Chapter 16
Claude didn"t expect that when he returned home at nine during the night, two carriages were still parked outside the red-bricked house . It seemed that a few of the guests still hadn"t left yet .
"It can"t be . . . Why are they still here even though it"s so late already?" When he entered, there was n.o.body in the dining hall . His mother was busy wiping the floor and the air within smelled of alcohol and vomit .
During a time when there was no air fresheners, the best his mother could do was to leave the windows open for ventilation in hopes that the night breeze could bring in more fresh air .
Seeing Claude enter, his mother stood straight up and asked, "Why did you come back so late? Have you eaten?"
"I have," Claude said with a nod, "I was at Eyke"s . He said that father was hosting a dinner so I didn"t come back earlier . "
After he put his bag down, he took the mop over from his mother . "Mother, let me do it . Are there still guests here?"
"Yes," she said as she pointed upstairs, "They"re in the study . Your father seems to be discussing something about investment with them . The argument just now even got really heated . You don"t have to mop that side, I"ve already done it . "
"Oh, and where are Anna and Little Blowk?"
"Little Blowk was dozing off just now, so I had Anna bring him to the second floor to sleep . There were many guests today and Little Blowk was really excited and caused a lot of fuss the whole night . He finally quieted down just now . "
Madam Ferd sat back down on a chair . It seemed that the night had worn her out a lot too .
"Claude, do you want something else to eat? The chef tonight was Pjard and he made lots of delicacies . I left something for you in the kitchen . If you want some, I"ll bring it over . "
"It"s okay, mother . I had a lot just now . When will father"s meeting with them end?"
"What"s going on? Do you have something you want to talk to him about?"
"It"s not that . I just wanted to borrow an ancient Hez dictionary from his study . We"ll be needing it for cla.s.s tomorrow . "
"Wait for a little more then . They should be finishing up any time now . Why don"t you go upstairs first and take it when your father sees the other guests off?"
"Alright . I"ve finished mopping, so I"ll go up now . "
After returning to his attic, he forced himself to stifle his excitement as he lit his oil lamp and shut the door . Claude leaped for his bag right away .
The pirate figurines and hairpin he was planning to give to his siblings could wait until tomorrow morning, so he put them aside for now . Claude took out the magical cookbook from his bag as he shivered with excitement . He flipped it open and focused on the yellowish pages under the light of the oil lamp . Soon, the pages on the book changed once more and the blue ancient Hez script surfaced on the now-ivory-white pages .
By now, Claude felt the urge of bringing a knife down to the study to chase the guests away before grabbing the dictionary . As long as he had the dictionary, cracking the mysterious text would be much easier . Even if he would be faced with grammatical errors, he could get the rough meaning of the text by piecing together the individual meanings of the words themselves .
However, he withheld his frustration and patiently waited for the guests to leave . He had already stayed patient for half the day, so he didn"t mind extending it by a bit . Even though it felt like thousands of ants were crawling around his heart, he must be patient enough to wait it out .
Perhaps he could do something during the wait . Claude suddenly recalled that he had only seen a page with the blue Hez words and wondered if the other pages were similar . Well, I suppose the only way to find out is to check .
The cookbook had 17 pages in total and each page had a recipe of a dish . He gradually flipped through ten of the pages and found that they did have bluish text on them as well .
Claude was getting more and more excited . It was quite obvious that the recipes were just there to camouflage the book . The true content contained within the book were the blue lines of text . If only one page of the book contained that blue text, then it would be only part of the puzzle . It would be something more akin to a treasure map hidden in a book which he had read about in some other fantasy novels .
But that cookbook had seventeen pages in total and he was already at the tenth page . Each of the page would change when he focused and reveal the hidden blue text . That meant that it was a magical tome disguised as a mere cookbook .
So in the eyes of Eyke, Boa, Wero and the new owner of the shop, Wakri, this is a mere cookbook and the only value they see in it is that it"s some kind of antique that is worth some money based on its age and material of construction . . .
Had it not been for the fortunate coincidence of bad lighting, I wouldn"t have focused hard to read it and discovered the secret of this cookbook . I probably would"ve put the book back on the shelf and miss my chance to examine it for good . . .
Claude excitedly flipped open the eleventh page and shook the rampant thoughts in his mind away . He concentrated once more and prepared himself to examine whether the remaining seven pages also had those dark blue Hez script hidden beneath its plain recipes .
What Claude didn"t expect this time was that when the page started to change and the brown started to recede, revealing the ivory-white page and the rows of blue words, he suddenly blacked out and felt as if he had fallen into a dark abyss . Pitch-black darkness which rendered him unable to see his outstretched fingers at all .
He panicked and tried to stand up, only to find that all his limbs had lost their strength . He was unable to move in the slightest as if he could no longer control his body . He couldn"t hear anything and felt nothing but the deathly silence around him . He couldn"t even control his breathing . No matter how wide he opened his mouth, he still felt himself choking and descended into further panic .
What is going on?! In a short moment, countless panicked thoughts flashed through his mind . Is this the evil of magic? Or does the cookbook carry some sort of curse? Did I get cursed? Will I die? Am I blind or deaf? Can I still make any sound?
Calm down . I need to calm down . Despite that, the terror in his mind only grew .
After what seemed like a long period of time to him, Claude started to hear a soft, incessant thumping .
It was the sound of his heartbeat . Claude could feel that his heart was beating fiercely and almost seemed like he could see the blood that was being transported through his blood vessels into his heart . Gradually, his sense of hearing returned and he could start to hear his father talking with the guests in the study on the first floor again .
He gradually started to see a blurry light in front of him . That was the oil lamp on his table . Even though he couldn"t see its contours clearly yet, he could feel the heat emanating from the source of light in front of him .
He gradually started to see a blurry light in front of him . That was the oil lamp on his table . Even though he couldn"t see its contours clearly yet, he could feel the heat emanating from the source of light in front of him .
Feeling also returned to his limbs and he found himself once more able to move . Claude closed his eyes tightly before opening them, repeating that process a number of times .
He could finally see clearly again . Claude stood up, moved his limbs, and felt that there wasn"t anything wrong with him apart from the slight painful pulsing on both his temples . He then realized that only a few minutes had pa.s.sed, based on the hourgla.s.s on his table .
But what was with the loss of control of my body just now? Was it really because of the magical cookbook?
Claude stepped before the table and tried to focus on the cookbook again .
However, before the pages even started to change, he felt his eyes black out again . But this time, he didn"t have the feeling of falling into complete darkness and could still feel the light from the lamp . His body could still move, but the pulsing on his temples began to hurt even more .
Ah, I see . . . Claude jumped into his bed and realized that when he was panicking, he had only been suffering from a complete drain of mental power . He had used his focus to read the magical cookbook for almost half an hour just now . Just like those game characters in games, his mental power was also limited . It was no wonder he felt weird when he depleted his stores .
He looked up and blew out the lamp and planned to lay down for some rest first . It seems that I have to be more careful when a.n.a.lyzing that cookbook, lest I accidentally go over the limit again .
As Claude continued to think, the silver moonlight shone through the window onto his table and bed, covering half his body with a silver glow .
Ah, the moon truly is beautiful . Wait . . . Claude thought with shock, Why do I feel a relieving, tingling sensation? When the moonlight shone on my head, I feel like a cool, watery sensation is covering my skin . It"s just like raindrops that fall to dry, cracked land . Even the pulsing on my temples don"t feel that painful anymore .
I"m definitely not imagining this! Does moonlight have the effect of healing my injured consciousness? Or does it help with the rate of recovery for mental power?
He looked up at the round, silver moon hanging in the sky and thought that since it was a magical world he found himself in, he should remain calm about things that didn"t make sense instead of panicking .
He looked up at the round, silver moon hanging in the sky and thought that since it was a magical world he found himself in, he should remain calm about things that didn"t make sense instead of panicking .
Wouldn"t I be able to confirm whether it"s the case by trying it out?
Claude got out of bed, removed his linen socks and went out through the small attic window and stood on top of the roof .
Hmm, I should go over there a bit more . That way, I won"t be blocked off by the window or the shadow of the attic . Nothing will block the moonlight from hitting me apart from the clouds .
Claude laid down between the two attic protrusions on the roof . The roof was covered in wooden tiles and the sloping angle wasn"t that steep, so lying down on it felt rather pleasant . He only had to be a little careful not to fall asleep and roll down the roof .
He could confirm that the moonlight was indeed a good way to relieve his mental-power-drained state . Claude laid on the roof for about half an hour and felt his mind clear up slightly . His temples also no longer pulsed with pain .
Bathing in the silver moonlight, his emotions began to calm down . There was a comfortable vibe around him that made him feel rather lazy and unwilling to go back to his attic . His hearing also recovered fully . Even though it was that far, he could still hear the conversation coming from the study on the first floor . Even though he couldn"t make out exactly what was being said, his father seemed to be seeing the guests off now .
Why do I hear Arbeit talking with a woman? Did father invite a woman to the dinner? That doesn"t sound right, especially when it"s so late already in the study .
No, the sound is coming from there . . . Claude got up and looked at the attic to his left . He recalled that it had been rented out as well . The tenant was a young woman of about 26 or 27 years of age . Claude"s mother had gossiped about how that woman, Miss Christina, if he recalled correctly, was some kind of woman of loose morals .
However, his also heard father say that Christina served as a staff of a financial department in some company in town . Which one it was, Claude couldn"t recall . However, he was sure that she had rented the place because she was recommended there by the executive of the company . Even though she had a proper job, his mother was gossiping about her behind her back .
But that wasn"t important . The real question was why his elder brother, Arbeit, who seemed to never get along with him, was in the attic Christina rented .
Claude didn"t expect that when he returned home at nine during the night, two carriages were still parked outside the red-bricked house . It seemed that a few of the guests still hadn"t left yet
"It can"t be . Why are they still here even though it"s so late already?" When he entered, there was n.o.body in the dining hall . His mother was busy wiping the floor and the air within smelled of alcohol and vomit
During a time when there was no air fresheners, the best his mother could do was to leave the windows open for ventilation in hopes that the night breeze could bring in more fresh air
Seeing Claude enter, his mother stood straight up and asked, "Why did you come back so late? Have you eaten?".
"I have," Claude said with a nod, "I was at Eyke"s . He said that father was hosting a dinner so I didn"t come back earlier . ".
After he put his bag down, he took the mop over from his mother . "Mother, let me do it . Are there still guests here?".
"Yes," she said as she pointed upstairs, "They"re in the study . Your father seems to be discussing something about investment with them . The argument just now even got really heated . You don"t have to mop that side, I"ve already done it . ".
"Oh, and where are Anna and Little Blowk?".
"Little Blowk was dozing off just now, so I had Anna bring him to the second floor to sleep . There were many guests today and Little Blowk was really excited and caused a lot of fuss the whole night . He finally quieted down just now . ".
Madam Ferd sat back down on a chair . It seemed that the night had worn her out a lot too
"Claude, do you want something else to eat? The chef tonight was Pjard and he made lots of delicacies . I left something for you in the kitchen . If you want some, I"ll bring it over . ".
"It"s okay, mother . I had a lot just now . When will father"s meeting with them end?".
"What"s going on? Do you have something you want to talk to him about?".
. "It"s not that . I just wanted to borrow an ancient Hez dictionary from his study . We"ll be needing it for cla.s.s tomorrow . ".
"Wait for a little more then . They should be finishing up any time now . Why don"t you go upstairs first and take it when your father sees the other guests off?".
"Alright . I"ve finished mopping, so I"ll go up now . ".
After returning to his attic, he forced himself to stifle his excitement as he lit his oil lamp and shut the door . Claude leaped for his bag right away
The pirate figurines and hairpin he was planning to give to his siblings could wait until tomorrow morning, so he put them aside for now . Claude took out the magical cookbook from his bag as he shivered with excitement . He flipped it open and focused on the yellowish pages under the light of the oil lamp . Soon, the pages on the book changed once more and the blue ancient Hez script surfaced on the now-ivory-white pages
By now, Claude felt the urge of bringing a knife down to the study to chase the guests away before grabbing the dictionary . As long as he had the dictionary, cracking the mysterious text would be much easier . Even if he would be faced with grammatical errors, he could get the rough meaning of the text by piecing together the individual meanings of the words themselves
However, he withheld his frustration and patiently waited for the guests to leave . He had already stayed patient for half the day, so he didn"t mind extending it by a bit . Even though it felt like thousands of ants were crawling around his heart, he must be patient enough to wait it out
Perhaps he could do something during the wait . Claude suddenly recalled that he had only seen a page with the blue Hez words and wondered if the other pages were similar . Well, I suppose the only way to find out is to check
The cookbook had 17 pages in total and each page had a recipe of a dish . He gradually flipped through ten of the pages and found that they did have bluish text on them as well
Claude was getting more and more excited . It was quite obvious that the recipes were just there to camouflage the book . The true content contained within the book were the blue lines of text . If only one page of the book contained that blue text, then it would be only part of the puzzle . It would be something more akin to a treasure map hidden in a book which he had read about in some other fantasy novels
But that cookbook had seventeen pages in total and he was already at the tenth page . Each of the page would change when he focused and reveal the hidden blue text . That meant that it was a magical tome disguised as a mere cookbook
So in the eyes of Eyke, Boa, Wero and the new owner of the shop, Wakri, this is a mere cookbook and the only value they see in it is that it"s some kind of antique that is worth some money based on its age and material of construction
Had it not been for the fortunate coincidence of bad lighting, I wouldn"t have focused hard to read it and discovered the secret of this cookbook . I probably would"ve put the book back on the shelf and miss my chance to examine it for good
Claude excitedly flipped open the eleventh page and shook the rampant thoughts in his mind away . He concentrated once more and prepared himself to examine whether the remaining seven pages also had those dark blue Hez script hidden beneath its plain recipes
What Claude didn"t expect this time was that when the page started to change and the brown started to recede, revealing the ivory-white page and the rows of blue words, he suddenly blacked out and felt as if he had fallen into a dark abyss . Pitch-black darkness which rendered him unable to see his outstretched fingers at all
He panicked and tried to stand up, only to find that all his limbs had lost their strength . He was unable to move in the slightest as if he could no longer control his body . He couldn"t hear anything and felt nothing but the deathly silence around him . He couldn"t even control his breathing . No matter how wide he opened his mouth, he still felt himself choking and descended into further panic
What is going on?! In a short moment, countless panicked thoughts flashed through his mind . Is this the evil of magic? Or does the cookbook carry some sort of curse? Did I get cursed? Will I die? Am I blind or deaf? Can I still make any sound?.
Calm down . I need to calm down . Despite that, the terror in his mind only grew
After what seemed like a long period of time to him, Claude started to hear a soft, incessant thumping
It was the sound of his heartbeat . Claude could feel that his heart was beating fiercely and almost seemed like he could see the blood that was being transported through his blood vessels into his heart . Gradually, his sense of hearing returned and he could start to hear his father talking with the guests in the study on the first floor again
He gradually started to see a blurry light in front of him . That was the oil lamp on his table . Even though he couldn"t see its contours clearly yet, he could feel the heat emanating from the source of light in front of him
Feeling also returned to his limbs and he found himself once more able to move . Claude closed his eyes tightly before opening them, repeating that process a number of times
He could finally see clearly again . Claude stood up, moved his limbs, and felt that there wasn"t anything wrong with him apart from the slight painful pulsing on both his temples . He then realized that only a few minutes had pa.s.sed, based on the hourgla.s.s on his table
But what was with the loss of control of my body just now? Was it really because of the magical cookbook?.
Claude stepped before the table and tried to focus on the cookbook again
However, before the pages even started to change, he felt his eyes black out again . But this time, he didn"t have the feeling of falling into complete darkness and could still feel the light from the lamp . His body could still move, but the pulsing on his temples began to hurt even more
Ah, I see . Claude jumped into his bed and realized that when he was panicking, he had only been suffering from a complete drain of mental power . He had used his focus to read the magical cookbook for almost half an hour just now . Just like those game characters in games, his mental power was also limited . It was no wonder he felt weird when he depleted his stores
He looked up and blew out the lamp and planned to lay down for some rest first . It seems that I have to be more careful when a.n.a.lyzing that cookbook, lest I accidentally go over the limit again
As Claude continued to think, the silver moonlight shone through the window onto his table and bed, covering half his body with a silver glow
Ah, the moon truly is beautiful . Wait . Claude thought with shock, Why do I feel a relieving, tingling sensation? When the moonlight shone on my head, I feel like a cool, watery sensation is covering my skin . It"s just like raindrops that fall to dry, cracked land . Even the pulsing on my temples don"t feel that painful anymore
I"m definitely not imagining this! Does moonlight have the effect of healing my injured consciousness? Or does it help with the rate of recovery for mental power?.
He looked up at the round, silver moon hanging in the sky and thought that since it was a magical world he found himself in, he should remain calm about things that didn"t make sense instead of panicking
Wouldn"t I be able to confirm whether it"s the case by trying it out?.
Claude got out of bed, removed his linen socks and went out through the small attic window and stood on top of the roof
Hmm, I should go over there a bit more . That way, I won"t be blocked off by the window or the shadow of the attic . Nothing will block the moonlight from hitting me apart from the clouds
Claude laid down between the two attic protrusions on the roof . The roof was covered in wooden tiles and the sloping angle wasn"t that steep, so lying down on it felt rather pleasant . He only had to be a little careful not to fall asleep and roll down the roof
He could confirm that the moonlight was indeed a good way to relieve his mental-power-drained state . Claude laid on the roof for about half an hour and felt his mind clear up slightly . His temples also no longer pulsed with pain
Bathing in the silver moonlight, his emotions began to calm down . There was a comfortable vibe around him that made him feel rather lazy and unwilling to go back to his attic . His hearing also recovered fully . Even though it was that far, he could still hear the conversation coming from the study on the first floor . Even though he couldn"t make out exactly what was being said, his father seemed to be seeing the guests off now
Why do I hear Arbeit talking with a woman? Did father invite a woman to the dinner? That doesn"t sound right, especially when it"s so late already in the study
No, the sound is coming from there . Claude got up and looked at the attic to his left . He recalled that it had been rented out as well . The tenant was a young woman of about 26 or 27 years of age . Claude"s mother had gossiped about how that woman, Miss Christina, if he recalled correctly, was some kind of woman of loose morals
However, his also heard father say that Christina served as a staff of a financial department in some company in town . Which one it was, Claude couldn"t recall . However, he was sure that she had rented the place because she was recommended there by the executive of the company . Even though she had a proper job, his mother was gossiping about her behind her back
But that wasn"t important . The real question was why his elder brother, Arbeit, who seemed to never get along with him, was in the attic Christina rented