"You should go out and find something to do! Instead of holing up in this broken house all day. We don't have much money left." After dinner, Riley sat by the tree stump table, propped her chin on one hand, and spoke to Bartlett as if she were a woman complaining about her good-for-nothing husband.
After saying that, she seemed to remember something and walked over to Bartlett, skillfully untied a leather bag from his waist, returned to the table, and began pulling stuff out of the leather bag.
The leather bag was only as big as Bartlett's two palms, but it contained a fair number of items because it was a magical equipment that connected to a miniature, enclosed half-plane of about 9 cubic meters. Bartlett had bought this expensive piece from a familiar magician, and it was the second most important thing on him. The most important thing, of course, was the longsword that he never let go of.
Riley pulled out a few thick chitin bug shells, a gold-plated candlestick, a fiery red feather from an unknown bird, a piece of demon iron, several parchment scrolls, a skeleton-headed brooch, a small pack of barbecue spices, a petrified bull scale-shaped leather, a stringless lute decorated with python skin, and so on...
Some valuable items were among these things. Of course, that was on the condition that you have to find a good buyer first. Without considering anything else, the petrified bull's scale-shaped leather alone could cover Bartlett and the girl's expenses for a whole year, provided there were no unexpected expenses.
But these items didn't catch the girl's "discerning" eye. She didn't even bother to look at these "messy" things, but painstakingly fished out the last seven silver coins and twelve copper coins from the bag, took away two silver coins and five copper coins, put the rest of the money and those "messy" items back in the leather bag, and then naturally tied the leather bag back to Bartlett's waist. She even tugged it a bit to make sure it was secure.
She seemed to have made herself the mistress of this "home" - if this broken place could even be considered a home. Bartlett thought to himself, somewhat speechless.
"I always hear that making money in this place is really easy, is that true?" The girl held two silver coins in her hand, comparing them carefully. One silver coin had a spread-winged griffin on the back, while the other had a double-edged battle axe.
'Griffin silver coins' were the currency issued by the Griffin Kingdom, and the fact is that Pig Bay was also located within the territory of the Griffin Kingdom, as a part of that kingdom. The 'Battleaxe silver coin' belonged to the more northern 'Norde Kingdom', where Bartlett was born. He lived there until he grew up and left his hometown to wander, never returning.
"Easy as breathing," Bartlett replied, except that the breath was laden with deadly poison. Making money was easy, but so was losing your life. Sometimes, you couldn't even tell the difference between the two.
"Silver coins are such a good thing! You agree, don't you?" Riley held the silver coins up in the air, and the sunlight streaming through the cabin's window and the gaps in the walls illuminated them, making them glitter.
The bright light reflected in the girl's eyes, turning them into crescent moons: "If there's anything better than them, it must be gold coins!" She exclaimed cheerfully.
Everyone knew that gold coins were a good thing. Every human king would have their portrait stamped on the back of gold coins, hoping their subjects would love them as much as they loved the 'king' in their hands.
"Money is not a problem," he told Riley, "You don't need to worry about it."
"Ha, 'money is not a problem,' that's a nice thing to say." The girl laughed exaggeratedly, "The miller once told my parents that as long as I marry him, money is not a problem; when my stupid brother wanted to eat meat, my father once told him that as long as your sister marries into that family, meat is not a problem; when I wanted a new dress, my mother once told me that as long as I marry into that family, a dress is not a problem; ha, it seems that as long as I marry into that family, everything is not a problem!"
If only you could marry into that family, how great that would be. Bartlett thought. Your parents, brother, the infatuated miller, including myself— everyone would be happy. Maybe except you, but that's not the point.
Of course, Bartlett would never say these things out loud. He just thought about it in his heart. However, he genuinely believed that it would be better for this girl named Riley to get married. At least it would bring a more stable life to the whole family, including herself.
But many people in this world are like this girl, not content with just living an ordinary life. They always want to find or chase something, even if they don't know what exactly it is they want to pursue.
"If I had a body like yours, I would have been rich by now!" The girl caressed the silver coins in her hand: "I'd have so many gold coins piled up that they'd be taller than me! I would use the money to buy the miller's house and his damn mill, then make him homeless!"
"At least the miller would have more gold coins," Bartlett noncommittally replied. "He could use the money to build a new mill, buy a new wife, and build a better home than before, all thanks to you."
"Then..." Bartlett's words made the girl's expression somewhat frustrated as she bit her teeth in thought. "I'll hang him on the gallows with the 'Hammerhead Shark', and then send crows to peck out their eyeballs!" She said angrily.
All because he wanted to marry you? "You'd have to earn more gold coins than there are goblins, and then use them to buy the entire Griffin Kingdom," thought Bartlett. She's a vengeful girl; good thing she's not a queen.
Bartlett's ironic tone made the girl very unhappy. "I will, you'll see!" She stood up and declared loudly. Then, clutching the silver and copper coins in her hand, she stormed out of the house. As usual, she used the 'weapon' on her foot to open and close the door, as if the poor wooden door were the miller who wanted to marry her.
After the girl left, the wooden house became quiet again, with only the faint crackling of burning firewood in the fireplace. Sunlight filtered through the murky windows, with smoke and dust dancing freely in the pale yellow light, casting a hazy atmosphere inside the house.
In Bartlett's view, money really wasn't the problem, at least not the main problem for now. The real issue that concerned him and made him feel desperate was some changes happening to him, bizarre changes that he still couldn't understand.
Bartlett sat back down on the edge of the bed, his long sword firmly in his hand again, his eyes unwaveringly gazing at it, as if looking at his lover.
About one or two minutes passed, and suddenly, a line of strange text appeared in mid-air above the sword. The shape of the text was square and didn't resemble the Common Language, Norde language, or even Dwarvish, the latter of which Bartlett only knew a little. It also shouldn't be Elvish, Orc, or even Dragon languages.
Although Bartlett wasn't well-learned, his rich adventures allowed him to see many races' characters, including the wedge-shaped characters carved out by the claws of the dragon race. Based on his experience, the bizarre text before him shouldn't belong to any race on the continent.
Even more peculiar was that although Bartlett didn't recognize any of the characters in the text, it didn't prevent him from understanding the meaning of the text. This feeling was wonderful. When he observed these characters, they directly imprinted the intended meaning into his mind.
The content of the text was:
[Iron Bride: Single-handed Longsword, Bartlett Mungo's side sword. Forged from fine steel, it once broke while slaying an adult Land Dragon but was remade with demon iron to add weight. After reforging, it measures 1.27 meters long and has a blade length of 0.98 meters, weighing 6.22 kg, with no enchantment. - When her master caresses her, you will understand the meaning of the name.]
...