[276] 1. Hostile Friendship (5)
"An equal exchange of luck and misfortune?"
"No. It's not the object's fault; it's a human problem. The first owner of was a shoemaker from the lower class. He probably made a fortune. But he couldn't overcome the compulsion. On days when the little gift came up, he'd fall into deep depression—seventy-five days out of a hundred. In the end he developed a mental illness and went mad from spinning the roulette all day."
It was a phenomenon that occurred when a person fell into probabilities.
People who sink to the depths of gambling don't gamble for the money. What they want is the thrill of winning the odds; money is merely the tool to get that thrill.
"Over the years, passed into the hands of a noble. He wasn't the type to stare at a roulette because he lacked cash. Then one day he hit a miracle. And..."
"And?"
Woorin puckered her lips as she pictured the scene.
"His family went bankrupt."
"Bankrupt? How?"
"When you win a miracle you get an object. The noble received a small stone called . If you touch it, whatever the user imagines becomes real within a twenty-meter radius. The noble who got indulged in his fantasies every day. You know how it is—human desire…"
Woorin fidgeted with her forefinger and clicked her tongue, embarrassed to go on.
Shirone understood immediately, and he didn't think it was necessarily all bad.
Everyone has desires, and imagination is how people balance those desires with reality.
The problem came when that imagination became reality.
"In any case, their house collapsed. left to find a new owner. It's still very popular among collectors, but it doesn't last long. There've been cases where it's back on the auction block after a month. Of course objects are dangerous, but that's a human problem, not an object problem. In fact, most owners of lived comfortably."
If that was true, Shirone had nothing to argue. But he felt increasingly uneasy.
If it wasn't inherently dangerous, then what exactly were these objects? Why did things like this exist in the world?
Shirone looked again at .
An object that spawned other objects was a golden goose to any collector.
But it also felt terrifyingly destructive. If there were no limits to object production, the world would be doomed eventually, if not immediately.
When Shirone voiced the thought, Woorin agreed to an extent.
"That's possible. Maybe not in our generation, though. But it'll be fine. Objects aren't indestructible; they'll break with time. So far, the most dangerous thing to come from a miracle has been . Curia classifies as A-grade. is also A-grade. Maybe it just can't give gifts above its grade."
Curia was a world-famous auction house; Shirone had heard of it from Neyd.
What caught Shirone's attention more was another remark.
doesn't give gifts above its grade. It sounded plausible at first, but it didn't make sense.
"How could that be? Grades are determined by the auction house—there's no way an object knows the criteria. Isn't it just coincidence? Even across 240 years, miracles are rare. Factor in the chance of an A-grade showing up and there isn't enough data to be statistical."
"That could be, but..."
Woorin didn't commit either way. Shirone's reasoning was sensible, but once someone owned more than forty objects, they inevitably learned things ordinary people couldn't.
One of those things was Curia's VIP membership card. On the back was a notice—clause one read:
Objects do not guarantee 100 percent safety to the user.
Members asked curators to explain clause one. The curators would then offer example cases that hinted at how objects might originate; hearing those made it clear clause one wasn't just boilerplate scaremongering.
Woorin, however, held back on that topic.
Curia's VIP membership wasn't something you bought with money alone. You had to share a kind of allied attitude toward the objects.
Abusing privileges and showing off to non-members would only devalue the objects themselves.
But Teraje's pride wouldn't let Woorin stop the game, so she let Shirone discover things for himself.
"Come over here. I'll show you some other objects."
Woorin led Shirone to a shelf. The first thing she showed him was a magnifying glass anyone could buy.
"This is an object called . It shows a person's bare skin."
"So it sees through clothes?"
"Yes. But it only works within five centimeters."
Woorin made a playful sound and aimed it at Shirone's lower half.
Despite having heard the , Shirone crossed his legs without thinking. Woorin stuck out her tongue and handed him the magnifier.
"Hehe, you try it, brother."
Shirone held the magnifier to his arm.
At first the fabric appeared merely magnified, but as he brought it closer, bare skin was revealed.
"How curious. But if it works like this, you might as well just look directly."
"Right! If you tried to spy on a woman you'd get caught right away. That's probably why it's called ."
"Haha! Maybe. But depending on how it's used it could be handy. It might see through armor too, so you could use it at checkpoints."
Shirone handed back .
"What's the principle? Clairvoyance?"
"I haven't confirmed it. An object's ability doesn't always match its apparent function; it could be a property of the handle or the rim. Honestly, it's not a high-grade object. I bought it by chance and just keep it to round out the collection."
Compared to , Shirone agreed, it felt lower-tier.
Next Woorin showed him a bookshelf packed with works by renowned scholars.
"This belongs to Jion. It's an object called . If you place books on this shelf, their contents enter your head without reading them. You can fit about one hundred twenty-four books in Kazra typesetting. Note that if you remove a book from the shelf, the memory disappears."
Shirone was stunned. Simply placing books on a shelf and having their contents download into your mind was a shock of a different sort from .
"How can a bookshelf connect to a person's mind?"
"Surprisingly simple. Some objects have a tendency to bind to a user. At auctions we call those . In short, is a object bound to Jion. Curia ranks it as B-grade."
Shirone drank in the sight of .
Even if he didn't want any of the other items, he truly wanted this one. He was beginning to understand why collectors fell for objects.
Woorin showed several more. A headband called —when worn—made you exercise for an hour while unconscious. It helped you lose weight easily, but the warned to lock your door because it might make you perform ugly movements.
There was also , a pair of stones, one red and one blue. Hold one in each hand and the painful spot constricts then releases, loosening the muscle like a massage.
Shirone tried them and felt incredible relief. When his arms, legs, shoulders, ankles, and soles were massaged at once he nearly passed out from pleasure. Though it lacked human warmth, the effect was superb.
'So that's why it's called . This is probably about D-grade.'
At that thought Shirone's eyes widened.
The names of the objects he'd seen, and the grades even a layman could judge—those two facts revealed the objects' secret.
'I see. Objects are…'
For the claiming doesn't give above A-grade to hold, one of two hypotheses had to be true.
Either the objects knew the auction house's grading criteria, or the objects had intrinsic values.
The answer was the latter.
Objects are born with intrinsic value. Their functions are directly tied to human desires.
The desire to be beautiful, the desire for knowledge, the desire to receive a daily gift, the desire to make imagination real.
Seen that way, , which fulfills the ultimate animalistic desire, was unquestionably deserving of an A-grade.
'So then what is S-grade?'
Flipping the statement that won't give above A-grade implied S-grade existed.
Shirone thought it likely. Humans have animal desires, yes, but also higher, more abstract yearnings.
If was the pinnacle of animal desire and ranked A-grade, S-grade probably contained objects embodying rational or transcendent longings.
"Heh. I'm starting to get a feel for it."
As Shirone fell into thought, Woorin smiled with satisfaction. This was the joy of collecting.
Meanwhile Jion seethed.
Woorin had never kept anyone this long in the gallery aside from a Curia VIP member.
'How dare he…'
To Jion, Woorin was more than a sister—she was his most powerful asset. More potent than the royal blood in his veins.
'Why? What does some bastard think he's doing, hovering around her?'
Unaware of Jion's boiling rage, Shirone continued scanning the shelves.
Seen closely, the wealth was staggering. Most of the objects on the shelves were C- or B-grade, with the occasional A-grade.
A luxury no kingdom could flaunt. It hinted at how formidable Teraje's direct line—Woorin—truly was.
After checking the entire east shelf, Shirone glanced north. It was barren save for a single sword on display.
"Huh? Woorin, what's that sword?"
"It's . Jion cherishes it most."
Jion, who scorned even gold, cherished this above all. Yet the sword wasn't ostentatious.
No gaudy jewels, no scabbard. Still, it radiated a strange, captivating aura. There seemed to be subtle design differences ordinary senses couldn't detect.
But that assessment vanished when Shirone saw the gem set in the center of the hilt. An overwhelming presence washed over him; he couldn't look away.
It was as if Armand itself called to him—his feet moved without thinking. By the time he came to, he was at the north wall.
He reached slowly for the hilt when Jion shouted.
"That's mine! Don't touch it."
Shirone recoiled in surprise, and Jion's snarled expression showed no sign of softening.
was a object bound to its user. Yet its presence was so strong it sometimes reached out to other users.
How it chose people wasn't explained in the , but an object tempting others while its owner stood nearby was plainly offensive.
Shirone collected himself and asked Jion.
"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to. But this is S-grade, right?"
"What do you want to know that for? You can't even afford trash like this. Get away from my sword. Who does some illegitimate wretch think he is, pawing at a royal heirloom?"
Shirone scowled and turned away. Even if was S-grade, he wasn't so lacking in pride as to lose interest after being spoken to like that.
Watching Shirone, Jion changed his mind. Maybe it was for the best. This was a good chance to show the gap between royalty and a mountain-dweller.