When Auctioning Goes Wrong: General Dahl vs. The Collector

While the Hyrulean Royal Army is generally well-regarded for its professionalism by its proponents, there is no shortage of moral failure among its ranks. The brass of the Kingdom's army has always been filled with cruel, greedy, and twisted men. In fact, it has often been said by its detractors that if you are not a cruel, greedy, and twisted man, you would last less than a day Hyrule's army. Whether or not this is true is up for serious debate, but one thing can be certain that the R.H.A. has had its share of morally questionable men occupying its top positions.
But very few of these men could ever be said to have been as petty as General Leopold Dahl, III, a man of questionable morals who was so petty that he nearly drove a man to ruin over a collector's item.
To understand what happened, one must first understand the General:
General Dahl is a quiet, unassuming man who rose through the ranks of the R.H.A. quickly as he trailed behind his cousin, former General Eric Reinhelm. It was no secret that General Dahl was a tactical genius and the better of his former superior, but he always felt that he worked best from the shadows, and so he was more than willing to stay behind General Reinhelm's. Unfortunately for him, the murder of his cousin forced him into the front seat, where he spends most of his time hiding away in his office, trying desperately to get through the day by interacting with as few people as possible.
All that being said, there was one thing that could turn even the meek General Dahl into a raving fanatic: antique weaponry. The General loved history, and he was an avid collector of ancient swords, shields, and bows that have even the slightest historical importance. He has dozens of items in his collection, and at any given moment, he can tell you the personal history of each item of the cuff and on the fly for hours on end if you indulge him. He has been caught practically drooling with excitement and envy over the Commander's own collection of ancient weapons, and it is only half-suspected by his men that he would kill his superior if it meant a chance at getting his hands on the Master Sword.

The Outset

General Dahl is a frequent sight at the auction houses of Central City, and the day of 34 Nayra 28 E.C. was no different. He had heard several days prior from an inside source that a special 100-year old weapon was going to be featured at the auction house on Rhoam Square, so the General was naturally curious.
In a stroke of luck, the object in question happened to be the very thing that he needed to complete his Centurial Collection: the Centurial Royal Guard Claymore. Such weapons were extremely rare, to the point where it was illegal to sell one unless expressed permission was given by the Crown prior. For this weapon to have been made available for sale was a miracle in and of itself, and the General knew that this would be his only chance. The bidding started off civil enough, and General Leo felt assured that his bid for 25,000R was a shoe-in.
That was until the Collector arrived on the scene.

The Incident

The Collector at the time was a man from Clock Town who was as mysterious as he was rich, and had a propensity for collecting valuable artifacts. No one knew who he was or what he did to earn that wealth as he was not nobility, but everyone knew that he held some of the most valuable items in Hyrule, weapons included, so him bidding on the claymore was not unexpected.
What was unexpected, however, was the fact that he was able to outbid General Dahl, a man from the Honorable 24, the nobility of Hyrule and the most obscenely wealthy people in the land, with a whopping 225,000R bid. At first, General Dahl was a good sport, even going out of his way to wine and dine the Collector in an attempt to convince him to sell him the sword at twice the price. According to the General, the Collector laughed in his face and lorded that the fact that he was able to swipe the sword from under him, and then refused the offer. General Dahl was so furious that he vowed that he would have the sword, even if he had to ruin the Collector's life to get it.

The Aftermath

After using his position as the General of the Hyrulean Royal Army to stalk and harass the Collector over a period of several weeks, as well as gather every bit of information he could about the man's existence, General Dahl managed to find out that the Collector was a bureaucrat who was using his position to commit massive amounts of insurance fraud. After blackmailing him with this information, the Collector finally caved and offered to just give the General the sword for less than what it was originally worth.
After the transaction was complete, General Dahl, had the Collector arrested and his collection seized by the military.

Conflict Type

Skirmish

Start Date

34 Nayra 28 E.C.

Ending Date

12 Wintera 28 E.C.

Conflict Result

General Dahl successfully ruined a man's life over a sword

Location

Central City

Belligerents

General Leopold Dahl, III

The Collector

Strength

Had the whole of Hyrule's military on his side with he used to order a campaign of harassment against the Collector.

While obstenately wealthy, because he did not have the conections that General Dahl possesed (and was not nearly as petty or unscrupulous), he was at a severe disadvantage

Casualties

His reputation in the eyes of the Goddess that he does not worship anyway

His freedom and reputation

Objectives

To obtain the Centurial Royal Guard Claymore from the Collector by any means necessary

To keep General Dahl from stealing the sword that he rightfully and legally outbid him for