Chapter 35: Thorn Cottage
“Burp—”
He finished eating and drinking, then stepped out of the inn.
Gauss once again confirmed that the poor quality of the food was not Sophia’s fault.
After all, without seasonings or supplementary ingredients, how could one turn the cheapest black bread into a delicious meal?
He suspected that one would need magic capable of turning food delicious.
But did such magic even exist in this world?
Although he was seen by others as a mage’s apprentice, Gauss was still essentially a complete novice in magic and didn’t know.
A scorching wind blew through the town’s afternoon streets as Gauss walked close to the edges, carefully avoiding carts and mules laden with goods on the main roads.
“Widow’s Lane… it should be somewhere around here?”
Although he had lived in this town for a year as his previous identity, he still hadn’t explored many places.
Including that Widow’s Lane.
He had only heard about it in passing.
So he had been asking people for directions all along.
At last, he found himself standing before a deep, narrow alley.
He stepped over a clear, gurgling gutter on the roadside and onto the stone slab path.
On both sides stood row houses inhabited by all sorts of people.
Artists, herbalists, small-scale artisans.
There were low-end taverns run by residents, and some unmentionable pleasure places.
Women wearing revealing clothes and heavy makeup stood at doorways, waving their fair arms to entice customers.
Gauss glanced at them curiously. When one of the women turned to look at him, he quickly averted his gaze and hurried past.
He had proper business today.
“Thorn Cottage… Thorn Cottage…”
“I’ve found it!”
Almost at the end of the alley, he finally located his destination—a gray, mottled cottage overgrown with moss.
He had actually missed it the first time he passed by.
But just as he walked past it, a sudden, discordant feeling in his mind made him stop, sensing something was off.
So he turned back, and only then noticed the wooden sign on the wall reading “Thorn Cottage.”
“Am I in the right place?”
Gauss looked at the oak door fitted with a bronze bell, its surface thick with dust, and couldn’t help feeling uncertain.
He had the impression this old cottage had been abandoned for quite some time.
Hesitating, he nonetheless knocked on the door.
His knuckles made a crisp sound as they struck the wood.
No response came from inside.
Gauss waited a few seconds and knocked again.
Unfortunately, still no sound stirred.
Had the occupant perhaps moved away?
Although Gauss hadn’t spent much time at Groln’s smithy, during the period he was there, Groln rarely left his shop.
So it wouldn’t be surprising if information from Manager Groln was outdated.
He was just thinking of leaving when—
“Screee—”
The old wooden door slowly creaked open, the rusty hinges whining like a wounded animal.
A peculiar, grating squeal rattled his teeth.
Gauss lifted his eyes to look.
Behind the door lay a dark, empty corridor.
Who opened the door?
While Gauss stood confused, a crisp feminine voice suddenly came from beneath him:
“Who sent you?”
Gauss lowered his head—and discovered that the person had been standing right in front of him all along.
But she was too short.
So short that Gauss, who was close to the door, wouldn’t have noticed her without looking down.
Despite her height, her facial features looked like those of a woman around 20 years old, her skin slightly flushed, and she had sleek, straight black hair.
But seriously, she was really short! Was she even 80 cm tall? Goblins were probably taller than her!
If she walked along the street, Gauss worried that some tall people might accidentally step over her head!
A Halfling? A Gnome?
Probably a Halfling, right?
Gauss pondered internally.
He had seen these non-human races on the street before, but this was the first time he had observed one up close.
Halflings and Gnomes were both small-sized races.
But Halflings resembled “miniature humans” more closely, with proportionally shrunken bodies and more agile movements and postures.
About 90 centimeters tall, weighing 30–35 pounds (14–16 kg), small creatures with rosy skin and straight black hair.
Gauss recalled the information about Halflings in his mind and realized it all matched the petite woman before him.
“Kid, I get the feeling you’re thinking impolite thoughts.”
“Speak—who are you? Who sent you here?”
The Halfling seemed quite certain that strangers wouldn’t just show up at her little shop, so she repeated the question.
“Hello, Boss. I’m Gauss, sent by Groln, the manager of Black Anvil Workshop—Groln Bates.” Gauss hurried to add Groln’s full name in case she didn’t remember.
“Groln?” The Halfling raised an eyebrow. “Then come in.”
As she spoke, she stepped aside, though Gauss felt it didn’t really make much difference.
He passed through the foyer and entered the hall.
Unlike the unremarkable and aging walls and doors outside, the interior decor of the hall was dazzling.
Dozens of brass chandeliers hung from the arched ceiling, and the walls were lined with honeycomb-like wooden niches.
Each compartment displayed a variety of items—so many that it overwhelmed him at first glance.
Specimens of ordinary monsters and beasts, dried herbs of unknown use, books, statues, unidentified eggs...
Too many to count. Gauss looked around in all directions.
Suddenly, his gaze was locked onto a neatly arranged row of long, rod-shaped objects.
Those were—
Wands!!
The wands came in varying lengths.
The shortest one was about the same length as the one used by Daphne, the priestess of the Night Owl Team—only about the length of a forearm.
The longest, Gauss estimated, was around 1.8 to 1.9 meters—almost more like a heavy melee weapon than a wand.
It was a large staff of deep brown wood, covered in fine, scale-like cracks, its grip wrapped tightly in cloth, and embedded in its slightly enlarged top was an oval gem emitting a faint green glow.
Gauss guessed this longest and heaviest one weighed at least several kilograms. Without some strength, ordinary mages would find it hard to wield.
What a shame—it looked completely unaffordable for him.
Whether the heavy and imposing large wand or the delicate and slender smaller ones, the gemstones embedded in them clearly weren’t cheap—at least in Gauss’s amateur eyes.
Reluctantly, he withdrew his gaze.
The Halfling woman had already climbed onto a rattan chair and lay back, not caring in the slightest about the presence of an outsider like him.
“My name is Andini, and I’m the owner here.”
“What’s your relationship with Groln?”
The Halfling Andini lazily turned over, facing Gauss with interest.
Gauss explained his relationship with Groln.
To his surprise, Andini looked utterly incredulous after hearing it.
“Just a clerk? And only worked for a few days?”
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. I just didn’t expect that old guy to change so much. You should know, he wasn’t exactly a helpful person back in the day.” The Halfling Andini blinked. “In fact, he used to kill without batting an eye.”
Gauss paused in surprise.
But he didn’t make any comment on that.
After all, Groln had been kind to him, and whatever happened in the past had nothing to do with him.
Noticing Gauss's brief daze, Andini quickly calmed down, thinking he was rather dull.
“You and Manager Groln were close?”
“We used to be, part of the same team—but we haven’t contacted each other in years. Even though we’re both in Graystone Town, he’s such a heartless man.” Andini shook her head in lament, though her expression remained calm. “After all these years, this is the first time Groln has ever referred an outsider to me.”