The auction went on.
The items presented grew increasingly rare, and the winning bids climbed steadily in tandem.
"Now then, next up is an item thought to be an 'artifact'!"
"Oh?"
Jin's interest was piqued by the facilitator's announcement.
And what was brought out was...
"That's..."
"A sword believed to have seen use during the 'Great Magic War' roughly seven hundred years ago!"
Though Jin felt a pang of disappointment that it was not a magi-device, he was still curious whether the blade truly dated back seven centuries.
(A sword, huh... Come to think of it, Gloria-san from the Klein Kingdom was quite the sword fanatic...)
While he was lost in thought, the sword was hammered down for five million Toll.
Seeing that, Jin was impressed to find that passionate collectors existed even in this era.
"Now then, moving right along to the next item! It is a magi-device said to have been a personal favorite of none other than the Second Generation 'Magi Craft Meister'!"
(What?)
Hearing it described as a prized possession of his, Jin lifted himself halfway out of his seat.
(Did I have anything like that?)
Even if he had, would something like that really turn up at an auction? Jin cast a skeptical eye toward the floor.
Reiko and Elsa appeared to share his doubts, staring just as intently at the stage.
"Here it is! The one everyone has been talking about—!"
Wondering just when on earth people had started talking about it, Jin leaned in even closer.
"—the 'magic stove'!"
(I did make a magic stove back when I lived in Kaina Village, but... I don't remember that model at all... Or rather...)
"It's a fake."
"A fake, you say?! How outrageous!"
Jin had blurted the thought aloud by accident, but the Minister of General Affairs was immediately incensed.
"To present a counterfeit at an auction steeped in such tradition...! Lord Jin Nidou, could you prove it for us?"
"Ah, yes, certainly."
"Then forgive the trouble, but please come with me."
At the minister's earnest request, Jin headed down to the floor with Reiko in tow.
"Everyone!"
Stepping onto the platform, the Minister of General Affairs took hold of a voice-amplifying magi-device—a loudspeaker—and projected his voice across the room.
"Regarding the 'magic stove' just brought to auction, Lord Jin Nidou, the 'Third Generation Magi Craft Meister,' has raised serious suspicion that it is a counterfeit!"
A ripple of murmurs washed over the crowd.
"Lord Jin Nidou will now inspect the piece and announce his findings!"
Another wave of commotion stirred the audience.
By that point, Jin had already finished examining the stove.
(Just as I thought. The shape looked off right away, but the materials don't match either.)
"Yes. I am the 'Third Generation Magi Craft Meister,' Jin Nidou. The magic stove crafted by the Predecessor utilized steel plates, whereas this one uses bronze. And most decisively, where 'magi-stone sand' from 'Kaina Village' should have been used, they used low-grade 'magi-crystal' instead. Therefore, this has no connection whatsoever to the Predecessor."
A loud stir echoed throughout the hall.
"As Lord Jin Nidou has just demonstrated, we will be withdrawing this piece from the auction."
The facilitator nodded in immediate agreement with the minister.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in light of these findings, this magic stove is hereby excluded from the auction."
With the matter resolved, Jin, Reiko, and the Minister of General Affairs returned to their box.
"Lord Schone, what will become of that magic stove?" Jin asked.
"First, we must investigate the seller. Whether they consigned it unknowingly after being duped themselves, or did so with full awareness of the fraud. That makes a world of difference....I imagine our investigators are already on the move."
Presenting a fake at a state-sanctioned auction was a grave offense that directly threatened the nation's honor, so both the ritter order and the Intelligence Bureau would surely be deployed, explained the Minister of General Affairs, Chro de Schone.
"For now, please sit back and enjoy the rest of the auction."
"Right, will do."
Figuring that Laojun was likely running its own background checks anyway, Jin turned his focus back to the auction.
The event moved forward.
"Now then! Shaking that off, let us move to the second half!"
The facilitator's voice rang out with renewed vigor.
"Next up is another ancient magi-device! The wreckage... of an 'old-model golem'!"
"Oh?"
As far as Jin could tell, this one was the real deal.
"Reiko, what do you think?" he asked, having Reiko verify it with her sharp vision.
"Yes, Father. It is unquestionably from the Great Magic War."
"I see...!"
Deciding this was as good a place as any to spend a little coin, Jin joined the bidding.
"Ten!" "Fifteen!" "Twenty!" "Thirty!" "Fifty!" "Seventy!" "One hundred!"
"Sold! Claimed by Lord Jin Nidou for one million Toll!"
"Alright."
Judging by its design, it was a golem from roughly the same era as—or perhaps slightly later than—the blue-haired automata like Anne, Tia, Loll, and Refa.
Jin wondered if it might be one of the units felled by Elena, who had rampaged across the battlefields back then as the 'Golden Destruction Princess,' crushing friend and foe alike without distinction.
"Surprising that it survived in this good a shape."
He figured a closer inspection later would tell the tale.
With that, the auction moved on.
"Now, next we have another ancient relic! A 'magi-crystal fragment' excavated by chance from the ruins!"
"Oho..."
Thinking it might yield some useful data, Jin decided to throw in a bid.
"Ten!" "Fifteen!" "Twenty!"
The lot drew little interest from the rest of the room, and he secured it easily for two hundred thousand Toll.
"Let us keep the momentum going! Next is a 'spherical crystal' discovered deep within a mine!"
"Hm?"
It was a sphere roughly five centimeters across, possessing a pale, glassy sheen.
(That's no ordinary crystal... The base material is likely a low-level all-attribute magi-crystal, but why... Ah, of course.)
Jin pieced together why a rounded magi-crystal would turn up so deep underground.
(A golem housing that kind of 'control core' must have been swallowed by magma deep in the mine.)
Everything else had melted or burned away, leaving only the durable control core behind.
"Still... between the intense heat and centuries of decay, any internal data is probably long gone."
Even so, his curiosity won out.
"Ten!" "Fifteen!" "Twenty!"
Jin claimed this lot as well for two hundred thousand Toll.
The auction pressed on.
"Now then, we have something of a slightly different nature!"
The next item brought forward was a dagger.
"Ah."
Elsa let out a soft gasp at the sight of it.
The blade was the spitting image of the dagger Jin had forged for her birthday back before they were lovers.
"But... that's not... the one."
Indeed. Through a long chain of events, the original dagger Jin had made had eventually fallen into the hands of Celuroa Kingdom royalty, only for Laojun to buy it back for one hundred thousand Toll.
In short, the blade before them was not the original, but a replica.
"Still... I don't want anyone else to have it."
A replica of the dagger Jin had designed just for her. To Elsa, the very shape of it carried his feelings.
"Ten!" "Fifteen!" "Twenty!" "Thirty!" "Fifty!" "Seventy!" "One hundred!"
"Two hundred."
"And there it is—two million Toll! Claimed by Lord Jin Nidou!"
Though it had technically been Elsa's bid, the replica of that cherished dagger found its way safely into her hands.