The Divine Hunter Chapter 16: Markets and Bullying

At four or five o'clock in the morning, the sky is still dark and most people are still sleeping. The market in Edesberg has become very lively, and the most hardworking people in the city are sweating here.

There are coolies with bare arms shouting slogans and struggling to drag carts loaded with fruits and vegetables through the market; there are vendors shivering in the cold morning wind, with their hands knitting sweaters, quickly and The goods on the shelves are organized in an orderly manner; the young man with a hairy chin brushes spices on the forearm-thick meat skewers in the smoke of burning charcoal and the aroma of barbecue; and the merchant selling livestock points to the wooden circle The whining animals inside were negotiating the price with the customers whose faces were red from the cold.

Roy struggled to squeeze through several large boxes of green parsley and watercress that had just been picked from the field and were still stained with mud, and came to a stall selling medicinal herbs.

The stall owner is a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a thick felt hat and a gray cloak. He has his hands in his sleeves and rubs them rhythmically. His honest face is covered with wrinkles like orange peel. , with a bit of businessman's usual shrewdness in his dark and cloudy eyes.

"Little brother, what do you want to buy?" The vendor's eyes turned to Roy's childish and delicate face, and he rubbed his fingers mysteriously and obscenely, "Medicine to treat hemorrhoids and **** fistula?"

Hemorrhoids and **** fistula? Why did you say that? Roy was stunned for a moment. Did he think that I...he suddenly showed an ugly expression as if he had eaten a fly, "I'm not here to buy herbs...my name is Roy, and I just came to Edsburg." Soon, I wanted to find a job. I heard that there was a shortage of people at the market, so I came over to ask."

"That's right... Roy," the businessman nodded, crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at him again with a scrutinizing gaze, "You don't look strong enough. Let's eliminate most of the physical work first. Can you do arithmetic?" Are you literate? Tell me what other advantages and strengths you have."

"Arithmetic is fine, but I don't know how to write." Roy scanned the merchant's shelves and inspected dozens of herbs with a slight smile on his lips. "Besides, I'm very good at herbal medicine. Very familiar, for example, I know that the oldest herbal medicine on your shelf is the five-year-old datura root in the center grid. Datura root is very effective in treating rheumatism, malignant sores, and asthma and cough."

The businessman was surprised when he heard this. He didn't expect that the young boy in front of him had such sharp eyesight and what he said was accurate. "Take a closer look, what kind of herb is this?" The businessman pointed to an earth-yellow, conical root tuber in the grid to the left of the Datura root.

"This is Aconitum," Roy winked at the shopkeeper, "It has been around for about three years. It is mainly used to treat...well, it has miraculous effects on impotence."

The merchant asked him about more than a dozen kinds of herbs on the shelf, and Roy answered them all fluently,

"Can you recognize the flower of this plant? The little brother is indeed very knowledgeable." The shopkeeper stretched out his hand to him in admiration, "Roy, right? Just call me Tross. I operate in the market. I have been working in the herbal shop for more than ten years, and both myself and the shop have a good reputation. Do you want to consider helping me? From your accent, it is obvious that you are not from Edelsburg. Except for me, the vendors at other stalls are not so easy to get along with."

"Can you be more specific?" Roy felt relieved and asked calmly, "For example, job content and salary..."

"Little brother, I am forty-three years old this year. In order to run this shop, I have to get up at four or five o'clock in the morning every day, blowing the freezing cold wind to purchase goods and set up stalls. This kind of life is too torturous," he said. Maybe I will die suddenly before I reach fifty. I want to find a friend to help me get through this period of time. The best one is familiar with herbal medicine and arithmetic, and he must have a good memory."

"The main thing is to work from four o'clock to eight o'clock every morning, waiting for me to take over. If there are no problems, the weekly salary is 5 crowns."

It is not difficult for Roy to get up before four o'clock every day. After completely replacing sleep with meditation, he only needed five hours of rest each night. But the weekly salary is 5 crowns, which is only 20 crowns a month, which is not enough to pay the rent outside the city.

"Uncle Tross can't fool me just because I'm young and a foreigner..." Roy pursed his lips, "The weekly salary is 10 crowns...I can start working now."

"Little brother, you can't raise prices all over the place. When I was thirteen or fourteen years old, I couldn't earn so much even if I worked so hard for a month." Tross's eyes narrowed into slits, and his tone changed, " How about this? The weekly salary is 7 crowns, and you will be given a meal at the barbecue stall next door. I can guarantee that there will be no better treatment elsewhere."

Roy stared at the businessman's eyes for a long time. When the other party was about to lose his patience, he nodded, "Uncle Tross, how about we start counting the days today? Tell me what to do? Now the herbal medicine What's going on?"

……

Roy spent a whole morning at the herb stall, asking about the price of each herb.

The prices of herbal medicines often fluctuate, so Troos will record the latest information on the kraft paper next to the shelf every morning for his reference and memory. He also taught him basic weighing tools and several precautions.

Finally, I specifically asked him to come over to work before four o'clock tomorrow morning and let him go.

……

Roy continued to wander around the market. His work at the herbal stall ended at eight in the morning. He still had plenty of time to prepare for another job.

The most ideal job is of course a butcher’s apprenticeship, with both experience and crowns. But as the miller outside the city said, Edsberg is not a village in Kaye, and the butchers here are not related to him. It is possible to make oil and water cheaper for outsiders.

The job of killing pigs and sheep outside the city was not his turn, but Roy focused on another similar job in the market - a vendor who specialized in handling live chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry for the townspeople.

The experience value of poultry is only 1 point, which is equivalent to one-fifth of ordinary livestock, but it cannot support large numbers.

The poultry processing stall is next to the wooden fence that closes the livestock. The stall owner is a gray-haired local old man named Ruel. Roy shamelessly recommended himself and showed him his skillful cutting skills and solved a problem neatly. After cleaning the hair, blood, and internal organs of the fat-headed goose that croaked strangely, Ruhr agreed to take on this employee.

It’s just that the wages are extremely low, only one crown for every thirty poultry processed, but it’s all voluntary, and you can leave at any time when you’re tired.

Roy did not bargain. This hard work was mainly for experience points. According to Old Ruhl, he had to handle at least fifteen poultry in the morning alone, which is fifteen experience points. Calculated, it is more than Roy's fight to the death was even higher.

Big cities have this advantage. There are many opportunities and ways to gain experience, and you don’t have to risk your life all the time.

……

Roy breathed a sigh of relief, put down the **** knife in his hand, and patted away the messy poultry feathers. Throughout the afternoon, he killed 20 "croaks" and gained 20 experience points and proficiency in killing skills.

What's more important is that with a foothold, you can survive in this big city even if you don't rely on the help of demon hunters. After a few days when his job stabilized, he would find a place to further his studies.

……

Stepping into the afterglow of the setting sun, Roy returned to the water mill outside the city. The smell of soil, grass and falling leaves hit him head on. He finally recovered from the stench of poultry manure, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly. , the mood becomes happy.

A hundred feet away from the mill, Roy suddenly stopped and looked curiously into the distance.

Outside the dilapidated wooden warehouse, a group of boys and girls gathered around where hay and firewood were piled. Their faces showed a meanness that was inappropriate for their age, and they pointed at a petite figure sitting on the ground in the circle. Pointing and sarcastic.

"You're an ugly monster, you look like a camel... You don't just hide in the house, but you dare to run out and wander around. When I see you, I really have no appetite at all, how can I eat?!"

The tall and thin boy with dense freckles on his face kept poking the man's hair with his index finger and spitting vicious words.

"Huh! She's not a camel, a camel is so cute..." Another pretty little girl with two pigtails held a forked branch in her fleshy little hands and leaned heavily on the man. A stick was slapped on the bulging back, and the man's body trembled due to the slap. He wrapped his hands around his knees and pressed his face firmly against them. "She is a monster... This place is full of highly toxic sewage. If she hates someone, she will secretly poison someone's food... My grandma must have been poisoned to death by her, her biological mother He was also poisoned to death by himself!"

"She is an old witch, a kind of freak. That's what the book says. She curses others every day and releases evil witchcraft. A witcher should be found to deal with her... Only mutants can deal with it. Freak."

"Woooo..." The man in the middle suddenly sobbed.

"Ugly, weird, and still brave enough to cry... you think we are bullying you!" The freckled boy slapped her on the back of the head. "We are doing an act of justice, just like the revolutionary army, and she , she belongs to the bad breed of the Baron! Beat her!"

Some children pulled her hair, some punched and kicked her on the back, while others whipped her with branches and hit her with stones and mud.

"Hey! What are you doing, you bunch of little bastards? Stop it!"

There was a sudden shout not far away. The child who was doing evil was startled by the sound. He looked back and ran away in a panic, not caring whether he could see clearly or not. In the blink of an eye, only the girl with her hands tightly hugging her knees was left.

Her neat white apron was stained with footprints and mud. Under her brown hair, bruises and bruises could be seen on her exposed neck.

"Your name is Toya, right, the miller's daughter. How do you feel? Did those little **** hurt you?" Roy walked to the side and squatted down, reaching out to her.

The hunchbacked girl just turned her face and glanced at him, her eyes timid and wary.

There were two red slap marks on her fair face, as if two buckets of dirty paint had been poured into a delicate oil painting. The girl's two palms covered with frostbite and calluses pressed against the ground, silently holding up her emaciated body that was weighed down by the huge hunchback, limping into the warehouse and closing the door.

Roy couldn't imagine what kind of life the other party had to live to show such an expression... But he felt that he should do something for the other party, so he took out the processed marigolds from the space, wrapped them in cloth and put them away Arriving outside the door, "Toya, I left some herbs for you outside. Just chew them up and apply them on the wound... Believe me, the effect will be very good."

……

At the dinner table, Roy mentioned this matter to the miller and his wife in an indignant tone~IndoMTL.com~I saw a group of brats bullying Toya, five or six of them surrounded her and pulled her Hair, beat her with a stick, slap her face until it is swollen, do you not care? ”

"Oh, little brother, you don't know that girl's scalp is rough and thick. A few beatings won't hurt or itch, and she can still work honestly." Mana gnawed on the greasy fat. A accustomed expression appeared on his bloated face.

Roy took a breath of air. There was no doubt that this fat woman must be a stepmother.

"I understand you mean well." Henk also helped, "But our family is just an ordinary family, we can't protect Toya like a princess? There is no way in this world. With her behavior How can she not be gossiped about her appearance? Toya can survive more frustrations, grievances, and sins. More than ten years have passed, and that girl is very strong now."

A little grievance and frustration?

Roy finally understood. These people who didn't even let Toya serve dinner didn't regard her as their daughter at all. She was probably just a free labor force who could be beaten and scolded?

"Don't mention that girl. Little brother, you have been in the city for most of the day today. Have you found a job?" Mana asked curiously, more interested in this question than Toya.

"Found..."

Both couples are happy. If their jobs are stable, then this guy will have money to continue renting the room...

After dinner, Roy took a special look outside the warehouse door. He didn't see the marigolds. He breathed a sigh of relief. When he returned to the room, he suddenly discovered that there was a fresh, wiping flower on the bucket in front of the door. The clean apples were covered with the blue cloth wrapping the herbs underneath.

"Is this a return gift?"

He seems to have found a way to communicate with girls.