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“Continuing, the appraiser division! Ms. Amabelle, please!”
“…Alright.”

Amabelle was clearly not into it. All the staff members knew that she wasn’t the type that liked standing before an audience, but we somehow convinced her anyway, so this much couldn’t be helped.

“…As an appraiser, I felt the biggest excellence from registration number 81, the Yeti’s… shield.”
“““?”””

Everyone was puzzled.

Number 81, team ≪Azure Sword≫ had made a Yeti, put it in armor, and had it hold a sword and shield like a warrior. The weapons and armor were well made given their familiarity with the subject, but the actual statue looked more like a haniwa.

Her words suggested that the value lay not in the Yeti sculpture itself but in its shield.

“Uh, Ms. Amabelle, please explain.”
“…Honestly, I didn’t know what to even do from an appraiser’s perspective, so I just settled on what was most valuable. That’s all.”

Not just Ria but several others also directed pleading gazes at me.

“Ms. Amabelle, please tell us your basis for valuation.”
“Basis…? The basis was the quality of the snow that was used. That shield was not only made with fine quality snow but was also more stable than everything else.”

The only people who’d accept that answer would be ones like me who held the Appraisal skill to confirm it.

But even people with the skill wouldn’t know that because the shield had a hexagonal shape similar to ice crystals, so due to the symbolism related to snow the ice and wind Factors were more strongly bound to it.

…The reason she didn’t judge it based on commercial value was probably that she approached it from the perspective of the material’s worth. It was expected from her, who was always involved with materials… I guess?

“Uhh, err… A-As the special prize of the appraisal division, ≪Azure Sword≫ will get rare metal ingots and high-grade ingredient set for recovery potions!”

As I took the two bags and headed to Fadele, he gave a wry smile.

“I never thought we’d get it… but I wish you processed it while you were at it.”
“She is a material appraiser, after all.”

I handed over the gift with a carefree smile. This kind of weird nitpicking was similar to the festivals of provincial cities, huh?

…I guess that’s my bias speaking.

Be satisfied that it’s not a year’s worth of local specialties.

Now, two more special prizes left. However…

“Next, the branch division by the guild’s vice-branch master.”

Ria clearly lost her drive there.

“(Ria, don’t get work and private matters mixed up.)”
“Boo.”

She looked cute pouting with her cheeks puffed. She did, but I had to harden my heart here.

“(Don’t let him take advantage here. If you’re going to do it, do it so he doesn’t notice it.)”
“(Got it!)”

Ria proudly nodded. She was a black cat beastman, after all. I guess this felt like a hunt for her. That must be it.

“Vice-branch monster, please make the announcement.”

She’s forcing it…!

“Hmph… Then I shall. The one I chose was number 90, God Ratol—”
“Congratulations, number 90! The team ≪Kivil Branches≫ that made God Ratol, will get a month’s worth of meal tickets as the branch division’s special prize!”

The vice-branch master was about to object to being interrupted, but it was drowned out by the arising voices. But these voices weren’t cheers but close to raging roars.

“A month’s worth of meal tickets?! I didn’t know that was a thing!”
“If that b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ was the judge for it, I’d have changed my work to something else!”
“Curry… I wanna eat it again…”

Certainly, if you knew the tendency of the judge you could prepare appropriately. God Ratol was said to be the progenitor of all gods, and he was generally drawn in a human shape. It was something a human supremacist like the vice-branch manager would like.

It was three meals for a month so it came out as 10’000 Gil. Looking at it like that, it was easier to aim for it compared to the top three spots where you couldn’t exploit the valuation basis. I thought of such things as I headed to the pharmacist ≪Kivel Branches≫.

“I-Illya… this is fine, right?”

I felt nothing but intense stares when I glanced around.

“It will be… surely.”
“““Illya?!”””

Please don’t worry. I won’t let anyone who does anything fishy ever enter the branch again.

“T-The final special award is the lord division! Sir, please!”
“Oh yes, I will. What I chose was the Guild Union Branch’s work that represented Luneville’s cherry aura well.”
“Huh?”

Ria’s exclamation was the thought of every staff member.

There was a different number written in the first place on the voting paper, and Haku’s sculpture outside didn’t fit Ector’s description either.

Guessing what everyone was thinking, Ector continued.

“Of course, Haku’s sculpture in front of it was good too. But I like the ones in the yard that everyone made together.”

The staff members lost their words from embarrassment.

In the yard that definitely couldn’t be seen from the first and the second floors, there were sculptures of each other that everyone made when playing around. The only ones who knew about them were the staff members and people who came to the third floor.

But since no one objected to this, it was probably already common knowledge.

“I’d like to give 10’000 Gil to you as a special prize… What do you think?”

Ector gazed toward the square and he was met with voices of approval and applause from here and there. It didn’t take long to spread to the whole audience.

“E-Errr… Thank you very much!”

The rest of us staff members joined in and bowed together with Ria.

“T-Then, once again! I would like to announce the first place!”

The applause stopped and the square turned silent.

“The number of votes is… an unbelievable number of 3030! And the registration number—”

Everyone swallowed their saliva and awaited her words. Some were even sweating from tension and excitement despite being in cold weather.

…I silently left the square.

“35! The Goddess and the White Dragon from team ≪Goddess Order≫!!”

Next moment, came the earth-shaking roars. This time, it wasn’t out of negative emotions like the last time. Everyone’s expressions were filled with delight and interest and were praising and congratulating the production team.

“Well then, teams from third to first place, please come up on the stage! The monetary award will be handed over by our goddess— Huh? Illya? Illyaa?”

I could hear Ria’s voice from afar.

Sorry… But like hell I’ll come up there!