Since they decided to go for a stroll on Lake Balinga that Sunday, they decided to use the remaining two days to prepare their things.
Borkal said that they only had one day and didn't need to consider staying overnight, so we don't need to buy …
Then Eriksson interrupted him, "Why don't we set sail on Saturday night and go fishing on the lake and camp out on the boat?
Even though the boat is two meters shorter than the others, it can still fit four people.
As long as it doesn't rain, we can even have a barbecue or something. "
Good idea!
Welikro was the first to agree. Borkal gave it some thought and felt that it wasn't a bad idea. As long as the boat was fine, safety wouldn't be a problem.
Now that summer had arrived and the weather was getting warmer, there were quite a number of fishermen who spent the night on the lake. Some even rented boats to fish on the lake and only returned to the pier in the morning. If they were lucky, they could earn more from a night of fishing than a day of hard work.
Claude didn't want to waste his meditation time just to fish on the lake at night.
Even though it was fine to skip a day or two, Claude understood that hard work was better than playing around.
Damn it, he realized that a little too late in his past life. Even though the elders often said it, he didn't take it to heart and only realized it two months before his exams.
But it was too late by then and he couldn't get into Beida Qinghua no matter how hard he studied.
He remembered his homeroom teacher telling him that it was a pity that he wasn't stupid, but that he worked too hard. If his grades could rise by another 20 marks or so, he would be able to get into those two universities.
Wait, why did I think of going to university in my past life? That's way too far away. I only transmigrated ten years after I graduated from university … What did I want to say just now?
Claude snapped out of his daze when Eriksson tugged on his arm. He heard Eriksson announce, "Good, everyone agreed just now. We'll set sail on Saturday afternoon!"
"Huh? When did I agree to it?" Claude thought, I didn't agree.
"You didn't say anything when we asked you. That means you agreed," Eriksson replied excitedly.
"We're very reasonable. It's fine even if you don't agree. It's three against one. You're the minority, so you have to obey the three of us because we're the majority."
Claude was speechless and could only smile bitterly.
Forget it, I'll just treat it as accompanying them for a night of fooling around. We're all good friends, I shouldn't alienate them just because I'm practicing meditation.
Borkal and Eriksson began discussing the things to be prepared and bought.
Even if he had to admit that he was unlucky, he couldn't act like he didn't want to and make everyone unhappy.
So he offered to pay for the ingredients for the barbecue on Saturday night and all the food and drinks on Sunday. No one had to pay for it from the public fund.
Let's just take it as him treating everyone to a feast.
After Borkal helped Claude sell the shaliun for twelve crowns, Claude agreed to treat everyone to a feast.
But the problem was that there was only one place in Whitestag where one could have a good meal: the old tavern.
However, that was a place where their fathers frequented. If Claude and his friends ate there, they would definitely be lectured when they returned home. Worse still, the money might even be confiscated by Morssen.
Even though Borkal's father promised to keep it a secret, Claude would easily be exposed if he brought his friends to the old tavern for a feast. The prices there weren't cheap, after all. A feast there would cost at least one or two thales.
Anyone's father would definitely get to the bottom of the matter after spending so much money there. It was hard to guarantee that Borkal's father wouldn't reveal the truth to Morssen.
Twelve crowns were equivalent to sixty thales, which was equivalent to six thousand dollars. In an era where the average monthly income was only one to two hundred dollars, it was a huge sum of money.
That was Claude's personal wealth, equivalent to two years of his father's salary. However, he wanted to sell the shaliun when he didn't have the money. But now that he had the money, he realized that he didn't have anything he wanted to buy.
His friends knew that Claude was rich now and his suggestion perfectly fulfilled his promise to treat everyone to a feast.
So, they all expressed their agreement. Claude waved his hand generously and bought the most expensive and best food. He wasn't lacking in money at the moment.
However, the final result of choosing the ingredients was rather embarrassing for everyone. The most expensive ingredient in Whitestag was seafood and the four of them wanted to barbecue it on the boat. They even wanted to fish some fish to barbecue on the boat, so they could cross the seafood ingredient off the list.
Next was meat. The four of them came from wealthy families in town and weren't the poor ones who only got to eat meat once in a while, so they weren't that greedy.
Even though they did buy some beef and mutton, they only cost three doriasos, which was enough to fill the stomachs of the four of them.
As for the roasted chicken wings that Eriksson craved, they were pet food that no one usually ate and could only be used to feed the dogs. Five sunars was all it took.
Finally, there were fruits and bread. Whitestag was a fruitful town to begin with. A large basket of blueberries only cost one riaso. Even if they added in the melons, plums, and apples, it wouldn't cost much.
But for the sake of freshness, they decided to buy them on a Saturday afternoon.
It was the same for the bread. However, they had to pay a deposit to the bakery first before they could order the honey milk bread.
It was the same for the bread. However, they had to inform the bakery first and pay a deposit. Then, they could order the honey milk bread.
After some quick calculations, he realized that the prices were rather cheap. All the food and barbecued ingredients only cost around a thale. Borkal, on the other hand, gritted his teeth and prepared to buy four bottles of blueberry wine. Each bottle was a little expensive, costing three sunars and a riasso.
The barrel of rye wine that Welikro suggested they buy to quench their thirst only cost eight sunars. However, the barrel required a deposit of one riaso, which they would have to return.
The rich Claude forgot that his father, as the chief executive of Whitestag, only earned three thales a month, which was equivalent to one riaso a day. His mother, on the other hand, didn't spend more than five or six sunars on food every day.
He had spent more than a thale on ingredients for one night and one day, which was already considered extravagant and wasteful.
After settling the food list, Borkal discussed with Eriksson about buying some miscellaneous items needed on the boat, such as charcoal for barbecuing, fishing line and hooks, as well as fishskin lanterns to attract fish during night fishing.
There was also the gunpowder for their muskets, the barrel, and the match.
So, after lunch, the four of them climbed over the wall behind the school and headed for Monck's fishing gear and boat supplies at the slum docks.
"I want ten units of standard gunpowder 2," Claude said to Borkal.
Borkal nodded. The two aubass mark 2s they were using were made with gunpowder that was twice as expensive as the standard 1 powder. Well, that was why it was difficult to use something inferior after using a good one. As the ancients said, it's easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but it's hard to go from extravagant to frugal. That was probably the logic behind it. "It's easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but hard to go from extravagant to frugal.
However, Claude felt that it was nonsense. Who would use inferior stuff when there was good stuff? If human society only used inferior stuff instead of good stuff, how was society supposed to progress and develop?
It was precisely because everyone wanted to use good stuff that they had the motivation to think about how to improve their situation and how they could afford to use good stuff.
That was how human society moved towards civilization step by step under such circumstances.
"Hold on, Claude. I was wondering if we should buy two units of standard gunpowder.
It's said that it can allow our muskets to reach a maximum range of 380 meters. The lake is wide and we can try it out without having to worry about accidentally injuring anyone. "
Claude also wanted to try out the maximum range of his beloved gun after hearing Borkal's suggestion. Even though a unit of standard gunpowder 3 cost five sunars, it would only cost one riyas to buy two units. Alright, Claude nodded. "Let's buy two units then."
Welikro was almost in tears. His gun was an old Gally mark 3 and could only use the standard type 1 gunpowder. He couldn't even use the standard type 2 gunpowder, let alone the standard type 3 gunpowder.
If he were to force it into his old matchlock gun, there was a high chance that it would explode. That was because the three types of gunpowder produced very different chamber pressures when they exploded in the barrel.
As for Eriksson, he ignored the interaction between the three. He wasn't planning on bringing his musket to the ship anyway.
His father, Captain Altroni, told him that long range battles at sea relied on cannons and that a single musket would be useless no matter how far it fired.
It was almost impossible or even rare for two ships to fire at the same time like they did on land. If two ships were within 50 meters of each other, they would have already jumped off the ship and engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
So, a musket was really useless in a fight between ships at sea, especially when the ships were constantly moving and sinking on the waves. That made the accuracy of a musket a joke.
Even if you couldn't hit your opponent within ten meters, it wouldn't be too surprising.
As long as you fired your musket, it didn't matter if you hit your opponent or not. You didn't have to rush to reload the musket either. The only correct choice was to draw your dagger or pick up your axe to hack at your enemy.
The reason they brought the gun on their adventure in Egret was because the only weapon the four of them could use for hunting was Welikro's old musket. That was why Eriksson brought it along to protect himself.
The musket didn't disappoint Eriksson either. Had it not been for the musket, Claude might have died to the python's bite.
But the current plan was to go to Lake Balinga, where there wasn't much danger. Claude and Borkal's new muskets would be enough.
The disheartened Welikro didn't plan on bringing his Gally mark 3 anymore. He was going to the reeds by the lakeside to hunt ducks anyway. The target was small and far away, and he might not even be able to get within a hundred meters of the target with his old musket. So, he decided to borrow Borkal's musket for the time being.
Claude stood in front of the three wooden shelves in Wakri's room and carefully examined the messy items on them.
First, he used his mental power to envelop the shelves and was disappointed to find that none of the items displayed any abnormalities.
Claude was disappointed three times, and then he came back.
Welikro, on the other hand, asked curiously, "I thought you were going to buy toys and accessories for your siblings again. I didn't think you'd come back so quickly. What's wrong? Is there nothing you like?"
Claude nodded. "They're all old stuff, just like the last time. There's really nothing interesting."
Wakri heard Claude's words and looked up. "I don't really collect those things anymore. The ones on the shelves are all leftovers from before.
I heard there's a new store in the slums. It's that chubby Hurian's.
I was thinking of calling him over and having him take away all the items on the shelves. They take up too much space in the room. "
Claude didn't know who Hurian was, but Eriksson and Borkal clearly knew who he was.
"Hurian's back?
"Eriksson is surprised.
"He's not leaving anymore?
He's still running a store at home? "Borkal asked Wakri.
Wakri nodded.
"Who's Hurian?" Claude asked.
"He's a traveling merchant. He's always out and about. He brings a donkey with him to sell things on the streets," said Borkal.
"Hurian's a good man," Eriksson said.
Ellickson said, "He liked children and liked to drink. He used to tell stories to a bunch of kids on the docks.
He's been to a lot of places and knows a lot of things. The stories he tells are really nice.
The maltose he sells is really delicious. I wonder if he still makes it. "