Seeing Ophilia speechless, Sian said, "I know, you're surprised, right? Here they have a thing called a spreadsheet that helps you organize your earnings and expenses. It even has special notes to guide you on how and where to invest in your business. Plus, there are lots of strange but delicious recipes in it, and all of this cost me just 50 gold coins."
Ophilia was so shocked that she almost stumbled. "Is this pile of paper really worth all that? Are you sure you weren't tricked?"
"Of course, it's worth it. At first, I was skeptical too," Sian spoke excitedly. "But who could have imagined that this book contains so many different food recipes and a huge variety of other useful things? Well, some parts might be questionable, but overall, I believe it was a good purchase."
As Sian's voice got louder, it attracted the attention of passersby. Ignoring the glances, he continued, "All of this is contained in the 'Sacred treasure that can change the life of anyone who has it in hands.' But, since the name is too long, I just call it 'Sacred Treasure.' I'm convinced it's a great buy."
Ophilia listened, looking more and more doubtful. "I'm not sure what to say about that."
To prove his point, Sian did something unexpected. He stopped in front of Ophilia, knelt on one knee, and reached out to her, asking, "Ophilia, do you want to marry me?"
Ophilia's face was astonished. That was exactly like the Sacred Treasure had mentioned this in the 'How to win the love of your life' section if he followed the advice.
The scene attracted whispers from the people around, but Sian's keen hearing caught them all.
"It's nice to see young people full of energy."
"But it's strange to see a boy in shabby clothes courting such a refined woman."
"Yeah, with that patched-up cloak, he looks like a beggar seeking food."
"He must be trying to use his good looks to win her over since she is just a beastkin."
The murmurs grew louder.
Blushing from the attention, Ophilia couldn't bear the shame. She grabbed Sian's outstretched hand and ran as fast as she could from the main street, leading him into a less crowded alley.
After they stopped running, she looked at him with a face full of disbelief. After a moment, she finally said, "That confe-"
Interrupting her, Sian said, "You don't have to think about it now."
Although Sian had initially wanted to prove his point about the book, seeing Ophilia's blushing face, he couldn't bring himself to tell her that it was just an act.
"I got carried away in the moment," Sian admitted. "But back to the book, the things in it may seem strange, but they are definitely worth the 50 gold coins, no, they're worth even more. But leaving that aside, let's see if there are any food stalls nearby. I'm starving."
They continued walking through the alley that Ophilia had led them to.
"It's hard to find a stall or any place selling food at this time of the morning in this small town," Ophilia explained. "There are only around five thousand inhabitants, and usually only the rich and nobles have a meal in the morning. Around noon, some stalls open, but they're a bit expensive for regular people, as they aim for merchants and travelers."
"I forgot about that," Sian pondered. "I guess I've spent too much time without being around regular people. But it's really a shame for them to skip the most important meal of the day..."
"The most important meal?" Ophilia asked skeptically.
"Yeah, it's written in the 'How to take good care of your body' section of the Sacred Treasure. It says that when we wake up, our body needs nutrients, and that's why we need a hearty breakfast to have energy and vitality for the whole day," Sian spoke confidently.
"What are these nutrients? Is it some kind of food?"
"Um... I'm not sure?"
Ophilia looked at him with pity.
"Don't look at me like that. I wasn't fooled. There are several words in there that I don't understand, but the things it teaches are true," Sian said, reaching into the small bag around his waist. He took something out and handed it to Ophilia. "Look at this soap. It may seem ordinary, but just smell it, and you'll notice the difference."
After sniffing the soap, Ophilia's eyes widened, "It has a very pleasant smell of flowers."
"That's what I'm talking about," Sian said proudly. "In the book, there was a simple recipe and a note talking about a lot of reactions of this with that to turn it into that. I didn't understand anything about this reaction thing, but following the recipe, I got this masterpiece."
"I think I'm starting to believe it a little..."
"There are a lot of other things the book teaches you to do, like a flavored candle, glass, mirror, and best of all," he continued excitedly, "Food! It has several types of different sauces like ketchup, mayonnaise, barbecue sauce and so on. Anyway, I think this book is really a treasure."
"Who was the person who sold the book?"
"He was a guy with black hair and slanted eyes. I think his name was... Hmm... Danamo... Tanano... Tamamo, I think that was it, Tamamo Hisashi or at least something like that. He was so happy when he received the money that he started shouting some incomprehensible words."
"Incomprehensible?"
"Yeah, it was something like 'Yatta something something haremu something shita'. Even after the gods have unified the language of the world, there still seem to be some tribes with their own language."
"But with a book full of so many ideas, why didn't he use them to earn money?" Ophilia asked, pressing her fingers on her chin.
Admiring Ophilia's beautiful and thoughtful face for a moment, Sian finally answered, "Who knows... He probably needed some money to get started, after all, he looked very weak. I almost didn't buy it, but he did an advertisement, showing a lot of interesting things. He said that this book was a compilation of some things that he had found in a ruin of ancient times."
"From the time before the Calamity happened?!!" She asked in surprise.
"But that must be a lie."
"Why do you think that?
"If you think clearly, it is obvious that it was a lie, since the calamity happened more than 100 thousand years ago and it was a war that even the Gods participated in. It's said that the proportion of the war was so great that it changed the geography of the world, apparently before there was only one great continent called Pangea, but after the Calamity, it became 6. With a war of this magnitude, it seems impossible to leave any place intact, and also, even 100 thousand years later, nothing of the time before the calamity has been found yet. For something like this to appear now, it is very suspicious, especially when it was someone so weak and unknown that says to have found it."
"I think it's possible he didn't have much knowledge about it. I only know that it was a great war in which the gods participated," Ophilia said.
"Well, few people know that well, even among the nobles, after all, thousands of years have passed, a lot of information is lost over time."
"So how do you know that?"
"I had a good teacher, although she is a little strict."
"That along with the fact that you use magic... Are you from a noble family?"
"Not even by far, I'm just an orphan who had a bit of luck and talent. Anyway, it doesn't matter if he lied or not, it makes no difference to me," Sian said carefreely.
As they continued walking through the alley, they saw an unexpected scene. That was the legendary event of the damsel in distress mentioned in the Sacred Treasure.