As Claude expected, Eriksson and Welikro prepared to hunt wildcats the moment school ended.
Claude reminded them that while their fathers were citizens and could legally own firearms, they were still under the age of 18 and could enjoy the same privileges as their fathers.
However, it was dangerous to use a gun to hunt wildcats in town. It wasn't that the wildcats would pose a threat to them, but Claude was worried that they might accidentally injure passersby.
Thankfully, the two of them understood the severity of the situation and decided to switch weapons after some discussion.
Welikro went home to get his hunting bow while Eriksson went to the docks to borrow a crossbow from one of the sailors. Even though the range of those two weapons was much shorter than a gun, they should be enough to deal with wildcats.
Borkal had a stone crossbow at home. It was a long-range weapon his father used to carry when he was young.
Thanks to Eriksson and Welikro's incessant urging, Borkal, who was still feeling proud of the flight plan his father came up with that morning, decided to put aside the rise of Whitestag for now and go home to get some ballistae to hunt the wildcats with his friends. It wouldn't be too late for him to get excited again.
Claude was the only one who refused his friends' invitation. His excuse wasn't that he didn't want to take revenge on the wildcats, but that he didn't sleep well last night and was almost late in the morning. He also had a whole day of classes and was really exhausted. He felt like he couldn't even keep his eyes open.
So, he wanted to go home and have a good sleep. He could only ask his friends to help him with the matter of taking revenge on the wildcats.
It was a good excuse and his friends didn't force him to go with them. Instead, they considerately told him to go home and rest early. They even said that if they found anything, they would bring some to school the next day for Claude to have a taste of cat meat.
When he got home, he was quite lucky. His mother brought the chubby boy next door.
The new Madam Aleka who moved in from the third floor had somehow become his mother's good friend. They often gossiped together and forgot to go home to cook.
More importantly, Aleka had a seven-year-old daughter. The chubby boy had found a playmate and didn't want to go home many times.
Angelina had also returned home from school and was doing her homework at the dining table.
Claude stroked his sister's head and repeated his excuse. He told her to remember it and not to let anyone disturb him unless it was mealtime.
When he returned to his attic, Claude's listless and dispirited expression was swept away and he became spirited.
He opened the drawer and took out the work he had done last night. He copied seven pieces of Manli paper with ancient Hertz characters written on them from the recipe. In order not to mix things up, Claude even made a number on each piece of paper.
Should he decipher it immediately?
Looking at the ancient Hez dictionary on the table, Claude couldn't wait to read it. He really wanted to know what kind of secrets were hidden in the magical cookbook.
However, he forced himself to calm down. He wasn't in a rush. It would be best for him to copy two more pages from the cookbook while he was still in a good state of mind. There were only a few lines of ancient Hertz text on each page anyway. He didn't want to waste his time copying the seven pages again after he deciphered them.
After focusing on copying two more pages of the recipe, he finally started deciphering it.
— — —
"Today is the 11th of the 8th month, year 3341 of the Nomartin magic calendar.
After seven days of trekking, the eight of us finally arrived at Goldwater Dew Town.
We stayed at Fragrant Dew Tavern for the night.
Ready for lunch, I was shocked when I saw the menu.
I never thought that someone would use manticore skin as a magic talisman to copy a recipe.
I asked the waiter and he said that someone used this blank booklet to pay for his drinks half a month ago.
Coincidentally, the recipe in the tavern was torn apart by two drunkards in a fight. The owner thought that the leather booklet wouldn't be easily torn and used it as a recipe.
What a waste of a treasure!
I really couldn't bear the thought of such a valuable magic talisman being used as a recipe, so I bought it with a shaliun.
Tawari said that it wasn't worth it. Even though the talisman made from manticore skin is a good material for making magic tomes, the recipe had already been copied and the runes on the talisman had been damaged. It couldn't be used anymore.
He wasn't wrong, but I didn't buy the recipe to make it into a magic tome. I didn't bring my diary this time, so I could use it to write in. As for the recipe, I could use it as a disguise. "
— — —
That was the first page of the recipe. It took Claude more than an hour to decipher it.
When he was done, he was a little excited, a little disappointed, and a little confused.
He was excited because this cookbook was indeed the handwritten diary of a magician. However, he was disappointed because this cookbook did not contain any magician's secrets. This was clearly stated on the first page. The magician had only discovered that this book, which was made from the skin of a manticore, had been used as a cookbook by someone else, so he had bought it and kept it as a diary.
What confused him was the 11th of the 8th month, year 3341 of the Nomartin magic calendar.
Freia was around four thousand years of the Dark Calendar and five hundred years of the Sacred Light Calendar. Claude had never seen any records of the Nomartin magic calendar.
Could it be that the Nomartin magic calendar was the Gregorian calendar unique to magi?
Sighing, he picked up the second and third pages of the recipe. There were only a few lines of text on them and it was easy to decipher.
— — —
12th of the 8th month, year 3341 of the Nomartin magic calendar, sunny.
I didn't have much to do during the day, so I spent the entire day meditating in my room.
Last night, Poutain got two waitresses to party next door. They were so noisy that I couldn't sleep.
I reprimanded him a little during dinner and he got really annoyed.
He said that if I don't enjoy it now, I won't have another chance. Everyone's faces darkened.
— — —
13th of the 8th month, year 3341 of the Nomartin magic calendar, cloudy. It rained in the evening.
I spent the day meditating in my room.
During dinner, Tawari wore a solemn expression. He told me that a magus squad was ambushed in Binio Valley. Eleven Fourth and Third Circle magi were killed by muskets. Only one Fifth Circle magus managed to escape with three bullets.
Binio Valley is only about fifty kilometers away from Goldwater Dew Town. That's really bad news.
— — — —
That's weird. There were already muskets back then. They could even ambush magi squads.
Claude's curiosity was piqued. He continued to decipher the fourth page.
— — —
14th of the 8th month, year 3341 of the Nomartin magic calendar, sunny.
Today, I met Magus Jones. He's a Fourth Circle magus like me.
When I saw him, he was in a sorry state. His face was covered in dirt as he gulped down rye wine.
Tawari said that he was in that state because he had just escaped death.
Magus Jones came from Rusuber City. Just like us, he received a summons from the magic board to gather at Goldwater Dew Town.
The thirteen of them were also ambushed by gunmen in the wilderness less than fifty kilometers away from Golden Water Dew Town.
Only six of them managed to make it back. Magus Jones was one of them.
But according to him, their counterattack caused a lot of casualties to the ambushers.
The town has already organized a team to investigate the scene.
You don't know … They're not afraid of death at all … Magus Jones wailed.
… Even when we blasted some of them into pieces with the Bursting Fireball, their companions still stood in the same spot and reloaded their guns. Even when blood splashed all over their faces, they still stood there and raised their guns to fire at us ….
I curse the people who invented the muskets!
That's the weapon of the devil!
Those Iron scum used it to spill the blood of our noble magi all over the land …
Magus Jones finally passed out from drinking.
Before I went to bed, Tawari came to my room and strictly ordered me not to tell anyone about the muskets.
I'm not stupid. I won't tell anyone about it.
— — —
The fourth page contains a lot of information … Claude thought as he looked at the diary he deciphered.
First, the magi received the summons from the magic board to gather at Goldwater Dew Town. But they were also ambushed by the musketeers and suffered great losses.
Second, the muskets seemed to have something to do with the magus who wrote the diary. At the very least, he had participated in the research to improve the muskets.
Someone knocked on the door.
"Bro, bro, are you awake?
Mommy wants you to come downstairs for dinner … "Angelina's timid voice came from outside.
Claude stood up and opened the door. "Got it. I'll go down now."
"Wait, Anna. I bought you a present yesterday," Claude called out to his sister who was about to go downstairs.
Claude called out to his sister, who was about to go downstairs. He took the silver hairpin from the bedside cabinet and handed it to her. "Is it pretty?"
Angelina's eyes lit up. "Thank you, Bro. I'll show it to Mommy."
She turned around and went downstairs.
"Sigh …" Claude had wanted her to bring the four pirate figurines to Pudding as well, but he decided to bring them down himself.
Dinner was quite sumptuous. The main course was beef tail stewed with potatoes and two long-tailed swordfish. It was a specialty of Lake Balinga and was famous for its tender meat.
There was also a huge plate of roast lamb ribs and half a roast goose. There was also a small basket of blueberries on the table.
Could it be that today was some kind of festival, or was there something to celebrate?
However, Claude quickly realized that it was probably leftovers from the banquet last night. Usually, there wouldn't be so many dishes in the house.
Sitting at the head of the table was Arbeit. That fellow thought of himself as the head of the house again.
He was sitting on his father's seat, cutting off the only leg of the roast goose and chewing on it.
His sister, Angelina, was standing by the table, cutting white bread slices with a knife, while his mother was feeding the chubby boy potatoes.
"Here, Pudding. Do you like it?"
Claude handed the pirate figurine to Bloweyk. The boy cheered and jumped down from his chair. He hugged the figurine and looked at it all over.
"Claude, you're wasting money again. You just bought a hairpin for Anna and now you're buying toys for Bloweyk," grumbled his mother as she put down the small wooden bowl in her hand.
"It's not much. I thought it suited them, so I bought it for them.
By the way, where's Father? "
"Your father sent someone back to report that he has something to do tonight and won't be coming back for dinner."
Oh, it seems that Father is still busy with the flight plan. No wonder Arbeit dared to sit on his father's seat so boldly.
"Anna, stop cutting. This much bread is enough. Sit down and eat."
Claude ignored the man at the head of the table and took two silver plates for himself and his sister to scoop up some potatoes and oxtail cubes.
"Tsk tsk tsk …" Arbeit gulped down the red wine in his glass. It was probably leftover from the banquet last night. There was only half a bottle left.
He then looked at Claude and said, "That's a lot of money to buy this and that.
I was just about to ask you something. I left a thale at home. Did you take it? "
Claude really wanted to ignore him, but the fellow didn't know his place and kept provoking him.
"Do you think anyone would believe what you just said?
You don't even have a black penny at home, let alone a thale.
I'm warning you, don't piss me off. Do you understand? "
"If I say there is, then there is. Otherwise, where would you get the money to buy presents for them?!"
Claude sneered. "Heh, it's none of your business where I get my money from!
I know exactly where you spend it. Two dresses and a coat. Whitestag isn't that big and there are only a few shops that sell clothes. I'll be able to find out if I ask around. "
"Ugh …" Arbeit seemed to be choked by the throat and couldn't say anything. He could only stare at Claude with a reddened face.
"I don't want to care about your scandals and I can't be bothered with you. I only hope that you don't anger your parents.
So, you have to watch your mouth in the future and try not to appear in front of me unless you want to get beaten up.
Do you understand what I'm trying to say? "
Claude leisurely picked up a piece of juicy potato and stuffed it into his mouth.