Chapter 13: The Climax of the Painting
Seria, trying to follow Seraph, refused to let her brother go with another woman. Seraph stared at Seria. "It's really urgent, so I can't take you. I'll bring you along another time." Seria wore the sad expression of a child, as if he'd had his candy snatched away, giving it to someone else.
Seria looked at Baria, whose expression didn't smile much, just the expression of a normal child running errands. "Alright, it seems like it's important, so that's what I can tell you. My brother is very capable. He can handle all the planning, so I can trust him." Seria proudly showed off Seraph and got into the carriage.
The carriage had already departed, and before he could see out of sight, Seria stared at Baria, imagining him as a hawk waiting to protect his food. Baria, seeing the carriage gone, asked Seraph curiously, "Where are we going?" "Seraph, go ahead. "Follow along, you'll find out."
[Actually, I don't know anything about this at all, but I'll just follow along. What kind of crazy schemer is this? Does this kid, Seria, really think that far ahead? Let alone know, he doesn't even know anything about his own actions.] Baria followed Seraph unhurriedly. Time began to pass, and the two arrived at a place that looked like a painting shop, with rows of paintings lined up.
Seraph looked at the painting shop with lines of luck floating out. [This shop? Sure, Baria has luck associated with paintings. I didn't expect that.]
Baria asked curiously. "To the painting shop?" Baria looked at the many paintings hung outside the shop, beckoning the crowd.
Seraph walked into the painting shop, followed by Baria, as if he didn't even suspect Seraph of his reason for coming. Seraph entered the shop, a beautifully painted picture.
At one point, there was an empty framed painting with no picture in it. Some were kept like picture wrappers, making the contents invisible. There were many flowers and paintings with the word "imagination." Seraph looked directly at a young woman.
Wearing a white hat and holding a paintbrush covered in paint, she looked like an old woman. Seraph stood beside the woman, who was sitting and painting, her paint smeared all over.
Seraph looked at the painting of Gollen Village she was painting. Baria stood behind Seraph and looked at the painting. Seraph secretly looked at the woman's face. She was an old woman, about fifty years old, with shoulder-length green hair.
Her body expressed aging, and her clothes were colored with a mix of colors, as if they had been painted with a brush. Her name was Sora, the owner of the painting shop. Two children waited for Sora to finish painting without even greeting him that there was a customer in the shop. Seraph secretly looked to see if Baria was interested in Sora painting.
[She seemed genuinely interested. The lucky item from the black paintbrush connected her to this child. Perhaps it was because this was her dream path. Just painting. Maybe what I thought... Are you telling me to bring this child here to watch? No, maybe he came here to be with this woman? The golden line connects Barrier to the old woman who's painting. Or is he taking over because the old woman is dying?]
Barrier stared intently, unblinking, watching Sora's painting intently, oblivious to his surroundings. So much time had passed, and the three of them had lost track of time.
Sora put down his brush and looked at the two children who hadn't been bothering him at all. "What's the matter, you two? You want to buy a painting? At your age, do you even want to decorate it? This shop sells paintings at high prices?" Sora wiped his paint-stained hands and stood up.
He looked at the two children with an uninterested expression. Seraph was thinking hard, but his expression remained calm.
[Oh my, what should I do? I hadn't thought about it at all. Plus, that lucky guy just told me to come here. I don't know what else to do. I can't help it. I'll just improvise. If anything goes wrong, the line of luck will turn into a different color.]
Seraph opened his mouth.
"Actually, there's a child who wants to become your disciple, sir." So, would you please accept this girl as your disciple? "Seraph, you didn't care about the carpet, just ran off without any preparation. Barian was like a girl who couldn't keep up. If he could, he would call that person from the future. Baria turned to look at Seraph, and Sora's eyes were fixed on him. Even Sora was shocked that someone had asked to be his disciple. "Are you serious, you two?" Seraph nodded.
"Yes, this child is passionate about drawing. I'd have a hard time letting this child's talent as an artist go to waste. So, can you do that?"
Sora surveyed the barrier, which was still standing calmly, but his heart was pounding inside. Sora looked back at Seraph. "Are you serious, young one? I haven't opened it yet Are you recruiting disciples?
"Seriously? So, is there a way to prove a painter's qualifications? This kid might be able to create great paintings in the future? I think he's quite old.
It makes things difficult if I accept him as a disciple. Perhaps he can continue your work, or even your shop." Seraph kept talking, leaving Sora no room for another word. [As expected, when he said what the Path of Fortune wanted, it increased his luck by expanding its size. The barrier likely had the talent of a painter. And with the white paper, a level three magical item, it made even more sense.]
Sora smiled. "Hahaha, this kid is quite interesting. You think I'm less skilled than this kid? Interesting, interesting. You're saying I need a successor? Interesting, interesting.
Imagination is important. Just imagine it.
The path will open. Then show me.
The work you think this kid can surpass mine.
Are you saying that this child's future work will one day reach the pinnacle of painting?
Does that mean my current painting isn't yet my peak? "
Sora smiled fondly as Seraph, who said his own work wasn't yet my peak. Seraph nodded in agreement.
"I don't know. But one thing I can see is, if the princess thinks her painting can reach the pinnacle of painting, why do you continue painting? Is it because you're still not satisfied? Painting is something a painter will do for their entire life. But the princess doesn't have a painting she considers to be the pinnacle of painting, right?"
Seraph pointed to an empty picture frame. "There's no picture there." The three of them looked at the spot where, if they walked in, they would clearly see no picture in the frame. Normally, they should put the painting they're most proud of, because that spot is where they'd draw attention. Just walking in, they'd see the painting the artist wanted to show off their proudest work.