Episode 53

Episode 53
“What were you doing?”
“I was collecting some bread.”
“Hmm. Bread…”
“Yes. Bread is used like currency here. Roughly five loaves can get you a quill, and ten will get you a lump of sugar the size of a matchbox.”
“……”
The Blue Dragon Tower students could eat and live fairly well thanks to Ihan, but the other towers didn’t have anyone like him.
They were desperately struggling to survive.
The hard bread given at mealtimes was now used as an alternative currency.
A money to buy all sorts of supplies!
“Wow… Is it okay if I look around?”
“Please, look as much as you want.”
Yoner looked over the black market goods with an eager expression, seemingly ready to buy if he saw anything useful.
Ihan, unable to suppress his curiosity, also leaned in to look.
And was surprised.
‘No way. There are way more useful things than I thought?’
He had wondered how many supplies the Black Turtle Tower students could have gathered, but there were all sorts of items, much more than he expected.
Of course, food wasn’t plentiful.
Except for some canned goods (probably released when the priests came), it was full of all sorts of fake foods.
Imitation cheese, imitation milk, imitation eggs, imitation smoked meat, imitation pickled fish, imitation coffee, imitation tea leaves—so much that he thought, ‘Isn’t it harder to make these fake things than the real ones?’
But except for food, there were a surprising number of useful items.
Bags, quills, blankets, lanterns, fishing rods, shovels and pickaxes, makeshift tents and sleeping bags, ropes and chalk, bows and arrows…
And most surprising of all…
‘Why are there so many artifacts?’
Simple-looking cloth cloaks or leather belts, bracelets or necklaces made of stone.
They looked like common trinkets, but Ihan could sense the magical power emanating from them.
It was clear. They were artifacts.
‘No matter how easy it is to get artifacts in this school, this is unbelievable.’
Outside, even the simplest artifact was extremely rare. Even if you had the money, there were so few that adventurers and mercenaries frantically tried and failed to get them.
Owning just one artifact was enough to call yourself an ‘experienced adventurer’!
Just one artifact with could serve as a guide through any dark dungeon, and an artifact enchanted with healing magic could serve as a second life in an emergency.
But things were a bit different in this school.
After all, it was a place where people who could make artifacts and those who wanted to make artifacts all gathered.
Of course, since they were made by amateurs, the quality was hit-or-miss and unreliable, but the quantity of artifacts was inevitably abundant.
Still, who would have thought that first-years would scrape up all the discarded artifacts and bring them here?
Ihan was amazed at the practicality and capability of the Black Turtle Tower students.
‘If I’d been in the Black Turtle Tower, I probably would have gotten along with them much better.’
If Ihan had been there, he would have scrounged up all the school supplies with the other students.
“Are you thinking of buying something? I’ve checked myself, but there wasn’t much that was actually useful.”
Perhaps thinking Ihan was tempted, Ratford whispered next to him.
A Black Turtle Tower student whose sale was being interrupted glared at Ratford.
‘That bastard, how dare he mess with my business…!’
But Ratford continued nonchalantly.
“They say that cloak is a defensive cloak that blocks blades, but in my testing, it only blocked half the time.”
“Wait, but once every two times is still pretty decent, isn’t it?”
“Indeed… Very insightful. Instead of thinking a cup is only half full of water, you see it as half remaining.”
“That doesn’t make it a compliment just because you say anything, Ratford.”
Ihan thoroughly looked through the artifacts.
Indeed, there was a reason Ratford said nothing was really useful.
Most of them had unknown or hard-to-check effects, and some were running low on magical power.
The magic wasn’t permanent, so it was fading away.
Among such artifacts, the defensive cloak they just talked about, while nothing to get too excited about, was still among the more useful sort.
But the problem was…
“Do you take credit by any chance?”
“Even if you have a knife to my throat, no credit allowed. Mr. Wardanaz.”
‘Why is he suddenly being so formal…’
Ihan was dumbfounded.
He could have just casually said it wasn’t allowed!
But for the Black Turtle Tower students, the credit issue was pretty serious.
Already, students from other towers had tried to buy on credit.
If it was a student from his own tower, if they ran off without paying, Ihan was ready to go as far as visiting their family’s house and causing a fuss, but Black Turtle Tower students couldn’t do that to an imperial noble family.
So absolutely no credit sales allowed!
Hearing the reasoning, Ihan nodded. It made perfect sense.
“That can’t be helped. Hmm… They say bartering is allowed, so I brought a few things.”
Ihan lifted up his basket.
Since it was a barter market, he’d brought a bunch of things, but seeing the current atmosphere, he was losing confidence.
Would he have to go back and bring more canned food?
‘I want to buy an artifact before it’s sold.’
“What did you bring?”
“I brought some freshly harvested fruits and vegetables, and some eggs…”
“!”
“!!!”
There were the sounds of scuffling as the Black Turtle Tower students stood up all around.

• * *
  Amazingly, the Black Turtle Tower students went crazy for fruit, vegetables, and eggs.
  Not only the student selling artifacts, but also those selling other things, rushed over to Ihan trying to barter somehow.
  “These pickaxes and shovels! The kind a dwarf craftsman might have made, if you buy one, you could use it anytime…”
  “I’ll trade you fake pickled fish, fake coffee, fake tea leaves, and an egg from there!”
  “If you can give me an onion, I’ll give you this staff.”
  While everyone was lining up desperately trying to force a sale, the student who had sold the defensive cloak for two potatoes laughed at his friends as he roasted the potatoes over the fire.
  “So stupid. You only profit from selling good stuff, you gain nothing by pleading with people to take bad stuff.”
  “Shut up! You just got lucky and found that cloak!”
  “Hey. How many loaves of bread for a bite of that potato?”
  “Not for sale. You eat that bread yourself.”
  “They say potatoes aren’t that tasty these days. Bread might be better.”
  Despite his friends’ insults, the student who got the potatoes roasted them carefully.
  As he peeled the skin from the perfectly roasted potato, warm white flesh emerged. The Black Turtle Tower student blew on it, then popped it directly into his mouth.
  “…!!”
  Even without words, you could tell the potato was melting on his tongue.
  Watching, Ihan felt a bit taken aback.
  ‘How hungry are they?’
  Potatoes should not go down so easily, roasted with neither salt nor butter.
  But for them to react like that.
  “…Everyone, gather for a moment. I’ll serve you a meal. Yoner, would you help?”
  Yoner nodded. The two exchanged a look.
  ‘Let’s not charge them just this once.’
  ‘Right!’
  Normally, Ihan was strict about getting paid, but after witnessing their hunger, he couldn’t bear to put this on the tab.
  And he had another motive, too.
  ‘If I serve them a meal before going into the mountain range, maybe I can win the favor of the Black Turtle Tower students?’
  He was already in a permanent feud with the White Tiger Tower students, but with Black Turtle, he might still get along.
  Ihan quickly chopped up the freshly harvested vegetables and seasoned them simply.
  When he mixed them with salt and pepper, the Black Turtle students looked at him in shock.
  But the shock had only just begun.
  Ihan added some oil and sautéed the vegetables until they were golden. The mouthwatering aroma already spread throughout the area.
  Black Turtle Tower students began to gather around the pot like zombies.
  Ihan opened a can of tomatoes. He scraped out the bottom with a spoon and poured it into the pot, stacked the vegetables carefully, then let it all sizzle and cook.
  Despite being made in a hurry, it looked good enough to eat at a real restaurant—a thick, stew-like tomato vegetable dish.
  Once it was finished, Ihan ladled out generous bowls for the waiting Black Turtle Tower students.
  Then, it went quiet. Only the sound of spoons scraping bowls could be heard.
  The faces of the students who finished eating were filled with gratitude and emotion.
  Ah, so this is what a meal was!
  We had forgotten something important for so long!
  “Everyone, a round of applause for Lord Wardanaz…”
  “Stop it, please.”
  Ihan stuffed a potato in Ratford’s mouth to keep him from ruining the atmosphere.
• * *
  Although Ihan politely refused, the Black Turtle Tower students insisted on stuffing all kinds of junk into his pockets to show their gratitude in any way they could.
  As a result, Ihan ended up walking with two backpacks on his shoulders, a lantern and fishing rod hanging from one side, and a shovel and pickaxe from the other.
  “You… You look incredible.”
  Yoner admired this avant-garde look. Ratford agreed.
  “You look like a seasoned adventurer.”
  With Ratford, it was hard to tell if he was being serious or sarcastic, but with Yoner, Ihan really couldn’t tell if he was being teased or if Yoner was just blind.
  Ihan sighed and put down one of his backpacks. Inside, chess, cards, and dice sets rattled.
  Beyond the favor and trust of the Black Turtle Tower students, he had gained other things.
  Not only the defensive cloak, but also a few other fairly useful artifacts.
  Low-grade boots of Stealth (remarkably, reduced noise when worn), Smoke Chalk (throw and shatter it, and it scattered smoke around), a Sight-Detecting Bracelet (if someone looked at you, the stone in the bracelet would turn red a certain percent of the time)…
  ‘These must have been made by upperclassmen taking artifact-making courses. Why would they make things like this?’
  Ihan looked at these pieces, wondering about their creator’s intentions.
  No matter how he thought about it, they seemed made to escape the professors’ eyes…?
  Clatterclatter—
  “?”
  While checking his artifacts, Ihan turned at the noise from inside his backpack.
  Amazingly, a skeletal hand was moving, crawling out of the bag.
  “…?!”
  For a moment, Ihan thought the Black Turtle Tower students were repaying kindness with betrayal.
  But on second thought, there was no one among them capable of selling such a complex magical trap.
  Clatter!
  The skeletal hand soared and joined with the mysterious bone Professor Mortoom had given him, which Ihan kept on his person.
  Now the bone was about the size from hand to forearm.
  The bone floated in the air, then waited quietly in front of Ihan, like a puppy waiting to be fed.
  “…No. No. No.”
  Ihan tried to object, but the bone simply came up and gently nipped his fingertip, taking a drop of blood.
  With that, he could sense a mental connection with this incomplete bone summoned beast.
  “Sit.” “Stand.” “Turn around.” “Go fetch.”
  “……”
  “……”
  Yoner and Ratford looked at Ihan with complicated expressions.
  Their friend had suddenly whipped out a bone summon and begun issuing commands, seemingly walking the path of black magic; it was only natural to feel some type of way.
  ‘That professor really gave him something weird. Well, a professor would never give out anything normal, anyway.’
  “Wouldn’t it be better to get rid of it?”
  Flapflapflap!
  At Yoner’s words, the bone summoned beast shook with fear and clung closely to Ihan.
  It was just a summoned being with a hand and forearm, but for some reason, it looked pitiful.
  “…No, no. I take it back, I take it back. Sorry…”
  Yoner had no choice but to retract what he’d said.