Since Morssen left, Arbeit naturally followed him out. However, Claude found it rather strange. Arbeit seemed to have done something shameful and was avoiding him. What's wrong with him?
Did he get kicked in the head by a donkey?
Claude didn't have the time to bother with him. He was truly hungry.
He had slept for more than two hours on the boat when he returned and missed lunch.
He was overcome with drowsiness when he returned to town and slept all the way until night. Only then did he realize how hungry he really was.
It didn't take long for him to finish all the food on the table. Only then did he feel somewhat full.
It was then that he remembered that he hadn't taken a good look at Magus Landes's jade box in his backpack. He felt as if his heart was being scratched by a cat. He hurriedly cleaned the table and sent the utensils to the kitchen for his sister to clean. He stroked her head and didn't notice the hesitant look on her face before he rushed back to his attic.
He pulled his backpack out from under his bed and untied it. A pungent smell assailed his nostrils.
"Ptui … Ptui …" He pinched his nose and took out the dirt-stained clothes and pants from the fight with the python. He tossed them on the ground and carefully took out the white jade box from the bottom of his backpack.
What surprised Claude was that the surface of the box was still smooth and white. The dirty clothes and pants didn't leave a mark on its surface.
But when he thought about how it was a magus' item, he didn't think much of it.
Perhaps this jade box was also a magical item.
But as a transmigrator, the jade box was the closest thing he had seen to jade from his previous world. As a Chinese, he understood the meaning of the word 'jade' very well.
But after transmigrating to this world and learning the new language, he was shocked to find that the word 'jade' didn't exist in the Hebraic language.
For example, the jade that was mined from the rocks had a special term in this world, which was called Stone Essence.
On the continent of Freia, stone essences were known as the essence of the earth and were precious magic materials.
But since the evil sorcerers were driven out of the continent hundreds of years ago, these stone essences became precious gems. They were carved into all kinds of jewelry and became the beloved objects of the noble ladies.
This should be a top-notch sheep-fat white jade … Claude toyed with the jade in his hand. Oh, it was a stone essence box. In his previous life, he had a certain level of understanding towards jades under Boss's guidance. After all, he had to show off his talent and knowledge when it came to picking up girls.
Stone Spirit, this name is really unpleasant to hear. It is not as elegant as Jade at all …
After grumbling about the name stone sprite, he opened the box once more.
Two diaries. How many years had they been written? One diary was as thick as a dictionary, and the paper was as thin as a cicada's wing. It was translucent and filled with small words.
Fortunately, even though it was still written in ancient Hez, it didn't hide the diary like the recipe. Otherwise, he was worried that he would end up mentally exhausted from copying the diary.
The other was said to be a magic notebook. That was what Claude needed the most. He hoped that he could understand the secrets of magic from the notebook and even learn it.
The notebook was as big as two diaries, but it wasn't as thick. It only had about thirty to forty pages. It was the same kind of paper used in diaries. It was translucent and looked a little elastic. It wouldn't tear easily if he pulled it.
The only thing left in the box was the yellowish-brown deerskin pouch, which contained thirty shaliuns.
Claude checked the coins one by one and regrettably, he didn't find any of the dark yellow magical shaliun coins. His previous owner, Landes, seemed to be quite pitiful. He didn't even have any magical shaliun coins. All he had were common items.
Claude's irresponsible thoughts ran wild. He had forgotten that Landes was only a low-ranked rune magus. It was already quite a feat for him to have saved up 35 shaliuns.
He didn't have the right to be picky.
However, the thirty shaliuns were worthless to Claude because he didn't have the means to convert them into money. So, he could only keep them for a few years to see if he had the chance.
The two diaries were as thick as dictionaries. Even if he didn't use his mental power, Claude couldn't be bothered to translate them. Humans were always like that. Before they could get their hands on something, they would think it was meaningless.
It was the same for Claude. After the life-and-death treasure hunt, he wasn't that curious about the two diaries anymore. They were probably just records of Landes's daily life. It wasn't like he was going to write a biography for Landes, so why would he translate the diaries?
Unfortunately, after translating the two diaries, he suddenly lost interest in the magic notebook as well.
He flipped through the pages and saw some crude drawings. Beside them were large paragraphs of text. There were also many strange symbols that he didn't recognize on the drawings.
Looking at the drawings more closely, he could tell that they were the drawings of some sort of object.
Damn, the drawings are way too abstract. If he hadn't come into contact with matchlocks in the past two days, he would've thought that it was a cannon.
What kind of gun would have a short and thick barrel like a cannon?
If it wasn't for the matchlock hammer, clamp handle, bushing, hammer spring, cartridge case, lid, primer and trigger, Claude might have really misunderstood that the magus was making a cannon.
He connected the dots to the diary hidden in the magic cookbook to the fact that Landes had improved the matchlock musket. In that case, the cannon-like object in the notebook must have been an improved version of that musket. After all, Claude had already seen what was in Welikro's Gally mark 3 musket and it wasn't all that different from the one in the notebook.
Five to six hundred years had passed, but the matchlock was still the same. It hadn't changed at all.
Claude's interest waned and he suddenly didn't feel like flipping through the notebook anymore.
He stood up and walked around the attic a few times. The pile of old clothes on the floor caught his attention.
Oh, I haven't gone to take a bath yet.
But before I go downstairs, I have to hide the jade, no, the stone essence box and the bag of shaliuns.
As for the two diaries and the magical notebook on the table, he could just leave them there. Nobody in the house was interested in ancient Hez anyway.
After some thought, he decided to hide the coins and the stone essence box under his bed. There really wasn't any place to hide them. It didn't feel safe to put them anywhere.
It was only then that Claude realized the drawback of living in the attic. He couldn't even dig for treasures. Below him was the wooden floor, so he couldn't dig through it. Above him was the roof, so there was nowhere to hide anything. He could only hide them under his bed.
However, no one would usually come up to his attic. Even his younger siblings wouldn't come up to cause trouble when he wasn't around.
He went downstairs first and soaked the clothes in a large wooden basin. He told his mother to get a washerwoman to wash them. It didn't cost much to clean the clothes. Two or three sunars were enough.
When he went to the second floor, he was surprised to find that Arbeit wasn't there. He didn't know if he went out to drink again.
It's better if he's not there. Claude whistled as he took a bath and returned to the attic.
Feeling a little annoyed, he decided to go back up to the roof for some reason and bask in the moonlight.
Ever since he spent so much effort copying out the diary in the recipe, he developed a habit of basking in the moonlight.
It was only under the moonlight that he could feel peace and tranquility.
He didn't know how long he stayed on the roof. When he finally felt sleepy, he went back to the attic and tidied up his table before falling asleep on his bed.
It was only when the bell of the wargod shrine rang in the morning that Claude woke up.
As usual, he washed up and went downstairs for breakfast. Arbeit was already in the dining hall, but he ate in a hurry and left in a hurry.
His father said that Sir Fux had returned from the prefectural capital, so he had to rush to his side as soon as possible to listen to his orders.
He went to class as usual and even had to carry his bag to school.
When he walked out of the house, he saw his three friends waiting at the fruit shop opposite him. Each of them was munching on a boiled apple.
"Give me another boiled apple," Borkal said to Claude, "Yours."
Claude took the apple and watched as Borkal paid three fennies. The four of them munched on the boiled apple as they walked to school.
"I heard you guys were in the limelight at the docks yesterday?" Claude asked.
"How did you know?" Borkal asked.
"My father told me last night," Claude replied.
"Do you know how many people were there yesterday?
Almost the entire town came … "Eriksson's eyebrows danced as he talked about yesterday afternoon's events. It was obvious that he enjoyed the glory of being the center of attention." We placed the skin of the python you killed on the pier. Everyone screamed when they saw it. A few children were so scared that they started crying … "
"Don't worry, Claude. We'll do as you said and tell them that we found the python when we were hunting antelope. It was too full to move, so we shot it in the head and killed it. The hole in its head is proof enough of our story.
Nobody will know that you killed the python in the basement of the ruins, "Welikro whispered.
"Okay, thank you. It's best not to let anyone know that we went to the ruins."
Claude breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want any more trouble at home. If Morssen knew that he and his friends went to the ruins of the magic tower in Egret, he would definitely scold him and punish him to not go out with his friends anymore. He wouldn't let him off lightly like he did the night before.
"No, I told them that it's at the foot of the mountain and the swamp on the other side of the lake. It's normal for pythons to appear in the swamp. It's just that this one is a little too big," said Welikro.
"Did you sell everything?" Claude looked at Borkal.
"I sold everything for 17 thales and eight riyases in total."
"How did you sell it for that much?" Claude was shocked.
"Hehe, I sold it on the spot. Those people kept raising the price, so I got a good price," Borkal said gleefully.
Borkal was very pleased with himself. If he hadn't seen so many shopkeepers inquiring about the price and decided to sell them on the spot, he would've definitely been pressured down by the shopkeepers if he brought the python and deer skins back to the shop in a few days.
"The python skin was sold for six thales and three riyases. It was bought by the owner of the weapon shop, Hansi."
"What the heck? Why did Hansi buy the python skin?
What's he trying to do? "Claude was stunned.
"You don't know, do you? Hansi said that the python skin is the best choice for making sheaths for swords. He's preparing to make a batch of high-grade swords, so he offered a high price for it. He was one thale higher than what Gilp offered," said Eriksson.
"The python tendon was bought by Wakri for three thales and four riyases. The two deerskin pieces were sold to him for six riyases as well. He paid four thales in total.
The deerskin was bought by Miss Mira from the tailor's shop for two thales and seven riyases. Gilp didn't get anything out of it. What an embarrassment. "
That was to be expected. Despite being the largest fur merchant in town, they didn't manage to buy any python or deerskin. They didn't even manage to get a single torn goat skin. With so many people watching, once the news got out, Gilp Furs wouldn't have the right to be called the number one fur merchant in town anymore.
"The blacktiger fish was bought by the tavern's chef, Pjard, for two thales.
The python's eye and gallbladder were bought by the apothecary for two thales and eight riyases. I had them add an antidote to make up for the one you drank, "said Borkal.
Borkal was rather methodical when it came to financial matters. "I've done some calculations. Each of us will get four thales, four riyases, and five sunars."