Chapter 241: Art and Exchange
"Your skills seem to have improved significantly lately," Liang En praised Joan of Arc, who was sitting across the table, devouring her food with gusto, after they had eaten a piece of bread with grilled bacon and fried eggs.
Unlike many modern young women who tend to lean towards diets, Joan of Arc, though not a big eater overall, did not shy away from consuming high-calorie foods such as meat or dairy products.
It made sense, considering Joan was a warrior from the era of melee weapons. Pursuing high-calorie foods was a very normal practice for her; otherwise, she would have difficulty gathering enough energy to sustain herself in activities like combat, which exerted significant physical demands.
"Oh, I just found some simple recipes on my phone," Joan of Arc replied with a somewhat shy smile on her face before shifting the topic, "So, what are we going to do today?"
"I need you to pose for me later; I'm going to draw a few paintings," Liang En smiled and said. Due to his collaboration with TYPE-MOON, he naturally needed to provide various materials to them.
For instance, during his recent trip to the emerald mines and his journey in the Mediterranean, he had drawn many fantasy-style background patterns based on those sceneries.
Now, he planned to draw a version of Joan of Arc that differed from the character in Fate from his past life, so he decided to use Joan as a model and started painting with some accurate historical data.
"It feels like the sketches you did of Joan this time are somewhat different from the other paintings," shortly after completing all the paintings and sending them to Japan around noon, Takeuchi Takashi quickly contacted him.
"It means these sketches are better than the others, especially the characters depicted in them seem to come to life, even giving off a sacred vibe."
"It may be because I visited Joan's hometown in France during my trip a couple of days ago," Liang En paused for a moment, then quickly typed. "I felt something there."
"Ah, you're really lucky." As an artist himself, Takeuchi Takashi naturally knew that artists, under certain circumstances, could create works far beyond their usual level after being inspired.
So, in his view, Liang En must have felt something during his visit to Joan's hometown, which led to a moment of enlightenment and the creation of those works.
Takeuchi Takashi naturally felt envious of such a situation because everyone in the art field knew how elusive and desirable such moments of enlightenment were.
"I'll have your original paintings framed and displayed in the company's office. Honestly, compared to your previous designs, these paintings are simply works of art, especially those two purely realistic sketches—"
"It's just luck on my part." Seeing those words appear on the screen, Liang En typed somewhat guiltily on the keyboard because he couldn't say that he drew them based on the real Joan of Arc.
Over the next two days, Liang En spent almost all his time writing the report on this archaeological excavation, because compared to the excavation itself, the archaeological report was even more important.
It wasn't until after breakfast on the third day, when he had basically finished the basic framework of the report, that he took Joan with him and headed to the Wesley Hotel in the Knightsbridge area of London as per the invitation sent earlier.
The Wesley Hotel was located in one of London's most upscale communities, Knightsbridge, a 5-star hotel, within about two kilometers of a series of London landmarks such as the Parliament building, Buckingham Palace, and Hyde Park.
"It seems these people have invested quite a bit." After getting off the car, Liang En glanced at the not-so-large white entrance and then walked in with Joan.
After showing their invitation, a female attendant in a navy blue trench coat with a red scarf around her neck led them through the lobby to a large hall at the back.
By this time, most of the people at the venue had arrived, and Liang En and Joan naturally didn't attract much attention when they entered.
At most, a few people near the door glanced at the combination of an East Asian and a European, but upon realizing that these two were unfamiliar faces, they turned back to their own affairs.
The venue didn't look crowded overall, with about one-third of the space vacant. After all, this was a professional exchange event, not a big sale at a supermarket, so naturally, there wouldn't be many people crowding around.
"Hey, Lawrence, over here—" Shortly after Liang En entered the restaurant, a deliberately lowered voice came from not far away.
Liang En turned his head and saw Pierce and his father standing in front of a slightly low glass cabinet, waving at him, so he quickly walked over with Joan.
"Is this the young lady you mentioned before, your pen pal?" Pierce greeted Liang En first, then looked at Joan and asked quietly.
Pierce said this because ever since Joan of Arc was summoned, those who were familiar with Liang En vaguely remembered that he seemed to have a foreign pen pal.
Although Liang En was not clear on how the card managed to do this, it should be a process similar to using the power of legendary information to alter a part of reality.
At least compared to the sudden appearance of Joan of Arc, leaving certain impressions in some people's minds seemed much simpler.
"Yes, she's my pen pal. She used to live in a monastery on the east side of France," Liang En nodded and said, "She's graduated from high school now, so she came to find me—"
"What's on the agenda for today?" After a few moments of small talk, Liang En steered the conversation back to the business of this exchange meeting, "I see there are a lot of booths here, but these glass cabinets look like they're going to hold an auction."
"Because according to the schedule, private exchanges will continue from now until 4:00 in the afternoon, with a buffet lunch at noon. Then, from 4:30 in the afternoon until 7:00 in the evening, it's auction time."
Pierce explained in a low voice the specific agenda of this exchange meeting and the surrounding situation, including the purpose of these glass cabinets.
"The items in these glass cabinets you're looking at will be auctioned off tonight. Only the last few important auction items haven't been exhibited."
"It seems the quality of the auction tonight is quite high." Liang En nodded slightly as he looked at the glass cabinet behind Pierce, which contained a gold cross that seemed to be about the height of a human forearm.
The cross was adorned with various gems and looked exceptionally exquisite in craftsmanship. From its style, it seemed to have been moved from an important Eastern Orthodox church.
In fact, many of these gorgeous crosses on the market now come from Eastern Europe and Russia. This is mainly due to the changes in Russia after World War I, which led to many of these antiques being sold abroad in exchange for wealth.
"By the way, what's the most important item up for auction today?" While looking at this magnificent cross, Liang En asked quietly.
After all, from the quality of this cross, he could tell the overall standard of the auction, so he was curious about what the real highlight of the event was.
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Table of content - Next Chapter
Chapter 242: The Peculiar Finale Auction Item
"To be honest, today's finale is somewhat unbelievable." When Liang En inquired about the auction's finale item, Old Pierce teased with a mysterious tone.
"From what I've heard, the item is quite famous, brought over by an antique dealer from France. It's said to be the remains of Joan of Arc, the protector saint of France—"
"Joan of Arc's remains!" Liang En exclaimed softly, as at that moment his wrist was suddenly gripped by someone, so he could only mask his exclamation in this way.
"Yes, according to the owner, these items were discovered in 1867 in the attic of a pharmacy in Paris. There's an inscription on the jar: 'Remains found beneath the stake of Saint Joan of Arc.'"
Pierce evidently didn't notice the peculiar expression on the petite girl's face beside Liang En, nor her actions. He continued to elaborate on the specifics of the auction item.
"According to the information on the display board over there, the contents of the jar include what appears to be a charred human rib, a black, wood-like piece of flesh, a 15-centimeter fragment of linen, and a cat's thigh bone—"
"This is fake." Upon hearing this, Joan of Arc tiptoed to whisper in Liang En's ear, "When I was burned, there was no cat on the pyre."
According to the traditions of the 14th and 15th centuries, a black cat was burned alongside witches, so the forger of these supposed remains of Saint Joan of Arc naturally added a cat's bone.
However, if one were to study history sufficiently, they would find detailed accounts of Joan of Arc's entire ordeal, with no mention of a cat.
More importantly, the English thoroughly incinerated Joan of Arc's body and scattered the ashes into the nearby River Seine after confirming her death by burning, so it's impossible for these items to exist.
"Do you think this item might be fake?" After introducing these items, Liang En questioned Pierce. "I remember we specifically studied this in class—"
"You're right. In fact, there are more than just the two of us who find this item dubious." Pierce shrugged in response to Liang En's inquiry.
"So after lunch, they'll organize a simple appraisal and have a few reputable individuals assess these items—"
"Wait, why don't you go for this appraisal?" Pierce seemed to recall something as he said, "At least I think you're one of the most knowledgeable archaeologists here and perfectly capable of representing us."
"I'm certainly willing to act as a representative, but will the organizers allow me to do so?" Liang En wasn't one to seek the spotlight, but in this situation, he felt compelled to see whether the item was authentic.
However, sometimes these appraisals are already set up by the organizers, with the inspectors prearranged. So Liang En wanted to know if the organizers genuinely wanted an appraisal this time.
"They definitely will, because the controversy surrounding this item is too significant. And due to its religious nature, carbon-14 dating and similar technologies cannot be used for testing." Pierce explained quietly.
"Even the organizers of this exchange haven't been able to come to a unanimous decision. While most of them don't believe this so-called relic is authentic, one crucial organizer insists, so suspicious items cannot be removed as easily as before."
"Under these circumstances, because the organizers don't want the provided goods to be suspected of being counterfeit, they hope to shift the responsibility of appraisal onto us participants. So, their intentions are genuine."
"In that case, I'm reassured." Liang En nodded. Although he wasn't particularly concerned about offending the organizers of such an event, it was still best to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"By the way, why do you think scientific measurements aren't allowed for these religious relics? I don't recall any rules forbidding it?" Now that Liang En was convinced that the local organizers genuinely wanted to clarify the authenticity of the item or pass the responsibility to the public, he quickly shifted his focus to another matter.
"If I remember correctly, neither the law nor the church has ever said that scientific inspection of religious items is prohibited. So, what's the deal with this item?" Liang En found it odd because, in his memory, legendary items like the Spear of Longinus, the Shroud of Turin, and the Holy Grail had all undergone scientific analyses, and there were no similar taboos.
"It's just a private request from the owner of this item." Old Pierce interjected at this point. "It seems they consider scientific examination of religious relics to be sacrilegious."
"Well, I respect their perspective." Liang En sighed lightly. After all, everyone had their own choices in such matters, and mutual respect was essential.
However, personally, he thought it more appropriate to test such religious items if circumstances allowed, considering the relatively high rate of forgery compared to other artifacts.
Just think about it, in the Middle Ages, claiming a goose feather as an angel's wing feather, or a piece of broken wood as a genuine fragment of the True Cross, were all too common, showcasing the long-standing tradition of forgery regarding such items.
After temporarily parting ways with Pierce and his son, Liang En and Joan of Arc prepared to inspect the surrounding temporary private shops. Along the way, Joan of Arc suddenly seemed to recall something.
"Feels like human thoughts haven't changed much over time. In my era, I've seen many people selling various relics of saints, but it still feels strange to see one's own bones being sold by others."
"Uh— that might be a special case." Hearing Joan of Arc's words, Liang En realized that the situation he was encountering now might be one of the most bizarre in human history.
After all, under normal circumstances, no sane person would come back to life after death, let alone see their own bones being sold as relics.
Due to the awkwardness of this topic, Liang En quickly shifted his focus to the nearby stalls. As a large-scale exchange event, the overall quality of the private stalls here was quite impressive.
Compared to the wrapped parcels Liang En had seen before, each stall here looked much more professional: each one had a table covered in white cloth, and various items awaiting sale were neatly arranged on the tables.
Additionally, each stall had a small sign made of metal and glass, with a piece of white paper inside containing gilded lettering.
These papers were printed with Arabic numerals on one side and some basic information about the stall owner on the other. This information could be an individual's name or the name of a well-known shop.
Clearly, the people setting up stalls here were of a certain caliber and had received unified management from the organizers of the exchange event. It wasn't just about opening parcels and setting up shop with a red cloth.
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Table of content - Next Chapter
Chapter 243: Stalls
Just now, during his conversation with Pierce, Liang En learned that the participants in this place came from various parts of Europe. Naturally, they would take advantage of this opportunity to advertise themselves or their shops.
Due to this reason, obtaining a stall here was not a simple matter; it required prior application and approval.
As a simple example, although the Emerald Antique Shop had always been allowed to participate in this exchange, it had been previously rejected from setting up a stall here due to its small scale and overall low level.
Although this year, due to Liang En's joining of the Emerald Antique Shop and his commissioning of several valuable items for the shop to sell, the shop's score had greatly increased.
However, because this was only the first year, the organizers rejected the application for the Emerald Shop to set up a stall this year on the grounds of insufficient inspection time.
Fortunately, the other party also explicitly stated that if they could maintain the momentum of this year, then next year at this time, those items for sale would certainly have a place in the negotiation.
Perhaps the people here came from various parts of England, or even the European continent. So, the items for sale could be described as diverse and varied. This also made the entire hall look like a small museum.
For example, among these stalls, Liang En saw various items from ancient Egypt, ancient Rome to modern times. Most of these items were of some value but not extremely high, yet there were also various exquisite pieces.
For instance, there was a beautiful tricolor coronet made of gold, silver, and diamonds displayed at one stall. It looked light and graceful, quite different from the precious metals used on it.
After inquiring, he learned that this coronet came from the hands of the second-generation masters of the top luxury brand Paris Shangmei, the Fersen brothers. It was a naturalistic style coronet they made in 1850, during the Second French Empire.
This coronet, composed of flowers, fruits, leaves, birds, wheat ears, and interwoven bows, was also the most popular jewelry among many European nobles and American nouveaux riches of that era.
As a top jewelry piece of the time, this coronet indeed looked beautiful. Unfortunately, from the explanation of the seller, it was evident that they were very knowledgeable about this item, so there was little chance of getting a bargain.
And indeed, when it came to negotiating the price, the seller asked for a sky-high price of up to 350,000 euros for this coronet. While it might be suitable for personal collection at this price, it was hardly profitable to resell it.
Just as the invitation said, everyone in this exchange was a professional, especially these sellers who were the elite among professionals. So, trying to get a bargain from them was not an easy task.
The next few stalls were the same. The items Liang En was interested in were thoroughly understood by the stall owners, so the prices they offered were generally not attractive.
However, this did not mean that the turnover of these stalls was not high. After all, everyone was a professional, so there were still many people willing to buy the items they needed here through their own channels.
For example, if you were a dealer in furniture from the French Imperial period, then buying a piece of furniture at a fair price here and completing your collection would definitely be profitable.
But these were not what Liang En needed, so he quickly shifted his attention to the other stalls selling various information.
These stalls were often run by some experienced individual antique dealers, who were basically semi-retired or already retired and no longer directly engaged in antique trading.
For them, who could no longer move around, using their experience to collect various information and selling these data to their peers could be said to be one of the few pleasures after retirement.
For example, the small stall in front of Liang En now was such a case. Not only were piles of materials placed on the table, but even under the table, there were stacks of notebooks and folders.
"Young man, these are all kinds of information related to treasures that I have collected over the years, all recorded things that can be confirmed to have existed but are now missing," said the old man with a Mediterranean-style head and a monocle over his eye when he saw Liang En and Jeanne d'Arc stopping at his stall.
"May I take a look?" Liang En asked.
"Of course, you can," the old man nodded, "but you can only look here, and you can only randomly pick two pages from each notebook and folder."
"Alright," Liang En nodded. After all, the things sold at this stall were some important information, so it was very normal not to be allowed to browse through them completely.
"Oh, by the way, how much are these?" Liang En asked as he reached for a folder. "I see you've categorized these things quite well—"
"They are sorted by color. The folders or notebooks with white covers are 50 euros, blue ones are 100 euros, and red ones are 300 euros," the old man said, pointing to the information he had collected.
"Let me see." Liang En opened a white notebook and started reading. From the first two pages, the content recorded here was about a partially lost ship from the American Civil War era.
Although most of the things written here were copies, many were firsthand materials from the past, such as information about the origin and destination of the ship and the cargo it carried.
When he took out another notebook and opened it to a few pages at the back, he found that there was even a map inside, showing the route of the last voyage of the Caribbean trade ship recorded in this notebook.
"I'll take this one first." In order to confirm the value of these things, Liang En chose a white-covered folder containing information about a ship lost near the coast of Ireland.
After Liang En swiped his card on the POS machine on the table, the organizer of the stall immediately opened the folder and started reading it.
As Liang En had guessed, all these things were related to this ship. In addition to records of the port at the time and the items left by the ship's owner, there were also diagrams of the ship's structure and a route map.
What's more interesting was that the route map even marked the surrounding ships, ocean currents, dangerous areas around the route, and the weather at the time.
There were even some handwritten personal analyses next to these materials, indicating the areas where this ship was most likely to encounter danger. And this was also the location where the ship could possibly be salvaged from the seabed.
"These analyses were done by me and a few old friends together. The accuracy should be pretty good," the old man took off his monocle and wiped it. "But the actual value is not as high as you might think."
"Even though we marked the possible locations where the ship might encounter trouble, the area of suspicious waters marked is still too large. Unless you're very lucky, searching the entire area would cost far more than the salvage value."
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Table of content - Next Chapter
Chapter 244: Identification
After confirming that the vendor wasn't ripping anyone off too much, Liang En quickly reached for the red-covered documents. After all, everyone here was knowledgeable, so the most valuable information should be in those red files.
Since there were fewer than 50 of these red documents altogether, Liang En quickly flipped through the folders and notebooks, developing a strong interest in two of them.
So, he quickly swiped his card again to purchase these two items, then took Jeanne to the nearby rest area, each grabbing a drink and carefully examining the documents.
The first document recorded information about the tomb of Emperor Alfred the Great and the possible whereabouts of his remains, including personal analyses and historical reproductions.
To be honest, this wasn't very valuable. Although Alfred the Great was the only person in English history to be called "the Great Emperor," these materials seemed rather commonplace.
What's worse, although the documents marked several possible locations where the remains might have ended up, all of these places were either graveyards or mass graves.
In other words, launching a search operation would be costly, and obtaining excavation permits alone wouldn't be easy. So Liang En felt that unless he could find further information, he wouldn't embark on a search.
The other document was the only one among the dozens of red folders that contained Chinese information, detailing a major robbery of cultural relics that had occurred in the United States.
In fact, until four or five decades ago, due to insufficient surveillance facilities and the lack of new criminal investigation technologies, there were occasional major robberies where neither the perpetrators nor the stolen goods could be recovered.
However, what caught Liang En's attention about this particular robbery was that it involved the notorious art smuggler Lu Qinzhai.
Lu Qinzhai was a well-known international art smuggler and antique dealer in the early 20th century, who sold many Chinese national treasures abroad, including two of the greatest masterpieces in Chinese art history, the "Sable Dew Purple" and the "Quanmou Horse."
Interestingly, due to slight differences in different worlds, the stolen items recorded in this file included those two pieces from the Sable Dew Collection that were originally housed in the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Liang En's original world.
According to the documents, the robbery took place at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The robbers raided a small exhibition room where items from China were temporarily stored due to a Chinese exhibition under renovation and made off with over thirty artifacts.
In addition to photos and descriptions of the missing artifacts, the folder also contained copies and reproductions of various materials from the police investigation at the time.
"It seems our first adventure target after the New Year has been decided." After carefully examining the two documents, Liang En set down his drink and said to Jeanne, "Our target is Pennsylvania in the United States—"
After chatting for a while, it was time for lunch. After filling their stomachs, Liang En went to the registration desk nearby to sign up for the selection process for the so-called Joan of Arc bone identification team in the afternoon.
It must be said that the organizers were quite efficient in this regard. Just as lunch ended, they sent a voting link to each participant's phone, and three computers were also set up on-site for voting.
An hour later, the voting ended on time. Liang En entered the seven-member identification team with a respectable third place in votes.
The two people who received more votes than Liang En were veterans of this conference, having participated in at least fifteen sessions. The other four people after Liang En had attended no fewer than six sessions.
In other words, Liang En was the only newcomer in this identification team, and this situation was probably closely related to his current academic status.
Soon, those selected for the identification team were taken by the organizers to a small house next to the hall, where the central object of interest was a glass bottle containing the so-called Joan of Arc remains.
"Thank you all for your cooperation." After everyone entered the room, the middle-aged man who had led them earlier nodded in acknowledgment.
"I believe you all understand why you're here. For the next hour, you can use any means to examine these remains, with the only requirement being no destructive tests."
Everyone immediately nodded in understanding and began their examinations. Their first step was to carefully open the bottle and then place the contents into glass dishes.
Once everything was removed from the bottle, the representatives present quickly divided into four groups, with each group beginning their examination with an item.
Perhaps because Liang En was too young, or maybe because he was a newcomer here, he was the only one assigned to a group alone.
Liang En didn't feel anything wrong with being the only person in his group. So he quickly took the cat bone assigned to him and began his examination on the side.
To be honest, although the practice of prohibiting sampling under the pretext of protecting religious relics was cliché, it effectively prevented outsiders from saying anything, especially when the object was in private hands.
However, for Liang En, this was not an insurmountable problem, especially since he knew beforehand that this item was fake. Finding flaws wasn't impossible, especially with his enhanced sense of smell from his previous physical enhancement.
As everyone began their examinations, in a room nearby, two people were watching the situation in the room through cameras set up in various corners.
"It's troublesome. Unexpected people are here to identify." One of them, a young man who looked to be around thirty, complained as he watched Liang En on the screen.
"Isn't this what we anticipated beforehand?" The other, a middle-aged man in his forties, shrugged. "After all, we don't directly control this gathering, so it's normal for unexpected occurrences."
"But you don't have to worry about this. We've already restricted the testing procedure from using certain instruments, so they shouldn't be able to find out anything—"
"That's true. Looks like I'm just being overly nervous." The young man nodded, then pointed at the screen showing Liang En. "But what is he doing?"
"It might be desperation, putting on a show." The elder watched as Liang En, holding a pair of tweezers, vigorously sniffed the bone he was examining, first startled, then commented.
"You know, those chosen are respected individuals, so they must demonstrate their abilities. Otherwise, they will undoubtedly be ridiculed by others."
Unaware of the discussion about him, Liang En vigorously sniffed the bone, trying to capture a scent that theoretically shouldn't exist.
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Table of content - Next Chapter
Chapter 245: Forged Artifacts
"Gentlemen, I can confidently assert that this cat bone was not burned alongside Joan of Arc, or indeed burned at all."
After sniffing repeatedly and confirming that the scent was not a hallucination, Liang En turned to the others, holding up the cat bone in his hand.
"What—" Upon hearing Liang En's words, those inspecting the bones nearby all wore expressions of astonishment.
For them, Liang En's actions were remarkably swift, especially considering they couldn't discern anything suspicious from the bones they were examining.
"Could you elaborate on what you find unusual?" After a few seconds of silence, the eldest among them, a man in his sixties, stepped forward to inquire.
"The smell. It's not right for a bone." Liang En placed the bone on a glass dish and lifted it up. "This bone carries the scent of ash and vanilla."
"But what does that prove?" A man in his forties interjected. "Joan of Arc's stake was covered in ash because the English wanted to prolong her suffering during the execution."
"But cats weren't tied to stakes." Liang En explained. "Traditionally, cats would have their limbs broken or even be dismembered with a knife before being thrown onto the pyre. So, there shouldn't be any ash scent on the bone."
"That does seem suspicious—" After Liang En's explanation, the people present quickly took out their phones and searched for what he had mentioned.
It was understandable that they were unfamiliar with such knowledge. Although they were professionals in the antiques industry, they didn't necessarily have expertise in every obscure historical detail.
"So, what about the vanilla scent?" Another man in his forties asked. If Liang En remembered correctly, this was a prominent figure with several antique art shops in Western Europe.
"There are two possibilities." Liang En raised two fingers, speaking earnestly. "One is that, at some point, these remains were smoked with vanilla."
"The other possibility is that, during the decomposition of the body, vanillin, a compound that gives vanilla its distinct scent, was produced, hence the smell of vanilla."
"However, both possibilities are currently unreasonable. The first one because burning at the stake wasn't like barbecuing, so there was no practice of adding vanilla to the pyre. Also, these items have never been treated in such a manner, nor could they have been tampered with afterward."
"As for the second possibility, unless the body had been left for a considerable amount of time, such a scent wouldn't develop."
"I'm not sure what the actual remains of a saint should look like, but this cat bone reminds me of something I've seen many times before—" Liang En concluded his analysis.
"What is it?" Hearing his tantalizing statement, everyone's attention was drawn in. Of course, Liang En also noticed that two of the other six people showed no interest, instead displaying a hint of hostility.
"A mummy." Liang En said seriously. "As you should know, my expertise lies mainly in ancient Egypt. Both the scent and appearance of this bone match those of a mummy."
"It does bear resemblance." After Liang En's words, the owner of the chain of antique shops approached the glass dish and examined the cat bone carefully. From his expression, it seemed he had seen many similar items before.
"It seems there are some undisclosed secrets in this exhibition of Joan of Arc's relics." While the others were captivated by the cat bone, Liang En pondered silently on the side.
Because he noticed that the selected individuals seemed not very professional in identifying various relics. Additionally, two of them persistently insisted that this item was authentic, resembling accomplices.
However, they clearly didn't expect Liang En's expertise in this matter. Despite their attempts to interrupt him earlier, they couldn't find a point of entry.
For instance, now these two individuals didn't approach the cat bone but stood aside, murmuring to each other, appearing to want to make further attempts.
From a certain perspective, the current situation resembled a clumsy scam scene. However, this had nothing to do with Liang En; he only needed to focus on his task at hand.
"Perhaps this cat bone was mistakenly placed in that glass bottle." When everyone had seen enough, the two who hadn't looked before spoke up.
"You should also know that this item was discovered in the 19th century. During that time, Europeans brought back numerous mummies from Egypt, so a mix-up is possible."
"That's a valid point." Liang En nodded and continued, "So, next, we will thoroughly examine the other items and make a definitive assessment."
Over the next period, Liang En and his team examined the other items and discovered more, which could be deemed as decisive evidence.
For instance, through a temporarily brought microscope, they found that the black charred layer on several bones and pieces of flesh didn't resemble the porous structure typically produced by burning, but rather something akin to paint.
Moreover, the weaving technique of the linen cloth didn't match that of Joan of Arc's era, but instead closely resembled that found on many samples taken from mummy wrappings.
Though the two who were adamant about the item being authentic insisted that the ash scent came from Joan of Arc's stake during her execution, Liang En pointed out that lime was used in making mummies, hence the ash-like smell.
"So, I believe this item is one of the series of fake relics forged by the French in the mid-to-late 19th century. At that time, following the failure of the Franco-Prussian War, there was an urgent need for something to unite the people."
"Joan of Arc was clearly the best candidate as an emblem of unity, especially when her homeland of Lorraine was ceded to the Germans. Promoting Joan of Arc had more practical significance under these circumstances."
"From that point on, the French spared no effort in constructing Joan of Arc's image, shaping her into a national myth. Under this backdrop, some individuals may have fabricated relics to elevate her importance—"
Joan of Arc wasn't as famous in France from the outset. Although she had always been considered a hero in France, national-level propaganda began in the 19th to 20th centuries.
For instance, after the failure of the Franco-Prussian War, France promoted the story of Joan of Arc reclaiming France to inspire its people. And during World War I, Joan of Arc was used to encourage soldiers to reclaim Alsace and Lorraine.
Considering the complex relationship between the French and the Vatican, Liang En had previously suspected that Joan of Arc's canonization in 1920 was likely related to France's victory in World War I.
Liang En's explanation soon convinced most of the people present, and they nodded in agreement with his viewpoint.
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