Solo Swordmaster

#243. I have a guess.

“I like basic stuff like that, but I’m looking for something more special.”

“Then, how about the hallucinogens distributed to the Holy League? There are high-end products used by shamans during ancestral rites.”

“Is there anything more special than that?”

“Um… how about the narcotic cologne? It is a patented product that blends several drugs to make it attractive to users.”

“Sorry, but not the kind I’m looking for.”

“Then what medicine are you looking for?”

Whether it’s the aphrodisiac that makes the night fantastic.

Whether it’s a stimulant that allows you to endure ten days and nights without any fuss.

If it’s a drug, whatever it is, just say it.

Seeing a girl who would have just become a member of society say things that would have been said by a drug lord in other countries, Yuna-gyeong muttered with a bewildered face.

[…Are drugs sold in department stores in this neighborhood?]

‘What are you so surprised about? Did you know that drugs are legal in Brazil?’

[Yeah, I knew Brazil was famous for that, but I didn’t expect it to be this much…]

In a sense, it doesn’t matter if Yuna-kyung is dumbfounded by a scene that is more fantastic than London, which was called Madao.

Li Qingyu smiled and answered the waitress girl’s question.

“I’m looking for Ambrosia.”

“…what did you say?”

“A drug called ambrosia that has been popular recently. I was curious because there were so many rumors.”

The girl’s face, which had been wearing a smile like a model of a waitress just a moment ago, hardened in an instant.

“Guests, our coffee & drug store does not handle illegal drugs.”

The girl said firmly, as if she was offended just by looking for something like that.

Li Qingyu tilted his head at her.

“That is strange. Someone I know says there must be ambrosia here.”

“Someone the guest knows must have misunderstood something.”

“is that so?”

“yes!”

“Then may I pass that message on to the person out there?”

“…yes?”

The girl who looked around outside the store with a puzzled expression turned pale.

It was because I saw Barbara’s green hair waiting outside the store with her arms crossed.

“If you really do not buy and sell ambrosia here, there will be no problem even if the person dispatched from Quetzalcoatl headquarters checks it.”

“A cow guest?”

“Of course, if ambrosia were to be found here, it would be a big deal… but that wouldn’t be the case, would it?”

Li Qingyu calmly asked the waitress girl, who had turned blue, then dark, then turned pale with no blood at all.

“Let me ask you again. Can we really not get ambrosia here?”

Looking at Li Qingyu and Barbara outside the store with a mixture of anxiety and nervousness for a while.

The girl swallowed dry saliva.

And with a trembling voice, he opened his mouth.

“I’m not selling that product, but… Among the samples that came in the past, there was one bottle that came in wrongly mixed in, and that…” It

was just a sample received unintentionally by someone’s mistake.

To the girl desperately trying to explain, Li Qingyu nodded as if she understood.

and asked calmly.

“Do you still have that strange medicine?”

“yes!”

After a while.

Li Qingyu, taking the small vial the girl had hurriedly pulled out, tilted her head at the golden liquid inside.

And after opening the lid and smelling it, he made a strange expression.

‘This color and this scent?’

Although not as good as the green dragon clan, as a black dragon clan, Li Qingyu had basic knowledge about poison and drugs.

And as far as she knew, there was only one drug with this color and this scent.

“…I can see why Maia is investigating this even while moving herself.”

* * *

With a strangely disapproving face, for a moment, I tried to fiddle with the feel of the chisel and hammer held in my hand.

Limon let out a small sigh.

Then, after placing a chisel on the stone in front of him, he mercilessly struck it down with a hammer.

kang!

Unstoppable hammering as if determined to smash a stone.

However, each time the rough hammering continued, the change of the split stone was surprisingly detailed and accurate.

It seems like it was originally like that.

Or like it’s enchanted.

After repeating the process of breaking and falling off the useless flab, after only about twenty minutes had passed, there was no more stone left.

Instead, only the stone statue of the gladiator who defeated the lion was in place.

Hermann’s impression of the sculpture was clear.

“Have you seen all these crazy talents?”

“…Hey, sculptor man. I did everything I was told, so isn’t the swearing a little too much?”

“Ask a passing sculptor. If you made this statue in less than an hour, everyone would say the same thing as me.”

Herman shook his head excitedly.

I knew that Limon was very talented when I saw the garden he had planted.

However, the result of teaching him sculpting in earnest was far beyond his expectations and was at the level of breaking through 1,000 won.

It was the same with this stone statue.

From the wounded mane and teeth of a lion, to the wriggling of muscles and tiny scars through a gladiator’s armor.

Its appearance, in which every aspect was delicately expressed, was so elaborate that even Hermann in his prime would have to hang on for weeks.

Most sculptors wouldn’t even be able to imitate it.

But I made this masterpiece in less than an hour, even with only a chisel and a hammer.

It was to the point where Herman doubted that Limon was a spirit wearing a human mask.

More than anything else, what puzzled Hermann was not the speed with which he finished this stone statue, but the various techniques embedded in the elaborate sculpture.

“I can feel the style of the late Baroque period in this lion, which made good use of the contrast between light and darkness…” “

I made some reference to the Lion of Lucerne in Lucerne.”

“But for a gladiator in the Baroque style, the anatomical features are well preserved, which somehow feels like ancient Greek techniques.”

“I’ve seen similar statues in the Free Cities League before.”

“In addition, the composition of this gladiator and lion seems to be expressing realism because the expression is so vivid.”

“I was just reenacting a gladiator fight I saw before?”

“…As far as I know, the last match in the Colosseum was over 900 years ago. Did you see it yourself?”

“It’s not something you have to see for yourself to reproduce. There are many pictures of gladiator fights.”

Let’s be silent for a while at that unobstructed answer.

Hermann asked shyly.

“Lee said you never learned sculpting.”

“But why?”

“…then how do you know the baroque or ancient greek carving techniques?”

“Just by chance?”

“…”

“Why? Isn’t it easy to just copy a piece or a picture in the first place?”

“It’s not wrong, but…”

Hermann put on an indescribable expression.

In the first place, imitating and duplicating the masterpieces of the past for an artist is also a process in itself of learning artistic techniques.

It is also common for artists to imitate the work of others.

But that also has a degree.

It is astonishing that a human who is learning sculpting for the first time can reproduce a sculpture he has seen before.

Find the texture of the stone.

Doing super-fast slices.

He even showed off the trick of melting several past sculpting techniques into one sculpture.

For Hermann, it was an amazing situation.

‘…Do I have to feel human that it took 20 minutes?’

What’s even scarier is that this time it took a while.

When using other carving tools, especially knives, Limon’s carving speed was beyond imagination.

‘I don’t know if I have anything to teach this friend.’

As soon as the class started like that, he didn’t know if he knew the feelings of Hermann, who started to feel helpless as if he was climbing a cliff with a blade embedded in it.

Limon opened his mouth with a very disapproving face.

“But no matter how much I think about this, Mr. Sculptor, it feels like you are entrusting your work to me.”

Limon bluntly challenged Herman, who had escaped from his thoughts and smiled bitterly.

Originally, if Hermann’s illness is cured, their deal is to cooperate in unlocking the carving knife.

However, it was only because of this that he had to heal the disease and release the seal himself.

Hermann’s answer was simple.

“I don’t have the confidence to pass the test until the disease is cured, but you can pass the test of the carving knife right now.”

If it’s just that you can’t take on the challenge because you don’t have the qualifications, then why don’t you become a sculptor and get the qualifications from now on?

Watching Herman speak seriously, Limon frowned.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Why are you making such an excuse because it’s a problem? And that’s a nobleman whose name is the world’s best engraver.”

Limon, who looks like he’s looking at his grandson, asks to do his homework for him.

Herman, who looked at him with complicated eyes, finally opened his mouth in a heavy voice.

“Partly because I miss your talent.”

“Then what about the other half?”

“…It’s because of my greed.”

Herman sighed.

He has never raised a disciple in his entire life.

He didn’t want to waste his time while he was busy honing his skills.

Thanks to devoting his whole life to art, Hermann was able to become a world-class sculptor.

However, as he suffered from an illness and retired, he had no choice but to regret that the skills he had cultivated throughout his life would be buried.

“In short, just when you were hoping someone would inherit your sculpting skills, a talented person called me appeared just right, right?”

“exactly.”

One more time to nod.

Herman opened his mouth with a face mixed with regret and bitterness.

“If you don’t want to learn my sculpting skill, you can quit. As Lee said, the test of the carving knife should be solved after I am cured.”

Let’s look at Hermann like that for a moment.

Limon finally scratched his cheek.

“What good. Let’s learn it for now.”

“Are you really going to be okay?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust your skills, but there’s nothing wrong with having insurance.”

It was just insurance to pass the carving knife test.

I don’t really have any intention of becoming a sculptor, so keep in mind that no matter how much you teach yourself a skill, it’s the same as being killed in the end.

Looking at Limon, who spoke in an amused manner, Herman lowered his head after a moment of silence.

“…Thank you.”

“Thank you, so tell me how to make me a sculptor.”

No matter how many times he made a sculpture, he asked how he could qualify himself as a sculptor with a carving knife that would not budge.

At Limon’s words, Herman opened his mouth after thinking for a while.

“Actually, I have a guess as to why you were not recognized as a sculptor.”