Chapter 17 Search Function
The purchasing power of gold coins was considerable. One gold coin was equivalent to 100 silver coins, and one silver coin could be exchanged for 100 copper coins. Three copper coins could buy a large piece of black bread that was enough for three people to eat. A skilled blacksmith could only earn five or six copper coins a day.
So, when Thomas came back with a lot of supplies, he still had most of his money left unspent.
He was lucky today. As soon as he arrived at the town, he met a serf from the countryside. The serf was carrying a wild boar and selling it on the street. Thomas saw that the wild boar seemed to weigh several hundred pounds, so he bought it directly with silver coins. With the serf who was selling the wild boar thanking him profusely, he asked the two guards who were following him to carry the wild boar back to the castle. The serf who was selling the wild boar followed behind, as he would be needed to slaughter the wild boar later.
The serf's gratitude was heartfelt, because if such a big wild boar was sold to the serfs in the town, it would need to be sold separately, and it would take a long time to sell all of them. The reason why he did not slaughter the wild boar at home was that he was worried that if he killed it too early, the weather would be hot and the meat might become stale if it was not sold out. Instead, he took it to the town and waited until there were enough people watching. Then he could kill and sell it immediately. Not only would the meat be fresh, but it would also be able to sell for a longer time.
At first, when the serf who sold the wild boar saw Thomas and four guards coming to his wild boar, he had an urge to cry, because the reputation of the guards had spread among the serfs who numbered only more than 2,000 people. The woman who was raped by Benny was from their village. The woman could not bear the humiliation and had committed suicide, but the woman's family did not dare to ask the guards for an explanation, because the guards were the most powerful people in this place.
The serf who sold the wild boar once thought that Thomas was the protagonist who did the evil thing, and felt that his wild boar would definitely be in danger. Facing Thomas's questions, his forced smile was uglier than crying. In the end, what the serf didn't expect was that Thomas actually gave money, and it was a silver coin. Although it was less than the actual price, it was much better than his original plan of losing both the pig and the money.
It was worth spending one silver coin to buy this wild boar, but Thomas originally wanted to lower the price and offer 50 copper coins. There was no need to announce the title of lord. The four guards following him were enough to prevent the serfs from objecting.
But he suddenly remembered that when he took the gold coin handed over by Gervis, Gervis had warned him not to force the sale, so he bought the wild boar for 1 silver coin, when its actual price should be around 1 silver coin and 50 copper coins.
"I guess the only lord in this world who is so generous is Lord Gervis." This is what Thomas thought in his heart after buying the wild boar.
Despite his thoughts, Thomas was still very happy. He knew that his lord baron liked to eat meat, and wild boars like this were hard to come by, so Gervis would definitely be very satisfied to be able to buy such fresh and lively game.
If he can complete the tasks assigned by Gervis, the position of butler will not be far away from him.
…
Gervase was the only one sitting at the long table eating. The table seemed quite empty and made Gervase miss the feeling of eating in Gandalf's castle. Although the food was not tasty, the atmosphere was warm and listening to the slight crunching sounds of everyone chewing made people feel fulfilled.
As for the earth, he has no one close to him since his grandmother passed away. His parents left him when he was very young. He was raised by his grandmother and has not felt the warmth of home for several years.
There were four or five dishes on the table now, all of them looked good, smelled good, and tasted delicious just by smelling them. However, Gervis always felt that something was missing and he was a little unmotivated.
"Thomas, why don't you sit down and eat with us?" Gervis suddenly turned his head and said to Thomas who had been standing beside him. Gervis was very satisfied with what Thomas had done in the afternoon, especially the wild boar.
"My lord, please stop joking! The long table in the castle restaurant is for only nobles with titles or their descendants to eat at! I would never dare to do that!" Of course Thomas didn't dare to do that.
Gervis may have wild ideas, but Thomas, who had been trained in Rose Castle, knew that the long table in the restaurant was taboo for anyone except nobles. If he listened to Gervis today and really dared to sit down, if the news got out and was known by the Earl or Baron Gandalf, he would definitely become a flag on a wooden pole, swaying in the wind.
Looking at Thomas's expression, Gervis knew that the hierarchy was already engraved in the minds of people like Thomas and could not be changed. Gervis did not say anything, shook his head, picked up his knife and fork, and started eating alone.
As for slaves or commoners, the nobles tried every means to limit their rights and distinguish themselves from them. The advantage of doing so is that it can not only reflect their own superiority, but also inspire the yearning of commoners. Even for a non-hereditary lordship, they would not hesitate to sacrifice themselves.
…
After dinner, Gervis went straight to the study and sent Thomas away. He was still worried about one thing, which was the search function in his golden finger that he had never used! He was afraid of unknown things happening in Gandalf's castle, so he didn't dare to use it.
Now that this is Gervis' own territory, he has been able to reduce the risk to a minimum. Even if something unexpected happens, he will be able to remedy the situation.
When he opened the panel, it was still familiar. In the exchange mall on the right, all the icons turned gray. Only the search button on the left could be used with only one energy point. At this moment, the search button was still lit, and Gervis was ready to use it now to see what effect it had.
Gervis was not planning to save up this pitiful one energy point to buy those exotic fruits in the exchange mall. Although the golden fruit was very effective, God knew when he would have to wait for the next system to release a task. If each task rewarded one energy point, he felt that he could not wait.
Gervis rubbed his hands nervously, then raised his hand and clicked on the search button. In fact, the panel did not need to be touched by hand, it could be controlled with the mind, but Gervis was quite excited at the moment, and raising his hand was just a subconscious action.
He also had a guess about the search function, which should be able to find something valuable, but before he really figured it out, he dared not make a conclusion, and could only hope that the things he was looking for were as valuable as possible. In this way, he could rely on the golden finger to strengthen himself in this world and not be controlled by others.
Serfs and commoners were like lambs in front of him, and his life and death were decided by a single thought. But Gervis was also a lamb in the eyes of those nobles. He did not want to be a lamb, but wanted to be a carefree tiger or leopard, able to protect himself and be free.
When the search function was clicked, the panel immediately responded, and the 1:1 energy value became 0:1. And a circle appeared in the upper left corner of the panel. Two small dots were flashing on the circle, one was green and the other was red.
"Does the red dot represent a treasure?"
The reason why Gervis speculated that the red dot represented a treasure was because the green dot was now in the center, just like a radar screen on Earth, and the red dot was on the border of the circle.
Next, in order to verify his guess, Gervis walked out of the study. Due to the structural limitations of the castle, he could not walk in the direction of the red dot. So he quickly came to the castle's vestibule, and only then did the map change a little. When he walked to the vestibule and continued to walk in the direction of the red dot, the position of the red dot had been moved a little closer, but the movement was very small, and if Gervis had not been watching intently, he might not have noticed it.
"The straight-line distance from my study to this location is at least 200 meters, but the red dot has only moved slightly closer. This means that the red dot is at least 5 kilometers away from here." Gervis thought for a moment and realized that the red dot was a bit far from his current location, so it was no longer suitable to go and check it out tonight.
His territory was currently vast and sparsely populated. Two kilometers away, he could completely walk out of the town. Five kilometers away, there might be dense weeds or woods. Without arousing suspicion, his best plan was to wait until tomorrow and go out to search at dawn.
"I have to make up a reason to go out!" Regarding the golden finger, Gervis felt that he must be cautious. Although there may be no concept of golden fingers in this world, in order to prevent it from attracting people's attention after the number of times increases, he feels that he must arrange a legitimate itinerary every time he searches for the red dot.
Suddenly, Gervis thought of a very reasonable reason to go out.
"Thomas!"
"My Lord, what can I do for you?" Gervis had just rushed out of the castle, and Thomas, who was arranging two servants to work, followed him out immediately without asking Gervis what he was doing. When Gervis stood in the front hall in a daze, Thomas stood silently not far away.
"I will inspect my territory tomorrow, you go and make the arrangements!" As a newly appointed lord, Gervis felt that he had to inspect his territory regardless of whether he was looking for the red dot or not, so that he could think about how to develop the territory.
When developing a territory, it is important to adapt to local conditions. He has no funds and no population in the territory, so he can only see what resources in the territory can be utilized.
He originally planned to wait a few more days before inspecting the territory, but since the golden finger pointed out the location of the treasure, he needed to find it as soon as possible. This kind of thing should be done sooner rather than later. If the distance was not really too far, he would have wanted to find a reason to go out and take a look now.
"Yes, sir!" Thomas thought it was a bit strange that Gervis rushed to the front yard, stood there for a while, and suddenly ordered to inspect the territory tomorrow. However, as a servant, he just had to do whatever Gervis said, and there was no need to question Gervis's decision.
As the reserve butler, Thomas felt that there were still some things he needed to advise Gervis on, so he said, "Sir, you have just become the lord here. Do you need to summon the serfs in the town to pay you a visit tomorrow? After all, you are their master, and they don't know your identity yet!"
(End of this chapter)
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