Chapter 28 (1) -
Teto and I stepped out of the morning market that sold fresh fish and other foodstuff and into the commercial district where all the goods for trade are found and began to search for any lucky find.
“Majou-sama! They’re selling tableware there!”
“Oh, porcelain dishes. I wonder if they are selling items used by aristocrats?”
The amount seemed a bit lacking for a set of tableware, I guess they were selling broken or discarded items.
“Majou-sama, that sword…”
“Yeah, it has traces of on it.”
We also saw swords being sold as if they were pieces of art, so I tried to look at them with my mana eyes and sure enough, a thick mana vein was coursing through the base of the blade's body.
It was the sign that had been used on the sword when it was once broken.
“They can be used as a showpiece or as a piece for bluffing but, with its durability, it won't last long if it was used every day.”
was a spell that reverted a broken item to its original shape. Unlike the full-recovery <self-repair> spell of a magic sword, it used the broken or cracked parts to join the blade back together or it filled up the cracks with assembled parts of the same measurements in case the owner lost original parts.</self-repair>
That’s why it was easy for an item repaired by the repair spell to break again given its nature.
“It’s usually tough to distinguish between antiques like them.”
In fact, there also seemed to be some sly counterfeit con men who would intentionally destroy a weapon completely before repairing it as the traces of the repair spell left behind could cause it to release mana, making it look like a magic tool.
Beretta had pointed that out to me who made a similar blunder around ten years ago.
“Oh, that looks kind of pretty.”
“Is that glass tableware, Majou-sama?’
Apparently, there was a place in the southern region of this kingdom where workers collect special sand and the glass tableware made from that sand were not only exquisite pieces of art but were also everyday use items created using various cutting techniques on different shapes and surfaces.
"Excuse me, which studio's work is this?”
“It's the new work of studio Kikuri that has just recently opened.”
“Studio Kikuri. Please give me one set.”
The price of a set of beautiful glass tableware was quite steep since they were high-quality goods and needed careful handling, about 5 gold coins.
I, for one, was happy to find a good treasure for myself. I carefully put them into my magic bag and went to look at the other shops' items with a satisfied face.
“Majou-sama, you seem awfully happy. Was it really such a fine item?”
“It’s just my intuition telling me that the work of that studio will definitely become famous in the future.”
I didn’t know if they did it consciously but the glass tableware maker of the Kikiri studio had channeled mana into the glass which was the same as giving them a mana buff that increased the durability of the glass body itself. It would make the items last in this world for a long time, and my intuition was telling me that their value as exquisite articles will increase as well.
“I believe their value as antiques or as the initial works of Kikuri will go up after 100… no, after around 300 years.”
Antiques in my previous world were treated as a treasure.
I don’t have much interest in jewelry since they were like dirt I could make at any time with my , so I usually bought tools or beautiful articles that had practical uses as well as those that could become an antique in time, like alcohol.
The value of the alcohol I had given to the dwarf innkeeper back in the abandoned mine's town had increased in the same way after preserving it for years like it was a treasure or an antique. That was why I couldn’t stop my cheeks from slackening, imagining how this might just turn into an incredible treasure in the future. I felt as if I had struck a guaranteed lottery.
“Oh, that’s quite a good tea set. It would be nice to receive Baretta’s served tea in it. Its grip looks comfortable to hold.”
“Majou-sama~, there are books here you may like!”
“They seem to be books about the history of the Lovile Kingdom’s history. The pages are, hmm, they are still using parchment.”
The use of paper made from plants has been spread to the Gard Beastkin Nation in these twenty years, beginning from the Iska Kingdom where it all started, and plant-based paper has gradually become popular in making books but I guess it has yet to spread into this kingdom or other nations near here.
“Anyway. Let’s buy them. And… Shopkeeper-san, what about that thing there?”
A picture canvas was crudely placed inside the shop. It looked like an oil painting of the scenery of this town at a glance, depicting the lifestyle of the people buying and selling fish at the vivacious marketplace.
A part of the painting was depicting a cat scampering away after swiping its paw on a fish, the figure of the shop owner stretching out his hand to stop its escape, and the sight of a passerby looking at the spectacle in amusement. All sorts of people were reflected in a single picture.
“This painting? It has been left here by my nephew, the artist, to sell. However, it’s a pity that such themes aren't popular. Well, I'm just going to sell it as a canvas that other painters can use if it doesn't sell.”
The quality of canvas cloth looked to be high quality so it could be reused by coating it with another layer of paint.
Besides, it was paintings like the portrait of an aristocrat, the picture of a beautiful noble lady, a park’s scenery, religious paintings, or a glimpse of a battlefield that showed the victory of a general that was more popular in this era and preferred by people.
I guess it was still too early for this type of theme depicting the lifestyle of commoners to be a popular trend in this era.
“This painting is so good. Especially the lively cat.”
“Meow-Meow here is so cute. Teto also likes fish so she can understand Meow-Meow’s feelings.”
“Ahahaha! So you fancy the cat!”
The shopkeeper burst into laughter. Apparently, he associated our words with the silly talk of children. I brushed it off with a calm smile and stared at the picture.
“Cats are the symbol of prosperity. It's a sign of good omen.”
“Cats are a symbol of prosperity?”
“Yeah, even the stray cats are captured and eaten by the populace when there's a famine. The cat in the painting has a nice coat of fur, obviously the cat has been getting plenty of food, and everyone’s expression looks bright. It's displaying ordinary people’s mundane yet irreplaceable happiness.”
In fact, we have been through places struggling with scarcity of food where we didn’t spot a single stray cat as we traveled through the Lovile Kingdom plagued with famine.
This was the reason why this painting was an unexpected find for me. The shop owner looked at me with a serious expression as I stared at the heartwarming painting.
“Missy, what do you think the price of this painting would be according to you?”
“Hmm…… A big gold coin.”
I took out a big gold coin — equivalent to one million yen in Japan — from the purse after taking it out from the magic bag. It was twice the value of the glass tableware we bought just a while ago.
“So expensive……”
“Yes. Although I can’t be their patron, this is my little push for the master who has just begun to spread his wings.”
After we purchased the painting from the shop owner, we continued to spend our morning time browsing the other shops of the trade district once again to look for any lucky finds.
Even after that time, we came to visit this town from time to time using a as we were lured by the nostalgia of the painting, bought other paintings, enchanted them to preserve them from deterioration, and asked Baretta to decorate our home with them.
