"The gun and powder for the standard Gally III, and the gun and powder for my father's short-barrelled musket," Eriksson said.
Welikro's father, Kubrik, served in the army for 15 years and was promoted to a citizen. When he retired, he could legally own a firearm.
This Gally Mark 3 was his weapon when he was a soldier, and he could take it with him when he retired. This was also one of the benefits of a retired soldier.
"Gally Mark III standard musket. This is an old-fashioned musket. The barrel is No.2, and the gunpowder is No.1.
Your father's short-barreled gun is a mariner's matchlock, loaded with a No. 7 cartridge, and supplied with powdered egg white.
Well, Ike, how much do you need? "
"Boa, come over here. Take out the list and see what we can buy," said Eriksson as he turned to Borkal.
The transmigrator had not seen the guns in this world, so he was a little curious. "Ike, aren't the guns and gunpowder the same? Why are there different models?"
"According to the size of the muzzle, the guns also have different sizes. If the same gunpowder is used for the same size of the gun, then the range will be different. Therefore, the ratio of gunpowder will also be different.
In addition, for the guns and cannons used on ships, in order to prevent moisture and strong winds, they need to add egg white into the gunpowder. Generally speaking, the egg white gunpowder used on ships is half the price of the standard gunpowder. "
The one who replied was Welikro. Of the four, he was the firearms expert. It seemed that his father had taught him how to fire a musket when he was around eleven or twelve.
"Alright, I'll leave the purchasing to Boa. Let's go take a look at the shelves over there. Those things were bought from sailors and merchants in the past. I had my eye on a Blackwood mask and wanted to hang it on the wall as a decoration, but I didn't have enough money and it was bought a few days later."
Said Eriksson as he pulled Claude towards the wooden shelves by the wall.
Wooden bowls, vases, stone sculptures, bracelets, daggers and so on were all mixed together. He even saw a bronze helmet and a greenish-gray vine horned bull beside it. That was probably a toy. There was also a strange-looking obsidian axe that he didn't know which native tribe it came from and which sailor sold it to the general store for wine.
The carvings of these pirate dolls were not bad. They should have been carved by the sailors when they were bored during the voyage. I'll ask about the price later. If it's not expensive, I can buy it and give it to the chubby boy at home as a toy. Hmm, what is this?
At the bottom of the wooden shelf was a book the size of a folder. The dark brown cover seemed to be made of leather. Claude touched it and confirmed that it was indeed made of leather, but there was a thin layer of dust on it.
That shouldn't be a book, right? Books shouldn't be this thin and only have around ten pages. However, the paper seemed to be made of leather as well. It was yellowish-brown and much thicker than the papyrus made from lantern grass. Claude pinched the edge of the top five to six pages and felt that it had some elasticity to it.
His interest was piqued. He picked up the folder-sized book and felt that it was rather heavy. He blew away the dust on the cover before slowly flipping it open to see what was written inside.
Three potatoes … Hmm … The lighting wasn't good and it was blocked by the wooden shelves, so he couldn't see clearly. However, he couldn't be bothered to move. He focused and couldn't help but feel shocked. The book in his hand fell to the ground with a thud.
"Claude, what's wrong?
What's going on? "Eriksson, who was separated by a wooden frame, hurriedly asked when he heard the commotion.
Welikro poked his head over and asked, "Are you alright?"
Claude shook his head and suppressed his shock. "I'm fine. I just wanted to take the book, but I didn't think it would be so heavy. It fell to the ground."
He picked up the book from the ground and walked to the window to use the light to flip it open.
Faint black words were written on the yellowish-brown leather parchment. The lines of tadpole-like words seemed rather blurry due to the passage of time, but he could still make out the handwriting.
Three potatoes. Steam them until they're half-cooked. Peel them and mash them. Add two eggs. Add some shallots and vegetables. Add some flour and water. Add some salt. Mix them into a paste. Press them into a pancake. Fry them in a pan until they're golden brown. Add different sauces to taste.
That's a recipe, right?
No, that's not what I saw earlier.
Claude hurriedly flipped to the next page. That's right, it was a recipe book. There were seventeen recipes on the seventeen pages, including pan-fried mackerel, roasted lamb chops with chives, steamed lamb meatballs, assorted pizza, sherry chicken, and so on.
He weighed the cookbook in his hand and smiled bitterly. It had to be a recipe from some tavern. The seventeen dishes weren't home-cooked. Claude's family was one of the upper class in Whitestag, but the dishes they usually ate were mostly stewed vegetables and large pieces of meat in a pot. While they did have lamb chops or steaks, the cooking wasn't as elaborate as the cookbook described.
However, the tavern must've invested quite a bit to use animal skin to write their recipes.
Most of the textbooks Claude used in school or the books sold in the town's bookstores were made of cheap papyrus. There were a few books with leather covers, but those were hardcover books and cost a lot more.
However, what was going on with the scene that he just saw? The brownish-yellow bast paper of the recipe seemed to be burning in the middle, and the yellowish-brown color retreated to the sides of the bast paper, revealing the ivory paper and the dark blue font. Was he hallucinating?
He flipped through the entire recipe book again but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
Perhaps I'm seeing things … Just as Claude was about to put the recipe back on the rack, he felt his heart skip a beat and stopped in his tracks.
It was too dark and I was afraid I couldn't see it clearly, so I focused my attention. Then, the recipe changed in a way I didn't expect and gave me quite a fright.
Now, I'll try it again and see if the recipe will change if I concentrate on it.
He flipped open the recipe again and focused all his attention on the page.
As expected, the pages of the book changed again. The yellow-brown and tadpole-like words about how to make potato pancakes disappeared one by one. The pages slowly turned ivory white, and lines of dark blue words appeared on the pages.
The dark blue words weren't tadpole-shaped. Even though they were also rhombus shaped, they had many strokes and looked more like a trapezoid, like the mutated musical notes on a musical score.
It was not written in the Hebrew language, but in ancient Hez.
Middle school students had to learn Gemir and Lessihet, which were derived from ancient Hez. So, the school did introduce ancient Hez to them, but it was only a simple explanation.
Claude was able to recognize ancient Hez words because of his hard work over the past half a year. However, he was powerless to understand what they meant.
From a certain point of view, Hebraic was also derived from ancient Hez and was a close relative. Just like the Chinese characters in his previous world, there were simplified and traditional Chinese characters.
Ancient Hez words, on the other hand, were like traditional Chinese characters. Claude was able to recognize a few of them.
Arrive … tavern … lunch … menu … ask … buy … magic …
Magic … this … this is a magic recipe book!
That was the first thought that came to Claude's mind. It had been half a year since he transmigrated to this world and this was the first time he came into contact with a magic item.
The past six months and the memories of the previous owner of this body had only left one impression on the transmigrator, and that was that magic did exist in this world, but magic was a taboo word for people.
If a person learned magic and it was widely known, what awaited them wouldn't be a bright future that everyone envied. Instead, they would be imprisoned or even killed on the spot.
If they ran away, they would only be wanted and forced to live in hiding for the rest of their lives. They would either have to hide their identity or wander the world to avoid capture.
Claude didn't know why the people of this world would treat magic with such a taboo, but he couldn't suppress his curiosity, especially since he was holding the first magic item he had ever come into contact with. It was a magic … menu book.
"Hey, Claude, what are you looking at?"
Eriksson came to Claude's side and patted him on the shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"This is a recipe book?"
Eriksson poked his head over and said, "Three potatoes, steamed and mashed … Hehe, I didn't know you were so engrossed in it that you couldn't hear me even when I called out to you. Are you craving potato pancakes now?"
"Oh, Eyke, can you see the blue words?" Claude didn't answer the question, but he quickly snapped out of it. "No, I was just spacing out."
Eyke's attention was drawn to Claude's answer. "Blue words? Where did they come from?
Aren't they all black? "
"Let me see." He snatched the recipe book from Claude's hands and flipped through it for a long time. "There aren't any blue words?
Hmm, this isn't bad. Roasted goose leg with red wine. I'll get my mother to make it for me when I get back. "
"No, focus and see if there are blue words on it."
Claude wanted to see if Eyke could see the blue ancient Hez words if he focused his attention.
"Is that so?"
Eriksson stared at the recipe doubtfully and gave up after a while. "There aren't any blue words. My eyes are getting blurry. There's nothing there.
Wait, let me look at the window and see if there's any light coming through. "
Soon, Eriksson put the recipe book down. "This recipe is a little heavy, but I'm sure there's nothing strange about it. I don't see the blue words you mentioned either."
Claude nodded. He was certain that not everyone could see the changes in the recipe book when they focused. Perhaps his mental power was different from others. He felt that his hearing and imagination were especially sharp and he could even picture the sounds he heard in his mind. That was probably the difference between his mental power and others'. It was also the reason he could see the dark blue ancient Hez words on the recipe book.
"I think the light shone on the page just now and I saw the black words as blue," Claude said as he took the recipe book.
This time, it was in front of Eriksson. Claude focused on it and the page changed again, revealing the ivory white paper and the dark blue words.
However, Claude didn't pay much attention to it. The moment the page changed, he retracted his attention and stole a glance at Eriksson. As expected, he was looking at the recipe as well, but he didn't seem to notice anything.
"I want to buy this recipe book. Eyke, can you help me ask how much it costs?"
"You want to buy this recipe book?" Eriksson asked doubtfully.
"It's like this. My mother's birthday is coming up and I want to buy her a present.
As you know, I can't afford expensive jewelry. That's what my father needs.
I think this recipe book will make a good present. If she learns how to make these dishes, she'll definitely be in a good mood when we praise her during dinner. "
"That's not a bad idea. But are you sure you want to buy it?
Actually, we can just copy the recipe book down. I believe Uncle Wakri will do us the honor. That way, you won't have to spend any money. "
Claude shook his head. "Don't you think the recipe on this paper is a little heavy?
It looks luxurious. I can go back and tell my mother that it's from some royal family and it's more suitable as a present than our handwritten recipe book, right? "
"Alright, I'll help you ask how much it costs." Eriksson took the recipe book and prepared to leave.
"By the way, there are four pirate puppets over there and a silver flower hairpin. I want to buy them for my siblings as gifts. I'll go get them.
If you don't have enough money, lend them to me and I'll return them to you soon. "