Episode 053
“What were you doing?”
“I was collecting some bread.”
“hmm. “Bread…”
“yes. Bread is used like coins here. “Roughly, five pieces of bread can be exchanged for a quill, and ten pieces can be exchanged for a matchbox-sized sugar cube.”
“……”
The students at the Blue Dragon Tower were able to eat well and live well because of Lee Han, but there was no one like Lee Han among the students at other towers.
They were fighting desperately for survival.
The hard bread served at mealtime was now being used as an alternative currency.
A currency that can be used to purchase various materials!
“Wow… is it okay if I take a look?”
“Try as much as you want.”
Yoner looked through the black market items with an interested expression. It seemed like he was willing to buy anything useful.
Lee Han also couldn’t hold back his curiosity and tilted his head.
And then I was surprised.
‘no. There’s surprisingly a lot of useful stuff, right?’
I wondered how much supplies the Black Turtle Tower students would have collected, but there were more items than I expected.
Of course, food was not plentiful.
Except for various canned goods (which were probably released when the priests arrived), it was full of all kinds of fake food.
Fake cheese, fake milk, fake eggs, fake smoked meat, fake pickled fish, fake coffee, fake tea leaves, etc. to the point where you think, ‘Well, wouldn’t it be harder to fake this?’
But, excluding food, there were surprisingly many useful things.
Bag, quill, blanket, lantern, fishing rod, shovel and pickaxe, simple tent and sleeping bag, rope and chalk, bow and arrow…
And the most surprising thing is…
‘Why are there so many artifacts?’
Ordinary-looking cloth capes, leather belts, and stone bracelets or necklaces.
It was an ordinary piece of junk, but Lee Han could feel the magic emanating from it.
It was certain. It was an artifact.
‘No matter how easy it is to obtain artifacts at this school, this is so surprising.’
Outside, even the simplest artifact was very valuable. The price was reasonable, but the numbers were small, so adventurers and mercenaries were anxious because they could not get them.
You need at least one artifact to be able to say, ‘I am a seasoned adventurer!’
Just one artifact with <Dark Vision> could serve as a guide through all dark dungeons, and an artifact with healing magic could become a second life in an emergency.
But this school was a slightly different story.
First of all, isn’t it a place where people who know how to make artifacts and people who want to make them gather together?
Of course, as amateurs make them, the quality fluctuates and is unreliable, but the number of artifacts themselves was bound to be overflowing.
But still, I never thought that freshmen would find these discarded artifacts so frugally and bring them back.
I was impressed by the practical spirit and skills of Black Turtle Tower students.
‘It would have made much sense if we had entered the Black Turtle Tower.’
If Lee Han had been in the Black Turtle Tower, he would have gathered all the school’s supplies together with the students.
“Would you like to buy one? “I checked, but there wasn’t much of anything useful.”
Ratford, probably thinking that Lee Han was jealous, whispered quietly next to him.
A Black Turtle Tower student whose business was interrupted glared at Ratford.
‘Whose business is this bastard now…!’
But Ratford spoke regardless.
“That cloak is said to be a protective cloak that blocks blades, but when I actually tested it, it only blocked it once out of two times.”
“Wait a minute, isn’t one out of two still pretty useful?”
“Indeed… you are great. “The attitude of thinking that the glass is half full rather than half full.”
“Just throwing out random words doesn’t give you a compliment. Ratford.”
Lee Han looked through the artifacts carefully.
Certainly there was a reason why Ratford said there was nothing useful.
Most of them were artifacts whose effects were unknown or difficult to confirm, and for some, their magic power was becoming increasingly scarce.
The magic applied is not permanent and is disappearing.
Among those artifacts, it was difficult to expect much from the protective cloak that had just been released, but it was quite useful.
the problem is…
“Do you even accept trauma?”
“Even if a knife enters your neck, it won’t cause any trauma. Mr. Wardanaz.”
‘Why are you using the honorific language…’
Lee Han was dumbfounded.
You can just feel free to say no!
However, for the students at Black Turtle Tower, this issue of trauma was very important.
Other top students had already come and attempted credit transactions.
Top students like Lee Han-ya were prepared to go to the family and beat them up if they took money and ran away, but the Black Turtle Top students could not go to the imperial family.
Therefore, credit transactions are absolutely not permitted!
After hearing the explanation, Lee Han nodded. It was a very understandable explanation.
“Then there is nothing we can do. Um… I heard that it could be bartered, so I brought some things with me.”
Lee Han lifted the basket.
I brought this and that with the explanation that it was a barter market, but when I saw the current atmosphere, my confidence disappeared.
Should I go back and get more canned food?
‘I want to buy the artifact before it is sold.’
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“What did you bring?”
“First of all, I brought some freshly harvested fruits, vegetables, and eggs…”
“!”
“!!!”
I heard the sound of Black Turtle Tower students waking up along with a crunching sound around me.
* * *
Surprisingly, Black Turtle Tower students were crazy about fruits, vegetables, and eggs.
Not only students selling artifacts, but also students selling other things ran to Lee Han and tried to barter somehow.
“This pickaxe and shovel! “It’s something that might have been made by a dwarven craftsman, and if you get one, you’ll always have a use for it…”
“I’ll trade you some fake pickled fish, fake coffee, fake tea leaves, and one egg there!”
“I will give you this wand if you can get me some onions.”
While everyone was standing in line and trying to make a hard sell, the Black Turtle Tower student, who sold the protective cloak for two potatoes, roasted the potatoes over a fire and laughed at his friends.
“That’s stupid. “You have to sell good things to make a profit, but what’s left by selling bad things and making excuses?”
“You shut up! “I was lucky enough to pick up a cloak!”
“hey. How much bread would you sell for a bite of potato?”
“I’m not selling it. “Eat that kind of bread.”
“I heard that potatoes these days are not as tasty as I thought. “Bread might be better.”
The student who got the potatoes despite his friends’ slander, carefully roasted them over a fire.
When I peeled off the baked potato, the warm white flesh was revealed. The Black Turtle Tower student blew on it and put it in his mouth.
“…!!”
Even without saying a word, I could tell that the potatoes were melting on my tongue.
Lee Han, who was watching, was a little embarrassed.
‘How hungry are you?’
There was no way potatoes that were just baked without salt or butter would be so spicy.
But a reaction like that?
“…Everyone gather together for a moment. I’ll treat you to a meal. Yoner. “Can you help me?”
Yoner nodded. The two exchanged glances.
‘Let’s not take money this time.’
‘okay!’
Although he was a stranger who thoroughly accepted money, even after seeing that starving state, he did not want to add silver coins to his ledger.
And I also had other desires.
‘Wouldn’t it be possible to win the favor of the students at Black Turtle Tower if we served them a meal before entering the mountains?’
Although he was already in a permanent hostile relationship with the White Tiger Tower students, he might still be able to become friendly with the Black Turtle Tower students.
Lee Han cut the freshly harvested vegetables with a knife and seasoned them simply.
As I sprinkled salt and pepper and mixed it, the Black Turtle Tower students looked at me with shocked expressions.
But the shock had only just begun.
Lee Han added oil and stir-fried the vegetables until golden brown. The mouth-watering smell has already spread around.
Black Turtle Tower students gathered around the pot one by one like zombies.
Lee Han opened a can of tomatoes. I scraped the bottom of the can with a spoon, poured it into a pot, piled the vegetables on top of each other, and cooked them until they sizzled.
A thick tomato and vegetable stew that was so appetizing that it was hard to believe it was made in a hurry was completed.
As soon as it was finished, Lee Han gave a generous bowl to each of the Black Turtle Tower students who were waiting.
And the surroundings became quiet. All we could hear was the sound of spoons scraping dishes.
The faces of the students who finished eating were full of gratitude and emotion.
Ah, this was the meal!
We must have forgotten something for a while!
“ruler. Applause for Wardanaaz…”
“Be quiet, please.”
Lee Han stuffed a potato into Ratford’s mouth. He was about to put a candle to good mood.
* * *
Lee Han refused, but the Black Turtle Tower students stuffed various miscellaneous items into Lee Han’s pockets to give him something.
Thanks to this, Lee Han was able to walk with two backpacks on his back, a lantern and fishing rod on one side, and a shovel and pickaxe on the other.
“You… are so cool?”
Joner was impressed by the avant-garde fashion. Ratford agreed.
“You seem like a seasoned explorer.”
Even so, Ratford, I couldn’t tell if Joner was making fun of him or if he had a sprained eye.
Lee Han sighed and put down his backpack. The chess set, card set, and dice set inside were rattling.
I gained something other than the goodwill and trust of the Black Turtle Tower students.
In addition to the protective cloak, I also acquired several useful artifacts.
Boots of Lesser Stealth (which miraculously reduced the sound when worn), Smoke Chalk (when thrown, it broke and spread smoke around), Bracelet of Vision Detection (when someone looked at it, there was a certain probability that the stones on the bracelet turned red)…
‘no. But this must have been made by older students. ‘Why did you make this?’
Lee Han was suspicious of the intention while looking at the works of seniors taking an artifact production lecture.
No matter how much I think about this, it seems like they’re all trying to escape the professor’s eyes…?
Clatter-clatter-clatter-
“?”
Lee Han, who was checking the artifact, turned his head when he heard a sound coming from inside the backpack.
To my surprise, a bony hand was moving and crawling out of the backpack.
“…?!”
For a moment, Lee Han thought that the Black Turtle Tower students had returned the favor with revenge.
But when I thought about it, there was no one among the Black Turtle Tower students who could sell magic traps in such a complicated way.
Rattling!
A hand made of bone flew out and merged with the unidentified bone he had received from Professor Mortum in Lee Han’s arms.
The bone has now grown to the size of the hand and forearm.
The bone floated into the air and waited patiently in front of Lee Han. Like a puppy waiting for food.
“…no. no. no.”
Lee Han tried to deny it, but Bone came closer and bit the tip of Lee Han’s finger, taking a drop of blood.
Then I felt a mental connection with this imperfect bone summoner.
“sit down.” “wake up.” “Turn around.” “Go and get him.”
“……”
“……”
Yoner and Ratford looked at Ihan with complicated eyes.
Suddenly, my friend took out a bone summoner and gave various commands, going down the path of black magic. I couldn’t help but feel complicated.
‘The professor gave me something really strange. Well, there’s no way the professor could give me something that’s okay.’
“Wouldn’t it be better to throw it away?”
Dig, dig!
At Yoner’s words, the bone summoner trembled and clung closely to Ihan.
Although it was a summoned animal with only hand and forearm bones, I felt pitiful for some reason.
“…Oh, no. cancellation. cancellation. I’m sorry…”
Yoner had no choice but to take back what he had said.
