Now then, thanks to that thing being in 2nd place, I ended up feeling like I wanted to brood a little, but let’s pull ourselves together and take a look at 1st place.

Just what could possibly be at the very top of the Phantom Items Ranking……?

"1st Place: The Eternal Flower"

O- Ohh…… I see. That’s the direction they went with it, huh. Now that they mention it, I can definitely see why. It’s the flower I obtained during the White God Festival and gave to Rosemary-san.

Come to think of it, Sky-san did say back then that it was “bestowed to only a select few”, so its rarity might indeed be quite something.

"For many readers, it is probably still fresh in their memory, the first White God Festival ever to be spearheaded by the Gods themselves and held in the God Realm. Since it was a large-scale festival in a place that’s normally difficult even to enter, it’s said that over a billion people visited the festival grounds, making it a truly bustling event. And among all that, the most valuable prize of the festival was this Eternal Flower. These flowers were given by none other than the God of Creation Shallow Vernal-sama as prizes for a quiz about the Gods, held in the restricted-access middle layer of the God Realm, and only three blossoms in total were bestowed. They are special flowers that never wither."

In other words, excluding those in the Sanctuary, there are only three of these flowers in existence in the entire world…… If that’s the case, their rarity is indeed insane. And if it’s an item connected to Shiro-san herself, the level of buzz around it would be extraordinary, so I can understand why it took 1st place.

"This Eternal Flower blooms only in the Sanctuary where the God of Creation Shallow Vernal-sama resides, a special place said to be inaccessible to anyone but the Supreme Gods. Naturally, very few have ever even seen the Eternal Flower, making it truly a phantom item, and it is impossible to attach any sort of monetary value to it. Due to its rarity, a special Information Concealment Magic was cast by the Gods on those who won the Eternal Flower in the quiz, and it is completely unknown who obtained the three blossoms."

Special Information Concealment Magic…… so that’s what they did…… Well, I suppose it makes sense, flowers from the Sanctuary would have unimaginable value, and since the prize was given out through a four-choice quiz that theoretically anyone could win, if an ordinary person got one and ended up being targeted for robbery or even murder, it would be a disaster, so I guess such a measure was necessary.

"Through our magazine’s thorough investigation, we have discovered that, through circumstances we do not know of, one of the flowers is in the Rose Princess Rosemary-sama’s Garden of Myriad Flowers, and another is in the most secure vault of the Central Cathedral in Friendship City Hikari. However, the whereabouts of the third blossom remain unknown. Furthermore, since the Eternal Flower in the Central Cathedral is not on display, we speculate that it is being safeguarded out of fear of theft, and that it is therefore unlikely to be the personal property of the Cathedral’s priests or clerics."

I didn’t know about the one in the Central Cathedral. But indeed, if it had been obtained by a priest or someone similar, there’s a possibility they might display it…… Could it be possible that Olivia-san was the one who got it? She did attend the White God Festival, and she was in the middle layer, so there’s a chance she could have seen the quiz contest after her prayers and decided to participate.

Since it's Olivia-san, she'd probably be strong in topics related to the Gods, and for someone as devout as her, a flower from Shiro-san’s Sanctuary would absolutely be something she’d want. On top of that, if Olivia-san had obtained it, she strikes me as the type who wouldn’t boast about it or put it on display, but rather use it for her personal prayers, so their theory actually fits quite well.

"As for the one owned by Rosemary-sama, the Garden of Myriad Flowers itself is such a legendary place that it is called the Phantom Garden, and it can be said that it is essentially impossible for ordinary people to visit. Therefore, seeing the Eternal Flower there would be extremely difficult. As for the last blossom, given that its whereabouts are still unknown at the time of writing this article, it is believed that it will not be publicly displayed in the future either, making it a flower truly worthy of being called a phantom item that ordinary people will never have the chance to see. That said, while they are different from the Eternal Flower, there are reports that three other types of flowers from the Sanctuary were specially displayed during the White God Festival. Therefore, there remains a possibility that they could be displayed again at future White God Festivals. Whether or not you can participate in the middle-layer events, which have a strict attendance limit, largely depends on luck, but if you’re interested, you might as well apply for the lottery to enter the middle layer at the next White God Festival."

Looking at the overall ranking, I can’t help but feel that, from a worldwide perspective, the God of Creation Shiro-san enjoys overwhelming popularity, and that any item connected to her is generally regarded as having incredible value.

The same goes for things like the Shallow Grande and K, and if the ranking’s scope had been broader, I think Glorious Tea might have also made the list.

Well, in any case, though I got unexpectedly stabbed by my own dark history partway through, it turned out to be quite an enjoyable ranking.

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Afterword

Serious-senpai : [If anything, the magazine’s investigative ability is amazing…… they actually managed to track down that one of them is in the Garden of Myriad Flowers.]

? ? ? : [Well, if you’re under the World King’s command and have a certain level of familiarity with Rosemary-san, you can enter the Garden of Myriad Flowers, and it’s not like Rosemary-san herself is hiding it. She’s one of the strongest people in the world and a master of Barrier Magic, so there’s practically no need to worry about theft.]

Serious-senpai : [I see. By the way, who got the last blossom? You’d know, right?]

? ? ? : [……I’m thinking I might eventually display it somewhere under a different name and charge admission.]

Serious-senpai : [It was with you!?]