Chapter 35: Thorny Hut
"Hic——"
Feeling full and satisfied, he walked out of the inn.
Gauss confirmed once again that the previous poor taste of the dishes was not Sofia’s fault.
After all, how could one make the cheapest black bread delicious without seasonings and other ingredients?
Perhaps one would need to use some magic that can turn food palatable to achieve that?
But does such magic even exist in this world?
Even though he was now seen as a mage apprentice, Gauss, who was still a complete novice in magic, had no idea.
The scorching afternoon wind blew through the town’s streets. Gauss walked along the side of the street, carefully avoiding the carts and mule-driven wagons transporting goods.
"Widow’s Alley, it should be over there, right?"
Even though his previous self had lived in this small town for a year, there were still many places he hadn’t been to.
Including that Widow’s Alley.
He’d only heard that such a place existed.
He relied on asking others for directions along the way.
Finally, he groped his way to the front of a deep alleyway.
Crossing the clear stream gurgling along the roadside, he stepped onto the stone-paved path.
On both sides were row houses inhabited by all sorts of people.
There were artists, herbalists, and small-scale artisans.
Residents ran underground taverns, as well as some unspeakable pleasure dens.
Scantily clad women with heavy makeup stood at doors, waving their fair arms to attract customers.
Gauss glanced curiously but retracted his gaze and walked quickly past when one of the women turned to look at him.
He had a proper mission today.
"Thorny Hut... Thorny Hut..."
"Found it!"
Just as he nearly reached the alley’s end, he finally found his destination, a small house mottled gray and overgrown with moss.
In fact, he almost missed it the first time he walked past.
But just as he walked by, an odd sense of incongruity flashed in his mind, making him feel something was amiss.
So he walked back, finally spotting the wooden sign nailed to the wall that read "Thorny Hut."
"Am I in the wrong place?"
Gauss looked at the dust-covered oak door with its embedded brass bell, feeling a bit uncertain.
It felt like this old house had been abandoned for a long time.
After hesitating for a moment, he decided to knock on the door.
His knuckles against the wood made a crisp sound.
There was no response from inside.
Gauss waited a few seconds and knocked again.
Still, there was no sign of life.
Could they have moved away?
Even though Gauss hadn’t spent much time at Gron’s blacksmith shop, Gron was usually quite reclusive during his stay.
Obtaining outdated information from Gron’s manager wasn’t unexpected.
Just as he was considering leaving...
"Creak——"
The old wooden door slowly dragged open, the rusty hinges groaning like a wounded beast, emitting a strange and jarring screech.
Gauss looked up, seeing a dark, empty corridor behind the door.
Who opened the door?
As Gauss puzzled over this, he suddenly heard a crisp female voice from below him.
"Who sent you here?"
Gauss looked down to discover that a person had been standing in front of him all along.
But she was so short.
She was so short that Gauss, standing close to the door, wouldn’t have noticed her without looking down.
Her face, despite her stature, looked like that of a woman about 20 years old, with slightly reddish skin and smooth black hair.
But really, so short! Is she even 80cm tall? Even goblins are taller than her, right?
Walking down the street, Gauss worried that some tall person might accidentally step over her head?
Half-Elf? Dwarf?
Probably a Half-Elf, right?
Gauss pondered. He had seen these non-human races on the road before but had never observed them so closely.
Both Half-Elves and Dwarves are small-sized races.
But Half-Elves are more like "miniature humans," with a body that is proportionally smaller but retains human proportions, and they are more agile in movement.
Standing about 90 cm tall and weighing 30-35 pounds (14-16 kg), they are small creatures with rosy skin, and black, sleek hair.
Recalling information about Half-Elves in his mind, Gauss found that the appearance matched the petite lady standing before him.
"Kid, it feels like you’re thinking about something impolite."
"Tell me, who are you? Who introduced you?"
The Half-Elf seemed sure that no stranger would come looking for her in her small shop and asked again.
"Hello, Boss, I’m Gauss, introduced by Gron, the manager of Black Anvil Workshop, Gron Bates." Gauss added Gron’s full name, fearing she might not remember.
"Gron?" The Half-Elf raised an eyebrow. "Then come on in."
As she spoke, she stepped aside, although Gauss felt it made little difference if she didn’t.
Walking through the hallway, he entered the hall.
Unlike the dull and old walls and doors outside, the interior decor of the hall was quite striking.
Brass chandeliers hung from the dome overhead, and the walls were embedded with honeycomb-like wooden niches.
Each niche displayed a variety of items, dazzling and overwhelming at first glance.
Materials and specimens from ordinary monsters and beasts, some dried but unknown herbs, books, statues, and eggs of unknown species...
There were so many, Gauss looked around.
Suddenly, his gaze was firmly attracted to a row of neatly hanging elongated objects.
What are those?
Magic Wands!!
The lengths of that row of magic wands varied.
The shortest one was about the same length as the one Daphne, the Priest from the Night Owl Squad, used, roughly forearm length.
And the longest one, Gauss estimated, was about one meter eighty to one meter ninety long, like a mix between a magic wand and a hefty melee weapon.
It was a dark brown, large wooden staff, the surface covered in fine, scale-like cracks. The grip was wrapped in cloth strips, and atop the slightly enlarged end was embedded an egg-shaped gem emitting a faint green glow.
Gauss estimated the longest and heaviest one weighed at least a dozen pounds, not very handy for a typical mage without some strength.
What a pity, they all looked like things I couldn’t afford.
Whether it was the massive, imposing big magic wand or the slender, exquisite small one, the gems embedded in them were obviously not cheap, at least from Gauss’s outsider perspective.
He reluctantly tore his gaze away.
The Half-Elf lady had already sprawled on a rattan chair, completely ignoring the presence of this outsider.
"My name is Andri, and I’m the manager here."
"What’s your relationship with Gron?"
The Half-Elf Andri lazily rolled over, facing Gauss with interest.
Gauss explained his relationship with Gron.
To his surprise, Andri looked at him incredulously once she heard it.
"Just an employee? Or just someone who worked temporarily for a few days?"
𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing, I just didn’t expect that old guy to change so much. You know, he wasn’t exactly a helpful person before." The Half-Elf Andri blinked. "In fact, he used to kill without a second thought."
Gauss was a bit stunned.
But he didn’t comment on it, after all, Gron treated him well; as for the past, it had nothing to do with him.
Noticing that Gauss quickly regained his composure after being briefly stunned, Andri privately found it uninteresting.
"Are you familiar with Gron, the manager?"
"We used to be very familiar, we were members of the same squad, but we haven’t been in touch for many years. To think we’re both in Gray Rock Town; he really is a heartless man." Andri shook her head and lamented, though her face remained calm. "In all these years, this is the first time Gron has introduced an outsider to my place."