Art Gallery– Or Rather, A Folk Museum?

After leaving the archeological museum, we headed for the art gallery

next. The means of transportation is, of course, the bus driven by Mr.

Hiishi.

"You know, it was the same with the archeological museum earlier, but

don't you think this place feels more like a folk museum rather than an

art gallery...?"

"A folk museum?"

"Uh, cuz it somehow has this rustic feel to it."

Mimi tilted her head in confusion. Maybe she just couldn't relate to my

words.

Basically, all of the elven-style buildings we've seen until now kinda

resembled Japanese-style buildings for some reason. Most of them were

single-story, and the biggest we've seen just went up to two stories.

Their roofs were made out of black tiles, and the rest were basically

made out of wood. The facilities were certainly well-made, but I just

couldn't help feeling that they resembled those folk museums found in

the rural countryside back in Japan a little bit too much.

"C'mon Boss. Don't just stand there and hurry up already."

"Ok, ok, I know already, so stop pulling me! You're gonna tear my arm

off!"

Tina pulled me by the arm toward the art gallery. Man. Just where was

Tina getting all this power from anyway? She's so small and yet so

strong. Well, it wasn't just Tina. Whisker was the same as well. The

strongest member of our crew was undoubtedly Mei, but the ones

following after her should be Tina and Whisker. Oh, and by the way,

despite the two's small size, they actually weigh... Oh boy. I'm

suddenly feeling intense bloodlust from both the front and back. I ain't

thinking anything rude, ladies. Nope. No siree.

"Wow… These sure are pretty."

"Hou, lacquerware huh?"

The first thing that caught our eyes after entering the gallery was an

exhibit of lustrous, black boxes resembling lacquerware decorated with

golden patterns. They resembled Japanese multi-tiered food boxes,

with their gleaming black exteriors rife with golden plant motifs.

"Lacquerware?"

"They're made by repeatedly brushing layers of resin on a wooden base,

sprinkling metal powder to create decorations on the surface, then

leaving it to dry. I'm not sure if these are produced the same way, but

they sure look similar."

After reading the exhibit description, I confirmed that they really were

similar to wooden lacquerware. It seems they're made by applying the

sap of a tree native to Refill IV to a wooden box lots of times, and then

sprinkling powdered gold in order to form the decorations on the

surface.

"It's just like how you described, Boss."

"These boxes are really pretty... I think I've never seen such a deep

black color before."

"Fumu. They do give off a unique elegance, I guess."

Anyway, they certainly might be pretty to look at, but I'm not sure if

they were that practical. The ladies might want to use them as

cosmetics or accessory cases, but a boorish guy like me probably won't

find much use for them. I'd rather give them out as gifts. I might be able

to use something like a lacquerware comb... but plastic brushes are

more than enough for me anyway. It just doesn't suit me, but it might

suit Mei and her lustrous black hair. I guess I'll take a peek at the

souvenir shop later and buy one after all.

Afterward, we proceeded deeper into the art gallery and found a variety

of other items in addition to lacquerware. There were excellent-looking

silk fabric rolls that were apparently made by weaving silk-like threads

spewed out by silk moth larvae the size of a large-breed dog, as well as

local outfits made from the said fabric. Among them was a Chinese-style

dress similar to what Lilium was wearing. As for the description, it

seems these were traditional dresses worn by Rose clansmen for

generations.

"Oh, hey, Boss, I think that's a spirit silver hunting blade over there."

"Hou... It kinda looks like a hatchet sword huh."

It looked like a fairly large single-edged knife. As the name suggested, it

boasts a blade made out of spirit silver. Regular silver was basically a

metal that wasn't fit for making blades, but it looks like that wasn't the

case for spirit silver. Does that mean it was stronger and tougher than

the silver I was familiar with? It had 'silver' in its name, but perhaps it

was a metal with very different physical properties.

"Isn't it dangerous to go up against ferocious creatures with such a

short blade?"

"Un. Well, as far as I've heard, some of the animals they hunt seem quite

dangerous if provoked, so maybe they finish them off from a distance by

using bows and arrows instead of this? They might only be using blades

like this as a backup weapon or something to that effect."

"Or maybe they use them as sub-weapons for instances when their prey

manages to close in on them."

"They might also be using them simply for delivering a coup de grace or

dissecting their prey."

"Ah, sis, there's an unsheathed spirit silver blade we can pick up and try

over here."

Whisker, who was walking a bit ahead of us, suddenly called out. As I

and Tina headed to where Whisker was, I glanced back and saw Mimi,

Mei, and Elma talking in front of the exhibit displaying the various elven

folk costumes. It looks like the former two were asking Elma about

something.

"Oh, Boss, this thing is a lot lighter than it looks."

"Hou? Let me see."

The spirit silver's hilt was actually fixed to a stand by a sturdy wire. It

was probably an anti-theft measure. The blade was quite thick. Its

length was probably about 30 centimeters or so. It was fairly large for a

knife. It was a straight single-edged blade that looked quite sharp. This

thing would probably run a human through quite easily even if you

pulled your punches a bit. It actually kinda resembled a Japanese

katana, or rather, a tantou[1].

"It really is light... It's so light that it feels like I'm holding a toy instead

of a dangerous weapon."

"It's really light compared to iron. I think it's as light as aluminum."

"If it's strong enough to be used to make blades, that'd make it plenty

useful."

"But PAM metals aren't that heat-resistant though."

"Their structural integrity will be instantly compromised the moment a

laser hits them, so they aren't suitable as materials for making

starships. They also aren't that great for making monoswords either.

That's because they would be practically useless the moment you block

laser fire with them."

"I see."

While listening to the two's explanations, I noticed something weird

was happening to the hunting blade I was inspecting. Isn't this thing

vibrating like crazy?

"Hey, is this hunting blade actually equipped with a hyper-vibration

mechanism or something? It's trembling like heck."

"I wonder? It won't be strange for somethin' like that to be tacked onto

it to improve the sharpness of the blade, but it's weird that even the

hilt's vibratin'. Ain't that kinda useless?"

"If even the hilt's vibrating, then it's basically considered a defective

product after all. I think it's better to put that away, big brother. It looks

dangerous."

"I see."

But what's up with installing such a mechanism to a blade that's meant

for display? Well, it was scary alright, so I tried to put the thing back to

its stand. And then–

"""Ah..."""

The moment I placed the blade back on top of the exhibit stand, it

shattered to pieces. It didn't just snap in two. It literally crumbled to

pieces. It was as if it got destroyed because it couldn't withstand, uh,

something.

"...Was that my fault?"

"I dunno... But it's true that you were the last one who touched it,

Boss."

"You didn't do anything weird to it earlier, did you...?"

I don't think it was my fault the blade broke, but it wasn't good to keep

quiet about it either. It can't be helped, so I decided to call Lilium over

to explain the situation.

"Eh...? This is–?"

Lilium looked pretty confused as she checked out the shattered blade of

the hunting knife. Yeah, of course, she'd be confused. It would be a bit

more normal if it was just split in two, but it's actually crumbled to

pieces after all. It was definitely weird.

"I'm not really sure what happened, but it broke even though we didn't

do anything weird in particular."

"Neither us nor Boss actually touched the blade directly."

"Yeah. I just held it by the hilt and checked it out for a short while.

Honest."

"Well, you're the one who checked it out last though, Boss."

"What a sudden betrayal."

"Facts are facts, Boss. Ya gotta be honest in times like these."

"Yeah, but still…"

As we bantered like that, a museum staff member came running to

check the situation out and was also surprised to see the shattered

blade. It looks like no one had any idea how it broke the way it did and

why.

"Did you fire the laser gun on your hip at the blade...?"

"No, no, of course not. I really didn't. And besides, there's no reason for

me to do that, is there?"

"Yeah..."

"Can spirit silver really be shattered like that if you fire a laser gun at it

with the lowest output?"

"It's possible, but we didn't really do anything like that. Both Boss and

us don't have any reason to pull something like that off anyway."

"Right…"

I don't think I was the one who broke it, but it really was suspicious that

I was the last person to touch it before the thing broke. That's why I

decided to just pay for the damages. They refused to accept the money

though.

"The cause of the incident is currently unknown after all, and it doesn't

look like you intentionally broke it, sir."

When we checked the security cameras for theft prevention, I was

absolved of all suspicion since they didn't manage to witness any odd

behavior from the captured footage. It seems the shattered blade was

going to be sent to a research facility to investigate the cause of its

destruction.

"You really do cause all sorts of weird and troublesome stuff huh..."

"Ahaha..."

"It's not my fault..."

After all was said and done, I was glared at by Elma in exasperation

while Mimi laughed bitterly on the side. Fine. I admit that I'm a trouble

magnet, okay. But it's not like I could have predicted that earlier

incident anyway. I mean, how would I know a tough-looking hunting

blade like that would actually crumble for no rhyme or reason?

"Um, this is probably a good time, so how about we return to the inn

already, everyone? You can rest up a bit, and then we'll have your

welcome dinner."

"Right, shall we, guys?"

Elma agreed with Lilium's suggestion, and everyone else agreed as well.

I was kinda worn out after that hunting blade incident, so I also agreed

with taking a break. Let's just hope and pray that no more troublesome

stuff will occur during the welcome dinner.