The Academy’s Weapon Replicator-Chapter 8.2: The Branch in the Coffin, Mistilteinn (5) Part 2

The current highest stock price is being run by the Viet Trading Company.

However, that's a recent evaluation, and the Viet Trading Company had lost its brilliant heyday before it passed through Quinie's hands.

At that time, everyone thought that the Viet Trading Company was irrecoverable. And it was indeed true.

Looking at the flow of the Viet Merchant Association, it was impossible to return to its heyday.

So, Quinie completely broke it down and started over.

She eliminated all unprofitable trade relationships, fired people, and cut off all ties with the nobles she had been close to for a long time.

After removing all the bubbles stuck to the merchant association, the deficit was resolved. The problem was that the number of enemies increased accordingly.

Viet had been doing a lot of business with other merchant associations and families. Among them, there were many who would go bankrupt if the Viet family went bankrupt.

But Quinie cut them off without hesitation. Things like 'time' and 'affection' that had been traded for a long time were not considered. Naturally, the number of enemies had to increase.

Hence, she earned the nickname 'Little Devil Quinie'.

Afterwards, Viet grew impressively. And as the Viet Merchant Association grew, all the families that Quinie had cut off walked the path of downfall.

As a result, the world's evaluation of Quinie, who they had called reckless, changed.

'Cold-hearted, yet with a discerning eye that sends chills down one's spine. Her ability to judge people and evaluate abilities is comparable to foresight.'

If Quinie doesn't cut them off, or if she reaches out first, the family grows. If Quinie cuts them off, the family falls into ruin.

After such situations repeated, the families who tried to bring down Quinie found themselves in hot water.

Being cut off by Quinie became proof that they were not worth it. Naturally, their popularity fell, and they were labeled as incapable families.

Quinie, who had an eye for discerning people, was like a ghost.

Her ability was said to be comparable to foresight, but of course, it was not foresight.

So, naturally, she couldn't read all the incidents that occurred unexpectedly.

Such an obvious fact was particularly annoying to Quinie today.

"So, everything is mixed up?"

"Well, that is, by the time we arrived, it was already this bad."

"So it's mixed up?"

At Quinie's inquiry, the butler stammered and shut his mouth.

Quinie sighed.

"Let's go and see how much of a mess it is."

With that, Quinie led the butler out to the front of the mansion.

In front of the mansion, the servants were already busy sorting out the items that had been unloaded.

"......Unbelievable."

The front of the mansion was a complete mess.

Items that were not recorded as purchased from the merchant guild were visible to Quinie's eyes.

"Recently, counterfeit scams are trending. Especially, places like our merchant guild that purchase goods in large quantities are the main targets. They forcibly drive out the driver by bringing a similar vehicle, and swap similar items from the cargo of both vehicles. They even prepare separate counterfeit items that are hard to distinguish from expensive ones."

"So, if the counterfeits are prepared in advance, that means they knew what we purchased from our merchant guild."

"Yes. It seems there was someone who stole records from galleries or museums."

Sigh, Quinie let out a sigh.

Only then did she remember Anne's words that her father had been scammed by counterfeits.

It was too much to expect her to anticipate this situation from that one sentence.

Still, the situation was better for the Viet Merchant Guild. Because they discovered the crime scene.

The problem was that the scam artists were in the middle of swapping, so the cargo from both vehicles got mixed up.

They had brought both vehicles here and were sorting through the contents.

"......But what are they doing over there?"

Amidst the employees and servants busily sorting items, people were gathered in one spot on the other side.

"Ah, we hired a few appraisers. We found a lot of fakes that look very similar to what we bought."

"Hmm."

Out of curiosity, Quinie walked towards where they were gathered. She wondered how similar the fakes could be.

But then.

"Ah, wait, no way. No way this is..."

What was in front of Quinie's eyes were two paintings. The painting she bought from Remuze. It was a painting of a praying girl.

'This can't be...'

The two paintings looked exactly the same. Only, the girl's expression was different. One was smiling, and the other was expressionless. The painting Quinie bought was definitely of the smiling girl.

"Is the, appraisal finished?"

"Ah, Miss Quinie. I apologize. It was quite difficult, but the appraisal is finished. The painting was so good that I lost my mind without realizing it. Haha."

The appraiser smiled awkwardly.

Quinie swallowed. Which one could be the real one?

Quinie looked at both paintings again. To her eyes, the one with the smiling girl seemed more real. The act of prayer and the girl's smile. The dissonance was even more beautiful.

"So, which one is the real one? Which one has higher artistic value?"

"Um, the answers to those two questions are different."

"Pardon?"

The appraiser pointed to the painting of the smiling girl.

"The one with higher artistic value is this one. We all admired it as soon as we saw it. Not only the girl's expression but also the way the colors were used, the effort put into the underpainting, all of these accurately depicted the beauty of an unfamiliar combination. Above all, it borrowed the coloring method used in the original, yet elevated its sophistication. Most people wouldn't be able to distinguish it from the original."

Having said that, the appraiser then pointed to the painting of the girl with a neutral expression.

"The original is this one. This one is also a painting of excellent quality. However, the method is a bit old-fashioned, and above all, the girl's expression is regrettable. We also initially thought this one was the imitation."

"But how do you know it's genuine...?"

"Fortunately, we had someone among us who knew this work."

Another appraiser came forward.

"It's 'The Girl's Prayer' by Alain Bouchon. Both the artist and the work are quite obscure, and the artist has been dead for a long time. Very few people would know about it. The fraudsters who were trying to switch it with a fake must have brought the real one. They probably bought it cheap from some gallery."

A fake with higher artistic value than the real thing.

So, is that why Frontier called it a 'great counterfeit'?

...No, then.

"So, is there a way for an ordinary person to recognize this as genuine?"

"It would be difficult. Even museums have displayed fakes thinking they were genuine. To distinguish between fake and real in such works, you would really have to have been lucky enough to see the real one in the era when there were no fakes, or you would have to have conquered almost all the paintings on the continent."

At his words, Quinie blinked several times. She seemed to be thinking about something, then she finally spoke.

"It was good luck, wasn't it?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, it must have been good luck, right? There's no other way to explain it,"

She was fervently appealing a story that the appraisers couldn't understand.