbidding even the Great Clans.

Tobias had no idea what was going on and turned to Disciple Xi. "I thought you said they wouldn't be interested in these pills."

Disciple Xi was frowning at the other disciples, trying to figure out why they were bidding. A look of surprise transformed his features, and then his hand shot up to join the bidding, waving his paddle energetically. "The sect sanctioned your auction."

Tobias frowned. "Why does that matter?"

"It means they can't object to us giving these pills to our family."

Every cultivator heard what Disciple Xi said, and then everyone started bidding. There were only seven stomach meridian opening pills available, which represented seven longer and healthier lives for their loved ones. The sect had firm rules about sending cultivation pills to family, but this auction bypassed them.

The bidders were all gatherers who had supplied ingredients for the specific meridian opening and cleansing pills. Like Disciple Xi, they had excess accommodation credits to throw around, but no one had as many credits to throw around as he did.

Disciple Xi quickly threw away all pretexts of fair play and offered ten times the pill's value. Many of the other cultivators gritted their teeth but didn't bid higher. It was too much for them. When the next pill came up for auction, Disciple Xi bid the same amount. Once he had his two pills, he stopped bidding.

While the auction continued, Disciple Xi turned to Tobias. "We were wrong. You're going to have to bid for your stomach cleansing pills."

Tobias still had no interest in cultivation, but he knew that if he didn't cleanse his stomach meridian, the other meridian-opening and cleansing pills he had to buy would be useless. The thought of throwing money away didn't appeal to him, and being healthier and stronger wasn't a bad investment, even if he would have preferred to put his money elsewhere.

The bidding of the stomach meridian opening pills eventually closed, with the pills going for astronomical prices, which made Tobias very happy as he got half of everything above the standard rate the pills went for.

Disciple Wo placed the following item on the table. "This is a bottle of stomach meridian cleansing pills. Who would like to start the bidding?"

Tobias raised his hand.

No one else raised their hands.

Tobias paused for a second and then realised what they were doing. They were giving him face. They were trying to return the favour. That didn't sit well with him, even though he wanted to accept their kindness.

Disciple Wo opened his mouth to close the bidding.

Tobias shot to his feet and held up his hand, stalling him. Then he turned to the other bidders who had won bids on the stomach meridian opening pills. "Gentlemen, I'm going to live another sixty years. There will be plenty more auctions where I can buy these pills, but you cannot say the same for your loved ones. I want to see you all bidding."

Small smiles sprouted on faces as they began to raise their paddles. Tobias sat back down, but the bidding quickly escalated to ridiculous levels. Tobias gritted his teeth as he raised his hand, bidding twice what he'd received from the same bottle of stomach meridian cleansing pills when he got his family out of debt. The bidding then escalated to triple and then quadruple what he'd received, and kept going.

Tobias gave up when the price of the cleansing pills outweighed how much he'd have to spend on the remaining pills if he were forced to buy them all. He'd be throwing money away and robbing someone of a chance to spend more time with those they cared about. That was too cruel and idiotic a thing to do.

Disciple Xi won the bidding for the bottle and then won the bidding for the following bottle, which held only seven. The smile that spread across his face ended any hard feelings Tobias might have had. The man was almost glowing with happiness. His assistant might have looked twenty-five, but he wasn't. His elderly parents were both in their seventies, and every New Year's Festival, Disciple Xi went home would potentially be his last.

Disciple Wo placed the next bottle on the table and looked around the room. "I take it that, like me, you've all opened your lung meridian?"

Everyone chuckled.

"Well, this is awkward. We've got three of them to sell."

"I'll take them for free," someone shouted.

Disciple Wo chuckled with everyone else. "I'm sorry, but all unpurchased pills are automatically sold to Magistrate Finch at the standard rate Cloud Sect offers. You have to offer the same or better."

"I'll take two," Disciple Xi said. "And any lung meridian cleansing pills you might have."

"I'll offer you double," shouted a disgruntled disciple who had lost the bidding for the cleansing pills.

Disciple Xi glared at him. "I'll pay five times their value, but I won't bid any higher."

Disciple Wo looked at the disgruntled bidder. "Are you willing to do higher?"

The gatherer shook his head.

"Two lung meridian cleansing pills and thirty-three lung meridian cleansing pills are sold to Disciple Xi."

Disciple Xi frowned. "I only need twenty."

Disciple Wo shrugged. "I'm sorry, but all bids are final, and you did say you wanted all of the lung meridian cleansing pills."

The sour expression the other bidders were giving him all vanished as they realised his embarrassing mistake. A few snickers went around the room, and many were trying to hold in genuine laughter.

Disciple Xi sighed again.

Disciple Wo took the pills off the table. "The bidding on the lung meridian opening and cleansing pills is closed." He put another pill on the table. "Now, let's open the bidding for the heart-opening meridian pill. We have five of these for sale."

Disciple Xi was treated to the same treatment as before and had to bid five times the price to get the pills he needed.

"The bidding for the heart meridian opening pills is close. Now, on to the heart meridian cleansing pills, we have a bottle of seven pills. We can auction them individually or as a lot, depending on everyone's needs. Is anyone besides Disciple Xi interested in them?"

One gatherer's hand went up. "I want a heart meridian cleansing pill."

"Anyone else."

No one spoke up.

Disciple Xi turned to the cultivator. "Why do you need it?"

"My heart meridian has always been less reliable than it should be. Elder Hon tells me it's in my head, and my heart meridian pathways have been cleansed, but I would prefer to set my mind at ease."

Disciple Xi nodded. "I won't bid against you then."

Since no one else had a use for the pill, the gatherer got the pill he needed cheap. Disciple Xi bought the other six for five times their worth.

Disciple Wo picked up the bottles of general meridian opening pills. "We've got 233 of these in total. They will be sold in ten lots of ten and one lot of three. Let's open the bidding on the first lot."

Tobias watched the auction play out. He was no longer concerned about the pills he had to buy. Disciple Xi had bid so much that the pills he was forced to buy were essentially free. Essentially, meaning that he was making less money from this private auction than he should have, but significantly more than he expected.

Disciple Xi continued outbidding everyone. Tobias had told him not to purchase more than half of the general pills and to purchase his pills for more than everyone else. He honestly didn't care about the money, and if he had his way, he would walk out with everything to help his cousin.

He really wanted to wash his hands of the man.

But Tobias wanted this auction to be successful, and that meant that everyone had to have a chance to win.

The first eleven lots were sold to Disciple Xi for twelve times their standard rate. Only after he didn't bid on the twelfth lot did the bidding begin in earnest. There was a lot of good-natured shouting and threats to let Disciple Xi back into the bidding, but all the pills were sold for seven and eight times their standard rate.

Tobias wasn't surprised.

General meridian opening pills were always valuable for cultivators, because their effects stacked. If taking one didn't work, then you took two. If two didn't work, then you took three. The damage they did to your divinity was also significantly less than the damage caused by the specific pills. Many of those who won were going to attempt swallowing a bottle or two all at once to see if it would allow them to open another greater energy meridian cheaply.

It probably wouldn't, but it was worth trying. They had no other use for their accommodation credits, besides better food and entertainment.

After the general meridian opening pills were sold, they moved on to the general meridian cleansing pills. These went for more than the others. Many of the cultivators might not have been interested in trying to open new meridians after reaching the natural end of their cultivation path, but all of them were very interested in trying to finish cleansing the ones that were already open. Unlike the general meridian opening pills, the cleansing ones didn't damage divinity.

Once the bidding finished, the gatherers left.

Tobias finished clearing the chairs and took a seat behind his desk to begin the paperwork. At the same time, Disciple Xi transferred his pills to new bottles. Everyone's accommodation credits needed to be updated to their new totals so the money could be distributed as credits from Tobias's account to the appropriate people. It took a lot of accounting work to keep track of everything, and there was a mountain of paperwork on top to ensure that everyone received what they were entitled to.

Tobias leaned back in his chair and sighed. "That was exhausting."

Disciple Wo glanced at the accounts. "You earned a fortune from an evening's work. I wouldn't complain, Magistrate Finch."

Tobias stretched out his arms to click his back. "I'm not complaining."

Disciple Xi smiled. "It sounded like you were complaining."

Tobias grinned. "I wasn't complaining. I was stating a fact."

Disciple Xi placed a pair of pill bottles in front of Tobias. One bottle held a lung meridian opening pill, and the other had three heart meridian opening pills. They were entirely useless for Tobias, and the rules of the auction didn't allow him to resell them.

Tobias glanced at Disciple Xi. "Will you sell me ten of your excess lung meridian cleansing pills at the standard rate?"

Disciple Xi frowned. "You can't use them."

"They're for a gift."

"Expensive gift."

Tobias was extremely grateful to Magistrate Park for his assistance in helping him prepare for his assignment. He knew the elderly magistrate had no talent for cultivation, because he'd freely shared that after a lifetime of hard work, he had only succeeded in cleansing his stomach meridian. With these pills, he would be able to open and cleanse his lung meridian and open his heart meridians.

"I'm feeling generous."

Disciple Xi shrugged. "You can buy them."

Tobias frowned as he thought about his gift. "Will it cause problems taking so many pills back-to-back?"

Disciple Xi nodded. "Feeding yourself pills to rapidly grow your cultivation is called accelerated destabilising cultivation. It's not recommended, because it increases the cultivation divinity reduction caused by pills."

"So, it won't cause me issues, because I don't have any divinity to reduce, but it will be a problem for others."

"Yes. However, it's also incredibly unpleasant to take pills that quickly."

"Taking these pills is already unpleasant."

"Without sufficient time between pills, the side effects of each pill will be worse than the last."

"So, I couldn't have taken them all if I'd won the auction?"

"No, you could have, but you would have needed to make sure you set aside plenty of time to recover."

Tobias turned back to ledger his curiosity sated. "I need to finalise everyone's contribution to the sale and their reimbursement so they can begin paying for their accommodation. If there is nothing else to discuss, I need to get to work."

"I'd like to speak with you privately, if possible," Disciple Xi said.

Disciple Wo raised an eyebrow before bowing and heading for the door. Tobias invited Disciple Xi to join him. Disciple Xi sat in silence for several seconds, gathering his thoughts.

Then he smiled. "You have not asked me about my enlightenment."

"I was told it was a private matter."

"It is, but your words triggered my enlightenment, which makes you as much a part of it as I am. It is not inappropriate for you to inquire."

Tobias smiled. "Disciple Xi, would you care to share your enlightenment with me?"

"I would like that. Your words, your cutting words, gave me a vision of the alchemist I could be. He was not jealous or envious of others. Nor was he secretive or controlling. However, he took great pride in the perfection of his craft and the incremental improvements he made. He learned for the sake of learning and shared freely what he discovered. He was the mentor I wished to find but never could."

Tobias smiled. "Is he the man you want to be?"

"I believe so. Much of my bitterness over my mistreatment has fled with my enlightenment. I envied lesser alchemists for learning pill formulas I had not, filling my heart with anger as I watched them surpass me. My enlightenment showed me the truth of my own heart. The greatest joy and sense of accomplishment I've ever experienced came not from creating a pill for the first time but from creating a pill I've created many times with more efficiency. Creating a new pill is one form of mastery. Creating the same pill more consistently without failing another. I've been trying to run ahead when I have not truly mastered what I already know."

"You have new goals?"

He nodded. "I wish to master my alchemy and learn how to craft the pills I already know with 100% success. It has never been done, but I intend to be the first, and I intend to share everything I learn while I do so."

Disciple Xi reached into his robe and removed a small notebook. His breath came a little faster, and sweat began to collect on his forehead. His hands shook as he passed the notebook to Tobias.

"Inside that notebook are the names of every gatherer who has supplied me with spirit herbs for making silver and golden rank pills. Please read them. I know the man I want to be, but the man I am makes it hard for me to let go of my secrets."

Tobias opened the aged notebook and began to read through the list of names. Everything was meticulously tracked, with names and dates. Many gatherers had only one entry, and they were usually clustered around a single date. From this notebook, you could deduce a lot about the best time of year to produce certain pills and tell who the truly skilled gatherers were.

Tobias closes the notebook. "Disciple Quin has a gift for growing the spirit herbs for stomach meridian opening pills."

Disciple Xi nodded. "He's not the only one, but he's the best."

"If you walk this path, you will improve not only alchemy but spirit herb gathering, too. If Disciple Quin can understand how he achieves his results, he can consistently provide silver-grade herbs. If he chooses to walk the same path as you, he can teach others."

Disciple Xi froze. "Do you think he would be willing to walk the same path?"

"He might if you were willing to show him the way. But if he isn't, maybe someone else in this notebook will."

Tobias offered it back.

Disciple Xi shook his head as he rose to his feet and bowed deeply. "I made a copy for myself. Let the original always remind you of what you did for me."

Tobias smiled as Disciple Xi walked to the door. "I'll keep it, but only until the day you become the man you saw in your vision. I won't need it after that."