Chapter 4: Do Less Random Stuff on Snowy Days

This time, Kraft awoke in the faint natural light, seeing only the rays squeezing in through a narrow crack.

This world already had glass, yet it was stuck at a technical level that made it impossible for a transmigrator to easily profit from it, without mass production. Glassware was still considered a rare object for the time, let alone the technically more demanding glass windows.

So currently, most house windows were primarily made of wood; to experience waking up to a room full of sunlight, one could only leave the windows open in summer, and it was clearly impossible to do that now.

The house Kraft was currently borrowing belonged to someone who was probably considered the village head of this village.

The reason for adding "probably considered" was that this identity had not received official recognition; there was no lord or other ruler here to provide an explanation. As long as the other villagers felt this person handled affairs well, he took on the functions of receiving outsiders and coordinating neighborhood relations.

After seeing Kraft and his cousin's clothing, the village head naturally took his family to squeeze in next door, giving up his own house while receiving a considerable reward—two privately minted, blackened silver coins.

Of course, when Kraft returned to report to his grandfather, he would report two full-value silver coins, the kind officially issued by the Kingdom.

Even though it was the village head's house, expecting the conditions to be very good was still not realistic. The walls were made of a mixture of stone and clay, reinforced with a frame built from local spruce wood, paired with wooden windows that did not fit tightly. The insulation effect was in a state of metaphysical ambiguity, almost non-existent, which would give a severe lesson to anyone accustomed to sleeping without clothes at night.

The interior was divided by single-layer wooden boards, greatly simplifying the process of waking up a companion.

Kraft rolled out of bed and slapped the wooden board separating the two rooms hard: "Ryan, are you awake? You still have to set off for Wendeng Port today."

"If you are willing for me to be buried by snow halfway there, then I can set off right now." The window of the room was pushed open from the outside, and a golden-haired head covered in snowflakes poked in. "Besides, urging someone to set off should happen in the morning, not at noon."

"Is it already noon? The snow is so heavy, what are you doing outside?"

"I went to check that black pillar. I think we can give up the idea of bringing it back." Ryan shook the snow off his body. Although he had been active outside all morning, he looked none the worse for wear.

When everyone did not think Kraft would survive to grow up, Ryan had been treated as half an heir to the family. Year-round training had made him long accustomed to the cold environment.

"Why? I think Grandfather would be very happy to have it standing in the courtyard. Grandfather and the Master could circle around it for a month. If all else fails, we can wait a few more days." Kraft wanted to persist a bit longer.

"I suggest you go see it yourself. Perhaps you can knock it down with your sword?" Ryan smiled and patted the scabbard at his waist.

Kraft arrived at the excavation site with his sword.

Of course, he did not actually intend to spar with the large stone pillar with his sword; it was simply a habit that one should never be without a sword.

Whether due to the professional integrity of a descendant of the Open-Headed family or out of respect for one's most precious possession, a weapon should at least remain within sight.

The large pit around that black Shi Zhu had expanded another circle. Even someone who had never personally worked the land in their life would know that dealing with such frozen ground on a snowy day was absolutely not an easy task.

Several men, shivering from the cold, gathered around the edge of the large pit; their facial expressions were indistinguishable amidst the dense snowflakes. Seeing Kraft and Ryan approach, they quickly scattered to make way.

That prismatic black stone was still firmly planted in the center of the pit, pointing straight up without deviation, with a visible height of at least two meters.

It had originally revealed only a black corner, discovered by a village child who tripped in the fields. In a fit of pique, he dug all afternoon; by evening, when the adults came looking for him, they saw a large object that looked quite regular and patterned.

The villagers, thinking it might be a valuable object, dug downwards only to discover it was a pillar.

As for now, looking down into the pit, beneath the scattered clumps of earth lay a black, rough horizontal plane of the same material as the pillar.

The junction between the pillar and this plane had been cleaned thoroughly; there were no traces of assembly, making it look completely like a single whole, with no disruption to the continuity of the patterns.

The carver of the upper section was likely an extremely meticulous obsessive-compulsive; from the flat top of the pillar downward, the incised decorations deepened gradually with uniform amplitude, connecting and flowing across all six sides to form shapes resembling characters.

Near the bottom, the patterns spread out in a casual yet orderly manner, highlighting a fluid sense of motion. They struck the plane in the posture of cascading water, scattering across the surface and winding away into the distance. At a glance, it even created the illusion of living snakes swimming.

Kraft stepped back from the edge of the pit; loose surface soil detached from the rim and rustled as it rolled down.

He silently watched them slide down the pit walls like a small landslide, finally landing on the snake-like patterns at the bottom, covering a small patch.

"Is it possible this is just a relatively large base? Maybe try digging a bit further to the side?" he said.

His voice was somewhat indistinct in the cold wind mixed with snowflakes; even he was unsure of what he had said.

"Even if it is only this part now, it is not something the cargo carts at the port can handle." Ryan shifted his gaze from the pillar. "Perhaps you really want to try cutting this pillar off? Even if you can do it, that would be truly a pity."

Indeed, even within Grandfather's rich collection, it would be difficult to pick out something so... indescribable.

Kraft knew he could not split it open, but merely thinking about it felt like an unacceptable act.

The shivering villagers nearby had not yet left. Kraft paused for a moment, took out his money pouch, and gave each of them a black silver coin—this was the reward agreed upon for completion.

Ryan watched as those villagers thanked Kraft, then jogged all the way towards the village, their figures quickly becoming indistinct in the wind and snow. In the distance, the low, clustered outlines were the village, less than two hundred paces away, which had been clearly visible when they first arrived.

"The snow seems to be getting heavier again. Should we go back?" Ryan looked at Kraft, who was still standing there in a daze, feeling that this treasure hunt was mostly over.

Perhaps they could return to Wendeng Port and find a decent-looking small trinket at some street stall to take back. In Ryan's opinion, the stone-carved rune eyeball he had brought back last time was not bad.