Volume 2: Boundless Walker Chapter 1: Journey!
Woo!
The train started slowly with the whistle blowing.
The conductor inspected the carriages as usual. He glanced at the third-class carriages, smiled at the second-class carriages, took the first-class carriages seriously, and became cautious when he reached the special-class carriages.
Unlike the previous carriages, the guests here are either rich or noble.
But he, a small train conductor, is not someone he can afford to offend.
"Have the drinks and snacks been delivered?"
The conductor asked the waiter in the first-class carriage.
“They have all been delivered.”
"The young gentleman said that he should not be disturbed unless summoned."
Standing in the corridor of the special carriage, the young waiter immediately answered.
"Everything depends on the guest's instructions."
Although he felt regretful, the conductor suppressed the idea of visiting the young guest and instead gave instructions to the waiter. In order not to disturb the distinguished guest, the conductor not only lowered his voice, but also moved closer to the waiter, half bending over.
As the conductor bent down, a silver chain slipped out of his trouser pocket.
The fallen silver rope did not fall down, but rolled into the first-class carriage. When it came to a private room, it turned around and turned into the room that had not been closed yet.
Goethe, who had just put away his luggage, looked down and saw the silver rope coming towards him.
Ever since he had mastered the [Steinbeck Breathing Method] and had the [Fortune Attracting] effect, he had encountered similar things almost every day in the past few days.
Sometimes, when walking, my foot would suddenly hurt, and when I looked down, I would find a silver rope.
Sometimes when I open a book, a copper coin serving as a bookmark appears before my eyes.
At first, Goethe was very surprised, but when he found out that the maximum 'limit' for picking up money every day was one silver chain, and sometimes even less than one silver chain, Goethe became indifferent.
It's clear that the Steinbeck Breathing Technique for Attracting Wealth is useful, but its usefulness is limited.
At least, that's the case at this stage.
Maybe when you level up, you can pick up more money?
Goethe didn't know.
He just knew that money was hard to come by.
so,
He bent down, picked up the silver chain and put it into his wallet.
"Good luck."
Goethe said this and turned to close the box door.
The first-class carriage in front of me is very spacious. It not only has a bed and a separate bathroom, but also a sofa and a coffee table. A blue tablecloth is spread out on the coffee table, and a plant with small yellow flowers is inserted in a white vase.
The tea that Goethe ordered, along with the kettle and the snack stand, were placed on the side near the sofa.
The dessert stand is divided into three layers, the first layer is caramel pudding, the second layer is tiramisu, and the third layer is donuts.
The dessert was warm, obviously freshly baked.
Goethe picked up a piece of tiramisu and put it in his mouth.
The nuts are crispy, but the sweetness is too strong.
So much so that Goethe had to pick up the tea beside him and take a sip.
The tea is pretty standard.
I just don’t know how the three meals are going.
From now on, it is still in line with the ticket price of 12 gold grams and 10 silver strings.
The starting point of this train is Lust, and it goes straight to 'Harest', the largest city in the North. There are some stops in the middle, but not many, so it can be regarded as a 'semi-special train'.
The whole process takes about 6 days.
Therefore, when he decided to go to the North to inherit the estate and learned that the "Secret Keeper" could be reimbursed, Goethe chose the highest-class carriage without hesitation.
Goethe sat on the sofa, looking at Luster walking farther and farther away outside the window, and his thoughts drifted back to two days ago——
'Who is Scrooge?'
"The guardian of the North! The former manager of the Northern branch of the Secret Keeper! And also the richest man in Tesin!"
'It is said that the Duke has enough gold to fill up the Simlai River, so that all the people of Halest can jump in and swim!'
When he asked who Scrooge was, Mrs. Burns answered him.
This further confirmed to Goethe that there was something fishy going on.
Given the other party's status and position, it is impossible that the distance really cut off contact as stated in the letter.
But there are real ones too!
For example: I heard the news about him!
As for what the news is?
Guardian of the 'Mad King's Legacy'!
Goethe could think of nothing else!
The other party is most likely here for the 'Mad King's Legacy'.
Thinking of this, Goethe naturally refused to go to the north.
but……
The 'Secret Keeper' at the 'Bod' headquarters sent a secret order, hoping that Goethe would go to the North to investigate the cause of Archduke Scrooge's serious illness - as a test for him to directly skip the probation period and become a formal 'Secret Keeper' from an apprentice.
The wording of the secret order seemed mild, but it could not be refused.
Goethe immediately informed Alger Aldrich of the secret order.
The captain of Team 17 first confirmed that the secret order was genuine, and then confirmed that the letter from Lord Scrooge was also genuine. He sneered a few times, handed him a silver dagger, and returned to Bode without saying a word.
Alger Aldrich's attitude gave Goethe more speculations.
Especially when he saw the silver dagger clearly——
[Dawn Shelter (Dagger): This dagger was specially crafted by the craftsmen within the Secret Keeper, and is infused with the power of Alger Aldridge's 'Sword of Dawn']
[Effect: Sword of Dawn]
[Sword of Dawn: After charging for 3 seconds, it slashes out a 100-meter-long lightsaber, and the attack is judged as 'vicious'. ]
(Note 1: Dawn Shelter is a one-time item and cannot be recharged.)
(Note 2: After using Morning Refuge, it will turn into an ordinary dagger.)
(Note 3: Dawn Shelter cannot be brought into the 'Secret Realm')
…
"A hundred-meter lightsaber judged to be of 'vicious' grade!"
The first thing Goethe thought of was the lightsaber that had slashed through the 'Church of Flesh and Blood'.
He had seen the power with his own eyes!
Now, Alger Aldrich gave him such power. Even if it was only the power of one strike, it was enough to inspire Goethe's imagination.
Moreover, Goethe directly confirmed one thing: there seemed to be disputes within the 'Secret Keeper'!
Although such disputes should have been far away from him, after all, he was just an 'apprentice secret keeper', but because of the matter of the 'Mad King's Legacy', he has been involved.
Goethe knew very well that he had to be extremely careful in the face of such disputes, because if he was affected even a little bit, he might be in danger of losing his life.
It's the same even with [Shelter of Dawn].
Because this trump card is likely to be known to others.
Since those people dared to do this, they must have anticipated that Alger Aldridge would do so.
They would even arrange a corresponding plan to put Alger Aldridge in the most disadvantageous situation after he used [Shelter of Dawn].
Therefore, when using [Dawn Shelter], it must be used at the right time.
The only thing to be thankful for is that he still has the "secret realm" as a fallback.
【10 days 10 hours 59 minutes】
【10 days 09:59】.
…
Looking at the remaining cooldown time of the two 'secret realms' and the 'secret realm' on the far right that could be entered at any time, Goethe couldn't help but touch the suitcase - there were a full 600 gold grams in it.
Part of it was what he had saved.
The other part is the dividends from the "business" with Swart.
When the sheriff learned that he was in urgent need of money, he quickly gathered the dividend, which was supposed to arrive in a few months.
In addition, Goethe's wallet also contained five gold notes with a denomination of 10, six silver coins, and five and a half copper coins.
40 gold grams among them are 'trainee secret keeper' + 'mission allowance', and because he has passed the probation period and entered the regularization period, he received a weekly salary of 6 gold grams and a daily allowance of 2.5 gold grams, as well as a reimbursement limit of no more than 50 gold grams per month. Once this reimbursement limit is exceeded, it is not impossible to continue to be reimbursed, but you need to apply again.
Or simply take the extra amount of 'mission subsidy'.
To some extent, the welfare system of the 'Secret Keeper' is quite good.
For example, the ticket at this moment is the additional amount of "mission subsidy".
As for the official amount of the 'mission subsidy'?
It is distributed all at once after calculation based on distance, difficulty, time, etc.
But accidents happen all the time, so the additional amount of "mission subsidy" becomes "reasonable".
Therefore, even though being a "secret keeper" is an extremely dangerous job, there are countless people who want to become a "secret keeper".
However, this definitely does not include Swart.
Because of his outstanding performance in the past and his feat of keeping calm when the 'Church of Flesh and Blood' invaded Luster and sending a telegram that allowed reinforcements to arrive earlier, the sheriff was given the title of 'Trainee Secret Keeper' by Alger Aldridge. While retaining his original treatment, he enjoyed all the benefits of an 'Trainee Secret Keeper'.
Swart accepted the title in tears.
Because, the sheriff whose memory had not been erased knew that when the 'Secret Keeper' was cleaning up the battlefield, he did not find the body of the high priest of the 'Church of Flesh and Blood'. Both the head and the body had disappeared.
Although this does not prove that the 'High Priest of Flesh and Blood' is still alive.
But it was enough to make the sheriff nervous.
Similarly, Goethe was alert.
In Skiffins Steinbeck's style, once he takes action, he will definitely kill the opponent and will never give the opponent a chance to "come back to life".
And now, the body of the 'High Priest of Flesh and Blood' has disappeared.
There are only two possibilities.
First, Skiffins Steinbeck held back.
Second, someone stole the body of the 'High Priest of Flesh and Blood' right under Alger Aldridge's nose.
The latter seemed almost impossible to Goethe.
Only the former is left.
The other party deliberately spared the life of the 'High Priest of Flesh and Blood'!
"What does this lunatic want to do?"
"Why leave yourself an enemy?"
Goethe felt pain in his temples whenever he thought of the owner of the Pine Nut Inn.
Just like you don't know what your next chocolate bean will taste like, you can never guess what a madman is thinking.
unless……
You are crazy too.
Goethe did not want to become a madman.
So, he temporarily gave up his guess about Skiffins Steinbeck.
He took out the illustrated language and some notes of extraordinary knowledge prepared for him by Mrs. Burns and prepared to read them. He didn't plan to spend the six-day journey just eating, drinking and sleeping.
After twenty minutes, Goethe felt that reading alone was too boring, so he ate and drank while
An hour later, in order to prevent his notes from being contaminated by food-stained hands, Goethe decided to eat and drink at the same time.
After eating and drinking, Goethe felt sleepy and planned to look through his notes after waking up.
The first day passed like this.
The same thing happened the next day.
On the third day, Goethe warned himself not to continue to degenerate like this and to work hard to become stronger, but today's cream cookies were really delicious.
On the fourth day, Goethe thought he could resist the temptation of butter cookies. In order to face his temptation, he ordered another butter cookie, and then...
So delicious!
On the fifth day, Goethe learned from his mistakes of the previous day and prepared to give himself a bigger test again to prove his determination, so he not only had cream cookies but also puffs.
So fragrant!
Day 6, early morning.
In the bathroom, Goethe stood in front of the mirror, looking at the young man whose cheeks had become a little rounder in the mirror, and he said seriously.
"Goethe, Goethe, you must stop indulging yourself!"
“You have to work hard!”
Facing his last day of travel, Goethe made up his mind not to indulge in sweets anymore. He actually picked up the notes carefully prepared by Mrs. Burns, but just as he turned to the second page, a noise suddenly sounded in the carriage.
Then——
Bang!
It was gunfire.
