Chapter 176 - Episode Three - Reformation of Fage Territory (3)

“Is the book that interesting? Then you can have that carried upstairs too……”

I’m still holding on to the magic book, and Mea calls out to me.

“No, I don’t want to take it with me, but…… I just want to read this part for a minute or so……”

After being hit in the abdomen by a “high-level spirit book”, I managed to pull myself back together and searched the warehouse again for a good book.

The “High-level spirit book” is too heavy for me to hold it properly, so I asked a servant to take it to my room.

“But you’ve been reading it for a long time…… you can have it carried for you……”

“How should I say it, It’s not really a book I want to read that badly, but if I don’t check it out, it’s kind of weird.”

“There are more interesting vases and paintings, though…… Hey, why don’t you take a look at that one too? Okay? No, I’m not really…… If you’re not interested in, it’s okay, but……”

…… It’s strange because when you say it that way, it makes me feel rather guilty and I feel like I have to go see it.

The look on Mea’s face when she came to call me during the alchemy division’s activities came into my head, a happy look on her face.

“Alright,”

“Yes! See, Abel……!”

“Just give me five more minutes……”

“Oh, yes ……”

I walked through the warehouse with Mea after returning the moved magic books to their original position.

The organizing of the warehouse had already been cleared out, and now they were in the process of sorting and wrapping the artworks they were taking to other cities with them in cloth.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know much about the vases and paintings, as I had no knowledge of them at all.

They could at least put the name of the artist and the name of the painting at the bottom.

But it was fun to look at the many paintings of magical beasts and demons.

There were also drawings of the god Kudor and the water god Levi.

Along with the picture of Levi, there was also a picture of a giant four-headed deer being worshipped by a horde of dwarves.

The four heads were attached diagonally up and down on either side, with the tips of the jaws facing the center, giving it a strange appearance.

It was of such a ridiculous size that it made the dwarf look small.

Perhaps this is the earth god Garuja.

I can’t be too sure, as this is the first time I’ve seen a painting depicting Garuja, but there is a golem called the rock giant soldier that Garuja is said to have created standing at his feet.

The painting next to …… Garuja was a portrait of Lark’s grandfather, by the way.

I’m sure he was quite a dynamic personality when it came to arranging the portraits with Kudor, Levi, and Garuja.

No, it was not necessarily him who placed them.

As I look at the portrait of Lark’s grandfather, Mea pulls at the hem.

“What’s wrong?”

“…… Isn’t that picture the only thing that’s different about……?”

If you follow Mea’s line of sight, there was a picture of the city being burned down.

…… Strangely, the depiction of the buildings and people is accurate or raw.

The painting itself is composed as if it were someone’s view.

It’s not very pleasant to look at.

“Hoh, miss, you’ve caught you’re eye on that, huh. It’s not something you should take with you to other places, I advised Lark-sama to do so.”

Jozef, who had been called in for an appraisal, came up beside us, probably bored after finishing his role.

“Is it painted by a famous painter?”

“There’s a name on the back of the painting, Coln Kollrich, who was born about a hundred years ago. He wasn’t a common person knows, and I don’t know much about him either. However, the number of his works are numerous, and his signature is on the back of his forehead, which is why he is well known among art enthusiasts. However, this artist does not have much-added value.”

“So why did you care?”

“It’s a well-known fact that Coln only paints landscapes that he actually sees with his own eyes.”

Hearing that, I reviewed the picture of the burning city.

It seems that this is the devastation that Coln actually saw about a hundred years ago.

“…… I see, it certainly doesn’t look like something you can let go of casually.”

“It’s not just that this painting isn’t something you can casually let go of.”

Jozef approached the painting and pointed to a man on top of a tall building.

He was a middle-aged man of aristocratic appearance with long green-white curly hair.

He is wearing a bright red coat with plenty of embroideries.

He was slightly overweight, but he also looked simply puffy.

He looks down at the city and lets out a smile.

“…… Is he a man who lost his mind when he found out he couldn’t be saved?”

Jozef shook his head quietly.

“In fact, this man looks like a famous man. Have you heard of Count Julem Ornolea?”

“…… Julem …… Oh, yes.”

The Count of Julem is something of an urban legend.

I had heard of him several times when I was in the city of Lomarn.

He is said to have been in the Kingdom of Dinrat about six hundred years ago, and then one day he disappeared.

But more than a hundred years later, people who resembled Count Julem began to see him, not only in the Kingdom of Dinrat, but all over the world.

I’ve heard that he’s laughing alone, away from his surroundings, when he’s at the scene of a major historical event of all kinds.

…… Just from my point of view, I think it’s just two coincidences that happened to coincide, and some show-offs are making a lot of noise to create a commotion and say they saw it too.

It’s not possible for even a high elf to not age for over six hundred years.

“I’ve never seen Count Julem’s face before, but …… does it look so much like him?”

“Yes. …… But it’s true that Coln was allegedly killed in the terrorist activities of a religious group, but I think it’s just a prank to put on him.”

Jozef loosened his deliberately strained expression and laughed jokingly.

Mea listened to Jozef’s story and clutched my hand as her body trembled, but when she heard the punchline, she weakened her grip and let out a breath of relief.

“Please don’t scare me……”

“Hohoho, that’s why I said you shouldn’t take it casually to another place. Because if it is revealed to be a prank item, it could cause embarrassment to Lark-sama.”

Apparently, Lark’s grandfather had a penchant for collecting weird things.

I reviewed the smiling man in the painting and then let out a sigh.

It seems as if the painting was written in an attempt to scare the viewer.

Only the man’s surroundings floated blatantly in the painting.

“It looks like Lark-san’s work is about to end, and I’m going to have a little discussion about the future of the territory.”

I moved away from the paintings of the burning city and moved closer to Lark.

Just in the middle of it, I felt a chill and I turned around.

I felt that the man in the center of the burning city looked vaguely familiar to me.

I just didn’t pay attention to it deeply and quickly turned myself around again.