At 10:00 that morning, Louis, having gotten permission from the company, went to the largest antique-trading market in Nandos City.
There were dozens of antique shops here. Louis had only Rp 20,000,000. There was no way he could buy an extremely expensive antique. He could only rely on his ability and think of a way to make a profit. He also realized that the true prices of antiques were actually much higher than the prices in the shops.
There weren't many treasures like this. If someone could run an antique shop, they certainly understood antiques. There was no way an item worth Rp 2,000,000,000 would be sold for only Rp 200,000,000.
Selling an item actually worth Rp 200,000,000 for Rp 2,000,000,000. After all, antiques weren't the same as gold. Antiques had no fixed reference price. Whether buying or selling, making a profit depended entirely on each person's ability.
Fortunately, Louis had a magical ability. He could determine an item's price with a single glance. At the very least, Louis couldn't be cheated by those inhuman antique sellers.
Today, Louis spent two hours walking through all the antique shops.
He realized three interesting things.
First, regardless of a shop's size, most of the products in every antique shop were priced far too high. Their sale values far exceeded their actual prices.
Second, aside from a few other shops, most of the items in the shops were fakes. Louis could tell from their production years. The ceramics supposedly from ancient dynasties had actually only been produced last year.
So, weren't these items fakes?
Lastly, as long as he searched carefully, Louis could still find one or two treasures.
While inside an antique shop that didn't have any counterfeit goods, Louis became interested in the grayish flower vase. To an ordinary person, the flower vase looked completely unremarkable. But when Louis, with his golden pupils, looked at it, he realized that it had been produced in 712 AD. That meant it had been made during the height of the Majapahit Dynasty's prosperity.
The sale value at this antique shop was Rp 20,000,000. However, based on his magical ability, Louis could tell that this Majapahit flower vase was worth nearly Rp 1,000,000,000!
This buried treasure was a great opportunity for Louis.
Louis couldn't let this opportunity go to waste, but he didn't rush, either. He knew very well that he couldn't show any interest in an item with a listed price at a place like this antique shop.
Therefore, Louis first went to look at the other antiques. Only after that did he walk over to the flower vase.
“Oh? This flower vase looks so ordinary. How can it be priced at Rp 20,000,000?”
After hearing Louis's remark, the shop clerk who had been following behind him the whole time explained...
“That's because this item was produced during the Majapahit Dynasty. The vase does look ordinary, but it has a fairly long history and is still relatively intact. So Rp 20,000,000 isn't considered expensive.”
“Even so, it's still too expensive.” Louis deliberately played his part. “It's my father's birthday soon. He really likes antiques. But we're not a rich family, either. I can't afford to buy an antique that's too expensive. Something like this flower vase would be pretty decent.”
“Yeah, the artistic value is somewhat lacking. But this vase is an antique with a fairly long history. Actually, it's best suited as an investment for ordinary people like us.”
“Are you sure this vase is from the Majapahit Dynasty?”