Chapter 243 - I Have an Idea

“Those basics are all well and good, but I'm looking for something a little more special.”

“Then how about a hallucinogen distributed in the Holy Alliance as well? We have a premium product that priestesses use in their rituals.”

“Don't you have anything more special than that?”

“Hmm... Then how about a narcotic perfume? It's a patented product that blends several drugs to make the wearer more attractive.”

“Unfortunately, that's not the sort of thing I'm looking for.”

“What sort of drug are you looking for, then?”

Whether it was an aphrodisiac to make the night fantastic or a stimulant that would keep you going for ten days and nights without flagging, they had any narcotic you could want. All you had to do was ask.

Hearing a girl who looked barely old enough to have entered the workforce say something only a drug kingpin would say in any other country, Yu Na-gyeong muttered in a daze.

[“... They even sell drugs in department stores here?”]

'Why are you so surprised? Surely you knew drugs were legal in Brazil?'

[“Well, I knew Brazil was famous for that, but I didn't realize it was this bad...”]

Whether or not Yu Na-gyeong was dumbfounded by a sight that was, in some ways, more fantastical than London, the City of Magic, Li Qingyu simply smiled and answered the young waitress's question.

“I'm looking for ambrosia.”

“... What did you say?”

“The drug called ambrosia that's been gaining popularity lately. I've heard so much about it that I got curious.”

The girl's face, which until a moment ago had worn the picture-perfect smile of a waitress, instantly stiffened.

“Ma'am, we do not carry illegal drugs here at Coffee & Drug.”

The girl spoke firmly, as though merely being asked for such a thing offended her. Li Qingyu tilted her head as she looked at her.

“That's strange. Someone I know specifically told me you had ambrosia here.”

“Your acquaintance must have been mistaken.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes!”

“Then I can pass that along to the person waiting outside, can't I?”

“... Pardon?”

The girl turned to look outside the shop in puzzlement, then went deathly pale. She had seen Barbara waiting outside with her arms crossed—and her green hair.

“If you really don't sell ambrosia here, there shouldn't be any problem with someone sent from Quetzalcoatl headquarters checking, after all.”

“M-ma'am?”

“Of course, if any ambrosia were found here, you'd be in serious trouble... But that won't happen, will it?”

The young waitress's complexion went from blue to ashen, then utterly bloodless as Li Qingyu calmly asked,

“Let me ask you once more. Are you certain I can't obtain ambrosia here?”

For a moment, the girl looked back and forth between Li Qingyu and Barbara outside, anxiety and agitation mingling on her face. She swallowed hard, then spoke in a trembling voice.

“Um, well, it's not something we sell... But there is one bottle that somehow got mixed into a batch of samples we received a while ago, and, um...”

It was only a sample they had received unintentionally, through someone else's mistake.

As the girl desperately tried to explain, Li Qingyu nodded as though she understood perfectly, then calmly asked,

“Do you still have that bottle that got mixed in?”

“Yes!”

A little later, Li Qingyu accepted the small bottle the girl had hurriedly brought out and tilted her head at the golden liquid inside. Then she opened the cap and sniffed it, an odd expression coming over her face.

'That color, and that scent... Could it be?'

Although her knowledge fell short of the Green Dragon Clan's, as a member of the Black Dragon Clan, Li Qingyu had a basic grounding in poisons and narcotics. And as far as she knew, only one drug had that color and that scent.

“... I see. Now I understand why Maia is going so far as to investigate this personally.”

* * *

After spending a moment fiddling with the chisel and hammer in his hands, a vaguely dissatisfied look on his face, Limon let out a small sigh. Then he set the chisel against the block of stone before him and struck it mercilessly with the hammer.

CLANG!

He hammered away without hesitation, as though determined to smash the stone to pieces. Yet with each of those brutal blows, the changes to the splintering stone were astonishingly fine and precise.

As though it had always had that shape. Or as though magic had been cast upon it.

After only twenty-odd minutes of chipping away the excess and letting it fall, no mere block of stone remained. In its place stood a statue of a gladiator who had slain a lion.

Hermann's assessment of the sculpture was straightforward.

“I've never seen such insane talent.”

“... Hey, sculptor. Isn't it a bit much to start swearing at me when I did exactly what you told me to?”

“Ask any sculptor passing by. Tell them you made this statue in less than an hour, and they'll all say the same thing.”

Hermann shook his head. Ever since seeing the garden Limon had arranged, he had known the man possessed remarkable talent. But once he actually began teaching him sculpture, the results didn't merely exceed his expectations by miles—they broke through the heavens.

This statue alone proved it. From the wounded lion's mane and teeth to the rippling muscles and tiny scars visible between pieces of the gladiator's armor, every detail was so delicately rendered that even Hermann in his prime would have needed weeks of dedicated work. Most sculptors wouldn't even be able to imitate it.

Yet Limon had created this masterpiece in less than an hour, using nothing but a chisel and hammer. Hermann was beginning to suspect he might be a spirit wearing human skin.

More than the speed with which he had finished the statue, however, what left Hermann speechless was the variety of techniques evident in its exquisite carving.

“The effective contrast of light and shadow in this lion suggests a late Baroque style...”

“I drew a little inspiration from the dying lion statue in Lucerne, the Lion of Lucerne.”

“But this gladiator's anatomical features are too well rendered for the Baroque style. Somehow, it reminds me of ancient Greek techniques.”

“I've seen a similar statue in the Free Cities League before.”

“And the composition and expressions of the gladiator and lion are so lifelike that you seem to be aiming for realism.”

“I just recreated a gladiatorial match I saw before.”

“... As far as I know, the last games held at the Colosseum were over nine hundred years ago. Are you saying you saw them yourself?”

“You don't have to see something in person to recreate it. There are plenty of paintings of gladiatorial matches.”

Hermann fell silent for a moment at that effortless reply, then asked uneasily,

“Lee, you said you'd never learned sculpture.”

“Yeah. Why?”

“... Then how do you know Baroque and ancient Greek sculpting techniques?”

“Just picked them up somehow?”

“...”

“What? Whether it's sculpture or painting, simply copying something is easy, isn't it?”

“You're not wrong, but...”

An indescribable expression crossed Hermann's face. For an artist, imitating and reproducing masterpieces of the past was itself a process of mastering artistic techniques. Artists who could faithfully reproduce another person's work were hardly uncommon. But even that had its limits.

It was astonishing enough that a man supposedly learning sculpture for the first time could perfectly recreate a sculpture he had seen before. But he could also find the grain of the stone, sculpt at extraordinary speed, and even perform the feat of blending various historical sculpting techniques into a single work. Hermann could only marvel.

'... Should I be grateful that taking a whole twenty minutes makes him seem human?'

What was even more frightening was that this attempt had taken him a relatively long time. When Limon used other sculpting tools—particularly blades such as knives—his speed truly defied imagination.

'I'm not sure there's anything I can teach this fellow.'

Whether or not he knew that Hermann had begun to feel as helpless as a man climbing a cliff embedded with blades the moment the lessons started, Limon spoke with a thoroughly dissatisfied look.

“Still, sculptor, no matter how I look at it, this feels like you're dumping your job on me.”

Limon bluntly challenged Hermann, who emerged from his thoughts with a wry smile. Their original deal had been that, once Hermann's illness was cured, he would help break the carving knife's seal. At this rate, however, Limon would have to treat Hermann's illness and break the seal himself.

Hermann's answer was simple.

“I don't feel confident I can pass that test before my illness is completely cured. But you could pass the carving knife's test right now.”

If the only thing preventing him from attempting it was a lack of qualification, couldn't he become a sculptor now and earn that qualification? Watching Hermann say this in all seriousness, Limon furrowed his brow.

“What's gotten into you?”

“What do you mean?”

“What's wrong that you're making excuses like that? You're supposed to be the world's greatest sculptor.”

Limon looked as though he were facing a grandson asking him to do his homework for him. Hermann regarded him with complicated eyes, then finally spoke in a weighty voice.

“Half of it is that I hate to see your talent go to waste.”

“And the other half?”

“... My own selfish desire.”

Hermann sighed. He had never trained an apprentice in his life. He had been busy enough honing his own skills and hadn't wanted to waste time on such things. Devoting his entire life to art had allowed him to become the world's foremost sculptor. But once illness had forced him into retirement, he couldn't help regretting that the skills he had spent a lifetime refining would be buried with him.

“So, in short, you were hoping someone would inherit your sculpting skills, and along came a talented fellow like me at just the right moment?”

“That's right.”

Hermann nodded once, then spoke with regret and bitterness mingling on his face.

“If you truly don't want to learn my sculpting techniques, you may stop. As you said, Lee, I can deal with the carving knife's test once I'm fully cured.”

Limon gazed steadily at him for a moment, then finally scratched his cheek.

“Well, all right. I'll learn for now.”

“Are you sure you're willing?”

“It's not that I don't trust your skill, but having insurance can't hurt.”

This was only insurance to help him pass the carving knife's test. He had no intention of becoming a sculptor, so Hermann should remember that whatever techniques he taught him would ultimately go to waste all the same.

Listening to Limon's indifferent words, Hermann fell silent for a moment, then bowed his head.

“... Thank you.”

“Forget the thanks. Just tell me how you're going to make me a sculptor.”

No matter how many sculptures he made, the carving knife wouldn't budge. How could he get it to recognize him as qualified to be a sculptor?

After considering Limon's question for a moment, Hermann spoke.

“Actually, I have an idea why you haven't been recognized as a qualified sculptor.”