It was six o'clock in the morning of early May. The sky was still dark, but the red moon in the west and the stars in the sky cast their light, making the darkness seem fainter and revealing the outlines of nearby objects.
Lumian woke up early, washed up, put on the formal clothes he wore yesterday, put on a wide-brimmed hat, and tried to force a smile in front of the glass window that served as a mirror.
As he slowly descended the stairs, he heard hurried footsteps from above.
Not long after, Charlie's figure appeared in Lumian's eyes.
He was still wearing a linen shirt, black trousers and laceless leather shoes, but his ruddy face had become a little paler, and his small blue eyes revealed an unconcealable fatigue.
"Good morning, Charles." Charlie greeted Lumian with full energy when he saw him.
His spirits were quite high.
"Shouldn't you have left long ago?" Lumian asked with a smile.
He got up and washed when he heard the church bell ringing at six o'clock, and Charlie should have been out at six o'clock.
Charlie lowered his head to tidy up his clothes and muttered, "I drank too much last night and had a beautiful dream. I don't want to wake up..."
As they were talking, the two of them had already reached the first floor, walked through the dirty and dark hall, and headed towards the door reflecting the starlight.
The person who opened the door was an elderly couple, both of them had white hair and slightly hunched backs, and they were about sixty years old.
They were short, with the men no taller than 1.65 meters and the women less than 1.6 meters. Both their dark jackets and yellowish skirts were tattered and covered in oil stains.
"Who are they?" Lumian thought that the person responsible for opening the door in the morning would be Mrs. Firth or the stingy hotel owner Mr. Efe.
Charlie didn't slow down and explained casually: "They get up very early every day, and Mrs. Firth commissioned them to open the door of the hotel. The reward was to ignore the fact that they made the room dirty and smelly.
"You know what? They haven't changed their clothes since I moved in. It's been seven months, seven months!" No wonder it's so dirty... Lumian could recall how dirty his skin was when he was wandering, but the cleanliness habits he had developed from Aurore still made him frown.
Charlie walked out of the door of the Golden Rooster Inn quickly and asked in confusion: "Charles, why did you get up so early too?"
As the two men came to the street, a lively scene immediately came into their eyes: many workers, clerks, and coolies wearing gray, blue, black, or brown clothes were walking hurriedly, stopping from time to time to buy some food from street vendors.
Some women carrying wooden baskets were relatively less anxious, walking back and forth between different vendors, comparing prices and quality.
The vendors were scattered on both sides of the chaotic street, blocking half of the street, leaving only enough space for a carriage to pass.
They shouted, trying to attract customers: "Sour, apple sour, two ricks a liter!"
"Freshwater fish from Bondi Fish Pond!"
“Fresh cod and herring, come and see!
"Onion bread, 1 rick, just 1 rick!"
"Bacon, delicious bacon!"
"Soap and wigs imported from Loen!"
"Buy the kids a bottle of brightly colored soda!"
"Hot sauce, refried beans, shallots, and celery!"
Listening to the sounds coming one after another and feeling the morning energy of the chaotic streets, Lumian turned his head and smiled at Charlie, "I just arrived in Trier and couldn't sleep. It's a good opportunity to look around and see if I can find a suitable job."
As a "hunter", it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the area where you often move and master the specific environment here as soon as possible.
If you wait until something really happens before trying, it will be too late.
Charlie nodded in understanding.
"You can try your luck on White Coat Street, between the Honest Market and the steam train station." Many managers of inns, hotels and restaurants like to chat in the cafes there and recruit dishwashers, floor cleaners, toilet attendants and trainee waiters.
"If you have money, remember to buy a drink to the waiter at the cafe. They will bring you to the right people and give you a chance to get a better job."
Without waiting for Lumian to respond, Charlie began to impart his experience: "Be sure to pay attention to your appearance, like I do."
Soon, Charlie's slightly pale face turned "rosy" again.
"Look, look." He pointed at himself proudly and said, "Are you more energetic now? Those managers don't want to hire someone who is particularly poor and unhealthy. They think that there will be a lot of trouble. They are either unwilling to give you a good job or lower your salary. Like me, I do it before entering the cafe, making myself look like a person who has a place to sleep and a full breakfast. It's not good to do it too early, because this 'redness' will slowly fade away."
"I still have enough money to rent a house and eat, so I don't need to do this for now, but who knows if I will need it in the future?"
He deliberately did not conceal the fact that he still had a lot of Felkin.
What if there is a kind-hearted person willing to "donate" another sum
Charlie expressed his understanding, took out a copper coin worth 5 copeks, and bought a bread and onion from a vendor nearby.
This suddenly gave Lumian a sense of familiarity: during the time of wandering, if he could get money as alms, his first choice would be to buy onion bread: one is that it is cheap, and the other is that the smell of onions will last for a long time, giving people the illusion that they have just eaten a full meal.
Lumian also bought onion bread for breakfast, and together with Charlie, he walked through the many vendors and walked out of the chaotic street.
"I really love the mornings here!" Charlie looked back and said with his signature enthusiastic tone, "Those damned gangsters can't get up so early and ruin this fascinating vitality." He then waved to Lumian: "I'm going to take the subway, otherwise I'll be late today, and that damn foreman will definitely deduct my salary!"
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After saying goodbye to Charlie, Lumian walked around the chaotic streets, one circle after another, like a tourist measuring the area with his feet.
The Candidemmarkt is located on the south bank of the Salenzug River, in the southeast corner of the metropolis of Trier. It is also called the market district. Its official name is "District 13" - each district of Trier is named with numbers, but based on history and characteristics, there are some commonly accepted common names, and sometimes, the official name is used.
This place is named "Honest Man's Market". A Suchit Steam Train Station is built near the Serenzo River to receive people coming from the south of Intis.
Surrounding the market and steam train station, many streets are extremely unsafe and filled with poor people. It is one of several slums in Trier.
To the north of the market area, on the south bank of the Salenzuo River, is District 5, which belongs to the old town, also known as the Memorial Hall District or the University District. Trier Higher Normal School, Trier Higher School of Mining, and Innis Academy of Fine Arts are all here.
To the northeast of the market area, on the north bank of the Serenzo River, is District 12, which is also in the suburbs and is called the Nore District. It has the Invalides, the Hospital for the Injured and several large hospitals.
To the northwest of the market area is Area 6, which is the observatory area where Lumian will go next. There is the main entrance to the catacombs there.
Southwest of the market district is the 14th district, commonly known as the Botanical Gardens, where Lumian will receive treatment from a psychologist at the Mason Cafe on Sunday.
This place is also called the Sans-Cutthulae Area because there are large factories to the south of the botanical garden.
In this way, Lumian spent nearly a whole morning walking around all the streets of the Honest Market District. Near noon, he returned to the Suchit Railway Station and planned to find a place to have lunch and then go to the catacombs to find the fake wizard named Aosta Trull.
As he walked, Lumian saw Ruel and Michel, who were also staying at the Golden Rooster Hotel.
They were holding stacks of sealed paper bags and selling them to a group of people who looked like outsiders. As soon as Lumian approached, the gray-haired, ragged, and wrinkled Ruel approached him and said in a low voice, "Do you want photos of street-style beauties?"
"What is a street-school academic beauty?" Lumian did not hide his confusion and his resistance to the bad smell on Ruel's body.
Ruhr shook the paper bag in his hand, which was as thin as an envelope, and explained in a low voice: "In Trier, those beautiful girls who serve as nude models for painters are called 'academic beauties'.
"Later, with the advent of cameras and photographers, they would also take some, you know, those kinds of photos. Some were sold to painters as references for their paintings, and some..."
Ruhl then showed an ambiguous smile and shook the paper bag in his hand again: "Four Ricks in one bag, two photos!
"Other people are selling it for more than 10 Ricks!"
Lumian laughed, "Mr. Rule, Mrs. Michel, these are the souvenirs you sell to tourists."
When Lumian called out their names, both Ruel and Michelle looked pale. They turned around and tried to escape, but Lumian's hand was faster and directly pressed Ruel's shoulder.
Michelle squeezed into the crowd, but when she saw that her husband couldn't keep up, she returned with a bitter face.
"I also live in the Golden Cockerel Inn, my name is Charles." Lumian introduced himself.
The Ruhl couple finally understood why the other party knew them and breathed a sigh of relief. They looked at Lumian with pleading eyes and said, "What can I do for you, Mr. Charles?"
"What kind of photos are you selling?" Lumian asked curiously.
Ruhr replied timidly: "Photos of the Selünzuo River, and of the castles and palaces of Trier."
"No one is causing you any trouble?" Lumian asked with a smile.
Ruhl swallowed his saliva and said, "The people who bought it didn't dare to open it on the spot, and they didn't dare to come to us afterwards. They felt very guilty."
"Besides, the police won't stop you from selling landscape photos." Lumian nodded. "Does anyone really sell street photos of academic beauties?"
Mrs. Michel, who also had wrinkles on her face and a hunched body, muttered, "There was a nude model staying in our hotel before, but she hasn't appeared recently. Maybe she became the mistress of a painter, or maybe she was caught as a street academic beauty..."
The guests of the Golden Rooster Inn are really diverse... Lumian asked with interest, "How much can you make in a week by tricking outsiders into buying photos?"
"We sell it very cheaply, about 10 Felgin," Rul replied with a slightly evasive look.
It seems a little more than 10 Felkin, but not much more, so let's say it's 12 Felkin, which is 1200 Kopek, 240 Lik... 60 fools are fooled every week
Lumian looked around the square in front of the station and expressed disdain for the average IQ of the humans here.
The Ruhl and Michel couple took great risks in defrauding people, but they only earned around 50 filkins a month, which was far less than what an apprentice waiter or even a coolie could earn.
Taking a look at their slightly hunched backs, skinny bodies and wrinkled faces, Lumian roughly understood that it was not that they didn't want to do more legitimate and higher-paying jobs, but that they couldn't do it.
With a wave of his hand, he left the Suchit Steam Locomotive Station and headed northwest towards the observatory area.