NOVEL WEB Chapter 14 - Investing is in a Pile of Trash (3)
The street market located in the east of the capital was much more bustling and crowded than I expected.
Although this country was militarily strong, it was located quite on the outskirts, so I didn’t have high expectations, but the capital seemed to be worthy of being a capital.
Precia and I wandered around the market street, snacking and buying interesting items.
“Look over there, people are gathering in the square. …Young master.”
Precia firmly refused to call me by my name comfortably and eventually compromised by calling me young master.
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed that the way of addressing me was decided so quickly because it was fun to tease her.
I followed Precia’s lead and headed to the square where people were gathered.
“Is it a street performance?”
In the center of the market square, four people dressed up like a circus troupe were displaying skills such as juggling.
“Wow! Look at that person! He teleported the cards! I heard that teleportation is a magic that even the great grand mage finds difficult; could he be an amazing magician?”
The innocent Precia was amazed even by simple card tricks.
“It’s probably just an illusion. A magician who can freely manipulate spatial magic wouldn’t become a spectacle in a place like this, right?”
At my answer, Precia nodded but still looked amazed.
“If it’s an illusion, what could it be?”
“It’s probably something like this.”
I put a coin into my left fist without showing it and asked Precia to blow on it.
As Precia blew on my fist, I chanted a simple incantation and opened my right hand.
When the coin appeared in my right hand, Precia was surprised, and I then opened my clenched left fist to show that there was nothing.
“Huh?! How did you do that?”
I took out the coin from my left sleeve and taught Precia the trick in response to her question.
“It’s simple. I originally had 2 coins and hid one while drawing attention elsewhere. I told you, it’s an illusion.”
If surrounded by people in an open space, some psychological tricks and hand movement practice would be needed, but it wasn’t that difficult of a trick.
“Look closely at the sleeve on the side that isn’t drawing attention. The trick is probably there.”
Precia, who had been observing the street performance, focusing on my words, let out an exclamation.
“Wow! It’s really as you said.”
If it was a world that could make sophisticated magic props, it might be different, but if there were no specialized props, the only places to hide were the sleeves or inside the hat.
If the hand is faster than the eye, you can’t see it even if you know, but Precia’s eyes, which were trained to the extreme, couldn’t be fooled.
Once Precia knew the trick of the magic, she seemed to quickly lose interest in the street performance.
They showed amazing skills in addition to magic, which wasn’t difficult for Precia, so it was natural.
“If you come to our circus tonight, you can see more amazing sights, so please visit us!”
The street performance was for soliciting customers.
Precia and I lost interest and turned to look around the market again, but the magician who was performing urgently ran towards us.
“Excuse me!”
As an unknown person called out to us and approached, Precia naturally prepared to draw the sword hidden inside her coat.
Noticing that fact, I tapped Precia’s shoulder and stepped forward.
“Do you have any business with us?”
At my question, the magician smiled in a pushy manner and waved his hand in the air.
Then, a rose appeared out of nowhere.
“Ahahaha. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t be so wary.”
The magician handed the rose to Precia, but Precia glared at him with cold eyes and didn’t accept it.
I took the magician’s rose instead and said,
“If you’re trying to make a pass, I’ll have to decline.”
I thought it would be fine because she was still young, but Precia being too pretty was also a problem.
When I rejected the pass on her behalf, the magician waved his hands, saying it was a misunderstanding.
“No! What I’m interested in is not this lovely lady, but you. I didn’t intend to make a pass at your lover.”
“Lo-!”
As Precia was about to deny it with a blush on her face, I spoke before her.
“For someone not trying to, you were quite skilled at it?”
If they misunderstand us as lovers, it’s more productive to use the misunderstanding to drive away potentially annoying flies rather than wasting time denying it.
At my sarcasm, the magician shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated manner as if he were someone with a Casanova-like handsome face.
“I just have a habit of giving a rose when I see a beautiful woman.”
A circus magician that gives a rose when he sees a woman?
He seemed familiar somehow.
“Let’s say that’s the case, what business do you have with me?”
At my question, the magician took out the ace of clubs playing card from his sleeve and answered.
“If it’s not rude, may I ask who taught you the coin trick you were doing just now?”
The magic was something I learned from a friend who died before I entered this body.
“Why do you ask?”
When I glared at him, feeling unpleasant for a moment, the magician smiled brightly.
“It’s nothing much. I just thought that the person who taught you might be someone I know since you learned a skill similar to mine. I’ve traveled to many places, but this is the first time I’ve met someone who has learned a skill similar to mine.”
At the magician’s words, a sentence flashed through my mind for a moment.
‘What I’m looking for is a benefactor and enemy like no other.’
In
Yard was a swordsman who grew up in a circus troupe since he was young, and despite his womanizing appearance and always playful behavior, he was quite a serious person.
As far as I knew, Jade and Yard would meet in the northern region about three years and four months from now.
“I don’t know who you’re looking for, but the one who taught me this hand trick is a man around my age.”
He seemed disappointed at my answer but quickly hid his expression.
“Then, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be the person I know.”
The magician instantly changed the card in his hand into 2 tickets.
“I apologize for the interruption. This is a small gift as an apology for taking up your time. If you come before the performance starts, I will personally guide you, so will you please come?”
The circus troupe name written on the ticket was ‘Slavant Circus Troupe’.
It was the name of the circus troupe Yard belonged to.
The reason he invited us like this was probably because he was more interested in the person who taught me the magic I mentioned rather than me.
“If we go, who should we ask for?”
At my question, the magician lightly winked and bowed exaggeratedly.
“My name is Yard Tossel. My friends call me the jester who performs a thousand arts.”
I smiled and answered his greeting.
“We’ll try to come. I’m looking forward to it.”
At my answer, Yard laughed in an amusing way.
“You will definitely not be disappointed.”
There was something I wanted among the arts Yard was learning, and I had more than enough information in my head to make a deal with him.
……………….
“Hey, Gil. It’s late, but let’s have a meal.”
At the pier, Gilbert, who had loaded the cargo onto the ship, wiped his sweat and answered.
“Yes! After I finish moving this!”
“Saying that won’t get you more money, you know?”
“I know!”
The laborer manager with a thick beard smiled as he watched Gilbert move the last box onto the cargo ship.
Although he couldn’t give much of daily wage because his own situation was not very well off, he still tried to take care of Gilbert whenever there was work.
Gilbert knew that too, so he had no choice but to work even harder.
It was because the laborer manager was the only one who gave him work on a somewhat regular basis even though he was not very old.
After moving all the cargo, Gilbert wiped his sweat on his worn-out clothes and took the sandwich the laborer manager had prepared.
“Thank you for the meal.”
Although it was full of greens and the meat was just a few pieces of salted ham the size of a fingernail, just being able to have a meal like this was something to be sufficiently grateful for.
When Gilbert tried to divide it in half to give to his younger sibling as usual, the manpower manager stopped him and handed him something wrapped in newspaper.
“Give this to your sibling and eat all of that. If I hear you’re having a hard time because you can’t eat properly, I’ll chase you out, got it?”
“Uncle…! Thank you!”
Gilbert seemed moved and sobbed, and the nearby laborers laughed and teased the laborer manager.
“Ahahaha! As expected of the nanny old man!”
“Shut up, you guys! If you’re done eating, get back to work!”
When the laborer manager raised his voice, the laborers teased him even more.
“Ahahaha! He’s embarrassed!”
“Right! Getting embarrassed after doing a good deed is just like the prudish miss at the tobacco shop!”
“Get lost already!”
The laborer manager coughed to clear his throat as he drove the laborers away.
“Are you going to that quack old man again after work?”
Gilbert nodded at his question.
“Yes, I promised to clean Mr. Debibu’s place.”
“Tsk, are you going to be used for free again? You’re having a hard time because of that ill-tempered old man.”
“No, he gives me a discount on my sibling’s medicine.”
Gilbert smiled bitterly.
If he had money, he could have fed his sibling tastier things and made sure they didn’t get sick, which was regrettable.
……..
As I was passing through the square and looking around the market street, I found a mask similar to a Hahoe mask in a store and picked it up to check the size.
The mask was not a type that was tied with a string, but was integrated with a black hood, so it wouldn’t come off unless deliberately taken off.
“Oh my, customer! That mask is used for plays in the southern region and is quite rare!”
The owner of the store that displayed various items chattered on and on to try to sell the mask, but it didn’t look that valuable with its crude appearance.
“How much is it?”
At my question, the store owner happily pointed to the price tag.
“This rare item is only 30 ducats!”
It doesn’t even look like it’s worth half the price, what a rip-off.
“Can I try it on?”
“Oh my! Of course!”
When the store owner gave permission, I put on the mask and looked at my reflection in the bronze mirror attached to the store.
The size was a bit loose, but upon closer look, there was a string at the bottom that could be tightened.
“20 ducats.”
“Huh? But if I sell it like that, what I get is…”
“I’ll buy 5, so 20 ducats each. If not, I’ll buy them somewhere else.”
“Oh my! Of course I’ll sell them for 20 ducats each!”
The store owner took out more dusty masks from the box.
“Young master, you don’t need 5 of them, do you?”
“We’ll see if they’re needed or not. Ah, is that a wig? How much is it?”
Like that, I purchased disguise tools such as a wig and hairpins suitable for Precia.
After continuously wandering around the market, perhaps because I exercised intensely in the morning or because I wandered for quite a long time, I got tired and headed to a small park nearby.
Sitting on a bench in the secluded park to take a break, Precia rummaged through the basket containing the things we bought at the market and asked,
“Young master. Why did you buy these things?”
The items Precia took out one by one were quite diverse.
Starting from the mask I just bought, there were candy bundles, a shabby hooded coat I bought for cheap, cheap paints and brushes, bundles of wires and nails, a few small hollow balls, and a bunch of medicinal herbs and cheap alcohol.
“Ah, right. The alcohol is for me to drink, so I’ll put it in the storage now.”
I recently had been drinking only high-class alcohol, so I craved cheap alcohol.
Of course, there were other uses besides me drinking it.
When I took the alcohol bottles, Precia looked at me as if she couldn’t understand.
It was natural for her to look at me like that since I said it was more important than obtaining the hidden things in the palace.
“You can think of these as just preparation materials. Should I say they’re gifts to take to the places we’ll visit from now on?”
Well, some places might not welcome them, though.
When I smiled as if I was looking forward to it, Precia sighed as if she was worried for some reason.
“Where are we visiting?”
“Well, where should we go first… For now, we should go to the quack old man’s place.”
I was thinking of going to meet Divet Fabibu, an old man who was once notorious as the Poison Master but is now a decadent elder addicted to drugs.
Was he going by the name Debibu at this point in time?
(To be continued in the next episode)