Italian Sculptor (3)

Murim cannot exist without inequality of Kung-Fu.
-Napoleon Bonaparte-

A mid-sized workshop whose lights were still not out.

When I entered the neat shop, uncommon to find in the East End, a sturdy blond man greeted me.

“Welcome. How may I help you?”

It was a familiar face.

Gelder. As the name suggests, the owner of this shop, that is, Gelder Workshop.
He was a man I had met before in my previous life while following the thread of a case.

Back then he provided a fairly useful clue, but what about this time?

“It’s nothing much. I heard there was a sculptor with good hands, so I stopped by.”
“You’ve come to the right place. In our workshop, the most skilled young sculptors in the East End are gathered. Shall we step inside? Speak with the artisans directly.”

Gelder laughed heartily and pointed toward the back of the shop.

“Before that, I’d like to look at the sculptures and plaster statues you have for sale first.”
“Of course. As long as you don’t break them, you may touch them as well.”

After sizing up my clothing and the cloth bundle in my hand, the shop owner continued to keep a friendly manner.
It felt strange, as it was quite different from the reaction he showed when I met him in the world I originally lived in.

‘He recognized the value of Ancient Vicuna Wool. Indeed, it seems it was no coincidence that Gelder Workshop overcame many competitors and took on the production of Her Majesty’s Sword Debate Chess set.’

To be honest, it was unexpected.

By common sense, it would be impossible for artisans from a workshop on the edge of the East End slums to gain the chance to produce the massive Sword Debate Chess set Her Majesty uses personally.

But that was only the common sense of that other world.

As I looked over the sculptures and plaster statues displayed in Gelder Workshop, I naturally came to understand why the artisans working in this shop’s workshop could seize an opportunity as precious as a thousand gold.

“……Remarkable.”

A mutter slipped out without thinking. I forced my voice down.

Who would have known.

That in a shop located in London’s slums, a place even beggars avoid, such beautiful works lay sleeping.

Most of the displayed works were replicas of famous sculptures, but their level of completion would never be outdone anywhere.

The first sculpture that caught my eye was of a man and his two sons entwined by a gigantic Unicorn Salamander.

It was the Laocoön Group, a masterpiece depicting the priest’s grand finale funeral after drawing the wrath of Neptune, sea god and brother of Jupiter, the supreme god of Greco-Roman myth.

“To have a sculpture of this level in a shop without a Royal Warrant…….”

From the muscular, well-boned forms of the three Kung-Fuists carved to a height of seven feet, the mighty spirit unique to Hellenistic Kung-Fu Lore was pouring forth.

Laocoön’s dynamic Warming Up and pain-filled expression, bitten by the salamanders fangs and falling into Qi Deviation.
And the desperate attempt of the two sons, trying to revive their father by attempting acupoint treatment.

The artisan’s skill, which had reproduced in full in the modern day a great sculpture that even Pliny the Elder praised without end, was truly at an astonishing level.

I had heard the Zion Clan made replicas more than once, but at this level, it was in no way inferior even compared to artisan Kung-Fuists in the Vatican’s main seat who make a living carving Phonograph Stone holy icons.

No. Even if you threw the artisan who completed this Laocoön Group among the artisan Kung-Fuists the Zion Clan prides itself on, his skill would stick out like a pocket size ice pick.

“So they don’t only do classical works…….”

The work displayed in the opposite corner was even more wondrous.

A scene of a Kung-Fuist covered in a net, receiving the aid of a small heavenly god and escaping the net.

From afar, it looked as though a net had been draped over the sculpture, but astonishingly, the net wrapped around the statue was also carved from marble.

/, carved by Francesco Queirolo, an Italian master who made his name a hundred years ago.

This work was known as a masterpiece representing Rococo sculpture taken to the extreme of delicacy, depicting a gentleman who gained good enlightenment through a fortuitous encounter and cast off the enclosure movement of sin.

In the world I originally lived in, it was said Queirolo completed it alone over seven years, but since sculptors in this world can use Kung-Fu, they could shorten the time spent carving to some extent.

However, even if one has learned Kung-Fu, it does not dim the artistry and delicacy of the mason who carved this replica.

Kung-Fu is, in the end, nothing more than a tool, like a chisel or an awl, that helps bring remarkable expression and technique to life.

Though I knew it was not the original, and though my heart had rarely been stirred by any art beyond music, even so.

I truly could not keep myself from admiring the artisan’s skill in completing this sculpture.

“Huh…….”

When I turned my gaze to the left, another astounding sculpture entered my sight.

A bust of the Thousand Hand Virgin Mary, her head covered in a thin veil.

It was Giovanni Strazza’s representative work, the ,.

Just as the Queirolo work I saw moments ago carved marble through to create a man escaping a net, this bust too creates the illusion that the sculpture is covered by a thin cloth soaked in water.

A technique known by the name Wet Drapery.

Even in Greece and Italy, the homelands of sculpture, I had heard only a few could pull this off.

“If one judged only technique, was it not a level that could dare to speak of the world…….”

All the sculptures here were carved with expensive Carrara marble, but they were no more than replicas.

Even so, I could dare to say it.

Talent like this is not the sort that ought to be buried in the East End slums.

Why would a mason with such outstanding skill remain in a place like Gelder Workshop?

“I cannot understand it at all.”

I turned my head slightly, and my eyes met Mr. Gelder, the workshop’s owner.

He was smiling as if my reaction pleased him greatly.

That they did not open a shop elsewhere and stayed in the East End meant they were working the artisans cheaply.

It was a situation I could not understand unless some kind of deal existed between Gelder and the sculptors.

At the very least, I was certain Gelder was not a cruel merchant.

When I met him in my previous life, I did not sense moral defects in him.

At the time, he was rather a victim of what the culprit did.

‘It seems the mason owed the shop owner money, or was indebted to him.’

Perhaps all he did was treat those Italian masons, who had come over to the British Empire and were scraping by without even finding work, like people. And in return, he gained a once-in-a-lifetime encounter worth more than a thousand pieces of gold.

Just as they produced Her Majesty’s Sword Debate Chess set, if for the next few years they provided sculptures to the royal family free of charge, Gelder Workshop would formally obtain a Royal Warrant.

A clan, shop, or company that secures a Royal Warrant can hang the British royal crest on its signboard, and that crest helps greatly in attracting many disciples and wealthy customers.

If, even after securing the Royal Warrant, they could keep the outstanding sculptor bound to the workshop for a long time, Gelder Workshop would bring in great money.

The moment my thoughts reached that point, I began to feel a strange sense of incongruity.

Come to think of it, did I not have another reason for coming to this shop?

I had been so busy admiring the mason’s technique that I had forgotten my purpose.

I visited Gelder Workshop first to have a proper pipe made from the Unicorn Salamander’s Horn, and second, to meet in advance the capable sculptor who would be caught in the future for theft and murder, and pull him up from the path of evil.

There is no need to probe what their relationship is.

Separately from that, there was one thing that bothered me—

‘Was Beppo’s skill truly outstanding to this extent……?’

In my previous life, Beppo robbed a treasure of the Italian royal family that an Italian mafia he knew had stolen through his younger sister, and hid it in a plaster statue.

It is true that Beppo was an all-around talent with an eye not only for marble carving, but also for making plaster statues with molds, and for mounting work that displayed a piece to greater effect.

But the work I saw from Beppo in that other world was so shabby it could not even be compared to what I had just seen.

Perhaps, in this world, Beppo awakened his potential thanks to learning Kung-Fu.

It was a sufficiently persuasive hypothesis.

‘In this changed world, having learned craft this outstanding, he would not throw away his future by committing petty crimes like theft, or stabbing a compatriot with a knife.’

Perhaps my plan to guide Beppo onto the proper path might proceed more easily than expected.

And if, in the process, I could have the Unicorn Salamander’s Horn turned into a proper pipe, it would please me all the more.

“Your skill is perfect, just as the rumors say. I’d like to get to the point.”
“I’ve been waiting, sir. What work would you like to commission from our workshop? Marble sculpture and plaster statues are both possible, and producing a bronze statue is not difficult either.”

When I asked, Gelder answered in an excited tone.

A rather excited air could be felt from him.

He had used the masons’ skill as a weapon to catch Her Majesty’s eye and make the marble pieces and chessboard for the chess set, but had he failed to draw wealthy customers afterward?

It seemed he mistook me, by my attire, for a noble or rich man who had slipped into the East End alone.

If the misunderstanding made things easier, I would be grateful.

-Tak.

I unfolded the silk wrapping cloth and took out what was inside.

“I trust the skill of the sculptors working here, and I wish to entrust you with a Unicorn Salamander’s Horn. Process it into a pipe one foot long. I will prepare ample compensation.”
“A rare and precious material. If you tell me the great hero’s honored name and address, I will draft an estimate by tomorrow and visit your home.”
“No. There is no need. We will draw up the contract today.”
“Truly?!”
“However, before that, I would like to meet the workshop’s artisan in person. I will be entrusting expensive Fantastic Beast material, so I must confirm that the one who will do the work is someone I can trust.”
“…….”

Gelder hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

He asked my leave, opened the door leading to the workshop, and went in, then returned to his spot in under thirty seconds.

“It is ready. However, the artisans of our workshop speak clumsy English, so communication may be difficult. I ask your understanding in advance.”