Chapter Eleven Discovery

  A large pile of trash that wasn't suitable for flushing down the drain had been cleaned out, and Lucien went back and forth seven or eight times, getting himself dirty in the process, before he finally managed to move most of it onto a four-wheeled cart.

  Actually, every morning the church hires laborers to collect and remove trash from within the city walls, taking it outside to prevent filth and disease, but the musicians' association didn't want to wait until tomorrow morning, as this large pile of garbage was really an eyesore.

  Picking up the last pile of trash, Lucien carefully and quietly entered the hall, along the edge of the circular hall, walking towards the gate.

  "Wolfe, for God's sake, can't you let me look at the score in peace?" A rich but slightly shrill voice suddenly rang out, and a figure clad in a red coat came rushing down the stairs, muttering curses as he went, and collided squarely with Lucien, who had not had time to dodge.

  With a thud, something fell onto the carpet from the trash Lucien was holding, and despite the thick and soft carpet, it still made a slightly muffled sound.

  The figure in a red coat swayed for a few moments before steadying itself - it was Viktor the musician, who had gone up earlier.

  Victor took a deep breath, then bent down to pick up the broken oil lamp and handed it to Lucien, who was still busy stabilizing the other trash in his arms: "Sorry."

  Another man with brown hair and a prominent forward-jutting jawline, wearing a deep blue long coat, came down the stairs: "Viktor, the association isn't just for you alone, I have the right to do what I want, if you want to do as you please, go back to your own home."

  He made a gesture of emphasis, his face unable to conceal a smile: "It's only three months until your first symphony concert in the Sacred Song Hall. I understand your tension and sensitivity, but you can't not even have the score ready yet, can you? I've been looking forward to it for a long time, and I'm even planning to write an article about it in Music Review after I hear it."

  "Damn it, if you're so capable, then hold your own concert in the Grand Auditorium." Viktor muttered under his breath and turned to leave the hall.

  Wolf's face turned very ugly, muttering to himself as he went back upstairs: "If it weren't for you, three months from now..."

  Lucien saw the argument stop, and continued to carry the trash out of the gate. Suddenly, his eyes scanned and landed on the oil lamp placed at the top, which had no glass, and the beautifully carved flower pattern on the lamp base was worn off a lot. His heart moved slightly: "This seems to be metal?"

  With this idea, Lucien put the last pile of garbage on the four-wheeled cart and stretched out his hand to touch the lamp holder, finding that it was indeed a metal product, seemingly copper, but harder and more flexible than the copper he had seen in his previous life: "An element similar to copper? Although this lamp holder doesn't have much metal, selling it to an ironworker should still fetch several copper ferules."

  "Money?" As a true pauper, Lucien now associates everything he sees with whether it's worth money. His train of thought is thus opened, "Perhaps there are still some good things in this trash? Like the waste paper and broken feather pen I saw just now."

  Lucien was like he had discovered a "treasure", his heart filled with surprise, although it was so insignificant to the rich, but it was the first glimmer of dawn on Lucien's path to change his life. As long as he could save up five silver nails, within a month he would be able to grasp the basics of literacy, regardless of whether or not he studied magic. Understanding the written word would allow him to understand the state of the world, and with his experiences and knowledge from another world, along with the books in the library, he would be able to find another, better way to make a fortune.

  Excitement, hesitation, and yearning for a better future filled Lucien with energy as he pushed the four-wheeled cart towards the outskirts of the city. However, his heart also held worries about rummaging through trash to find usable and salable items, which required no skill but only normal people's aversion to filthy things and fists.

  "As long as the gang doesn't get involved, I can handle those scattered beggars." After the battle with Gary and Correa in the sewer hideout against the Red-eyed Rat, Lucien still had some confidence in his own strength. Although he was not as strong as an adult who had undergone long-term training, being calm and composed during a fight, with accurate and ruthless moves, were also important factors for winning.

  Not far from the Musicians' Association, Lucien suddenly saw a young man with silver hair walking leisurely towards the Musicians' Association: "Laine, what is he doing going to the Musicians' Association?"

  After deducing that Rhein was a wandering minstrel who yearned for the Musician's Association, Lucien quickly put this matter behind him.

  Arriving at the city gate district, Andrei still had some impression of Lucien. Seeing a cart of garbage, he immediately understood what task he had undertaken. He smiled and didn't bother him, letting Lucien pass through the careless gaze of the gatekeeper soldiers and exit the city gate.

  "No one was sent after me, could it be that the gang really didn't intervene." Lucien thought strangely and exhilarated.

  But Lucien didn't relax, after leaving the city gate, he walked downstream along the River Belen for more than 20 minutes, and when the surroundings became quiet, he pushed the four-wheeled cart to the roadside grass and searched in the trash for things that could be sold.

  A broken oil lamp, several pieces of rusty metal scraps, eight broken feather pens, many crumpled up waste papers, and so on.

  Lucien flipped to the end and pulled out a square, translucent black veil with a faint scent, which had an obvious hole in it, as if it had been caught on something: "Looks like a veil, maybe from some female musician."

  Looking at this piece of veil, rubbing its texture, Lucien had no romantic associations, only a judgment about its value: "It should be good black gauze, but what can it be used for? Ah, it can be sold to the tailor and cut into small decorations such as skirts, jackets, lace, etc."

  He wrapped the things he had found in a few sheets of scrap paper and hid them nearby before Lucien continued to push the four-wheeled cart towards the garbage dump downstream of the Beren River.

  In less than ten minutes, Lucien arrived at the Beren River and saw those piles of garbage like small hills. But what surprised Lucien was that there wasn't as much garbage as he had imagined, and the place where the garbage was piled up was still a distance away from the clear river water, which was as green as an emerald: "Could it be that they were collected and treated with divine magic?"

  The surroundings were extremely quiet, and Lucien didn't see even a shadow of a person. Only the stench kept coming in waves: "Isn't anyone else here to rummage through the trash for valuable things? Are they afraid of the plague or just not in the habit?"

  No matter the reason, seeing this pile of foul-smelling trash, Lucien saw a pile of gold coins. After taking care of his own waste, he couldn't help but walk back and forth here, completely ignoring the stench. Compared to the still invisible plague, an empty wallet was more likely to make Lucien take certain risks. Besides, in this world there were divine arts and magic to cure it.

  Of course, Lucien was also afraid of contracting some kind of disease, and when rummaging through the trash, he would use old newspapers to cover his hands, being very careful.

  As an organization of high society, the musicians' association naturally had more valuable things in its trash than others, but Lucien still found quite a few things here that could be sold for some money.

  Considering they still had to pass through the city gate, Lucien was afraid of arousing suspicion, and since it was his first time, he was a bit nervous. So he only took a burlap sack that was half rotten and transferred the rest of the items to a nearby hiding place to bury them. Then he pushed the four-wheeled cart back along the original route, and placed the oil lamp wrapped in paper and other things inside the burlap sack, piling them up on the cart and trying to make it look as flat as possible, making it seem like they were just using the burlap sack to protect the cart from getting dirty.

  And while a veil can be hidden on one's person, Lucien of course put it in his own pocket.

  As they passed through the city gate, the guard soldiers merely glanced at them casually and waved Xien in.

  Pushing the four-wheeled cart to Andre and Mag's side, seeing their flustered appearance covering their noses, Lucien secretly smiled: "I'm Lucien, I've come for the reward of the Musicians' Association matter."

  Ma Ge stepped aside, cursing as he poured out the copper coins: "Damn it, take your money and get lost, along with this filthy, stinking cart!"

  Andrei stood further away, with a habitual smile on his face: "Looks like it's your first time sending trash to the Beren River, and you've spent so much time going back and forth. Heh heh, if you're delayed until nightfall, it won't be a question of whether or not you can enter the city. That place is haunted by water ghosts at night."

  "Didn't the church wipe out all the water ghosts?!" Lucien, of course, wouldn't dare ask such a thing. With a mix of puzzlement and relief that didn't arouse Andre's or Mag's suspicion, he quickly left the city gate area and returned the four-wheeled carriage to its owner.

  This trip, Lucien made a total of five copper ferls, but for Lucien, the things on his body and in his cloth bag were the key to whether he could quickly raise five silver nars.

  Back in his own home in Adrien's district, Lucien hid the other things and hastily brought the veil to the market district.

  Because he didn't know if the fabric could be washed with water, Lucien simply didn't do any treatment and was careful not to get it too dirty.

  When they arrived at the entrance of a tailor's shop, Lucien hesitated, fearing that he would be scolded or chased away, just like when he used to work as a salesperson and his face would turn bright red, stuttering and not knowing what to say, so he decided that he didn't have the talent for sales and gave up.

  "Worrying about these things is actually just being afraid of losing face. What's the point of worrying about losing face with my current situation? Can having a good reputation turn black bread into white bread, allow me to eat steak and cod, drink wine? Can it teach me how to read?"

  After Lucien had gone through a lot and even faced life-threatening danger, at this moment he just hesitated slightly before making up his mind. He took off the mask, put it in his pocket, and walked into the tailor's shop without any further hesitation.

  An old man with white hair and glasses looked up from behind the counter, his eyes narrowing as he asked, "Can I help you?" Lucien's clothes clearly marked him as not belonging in this rather upscale tailor shop.

  Lucien laughed warmly: "Old gentleman, do you need a black crepe? I have a good one here..."

  Before Lucien could finish speaking, the old man with white hair interrupted him: "What good are you, black-robed one? Get out, damned swindler."

  He cursed as he walked out of the counter, pushing Lucien and not giving him a chance to take out the black cloth: "Even if there is, it's stolen. I'm a proper tailor, all fabrics are bought from Lauchie's store."

  He was pushed out of the small shop, Lucien reluctantly looked for the next one and decided to change his approach.