If that were the case, he could see why they would price such a small brooch for fifty gold pieces, based on its value as a piece of art alone. If it were part of the Unassigned Series, then it wouldn’t be surprising to see it with a price tag of a thousand gold pieces. The brooch had a built-in ability to nullify all bodily ailments. Putting a price tag on it was impossible. Even if he exchanged everything he had—his territory, his social status, the people of his territory—it wouldn’t be a fair trade.
—No. If it’s being featured in the auction, then it’s safe to say the auction price is the appropriate price. It’s positively ludicrous, but in a certain sense, that is the truth of the matter. It is, but... Duke Walter thought, trailing off.
Without informing anyone beforehand, it cut down the financial contenders that could bid with Duke Walter, so it made him wonder what Gratt’s goal in all this was. Thinking reasonably, his goal would be sabotaging any competitors since someone else was exhibiting these to auction, but since Gratt was acting as a representative of the exhibitor, then it wouldn’t make sense if he was trying to sabotage himself. In which case, Duke Walter thought to himself before conjuring up what Gratt told him.
“The only thing I will say is that this is from the good graces of a certain normal girl.”
Why did an Artifact of such caliber exist? Why were they attempting to sell off an Artifact of this caliber? Why did he emphasize the “normal” in “normal girl”? None of this made any sense. But what did make sense was that there was no better item to give his daughter as a gift than the Artifact being exhibited in the auction today. And then...
“Hurry! Scrape together all the gold pieces I have on-hand right away!”
Duke Roadwell and the rest of the aristocrats barked orders at their servants, but... they were too late. There was no one around that could beat Duke Walter with all of the the gold coins that he had gathered for the sake of his daughter. Duke Walter won the bid on the Artifact that would later be named the Angel’s Blessing.
A few days later, the president of Gratt Commerce paid him a visit.
“Congratulations, Duke Walter.”
“Thanks to you, Gratt, I was able to give my beloved daughter a delightfully unexpected present. You have my deepest gratitude. I promise you that I will devote my life to making it up to you.”
“No, as I mentioned the last time, this was all because of the good graces of a certain self-proclaimed normal girl.”
“Self-proclaimed normal girl, eh? You know, I was wondering what you were talking about when you told me that the first time, but...”
In the Artifact’s description, it stated that it was created in a “normal girl’s free time.” That, combined with Gratt mentioning that the good graces of a self-proclaimed normal girl made this possible... Logically thinking, the author of that description and the self-proclaimed normal girl were one in the same. Naturally, a normal girl would never be capable of doing such things. Actually, no human would be capable. However, the Unassigned Series was unassigned because the creator never tried to gain a reputation for themselves. The creator was also said to be the youngest daughter of the True Bloods. The True Bloods were a tribe that suddenly went missing a millennium ago, but since they were said to live for several millennia, it wouldn’t be unusual if they were still living somewhere out in the world even now.
“...Would this self-proclaimed normal girl so happen to be...”
“I do not know.”
“And by that... do you mean ‘don’t pry’?”
“Of course, that is a part of it, but I truly do not know. In fact, if I were to be so bold as to give my personal opinion... I would say she is an angel proclaiming herself as a normal girl.”
“...So she’s an angel, is she? Then was all this a blessing for my daughter?”
“Precisely.”
Duke Walter had meant what he said entirely as a joke, but Gratt nodded in affirmation in seriousness.
“She wants to help any girl in need—that is her catchphrase, so to speak.”
“I see. Any girl in need...”
In that case, she undeniably did all of this for my daughter’s sake. I have to admit that I don’t quite understand why this had to be done on such an overly-grandiose scale, but... angels work in mysterious ways, Duke Walter thought to himself.
The duke’s beloved daughter, Liliane, did eventually marry in to the neighboring nation. However, her life there was far from an easy experience. Those who tried to improve relations between the two nations were on her side, but those who wished for war were constantly after her life. That being said, she stood against adversity and began to win the trust of her husband, the future king, and it was told that, in the end, she made great contributions toward improving the relationship between the two nations. Known as Queen Liliane, she was pivotal as a bridge of peace between both countries. Although people attempted assassinations through several methods, including poisoning, the reason as to why she was able to live such a long life was the subject of much speculation. There was also much absurdity among those speculations, which made it difficult to tell the truth from fabrications, but... the most plausible theory was, surprisingly, an anecdote about how she was being protected by an angel. That was said to be the reason, because once she passed away from old age in her final years, an angel descended from the heavens before all of her mourners... However, nothing was ever said for certain.