Chapter 58 - The Smell of Blood

Having listened to Richard’s words, Gro wanted to say something, but Richard looked at him and said, “There’s one more thing I need to make clear. That is, I’m not actually a wizard, but rather just a wizard apprentice, um, the lowest level one at that. So, even if everything you said before is true, I can’t teach you spells.”“Really, it’s not possible?” Gro seemed a bit unwilling to give up.

“Really, it’s not possible,” Richard shook his head calmly.

“Then… do I really have no hope at all of becoming a wizard?” Gro said, not hiding the profound disappointment on his face.

“That’s not necessarily the case,” Richard spoke again, “Didn’t you say that some talented people are taken by boat to the continent to study? As long as you have talent…”

“But I don’t have talent,” Gro said, his face very somber, “I don’t even have the slightest talent, and I can’t even enter meditation.”

This was quite normal, according to the records in the “Monroe Chapter,” the chance of being born with a wizard talent was about one in ten thousand, one in ten thousand people, not so easy to come by. Richard himself had no talent, otherwise, he wouldn’t have sought scientific methods to decrypt Life Remolding three times.

And the Gro before him evidently did not, as a prince, he lacked wizard talent—good fortune simply couldn’t fall entirely on one person.

Seeing Gro’s demeanor, Richard’s eyes flickered and he said, “Actually, as long as you can safely return to the Royal Capital, patiently wait for some time, you will eventually become a duke with your own dominion, and can live better than most people, so why must you become a wizard?”

Gro was slightly stunned, “That…”

“Of course, your desire to become a wizard, or whatever else, is your choice to make. If you really want it, then perhaps we can make a trade,” Richard said.

“What kind of trade?” Gro asked.

Richard turned his hand over and took out a small porcelain bottle from his clothes, which contained ether, the anesthetic he had created. Such items as ether and some alcohol, Richard usually carried a few on him to deal with emergencies. Now, he had just run into one.

Handing the porcelain bottle to Gro, Richard said, “This is a potion. Just inhale a bit of the vapor it releases and it will help you enter meditation, overcoming the first of the three tough challenges of becoming a real wizard apprentice.”

“Really?” Gro’s eyes lit up, his expression joyous as he reached for it, but Richard did not let go.

Gro realized something, remembering the word “trade” that Richard had just mentioned, his eyebrows slightly raised with comprehension, “Then what do you want in return?”

“Ten thousand jin of high-quality iron,” Richard said, “I need you to transport the iron to this camp within ten days. What I’ll do with it is none of your business, but it must arrive on time.”

“This…” Gro hesitated.

Ten thousand jin of iron, or five tons, isn’t much on modern Earth, but in this medieval world, it is different. Iron is a strategic material, under strict government control, and the amount of ten thousand jin of iron is enough to forge nearly a thousand cold weapons or several hundred pieces of iron armor, enough to equip a small army.

It was only because Gro was a prince that he could consider this; had it been any of the small nobles, they would have refused without a second thought. On the one hand, they wouldn’t have the capability to obtain that much iron in such a short time. On the other, they wouldn’t dare to do so, afraid of being seen as rebellious by the king.

Gro hesitated for a while, looked at the small porcelain bottle in Richard’s hand, his brow furrowed deeply, and finally gritted his teeth and said, “Alright, I agree to your terms. Although it’s a bit difficult to get ten thousand jin of iron, I’ll do my best to procure it for you.”

“That’s good to hear, a pleasure doing business with you,” Richard let go, handing the small porcelain bottle to Gro.

Just as he took the porcelain bottle, Gro couldn’t wait to open it and took a quick sniff. His eyes shone with surprise as he looked at Richard, “This really seems to…”

“Otherwise?” Richard carefully put away the porcelain bottle, a smile emerging on his face.

The dinner eventually continued for a while longer before Richard found it timely to take his leave.

On one hand, both goals of “gathering information” and “making a trade” had been achieved; on the other, Gro’s eagerness to try the ether was hardly concealable, making it meaningless for them to stay any longer, hence the early end to the dinner…

Leading Pandora out of Gro’s tent, Richard walked towards the outskirts of the camp. Soldiers along the way, upon seeing Richard, instinctively stopped and made way—after all, Richard was a mysterious wizard, and a guest of honor invited by the prince, demanding their utmost respect.

Thus, Richard walked unimpeded to the edge of the camp, only to hear a faint sound of gnawing at something hard coming from his side.

Hmm?

Richard turned his head toward Pandora, his brow furrowing, “What are you biting?”

With a “crack,” Pandora responded.

One could see Pandora holding the handle of a silver fork, biting down on the tines; the “crack” was the sound of her biting off a tip, holding it in her mouth like a silver needle.

Richard watched calmly, Pandora glaring back defiantly.

Richard frowned slightly and spoke seriously, “You shouldn’t just take other people’s things.”

“Startled!” Pandora reacted, somewhat confused.

Richard exhaled slowly, attempting to explain a basic concept clearly to the Dragon Clan girl: “If something is mine, you can take it, if something is Gregory’s, you can take it too. But not from anyone else, because they do not know you. If you want something, you can buy it or tell me what you want and let me buy it for you. But you must never just take it.

Because others are not the animals in the forest, you can’t just take their things because they can’t fight back against you. Sure, sometimes it could work, but most of the time you need to respect the unspoken rules. Communicating with people is complicated, many rules can’t be broken, unlike in the forest where you might rely solely on violence to get your way.

If you really liked this silver fork, I could have added it as a term in the trade with Gro and then given it to you. But since it wasn’t done, the fork needs to be returned. Even though you’ve bitten it, it still needs to go back.”

Richard held out his hand, palm up.

Pandora’s brow furrowed, and after some deliberation, she handed the silver fork to Richard, but the bitten-off tip remained in her mouth.

Knowing not to be overly demanding about such minutiae, Richard shook his head slightly and, taking the damaged fork, turned and walked back towards Gro’s tent.

However, as he walked, Richard’s brow furrowed deeper because he suddenly noticed… something was off in the camp. Where there had been many soldiers when he had left, now they all seemed to have vanished as if suddenly called away.

The vast camp had become rather quiet, the atmosphere somewhat eerie.

As he neared Gro’s tent, Richard detected a faint scent of blood; in the next moment, his eyes narrowed, thinking of a possibility, and he rushed into the tent.