Vatican
While James was deeply absorbed in magic, someone knocked at the door from outside.
Knock, knock.
Man. I’d just found a really interesting spell...
It was a spell called the Wall of Hellfire, a kind of wide-area fire magic. If he unleashed it in a hotel, it would be a major disaster.
You can come back later...
James yanked the door open and said so. There was only one person who would be coming to his hotel room today.
“What is it, Colt?”
“...I figured you’d be alone.”
He glanced around for Colt’s companion, but Ho-jung was nowhere to be seen.
“I’m the one who’s alone since Suji went off to school, but why are you here by yourself? Wasn’t Ho-jung with you a minute ago?”
“She said she was too embarrassed to meet you and left.”
“A grown adult, embarrassed? Seriously?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Come in. I had something to say anyway.”
James briefly explained what he had learned during his visit to Sotheby’s that day.
“There were some Arthurian gold coins after all. They said the British Museum and the Vatican Museum each had one. So verifying authenticity and estimating the price wasn’t hard.”
“Really? Good.”
“The estimated price is three million dollars.”
“Huh? For one?”
“Yeah. Three million for a single coin. I’m thinking of putting five up for auction, so if the bidding gets hot, it could go as high as twenty million dollars.”
“Whew. That’s insane.”
If this had been before they cleaned out the casino, Colt would have been even more shocked, but now that he was sitting on tens of millions of dollars himself, he could manage his surprise at a more reasonable level.
“So your assets are growing again? Enough to buy a house, I guess. No, wait. You could buy several, couldn’t you?”
“Suji told me housing prices in Seoul are brutal.”
“...No way. It can’t be over twenty million dollars, can it...?”
Hope had a way of getting people every time.
“She said it does.”
“A single house costs twenty million dollars?!!”
Colt, who hadn’t even been fazed by the gold coins’ estimated auction price, was now reeling at Seoul real estate prices.
“Are you kidding me? Who the hell lives in a house like that?”
“Beats me. Probably famous actors or business tycoons, like in the States.”
James didn’t know much about Korean real estate, but he could still guess what kind of rich people would buy such expensive homes.
No normal person is living in a house worth twenty million dollars.
“...Don’t forget what you said about letting me live there someday.”
“Heh. Weren’t you the one saying you’d buy it yourself?”
That had been before Colt learned how insane Seoul property prices were.
“My cash on hand is barely over twenty million dollars, okay? And laundering it is a whole other problem... But I can’t spend all my assets on a house.”
“Fair enough. Anyway... once the auction’s over, I’ll start looking for a house right away.”
“Do me that favor.”
“I’ll keep the rent low.”
“...You’re charging me rent?”
“What, you thought you were going to live there for free? I’ve been paying you rent all this time, nice and regular.”
“Damn it... I should never have taken it...”
“Heh heh.”
James pulled out a gift for Colt, who was short on liquid funds at the moment.
“Wait here.”
James’s hand plunged into his inventory and came back out again.
“Ta-da.”
“...What is this ugly rock?”
“Colt. Why don’t you sell that and turn it into something you can actually use in the sunlight?”
“...”
Colt frowned, thinking there was no way a rock could be worth all that much, but then he remembered the one making the offer was James.
“This... isn’t just a rock, is it?”
“Oh. Colt’s got a nose for these things now?”
“What is it?”
“A meteorite.”
“Oh!”
“It’s an iron meteorite, so it should fetch a pretty good price. I looked it up earlier, and ordinary meteorites go for about five to ten dollars a gram. Go ahead and hold it.”
“Good grief.”
The heavy meteorite weighed at least twenty kilograms.
“So maybe around two hundred thousand dollars?”
“This isn’t an ordinary meteorite, though. It’s iron, so it’ll probably be worth more. I don’t know what else is inside, but if there’s a new material in it, they say the price is whatever people are willing to pay.”
“!”
“Even if you play it modest, it’ll probably clear a million dollars.”
James could always pull another meteorite down from space, so he didn’t mind giving one away.
“Holy hell.”
“I got Jake’s card when I went to Sotheby’s today. Why don’t you take it there and get rid of it? I’ll call ahead too.”
“Col-col!”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
After that, Colt carried the heavy meteorite to Sotheby’s.
“Mr. Colt Evans?”
“Yes. I’m here to meet Mr. Jake.”
“Yes. Please wait a moment.”
Jake, who had already been waiting for Colt, came out from inside and greeted him.
“Oh, Mr. Colt. It’s a pleasure. James told me about you.”
“Likewise.”
Thud.
Once he had carried the meteorite into the reception room and set it down, Colt let out a long, relieved sigh.
“Hoo.”
“It’s smaller than I expected.”
“Do you have any idea how heavy that thing was, even if it’s small?”
“It does seem to be an iron meteorite.”
“Of course.”
“Did you happen to find it in Korea?”
“...You could say that.”
“Good. In Korea, the finder has ownership, so there shouldn’t be any issue.”
“...That’s different in other countries?”
“In the United States, ownership of a meteorite belongs to the landowner.”
Jake was curious about the meteorite’s origins.
“But I haven’t heard any recent reports of a meteorite fall...”
“Someone found it a long time ago and passed it to me. I spent a fortune buying it.”
“Ah. So that’s how it is...”
“Anyway, I’d like Sotheby’s to handle the deal for this meteorite. I understand research institutes and even governments sometimes buy them.”
“That’s right. Leave it to us. We’ll analyze it and get the highest possible price. That said, I’m not a meteorite specialist, so I’ll need to have the appropriate experts and a research institute look into it.”
“Will I need to verify my identity separately?”
“Your identity is pretty much beyond doubt if you’re Colt, the man who performs with James.”
“Haha.”
Like James, Colt signed the paperwork Jake brought and returned to the hotel feeling considerably lighter.
“Ahh. That’s a relief.”
The meteorite had been so heavy that he never wanted to carry it again.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“!”
After finishing the request for meteorite analysis at the research institute, Jake checked the emails that had come in and quickly grabbed the phone in surprise. There were replies from two separate places.
I need to report this right away!
The fact that two different senders had replied wasn’t the problem. The content was.
“Ted. This is Jake Lyndon from the Korean branch.”
- Jake. What is it?
Jake had called Ted John, the CEO of Sotheby’s.
“I’ve received responses regarding the item we recently requested the British Museum to authenticate.”
- If you went to the trouble of asking the British Museum, it must be something exceptional.
Usually, experts like Jake never contacted the CEO directly; they only did so, as today, when an exceptionally rare and valuable item turned up.
“...The authenticity check says it appears to be a genuine piece matching one they have in their collection.”
- Haha. Then we can move straight into the auction.
“The British Museum wants to purchase it, not bid on it.”
- ...If the price is reasonable, that shouldn’t be impossible. Of course, the customer would have to agree.
“The problem is that they’re not the only ones who want to buy it. The other is the Vatican Museum.”
- The Vatican?
“We asked the Vatican Museum to authenticate the item as well, and their reply also said it was highly likely to be genuine and that they wanted to buy it directly.”
Jake had received replies from both places saying they wanted to buy it.
- ...Just what is this thing?
“A gold coin engraved with King Arthur’s portrait, though there’s still plenty of debate over whether Arthur was history or legend.”
- ...Is that true? An Arthurian gold coin?
“Yes. The minimum hammer price for one coin exceeds five million dollars.”
- One coin? You mean there are several?
“The client entrusted three to Sotheby’s. After authenticity verification, there are reportedly two more to be entrusted.”
- Wow. That auction is going to draw a lot of attention.
“I’m not sure whether to put it in an international auction or handle the two museums separately through a private auction.”
After thinking for a moment, Ted considered the five pieces in question and said,
- Jake, let’s put them in an international auction.
“Ah. But that could strain our relationship with the two museums.”
- The number submitted to the international auction will be three pieces.
“!”
It was the idea of driving up the final price through an international auction.
- Would there be any problem with giving the remaining two pieces away at a fair price?
“Ah!”
They could get a high price without offending the British Museum or the Vatican Museum, and they could still hand the coins over to the two institutions that wanted them. It was the perfect solution.
- That should settle things neatly, yes?
“Thank you, Ted. I’ll handle it as you suggested.”
- If anything like this comes up again, feel free to call me anytime, Jake.
“Understood, Ted. Ah! And the client has decided to purchase the land where the Arthurian gold coins were found. We agreed to discuss it again after authentication, but he was positive about it.”
- As expected, your work is solid, Jake. Well done.
“Then I’ll see you again next time, Ted.”
- Take care.
Jake began drafting replies to the two museums in line with what he had just discussed with Ted.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“...”
Madeline, the curator at the British Museum, read the email with her eyebrows knitted tightly together.
Sotheby’s really are shrewd dealers. So there wasn’t just one...
The email said the gold coin would go to an international auction, and that one coin would be handed over to the British Museum according to the previously negotiated price.
At this rate, they’ll have us dead to rights.
But nowhere in the email was the total number of coins, nor was the Vatican Museum mentioned.
The auction is in two weeks. We’ll have to bid on the coin that goes up ourselves, and make sure we win it for the minimum price...
The British Museum began to move.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Vatican City, Rome. A priest dressed neatly in clerical robes was checking his email.
“One coin to be handed over after the international auction...”
He closed his clear eyes and drifted into thought, then suddenly opened them wide.
“...The total number can’t be just two. There must be a little more.”
The priest remembered that, besides the Vatican, the British Museum also had an Arthurian gold coin. If the Vatican had requested authentication, then the British Museum had surely sent the same inquiry. They had also been told that one would be handed over to the Vatican, but there was no way they would go so far as to make enemies of the British Museum just to give the coins only to them.
“If the British Museum is included, the minimum number must be at least three.”
It was a plausible conclusion, though not exact.
“...I need to discuss this with the cardinal.”
The priest immediately stood and headed for the cardinal’s residence.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Cardinal Andrea, this is Stefano.”
“If you’ve come to see me, Priest Stefano, then it must be about the museum again.”
“...It is about the museum, but I came to discuss it because I suspect something even more important is tied to this matter.”
“Is that so? Go on.”
“A new Arthurian gold coin has appeared. I confirmed it from a photograph, and it is unquestionably genuine.”
“...If it is an Arthurian gold coin, then no matter the price, we must secure it.”
The Vatican did not care how expensive Arthurian gold coins were. It was the Catholic Church, rooted across the entire world. Even though its number of believers had sharply declined in recent years, it still possessed formidable financial power.
“The problem is that there is more than one coin.”
“!”
“There is a quantity going up for Sotheby’s international auction, one being handed over to us, and if we assume one more is allotted to the British Museum, then the minimum total is three.”
“Three coins... when there used to be only two in the entire world...”
“We can’t rule out the possibility of even more. The owner who entrusted the items to Sotheby’s may have had more than that.”
“Hah! Just how many ancient gold coins were unearthed?”
“...That’s why I thought we should consider something else as well. If he has more Arthurian relics...”
“Wh-what, perhaps...”
“Yes. I reached the same conclusion, Cardinal.”
Cardinal Andrea, having lost his composure, sprang to his feet.
“This is something we must report to the Holy Father!”
“Cardinal Andrea. This is still only a possibility. Once we receive the item from Sotheby’s, we can meet the person who found the coins and confirm it then... It won’t be too late to report after that.”
“...Then we’d better leave a good impression on him?”
“Of course. That’s why I plan to offer him more than Sotheby’s expected winning price at the international auction and meet him myself. We need to find out where he discovered the coins. I can’t predict how much extra cost there may be, so I’m requesting your approval, Cardinal Andrea.”
“Granted. Meet with him and... make absolutely sure you learn the location.”
“Leave it to me.”
The Vatican was searching for other relics connected to the Arthurian gold coins.
“...We have to find them. If we can find just that...”
“...That has been my greatest dream since before I became a priest, Cardinal.”
“Check with Sotheby’s first. You must be faster than the British Museum.”
“Yes! Understood. I’ll go there at once.”
The cardinal rose from his seat, came over, and placed both hands on Priest Stefano’s head.
“May the Lord’s protection be with you always...”
“...Amen.”
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