Author: Himezaki Shiu	Original Source: Syosetu
Translator: Jiro	English Source: Re:Library

Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

The receptionist greeted us warmly when we returned after completing the 100-million-yen request. She probably didn’t believe me when I told her I wouldn’t do something reckless. And I couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t common for someone to know of a place where they could just find fallen Ancient Dragon scales. If I hadn’t cheated, it would’ve honestly been easier to win the lottery.

It was normal to assume that I’d do something reckless and die without even finding them. Just as I was expecting to receive my money, I got stopped by the receptionist, who told me that I needed to wait.

“Why? Was there a problem?”
“It’s not a problem with you, Miss Fi, but rather with us. Since we only have records of Ancient Dragon scales, we need to verify that these are genuine. Normally I would like you to come with me to the examination venue so that we can confirm that these are yours, Miss Fi, but…”
“Is it some kind of a conspicuous place?”

“No. We’re just going to someone with an Appraisal skill. It’s easy enough to show them, but when dealing with a valuable item, there is the risk of having the person in charge taking it and running away.”
“In that case, I’ll come with you. And this doesn’t mean that I don’t trust you. I’m just interested in the Appraisal.”
“I’ll guide you there.”

I did trust her. After all, if someone intended to steal, they wouldn’t bother informing me in the first place. And if they did steal on top of that, their sheer audacity would be impressive enough for me to let them off the hook. And although it would probably annoy the Ancient Dragon a bit, I could just go and take another scale.

Walking behind the receptionist with Lullus, I spoke to the receptionist.

“Say, what are you planning to do with the Ancient Dragon scale?”
“I can’t answer that,” she replied.
“Figures.”

An adventurer didn’t need to know what it was going to be used for.

“To begin with, I don’t know much about the request itself either. It was already there when I arrived here, and the higher-ups have never mentioned it.”
“By higher-ups do you mean to say the Collegium head knows about this?”
“I wonder about that. I believe they know that this strange request exists, but nothing more. The number of requests that come into the Collegium is enormous, so it’s impossible to keep track of them all.”
“How many people have taken on this request?”
“Well, there are records for it. From them, I’d say it’s about one or two groups every couple of months.”

This all seemed a bit fishy. It was fascinating how bits and pieces of information slowly came together to form an answer, much like a mystery novel. And I was the perfect audience—reading along, only to be impressed when the riddle was finally solved.

“They’re in this room.” The receptionist stopped in front of a door. A sign hanging on it read, ‘Appraisal Room,’ so I was sure this was the place.

(An appraiser, huh. An appraiser…)

Perhaps because I was in a situation where I was waiting for the spirit to recover, I felt a bit mischievous. Following the receptionist inside, I found a feeble-looking man, seemingly of the human tribe, buried in a book.

“We’d like to request an Appraisal.”
“An Appraisal, huh. Sure thing. I hope I’ll be able to see something interesting today.”

It wasn’t my imagination—the man didn’t seem particularly motivated. He appeared downright apathetic. Maybe he had a past of appraising nothing but fakes.

It was easy to see how he’d snap back at someone when telling them the results of an appraisal. I almost felt sorry for him. But while I was lost in thought, the receptionist presented him with the Ancient Dragon scale. At first, his eyes were skeptical, but as soon as he caught sight of them, they gleamed with excitement, and he eagerly stepped forward to examine the scales.

(I see. So he’s that type of person.)

“An Ancient Dragon scale… To think I’d get to see the real thing with my own eyes! You can’t imagine how many fakes I’ve seen… And when I tell them they’re fakes, they just get angry…”

I knew it—this man carried some deep-seated resentment.

“Are you sure they’re real?” the receptionist asked.
“I am. I’ll write up the certificate right now.”

The feeble man pulled out a piece of paper from his desk, which was buried under stacks of books, and began writing something down. It was probably a type of Magic Tool, as it radiated a faint presence of Mana. Using Appraisal on it, I found out that it was paper on which you couldn’t write lies. It was necessary to ensure the results of the appraisal were accepted as objective truth.

I could have tampered with it if I wanted to, but there was no need this time.

As I watched the man writing, our eyes met. He was probably curious about who had discovered the Ancient Dragon scale. So that’s probably why he used it.

The man’s eyes widened in surprise.

I chuckled softly and then turned to look at the receptionist.

“What will we do with that certificate?”
“We’ll have you hold it, Miss Fi. Although it’s rare to have high-value requests like this one, when it does happen, it’s common for you to receive the certificate after you’ve received the reward from the client.”
“I see. So it’s a certificate to make sure that the client doesn’t complicate things.”
“That is correct. Some people refuse to accept that something is fake, even when presented with an appraisal…”

“In that case, you can leave ahead of me. I bet you still have work, and since I’ll have this thing, it should be fine. I want to speak with this man for a bit.” I said.
“You did say you were interested. I understand. I believe it should be fine with your status, but if he tries anything, don’t hesitate to smash him or call for help.” The receptionist said.

(Good. That takes care of her.)

After confirming that she had indeed left, I turned to the appraiser. He was breathing somewhat heavily, and I showed him a bright smile.

“You saw my status, didn’t you¹?”

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