The appraisal convention continued, and Eileen was appraising an artwork for a witch.
The First Witch also bought artworks, probably because they were a kind of futures commodity that could be valuable and appreciate in price.
"Your porcelain vase was produced by an official kiln in 1990..."
"What're you saying?"
"What I mean is, your vase is fake!"
...That was not Eileen's exact wording, but Chinese was broad and profound; a little reading comprehension was enough to get the meaning.
Beside Eileen sat a castle witch named Fala. Staring in confusion at the "Gray Spirit artwork" in her hands, she asked again in a puzzled tone:
"Your Excellency, how did you determine this artwork's age and place of origin? And... it's fake? How can you tell?"
With her gloved hand, Eileen picked up the artwork from the table and showed them the pattern on its underside.
"Although this is a passage in Gray Spirit runes, the inscription means: '1990, Angelite Art Workshop, Class A product line.' Probably because Angelite's counterfeits were so pretty, a group of wicked witches bought them, secretly smuggled them across the River of Time, soaked them in its water, and then put them up for sale..."
"Waaah!" Fala clutched her head and let out a pitiful cry.
Witches had a fairly standard routine for deceiving people. Something like, 'This item is extremely old'—well, after soaking in the River of Time, wasn't it old? 'This thing is good stuff'—the definition of good stuff was hopelessly vague! 'If you ask me about this item, all I can say is that it's an artwork from an ancient era'—my appraisal skills aren't that strong, so I overlooked it...
Even when they were not outright deceiving anyone, they could blur the crucial information, or turn deception into a personal mistake with