Chapter 275
Chapter 275
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 275
Chapter Title: Hostile Amicable Relationship (4)
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But Shirone was different.
In her mind, the value of lay not in the material worth of the items, but in the daily anticipation of receiving a present.
In that sense, Shirone's inquisitive nature regarding the object resonated with how she herself had felt when she first acquired .
“That's right. That's why I once invited a Schema master. I can't reveal his name, but he was a world-class professional gambler. He struck it ten times with the same force over ten days, and the result was different every time. But I still believe it's valid as a form of gambling.”
“Why? Did you discover some other characteristic?”
Unable to bear the boredom, Jion yawned.
Of course, he knew it was important to understand an object's .
But such headaches were tasks for his subordinates. Royalty simply had to purchase and enjoy the objects.
Regardless, Uorin's gaze was fixed solely on Shirone.
“It's because of the statistics. I acquired this roulette exactly 1,003 days ago. Meaning, excluding today, I've spun it 1,002 times. Out of those, a miracle occurred twice. A modest gift appeared 823 times, a nice-feeling gift 171 times, and an excessive gift 6 times.”
Shirone understood what Uorin was getting at.
“Aha, the probability and the statistics roughly match. That would mean the variable has to be fair. Perhaps that variable is something humans can't control...?”
Uorin pointed at Shirone and exclaimed.
“Exactly! The fact that the statistics follow the probability means there's no trickery involved. Therefore, this object still holds value as a tool for gambling.”
Shirone rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.
Statistically, a fair rule existed. Yet even the world's best gambler couldn't produce the same result. This meant the variable was ultimately triggered in a realm beyond human control.
“An extremely sensitive sensor, perhaps? Something that can't be controlled by muscular strength?”
“Yes. The experts agree. They said it's likely an error at the quantum level.”
The quantum level.
Indeed, it was impossible to control the weight of an electron, lighter than an atom, with muscle power. In the end, it meant that despite its childish appearance, the object was extremely precise.
Shirone examined more closely than before.
On the outside, it looked like a simple old antique. A crude wooden case. A miniature pierrot was smiling, and childish drawings adorned the hemispherical surface.
Suddenly, he recalled the sight of gypsy children happily spinning a roulette. Normally, it would be a heartwarming scene, but right now, it felt strangely chilling.
“What kind of gift do you get for a miracle?”
Uorin's expression turned cold.
“I can't tell you that.”
Shirone stared at her blankly. Then, as if nothing had happened, she stuck out her tongue and returned to a cute expression.
“Hehe, just kidding. It's no fun if I tell you beforehand. Come on, hurry up and spin it.”
“Hmm, alright.”
Shirone stopped his analysis and prepared to give it a try.
He flicked his finger, but it was impossible to control with human strength anyway.
All he could do was leave everything to luck. Towards a childish future where only joy awaited.
“Here I go.”
Shirone placed his finger on the tip of the pointer and flicked it.
Tiririri. The arrow spun with a sound you'd expect from a toy.
Uorin watched with sparkling eyes. This time, even Jion seemed intrigued, crossing his arms and fixing his gaze on the roulette.
When the pointer stopped, Uorin slammed the table and shot to her feet.
“Wow! An excessive gift! That's a four percent chance!”
Shirone was so gripped by tension that he couldn't even feel the joy of hitting a low probability.
The roulette had spun exactly according to its . What would happen now?
Knock, knock!
Hearing the knock, Shirone turned to the door. But no matter how long he waited, he couldn't sense any further presence.
“It's here! Brother, go check it out, quickly!”
Shirone walked quickly to the door. On the other hand, it took quite a bit of mental preparation to actually open it.
When he pulled the handle, the sight of a square cave with a burning torch came into view.
There wasn't a soul in sight, not even a fly.
Shirone remembered and scanned the floor. A gift box decorated with a red ribbon was sitting there.
Seeing the gift that had appeared out of nowhere sent a shiver down his spine.
This was a sealed space. He hadn't heard the first door open. So who could have possibly knocked?
“Brother, show me quickly. I'm so curious.”
At Uorin's urging, Shirone uneasily brought the gift back and set it on the table.
Jion and Uorin craned their necks like turtles to get a look.
“It's yours, Brother, so you should open it.”
When he pulled the red ribbon, the square wrapping came undone on its own with a soft rustle.
It was a romantic sight, but Shirone handled the gift as cautiously as if it were an explosive.
“Huh? What is this?”
Inside the gift box was a porcelain doll.
It was a doll of a young girl with three-head proportions, her black hair flowing down to her ankles. Her eyelashes were long, and her eyes, crafted from jewels, looked just like real human eyes.
It wasn't a particularly grotesque form, but Shirone felt such revulsion that he didn't even want to touch it.
They say humans feel the most fear at the midpoint between the unfamiliar and the familiar.
The porcelain doll was the same.
Its proportions were off and it lacked vitality, but its hair, eyelashes, and eyes were identical to a human's, evoking fear in the viewer.
Uorin, on the other hand, stared with wide, round eyes, showing her interest.
“Oh, this is...?”
Uorin, who had unconsciously reached for the doll, hesitated and glanced at Shirone. She worried he might feel pressured if she showed too much interest in the gift he'd just received.
Shirone readily yielded. Frankly, he hated even looking at it.
“It's fine. I don't know what it is, so you take a look.”
As if afraid of cracking its surface, Uorin carefully took out the doll.
Jion's eyes followed it.
He had no expertise in dolls, but there was no mistaking that one. It was part of his sister's main collection, one he himself had gone to great lengths to find for her.
“It's an El Krauch seamlessly-jointed doll.”
“Huh? El Krauch?”
Uorin held the doll up to the ceiling light and inspected the inside of its porcelain face. As expected, it was a genuine piece with no signs of being joined together.
Convinced, she finally spoke.
“El Krauch was a doll maker. He's famous for not using any adhesives. Only twelve of Krauch's posthumous works have been revealed, and they all have owners. I own four of them myself. In short, this is an unreleased piece. If it went to auction, it would start at a minimum of 100 million gold.”
“What? 100 million gold?”
Shirone's eyes went wide.
A commoner family's annual living expenses in the Tormia Kingdom were about 100 gold. Moreover, Shirone's poor family had even survived a year on 50 gold before his father became a butler for the Ogent family.
Even by the standards of a mage's income, not a commoner's, it was an enormous sum.
A newly professional mage's annual salary was around 4,000 gold, and even a certified Grade 6 mage's average salary didn't exceed 200,000 gold. In other words, it was an amount of money that would take Teacher Shina 500 years of back-breaking work to save.
For those classified as mid-rank, Grade 5 and above, salaries varied wildly depending on skill, but considering that a Grade 3 Archmage of the Kazra Royal Castle earned around 30 million, 100 million was an amount that would make any noble's eyes change.
*Wait, now that I think about it...*
The amount wasn't the issue. How could a posthumous work of El Krauch be selected as a gift?
An artist's work is a tangible object that exists in the world. Unless the gift was prepared in advance, this meant it had instantaneously transported an object from a specific location.
“...How is this possible?”
“Because it's an object. The excessive gift judges value based on rarity. Once, a deep-sea fish that looked like a human face arrived. It died right away, though. An excessive gift isn't guaranteed to be an expensive item. In that respect, an El Krauch doll is a huge material gain. You can sell this, after all.”
Uorin watched Shirone's reaction.
“Um, so about that...”
Shirone could guess without having to hear the rest.
She had already said she'd collected four of the dolls. While others might find it grotesque, to an enthusiast, nothing could be more lovely.
“If you want it, take it. I can give you something like this as a gift.”
“What? Oh, no! You don't have to do that! I was just going to offer to buy it for 100 million. But I thought you might not like that kind of transaction, Brother...”
She seemed to remember how he'd gotten angry on the first day he was invited to the castle, when Eliza offered to buy his parents a mansion.
“Haha! That's right. I don't need the money. You can just take it. The object is yours, anyway.”
100 million gold was an amount that even Shirone would find hard to just give away.
But if the recipient was Uorin, the highest authority in Kazra, it was worth giving up. No matter how much he liked money, it wasn't more valuable than his life.
As expected, Jion's face twisted.
How could she indebt herself to a rival who was competing with her own brother for the throne? No matter how immature she was, this was too shortsighted.
*No, is that really it?*
A sudden, ominous thought flashed through Jion's mind.
Uorin was a younger sister who listened well to her older brother. Despite being Theraze's direct successor, she had never once disrespected him.
But today was a little strange.
Uorin was the one who had decided on the meeting place with Shirone.
Of course, she loved to show off her objects, so choosing the gallery was understandable. But of all the many objects, why ?
*Because it's the most probabilistic object...*
If Shirone had landed on the 75 percent chance of a modest gift, there would have been no issue.
But the result was the 4 percent chance of an excessive gift.
Furthermore, the gift was an El Krauch porcelain doll, something Uorin cherished so much.
*Uorin isn't a fool who gets indebted to just anyone. Could it be that she was testing Shirone's probability? If so, that means she's weighing Shirone against me...*
The mere thought made his throat burn.
It's a delusion. A simple coincidence. He had to think of it that way.
Shirone had just hit a 4 percent chance; what was to say that Uorin choosing wasn't also a coincidence?
Besides, she was Theraze's daughter. Even if she pretended not to, she must have the ambition of a conqueror. Even if she liked Shirone, she wasn't empty-headed enough to betray her own brother, who held the reins of power in Kazra.
“Ahh, it's so pretty. Thank you so much, Brother.”
Watching Uorin happily hugging the porcelain doll, Shirone understood why older brothers doted on their younger sisters.
But his fond smile soon turned worried. No matter how he thought about it, the object was not a normal thing.
“Uorin, you should probably stop spinning this roulette from now on.”
“Huh? Why?”
Shirone gave an uneasy look.
“It doesn't make sense. No magic can violate the principle of equivalent exchange. Even Schema is a type of mental equivalent exchange. Objects, on the other hand, are too bizarre. If you keep getting gifts like this, you might have to pay the price one day.”
Uorin blinked for a moment, then carefully placed the porcelain doll back in its box. She sat down, rested her chin on her hand, and idly flicked the pointer of the now-inactive .
“Hmm, I see what you mean. But if you think that way, nothing in the world is 100 percent safe. For example, the frequency of deaths by kitchen knives is higher than the frequency of deaths by objects.”
“But there are fewer object users than kitchen knife users. One death out of ten is different from ten deaths out of a hundred. You can't just go by the numbers. Besides, from what I've heard, there are definitely people who die because of objects, right?”
Uorin pushed toward Shirone.
“This object first appeared in the world 240 years ago. And among the people who have owned this item, some have indeed met tragic deaths.”