Chapter 93: Black Accounts

For the latest transaction, in addition to the twelve scrolls previously discussed, Xia Duo also needed to purchase one 2nd Circle Magic Scroll. In return, the shop not only included a Mithril Ink Pen for free but also gifted two bottles of Red Stone Ink specifically used for crafting Magic Scrolls.

With this, not only was the windfall Xia Duo had just acquired wiped clean, but he also had to dip into the dozens of Gold Coins he had on him.

Walking out of the shop, the cold wind hit him, and Xia Duo laughed at himself. Looking back into the shop, the manager was already busy with his own affairs.

Indeed, once a person has money, especially a windfall, they can never control the urge to buy, buy, buy. This transaction couldn't be called a loss; at the very least, most of the items were things he urgently needed right now, and if not at this shop, he would have had to go to another.

Leaving the Arcane Shop, Xia Duo and Aiwa found an inn where they could eat. After a full meal and getting settled, Xia Duo went to Aiwa's room and placed the two Magic Scrolls and two Alchemy Bottles on the table.

"Aiwa, I owe today to you."

"No." Aiwa pushed these items back over, "You have already paid!"

"Hmm?"

Xia Duo blinked, staring at Aiwa, seemingly wanting to see the truth of the matter—when exactly had he paid?

"When we came back, I said you owed me 50 Gold Coins."

Aiwa's words stunned Xia Duo. Aiwa had indeed said such a thing before, but Xia Duo had assumed it referred to the consumption of the Magic Scrolls. Now that Aiwa had sent the scrolls over directly, even including an extra one, he hadn't expected Aiwa to refuse payment.

This certainly wasn't a matter of Gold Coins or any other form of compensation.

Xia Duo felt something was amiss. He wanted to just give the 50 Gold Coins to settle the matter, but he didn't have 50 Gold Coins on him right now, which was maddening.

Connecting this to how Aiwa had followed his orders throughout the mission, Xia Duo felt Aiwa must want something from him, but he couldn't figure out what a Mage Apprentice like himself had that would be worth coveting.

He tentatively asked, "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"No, nothing needed."

Aiwa avoided the topic, causing doubts to sprout in Xia Duo's heart. But since Aiwa didn't want to say, he couldn't force him; his questioning might provoke Aiwa, doing more harm than good.

Many thoughts flashed through his mind and vanished. Xia Duo put away the scrolls and Alchemy Bottles from the table and said to Aiwa, "I will gather the Gold Coins as soon as possible, but regardless, I must thank you—not just for today, but for your help during the mission."

"This is what I should do; we are teammates."

Aiwa's words made Xia Duo feel a bit ashamed. Setting everything else aside, during that Undead attack at the village outside the Green Pearl Forest, if not for Aiwa's warning, he might have already been dead.

Perhaps Aiwa really was, as Jibu said, a good person, and he himself might truly be too suspicious.

……

Returning to his room, Xia Duo began to inventory the items he carried with him. He hadn't paid much attention usually, but when he specifically counted them, he was truly startled.

A bag of dry rations, a water skin, Spell Notes, ink bottles, a quill, a Scroll Case, a Hand Crossbow, a Dagger, a Venom Bottle, as well as scattered Gold Coins, Silver Coins, paper, pajamas, and slippers.

Added together, they weighed nearly ten pounds.

Now there were a few more Alchemy Bottles. Although he hadn't reached his limit, it gave him a bloated and complicated feeling psychologically. Xia Duo once again thought of the Dimensional Bag that had once been placed before him.

If only he could have a Personal Space, then he could travel light at any time, and whatever he wanted, he could take out whenever he needed.

But seeing the Pikachu pajamas and slippers that had followed him from Earth, Xia Duo's heart instantly calmed down. This was the only mark he had as a person from Earth.

Xia Duo solemnly tidied up the pajamas and slippers, then packed the other items away properly and stowed them on his person.

At this moment, Xia Duo noticed the two Account Books he had swiped from Lao Nier's storage room. The covers had turned pitch black. Xia Duo casually flipped open one of them.

The page he turned to recorded a column of strange symbols. Behind each symbol was a numerical mark in the Netherese language, ranging from 5 to 800.

The numbers appearing most frequently were between 100 and 200.

There were also numbers in front of the symbols, but these were easy to guess; they were shorthand for dates.

Xia Duo flipped through a few more pages, and every page was much the same—a combination of symbols and numbers. This method of recording made Xia Duo immediately think that this must be a black account book.

Otherwise, how many people would keep books for normal business! This wasn't Earth, where not keeping books was equivalent to tax evasion. Here, collecting taxes had little to do with accounts; it only depended on the Tax Official's assessment—they said you pay how much, and you pay how much.

Generally speaking, only large-scale operations needed to keep accounts for the sake of summarizing, but the Old Neil Inn clearly didn't count as having much scale.

Basically, in Xia Duo's eyes, having an account book meant having a black account book.

He flipped through the other account book. It was similar to the previous one, but the symbols in this one were very regular, cycling about every 10 lines, and several symbols appeared with particularly high frequency.

Flipping all the way to the last page, there was a piece of Parchment the size of a palm tucked inside. On it was an explanation of the symbols corresponding to the Netherese language. Xia Duo's Netherese wasn't proficient, but he could still discover that these Netherese words were likely individual names.

He hurriedly flipped the previous book to the end, and sure enough, there was a similar piece of Parchment. On it were not only names but also words like Gemstone, Crystal, Gold, and Silver.

This made Xia Duo even more certain that these were two black account books.

As such, the numbers behind the symbols should be the amounts. Looking at the cash flow that easily reached dozens, hundreds, and up to nearly 800, Xia Duo felt for the first time that he had underestimated the man who ran the inn.

Fortunately, he had ended the man with his own hands; otherwise, who knew how much trouble there would have been!

Stowing the two black account books along with his Spell Notes on his person, Xia Duo then slept in his clothes.

The nights in Saville were getting colder. The blanket provided by the inn couldn't block the invasion of the chill at all; it wasn't even as warm as sleeping while out on a mission.

The only thing better than being outside was that there was no cold wind blowing through the room from time to time. Xia Duo did not sleep soundly that night; besides the cold, there was the vigilance of being in an unfamiliar environment.

……

The next day, Xia Duo woke up early with a look of disappointment on his face. He hadn't dreamed last night; more accurately, he hadn't experienced that magical dream from the day before again.

This shattered his fantasy of improving his strength in a short time. Fortunately, Xia Duo hadn't pinned all his hopes on this illusory Void of a dream.

Magic was the only thing he could truly control. From nothing to something, from beginner to master, there were traces to follow, and there was even a vast amount of experience from predecessors to draw upon.

What reason was there not to make this his main goal!