Chapter 10
Chapter 10: First Treasure
“What are you thinking about, Master?”
“Hmm? Oh, Zoe . ”
When I looked up, I saw a maid I knew well standing by the delivery wagon, looking at me with a worried look on her face for some reason .
I’ve been seeing her a lot lately .
After I bought her hometown, a whole village that had been flooded, she offered to repay me in any way she could, so I offered her more work at the mansion .
Perhaps because she felt indebted to me, she worked hard and became attentive to details . It’s not bad enough to let her take care of things around the house .
Even now, she’s staying by my side as I’m thinking in the mansion’s hall and taking care of things .
“I’m sure you’ve heard about the selection process for the upcoming knight selection . I was trying to figure out how to do that better . ”
” Oh, I see!”
“What, are you aware of the Knight Selection?”
“Yes! It’s the only gateway for us common people to climb up the ladder, and everyone who knows how to use their skills is training for it every day . ”
“Yeah . Well, I was just wondering how to do that . …Is there a challenger from your village?”
“Yes, there’s one from my village every year . ”
“Yeah . Well, I took away the qualifiers this year . They can come as much as they want . ”
“…yes . ”
Zoe’s vague reply bothered me .
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry!”
“I’m not offended or anything . Just tell me what you think now, okay?”
“It’s not really important . The reason for being the only one from my village is not because of the qualifying or anything, but because of the cost of travel to the capital and also the cost of staying there . ”
“Huh?”
“The cost of living in the capital is high . Everyone in the village has to contribute money to cover the cost of that one person’s stay at the city . Therefore… . ”
Then she gave him a complicated look .
I see, so that’s what happened .
“…Is that a lot? The village collects money and sends one of them out . ”
“Yes . And so they come out with the expectations of the village, and they all take it very seriously–“
“Okay, well, let’s get rid of it then . ”
“What?”
Zoe stared blankly .
“What are you trying to get rid of?”
“Travel and accommodation . I’d like to choose as many as I can, but I don’t want to miss out on talent because of that . Okay, if you want, I’ll provide food, clothing, and shelter for the duration of their stay in the capital . ”
“Oh, you can do that?”
“I can . ”
I said clearly .
“I’m in charge of selecting the knights this time . All I have to do is pay for it, and I can decide right now, right now . ”
“No sir it’s going to cost a hell of a lot of money…”
” Anyone . ”
A man’s servant came in to answer my call .
I ordered him to check the number of empty dwellings in the capital .
I told him to buy every empty house in the city and if that’s enough, good, if not, it’s enough to build a new dormitory of sorts .
And food, depending on the number of people, we’ll need to buy enough to feed a village or a small town .
I search my memory for the grain merchant who has a relationship with the Thirteenth Parent’s residence .
“Master you are amazing…… . . ”
Beside me, with my brain in full swing, Zoe, on the other hand, was flabbergasted .
On the way home after visiting the grain merchant .
I was heading back home, satisfied after taking the pledge of a steady supply during the knight selection period .
The capital’s main street is still busy with all sorts of people today .
Is there any talent among these people? The thought of that made me want to catch each one of them and listen to their stories .
Suddenly, one by one, the passersby stopped and broke off to the left and right .
From the other side of the road that had been created, a carriage .
A carriage that stops passersby and gives priority to the use of the road, and that pattern – that’s the pattern .
“Isn’t that Noah?”
The carriage stopped as it came up beside me .
After the horses had stopped neighing, a young man emerged from the carriage .
“Brother,”
I bowed lightly on the spot .
Oscar Ararat .
His Majesty’s eighth child and my brother .
Obviously, the prince as well . Which is why passersby gave way to him .
Oscar, who is said to be the nicest of all the Princes, spoke to me with a kind face .
“What are you doing here?”
“I was just hanging out . And what about you, brother?”
“I’m on my way to Cobalt Street . Yeah, why don’t you join us, Noah?”
“…Okay, I’ll join you . ”
There was no reason to refuse, so I accepted the invitation .
He quickly lowered a step stool to get me into the carriage, and I used it to get in and sit across from Oscar .
As soon as I got in, he started the carriage up again with his expert handling of the reins .
“I heard that you’ve been selected for the upcoming knight selection, Noah . ”
“That’s a real good ear, brother . ”
“His Majesty kept going on and on about you . I haven’t seen His Majesty that happy in years . ”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, at least for the first time since Noah was born . ”
“I see . ”
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I talk with Oscar about knight selection .
I told Oscar that he has good ears, but he doesn’t seem to have as many ears as Your Majesty does . ”
He knows about the selection process, but he doesn’t know that I’m working to secure food and clothing for all those who travel to the capital as soon as possible .
Well, it could be said that that of His Majesty was too unusual .
A short time later, the carriage came to the entrance of another main street .
“From here on out, we have to walk . ”
“Are you sure about the carriage?”
“This is a place where I enjoy using my feet to hunt for treasure . ”
Oscar smiled innocently .
He was already a young man, but he had a childlike smile that suited him well, despite his age .
We get out of the carriage and turn into Cobalt Street, which is right in front of us .
Cobalt Street is a densely populated area of antique dealers .
Some of them have shops and some have stalls .
All the antiques from all over the empire are gathered here, but at the same time many fakes are also gathered .
It’s a small town that is truly jumbled up, and it is considered an aristocrat’s way of life to seek out genuine treasures using their own eyes .
“Has Noah ever been here before?”
“I’ve heard a lot about it . This is my first time here in person . ”
“Okay . ”
“I hear it costs quite a bit of money . ”
“Not really, 10,000 reens will be enough for now, and even if you find a real bargain, it will be enough for a handout . ”‘
“I see . ”
The average amount of money an adult male in the city earns in a month is ten reens .
Ten thousand is not a small amount, but when you meet a real treasure, you need that much .
I walked around with Oscar .
We went into a shop and looked at some bargains, or went to a stall and looked at some of the displays .
“I didn’t know they had paintings and stuff . ”
“Yeah . Well, most of those artworks are fake . ”
Oscar replied, no longer as enthusiastic as he was when he came here .
I can see that the tension is clearly dropping due to the fact that he hasn’t been able to find any treasures .
Well, it’s not like I’m going to be able to find treasures pompously like that .
With that in mind, I randomly lifted the things lined up in the stalls and stared at them .
I don’t know much about antiques and artifacts .
As a tendency, there are somehow better things in the places that have a proper shop, and the stalls seem to be full of junk .
That may be my preconceptions .
With that in mind, I picked up a book from the stall .
It’s a rather old book with a thick cover .
“—-m!”
A moment later, my hand stopped .
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“What is it, Noah?”
“How much is this?”
“It’s three reens . ”
I pull the said amount out of my pocket and hand it to the owner .
Then I stare at it intently .
“What’s the matter with you, Noah, staring at it with such a scary look on your face?”
“… . ”
“What’s the matter with that, I mean, let me see a little bit, Noah . ”
As if he remembered something, Oscar grabbed my wrist and stared at the old book .
This action, on the contrary, made me go, “What’s wrong?”
“Brother?”
“This is … oh, I’m sure of it . Noah, this is a treasure . ”
“Treasure?”
“Oh . This is the book of the great sorcerer Andreas . And it’s the original . ”
“… . ”
“How do you know it’s a treasure? It’s amazing, Noah . ”
Smiling back at Oscar, I looked down at the old book – the book of magic – again .
I didn’t know this was a treasure, I just saw certain things change as soon as I picked it up .
Name: Noah Ararat
13th prince of the Ararat Empire
Gender: Male
Level: 1 / ∞
HP F MP F Strength F+F Stamina F+F Intelligence F Spirit F Speed F Dexterity F+F Luck F+F Fire F Water E+SS Wind F+FSponsored Content
Earth F Light F Darkness F
It was my status .
It’ always in the corner of my vision, and it changed .
I got a “+” at the wind .
Definitely because of this, so I paid three reeks to get it .
I looked at the grimoire as I walked, Oscar was still beside me, saying .
‘”Apparently it was written quite a bit later . Depending on the content, a 1000 reens wouldn’t be trivial . Wow, that’s amazing, to find the real thing in Cobalt Street for the first time, and among the stalls . ”
“… feeling . ”
“Eh? What?”
I stopped .
I thrust the Leviathan at the Book .
“Noah!?”
Oscar was surprised, but I ignored it and prodded the Leviathan .
Leviathan told me about it .
It was strange that my status increased with the grimoire .
The “+” in my ability is only when I have a human under my command .
When I wondered about that, Leviathan told me that a soul was enclosed in the grimoire .
In order to get a glimpse of that soul, I thrust my sword at the book as Leviathan had told me to do .
Then — a black shadow came out of the book .
The shadow that came out had the shape of a person, but it was pure white with no pupils in its eyes, and a monstrous aura rose up from around its body .
“No way! A forbidden book that contains the soul of the person in question! Run, Noah! He has mastered the wind–“
I moved before Oscar could finish .
The one who moved me was a mad dog, a loyal dog, Leviathan .
As soon as he appeared, the Leviathan gave one of the most hostile looks I’ve ever seen .
So I immediately moved to cut off the man’s head with a flash of my demon sword, and in return, I unleashed Leviathan’s special technique, the water column .
The head with a parabolic neck and the torso that was attached to the grimoire .
The water pillar smashed them all together .
The ‘+’ disappeared from the status .
It was a waste, but Leviathan’s hostility was practically a warning, so I thought it was better to do this .
“Speaking of which, just now, brother was shouting something, but was that – brother?”
The next thing I knew, Oscar was looking at me and gaping his mouth open, pouting .
“What’s the matter, brother?”
“You … when did you become so strong?”
Brother was genuinely surprised .
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