Ever since they returned from their adventure in Egret during the Renaissance Festival, Claude's so-called second year quartet caused quite a stir in the town once more.
When Eriksson called for the sailors and workers to help pull the niros crocodile's carcass out of the water and place it on the docks, the people who came to see the carcass surrounded the Eriksson family's private docks to the point where not even a drop of water could trickle through.
But with his previous experience, Eriksson was already mentally prepared this time. He ordered Pegg, who was guarding the docks, to close the gates and forbade anyone without status or connections from entering.
That way, he could ensure that his family's docks wouldn't be too crowded. After all, the onlookers would be able to see the carcass even without entering the docks.
The Eriksson family's private docks weren't that big. They were originally built from the shoreline of the lake and were two meters lower than the roads in town.
It was more than twenty meters long and only about eight meters wide. Other than the lakeside, the other three directions were surrounded by wooden railings. On the side closer to the road, there was a row of houses built with logs and stones. These were the sailors' temporary dormitories and warehouses.
Now, the carcass of the niros crocodile was placed on the empty ground in front of the houses. There was no need to enter the docks and one could see it clearly from the road.
However, everyone was curious. The more they weren't allowed in, the more they wanted to enter. Even though they could see it clearly from afar, they wanted to go in and feel it up close or touch it.
The docks were now packed with people trying to get closer to Pegg. Fortunately, he was impartial and didn't let any of the unimportant onlookers in.
Borkal had already scuttled up the moment the niros crocodile's carcass was pulled up to the dock. Eriksson still remembered to have the three nets moved away from the deck. He then ran to the crocodile's carcass, saying that he and Borkal were going to untie the ropes tied to it.
Welikro had no choice but to help Claude up the dock with his injured leg. The boat was more than a meter above the docks. Had it not been for Welikro, it would have been rather difficult for Claude to climb up alone.
"Can you stand?" Welikro asked.
Claude stood on one leg and supported Welikro with the other. He held the gun in his other hand and tried to step on the ground with his injured foot. "It's alright. It doesn't hurt as much anymore. I should be able to stand."
"But your foot is still swollen. The apothecary will probably make you bleed," said Welikro.
Alright, the medical skills of this world left Claude speechless. He didn't know how to evaluate it.
Speaking of advanced, there were healing potions and antidotes here. Although they weren't like the ones in the game that could replenish blood and detoxify, the actual effects were quite good.
For minor illnesses such as common colds and colds, if one had the money, they could find a pharmacist to guarantee that they would be cured in a single dose. Of course, if one didn't have the money, they could only suffer and rely on their own physique to overcome the pain.
From a certain point of view, he felt that herbalists were similar to traditional Chinese physicians in his previous world. Even though they didn't know how to read a person's tongue, they could still extract the essence of various medicinal herbs to treat illnesses.
However, when it came to the origins, there was no such thing as Shennong tasting a hundred herbs. Instead, it was said that the recipes were left behind by magi during the dark ages.
That was a clear slap to the face of the various countries who propagated the theory that magi were evil. That was why modern herbology only vaguely claimed that it was the wisdom of the ancients and didn't explain the true origins of the recipes.
However, ever since the people of Freia chased the evil magi to the islands with their guns, herbology, or in other words, medicine, didn't stop developing.
On the contrary, as wars broke out between countries, surgery and external injuries improved greatly.
Welikro used a needle and catgut to stitch up the wound on Eriksson's face on the fishing boat. That became common knowledge among middle school students.
However, in some aspects, the medical skills of this world were not only outdated, they were also quite ignorant. For example, for high blood pressure, the herbalists suggested making a cut on the head and letting out some blood.
They didn't know why people had high blood pressure, but since they felt dizzy and hot, they should let out some blood to calm themselves down.
If they couldn't figure out the cause of such internal problems, they would usually suggest letting out some blood. That was the universal cure.
There was also toothache. There were no dentists in this world and it was all herbalists' work. Their treatment was to extract the tooth and remove the sore one.
For example, Claude's sprained ankle was swollen like a loaf of bread. The herbalists would first let out some blood, set the bone, and apply some ointment.
After all, they didn't know how to get rid of the blood clots in the swollen area. It was more convenient to make a cut and let out some blood. Since they had medicine, it was the most effective for external injuries like cuts.
Claude smiled bitterly. "I'll let him have the cut and let out the blood. Otherwise, my foot won't recover."
"Are you going to the apothecary now or wait for a while?"
Welikro felt a headache coming on as he looked at the crowd outside the pier. It wouldn't be easy to get out if there were too many people.
Claude looked over helplessly and said, "How about this? Help me to Pegg's house and I'll sit there for a while. When the crowd lessens, I'll call a carriage to send me there myself.
Go do what you need to do. Don't forget to send my share to my house. "
Claude was referring to the fish and the nine waterfowl they hunted. It was already agreed that Borkal would sell whatever he could and the rest of the money would be split between the four of them after paying for the repair of the fishing boat.
Naturally, they couldn't sell all of the fish and birds either. At the very least, they had to keep some for them to try.
On the other side, Borkal and Eriksson were excitedly describing how they hunted the niros crocodile. Who knew what kind of thrilling story they would come up with?
However, Claude and Welikro knew that they were just trying to omit the fact that they didn't do anything to embarrass themselves and described themselves as brave and fearless.
Welikro helped Claude to the pier and took out a wooden stool from Pegg's house for Claude to sit on before hurrying back to the fishing boat.
Borkal and Eriksson were busy showing off their prowess as crocodile-hunting warriors by the carcass and didn't have the time to tidy up the fish and the nine waterfowl. They also had to move the food and utensils out of the storage cabin. All those trivial matters were left to Welikro.
Claude sat on the stool and watched as Pegg mercilessly rejected the onlookers trying to get in through their connections.
Of course, Pegg didn't turn away everyone. He knew exactly who he should let in.
For example, the merchants and influential people in town who arrived in their private carriages. Even Eriksson's father, Captain Altroni, wouldn't dare to offend them.
Whitestag was too small with a population of less than a hundred thousand. News of a minor incident would spread throughout the town in the blink of an eye.
The niros crocodile they hunted this time would surely become a legend in town. It had been many years since the townsfolk had seen such a huge one. Occasionally, someone who managed to kill one one to two meters long would brag about it in the taverns for half a year.
But this time, it was a four-meter-long niros crocodile that was hunted by four sixteen-year-old youths.
By the time the chief constable of the town brought a few of his subordinates to watch the commotion, most of the onlookers outside the pier had dispersed.
They already knew that the bustling scene at the pier wasn't something they could attend. Those who went in were all people of status and wealth.
Even if they were allowed to go in, they wouldn't dare to get close to those people. Since that was the case, they might as well go to the road above where they would be able to see everything clearly.
Claude sat in front of the house. The people who came in didn't notice him. Their attention was focused on the carcass of the niros crocodile.
The chief constable, on the other hand, ordered his subordinates to disperse the crowd and maintain order. He turned around and saw Claude.
"Claude?" the chief constable said.
"Oh, good afternoon, Uncle Tomas," Claude hurriedly greeted him.
Claude hurriedly greeted him. He was a colleague of his father's and a frequent guest of Morssen's banquets. He would always be one of the drunkards.
The chief constable looked at the carcass of the niros crocodile and the gun in Claude's hand. "You hunted that?"
Claude nodded.
"Good lad, you're amazing. Your father will be proud of your bravery."
"Thank you for the compliment, Uncle. We only managed to kill the crocodile out of sheer luck.
To be honest, I was quite afraid when we faced it, but we had no choice. If we didn't fight with our lives on the line, we would've been torn to shreds. Fortunately, we won. "
The chief constable patted Claude's shoulder in satisfaction. "Very good. You're brave but not arrogant. You're also calm. Your future is limitless.
By the way, why are you sitting here? "
Claude pointed at his left foot. "I hurt my foot. I wanted to call a carriage to the apothecary shop. There were a lot of people earlier, so I sat here for a while."
"It's pretty serious. It's swollen. You should've gone to the apothecary shop earlier."
The chief constable turned to his subordinate and said, "Mark, Mark, get our carriage in here. Send Claude to the apothecary shop."
The subordinate called Mark nodded and ran outside. Their carriages were parked by the side of the road. It would take some time for them to get in and they had to chase the bystanders to the side.
"Thank you, Uncle Thomas," Claude hurriedly said.
The chief constable waved. "You're welcome. Your father and I are good friends and colleagues. Not to mention, you're a young warrior of our town. You killed such a huge crocodile. It's their honor to do something like this for you."
Of course, that honor was for his subordinates.
At that moment, Claude heard someone call his name. It was a pleasant female voice.
He turned around and saw two beauties standing at the entrance of the docks. It was the older beauty who called his name, but he didn't recognize her.
"Do you know them?" the chief constable asked.
Just as Claude was about to shake his head to indicate that he didn't know her, he looked at the petite beauty beside her and remembered that she was Kefnie, a middle school girl. Eriksson had mentioned that she was the dream lover of the previous owner of his body, Lil 'Claude.
"Yes, she's my middle school classmate," Claude said.
The chief constable nodded and the two beauties entered the docks.
The smaller beauty was a little shy and didn't dare to look at Claude directly. The larger beauty, on the other hand, was quite generous and even sized him up.
"Good afternoon, Kay, Kefnie."
Claude didn't know how to greet them. He saw the empty basket in the little beauty's hands. "Oh, you're going to the docks to buy fish?"
Now that he thought about it, Eriksson mentioned that Kefnie didn't come from a good family and often went to the market near the docks to buy the freshly caught fish from the lake to save some money.
"Yes." The little beauty nodded. Her face was a little red, but she didn't forget to introduce the larger beauty beside her. "This is my sister, Kefnie. We wanted to buy some fish and heard that you killed a huge crocodile, so we wanted to come in and take a look.
But we couldn't get in. Seeing you inside, I called your name. "