Chapter 058 – I'm super rich!
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In the hall downstairs, a few scattered figures were seated at tables.
Upon seeing Matthew, the innkeeper Trug immediately greeted him warmly:
"Are you alright? This morning when I passed by your room, I smelled something terrible. Do you need me to buy you some holy water?"
Matthew shook his head with a smile:
"No need, Mr. Trug, I'm fine now."
Trug looked at Matthew in surprise, then gestured towards a corner of the hall:
"Your guide has been found. There, that's Old Gitch, the best guide in Zewater City, bar none. He's crossed the rainforest 78 times without a scratch. He was the one who guided Li Witchy to the Aru Sea."
Matthew looked in the direction indicated and saw a dark-skinned, taciturn old man.
He looked to be in his late fifties or early sixties, with a thin white beard and sharp eyes. He was quietly sitting at a table, smoking a pipe.
Upon meeting Matthew's gaze, he nodded slightly.
"Matthew, be careful, this man has several lives on his hands!"
Matthew's chest suddenly bulged, and it was Ella poking her head out from his shirt to warn him.
Matthew nodded to indicate that he understood.
But he wasn't particularly concerned. How could someone who had survived multiple crossings of the rainforest be a pushover?
And if it came to lives, Matthew had quite a few on his hands as well.
So he walked over confidently and extended his right hand:
"Hello, Mr. Guide."
Old Gitch glanced at him, moved his pipe away, and after exhaling a ring of smoke, he shook his head:
"Just call me Old Gitch. And a word of advice, young man—in Zewater City, don't just extend your hand to anyone. Normal people won't shake hands with you. Those who do usually pass on the plague to you."
Matthew showed a receptive expression:
"I understand, thank you, Old Gitch."
"Trug told me you're going to the Aru Sea?" Old Gitch asked, "What for, if you don't mind me asking?"
Matthew thought for a moment:
"Just to wander around, see the sea views?"
Old Gitch chuckled: "You might as well say you want to experience the hotness of the jungle women—at least the last client told me that, and I believed him."
Then his face turned serious:
"I can take you there, but on the way, you must follow my instructions completely! Remember, don't provoke the Jango people, don't stuff anything into your mouth, and don't jump at women who throw themselves at you."
Matthew asked with interest:
"What's the story behind these three prohibitions?"
Old Gitch gently tapped his pipe on the table:
"There's no story, just three lives. The client who provoked the Jango people had his head cut off, and you can still see his skull made into an artwork in a headhunter tribe on the east side of the rainforest;
The one who ate wild berries is now rotting in the swamp for seven or eight years;
As for the last client, he spent several nights with a native Jango woman, then callously abandoned her when she begged him not to leave. In the end, he had half his face and his entire manhood eaten by a witch bug."
Seeing the horror on Matthew's face.
Old Gitch changed the subject: "But as long as you listen to me and don't cause trouble, the path I take you on will be safe. Unfortunately, in my many years of guiding, it's really difficult to keep the employer from causing trouble. Some people just don't have a clue."
As he spoke, he kept sizing up Matthew:
"I hope you're not one of those people."
Matthew pondered: "In the rainforest, I will follow your advice to the best of my ability and avoid causing trouble unless necessary."
Old Gitch put away his pipe:
"That's best. Here's a list of essential items for crossing the rainforest. Take it and buy what you need in the market. We'll set off tomorrow morning. By the way, I have another client for this rainforest crossing—a guy who found me yesterday. He's the one who claimed he wanted to experience the hotness of the jungle women. He'll be traveling with us for a while."
Matthew asked curiously: "What kind of client is he?"
For the first time, a complex expression appeared on Old Gitch's face:
"Hard to describe, he's a poet."
Just then, a young man with a shaved head, barefoot, and with his chest exposed walked into the inn from outside.
As soon as he entered, he walked towards Matthew with a big smile:
"Oh, dear Old Gitch, is this the companion who will be crossing the rainforest with us?"
Without waiting for Old Gitch to answer, he leaned in to give Matthew a big hug:
"Old Gitch lectured me yesterday that in Zewater City, you can't just shake hands with anyone. I guess I'll have to express my uncontrollable excitement with a hug.
Hahaha!
The genius poet Loran is about to embark on a journey through the terrifying rainforest with his anonymous companion.
This is so exciting!"Matthew glanced at the unusually thick chest hair of the man before him and subtly avoided it.
"Hello, Matthew."
He introduced himself simply.
"Good name, Matthew, you'll be the protagonist of my next work!"
Lorand didn't mind Matthew's evasion at all. He leaned casually against a pillar, his face beaming with a confident and sunny smile.
"You look a bit pale, are you suffering from a fever? Do you need holy water? I've bought a lot."
Matthew was about to refuse.
Unexpectedly, the man conjured a set of light blue glass tubes as if by magic and forcefully stuffed them into Matthew's hands.
"Even if you're not sick, it's good to have it on hand. There are many insects and snakes in the rainforest, it will come in handy. Don't worry about me harming you, look at the packaging of the holy water, I just bought it from the 'Feathered Serpent Temple', it's still sealed!"
"No excuses, Old Gitch also accepted my holy water, you can ask him if you don't believe me, consider this a gift for our first meeting."
Matthew looked at Old Gitch with confusion.
The latter just shrugged.
Matthew hesitated for a moment. The set of holy water was indeed unopened, even the price tag hadn't been torn off, it read "20 gold coins/6 tubes".
Lorand's enthusiasm made Matthew feel a bit overwhelmed.
He tried to refuse a few times.
But the man's demeanor, as if he would be offended if Matthew didn't accept, eventually made Matthew accept the gift.
"That's the spirit!"
Lorand happily patted Matthew's shoulder and said:
"By accepting the gift, you are now a true friend of mine, Lorand!
I once stayed in 'Cloud City' for a while, you know the cloud elves there, right? They are known for their pride and rarely interact with humans, but they got along very well with me.
Later, someone couldn't help but ask me: Lorand, what extraordinary qualities do you have that can make the proud cloud elves befriend you?
And my answer is only one sentence—
I'm super rich!"
This statement drew the attention of several people in the hall.
A pair of malicious eyes were cast over.
However, Lorand was not afraid at all. He laughed and opened his robe, revealing the scrolls and charms attached to his belt, and said to the others:
"Don't think about attacking me just because I'm rich, see, 'Forbidden Scroll' and 'Legendary Charm', don't risk your life for a little money, it's not worth it."
"You should know, real rich people have a lot of life-saving items, don't test my wallet with your life."
In the hall.
Old Gitch silently smoked, not saying a word.
The others slowly withdrew their greedy gazes.
Matthew looked at Lorand with some curiosity. Are all the rich people in this world so ostentatious?
Lorand seemed to be interested in him as well. He pulled Matthew to sit down, ordered Trug to bring some local specialties, and then started talking non-stop.
Most of the time, it was Lorand who was talking:
"Why did I want to become a bard? Because I have no talent in other areas!
I come from a super-rich family, my grandfather is an Archmage, my father only knows how to wield weapons, and I, the only son of this generation, am not good at either magic or martial arts.
My mother was very worried about this. She was afraid that I wouldn't be able to hold onto the family business, so she sought out her first love—a legendary, charming poet. She asked him how to train her son to become a powerful bard.
The man replied: Give your son a large sum of money, let him wander in the big city, let him go in and out of women's circles, experience more, and naturally he will become a poet.
My mother trusted her first love implicitly, so at the age of seventeen, I went to the dazzling 'Deep Blue Port' alone with a large sum of money.
What the man said was indeed true.
After more than a decade of messing around, I accomplished nothing, and then I became a poet."
"Before coming to Lake City, I stayed in 'Smandi' for a while. The city is famous for its perfumes, spices, and beauties, and is also known as the 'City of Flowers'.
I had a great time in Smandi, I had many friends.
To be honest, I really didn't want to leave there. Smandi has many fascinating women—
The scent of the ladies made me linger, and the fragrance of the young girls also intoxicated me.
But the distance was calling me. I encountered a revelation from heaven in Smandi—
Afterwards, I soberly realized that if I wanted to write better works, I had to experience more new things. So I had to reject the tearful lovers and came to this mountain city north of the rainforest. Speaking of which, we are about to enter the rainforest, I'm really looking forward to it."
...
Hearing this, Matthew couldn't help but ask:
"A revelation from heaven?"
Lorand lazily replied:
"It was a time when I was caught having an affair with a lady and her daughter by the man of the house, and their family suddenly went into a frenzy."
Matthew gasped.
"That must have been very awkward." Matthew said.
"Indeed it was."Lorran sighed, "Especially when the man of the house asked me in front of his wife and daughter, 'What does that make me?' I realized in an instant, this was a revelation from the heavens—it was time to leave the City of Flowers."
At this, not only Matthew,
Even Ella, who had been listening with great interest while leaning on his chest, was left dumbfounded!
"Just kidding!"
Lorran suddenly burst into laughter,
"You didn't actually believe that I slept with their entire family, did you?
Even the most inept poet would plant a hook at the end of a piece, it's a necessary move to attract the audience.
As for the real reason I left the City of Flowers, I'll tell you next time we have a detailed discussion.
It's getting late, we should go to the market to buy the things on the list, eh, where's the old Gith leader?"
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(End of Chapter)