Isekai Nonbiri Nouka-Chapter 932: A New Art Museum and Auction Items

There was already an art museum in Village Five.

However, a new art museum was built at the foot of the mountain.

It featured spacious, expansive exhibition rooms.

An equally large preparation room for exhibits.

And a warehouse ten times the size of the preparation room.

Air conditioning for the exhibition room, the preparation room, and the warehouse was handled by magic tools, keeping the temperature and humidity constant at all times.

To allow for the transport of large or heavy works of art, multiple doors of various sizes were installed, along with carts and small cranes to assist with moving items.

This new museum was built to resolve the complaints people had with the current museum.

The current museum had an impressive exhibition room, but moving things in and out was a hassle. The preparation room was cramped, and the storage space was just average.

On top of that, a theater had been added to the facility, making it noisy.

Since entry was free, many people simply used it as a sheltered place to rest.

Prada, who had been involved in managing that museum, hesitantly submitted a proposal for improvements to Youko, the acting village chief of Village Five. In response, Youko said….

「Then why not try designing something that matches your ideal museum, Prada?」

And so, Prada was tasked with designing it.

While the museum was being constructed, Prada was accompanying a merchant caravan that introduced auction items, so by the time she returned to Village Five, her ideal museum had already been completed.

When she was appointed as the director of the new museum, she pledged his eternal loyalty with a level of posture and reverence never seen before.

Stick to the budget when acquiring new pieces, alright?

Also, that plot of land next to the building is reserved for warehouse expansion.

I figured it might become a problem if space ran out, so I secured it in advance.

Don’t cry.

Come on, don’t cry.

It’s only going to get tougher from here.

As the director, you’ll have to lead the staff.

Hiring staff is your job too, Prada.

You can design the recruitment test, but if you make it too difficult, you’ll end up running the whole place by yourself.

You’re also free to plan the exhibitions however you like.

Revenue?

Don’t worry about things like that when it comes to preserving culture.

We did learn that having free entry causes problems, so there will be a small fee to encourage better manners.

I’m thinking one or two medium copper coins.

I understand that maintaining and restoring the art costs money too.

Use it freely.

The cost of building maintenance will be covered by Village Five.

But that doesn’t mean you can treat the place carelessly.

As for personnel expenses, you’re free to manage them as you see fit, but there will be audits.

Too high or too low will both be problematic.

If that sounds like a hassle, you can leave the staffing costs to Village Five.

I’ve already got Youko’s approval on that.

When it comes to supporting artists, leave that to Village Five as well.

Actually, we’ve started extending that support to various other fields too.

If you abandon something just because it doesn’t make money, culture won’t grow.

Hmm?

If I had been born during the height of the devil’s power, you’d have done everything you could to make me king?

Uh, I’ll take that as a compliment.

Ehto, and don’t go talking about how to defeat Gucci.

That sounds like something I shouldn’t be hearing, doesn’t it?

Gucci agreed to let you work here, after all.

You should thank him too.

Now, there’s something important I wanted to discuss.

This new museum in Village Five, I’d like to name it the Prada Museum.

Is it alright to use your name?

Village Five Museum will refer to the original one.

And no, we won’t be shutting it down.

It may not be ideal for displaying artwork, but it has become a landmark of Village Five.

We’ll reinforce the soundproofing.

However, since the warehouse and such can’t be expanded, the Prada Museum’s storage facilities will be used.

In terms of status, Village Five Museum will be treated as a branch of the Prada Museum.

Prada Museum will also be leading the exhibition planning for Village Five Museum.

Can I count on you for that?

Good.

I’m leaving it in your hands.

Prada immediately began gathering staff and contacting old friends.

…….

Wait.

There are still free ancient devils around?

Not all of the ancient devils served dragons?

I-I see.

Even Beton-san didn’t serve a dragon.

So there really are independent ancient demons out there.

Which means some of them might gather at this museum.

「It’s fine. I’ll manage them. They won’t cause trouble.」

I-I see.

Alright then, I’m counting on you.

-0-

The Prada Museum was completed, but its opening was still some time away.

There were hardly any exhibits yet.

It wasn’t at the stage where we could charge people to see them.

Then came the report that items won at the auction had been delivered to the Prada Museum.

Yoru happily went to check them out.

To the Arachne Arako who’s been covering for Yoru’s duties, I’m sorry.

I’ll make it up to you next time.

Maybe with a potato dish.

I’ll ask her what she prefers.

-0-

I also headed to Village Five with Bell and some escorts to inspect the auction items.

There’s the airship repair to think about, but we need to deal with the Royal Warriors(Jupiter)-related items too.

「Wouldn’t it be fine to leave it to Yoru?」

Yoru’s obsessed with the weapon systems of Sun Castle, right?

She’d probably say she doesn’t care about the Royal Warriors.

I also contacted Futa, Hih, Loch, and Nana who are in Village Five, but they said to leave it to Bell.

「That’s… understood. I’ll accompany you.」

-0-

The Prada Museum is close to Patisserie Fairy Fairy, but we properly used a carriage from Youko’s estate.

If I suddenly came out of Fairy Fairy, I’d probably startle someone.

I plan to buy cake from Fairy Fairy on the way back, but first, the auction items.

…

There’s quite a lot.

They’re arranged in a way that fills the spacious exhibit prep room.

From the list, it didn’t seem like much, but now…

The larger items stand out—likely the weapon systems from Sun Castle.

「There are Royal Warrior-related items too. Ah, this one is the maintenance tank that Kissinley mentioned.」

A massive cylinder embedded into a large base?

「This one’s broken, so it doesn’t work, but we might be able to repair it. Worst case, we can salvage it for parts.」 ƒгeewebnovёl.com

I see.

Does Village Four have the same kind?

「Foguma’s maintenance tank is a custom model, so its design is different. It’s higher performance than this one.」

I-I see.

「Even with that high-performance maintenance tank, it’s still taking time to restore the remaining members…」

Hahaha. Don’t rush. It’s fine.

「Thank you.」

So… where’s Yoru?

「Inside that weapon over there.」

Inside the weapon?

「It has to be operated from within during combat.」

Huh.

I thought the weapons in Village Four were controlled from the throne.

「Manual control also acts as a safety feature.」

Doesn’t manual control increase the chance of accidental fire?

「There’s no record of that.」

…….

「If it’s not in the records, it didn’t happen.」

R-Right.

I’m getting weird dark vibes from this.

Better not dig too deep.

-0-

「The charging unit’s broken! There’s no way it could’ve connected to a non-standard magic stone circuit! Unforgivable!」

Yoru came storming out of the weapon, seething with rage.

Seems like she wasn’t allowed to touch it when it was on display at the auction.

So she only realized now.

「Whoever handled this so carelessly, I curse you! Take the cursed strike of me, the greatest treasured Royal Guardian(Mercury)! Suffer the consequences!」

Whoa, calm down.

That was ages ago, right?

They’re probably dead by now.

「But their descendants might still be alive. They should lament having such an unfortunate ancestor.」

Hey now, don’t take it out on the descendants.

That’s just cruel.

As I started to panic, Bell stepped in to stop Yoru.

「Village Chief, you needn’t worry.」

What are you going to do?

「Like this. Curse Reversal!」

「Gyaaaah!」

Yoru stubbed his pinky toe hard and collapsed in agony.

「That’s the extent of the curses Yoru can actually perform.」

I-I see…

By the way, using curse reversal means you can actually break curses?

「I was only actually able to return the curse because she was throwing it out everywhere. I didn’t break it.」

I see.

「By the way, if you’re going to ask me if I have dealt with armaments in the past, I won’t deny I did.」

I-I see…

Let’s change the subject.

So, Yoru was once called the treasured Royal Guardian(Mercury)?

「So they say.」

Huh.

And that “treasure” is now writhing in pain on the floor from stubbing her toe… is that okay?

「Perfectly fine. Now then, let’s begin the inspection.」

Yeah.

Let’s do that.

Together with Bell, I began sorting and checking through the auctioned items.