Inside Yamazaki Gallery, it was a place where elegant music permeated each and every person present, where all of the visitors were silently inspecting one sculpture after another. It was divided into three parts: the main gallery, the expert's gallery, and the master's gallery. The main gallery occupied an enormous space and had the most works of art. Northeasterly in the gallery, three works of art were emitting a very unique aura. The person who had spent time studying the art of sculpting immediately would sense this aura. More than ten thousand works of art were found within the gallery; therefore, these three sculptures were thus like needles hidden within an ocean. If nothing else, it was extremely hard for anyone to take notice of them.
"Most of these sculptures feel hollow. They have a shape but no soul." The 180-year old Count Jun'ō was slowly making his way through the main hall, his gaze flickering past one work of art after another. Count Jun'ō didn't have any other hobbies; the only thing he liked was sculptures. Every morning he would take a walk through the Yamazaki Gallery. But in that main building, there was scarcely any sculpture that could draw the interest of Count Jun'ō.
"Milord Count, any sculptures took your fancy?" A beautiful attendant beside him said to him. Since Count Jun'ō was coming here each and every morning, all the attendants working at the Yamazaki Gallery knew him quite well.
Count Jun'ō shook his head and laughed. "Haven't found any yet."
"Milord Count, the quality of the sculptures here is much inferior to that of the sculptures in the hall of experts and the hall of masters. Why do you spend every morning here?" The female attendant said in curiosity.
Count Jun'ō deliberately let out a mysterious laugh. "You don't understand. There are countless sculptures within this main hall. Perhaps hidden within there are some good works. The feeling of panning for gold by sifting through mud is quite marvelous."
"Oh?" The attendant looked questioningly at Count Jun'ō. Of course, Count Jun'ō didn't explain anything further. He simply continued appraising one sculpture after another without end, but the moment his eyes landed on those three works of art sculpted by Renji, his eyes shone brightly. Appraising sculptures for more than a hundred years, he could immediately discern the difference in these three sculptures.
"Cool, natural, proud and aloof…" Count Jun'ō could not help but praise. The word was 'essence'. For a work of art to be termed a 'good' work of art, it had to have that certain special essence to it. At a single glance, Count Jun'ō could tell that these three works of art emanated a cool, proud, and aloof aura. It was this unique aura that had stopped Count Jun'ō in his tracks.
"Come, come over here and help me place a bid. For these three sculptures, I am willing to bid a hundred gold coins each." Count Jun'ō said to the female attendant. The female attendant beamed and immediately pulled out a records book. After marking down the registration number of each sculpture, she drew three pieces of paper and put them beside them. On each paper were written the words 'hundred gold coins'. While the female attendant was doing her administrative work, Count Jun'ō continued to savor these three sculptures.
"Wait a second "Jun'ō's eyes, shrouded in darkness a moment before, suddenly gleamed as he fixed his gaze intently upon the statue of the 'Dragon King'. "How can it be that the scaled armor on the back of the Dragon King is done with the same contour, line for line, as though it were one continuous series with the leg? Logically the scaly carapace ought to be carved by the butterfly chisel, whilst the leg needs to be carved by the employment of the Direct Chisel.
No matter how careful one is, the lines can't be made to blend together 100% perfect!
"Count Jun'ō had been a student of sculpture for a hundred year.
He was not an especially flowery noble to start off with, but through sharp eyes, obtained many low-priced sculptures which he would get at a high price whenever he sold the amount. This was how Count Jun'ō became one of the wealthy nobles in Solara Kingdom City.
Can it be that it was carved using a single tool? Impossible, aside from the butterfly chisel, what tool could possibly have been used to carve out such perfect, exquisite details in each protruding scale?" Count Jun'ō frowned, concentrating fiercely. He had never seen something so queer. "Milord Count?" Seeing him in a daze, the female attendant couldn't help but call out to him softly. Count Jun'ō's eyes flickered. In my wildest dreams, I never thought that I would see such a special work of art in the main hall of the Yamazaki Gallery. I'm not allowed to attract other people's attention towards it. If I make a bid for a hundred gold coins, some special attention will be drawn towards it.
It might raise the price by jumps and bounds." Count Jun'ō instantly made up his mind.
He would leave these sculptures alone for a few days and then later come back to bid on it at the last two days.
"Help me cancel my bid." Count Jun'ō directly said to the woman beside him.
Cancel?" The female attendant sounded shocked. According to the usual rule, once a bid was made, it could not be cancelled. But Count Jun'ō was a very old, long-time customer of the Yamazaki Gallery, and so the female attendant very matter-of-factly removed the three bidding stickers.
"Might I ask milord Count why you have retracted your bid?" The female attendant asked.
Count Jun'ō smiled inscrutably. "No need for you to ask. Oh, right, I want to ask you, how many days have these three sculptures been on display?" The female attendant flipped through her record then smiled. "These three sculptures will be on display until June 30th. They were just brought here to the main hall yesterday." Count Jun'ō nodded slightly. "Alright, I'll wander around a bit. You may proceed and complete what you need to do." Count Jun'ō smiled. But, deep inside, Count Jun'ō could not help but secretly strengthen his heart. It is in his assessment that, indeed, these three sculptures are worth about three thousand gold pieces in value.
An ordinary sculpture by a craftsman amounted to approximately a thousand gold pieces, and all three of these sculptures were done in an extremely unique manner.
The actual valuation would be doubled just based on that alone.
...
Count Jun'ō continued to visit the gallery every day. Indeed, just as he had expected, because the Yamazaki Gallery had so many sculptures, nobody else had managed to discover these three sculptures. Even if someone had, they only felt that the sculptures looked nice and couldn't see the true value of these sculptures.
June 10th. Count Jun'ō visited the Yamazaki Gallery again. Casually wandering about the main hall, he stepped over to take a look. But once he arrived before the three sculptures, his face screwed tight. Attached beside each of the sculptures was a bidding slip. Three stone sculptures, each one with a bid for three hundred gold coins.
As he did so, Count Jun'ō inwardly boiled in impassioned anger. "Fool! Even if you found yourself appreciating the value of the sculptures, why would you go and make such a high opening bid? It only serves to bring more attention to it." Count Jun'ō fumed in his heart, yet he could do nothing. He had no authority to take back another person's bid. Everything happened just as he had feared it would. June 12th. Count Jun'ō again found himself in front of the three sculptures. By now, the price had changed once more. "Five hundred gold coins?" Count Jun'ō's eyes narrowed into slits. "Seems like there are quite a few people who know quality when they see it."