Maria left on the morning of the 17th day. Had it not been for a messenger from the royal capital urging her to return, she might have stayed for a while longer.
Claude stayed by her side for the next 17 days as her cook, or rather, lab assistant.
Apart from completing seven magic tomes and thirty-five blank magic scrolls, Lin Li mainly learned how to operate the machines used to process medicinal ingredients in the laboratory. He also learned some basic potioneering knowledge under Maria's guidance.
Out of gratitude for Maria's selfless teachings, Claude would put in a lot of effort to prepare a sumptuous meal every night to express his gratitude. That was also the reason why Maria delayed her return to the royal capital and stayed at the wood.
She had expressed more than once that while she was surprised by Claude's talent in herbalism and magic, she still felt that his best future would be as a chef.
However, Claude learned a lot about Maria during that time. She was actually a glutton.
Well, it might not be polite to put it that way, but she was a food lover and a connoisseur.
Perhaps it was because she was adopted by Stellin IX and lived a privileged life in the royal palace that she developed the habit of eating good food. While she could eat normal food, it was only for the convenience of traveling.
She rushed to Whitestag to purchase the niros crocodile specimen and didn't bring her servants or guards with her.
She was mainly worried that her large scale excursion would attract unwanted attention and cause a setback in her plan to purchase the specimen.
During the time she was at the wood, all her food was bought by Ludian from the tavern in town.
While the chef of the tavern, Pjard, was quite good at cooking, the dishes he was good at weren't that far off from the famous restaurants in the royal capital.
To Maria, those weren't essential. She had enough of those dishes in the royal capital.
So, when she visited Claude's house that day, Mr. Morssen said that Claude could cook delicious dishes that couldn't be found anywhere else. That was why she stayed for a meal despite her status.
For a glutton, no, a gourmet, tasting dishes she hadn't tried before was the most important and happiest moment. What was status?
Can that thing be eaten?
Claude didn't disappoint her. The dishes he cooked that night were things she had never seen or heard of in the royal capital, especially stir-frying, which was completely unheard of in this world.
Steaming, boiling, roasting, pan-frying, mixing, and roasting were the six cooking methods that a chef in this world must know, with the exception of stir-frying.
Naturally, Claude blamed it on a notebook he had read in the past. Maria believed that it was recorded in the magus' diary. Perhaps it was the favorite cooking method of the magi back then.
Mr. Morssen thought that his second son might have seen a chef's notebook somewhere. He had already bought a cookbook last time, so it was not a problem that he liked to cook.
Actually, the dishes he made were the same as the ones he knew how to make in his previous life. When he cooked for his mother and siblings, he had to consider the issue of food substitutes and waste.
To Morssen, cooking delicious food was praiseworthy, but wasting too much was intolerable. Money didn't just grow on trees.
In the wood, Claude didn't have to worry about wastage. Maria loved good food and she didn't care how much he had to pay for a plate of good food. Even if he couldn't find some seasonings, he could just ask her to name them or substitute them before instructing Ludian to buy them for him.
Claude believed that Maria was a glutton. She loved to discuss a dish with him after tasting it and memorize its recipe so that she could bring it back to the royal capital for her personal chef to learn how to make it.
The two of them would often quarrel during that period. Claude's recipes would usually have a bit of wine and a bit of salt. So, Maria would struggle for a long time and insist that Claude tell her exactly how much he should add.
Maria's second identity was herbalist. Every time she taught Claude about herbalism and experiments, she would turn solemn and was completely different from her usual friendly self.
Her favorite warning to Claude was that he couldn't afford to be careless when learning about herbalism and experimenting. Every syringe of concoction could cost an innocent person's life.
Registered magus was her third identity and she didn't care much about it.
She admitted that she only wanted to learn spells when she was young because she found it amusing when she saw those magi casting spells. But when she was tested, she found that she really had talent in magic. So, she started to learn meditation and spells and managed to become a two-ring alchemist without even knowing it.
Actually, Claude didn't know what kind of magus she was. Most of the spells she carved were harmless ones.
The only combat spell she had was a level-one Shackle of Lightning, which she found in the royal treasury. Stellin X was worried that his sister wouldn't be able to defend herself, so he gave it to her.
Magic was just something that made her life a little more convenient, just like how she liked to use Luminous Pearl to light up the place.
Given her identity, it didn't really matter if she had magic or not.
It was just like when she asked Claude to help her deal with the crocodile specimen. Claude was the one who did all the work. All she needed to do was move her mouth and give some pointers. It was much better than using a bamboo knife to scrape the muscles on the skin.
Maria's final identity was that of a noble lady. That was something she neglected the most. It was just like how she became a herbalist the moment she entered a herbalist's lab. She quickly forgot about her noble status.
Morssen said that she often spent days in the lab doing research and it wasn't just a rumor.
Had it not been for Claude's reminder, she would indeed forget about the time and her meals during her experiments.
Claude was glad that the first magus he met was Maria and he learned a lot about magic and the current state of magic in the kingdom.
More importantly, she wasn't obsessed with magic and didn't covet the five basic spells Claude learned.
At the same time, she carefully taught Claude the basics of herbalism, how to make them and how to deal with medicinal ingredients.
Claude learned how to make magic tomes and scrolls from her, as well as how to make a niros crocodile's skin into rune parchment.
The only regretful thing was that Maria didn't really care about magic, so she could only give Claude a general introduction to the situation of magi in the kingdom and the various countries on the continent.
It was just like the underground magic market she mentioned. She knew about it and had been there before, but she wasn't too interested in it. She would only go there when she lacked ingredients for her experiments.
But based on what she said, Claude had a rough understanding of his situation. As long as no one found out that he was a magus, he should be fine.
If he met other magi, he would have to be careful not to reveal his spells and basic information.
Maria had said that it wasn't always peaceful or friendly between magi. It wasn't uncommon for them to kill each other for the sake of the other's spells, materials, resources and wealth.
Maria gave Claude a completed tome and five magic scrolls. A tome like that could be sold for 50 crowns in the royal capital and a blank magic scroll for five crowns.
So, even though Maria bought the niros crocodile specimen from Sir Fux for 45 crowns, the seven tomes and 35 blank scrolls were more than enough for her to earn quite a bit of money when she returned to the royal capital.
Maria had planned to spend half a month alone in the herbalism lab in the wood to turn the crocodile into rune parchment before returning to the royal capital. But with Claude's help, she had much more time. Not only was the tome and scrolls completed, she also had plenty of time to guide Claude in his studies and experiments.
Under Maria's guidance, Claude learned how to engrave spells on tomes and seal mana on magic scrolls.
She even sealed her only combat spell, Lightning Shackle, on a magic scroll for Claude to use for self-defense.
As a matter of fact, Lightning Shackle wasn't all that powerful and it only had a range of around ten meters.
The magic effect of this spell was to use a bolt of lightning to strike a person's body. The damage would be equivalent to being hit by a stick, and the consequences would be minor injuries at most. The important thing was that this spell could paralyze the person for ten seconds.
It was a pity that it was only a level-one spell and Claude could only learn it when he became a two-ring rune magus.
She gave Claude the magic scroll to protect himself.
She thought that the ten or so seconds of paralysis would be enough for Claude to escape. She didn't think that the ten or so seconds of paralysis would be enough for Claude to deal a fatal blow to the enemy.
Unknowingly, Claude began to think of Maria as the teacher in high school in his past life. He studied diligently under Maria's guidance and absorbed all the new knowledge in this world. At the same time, he tried his best to cook the delicacies of his past life for her and was delighted by her praise.
However, a messenger from the royal capital interrupted Claude's wonderful time of study. The letter stated that the second prince's consort was eight months pregnant and he urgently hoped that Maria would return to the royal capital as soon as possible to give her another check-up.
Maria had no choice but to end her leisure time in the wood and pack up for her journey the next morning.
The night before she left, Maria called Claude over and handed him the responsibility of guarding the wood in front of Siori and Siori. She also gave him the keys and allowed him to use all the equipment and materials in the herbalism lab.
Claude understood that Maria was doing it for his own good. He wouldn't have to worry about others finding out about his identity as a magus in the wood. He would have much more freedom to meditate in the attic of the red-bricked house.
Another reason was that Maria didn't want him to stop his herbalism studies. He had already shown great talent as a herbalist. The only difference between him and a novice herbalist was that he had far less practical experience. Be it concocting potions or processing medicinal ingredients, all of that required time and personal understanding.
Maria gave Claude a slip of paper with an address on it.
She said that even though the three prefectures didn't have an underground magic market, they did have an underground shop that collected magical materials and resources in the area.
If Claude needed to buy anything in the future, he could go there to have a look. It was an underground magic market in Whitestag and was said to have only been established for a year or so.
Even though Maria knew about it, she hadn't been there before.
Claude put the slip of paper away and handed her an envelope. That was his parting gift to her.
There were five pieces of paper in the envelope. Four of them had the rune arrays of Magus' Hand, Precise Control, Decomposition, and Fusion. The last one had a few sentences written on it. It meant that if Maria learned these four rune spells, she would be able to purchase the materials to set up the alchemy rune arrays.
Even though she wasn't a fan of magic, it was undeniable that those four spells would be useful in alchemical formations.
She could use those spells to conduct experiments in the alchemical formation and reverse engineer the steps and effects of the experiments to perfect the concoction and processing process. So, Claude didn't want her to reject his parting gift.
Maria let out a sigh after reading the letter, but she still kept it.