Black Iron's Glory Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"I want gally mark 3 matchlock bullets and gunpowder and some for my father's short-barrelled pistol," said Eriksson .

Welikro's father, Kubrik, served in the military for 15 years before retiring as a national, so he could carry a firearm legally . The mark 3 was the weapon he used during his days in the military and he was allowed to bring it with him when he left as one of the benefits of a retired soldier .

"A gally mark 3 matchlock, huh . That's an old one . It uses number two bullets and number one dry gunpowder of standard shape . Your father's short-barrelled pistol uses small number seven bullets and is used with gunpowder mixed with egg white powder . How much do you want, Eyke?"

"Boa, come . Take our shopping list out and see how much we need," said Eriksson as he turned to Borkal .

Claude had yet to witness the guns of this world himself, so he was rather curious . "Eyke, aren't the bullets and gunpowder standardized for all guns? Why are there different numbers for them?"

"As the barrels of different guns have different diameters, there are bullets of different sizes as well . And as the sizes of the bullets change, the gunpowder mixture used will affect their firing distance . Also, guns and cannons used on ships have to use gunpowder mixed with egg white to prevent them from being affected by strong winds and moisture . Normally, egg-white gunpowder used on ships cost half times more than normal gunpowder . "

The one who gave the explanation was Welikro . He was the firearms experts among the four and had already been thought how to fire a gun when he was eleven or twelve .

"Alright, then we'll leave the shopping here to Boa . Let's go to look at those shelves over there . Those things are mostly brought here by the sailors . I remember seeing a black, wooden mask back then which I thought would make a wonderful decoration on my wall, but it was a shame that I didn't have enough money back then . A few days later, I came back and saw that it was already sold off," said Eriksson with a look of disappointment as he headed for the other wooden shelves on the side .

The things on the wooden shelves were really messy . There were wooden bowls, porcelain containers, stone sculptures, bracelets and even daggers all mixed together . Claude even saw a bronze helmet beside a single-horned cow figure that appeared to be made from weaved rattan .  Is that . . . a toy? There was also an oddly shaped obsidian axe . Who knows where the sailor got it from and sold it just for a few drinks?

These pirate figures are pretty decent . Maybe the sailors carved them up when they had nothing better to do . I'll go ask how much they cost later and if they're not too pricey, I'll buy them for our little puffball to play with . Oh, what's that?

On the lowest level of the wooden shelf was a book about the size of a folder . Its dark brown cover seemed to be made of leather . Claude gave it a touch and confirmed his suspicion . However, there was a thin layer of dust covering the book .

Is it really a book? Books shouldn't be that thin . . . There are only about tens of pages . However, the pages seem to be made out of skin as well . . . They're thick and yellowish, much thicker than normal papyrus . . . In fact, one page is about as thick as five or six papyrus pages . . . They also seem springy to the touch .

Claude's interest was piqued . He held the folder-thick book . It was rather heavy and felt really substantial . After blowing the dust off it and slowly opening it, he peeked into it to see what was written within .

Three potatoes . . . Ugh, the lighting is pretty bad . The wooden shelves are blocking most of it .  Claude really didn't feel like moving and his gaze unfocused . However, he dropped the book in his hand out of shock .

"Claude? What's going on? What happened?" asked Eriksson hurriedly when he heard something go off amidst the wooden shelves .

Welikro also turned to ask, "Are you alright?"

Claude shook his head slightly and tried to hold the panic he felt back . "I'm fine . I wanted to pick a book up and I didn't expect its weight, so I dropped it . "

Picking up the book he dropped, Claude brought it to the window side and flipped it open slowly under the light .

Faint, black words were written on the yellowish skin pages . The little tadpole-like characters seemed rather blurred with the pa.s.sing of time, but most of them were still legible .

Three potatoes, steam them halfway through, remove their skin, and mash them . Add two eggs and some spring onion and ground vegetables, some flour, and some water . Add some salt for seasoning and stir until the mixture turns to paste . Press it flat into a round, flat piece and grill it in an oiled pan until it turns golden brown . Season according to personal preference . . .

This . . . this is a cookbook, is it not? Wait, but what about what I saw just now?

Claude hurriedly flipped to the pages on the back . He was right, it was a plain old cookbook . There were 17 recipes, each recorded on each page of the book, ranging from dishes like fried green carp, baked onion mutton ribs, steamed mutton meatb.a.l.l.s, a.s.sorted pizzas and even fried chicken pieces .

Claude weighed the cookbook with his hand and felt like laughing .  This must be a cookbook used by some restaurant .  There were 17 dishes in it and even though Claude's family was considered among the upper echelons of Whitestag, the food he had at home was barebones to say the least, most of the time being some random stew made with vegetables and meat . Even though they had mutton or beef steaks from time to time, they weren't made according to a strict recipes like those found in the cookbook .

Claude weighed the cookbook with his hand and felt like laughing .  This must be a cookbook used by some restaurant .  There were 17 dishes in it and even though Claude's family was considered among the upper echelons of Whitestag, the food he had at home was barebones to say the least, most of the time being some random stew made with vegetables and meat . Even though they had mutton or beef steaks from time to time, they weren't made according to a strict recipes like those found in the cookbook .

Then again, this restaurant must've spent quite a lot on this cookbook . They even used beastskin for the pages .  Claude's textbooks or the books sold across shops in town were mostly made of cheap papyrus . Occasionally, some books would use skin for their covers, but those were exquisite products which cost far more than usual .

What, then, of the thing he saw just now? The yellowish pages of the cookbook had seemed to burn just now . As the yellow pages receded from view, Claude had seen a white page with dark blue words in it . Was that all in his imagination?

Upon closer inspection from the start to the end of the cookbook, Claude still didn't notice anything different .  Maybe I was hallucinating . . .  Just as Claude was about to put the book back onto the shelf, he suddenly stopped when something occurred to him .

Just now, I didn't have good lighting, so I focused harder to see better . Then, the cookbook changed in a way I didn't expect and startled me . What if I try again to read it with full focus? Maybe it will change again .

As Claude thought that, he opened the cookbook once more and focused all his attention to stare at the pages . As expected, the pages started to change all of a sudden . The yellowish skin page's tadpole-like characters about making potato biscuits disappeared from view one by one as the page turned ivory-white gradually . Then, row after row of dark blue words appeared on the page .

Those dark blue words weren't shaped like little tadpoles . Even though they were also rhombus-shaped, each of them were made out of many strokes, like complicated musical notes . That wasn't the script of the Hebrai language, but rather of the ancient Hez language .

As the middle-school students were expected to learn about the Jimil and Leishart languages in school that were similarly descendants of the ancient language of Hez, they were taught some basic things about the ancient language . However, they were superficially glossed over at best .

The reason Claude could even recognize those characters as being Hez script was because of his half a year of nonstop learning . However, he wasn't able to tell what those words meant .

The words used in the Hebrai language were mostly morphed forms of those in the Hez language . The differences were rather similar to that between traditional Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters . The Hez characters were a.n.a.logous to traditional Chinese characters and Claude could basically recognize some of their meaning based on their similar shape .

Arrive . . . Tavern . . . Lunch . . . Menu . . . Ask . . . Purchase . . . Magic . . .

Magic? This . . . this is a magical cookbook! was the first thought on Claude's mind . He had transmigrated for more than half a year already and this was the first magical item he had come across .

Magic? This . . . this is a magical cookbook! was the first thought on Claude's mind . He had transmigrated for more than half a year already and this was the first magical item he had come across .

During that time, he only had the former Claude's memories to count on . According to what he knew, magic did exist in this world, but it was considered a taboo by many .

If one expanded one's knowledge about magic and let others know about it, what awaited wasn't a glorious future filled with praise and envy but rather a witch hunt and death sentence without trial . Should any manage to escape, they would only have the days of an escaping fugitive to look forward to and have to hide their ident.i.ties or travel all over the place without getting caught .

Claude didn't know why the people of that world feared magic so greatly, but all that wasn't enough to stifle his curiosity, especially when the item in his hands was the first magic item he had come across . It was a magical . . . cookbook .

"Hey, Claude, what are you looking at?" Eriksson had appeared beside Claude before he noticed and tapped on his shoulder, snapping him out of deep thought .

"Is this a cookbook?" Eriksson said as he reached his head over, "Three potatoes, steam them halfway through, remove their skin, and mash them . Haha, so you were reading a cookbook with such fervor that you didn't hear me the last few times I called out to you? Do you wanna eat some potato biscuit?"

"Oh, Eyke, can you see these blue words?" asked Claude without bothering to answer the question . However, he suddenly snapped alert and said, "Ah, it's nothing . My mind just wandered . "

But Eriksson had already heard what Claude said and had his interest piqued . "Blue words? What blue words? Aren't they all black? Let me take a look . "

After s.n.a.t.c.hing the cookbook over, he flipped it around . "There aren't any blue words . But still, this cookbook is rather decent . Red wine simmered smoked goose drumsticks . . . I'll get my mother to make it for me . "

"No, try to focus hard and read it . Do you see any blue words appearing?" Claude wanted to see whether Eriksson could see the blue Hez characters if he paid attention .

"Is that so?" Eriksson glared at the book with some doubt, but gave up after a while . "I don't see any blue words, and my eyes are tired . Still nothing . Wait a bit, let me bring it to the window and see if the pages are see through . "

Soon, Eriksson put the book down . "This cookbook is rather heavy . But I'm sure there's nothing odd about it . I don't see the blue words you mentioned either . "

Claude nodded and confirmed that not everyone could see the change in the cookbook when they focused their attention . Perhaps his mental power was unlike other people's . He could already hear much better than others and visualize a great deal better . He could even visualize a scene based on what he heard . That must've been the part of his mental power that was different from other people's and the reason he was able to see the blue words in that cookbook .

Soon, Eriksson put the book down . "This cookbook is rather heavy . But I'm sure there's nothing odd about it . I don't see the blue words you mentioned either . "

Claude nodded and confirmed that not everyone could see the change in the cookbook when they focused their attention . Perhaps his mental power was unlike other people's . He could already hear much better than others and visualize a great deal better . He could even visualize a scene based on what he heard . That must've been the part of his mental power that was different from other people's and the reason he was able to see the blue words in that cookbook .

"Perhaps the light hit the pages in a way that made the words seem blue to me," said Claude as he took the book back .

This time around, he focused again right in front of Eriksson and the book changed again, revealing the ivory-white pages and the blue words . However, Claude stopped the moment he saw the changes and looked back at Eriksson, who didn't seem to notice any changes .

"I want to buy this cookbook . Eyke, can you ask how much it costs?"

"You want to buy it?" asked Eriksson, a little surprised .

"Well, my mother's birthday is coming, so I want to get her a gift . You know that I can't afford expensive ornaments . That's my father's area . However, I think this cookbook might be a great gift . If she learns how to cook based on the recipes inside, I'm she'd enjoy our satisfied expressions every night when we dine . "

"That's a rather decent idea . But are you sure you want to buy it? Actually, we can come over to copy the contents of the book . I'm sure Uncle Wakri wouldn't mind us doing so . That way, we wouldn't have to spend any money . "

Claude shook his head . "Don't you feel that this book is rather heavy? It seems rather luxurious . I can tell my mom that it was pa.s.sed down through some royal family or something . It's far better than some hand-copied recipes as a gift, right?"

"Alright . I'll ask how much it costs . " Eriksson took the cookbook and turned to Wakri .

"Oh, and these four pirate figures and that silver flower hairpin too . I want to buy them as gifts for my younger siblings . I'll take them and ask for the price with you . I hope I can borrow some money from you guys if I don't have enough . I'll make sure to pay you back . "

"Claude, you really are a good elder brother, huh?" praised Eriksson .

I want gally mark 3 matchlock bullets and gunpowder and some for my father 39 s short barrelled pistol, said Eriksson . Welikro 39 s father, Kubrik, served in the military for 15 years before retiring as a national, so he could carry a firearm legally . The mark 3 was the weapon he used during his days in the military and he was allowed to bring it with him when he left as one of the benefits of a retired soldier . A gally mark 3 matchlock, huh . That 39 s an old one . It uses number two bullets and number one dry gunpowder of standard shape . Your father 39 s short barrelled pistol uses small number seven bullets and is used with gunpowder mixed with egg white powder . How much do you want, Eyke Boa, come . Take our shopping list out and see how much we need, said Eriksson as he turned to Borkal . Claude had yet to witness the guns of this world himself, so he was rather curious . Eyke, aren 39 t the bullets and gunpowder standardized for all guns Why are there different numbers for them As the barrels of different guns have different diameters, there are bullets of different sizes as well . And as the sizes of the bullets change, the gunpowder mixture used will affect their firing distance . Also, guns and cannons used on ships have to use gunpowder mixed with egg white to prevent them from being affected by strong winds and moisture . Normally, egg white gunpowder used on ships cost half times more than normal gunpowder . The one who gave the explanation was Welikro . He was the firearms experts among the four and had already been thought how to fire a gun when he was eleven or twelve . Alright, then we 39 ll leave the shopping here to Boa . Let 39 s go to look at those shelves over there . Those things are mostly brought here by the sailors . I remember seeing a black, wooden mask back then which I thought would make a wonderful decoration on my wall, but it was a shame that I didn 39 t have enough money back then . A few days later, I came back and saw that it was already sold off, said Eriksson with a look of disappointment as he headed for the other wooden shelves on the side . The things on the wooden shelves were really messy . There were wooden bowls, porcelain containers, stone sculptures, bracelets and even daggers all mixed together . Claude even saw a bronze helmet beside a single horned cow figure that appeared to be made from weaved rattan . Is that . . . a toy There was also an oddly shaped obsidian axe . Who knows where the sailor got it from and sold it just for a few drinks These pirate figures are pretty decent . Maybe the sailors carved them up when they had nothing better to do . I 39 ll go ask how much they cost later and if they 39 re not too pricey, I 39 ll buy them for our little puffball to play with . Oh, what 39 s that On the lowest level of the wooden shelf was a book about the size of a folder . Its dark brown cover seemed to be made of leather . Claude gave it a touch and confirmed his suspicion . However, there was a thin layer of dust covering the book . Is it really a book Books shouldn 39 t be that thin . . . There are only about tens of pages . However, the pages seem to be made out of skin as well . . . They 39 re thick and yellowish, much thicker than normal papyrus . . . In fact, one page is about as thick as five or six papyrus pages . . . They also seem springy to the touch . Claude 39 s interest was piqued . He held the folder thick book . It was rather heavy and felt really substantial . After blowing the dust off it and slowly opening it, he peeked into it to see what was written within . Three potatoes . . . Ugh, the lighting is pretty bad . The wooden shelves are blocking most of it . Claude really didn 39 t feel like moving and his gaze unfocused . However, he dropped the book in his hand out of shock . Claude What 39 s going on What happened asked Eriksson hurriedly when he heard something go off amidst the wooden shelves . Welikro also turned to ask, Are you alright Claude shook his head slightly and tried to hold the panic he felt back . I 39 m fine . I wanted to pick a book up and I didn 39 t expect its weight, so I dropped it . Picking up the book he dropped, Claude brought it to the window side and flipped it open slowly under the light . Faint, black words were written on the yellowish skin pages . The little tadpole like characters seemed rather blurred with the pa.s.sing of time, but most of them were still legible . Three potatoes, steam them halfway through, remove their skin, and mash them . Add two eggs and some spring onion and ground vegetables, some flour, and some water . Add some salt for seasoning and stir until the mixture turns to paste . Press it flat into a round, flat piece and grill it in an oiled pan until it turns golden brown . Season according to personal preference . . . This . . . this is a cookbook, is it not Wait, but what about what I saw just now Claude hurriedly flipped to the pages on the back . He was right, it was a plain old cookbook . There were 17 recipes, each recorded on each page of the book, ranging from dishes like fried green carp, baked onion mutton ribs, steamed mutton meatb.a.l.l.s, a.s.sorted pizzas and even fried chicken pieces . Claude weighed the cookbook with his hand and felt like laughing . This must be a cookbook used by some restaurant . There were 17 dishes in it and even though Claude 39 s family was considered among the upper echelons of Whitestag, the food he had at home was barebones to say the least, most of the time being some random stew made with vegetables and meat . Even though they had mutton or beef steaks from time to time, they weren 39 t made according to a strict recipes like those found in the cookbook . Then again, this restaurant must 39 ve spent quite a lot on this cookbook . They even used beastskin for the pages . Claude 39 s textbooks or the books sold across shops in town were mostly made of cheap papyrus . Occasionally, some books would use skin for their covers, but those were exquisite products which cost far more than usual . What, then, of the thing he saw just now The yellowish pages of the cookbook had seemed to burn just now . As the yellow pages receded from view, Claude had seen a white page with dark blue words in it . Was that all in his imagination Upon closer inspection from the start to the end of the cookbook, Claude still didn 39 t notice anything different . Maybe I was hallucinating . . . Just as Claude was about to put the book back onto the shelf, he suddenly stopped when something occurred to him . Just now, I didn 39 t have good lighting, so I focused harder to see better . Then, the cookbook changed in a way I didn 39 t expect and startled me . What if I try again to read it with full focus Maybe it will change again . As Claude thought that, he opened the cookbook once more and focused all his attention to stare at the pages . As expected, the pages started to change all of a sudden . The yellowish skin page 39 s tadpole like characters about making potato biscuits disappeared from view one by one as the page turned ivory white gradually . Then, row after row of dark blue words appeared on the page . Those dark blue words weren 39 t shaped like little tadpoles . Even though they were also rhombus shaped, each of them were made out of many strokes, like complicated musical notes . That wasn 39 t the script of the Hebrai language, but rather of the ancient Hez language . As the middle school students were expected to learn about the Jimil and Leishart languages in school that were similarly descendants of the ancient language of Hez, they were taught some basic things about the ancient language . However, they were superficially glossed over at best . The reason Claude could even recognize those characters as being Hez script was because of his half a year of nonstop learning . However, he wasn 39 t able to tell what those words meant . The words used in the Hebrai language were mostly morphed forms of those in the Hez language . The differences were rather similar to that between traditional Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters . The Hez characters were a.n.a.logous to traditional Chinese characters and Claude could basically recognize some of their meaning based on their similar shape . Arrive . . . Tavern . . . Lunch . . . Menu . . . Ask . . . Purchase . . . Magic . . . Magic This . . . this is a magical cookbook was the first thought on Claude 39 s mind . He had transmigrated for more than half a year already and this was the first magical item he had come across . During that time, he only had the former Claude 39 s memories to count on . According to what he knew, magic did exist in this world, but it was considered a taboo by many . If one expanded one 39 s knowledge about magic and let others know about it, what awaited wasn 39 t a glorious future filled with praise and envy but rather a witch hunt and death sentence without trial . Should any manage to escape, they would only have the days of an escaping fugitive to look forward to and have to hide their ident.i.ties or travel all over the place without getting caught . Claude didn 39 t know why the people of that world feared magic so greatly, but all that wasn 39 t enough to stifle his curiosity, especially when the item in his hands was the first magic item he had come across . It was a magical . . . cookbook . Hey, Claude, what are you looking at Eriksson had appeared beside Claude before he noticed and tapped on his shoulder, snapping him out of deep thought . Is this a cookbook Eriksson said as he reached his head over, Three potatoes, steam them halfway through, remove their skin, and mash them . Haha, so you were reading a cookbook with such fervor that you didn 39 t hear me the last few times I called out to you Do you wanna eat some potato biscuit Oh, Eyke, can you see these blue words asked Claude without bothering to answer the question . However, he suddenly snapped alert and said, Ah, it 39 s nothing . My mind just wandered . But Eriksson had already heard what Claude said and had his interest piqued . Blue words What blue words Aren 39 t they all black Let me take a look . After s.n.a.t.c.hing the cookbook over, he flipped it around . There aren 39 t any blue words . But still, this cookbook is rather decent . Red wine simmered smoked goose drumsticks . . . I 39 ll get my mother to make it for me . No, try to focus hard and read it . Do you see any blue words appearing Claude wanted to see whether Eriksson could see the blue Hez characters if he paid attention . Is that so Eriksson glared at the book with some doubt, but gave up after a while . I don 39 t see any blue words, and my eyes are tired . Still nothing . Wait a bit, let me bring it to the window and see if the pages are see through . Soon, Eriksson put the book down . This cookbook is rather heavy . But I 39 m sure there 39 s nothing odd about it . I don 39 t see the blue words you mentioned either . Claude nodded and confirmed that not everyone could see the change in the cookbook when they focused their attention . Perhaps his mental power was unlike other people 39 s . He could already hear much better than others and visualize a great deal better . He could even visualize a scene based on what he heard . That must 39 ve been the part of his mental power that was different from other people 39 s and the reason he was able to see the blue words in that cookbook . Perhaps the light hit the pages in a way that made the words seem blue to me, said Claude as he took the book back . This time around, he focused again right in front of Eriksson and the book changed again, revealing the ivory white pages and the blue words . However, Claude stopped the moment he saw the changes and looked back at Eriksson, who didn 39 t seem to notice any changes . I want to buy this cookbook . Eyke, can you ask how much it costs You want to buy it asked Eriksson, a little surprised . Well, my mother 39 s birthday is coming, so I want to get her a gift . You know that I can 39 t afford expensive ornaments . That 39 s my father 39 s area . However, I think this cookbook might be a great gift . If she learns how to cook based on the recipes inside, I 39 m she 39 d enjoy our satisfied expressions every night when we dine . That 39 s a rather decent idea . But are you sure you want to buy it Actually, we can come over to copy the contents of the book . I 39 m sure Uncle Wakri wouldn 39 t mind us doing so . That way, we wouldn 39 t have to spend any money . Claude shook his head . Don 39 t you feel that this book is rather heavy It seems rather luxurious . I can tell my mom that it was pa.s.sed down through some royal family or something . It 39 s far better than some hand copied recipes as a gift, right Alright . I 39 ll ask how much it costs . Eriksson took the cookbook and turned to Wakri . Oh, and these four pirate figures and that silver flower hairpin too . I want to buy them as gifts for my younger siblings . I 39 ll take them and ask for the price with you . I hope I can borrow some money from you guys if I don 39 t have enough . I 39 ll make sure to pay you back . Claude, you really are a good elder brother, huh praised Eriksson .