Chapter 20 20. My Struggle
What Annan thought was that not long after, he had mastered the common language, had saved enough money, had an amazing test result, and had the potential to practice magic and martial arts, a beautiful tutor, and the best mythical beast. , divine gods, wealth and status follow one after another.
But even when he was able to talk to Victor about the beauty of poetry, the magnificence of collected works, and discuss philosophy and history all night long, the money he saved was not enough to test his qualifications.
The gray-robed mage described it as "the mage spends money like running water." Annan hasn't even opened the door yet.
Besides the library and the tavern, Annan had to find other things to do.
After a sleepless night of tossing and turning, Annan got up and started a new day.
Going to the library on a Sunday, which was much noisier than usual, I still cleaned the dust, and then chose a biographical novel about a magician as the protagonist.
The birch chip bookmark he bought for 1 copper coin is still sandwiched on page 12 of "Rikaner Geography", but at this moment Annan urgently needs something interesting to offset the gradually declining interest due to boring knowledge.
Soon, Annan was immersed in biographical novels without much rhetorical polish, following the childhood footsteps of the legendary mage. When he raised his head again, the minute hand of the clock had dropped to half past.
Mr. Victor didn’t come.
Annan thought about how to tease Victor for a while and continued reading. When he raised his head again, it was already more than ten minutes later. Mr. Victor still hasn't come.
This is simply unbelievable to the punctual and orderly old man.
Annan no longer sat there, tore off a page of notebook paper, crookedly wrote "Suspension of business, find Victor" and posted it on the door.
Just as the library door closed, a shadow overlapped. She is the wine lady's niece.
"Mr. Victor hasn't come yet. Do you know where he has gone?"
"I don't know." The lead-grey eyes of the girl in the robe that showed color in the sunlight glanced at the note on the door and returned to Annan, "But I know where he lives."
"Take me Go.”
Fortunately, the cheap niece did not shirk and led Annan to Victor’s residence.
At the same time, Annan was observing the only way to avoid missing him lying on the roadside. For example, the weird old man got his head smashed by a bad boy, or his foot slipped in the gutter.
Arriving at a single-family mansion on a wealthy street, nicknamed "Guard Street" by the townspeople, "Little Winchet" indicated that this is where it was.
Annan stepped forward and knocked on the door, and soon there were familiar footsteps behind the door.
Click——
Mr. Victor’s always serious face appeared behind the door.
"Didn't you go to the library?" Annan put down his worries.
“Because the library is closed today.”
"You didn't tell me." Annan had no idea that there was a day off.
“Didn’t I say it?”
“No.”
“I have said it now.”
As if an illusion, Annan seemed to have seen from those pairs of His slightly cloudy eyes felt a hint of successful cunning. He couldn't say anything. He could only say "Have a nice day" to say goodbye and leave. Then he looked suspiciously at little Winchet, who seemed to have known this for a long time.
"Did you know that the library was closed today?"
"You didn't tell me and my aunt either."
"We..." Annan swallowed back the "nothing", What if there really is something...
Anyway, it's good to have the same salary and a day off.
Annan and Little Winchet, who was still following him, returned to the library. He pulled off the note on the door, checked the windows and the basement door, and said to Little Winchet, who was still in the library, "I'm going to close the door."
After watching the silent little Winchet leave, Annan returned to Aunt Susan's house.
"Aunt Susan, I am going to go out to visit a friend."
"Our little Annan is starting to have friends too." Aunt Susan, who was drying clothes, was about to call out Martin was sleeping and was stopped by Annan.
Putting some copper coins in his pocket, he asked Aunt Susan to help smear some dust on his face. "Are you coming back for dinner?"
"Come back."
Waving his hand, Annan walked out of the yard, left Pinglin Town, and then followed the winding road to the hills of the haunted gold mine.
Even after the bloody incident a week ago, the Haunted Gold Mine has not closed and is even more bustling - after the attack they accidentally found a nearly exhausted vein - even this can produce hundreds of Benefit.
After asking, he learned that Tasia was still here, and Annan walked towards the woods with peace of mind. He sat under the grass-free roots of Tasia's usual seat and waited.
The spots of light shining through the tree canopy moved slowly, and as noon arrived, the miners gradually walked out of the haunted gold mine.
Tasia, who is nearly two meters tall, stands out among them.
But as she approached, Annan frowned.
"Are you injured?"
The steps of Tasia's left leg were short and awkward. Annan asked her to stand still and squatted in front of her dirt-covered legs, lifting the shackles.
The thick ankle showed a circle of erosion wounds.
Annan, who smelled the rotten smell, said: "Your wound is rotten...wait for me here."
Annan ran to the shack, quickly brought a bowl of water, tore off the corner of his clothes, moistened it and wiped the wound , and then bandage it.
Tasia lowered her head and watched quietly as he performed the despicable work that only a servant would do to her alien slave.
"Huh... okay."
Annan tightened the bandage, wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood up: "Don't let the shackles touch the wound, keep it ventilated and exposed to the sun, it's best to think A way to break the shackles.”
"Why do you want to help me?" the quiet Tasia asked. The dull sound is neither crisp nor pleasant.
"You were my first friend when I came here."
As for Aunt Susan's family... they are family.
Annan sat back under the tree roots and patted the side. After some hesitation, Tasia sat next to him and listened to Annan's account of what happened after he left the haunted gold mine.
"...Now, I work in a pub and a library to save money...what about you?"
It's Tasia's turn: she says her foreman died under a kobold warlock's fireball, but the slave contract is still there and she was sold to another foreman for 70 silver coins.
“You need money?”
Tasia put her hand into her pocket, and there were about a dozen copper coins lying on her muddy palm.
"I picked it off from the corpse."
"...No need for the time being." Annan shook his head, stood up and said, "I'm going back, and I will find a way to get you Bought.”
That evening, Annan came to the tavern and found that the gray-robed mage Michael was also there.
"Look at your condition." Michael greeted him.
But Annan’s focus today is not on him. Run and ask the bard for the world's most popular story.
"Very... popular." said the bard.
This was verified by Annan in the library the next day.
These literary works lack twists and turns and dangers, and the content of best-selling works is also lackluster. What was written hundreds of years ago will be written hundreds of years later.
Thinking of the qualification test and Tasia's injury, Annan thought that he might be able to write a book to get out of the predicament.
Then show it to the bard for appreciation.
As a bard who sells songs and stories, he knows which stories are the most popular.
(End of this chapter)