Chapter 68: Golden Appraisal Eye
Early the next morning, Roderic slowly opened his eyes.
For a few seconds, he remained lying in bed.
Then he remembered what he had done last night.
’Right,’ he thought. ’It’s time to go and see Victor.’
Roderic immediately sat up and glanced toward the window. The sun had only recently begun rising over Ravenport.
He wanted to return to Wayfarer as early as possible.
However, before he could get out of bed, another thought stopped him.
’The main quest reward...’
Roderic hesitated for a moment.
Part of him wanted to leave immediately and deal with Victor first. He had already waited this long to claim it, so another few hours wouldn’t matter.
But the reward just seemed so juicy...
’Fuck it,’ he thought, balling his fist. ’I earned this.’
’System, give me the rewards!’
Several screens immediately popped up in front of him.
[Main Quest 2 Completed.]
[Claiming rewards now...]
[+20,000 Throne Coins.]
[Golden Appraisal Eye integrating now...]
The moment the last sentence appeared, Roderic’s right eye suddenly burned.
’’Fuck!’’
His hand immediately shot toward his face.
A painful ache spread through his eye as though a thousand ants were crawling through it.
Roderic gritted his teeth, cursing everything and everyone in his mind.
Fortunately, the pain didn’t last long.
After several more seconds, the burning sensation rapidly faded until only a faint ache remained.
Roderic slowly lowered his hand and blinked several times.
’Is that it?’
Almost immediately, his gaze landed on the small wooden table beside his bed.
Before he could react, several lines of text suddenly appeared in his vision.
[Wooden Table]
[Rank: Mortal]
[Durability: 70/100]
[An ordinary table crafted by woodworker David.]
Roderic’s eyes widened slightly.
’Oh?’ he thought. ’Isn’t that nice?’
His gaze moved to the chair below it.
[Wooden Chair]
[Rank: Common]
[Durability: 53/100]
[An ordinary chair crafted by woodworker David.]
Roderic couldn’t help but nod, very impressed by the eye.
Without another thought, his gaze moved across the room.
That was a big mistake.
[Single Bed]
[Wooden Floor]
[Window]
[Leather Bag]
[Iron Candle Holder]
Information rapidly flooded his vision.
’’Woah, woah, woah!’’
Roderic immediately squeezed his eyes shut.
’’I take it all back,’’ he shouted. ’’This isn’t nice at all!’’
For several long seconds, Roderic kept his eyes tightly shut.
His mind churned the entire time, searching for a way to stop the madness.
’There has to be a way to control it,’ he thought. ’Otherwise I’ll have to dig my eye out!’
With limited time at hand, Roderic forced himself to slowly open his eyes.
Immediately, information started appearing across his vision.
’Stop it!’
Almost as if responding to his thoughts, every piece of information disappeared.
Roderic blinked once, caught by surprise.
’Oh?’
He glanced at the wooden table again.
But nothing appeared this time.
Then he focused on it with clear intent in mind.
[Wooden Table]
[Rank: Mortal]
[Durability: 70/100]
[An ordinary table crafted by woodworker David.]
A smile immediately returned to Roderic’s face.
’’Now that’s more like it.’’
He couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh.
Though he’d been through some pain in this world and the last, digging out his eyeball was NOT on his bucket list.
Roderic glanced at several other objects around the room, testing the eye a few more times.
As long as he didn’t deliberately focus on something, nothing appeared.
’’Perfect,’’ he muttered. ’’I can go out like this.’’
With that settled, Roderic finally got out of bed and began getting dressed.
He had already wasted enough time playing around with his new eye.
’’Now it’s time to finish what I’ve been preparing.’’
Roderic quickly finished getting dressed before fastening his two hooked blades to his sides.
A few minutes later, he stepped out of his room and made his way downstairs.
Unsurprisingly, Edmund was already awake.
The middle-aged attendant sat at one of the tables with the two knights nearby, eating breakfast.
’’Young master,’’ Edmund greeted, quickly standing. ’’You’re awake rather early.’’
’’So are you,’’ Roderic replied.
Glancing at their food, he couldn’t help but smile slightly.
’’Finish up. We’ll be heading for the Wayfarer Merchant Guild.’’
Edmund raised an eyebrow but didn’t question him.
’’Of course, young master.’’
Thankfully, they were already nearly finished.
Less than five minutes later, the four of them left the inn.
Roderic walked quickly through Ravenport’s busy streets, already thinking about what he would say to Victor.
’He should know the money is gone by now,’ he thought. ’I can get him to suspect his best friend with a few simple sentences from there.’
Hopefully, the rest wouldn’t take too long from there.
It didn’t take too long before the Wayfarer Merchant Guild appeared in the distance.
Roderic immediately slowed down, his eyes widening slightly.
’What the fuck is this now?’
Several loaded carriages stood outside the building, surrounded by a group of visibly angry men.
Victor stood amongst them, though his expression was much different.
’’I told you, something happened last night!’’ he said, his voice desperate.
’’And I told you that isn’t our problem!’’ an older merchant snapped back. ’’You signed a contract that promised our payment upon delivery. Now we want our money!’’
Roderic slowed to a halt.
His gaze moved between the carriages, crates, angry men, and Victor.
’Oh, fuck.’
Apparently, he’d chosen a particularly bad night to steal Victor’s entire fortune.
’’Give me until tomorrow,’’ Victor pleaded. ’’I’ll get your money.’’
’’Absolutely not.’’
The older merchant’s expression hardened.
’’Pay us today, or the shipment goes back with us. And I’ll make damn sure every merchant in Ravenport hears about this.’’
Victor immediately fell silent.
Roderic could practically see the panic on his face.
He had come here expecting to slowly push Victor toward suspecting his best friend.
Instead, Victor was about to have his reputation destroyed before Roderic even got the chance.
For a moment, Roderic simply watched.
Then an idea suddenly popped into his mind.
’’Wait a second...’’
He had wanted Victor to owe him anyway.
Why not make that debt a little more literal?