Kelves Wins It All

As treasured items from Marquis Arius's collection, every piece was extremely valuable.

There were several that even made Yohane let out an impressed hum.

As a merchant, I couldn't help but want to stock them.

"Originally I'd like to say I'll give you all of these, but… I need money for the aftermath of this incident. Choose any one from among them. Consider that my thanks and apology for this incident."

"I see. If that's the case, I'll choose without reserve. May I have some time?"

"Of course."

The items on the desk would each fetch no less than a thousand Imperial gold coins.

Some were excellent as magical tools, while others like a vase made of gold would be easy to convert to cash.

Which should I pick? Even if they were seized goods, I couldn't very well sell something I received from Crown Prince Kelves, so I should avoid the ones meant for liquidation.

Hmm, as I was wracking my brain, Elza returned.

It seemed she'd left Alexia to rest.

"Weakened Alexia-chan was so different, she was actually kind of cute."

"She was unusually subdued. She's probably been putting on a brave front all this time."

"She's always encouraging us, so I'm worried…"

"Worrying about that gorilla of a woman is pointless. She'll be fine by tomorrow."

Alexia, with her competitive nature, had been both the fighting strength and emotional pillar of Yohane's group.

It was understandable that seeing her weakened would unsettle everyone.

Finn was the only one being a bit harsh, but that was just her usual sharp tongue.

They got along well enough despite that.

"So what are you doing now?"

"Various things happened and I get to receive one item from among these. I've been trying to figure out which one. What do you think, Elza?"

"Let's see…"

Elza examined the items on the desk.

After checking them over, she seemed to have her answer quickly.

"Oh my, there are quite a few dubious items mixed in here. High effectiveness but terrible drawbacks, so I'd recommend filtering those out."

"That cursed Thorn Staff is more than enough for cursed magical tools. Make it something normal."

"Ho, so you can appraise such things too? Our mages and priests checked them to some extent, but could you tell us more?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Items that cause no problems unless used are hard to distinguish."

Elza put on gloves and sorted through them one by one.

She set aside about a third of the total.

"Something like this. There were quite a few magical tools with malicious effects, like bringing misfortune to the user in exchange for bringing fortune to someone else."

"How like Marquis Arius. Make slaves or condemned prisoners use them, and only he would benefit. Used skillfully, he could probably cause incidents like this one. Convenient, but the more you use them, the more you'd lose your heart. Gloria, dispose of these."

"Understood."

Gloria carried them away, and the items Elza had filtered out disappeared from the desk.

She probably understood things that ordinary priests couldn't.

If I trusted Elza, then the remaining items were safe, but still…

"Master, I think that one would be good."

Elza whispered in my ear. Her breath tickled.

What she indicated was the plainest-looking item among what remained, a stone that resembled a pickle weight.

It looked like a large jade-colored gemstone. If processed well, it would be worth quite a lot.

I'd excluded it from my options thinking it would fall into the liquidation category, but if Elza said so, I'd go with it.

Her advice had never been wrong.

"Then I would like this one."

"Very well. Heh, you are indeed a merchant. Do you like gems?"

"I'm embarrassed to say. The bigger the gem, the better."

I received the large gem, and everything else was cleared away.

It had been a good experience to be able to choose from such items.

They say there's no such thing as a free lunch, but since I'd already paid the price this time, there was no need to feel obligated.

Now I just needed to find out if this was truly valuable enough for Elza to specifically choose it.

"There's a saying: fortune lies in the midst of death. With Marquis Arius's death, anyone who could have become my political enemy is now gone. The perfect stage for my coronation has been set. Yohane, I'll prepare a good seat for you."

With that, the discussion concluded.

All manner of petty crimes would be pinned on Marquis Arius, and his house would be abolished.

The vacated territory would be distributed to those who had contributed to the succession war, and the funds needed for reconstruction would come from assets seized from Marquis Arius.

Everything had wrapped up neatly.

Looking at the results, Crown Prince Kelves had come out the sole winner of the turmoil that began with the succession war.

Once he was formally crowned Emperor, I suspected he would wield overwhelming power that not even the Senate could challenge.

What lay beyond was autocracy, and the Empire's growth.

I might become a witness to history.

We collected the now-awake Alexia and returned to our room with Azu and the others.

Alexia's complexion had improved somewhat after resting.

"So what is this? There must be a reason you prioritized it."

"Of course there is, Master. Try to guess."

"Hmm."

Elza looked at me with a knowing smile.

It wasn't just an ordinary gem, then. A merchant's life depended on their eye for value.

I couldn't examine it closely in front of Crown Prince Kelves, but now I could.

If she said so, I would figure it out.

I took out a monocle, fitted it to my left eye, and studied the jade-colored gem carefully.

"Ah."

"Azu-chan figured it out? Don't say it!"

"Um, what should I do…"

"Don't tell me the answer."

Azu seemed to have figured it out.

The gem had not a single flaw, and felt faintly cool to the touch.

I thought I could see a pattern inside the stone.

Looking closely, I could sense the flow of magical power along the pattern.

"A magic stone…? A massive magic stone with magic sealed inside, right?"

"Hmm, close but not quite."

"Was I wrong?"

As I was mulling over "close," my head suddenly felt heavy.

"Ah, don't!"

When I reached up, the Water Elemental had climbed onto my head at some point.

It was extending part of its body toward the gem.

The moment the Water Elemental touched it, a powerful wind burst from the gem.