Gawain could tell that Amber was even more surprised than he was when she saw the Shadow Scepter, but that did not stop him from casually teasing this Shadow Assault Goose. "Shouldn't you reflect on that habit of yours, picking things up wherever you go? You even managed to swipe Night Lady's Shadow Scepter—Night Lady still has a chair to sit on only because that thing was built into the altar and you couldn't pry it loose, right?"
"Uh... that really wasn't something I swiped!" Amber widened her eyes, feeling utterly wronged. "Didn't I just tell you? The moment I touched the scepter, some error message 'kicked' me out. I climbed that throne for nothing! How was I supposed to know this thing would come out with me... And look at its shape—it obviously isn't the original version of the Shadow Scepter!"
"That's true," Gawain said. Of course, he knew Amber could not have actually swiped the Shadow Scepter, but the short staff she had "summoned" still clearly had some connection to it. He thought of the voice Amber had heard before being "kicked" off the throne, and of the information recorded in Firmament Station's Anchor Generator. A suspicion gradually formed in his mind. "Perhaps... this is an 'erroneous replica' of the Shadow Scepter..."
"An erroneous replica of the Shadow Scepter?" Amber froze, immediately realizing that the next issue of the Sacred Word Record might have another new entry. Then she asked, "You mean I just touched the original version scepter, and it automatically made a counterfeit for me, then thoughtfully delivered it into the real world? And why emphasize that it's an 'erroneous' replica?"
"Because if it weren't erroneous, it would at least be as thick as a roof beam!" Gawain glared at her. "And think about it carefully.