The auction concluded after six more lots crossed the block.
Incidentally, neither Jin nor Elsa had any interest in those items, so they were claimed by other bidders.
"Thank you for your hard work, Jin-dono."
"Thank you for your hard work, Elsa-sama."
An official informed them that the staff would take full responsibility for delivering their winning lots, and Jin's party directed the delivery to their guest quarters in the Royal Palace.
After returning to their room and refreshing themselves with a bath, Jin and Elsa sat down for dinner.
Having requested room service, the two chatted comfortably over the meal. Reiko served their food, while Hope stood guard by the door. Najas Kahn had already excused herself.
"That was pretty interesting."
"Nn."
"Though there was hardly any artwork or fine craft to speak of..."
In Jin's mind, auctions were typically meant for fine art. If anything, the free market seemed to have had a better selection of that sort of thing. He glanced toward the wolf figurine he had bought from the unknown boy.
"Nn. I think this country probably doesn't have the luxury for those kinds of things yet."
At Elsa's observation, Jin nodded in agreement.
"You might be right..."
It was in details like these, Jin mused, that one could gauge the cultural maturity of a nation.
"The one thing that really bothers me is whoever put up that magic stove claiming I used it."
"Nn, I know what you mean....Though the replica of the dagger you gave me was probably commissioned by someone connected to that bratty royal."
"Most likely. We retrieved the original afterward, so there's no doubt about it."
And the genuine dagger had supposedly been interred alongside the "human" Elsa.
As for the magic stove, Laojun was currently conducting a thorough investigation. The truth would surely come to light soon enough.
As they sipped post-dinner tea, a knock sounded at the door.
Hope answered it to find Najas. Behind her, a servant pushed a handcart loaded with their winnings from the auction.
"I have brought your items."
"Perfect timing. Thank you."
Jin rose from his seat to express his gratitude, and Hope took charge of the cart.
"Well then, please excuse me."
Najas refrained from entering the room, offering a polite bow before taking her leave.
"Now then..."
Looking over the cart, Jin considered where to begin before picking up the spherical magi-crystal unearthed from the deep mine.
"'Analyze'...Ah, useless after all, huh."
The extreme heat of the lava and centuries of degradation had taken a heavy toll, leaving almost no meaningful information behind.
"Well, the base quality was low to begin with..."
Only fragmented magi-formulas remained.
Even so...
"Just as I thought, this is definitely pre-Great Magic War."
He could tell at least that much from the archaic syntax of the magi-formula—a style entirely obsolete in the modern era.
"Next is the magi-crystal fragment."
Jin suspected this piece was part of a control core or some sort of data storage medium.
"'Analyze'...Oh? Looks like there's data left in this one."
He immediately followed up with magi-craft to read the contents.
"'Decompile'...Oho."
"Nn, fascinating."
Visual records were preserved within the fragment.
"Is this... a scene from the Great Magic War?"
"Looks like it."
Over a hundred golems assembled in formation, followed by a recorded sequence of them marching in organized ranks.
"As for the rest... Ah, the data is corrupted past this point. Better not force it."
Jin hoped that if Laojun analyzed and reconstructed the data, they might uncover something new.
"The last one on my end is this."
It was the golem wreckage.
"Let's see what it's made of... 'Analyze'...Yeah, definitely an old golem."
The internal framework was made of carbon steel, a material no longer used today, with a slight trace of silicon. Silicon reduces toughness while increasing hardness—meaning that in large quantities, it turns the metal hard and brittle.
"0.4 percent silicon and 0.1 percent sulfur....That's quite high."
Sulfur also exerted a massive influence on steel's properties, primarily causing hot shortness—making it brittle when heated.
"On top of that, 0.2 percent phosphorus. That's high, too."
Unlike sulfur, phosphorus caused cold shortness, making steel brittle at low temperatures.
"In other words, this was probably a mass-produced model."
Jin concluded that it had not been meticulously crafted one by one by a magi craftsman.
"None of the musculature remains. It must have used biological materials."
Biological materials degraded without mana circulating through them. After seven centuries since its destruction, it was only natural that none remained.
"As for the control core... Ah, too bad. Nothing left."
He hadn't expected much, but the absence was still disappointing.
"Still, this remaining plating is intriguing....'Analyze'...Just as I thought, it contains manganese and vanadium."
Even in trace amounts, these additives improved hardenability. High hardenability meant that when heat-treating large components, the hardening effect penetrated deep into the core. Conversely, steel with poor hardenability only hardened on the surface, leaving the interior soft.
Because quenched steel shifted into a crystalline structure called martensite and expanded slightly, uneven hardenability could cause the entire piece to warp, or in severe cases, crack. For that reason, steels with excellent hardenability were favored for casting molds.
"Despite using high-grade steel for the exterior armor, the quality of the inner frame is terrible. This inconsistency means they weren't produced in the same workshop or factory."
"A division of labor?"
"Yeah. Factory A built the frame, Factory B assembled the muscle tissue, and Factory C attached the armor, or something along those lines."
"I see. That makes sense."
Jin figured that during the Great Magic War, they must have needed every single combat golem they could possibly churn out.
Finally came the true last item: the dagger Elsa had purchased.
"The inside... The blade is plain silver."
"Yeah."
Jin's original had been forged from mithril—specifically 925 mithril—whereas this was ordinary silver.
"Only on the surface... A shame."
"Well, that's usually how these things go. But the design is an exact replica."
"Nn."
The exterior craftsmanship was remarkably faithful. On that point alone, even Jin was impressed.
"As a keepsake, I'll display it in my room."
"Sounds good."
Since their purchases from the free market were currently aboard the Hurricane, they couldn't inspect them here.
"Well, let's call it a day with this."
"Nn."
And with that, Jin and Elsa's auction haul had been thoroughly examined.