The two of them walked forward. They had only taken a few steps when the watchdog started barking. Elvin, the old man, was summoned by the barking and opened the courtyard gate for them, then welcomed them into the house.
It was now evening and the sky had already darkened. This small house with only two windows was extremely dim after the front door was closed. The two of them could just make out the simple furnishings inside: a stove in the corner, a dining table with several chairs, a simple cooking stove and a few kitchen utensils, and the only piece of furniture that seemed out of place in this humble dwelling - a display cabinet with large panes of glass. The display cabinet was over a person's height, and the glass on it was quite expensive.
Elvin walked over to the dining table, took out a flint, and lit the oil lamp. The light of the oil lamp was weak, only casting a faint yellow glow in the house.
"You two sit down first. I'll prepare some food."
Aurelio immediately declined, saying, "Thank you, but no need. We have dry rations." He was calculating that although he wouldn't be at a disadvantage in a direct confrontation by himself, the possibility of being poisoned was something he needed to be cautious about.
"It's so boring to just eat dry rations! I got something good today." The old man said, pointing at a hare hanging on the cooking stove.
Aurelio looked at the hare and saw a small bullet hole on its back - clearly made by a smaller caliber firearm. He then looked around and found another firearm of the old man's by the door. It was indeed a small-caliber light firearm.
While he was searching, Gloria also said to Elvin, "Really, it's not necessary." But the old man was still insistent on treating them. His hospitality was so strong that the two of them had no choice but to agree.
"I'll help you!" Gloria said, then turned to Aurelio and whispered, "Now you can feel at ease, right?" The female knight felt a bit guilty but also understood her companion's concerns. Her quick thinking really put Aurelio's mind at ease.
He sat on the simple dining chair. The chair had three legs of different lengths and wobbled badly with the slightest movement. But his attention wasn't on the chair but was completely drawn to the display cabinet.
The manufacturing process of large panes of glass was complex, and transportation was even more difficult, so the price was extremely expensive. Serencia had a prosperous handicraft industry and was especially renowned for glass production. However, for large mirrors or display cabinets and other furniture with large panes of glass, only the wealthiest families could afford them. In other countries, these were even exclusive luxuries for royalty and the high nobility. How could a hunter living in the mountains own such furniture?
With this question in mind, he looked at the display cabinet. The glass was colorless. Only the craftsmen in Serencia had a certain secret formula to be able to fire colorless glass. Its origin was undoubtedly Serencia.
"If he has a prominent Serencia friend, it would make sense. He wasn't lying to us?" While Aurelio was lost in thought, his feet had already carried him to the front of the display cabinet. He finally managed to see the items displayed inside through the slightly reflective glass.
What was displayed in the display cabinet were two weapons. To be precise, it was an arquebus and a staff. The arquebus was the one the old man had been carrying on his shoulder before. The staff next to it was also about six feet long. Its grain looked like oak, with a blue gemstone inlaid at the top, and several roses carved on the staff body.
Aurelio lowered his head and looked at the staff in his own hand. The same six-foot-long wooden staff, of the same oak material, with a gemstone of the same cutting process inlaid at the top, and the same rose pattern carved on the staff body: clearly, the two staffs inside and outside the display cabinet were made by the same craftsman.
Aurelio's heart skipped a beat as he continued to examine the staff in the cabinet. In one of the floral decorations, a string of letters was engraved: TxxxxxxLxxxx. The letters were engraved very shallowly, and the lowercase ones had been worn away, leaving only the uppercase ones, which could be barely recognizable.
However, T and L... Aurelio knew very well the significance of these two letters.
"What are you looking at?"
Aurelio turned around and saw the female knight standing beside him, her big blue eyes gazing at the display cabinet.
"This display cabinet is so impressive! It's even bigger than the one at my home and looks really expensive. Inside are... a gun and a staff? Is there anything special about them?"
"Nothing."
"Since that's the case, then don't look anymore. The meal is ready. Come and eat." Gloria said, "I'm sure he didn't do anything to it."
Aurelio nodded and returned to the dining table to sit down. Compared to before, there were now three sets of tableware on the table, a basket full of bread, and a large pot full of stew.
The host picked up a long-handled wooden spoon and scooped out the stew, filling the bowls of the two guests to the brim. Gloria took the steaming hot stew, thanked Elvin, and then ate the bread with the stew.
The recipe for this stew was as simple as it could be. It was just a matter of randomly chopping up vegetables such as mushrooms, onions, turnips, carrots, cabbages, and olives, throwing them into a large pot, adding a few slices of salted meat and many pieces of rabbit meat, and finally simmering it with water over a low heat. In this whole pot of stew, apart from the salt brought in by the salted meat, there were no other seasonings, so the taste was quite plain. This dish and the coarse black bread might be a perfect match.
The black bread, made from unrefined flour with almost no fermentation, was as hard as a stone after drying and could break one's teeth. Gloria tried to take a bite, then followed the old man's example, using a special bread saw to cut the bread into small pieces and dropping them into the stew to let them soften.
She had never eaten such a crude meal. But she still ate up this bowl of roughly made stew. There were fresh vegetables and freshly killed rabbit meat in the stew. For the female knight who hadn't eaten fresh meat and vegetables for days, a bowl of warm mountain-style stew was enough to make her feel comfortable.
While she was enjoying her dinner, Aurelio was sitting on the side. He didn't touch his utensils at all, just staring at the pea-sized flame on the wick, looking deep in thought.
"Why aren't you eating? It's going to get cold." Gloria asked. Seeing that the other party didn't respond, she didn't ask again but just cut a few more pieces of bread and soaked them in his bowl for him.
"Thank you." Aurelio thanked her in a low voice, then turned to the old man. After looking at him for a moment, he finally opened his mouth and said, "Sir, that staff..."
"Are you curious? How could a hunter like me have such a thing?" The old man laughed heartily, "It was my friend's. Thirty years ago, I exchanged it with him."
"Thirty years ago?" Gloria asked, "Do you mean... that war?"
"Exactly! That was the time! Thirty years ago, I was about your age." Elvin laughed, "At that time, I was a musketeer. I had been in the army for a few years, and my marksmanship was among the best in the team. But it was the first time I was dealing with the demons."
"Are the demons fierce?" Gloria asked.
"Of course! When they fight, they're absolutely fearless! Soon our formation was broken up, and then it was a melee. During the melee, my gun was useless. Even if I could draw my sword, how could I compete with those spears and big axes! I was surrounded by several demons at that time, and a Serencia mage came. He muttered some incomprehensible words, and then all those demons were knocked down on the ground. They were on fire and were roasted in no time."
"And then?"
"Of course we counterattacked!" The old man said, his mood becoming high. There was a sparkle in his eyes, as if his whole heart had flown back to the battlefield at that time. "After we reorganized our formation, we hit the demons hard! Finally, we surrounded them, just like slaughtering pigs! In the end, we won the whole war. It's been thirty years now, and those bastards don't dare to think about attacking humans again!"
"You're really amazing!"
"Don't mention it, don't mention it!" Elvin laughed heartily, "When the war ended, we had become good friends. To commemorate that, I exchanged weapons with him. I gave him my gun and got this staff in return. Although I was scolded badly by the captain for exchanging my weapon, I don't regret it at all for having such a friend!"
The old man stood up, took out a key from a certain pocket, and opened the lock of the cabinet. He carefully took out the staff and handed it to the female knight. "Look."
"Thank you." Gloria asked again, "What's the name of your friend?"
"Tulio de Leto." It was not the old man who answered, but Aurelio, who had been sitting silently for a long time.