Claude leaned against the headboard and watched as the little snowhound wrestled with an old slipper on the floor. It had been three days since he brought the little snowhound home. It was only then that he realized that the white-bearded manager, Mokro, didn't mention the greatest trait of the lardor snowhound, which was its ability to tear down houses.
It was no wonder he felt that the three snowhounds on the farm resembled the husky from his previous world. They were actually the husky's brothers in this world.
What left Claude speechless was that while the little fellow wasn't as cowardly as the husky, it still had the flat-top bloodline of Africa's bloodline. It was only two and a half months old and had a temper that made it seem like it would attack anyone it saw.
The old slipper on the floor belonged to Claude's father. On the first day it arrived home, Morssen felt that it was blocking the way and kicked it to the side.
Yet, the snowhound bore a grudge against Morssen for that and ran around with his slipper in its mouth the moment he got home.
In the end, Mother came up with an idea. She put Father's slipper on the shoe rack and tossed it a pair of Father's old slippers for the snowhound to play with. Only then did the snowhound forget about the grudge.
It could be said that Morssen was the only one in the family who didn't welcome the snowhound. As for Arbeit, he stayed at Sir Fux's manor and didn't return home.
The snowhound, on the other hand, became the favorite pet of Mother, Sister, and Brother. That could be seen from the three names it had.
Mother called it Pluto, which was also the name Claude came up with.
When Claude was about to take it away, Mokro asked him what he was going to name the snowhound.
The first thing Claude said was Pluto.
Pluto was the name of the husky raised by the transmigrator's boss in his previous world. Claude didn't know how he came up with that name for the snowhound.
But when they got home, the snowhound was warmly welcomed by Sister and Brother. Sister asked what it was called.
Claude said it was called Pluto, but she didn't like the sound of it and changed it to Snowflake, saying that its fur was as white as snow in winter.
Claude didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What kind of male dog would call Snowflake such a girly name?
But there was nothing he could do if his sister was happy.
As for the little fatty, he didn't care what the puppy's name was because he called it Woof Woof …
The door was gently pushed open a crack. His sister looked in through the crack and asked, "Second brother, is Little Snow Flake here?"
"Come in, it's playing with slippers."
The younger sister pushed the door open, and the little snowhound was already wagging its tail and running towards her.
This little guy even knew who treated him the best in the family. His little sister was automatically promoted to be his chief poop shoveler. The little loli and the little snow hound quickly became playful together.
After playing for more than half an hour, her mother's voice came from downstairs. It was time for her little sister to go to sleep, so the little loli carried the little snowhound and prepared to go downstairs.
Ever since the snowhound arrived, she had Claude get her a small wooden box and put some linen in it to serve as a nest for the snowhound. She also placed the box beside her bed so that the snowhound could spend the night with her and Pudgy Pudgy.
Claude said, "Anna, you're not allowed to bring Pluto to bed with you again. The same goes for Booke.
It's already chewed through two blankets, a bed sheet and a pillow in the past three days. If this continues, Mommy won't let it stay in the house anymore, understand? "
The little loli nodded shyly. "Got it, Second brother. I won't bring Little Snow Flake to bed anymore. Tell Mommy not to throw it away, alright?
It's still so small … "
Claude waved his hand helplessly, gesturing for her to leave.
Throw it away? Was that even possible? Even if his father hated dogs the most in the family, he wouldn't throw it away.
Three days ago at the docks, his three friends had been drooling over the little snowhound. Borkal said that a lardo snowhound could be sold for three to four thales in the prefectural capital. A snowy snowhound like this one would be worth a gold krone.
The four pheasants he brought to the docks that day were given one to each of his friends. That night, Claude finally got to drink his favorite chicken soup. It was pheasant soup and it tasted even better than the farmed chickens sold in the farms.
He also gave a rabbit to Pegg. Eriksson had wanted to have an outdoor barbecue at the docks that night, but Claude wanted to bring the snowhound home as soon as possible.
Back then, Claude found it odd and even asked Borkal why the snowhound was so valuable. Yet, Mokro agreed to trade a pheasant and a rabbit for it.
Borkal smiled and replied, "I have a request for your father, Mister Morssen."
The snowhound became a star in the eyes of his siblings the moment he brought it home.
Claude told his father what happened and Morssen smiled. He said that the manager of Poplar Ridge Farm, Mokro, was planning to get a permanent stall in the open-air market in town. However, his farm didn't have the qualifications to do so.
Claude knew that the open-air market in town was just like the farmers' market in his previous world. It was also one of Morssen's accomplishments and proof of his third commendation.
At first, it was an empty plot of land in Whitestag. Later on, many merchants and peddlers set up stalls there to sell their goods. They were all temporary, so the order and hygiene there was a lot of trouble.
So, Morssen, who was still a clerk at the time, suggested that the empty plot be turned into an open-air market. He planned to collect rent from the stalls to increase the town's income.
That became the biggest open-air market in Whitestag, as well as the largest farmers' market and grocery market. The yearly rent was also a huge source of income for the town.
When Morssen became the town's chief executive, he expanded the open-air market and divided the stalls into permanent and temporary ones.
The permanent ones were rented for a year to three years, while the temporary ones were rented for a month, a week, or two days.
Claude didn't ask any further. It was obvious that Mokro couldn't get on Morssen's good side, so he used a valuable snowhound to test the waters.
Regardless of whether Claude used a pheasant or a rabbit to trade for the snowhound, Mokro would still give him the snowhound for free. Of course, using game to trade for the snowhound was just a nice way to put it. The difference in value between the two was huge.
Claude didn't care what kind of stall Mokro was plotting. Now that his father knew about it, Morssen would definitely help Poplar Ridge Farm out if he wanted to. By then, Mokro would have to thank him in another way.
It wouldn't be surprising if Morssen didn't help. The snowhound was traded for by Claude anyway. Even if there was a huge difference in value, Mokro was the one who did it willingly. Claude didn't force him, so he wouldn't be able to return it.
The month-long horsemanship class in the academy had ended and the afternoon classes returned to normal. They no longer had the freedom to choose whether or not they wanted to attend horsemanship class, nor could they go home early.
In the future, they would only be able to rest on one Sunday a week and they would have to consider the distance between them.
Eriksson's fishing boat was completed. All that was left was to paint it and dry it. It would take another ten days or so before it could be launched.
By then, they would be able to go fishing on Lake Balinga every Sunday. Eriksson said that there were many water birds in the reeds by the lake, such as ducks and egrets, which would make for good hunting targets.
Perhaps it was because of his adventure in Egret and the time he spent hunting pheasants and rabbits, Claude felt that he wasn't suited for a peaceful life.
Ever since his father told him about his future plans, he looked forward to his trip to Nubissia in two years' time. Regardless of whether he was going to join the army or not, it would at least satisfy his thirst for knowledge and adventure in this new world.
There were still two years left. He would have to wait until he graduated next year before he could go to Nubissia.
Claude sighed and picked up the fishbone dagger from the table and played with it in his hand.
The dagger, the lock-like wooden plate and the pen holder with the fish leaping out of the water were the three magic items he found in Wakri's shop. He had spent a thale on them in total.
But no matter how hard Claude tried, he couldn't figure out whether the three items were magic items or not. He even suspected that his eyes were playing tricks on him and that the three items were glowing.
Eriksson swore that the wooden sign was actually the door plate of a hotel or an ocean liner that was affixed to the door of a guest room or cabin.
Claude washed the wooden plate clean and thought that it was indeed a door plate, but he soon realized that it wasn't. A door plate would have a number on it, such as the room number or cabin number.
But after careful inspection, Claude realized that it wasn't made of wood. Instead, it was made of a material that resembled wood and stone. It looked a little like the plastic jade products sold on the street in his previous world. It looked tough and light, but it had a jade-like texture to it.
The front of the door plate seemed to have been polished and was very smooth. There was a six-pointed star carved on the back.
Claude was most certain that the door plate was a magic item, but he couldn't sense anything strange about it even after exhausting his mental power. It seemed that strong mental power wasn't enough to determine if something was a magic item or not.
There was also the pen holder that looked like a fish leaping out of the water. Claude looked at it again and again, but he couldn't come to a conclusion just like the door sign. At the same time, he couldn't figure out what use the pen holder had if it was a magic item.
As for the fishbone dagger, Claude tried all sorts of methods. In the end, he decided to toss it into the furnace to see what would happen.
He even went to Hans' weapon shop in town to check out the mithril daggers on sale. After comparing them, he could only admit that it was just a normal mithril dagger. Not to mention, the quality of the fishbone dagger couldn't even compare to the mithril daggers on sale in the weapon shop.
It wasn't sharp and didn't have the effect of cutting through metal like mud. There wasn't any poison on the blade either. Claude even used the dagger to cut one of the rabbit's legs and drew blood. Even after half a day, the rabbit was still alive and well.
It didn't increase his Agility or Strength at all. He couldn't feel anything from it.
If it wasn't for the fact that he noticed a faint layer of black light on the dagger when he used his mental power to inspect it, he really would've thrown it into Mike's furnace to save himself the trouble.
Everything that could be dismantled had been examined. The dagger was one such example. He removed all the bones from the handle, but he didn't find anything at all.
He even tried to bind them with blood. He made a small cut on his hand and dripped a few drops of blood on the three items. There was no reaction other than the pain from the cut.
Only then did he realize that he was in a magical world and not some Xianxia novel.
He sighed and tossed the dagger back into the drawer. He stared blankly for a long time without feeling sleepy at all.