Claude woke up early in the morning. He planned to make a trip to the market and buy two boxes of whiteroot powder from the herb store there. Then, he would head to the smithy in the south of town to buy some metal materials.
Landes's notes contained a complete recipe for gun barrel tempering. They were all common metal materials, so Claude didn't think it would be too expensive.
As for an excuse, Claude had already thought of one. He would say that he was trying to make a few traps for hunting and that he had to place them according to the terrain, so he couldn't ask the smithy to make them.
Claude was quite satisfied with his haul last night. Even though the guards of Blacksnake were poor and couldn't even gather two crowns from a dozen of them, their second-in-command lived up to his nickname of Ripple the Fat Bull. The exquisite deerskin pouch he carried contained five crowns, 14 thales and some copper coins. All in all, he had a total of eight crowns, much to Claude's delight.
It seemed that the settings of online games in his previous life were quite reasonable. It was better to fight the boss than the mobs. Most of the loot came from the boss. Killing one was equivalent to killing dozens of mobs.
Last night's robbery proved that point.
It was the same with the five purses of Shark. Gerrard's sheepskin pouch contained more money than his four escorts put together, and he alone provided more than four crowns, while his four escorts had only a little more than two crowns.
So, Claude's haul for the night was around 16 crowns. That was much faster than hunting.
It was a pity that such robberies couldn't become a daily activity. Last night was just a coincidence. Claude had managed to take advantage of the situation.
Blacksnake's luck was terrible. They only wanted to deal with Gerrard of Shark and didn't expect to bump into Claude passing by.
The owner of the herb store in the open-air market wasn't easy to deal with. After much persuasion, he finally bought two boxes of whiteroot powder for seven crowns, a thale cheaper.
The owner knew that Claude had been selling his prey at the open-air market during the past few years and had money on him. He also knew that he was studying herbalism, so he didn't suspect anything about the two boxes of whiteroot powder. He only asked if he needed any other ingredients.
Claude shook his head and said that he still had more than half of the herbs he bought last time. He wouldn't buy them for the time being since he was almost out of money.
He also said that he had gathered a lot of herbs in the forest and that he could try to make some medicine.
It was a pity that he kept failing to refine the medicine. It was as if he was throwing his money into the sea. There was only input and no output.
The owner consoled Claude with a laugh. Learning herbalism required not only patience, but also constant experimentation. The more he failed, the more he would improve. He believed that Claude would definitely succeed.
After Claude left, the owner's face darkened. He spat and said, "Wastrel. If his father invested so much and still couldn't produce a proper concoction, I'd have broken his legs a long time ago. I can't believe he still has the cheek to spend so much money on concoction materials."
Claude didn't know that the owner of the herb shop was talking about him behind his back. He drove his carriage to Big Hammer's forge in the south of town to buy some metal materials from Mike.
Even though Mike was still polite to him, he didn't give him a good price for the materials.
That was partly because Claude didn't need much, and partly because Morssen was no longer the chief executive of Whitestag after he was removed from office.
Claude said that he was going to make some metal traps in the wood for hunting.
Mike didn't ask much about it.
He had seen such things happen many times. The hunters in town didn't like to have their own traps made by him, mainly because they were afraid that their designs would be leaked by others and affect their own profits.
However, Mike still asked Claude if he needed some smithing tools. He wanted to sell a set to Claude, but Claude politely refused.
Claude told him that there were some smithing tools in the wood and that he was going to use the Siori couple's charcoal kiln. He didn't have to buy a set himself. Mike was a little disappointed.
After buying the materials, Claude planned to go home for lunch before returning to the wood.
What he didn't expect was that many people who knew him would stare at him on the way home. Some would even whisper to others from time to time. That made Claude feel a little strange, as if something bad had happened to his family.
When he arrived in front of the red-bricked house, Claude was a little surprised.
Since when was there a row of stalls set up in front of the house? Many people were crowding around them, trying to buy something.
After getting off the carriage and squeezing into the crowd, Claude realized that the one who set up the stall was his father, Morssen. The items on the stall were all furniture, clothes and miscellaneous items. The books in the study on the second floor were all put up for sale. Even some of Booke's newer toys were sold at a very low price.
"Father, what's going on?" Claude asked loudly.
However, Morssen was very busy and didn't have time to answer Claude. Instead, he waved his hand and continued bargaining with a customer. The customer was holding a crystal sculpture of a bathing woman that Morssen liked very much.
Claude remembered his father mentioning that the crystal sculpture was very valuable and had a history of more than a hundred years. It was said to be the work of a famous sculptor and could be considered a valuable antique that could be passed down as a family heirloom.
What happened at home for his father to take out his collection and sell it at such a low price?
Claude asked a few more questions, but his father didn't respond and only focused on arguing with the customer over the price.
Claude looked at the items on the stall and saw that the recipe book he bought a long time ago was tossed on top of a few popular novels. He picked it up. The recipe book that contained Landes' diary couldn't be left out for anyone to flip through.
When he entered the house with the recipe book, he found that the house was rather empty. Many of the decorative paintings and flower baskets on the wall had been taken down, leaving only a blank mark on the wall.
The expensive dining table and eight matching high-back chairs were gone as well. They were replaced by a simple wooden table and four long stools used in a small restaurant.
His mother was still cooking lunch in the kitchen, but she had a worried look on her face.
Claude looked at the kitchen and confirmed that all the valuable silver utensils and pots were gone. Instead, they were replaced by wooden utensils and ceramic jars that were commonly found in the open-air market.
Even the glass utensils that weren't that valuable were gone.
"Mother, did something happen at home?
What's father trying to do by setting up a stall outside?
We haven't fallen to the point where we have to sell our assets, have we? "
Claude really couldn't wrap his head around it. Even though his father was no longer an official and no longer had the title of chief administrator on his head, his connections in town were still there.
Even though many people would gossip and laugh at him behind his back, who wouldn't respectfully address him as Mister Morssen in front of him?
While his father didn't have his three-thale salary anymore, he still had shares in many businesses in town. That alone was enough to make him one of the wealthiest people in town.
His mother sighed. "Your father is trying to raise money. He needs a lot of it."
"Raise money?
What for?
How much does he need? "
"Your father said that he needs around 260 to 300 crowns. Go ask him yourself. He doesn't want me to get involved in his business. I can't convince him either."
"Is he thinking of going into business?" Claude guessed that his father was looking for a way out after losing his job.
If his father didn't need a lot of money, Claude would've paid for it himself. But now that he heard that he needed that many crowns, he felt helpless. Even if he robbed people every day, he wouldn't be able to get as much as he did last night.
His mother shook her head without saying a word. It was obvious that she wasn't in a good mood either.
"What about Borke and Annah?" Claude changed the topic and decided to ask his sister about it.
Although she was only fourteen years old, she was already a small adult. She looked weak, timid, and didn't like to talk, but she was actually very smart. Her mind was like a mirror, and she could answer many questions about the family.
"Borke was crying just now. Anna coaxed him upstairs. They should be in their own room," said his mother as she continued stirring in the pot. Claude could smell the aroma of meat.
"What's this?
It smells so good. "
"It's beef bone soup. I added some carrots, apples and potatoes. That's our main dish for lunch.
There's also bread if there's not enough. "
The bread on the wooden plate wasn't the usual white bread, but rye bread instead. That was the staple food of Whitestag's residents.
In the past, they used to use the more expensive fine flour to make white bread. Sometimes, they would buy honey bread.
They never used the coarse rye flour and their main dish was lamb chops or roast beef.
Claude didn't think that the family would use beef bone soup as their main dish now. Their living standards were dropping way too quickly.
Claude stood beside his mother speechlessly. He looked at her in silence for a while before saying, "I'll go check on Borke and Anna then."
"Okay. Bring them down for lunch in another ten minutes or so."
"Alright, Mother." Claude scurried up the stairs.
Angelina was playing tangram puzzles with Borke while the snowhound squatted beside them and used its claws to play with the patterns on the floor from time to time.
The two of them and the snowhound were delighted to see Claude come up. They played around him for quite a while before they finally stopped.
"Eh? Second Brother, what's that in your hand?" asked Angelina.
It was only then that Claude realized he was still holding the magic cookbook. "It's a cookbook I bought for Mother's birthday.
When I was downstairs, I saw Father take it out to sell, so I brought it back. "
"Father is bad. He took my toys to sell and didn't let me play with him," complained Borke.
Claude smiled bitterly. His brother was only eight and didn't understand that Father was selling things to raise money and not for fun.
"By the way, Angelina, Mother said that Father was selling things to raise money. Do you know why?"
As expected, Anna nodded. "Last Wednesday night, my father's friends gathered at home again. They were discussing about the pension and compensation.
I think they wanted to raise around 2,000 crowns. Father and the others discussed it late one night and I heard that Father was given a sum of 280 crowns.
After that, Father left early and returned late every day. The night before yesterday, he got into an argument with Big Brother. Big Brother said that it had nothing to do with us and that it didn't matter if those people died. They were peasants anyway.
Besides, they surrendered to the pirates, so we didn't have to pay them. If anyone comes to cause trouble, we'll just get the police to arrest them and say that they're pirates' spies.
That night, Father was really angry and slapped Big Brother. Big Brother slammed the door and left. He hasn't come back since.
Last night, Father and Mother said that he's sold all his shares and the money is pretty much collected. Tomorrow, we'll put some of our things up for sale and the townspeople will know that we sold our property to raise money. Everyone will praise us for our kindness and no one will hate us for what happened to the fleet anymore. "