Chapter 28 (2) -
SIDE: Unpopular Artist Lagando Zoil
I was the third son of a merchant family born in the harbor town of the Lovile Kingdom, and I'm currently freeloading on my parents' money.
I always liked this town — a town whose unique culture originated from the jumbled mess of this kingdom and other nations' cultures—- and would usually spend my days staring at the flow of the ships. As the willful third son of the merchant family that I was, my dream was to make a living by expressing that mundane yet peaceful scenery in art, but my family wasn’t wealthy enough to support me.
That’s why I devoted myself completely to art, mooching off of my family all the while listening to my father's scoldings. I got my uncle to help out in displaying my painting in his shop and I also got the chance to set it at a spot where it was easy to see but it seemed like it was fated to eventually get turned into a new canvas as the painting was beginning to get in the way of other aspiring painters, given a new life again by the paints of others.
Just take today's example, I just came back after leaving my new painting at my uncle’s shop. The thought of me just quitting drawing encroached on my mind as it had begun to look to me like my art had no place in this world.
It was around several days after that when my uncle came to my house, short of breath.
“Good news Lagando! Your painting got sold!”
“Whaat!? My painting was!? How!?”
I was aware that this was quite a bizarre way to talk about my own painting however that was just my natural reaction since not a single painting of mine had been sold up until now.
But as bizarre as it was, I couldn’t stop myself from crying when I heard the description the buyer had said through my uncle and looked at the big gold coin he put on my palm.
I was just glad that I didn’t give up, I mean I never thought that someone could infer such profound meaning from my mundane painting.
A big gold coin, if you look at it from the perspective of a merchant family, it wasn’t that big of a deal. However, for me, a painter, it was proof of my hard work paying off.
“Thank you, Uncle. I think I'll continue to draw for a while longer.”
“Good luck, even I didn't think there was such a meaning hidden in your painting. I guess I can continue to support you for a while.”
“Sorry, I actually didn't even think that deeply about my painting. All I know is that I like these types of sceneries ……”
In this way, I was given hope to journey through the dark world.
With the push given to me by the young girl who bought my painting, my paintings eventually began to sell off. I began to receive commissions from the noble ladies who especially loved animals to draw paintings of their pets after I drew just the cat that had garnered praise from my first customer, and although this wasn’t what I had in my mind, I was able to make a living as an artist.
The everyday scenery of commoners that I continued to draw in my free time — though they didn’t cause a buzz — was brought by the same young girls who would randomly drop by.
Once, I became curious about the girls and secretly went to take a glimpse of those who had taken a liking to my paintings.
They were a pair of beautiful young girls. One had beautiful black hair, slanted eyes, and graceful eyebrows while the other was a healthy light-brown skin beauty.
The two girls, who should already be in their 20s, looked just as young as they had been when they first bought my painting ten years ago. I etched their unchanging appearance into my mind, went back to my home, took the paintbrush in my hand, and painted their appearance on the canvas with my undivided attention.
They were no different from the incarnation of the goddess of luck for me. I kept the portrait of them always by my side 'til my last breath.
For it was by their grace that I was able to live a fulfilled life as an artist in this life.
SIDE: The Maids in the future
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Somewhere in the future — Master Lagando Zoil.
He was born as the third son of a merchant family in the harbor town of the Lovile Kingdom and lived a life of an artist.
In the beginning, he had been living under the financial support of his family as none of his initial works ever turned out to be popular enough to sell.
However, that changed when he was in his late 20s when he gained fame as an animal artist and began to make a living by drawing the portraits of several animals and monsters he was commissioned to all the while traveling to various places in his homeland, and drawing the everyday scenery of people of said places into his canvas.
When he reached the latter half of his life, he redrew the first painting he had ever sold as the last work of his life as an artist and gave his untitled work the title of “Folks of the Morning Market”.
The was a famous piece of art in the current era and was even priced at 5 billion gold at the current era's auction. Apart from that, his beginning work which had been sold as new canvases has also begun to be discovered in succession thanks to modern analysis and aggregation spells.
There was also one painting of his titled in which he drew two girls. He absolutely refused to part from it all throughout his life.
The records of that time were turned upside down to look for any clues about the girls and eventually they were identified as the adventurer duo from the party who were not only relevant personalities in that era but also had occasionally shown their trails in history. In fact, it has been suspected that they might have ties with the “party of transcendence” named ‹Creation WItch›.
However, it has yet to be confirmed why he drew that painting. There were several theories like they were his first love or maybe it was just another one of his themes but as stated above, a conclusion has yet to be reached.
In this world where there are several duplicates and counterfeit paintings of Master Logando Zoil's work “Folks of the Morning Market” in circulation — countless still hope for his first illusory work to reappear in the world along with many of his other works he drew in his middle age whose whereabouts as of now are still shrouded in mystery.
[From the world’s great history]
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We were reading the recently added new books in the residence’s library.
We, who had gained souls and possessed egos, were in charge of managing the residence and attending to Master or Teto-sama along with the head maid Baretta-sama.
“This month's edition of World’s great history is so interesting! Ah, the life of Master Logando Zoil! It’s the time when we 一 the 17th generation maid group 一 weren't born yet.”
“Master, Teto-sama, or Baretta-sama were there when Master Logando Zoil was still alive, maybe we might be able to hear some exclusive gossip if we ask them.”
“But I heard that the senpai maids at that time couldn’t move outside of the barrier due to the low-mana environment at that time, unlike the current mana-filled .
The three service dolls — no, the three Demon Race/Mechanoids were chatting while forming a circle around a book.
The printed image of the famous work of that time unraveled before their eyes as they turned to the next page of the book. The maids felt deja-vu when they saw that image and immediately turned around to look at something.
“This painting, isn’t it the same?”
“Hmm, well it indeed looks to be a perfect replica of that image… No, it has a bit of a different style……”
The painting hanging on the wall of the library was a piece of art from the era we hadn't been born yet. It’s hard to tell from which era that painting belonged to since a preservation spell had been put on the frame. The painting looked as good as new even after so long.
The three also confirmed the sign of Master Logando Zilo in the painting's corner.
“Ahahaha, what am I thinking? There's no way it could be that illusionary first work .”
“Its value is 5 billion gold if it’s real you know! Well, I don’t know the total assets of Master but… it’s really amazing if it’s the real one.”
“There’s no way it could be real. Master and others have been living for so long, maybe they might have brought the counterfeit.”
Although each said their own opinion, it still wasn't enough to suppress their bubbling curiosity as the trio began to look at it from various angles to check its authenticity. However, it was a pity none of the trio had the eye for or the adequate knowledge of antiques to draw any conclusion.
“What're you three doing, the break time is about to end.”
“ “ “Yes, Ma'am!” “ “
The trio returned the book to its original position and went back to their work at the call of head maid Baretta.
And thus the piece of art from an unknown era continued to hang on the wall of the Library, with its authenticity still shrouded in mystery.
