Chapter 11: Undercurrents Stirring
Phil swallowed hard, feeling like his heart was about to plummet to the floor.
This was already the third store they had visited in the Dusk Market, and still, the gemstone’s color was impure.
The appraiser at the gemstone shop tapped at the stone with a small hammer, squinted as he held a magnifying glass to it, examining it from different angles, and sometimes even dripped various colored solutions onto it.
Phil had no interest in these appraisal processes of examining sound, identifying color, and verifying quality. He anxiously awaited the results from the fourth appraisal shop.
Estev, on the other hand, seemed very relaxed, casually crossing his legs and smoking, seemingly unconcerned by the results from the previous three shops.
The shopkeeper removed his glasses, packed away his various solutions, wiped his hands with a towel, and walked unhurriedly toward Estev.
At this moment, Phil felt his heart pounding, as if it were about to burst from his chest!
"Deputy Court Chief, Mr. Phil," the shopkeeper bowed politely, "I can only estimate this stone at 25 gold bars, considering its impurity."
Twenty-five gold bars... Phil’s heart felt as if it had turned to glass and shattered on the floor!
The estimates were getting lower and lower... The color was impure. It seemed the four gemstone appraisal shops had given vague reasons to save Estev’s face. In other words, none of them dared to tell Estev outright that the stone was a fake.
"Oh, thank you for your trouble, Shopkeeper Ross," Estev said, slowly blowing out a ring of smoke. He then turned to Phil, who was utterly dumbfounded. "Shall we try another shop for old Rostellum?"
A cold sweat trickled down Phil’s back. He didn’t know whether to agree or not. Technically, his mission in Liuli City was to verify the stone’s authenticity. Now that the four shops had given their opinions, he should consider the task completed. However, if he returned like this, Elder Rostellum would be furious and might accuse him of incompetence. After all, Elder Rostellum had high expectations for the two stones, and Lord Uli had emphasized this to him multiple times...