kaitou

Grinden, Kreis Eingeweide, Leithanien

*Sigh*...

Finally, my eyes don't ache so much anymore. Finally, I can sleep...

Search everywhere! Check the equipment on his table especially carefully!

Locked box? Just blast it open! Rip the shelves apart! Take apart the gramophone!

And you—

Spit it out, now.

What would you like me to say, meine Herr? All I know is that the box you just destroyed was placed in my care by a client, and that it's very valuable...

Are you accusing Graf Saxon of causing your loss?

Of course not.

You look too sly to be playing dumb, kid.

...Well, what business brings his lordship the Graf down from his spire to this humble abode in its shadow?

It would be my pleasure to be of service.

No traps over here.

Nothing here either.

...You have good eyes, I'll give you that.

Everyone, outside.

I regret that we must meet in the middle of this mess. I hope you don't mind.

Of course not, meine Herr. The shop is closed for the day. Please, go ahead.

You're smart, Heinz. Good.

Y-Your Excellency...

Ewigegnade wants a unique crystal for this year's Empress' Celebration. The whole country's been looking for one, ever since the edict was issued.

I had promised Her Majesty that Grinden would fulfill her wish.

But have you any idea how much effort it took to find that one bicolor crystal?

Deep, rich blacks and bright, shining golds in equal balance, neither overwhelming the other, not one speck of impurity in either.

Perfect proportions, perfect colors, like Leithanien's Eternal Grace and Austere Authority themselves.

I called it Zwillingstürmeträume. There could be no more fitting gift for Their Majesties!

The Empresses' Voice will be here in seven days to retrieve the gem, yet someone managed to get through all my guards and steal it?

Did the thief's Arts let him pilfer from a mile away, or turn himself into thin air?

Or have I simply hired a bunch of useless trash?

We will begin the search immediately. Leave no stone in Grinden unturned...

Search? You don't even know who did it, or how?!

...Find Heinz.

You're asking me to—

I'm not asking. I'm giving you an order.

You appraised the Zwillingstürmeträume. You must remember its fantastic color, and the starlight within. No one who's seen it could ever forget.

Recreate it, Heinz, in all its glory!

B-But I'm just a humble apprentice appraiser. The cutting equipment here is only fit for private research, perhaps embedding ornamental gems in instruments and wands, at best.

It's really too much to ask me to do the work of a master cutter and replicate such a treasure.

It's unlikely that Their Majesties' gemologists would be fooled by an ordinary replica. If this is found out, I—

Enough.

I sponsored you because of your talents in appraisal and cutting.

I was even considering you for whatever the equivalent of concertmaster is in your field, here in Grinden.

...It would be an honor to receive that title from you.

But do not forget how you made your name as an appraiser.

Don't fool yourself. This isn't the first time you've made a counterfeit. I can live with losing you. Can you say the same?

I've never forgotten.

I never forget, Your Excellency.

Hm...

Excuse my impudence, but the reflection on your buttons changed quite significantly when the sun came out from behind the clouds just now.

So you can scan the surrounding environment through the refraction of light, even in a dark valley like this... Aren't you being a little <i>too</i> wary?

Naturally, I would never complain about His Excellency's guards.

However, I'm carrying materials that can be used to create gem replicas. You must understand that I must be more cautious than usual when walking through places like this, where the glory of the spire is distant.

And... I'm made even more uneasy when I think of who I must deceive.

Speaking of which, would you take a look at these materials, and tell me if any are similar to the texture of the Zwillingstürmeträume?

Hm...

Looks like the Graf's faith in you was not misplaced.

Seize this opportunity, kid, and you'll be rewarded when the Graf earns the favor of the Twin Empresses.

Opportunity...

Danke. It's just that this... opportunity... is rather daunting.

I'm just a normal guy who fell in love with gems. I didn't know the first thing about cutting or counterfeiting.

You know very well what the Graf sees in you.

To me, it was just a series of coincidences.

I still remember the first gem I ever faked. It was lousy, even for a forgery.

I didn't have the guts to use good materials, or the skills to mend cracks with leaded glass and resin.

But as an apprentice of the jewelry store, I could get it into the display with implicit, even explicit permission, skipping the appraisal.

I was even more afraid than I am now, ready to flee at a moment's notice. I even spent many sleepless nights contemplating if I should turn myself in to the police.

But you were never found out, or we wouldn't be talking about this now.

A baron bought the fake gem at a grand price, and I left the jewelry store.

I learned later that he wasn't particularly wealthy, and that buying the gem was a gamble for him, trying to restore his status in high society.

Better-trained eyes saw through my lousy counterfeit immediately. The baron went mad, and he was never heard from again.

I was lucky. Somehow, no one cared about the death of petty noble like that, so no one ever came after me.

Ha, a lowly baron clinging to whatever meager status he had by licking the boots of the truly great. Of course nobody cared.

You also helped a scholar make a fool of his rival, didn't you?

I had even less to do with that. Or should I say, I merely made a mistake.

As you know, my wand is powered by leftover gemstone roughs, which I acquire at a very reasonable price.

For some reason, though, there was a complete gem in that one shipment of roughs.

Do you really not know how it happened?

I didn't dare think too much about it.

Even if a magician knows that his trick has malfunctioned, and that the saw really will cut his assistant in half, what choice does he have but to close his eyes and make the cut?

Later, I learned that a secretary had been punished for selling a gem he had been entrusted to guard.

But by that time, it had been reduced to dust in my test tube.

And...

And the fake appraisal that caught the Graf's attention.

I thought Graf Saxon had come to make me pay for ruining his nephew's reputation, who held the honorable title of Vizegraf.

You simply did as you were told, and appraised a second-rate gem like it was an exceptional treasure.

Then the foolish Vizegraf Saxon showed off that fake appraisal along with the gem at every opportunity, and became a laughingstock.

Ja... I simply did as I was told.

Not only was His Excellency not angry, he regarded my skills highly. I don't know how I can ever repay his kindness.

All you need to do is follow your orders faithfully.

Your humility is one of the reasons the Graf appreciates you, Heinz. Don't try to be too cunning.

Ja, meine Herr.

Enough small talk.

The Empresses' Voice will arrive at Grinden in three days. Any flaw in our tribute, and there will be a smoldering ruin where the Graf's spire once stood.

Time to get back to your worktable.

There's another story about gems that led me to where I am today.

A story about a mine that exploded and collapsed for no apparent reason.

But if no one cared about the fate of one lowly noble, why would anyone care about this story of poor, unfortunate commoners?

(Whistle)♪

(Whistle)♪♪