In a fancy restaurant in Sanero.
Pava sat leaning in, holding a feather and writing neatly on a piece of paper.
“Dear Jodie, how are things over at the Elven Lake? With your intelligence and ability, surely there is no problem, I’m just worried that you might be in a bored mood because of these black water striders.
Those monsters are very aggressive and eat everything. Sarina-sama announced about this monster, and now everyone knows something about them.
Don’t worry. Hunting groups from Saniro have been arriving in the south, containing large numbers of man-eating crab warriors, flocks of wild inflammatory birds flying across the sea, flocks of white t*ts, and legions of fishmen.
The fishmen were well-equipped this time, bringing with them the new magic potion [Sleeping Agent] refined from anaesthetic juice – which allowed their bows and arrows to put those monsters to sleep.
They also bought special iron cages and brass mouth bolts from the Dwarf Fortress, capable of locking the sharp mouth of the Black Water Strider so that it cannot spit out its dangerous tongue hook ……”
Pava dipped her feather into the bottle of ink and continued to write.
“In Saniro, after being exploited by Lord Phyllus, the King of White Bones, and the Dwarves, the Black Water Strider has been turned into a strategic resource.
They are full of treasures, their spiny toes are the highest grade arrowheads and nails that can pierce through most metals and are incredibly strong. The long tongue is an extremely stretchy and flexible tool, which, according to the craftsmen, far surpasses ox tendons, and is not only capable of driving huge hammer handles and stone grinders, but also moderates strong impulses and keeps large instruments supple and flexible ……
In addition, the black water strider is covered with a hard black shell, but the meat underneath is so tasty that it is comparable to the highest grade prawns. Because the shell is thick and hard, it will be extra tasty when fried in oil. This is also the first recipe developed by Mr Nong Greedy, a gourmet, and it was particularly memorable for me after eating it.
It is said that Mr Nong Greedy went to the south because the black water striders in the western continent have been caught clean …… If you meet him, please help him out if you can.
By the way. I have made a little set of things, a feather quill and smoke ink, the feather quill is made from the feathers of a pacing bird and the smoke ink is made from soot, charcoal black, gum and tree oil, it writes clearly and lasts a long time. However, they are still being improved and they have many problems, the colours are not even enough and the success rate of blending them to is low, making it difficult to make them in large quantities.”
At that moment, the restaurant’s fishman waiter brought an earthenware dinner plate.
“Mr Pava, here are the grilled oysters you ordered.”
“Thanks.”
The fishman whispered, “Mr Pawar, I’m a fan of your books. May I ask how soon will the next instalment of Pawar’s Amazing Adventure be announced?”
“I remember you saying five years ago that the next one was coming out soon, and you said the same thing three years ago ……”
Pawar said vaguely, “Soon, soon.”
Can you blame me for procrastinating?
What was written as a hot-blooded and passionate “Dragon’s Nest Chapter” turned out to be a Dragon’s Nest turned into a Super Ranch and a Farmer’s Market, and what was meant to represent the apex of adventure became the apex of mundanity.
The ice trolls who carry earthworms in crates, who feed their livestock with all kinds of grain at the ranch, all of a sudden became unoppressive ……
This led to the scrapping of the first draft and left Pawar self-conscious for quite some time.
He managed to pull himself together and turned to writing the first draft of the Heroic Chapter.
It included the heroes of this epoch that had been passed down by word of mouth: the Copper Sea who had destroyed slavery, Salt Long who had pushed the limits of human cultivation, the Blast Furnace Wonders Adventure Group, Fabiani who had dug up earthworms to display the Old Gods into the museum, Hunting Rain who had newly brewed the transcendent liquor [Blast Furnace Nectar], the Pill Spoon Prophet who had developed the magical potions [Narcotic Juice] and [Sleeping Agents] as well as the geniuses of Chupilore and co. who had opened up the [Spectre High Tower]Prophet Shippo ……
A constant stream of heroes emerged, making Pava longer and longer to write.
As a result, while picking up the Valley of the Gods in the Eastern Continent with the dwarves, Pava saw the holy and magnificent white rose, as well as the not-so-distant city of Canopy next to it and the busy squirrels.
So Pawar excitedly opened a new pit, called “Strange Objects Chapter”, which will record all kinds of magical and strange beings or objects he has seen and heard of.
As it turned out, before he had written two strokes, the white rose was gone.
In its place was a melancholy-faced, low-key apostle, Lord Pinkman. The White Rose also became his attendant. They started planting roses in the Valley of the Gods and didn’t even accept visits.
Paiva was helpless.
He could only put down the Chapter of Curiosities for the time being and return to Saniro to organise the Chapter of Heroes.
“That’s great!”The Fishman Servant said so, but his face was full of scepticism.
Paiva could only pretend not to see it.
At that moment, outside, a traveller with a backpack breezed in.
He took off his hat, revealing a somewhat maroon face and a beard that covered his chin.
“The carriage broke down in the middle of the journey, bad luck today.”
Without further ado, the visitor served the roasted oysters, grabbing them with his hands and just gobbling them down.
Pava, however, was unconcerned and just smiled and said, “Fabiani, you’re not too young, but you’re still exposed to the sun and rain all day long, can you carry it?”
The archaeologist across from him grabbed his napkin and wiped his mouth, “It’s definitely not as comfortable as yours. I don’t have a rich wife, and I’m still subsidised by the Salt City Council.”
“But I’ve trained some apprentices over the years, and now there are finally more archaeologists. People are much more passionate about history now than they used to be …… though many of them are trying to dig up treasures from the past.”
“It took me and my apprentices to restore the idol of the Pinecrawler God and put it into the Old Gods display room, which can be so difficult …… It’s a good thing the Pinecrawler Prophet helped, otherwise there would be no way to start.”
“Tell me about you, it’s all about me. How’s the manuscript coming along?”
Pava spread her hands, “Can we not talk about work?”
“What to talk about if not work?”
“Talking about this today.”
Pava pointed forward.
The fisherman waiter came over carefully with a dinner plate and lifted the lid to reveal the steaming meal inside. On the plate was a crab-like creature coated in flour and fried until golden, except it only had four legs.
“This is your order of fried Blackwater Strider and the last of the day for the restaurant, please serve with the dipping sauce and sea salt on the side, have a nice day.”
Fabiani’s eyes went straight as he looked on, and he said a little sourly, “It’s good to be rich. I hear this stuff is expensive as hell and continues to increase in price, and you have to pay a deposit in advance ……”
“Eat it first, or it’ll lose a lot of its flavour when it gets cold.”
Paiva used his knife to cut through the crispy fried monster meal, revealing the white and tender yet elastic meat inside.
“Thank you God Yao for your gift.”
Both men prayed softly while they began to tear at the dipping sauce with their hands.
Fabiani chewed on the meat and said, “Actually, I recently found a very deep cave in the mountains, and deep underground, there is an ancient tribe of cave-dwelling monsters. They are said to have been the remnants of the Rose Kingdom …… still retain a portion of their writing and customs, and that’s what I’ve been working on lately.”
“If true, this is a great piece of news.”Pava came to her senses, “Do you need any help?”
“Some day you and I will go and see.”
……
With wine and food, Fabiani excused himself and left.
To put it in a wonderful way, he and Pava initially met because of the wind picking, but later on, they kept in close contact and gradually became close friends. Both of them had a great desire to learn, and a passion and dedication to their hobbies.
Very often, when Fabiani was short of money, he turned to Pava for assistance. The latter was never stingy and always gave generously.
Fabiani could never help thinking.
On that afternoon when he decided on his future, God Yao gave himself freedom and choice, allowing his narrow vision and thoughts to truly open up for the first time, and to realise again what he wanted to do.
This was the kindness and tolerance that belonged to the gods.
He touched his clothes.
The bag was still warm, and he wrapped some fried black water striders in straw paper to take back to the apprentices for a taste.
Archaeologists lived in poverty and laboured extraordinarily hard in the field, and couldn’t even eat this kind of luxury food if they had to rely on subsidies.
With this, hopefully the children will be slightly happier today.
Fabiani couldn’t help but smile and quickened his pace towards the inn.
