SWNOVELXO Chapter 272: Antiques (2)
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The owner looked like he had just secured a good deal, as he walked with a bright smile to the front desk and began preparing some documents. Mira turned to look at the cordoned off staircase while processing what she had overheard from the two men’s conversation.
The Katenov Era was part of this world’s history, and Mira happened to know about it. The reason why she knew about it was obviously her lore loving friend, Eutodie Dolfin.
He had always been enthusiastic to talk about the Katenov Era, and Mira could easily imagine him getting along with the two men she had just seen.
Eutodie Dolfin had a soft spot for the Katenov Era, as he tended to talk about it more than anything else. That was how the information was forced into Mira’s mind and she could recall a decent bit.
The Katenov Era began with a prospering kingdom in the northwest of the Earth Continent, further west than Grimdart.
That kingdom had fallen around four centuries ago, but according to archeologists and Dolfin, the reason for their downfall began a whole century before that, when the Katenov Era began.
Five centuries in the past, the twenty-third king ascended to the throne. His name was Katenov Safin Dukaya, and the time he was in power was named the Katenov Era.
In a way, that made King Katenov the reason for his kingdom’s destruction, but his twenty four years of reigning were times of peace with no wars, according to history.
Historians and archeologists claimed that King Katenov was a wise ruler, adept at politics. But history books wrote him off as one of the rare foolish kings of the past. The reason why he gained that moniker despite his superior policies all came down to his one pastime.King Katenov loved the arts more than anything else, and it went so far that he passed an extreme royal edict driven by that obsession, one to inundate the royal capital with art. From mansions to the smallest of trinkets, everything had to incorporate some aspect of art. It truly was a ridiculous law.
That completely changed the city, the streets that once had been paved with monochromatic stones were turned into colorful mosaics and the walls and columns of houses that had once been plain were covered with intricate paintings. And some of the records showed that people who put the most effort into that received more favorable treatment from the king.
While it was a ridiculous law, some people welcomed it. Artists, to be specific. They benefited the most from it, as there was no lack of work anywhere within the kingdom. Some even became favored by the king as a result, and gained timeless recognition.
Eventually, the capital during the Katenov Era became known as a paradise for artists of all disciplines, as a place where they would not only find work and fame, but also complete creative freedom, leading to artists from all across the continent to move there.
People wanting to become artists would also travel there, hearing of the talent of volume that had amassed in the city, and once they arrived, they would be struck by the masterpieces everywhere and hurry to find a master somewhere. It was common knowledge that many art denominations had their origin there, and continued existing all the way to the present day.
It was no exaggeration to date their birth all the way back to the Katenov Era. On top of that, around thirty percent of art known as masterpieces had also been made in the Katenov Era.
The king had clearly left his mark in history, and yet he was called a fool and the reason for the downfall of his country. Dolfin expanded on that point, saying that the king simply loved art too much.
The most skilled artists of the time were given treatment on par with nobles, and similar authority. On top of that, those who created the most masterpieces and had hundreds of disciples had even more sway in a political sense.
That created a disparity in treatment between artists and common people, gave rise to friction with nobles, and the king continued to spend money mindlessly on art, essentially burning a hole into the royal coffers. While art schools and institutes continued being built, the budget for public services sloped downward, giving rise to issues all over the kingdom. In essence, only artists were given privileged treatment, while everyone else was filled with displeasure.
Riots broke out every day, and when things reached a breaking point with a possible coup, everything blew over, as King Katenov rescinded his throne and his oldest son, Prince Leorov, became the next king.
Leorov had pulled all of the most important nobles from all over the kingdom into his faction, allowing him to ascend to the throne without needing to shed any blood.
He quickly began to work stripping away most of the influence artists had garnered, and the kingdom began to slowly stabilize again. He had learned a lot from his father, except for his love for art.
But a hundred years later, despite the combined efforts of Leorov and his successors, the kingdom met its downfall. This time, it was caused by foreign invaders lured by nothing else but all the art amassed there.
The kingdom had the misfortune of entering the sights of King Andreas, who, just like King Katenov, had an obsession for collecting art. The one difference was how they went about obtaining it. While King Katenov would always pay a fair price for art, King Andreas would take it by force through any means necessary, no matter how cruel.
So he also used all his military power to take the capital that had become brimming with art thanks to King Katenov.
In the end, the excessive expenditure and the invasion by King Andreas had both been caused by King Katenov and led to the destruction of his kingdom, which was why the history books called him a foolish king.
But artists and admirers of art alike disagreed.
The Katenov Era had given birth to many longstanding art disciplines and priceless pieces of art.
Some books also mentioned that once King Katenov gave up the throne to his son, he spent the rest of his life in a distant mansion, while only being allowed to keep ten pieces of fine art.
Archeologists called them Katenov’s Ten Treasures, and had an almost mythical reputation amongst them. Many ancient texts hinted at their existence, King Katenov’s most priced items, but no one had found them yet.
If real, their value, monetary or historic, was too high to estimate, as they had been handpicked by a king obsessed with art in an era when all of the artistic talent of the continent was concentrated in a single kingdom.
(I wonder if they’ve been found by now.)
Even Dolfin was really interested in that treasure, but he had also failed to locate it, and Mira had accompanied him during many of his expeditions in search of it. But that was in the past, and she could not help but wonder where he was now and whether he had found the treasure.
When she checked her friend list, she saw that Dolfin’s name appeared online.
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