“Though, it can’t be helped. They say that learning is theft…”
There was no other way to develop the art of sculpture. He could only accomplish the requests in silence!
“Good work.”
“No, not at all.”
Even though the Dwarf who had entrusted the request to him came, Weed only gave curt responses.
“Oh! It’s a really great piece of artwork.”
“I simply carved it.”
“To think that you could trim the surface so smoothly… And look at the curvature of the surface. To think that we could see the pinnacle of grace in the curvature!”
“Since I made it with a lot of consideration, please stop the cheap talk and give me money.”
The height of exhaustion!
Even if he earned favor, the sculpturing requests did not compensate well. He would only get the amount that was already agreed upon.
Of course, if he made a sculpture that was better than requested, he could get a bit of a raise in compensation. However, the reward would not raise if he simply traded words.
The Dwarves gently laughed at Weed’s haggardness.
“If you’re a Sculptor, you have to have at least this much pride.”
“Ah, well! You could go act like one.”
“A engraver with a wonderful personality. If I have another request, I’ll come again.”
“Please request a commision that pays well next time.”
Even though Weed showed his frustration, the Dwarves took the sculpture and left satisfied.
He even had situations where he received mundane sculpture requests!
He also had a lot of times when he created things like graves or a Goddess in the continent of Versailles. However, there was nothing the Dwarven Artisan city of Kuruso did not have.
There was a lot of monuments, memorials, museums, etc, piled up by extraordinary Dwarf craftsmen, but commissioned sculptures were rare.
“There really is not even a stall.”
Nevertheless, Weed continued to carve sculptures.
— I said to sculpt us.
— Sculptor, why are you following the counterintuitive path?
He was getting used to the murmurings of the unknown presences.
Weed only did business at certain sculpture stores, sculpture materials stores and a certain spot on the side of the road.
However, one day the sculpture store owner held out a sculpture that looked like a bat.
“Art Hand, take a look at this.”
“Why?”
“Can you give your impression of this work of stone?”
Weed examined the work as he handled it.
“It’s annoying, but you do know that sculptors are naturally not very good at this job?”
“I know, but I wouldn’t ask for no reason. Yes, you won’t be disappointed with the compensation.”
“Then will the sculpture I make be sold for a high price?”
“Just to gain 1 percent more. A popular sculpture will sell for a very high price, and other sculptures can sell for a high price even if they are not as popular…”
Also according to the transactions the prices of sculptures could rise.
If many merchants came to want the statue then the price will also rise. In reality, the value of the defensive equipment in Thor and Kuruso were expensive due to their popularity.
In order to set the price following the economy of the market, the sculptures couldn’t be sold for a particularly high price, even if it was Weed’s sculptures. It was a poorly made sculpture, not one made using superior materials and without a lot of consideration.
“Since it’s only one impression, I’ll try it.”
Weed closely examined the bat sculpture.
“I don’t think there is anything special about it…”
Since he made many sculptures, his observational skills had vastly improved.
The bat sculpture that was made using a rock consisting of poor quality clay did not seem to be a piece that was made with great skill.
‘It wasn’t elaborately presented, and there are many crude knife marks. It’s barely average.’
It was a piece that Weed would have regarded as a failure.
It was a rule that the more time you invest in a sculpture, the more the mistakes will be corrected, but this sculpture was filled with mistakes.
“I’ll know more if I take a closer look. Identify!”
It is a Bat Sculpture with an unknown name.
The Bat Sculpture is covering its body with its wings.
Its form resembles the Vampire Bats of the Shaspin Cave.
Artistic Value: 3
Weed was about to pass the sculpture back to the store owner and said.
“It seems to be nothing much. It has no worth and it seems like it was made simply.”
“Is that so? That’s disappointing. I had a lot of expectations for this sculpture, since it was found in the rapids of a lake.”
But it was at that moment.
Weed looked at the eyes of the sculpture.
Thrilling!
The eyes of the Vampire Bat whose eyes were alive with fright!
They say that a bat’s eyes were degenerated, but it still had eyeballs. It seemed as though the surprising bright eyes were moving about.
Its eyes were not made of stone, but were made of precious rubies.
Weed swallowed and examined the stone piece again. He touched the rubies with his fingertips, and observed it while shining a light at it.
‘It’s a ruby that hasn’t been cut and is rough. Since it’s a ruby that I can get thousands for if I touch it up a little, I can’t see how something like that should be in something like this Bat Sculpture.’
Then he had received a message!
— You have discovered evidence of the Shaspin Vampire Bat in the stone piece.
Weed felt another weird feeling.
“Identify!”
Shaspin Vampire Bat.
The work of the Dwarf Craftsman Gudolph.
It was the last completed work in the Shaspin Cave.
Artistic Value: 245
In Kuruso Kingdom, the region behind the lake that was littered with caves.
It was certain that without a guide, one would get lost within the complex anthill-like cave.
Thanks to the Dwarves’ innate senses and the ability to read the traces of ore deposits they could never get lost underground. However, since anyone could get lost in a complex cave even with a map, if it wasn’t a particularly brave Dwarf, they never ventured in too deep.
The young Dwarf Gudolph cautiously walked into the cave.
‘This time… Have to find courage to go to the gemstone mines.’
Gudolph was highly noted as an artisan, but even more than that, he had a good grasp of the underground ore deposits.
“I ought to give her a pretty brooch as a present.”
He wanted to give a brooch he created with the gems he found to his lover when he proposes.
Gudolph took up a fast pace towards Shaspin cave.
“This is the way that leads to a cluster of ruby viens.”
The Shaspin is a place Dwarfs do not dare to go. Gudolph was blind in love and cautiously went into the depths of the cave.
Dark, and narrow cave!
He passed by stalactites and the vampire bats sleeping on them.
He was willing to risk his life to move further into the cave to mine jewels.
And from the depths of the cave, he discovered traces of light emitted from jewels.
“It’s here!”
Cheered, old Gudolph as he struck his pickaxe into the vein.
He found the mine of high graded red ruby gemstones!
“This will be more than enough to make a brooch for her!”
Gudolph sank into happiness.
However, the sound coming from the pickaxe as he was digging the ruby out woke up all of the Vampire Bats in the Shaspin Cave. The Vampire Bats beat their wings and flew over to sink their teeth into Gudolph.