Morssen didn't treat Claude well for the rest of the week. Even when Claude humbly greeted him every morning, he only snorted coldly in response.
That was especially so when Whitestag Morning News reported that Claude had climbed up to the roof to sleep because it was too stuffy in the attic and was mistaken as a thief by the night patrols. Morssen's mood only got worse after that.
Even though Whitestag Morning News didn't mention a name and used a pseudonym like A, everyone in the know knew who they were referring to.
Morssen was rather displeased, partly because of Whitestag Morning News' report, which let everyone know that his son had made a fool of himself.
Even though it was just a trivial anecdote, he was still teased by his colleagues and friends every day. "Your son didn't go up to the roof to sleep last night, did he?"
That still made Morssen feel rather embarrassed.
On the other hand, Claude's second son was too much of a nuisance to him. How could he have thought of climbing up to the roof to sleep?
That was the roof of a four-storey building, which was 13 to 14 meters above the ground. Not to mention, the roof was sloping and he could easily fall off if he wasn't careful. It was simply too dangerous.
Morssen was truly thankful that the night patrols had discovered it. If they hadn't, it would have been too late for Claude to have fallen off the roof.
Between an anecdote and a tragedy, Morssen would rather have an anecdote than a tragedy.
Being laughed at was better than losing a loved one. No matter what, he was a qualified father who cared about his children.
Because of that, Morssen even made it a point to invite the captain of the night patrol and the patrolman who discovered Claude on the roof to a banquet at the tavern during lunchtime to express his gratitude to them.
That won him the praise of many diners in the tavern. Everyone felt that Morssen was a gentleman who knew how to be grateful.
As for Whitestag Morning News, Morssen called for a joint meeting after he returned to the town hall. The main topic was to crack down on tax evasion within their scope of business and clean up the town's sanitation and safety issues.
As a result, all the workshops in Whitestag went through a storm of inspections. The slightest mistake would result in a fine and a deadline for rectification.
The White Deer Morning Post was naturally the most important part of the inspection. In the end, a lot of problems were found. There were 13 fines for hygiene alone, and the chief editor of the newspaper was in so much pain that he wanted to die.
In the end, a shareholder came to visit Mr. Morssen at home with gifts to ask for a favor, and then Sir Fox, a member of the Parliament, intervened, and Mr. Morssen nodded and let the Morning Post go.
Claude didn't have it easy either. First, he was strictly forbidden by his father to go up to the roof again. Then, he was mocked by his classmates for more than a week.
Claude was even given the nickname of Claude on the Roof.
Those who heard the nickname for the first time would think that he was a chimney worker.
Claude didn't care what others called him, but Eriksson and Welikro had already beaten up quite a few students who called him that in secret.
Usually, the four of them didn't get along well with the rest of the school and some of the students were even afraid of their tyrannical ways.
Even though Claude had become more mindful of his temper after transmigrating, he was still one of the school's bullies.
It was rare for him to make a fool of himself, so how could he not be bragged about by his jealous classmates?
Claude was troubled by another matter. While his father was angry, he could still feel Morssen's love for his son.
But after he was forbidden by his father to climb up to the roof, he realized that he could only train Hexagram Meditation three times in the attic. After that, his mental power would run out and he would feel dizzy. His temples would also start to throb with pain.
It was no wonder Landes mentioned in his diary that he had to pay attention to the number of times he meditated at the start and not exhaust his mental power.
However, Claude found it strange that not a single magus in the past few millennia had discovered that meditation under the moonlight would yield twice the results with half the effort.
Bathing in the moonlight on the roof, he could meditate for an entire night. Not only did he not exhaust his mental strength, but he also felt very excited, as if he had taken a stimulant.
Claude didn't believe that no magi had discovered it in the span of a few millennia.
After some thought, he came to the conclusion that there could only be two reasons. First, the magi who discovered it all kept it to themselves and didn't tell anyone about it.
The other reason was safety. Landes mentioned in his diary that he had to find a quiet place where he wouldn't be disturbed during meditation.
Even though he didn't mention whether it was safe or not, it was obvious that even if meditation didn't have the risk of going berserk like qigong cultivation, a magus' senses of the outside world would be cut off during meditation. That was when their bodies were at their weakest. Even a seven-year-old child would be able to deal a fatal blow to a magus who was meditating.
Of course, Claude did wonder if it was because his mental power was special and different from others, but he didn't think that was possible.
In the millennia of the magical era, there had been countless talented magi. What kind of people hadn't appeared before?
There would only be more people with stronger Psyche Power than him, no less.
Landes, for example, had a mental power of eight, which made him seem stronger than Claude's.
However, the effects of meditating through the night for three consecutive nights soon began to show. Even though he still felt refreshed, his body couldn't take the consequences of not sleeping for three days straight.
Had it not been for the fact that the day after he was mistaken for a thief was a Sunday, he might not have even been able to go to school.
After being scolded by Morssen, he went back to his attic at four in the morning and slept for about eighteen hours straight. He only woke up at dinnertime on Sunday.
Fortunately, his mother often went to the attic to check on him out of worry and didn't disturb him when she saw him sleeping so soundly.
At the same time, she told Angelina and Borke not to disturb him with the snowhound. Only then did Claude recover with a long nap.
How should I put it … It's good to be young.
So, Claude learned his lesson and stopped climbing the roof or meditating through the night.
He would start meditating at nine in the evening every day. After three sessions, he would be able to sleep at around two in the morning when he was mentally exhausted. He would wake up at seven in the morning to wash up and head downstairs for breakfast before going to school with his friends with his backpack.
Even though he only slept for about five hours every night, the fact that he was mentally exhausted from meditating meant that he slept deeply and dreamlessly until the sun rose. The quality of his sleep couldn't be any better.
The other reason was that he was only sixteen and full of vigor. Not to mention, he could still catch up on his sleep during the liberal arts class in the morning. That was why he didn't ruin his body. Evil magi were all pale and weak like those depicted in novels.
The only thing that made Claude happy was that Borkal sold his shaliun for the high price of twelve gold crowns.
That was a price that shocked all his friends. Even a shaliun could only be exchanged for two gold crowns at the bank in town.
Eriksson and Welikro were rather tempted and wanted to sell their own shaliun as well.
Borkal said that it was purely a coincidence that the shaliun was sold for such a high price. Four of his father's friends were interested in buying the coin for their own collection, so they held an auction at his house.
Under his father's hosting, two of them already had a small grudge against each other, so they kept increasing the bid during the auction and finally reached such a high price.
In fact, the person who managed to get his hands on the shaliun felt rather regretful. According to the market price, a shaliun was only worth around ten gold crowns.
Even though shaliuns were rarely seen on the market, they were immediately snatched up by people the moment they appeared.
However, twelve gold crowns was far beyond the value of a shaliun. Even so, he couldn't go back on his word and agreed to Borkal's deal.
In the end, Borkal believed that his father's friend didn't lose out at all. Even though it was sold for a high price of twelve crowns, as long as he kept it for a decade or so, the price of a shaliun in the market would rise to around twelve to fifteen crowns in no time.
The reason for that was simple. Shaliuns were made by magi using alchemy and runic magic formations. They weren't the common coins that were die-cast in coin factories.
Now that their numbers were decreasing, it was certain that the price of a shaliun would only get higher and higher in the future.
If a coin collector didn't have a shaliun in his collection, he wouldn't be able to show it off.
Borkal's conclusion dispelled Eriksson and Welikro's thoughts of selling their shaliuns. Since Borkal was certain that the value of the shaliuns would rise in value in the future, it was better for them to keep it for now.
They weren't in urgent need of money at the moment anyway. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to leave it as a family heirloom for their descendants.
Eriksson announced a piece of good news. That Sunday, they would be able to take his fishing boat to Lake Balinga to hunt ducks.
Truth be told, Eriksson's small fishing boat, which was made from a flipper and a wave-piercer, had been running around for quite some time.
They had originally planned to go for a stroll on the lake the previous Sunday.
But that day, Claude slept for the entire day while Borkal and Welikro went to the Altronis' dock.
In the end, Pegg stopped the three of them from having the urge to take the boat to the lake. The fishing boat could only stay in the water by the dock and keep loading it with loads. At the same time, they had to test the water tank to make sure the boat wouldn't leak.
So, Borkal and Welikro became Eriksson's helpers and kept loading and unloading things under Pegg's instructions. The three of them only returned home after exhausting themselves.
The fishing boat had to be soaked in the water for around three days before it was towed ashore to be flipped over for inspection.
Only after they were sure that everything was fine could they officially set sail.
"Are you sure you won't make us do hard labor for another day?"
Asked Borkal. Welikro nodded. The two of them were terrified by what they went through the previous Sunday. They didn't think that modifying a small fishing boat would be so troublesome and require so many inspections.