early morning.
"Squeak, squeak..."
Stepping on the stairs, Richard and Pandora walked down the stairs, with Richard walking in front and Pandora walking behind, muttering words like "five-five-twenty-five" constantly. After working hard for most of the night, the five-character watch successfully passed the inspection, but in order to prevent forgetting, she could only keep memorizing it.
Amidst the muttering, Richard walked down the stairs and glanced towards the lobby of the tavern. He saw the divination woman he had seen last night, sitting at a table. She kept turning her head and looking around, as if she was looking for something. .
Richard stepped closer and said, "Did you throw something away?"
Hearing Richard's voice, the divination woman suddenly turned her head, looked directly into Richard's eyes, stared at him for a while and gritted her teeth and said, "I lost my beloved pet."
"Pet?" Richard raised his eyebrows and gestured, "Is it a pet that looks like a mouse? It's about this long, and its appearance is black and gray. It has a slender tail with a white section at the end, and its claws are very sharp. , like black iron?”
"right!"
"Oh, that's right." Richard nodded and replied, "I'm really sorry, I didn't see it. You keep looking."
"You!" The divination woman couldn't help but stand up, her eyes widened, as if she wanted to eat Richard alive. Maybe she realized that she had lost her composure. After a while, the divination woman took a deep breath, sat down slowly, and said with a gloomy face, "Boy, you'd better pay attention to your words and deeds, and respect me, the messenger of God."
"Are you a messenger of God?" Richard blinked, "You didn't say this yesterday."
"Hmph, I can help people see through the fog of fate and find the direction of salvation. If I am not a messenger of God, what else can I be?" the divination woman said, "Boy, let's put aside the pet matter for the time being. The last time I am out of I would like to advise you in good faith that it is best not to leave the port in the next few days, at least until two days later. Well, two days later."
"Two days later?" Richard narrowed his eyes slightly, "Yesterday was three days later, today is two days later, you seem to have a clear rule for the day I leave. Could it be that something special will happen in two days? ?”
"Of course! If you leave in two days, everything will be smooth sailing! But if you leave now, you will be left with bad luck! This is a special thing!"
"Is that so? Then I'll think about it carefully..." Richard said, turning and walking away because he saw the fat owner of the tavern running towards him with a flattering look on his face.
"Guest, guest, please get up!" As soon as Richard came up to greet him, he heard the fat boss say this.
After taking a look at the other party's expression, Richard had some guesses in his mind and asked aloud: "What, is there good news?"
"Good news, great news!" The fat boss's face was like a slowly blooming chrysanthemum, smiling wildly, "What a coincidence, as you said, I just sent someone to the port today, I saw a large ship docking for supplies. When I inquired about it, I found out that it happened to be heading north.
Let me tell you, that big ship will definitely meet your requirements. Its name is 'Nalu Rongguang Fisherman'. It is extremely luxurious, has a sufficient crew, and has an experienced captain. The most important thing is that although this boat is called 'Fisherman', that was the name it used when it was used as a fishing boat. Now it has been transformed into a real merchant ship. Therefore, in addition to carrying goods for sale, it also actively accepts passengers.
Although it’s expensive, guests don’t have to worry, I’ve already arranged everything for you. We have arranged a particularly good cabin for you and the little girl next to you, without you having to spend a penny more. "
At the end of the sentence, the fat owner of the tavern looked at Richard eagerly: "How are you, my guest? Are you satisfied?"
"Very good." Richard nodded.
"That's good, that's good." The chrysanthemums on the face of the fat tavern owner fully bloomed, and then he rubbed his hands a little cautiously, "In that case, look, the gold coin you said you were keeping... "
"Don't be anxious yet." Richard interrupted the fat owner of the tavern and asked, "How long will the ship 'Nalu Rongguang Fisherman' be docked for supplies?"
"It will only stop for half a day, and they are in a hurry. I heard that the Black Holy Mountain Kingdom and another kingdom facing the sea in the north have not been dealt with recently, and a war will break out at any time, and warships may be used to block the sea. Therefore, they are preparing to use the most powerful force to block the sea. Cross the large sea in the north as quickly as possible and reach the destination. Otherwise, if you are late and are blocked by warships, it will be delayed for several months." The fat owner of the tavern obviously inquired in detail.
The next moment, he added: "That's why I took it upon myself to buy the ticket for you. As long as you give me what you have kept, I will give you the ticket without any delay."
"It's true that there will be no delay." Richard said, eliminating the last doubt. Turning his hand, a gold coin appeared in his palm and handed it to the fat owner of the tavern.
When the fat owner of the tavern saw the gold coins, his eyes lit up and he wiped his fat, oily hands on his body. He carefully took the gold coin, brought it to his mouth, bit it with his teeth, and tried to judge whether it was true or false.
Richard looked at it and shook his head in his heart.
Although it is very popular to use teeth to judge the authenticity of gold, it is actually not very reliable.
This method is based on nothing but hardness. Because the Mohs hardness of human teeth is almost 7, and the Mohs hardness of gold is more than 2 points, which is lower than other yellow metals (the lower, the softer). Therefore, metal that can easily leave clear teeth marks when bitten by human teeth can be judged as gold.
But having said that, yellow metals such as brass have a Mohs hardness of only 3, which is not much different from gold. People with little experience can completely fool them. The more advanced ones are plated with lead or tin, which makes it even more difficult to tell whether they are genuine or fake. Because the density and hardness of these two metals are very close to gold, when you bite them, they will look more like gold than gold.
But considering that high-tech methods such as density meters, spectral analysis, and electronic probes were not available in the Middle Ages, biting with teeth was the only simple and feasible way. Even if you can't guard against sophisticated counterfeit money, you can at least identify some crude counterfeit money.
With this thought in Richard's mind, the fat owner of the tavern identified the gold coin and determined it to be a real one. The "chrysanthemums" on the face are in full bloom. He quickly put away the gold coins, then took out a boat ticket from his arms and handed it to Richard.
"Guest, please keep it, this is your ticket. The ship is at the port now and will leave soon. Look, are you going by yourself, or should I... send someone to take you there?"
"Don't bother, I'll just go by myself."
"Okay, see you again when you have a chance!" After the fat owner of the tavern confirmed that he had received the benefits, he stopped talking about anything and walked to the side while blooming "chrysanthemums". He did not see the divination woman sitting on the side looking at him at all. The malicious look he cast.
Richard glanced at the divination woman in amusement, shook his head slightly, pulled Pandora out of the door, and walked towards the door.
Pandora was still repeating the nine-nine watch in her mouth: "Five-five, five-five, uh-huh... wuwu... uh, twenty-five!"
Seeing Richard leave, the fortune-telling woman stood up, thought for a moment, then gave the fat owner of the tavern a hard look with her eyes, and then walked out the door.
The fat owner of the tavern who stood back behind the counter looked puzzled. He watched the divination woman leave, scratched his head and said to himself: "Why is this woman looking at me? Is she interested in me? In this case, I can consider it..."
…