Who Is the World’s Strongest Appraiser? ~Living in Another World With Satisfying Meals~

Flea Market, Con Artists, And Forgeries

Even though Yuuri was trying to end things quietly and peacefully, Lelei’s outburst drew the attention of everyone around them. The stall owner stared at Yuuri in surprise and glared at the shouting Lelei. With a forced smile, he began to speak.

“Please don’t say such harmful things like calling them forgeries. All of our paintings have been properly authenticated.”

“Yes, that’s true. To the untrained eye, these paintings would appear to be authentic. The materials used are accurate, and they’ve even been aged to give the appearance of wear.”

“Wha—!”

“But a forgery is still a forgery, isn’t it? …Is the young man behind you the artist?”

With all the commotion, it was only a matter of time before the guards arrived. Having no other choice, Yuuri calmly confronted the stall owner—this scammer—before him. Since it was plainly visible to him, there was no way around it. For Yuuri, that was all there was to it. There’s nothing that can deceive the [God’s Eyes], so no matter how perfect a forgery is, “It’s an incredibly well-made piece, equal to or even better than the original. But unfortunately, it’s still a forgery. It would have been better to sell it as a replica,” is what he could see when he appraised it.

…Huh? The [God’s Eyes] appraisal is strange, you say? It’s always like this. Don’t worry about it.

At Yuuri’s words, the man who had been organizing the goods in the back flinched. When Lelei had shouted about the forgeries, he had also reacted in fear. Although it wasn’t something he should normally do, Yuuri decided to quickly check the professions of the two men, as things were about to get complicated. The result was that the stall owner was a scammer, and the man in the back was a forger. It was so on-the-nose it was almost laughable.

While all this was going on, the guards arrived and arrested the stall owner. It seemed that the guards knew Yuuri. Well, maybe it was half thanks to Lelei. Being a member of the Scarlet Lynx and the fact that Yuuri was Ali’s protégé with appraisal skills, turned out to be more of a big deal than they had expected.

“So, all of the paintings in this stall are forgeries?”

“At least according to my appraisal, they are. …They’re incredibly well-made, so it’s a shame. If they didn’t have the signatures, they could have sold as replicas…”

“Indeed. If they were replicas rather than forgeries…”

Listening to the conversation between Yuuri and the guard, Lelei tugged on Yuuri’s sleeve. When he turned to her, she asked him her question.

“Hey, what’s the difference between a replica and a forgery?”

“A replica is an imitation, while a forgery pretends to be the real thing.”

“And why is it okay to make replicas but not forgeries?”

“When you learn a martial arts stance, you mimic it to get better, right? So, imitating isn’t a bad thing. But if you claim you created it yourself, that’s a lie, right? That’s why forgery is not okay.”

“I see.”

Lelei nodded, satisfied with the explanation. Before them, the now-handcuffed stall owner, now clearly identified as a scammer, was angrily yelling, while the forger stood quietly, ready to be taken away. The contrast was so stark that it was obvious to everyone who the mastermind behind this scam was.

Upon further questioning, they learned that the forger was a struggling artist who had been honing his skills by creating replicas. The scammer had taken notice and preyed on him. He was poor, in debt, and couldn’t refuse the man’s offer. It was a story as old as time.

“What a waste…”

Yuuri muttered quietly, watching the forger’s retreating back as he was being led away. The forger stopped in his tracks. Even the guards stopped escorting him. With all eyes on him, Yuuri turned to Lelei and started making small talk. He was completely oblivious to the attention he was drawing. Lelei noticed but didn’t really care. After all, there was no malice or hostility in the air.

“What’s a waste?”

“With skills like his, where he can recreate something so perfectly, I think he could be an art restorer.”

“What’s that?”

“As the name suggests, it’s someone who restores paintings. You know how old paintings tend to fade or peel? To fix them, you need the same level of skill as creating them.”

“I see… You’re right. If he can make something that looks so much like the original, he could probably do that.”

“Right?”

As they casually chatted and laughed, tears suddenly fell from the forger’s eyes. The guards didn’t say a word. Yuuri didn’t know whether that kind of job even existed or not. Lelei didn’t know. The guards didn’t know. The forger didn’t know. But Yuuri had just shown him that possibility, completely unaware of the impact of his words.

Later, a profession called “art restorer” quietly began to take shape, but neither Yuuri nor Lelei would ever know about it.