76. Rest (2)
just- just- just-
After work, Oliver visited the restaurant Forest, located on Street 27 in District T, and headed straight for his accommodation.
Since I was tired anyway, I was going to report the mission and go back to rest right away, but I ended up going back faster than I thought.
The reason was that there were no forests and eggs.
When I visited the restaurant, a different employee greeted me and Oliver, unlike usual, and he said that he apologized for not being able to come to the restaurant today because of work.
I asked what was going on, but the employee said he only went to Landa’s regular meeting of the Brokers’ Guild and said he didn’t know anything more.
Oliver, too, just asked reflexively, so he didn’t ask for more, and instead asked him to tell him that he had completed his mission.
Leaving an official paperwork of completion of the mission, Oliver signed the paperwork as requested by the employee and left.
When I formally filled out the paperwork, I felt that the real work was over and the fatigue that had accumulated over the past month came rushing in at once.
Well, it wasn’t serious.
Murphy’s side took care of me quite a bit, including sleeping and eating.
I’ve had a worse life than this, so it wasn’t that serious.
Is your body a bit heavy and you can’t sleep?
Probably, if I rested for a day, I would recover as if I had washed it.
When I got to the house, I opened the door and went in.
“who·····. ah! It is you.”
As usual, the innkeeper, who was preparing food in the restaurant, said as soon as she saw Oliver.
“Yes, hello. Long time no see.”
“Yeah, it’s been a long time. Are you done?”
“Yeah, roughly… Wasn’t it great?”
“Is it a star? Except for the rising egg prices. How in the world can the price of eggs go up? Did you eat more than that? May I serve you a meal?”
“No, thanks.”
“ah!”
Then, someone shouted.
It was none other than the innkeeper kid who was bringing a basket of potatoes, and the boy, whose body was covered in dirt while carrying the potatoes, looked surprised as soon as he saw Oliver. For some reason, the child shone with a very welcome feeling.
Who came to mind, um… ah! it was marie
“Rosburn! Did I tell you to bring potatoes?! The basket does not walk on its own!”
As usual, Rothburn was startled by the mistress’ shout and began to move the basket full of potatoes.
He seemed to have something to say, but Oliver didn’t bother to ask.
The first reason is that I am not really curious. The mourning was busy, and the second reason was that he was also sleepy.
So Oliver went up the stairs and entered his room.
It was a room back after a month, but nothing had changed.
There are not many personal items, and if there are, they are put in a personal storage box.
As I know from experience, the owner of the inn here was not the type of person to go through the guest rooms when cleaning, even though there were some tricky corners.
‘Well·····. Even so, it’s kind of like staying here all the time.’
Oliver thought for a moment.
It wasn’t that I was dissatisfied with the life here, but even so, considering some information I had recently obtained, I thought it would be better to leave and find a new place to stay.
Even if the price was lowered, staying in the dormitory was a waste of money in the long run, but I realized that even if I spent a lot of money, it would be profitable to rent or buy a house for a long time.
The reason for this is that many of the veterans’ workers complained of being sick because of the rent.
In fact, based on their words, let’s calculate the numbers. Living in an inn was an unnecessary expense for Oliver.
‘I’d rather not buy a long-term lease. It costs less money, and less bothers there. Above all else, a house is unnecessary to me.’
Oliver concluded so. What Oliver needed was a decent place to live, not a home as an asset.
Above all, Oliver wanted to have the perfect personal space.
A personal space where you can experiment with black magic.
A house with a warehouse or basement was also good, and if it doesn’t work, it wouldn’t be bad to get a warehouse somewhere in the dark, like the puppeteer Glip.
‘Even if it’s not okay to have a human body, wouldn’t a dog or cat body be okay?’
As I was thinking about asking Forrest about this, I heard a knock on the door.
Oliver turned his head. I could see the emotion reflected through the door. It was a known feeling.
“…Rossburn? What’s going on?”
Oliver’s words surprised Rothburn.
A trembling voice was heard through the door.
“Hey, can I open the door?”
“Oh, wait a minute.”
Oliver got up from his seat and opened the door.
I saw a boy with straw-colored hair, withdrawn as if nervously.
“Ah, hello.”
“Yes, hello. What are you doing?”
“Lord, I asked you if you would like to have dinner.”
“Dinner? Well····. Yes, I will.”
“Oh, yes…”
Rothburn did not back down, hesitating. His emotions were dyed with impatience and fear, and he wiggled his hands to reveal them.
Taken from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Nevertheless, a slender but strong streak of will kept the boy standing still.“Do you have anything to say?”
“ah·····.”
The boy’s emotions fluctuated even more.
Countless defeats and frustrations hit the boy, but his small, tenacious will like a bud tried to wake up.
Then the boy spoke in a shaky voice.
“He, he, can you tell me the article?”
***
At dinner time Oliver ate and went out right away.
Then we headed to the traditional market where the gray market is.
A traditional market in the corner of District T.
Perhaps it was sunset, and the traditional market was colored orange, but the people were quiet and the shops were closing one by one.
Even the market was going to sleep when night came, but fortunately, Oliver’s destination seemed to be late at night.
Where is that destination?
“Hey, it’s been a while. young friend.”
Said the old man at the small second-hand bookstore tucked between the stores.
He was sitting in front of the store, reading his newspaper today, as he had seen for the first time.
“Hello, old man. long time no see.”
Oliver greeted the old man politely. The book recommended by the old man gave me a good understanding of the world tree, so I thought I should do this.
The old man smiled as if he didn’t like Oliver’s attitude.
“You seem to have been more polite while I haven’t seen you. Thank you, but it’s too much for an old bookstore old man who doesn’t see much.”
“…? Thanks to the old man, I read an interesting book, what does that have to do with being an old man at the bookstore?”
At Oliver’s pure question, the old man smiled and shrugged.
It was a gesture not to talk any more on this topic.
“What else did you come here for? Seeing him coming from afar, doesn’t it seem like he came here on a whim?”
I looked back the way Oliver had come.
Despite his old age, he seemed to have very good eyes.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I knew it·····. Can I give it a try? Why did you see it here. Perhaps you came to me with a question about the contents of the book, right? By the way, I think it’s a bit disappointing that he came bare-handed for such a thing. young friend.”
The confident voice of an old man.
Oliver answered honestly and without any malice.
“no. I came here because I was wondering if there were any good books to teach children to read.”
“················ogue.”
The old man looked at Oliver without saying a word.
He pretended to be calm on the outside, but on the inside, embarrassment and embarrassment were creeping up on him, similar to a kettle boiling slowly.
I thought I had made a mistake, so I looked at him, and there was an awkward silence for a while.
“················ogue.”
“················ogue.”
“················ogue.”
“················ogue.”
“…Did I make a mistake?”
“No… no. Just be still for a moment. I’ll have to drink some courage.”
With those words, the old man drank a bottle of wine from a brown envelope. Nevertheless, I took two more sips to see if my embarrassment would not subside.
“I hope it gets better…. What book are you looking for?”
“This is a good book for children to learn letters. Han… Fourteen years old? fifteen years old? The child is studying. ah! I wish I had an arithmetic book, do you?”
“I am fourteen, fifteen years old . . . Letters and arithmetic… It’s oddly specific.”
The old man slowly got up from his chair and said.
After sitting for a long time, the old man’s stiff knees creaked like a broken tree.
“Probably, there will be. But a young friend… If that’s okay with you, may I ask why you’re buying the book?”
Oliver thought for a moment before answering. It didn’t seem like there was anything to hide.
“A kid who works at the inn I’m staying at asked me to teach.”
“The inn-house child…. Are you a child of the innkeeper’s husband and wife? Are you going to give me a lower rent so I can teach you?”
The old man went deep into the bookstore, opened a huge book and asked. It seemed to be a list of book locations.
“ah····. Can you save your rent that way?”
“Isn’t it?”
“Yes? Oh yes. He’s just a kid who works there.”
The old man grinned.
“You mean teaching without receiving? Why?”
“I do not know? Did you just ask him to teach you?”
The old man turned his head slightly, not looking for the book. It looked heavy, perhaps because of the darkness of the bookstore.
“Are you telling me to teach you by asking me to teach you?”
“Yes····. Can’t you?”
“It’s not bad, but… I’m a little curious, so Most don’t.”
exactly···. Come to think of it, people seemed a bit naive at teaching me something. Of course, I knew it was natural, but it still seemed harsh.
Oliver thought for a moment. Why did you accept the boy’s request? I questioned my own choices.
It took quite a while, while the old man at the bookstore took out the book Oliver had ordered from the corner.
It must have been a very old book, and as the wind blew, brown dust flew away.
“Fortunately, there is a book here. I don’t know why this is. This is an old and dirty book, so give me 10,000 randas in total.”
Oliver continued to ponder and took the money out of his wallet.
And the moment he handed the money, he opened his mouth.
“It’s great.”
“…? I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“The kid is great.”
“What’s great?”
“I’m afraid because I work at an inn every day, but I first talked to him to learn how to write. Even though I was very scared, I got the courage… So. I think that’s great and I’m trying to teach you. What you want to learn is great, right?”
Oliver spoke with a poor vocabulary, like a three-year-old.
However, it was also the most honest answer. enough to comprehend himself.
When the old man saw Oliver like that, he laughed again and took out the writing implements under the counter.
“This···?”
“Service. A young friend made a strange noise. The will to learn is great. That’s right.”
“ah···. thank you.”
Oliver saluted the old man’s kindness and took his writing utensil along with two books.
When I achieved my goal, I was relieved in my heart.
“Ah, can I ask you a question about the book you came here?”
“this···. After all, do you have a question for me? Then tell me that it is then, why do you say that so late? You were just embarrassed.”
“sorry.”
“Okay. What’s your question?”
“I have read all of the world tree books you recommended last time. But there are things I don’t understand.”
“Oh, I read it all…. What do you not understand?”
“It is said that the world tree stores, manages, and prints information from all over the world, is that correct?”
“exactly. What’s wrong with that?”
Oliver said, looking around as he had already thought about it.
“The world has different languages and different scripts, so how does the World Tree manage this? If you just leave it as it is, it doesn’t seem like proper management.”
The old man’s eyes widened slightly and he looked at Oliver. It was subtle, but it also contained a small admiration.
“…a pretty interesting question.”
“is that so?”
“exactly. Usually, even the kids who study here don’t ask such questions. Were there one or two? ····Anyway, that’s right. The characters and languages are different, but if you keep them as they are, you don’t manage them. So, the information stored in the World Tree is processed once.”
“Processing?”
“exactly. called ‘codeword’. The World Tree processes the information it receives in its own way. The principle has not been revealed yet, but in any language, save it as a code word and print it out as a code word.”
Oliver recalled the unknown letters he had seen when he entered the World Tree and looked up the forest.
Apparently it was a code word.
“Then how do you know?”
“Surely, what are you asking? Of course you have to learn the code language.”
With these words the old man held out an old, very thick book.
On the outside of the book, the words [Basic learning of code words (top)] were embedded in a very hard form.
“I will sell it for 300,000 Randa. It has been a precious book ever since.”