I was an apprentice in Ferren

Chapter 18 Pickup
Upon hearing this, DuPont's heart skipped a beat.

What is his greatest advantage as a time traveler?
Sufficient modern knowledge.

Unfortunately, DuPont transmigrated to a high-magic world where magic was abundant. In some ways, the convenience of magic even surpassed modern technology, rendering much of his knowledge useless. He could forget about making money by selling liquor or glassware.

Even if this knowledge is not used, many things remain the same. For example, skills and artistic talents such as cooking, music, and painting can still be put to good use.

However, it is difficult to make money from these things. There is an old saying that describes DuPont's current situation: "A good horse is easy to find, but a discerning eye is rare."

Right now, there is a similar opportunity.

DuPont looked completely innocent: "Something challenging? A monster?"

"There are always wolves and tigers in the mountains, you'll see when the time comes." The butcher shrugged. "I noticed your heart rate was a bit off earlier, and your lips are turning purple. You don't have a heart condition, do you?"

DuPont thought to himself, "Damn it, this guy's senses must be pretty amazing: 'How could I, at such a young age, get a heart attack? But I haven't been feeling well these past few days and have been going to the infirmary to see the doctor. She told me I should rest more and pay more attention to getting enough nutrition.'"

“Your body is a bit too thin. If you had more muscles, you could be a good candidate for a barbarian.” The butcher said, squeezing his arm. “But you’re not that old. If you eat more every day, you’ll grow meat faster than your brain.”

“The college generally recommends a nutritious diet,” DuPont deliberately retorted. “Eating too much can easily make you fat and dull your brain, so the professors don’t recommend it.”

“A dull mind is simply a matter of not liking to use it. If you ask me to do accounting, I'm definitely not as good as an ordinary tax official, but if you ask me how to butcher a cow completely, I can instantly give you several solutions. Judy can even remember the recipes for hundreds of dishes, yet her intelligence level is about the same as an average person.” The butcher gestured as he spoke. “Not to mention, being fat is easy to lose; just exercise more. If you waste your time and squander your true talent, you'll end up like those mages who can only show off their bull-like strength for a few minutes in a brothel. By then, it will be too late to train.”

DuPont looked incredulous: "Who said that? There are more skinny people than fat people in my academy. Besides, I read in the books that many mages summon succubi as playthings, and some archmages imprison demon lords as personal possessions. It's not as bad as you say."

"You still believe the nonsense in the books?" The Butcher said with disdain. "In Harua, if you dare to summon a demon without prior approval, you'll be in jail for at least 20 years. Even if you get approval and want to play with a succubus, you'll have to cast a fourth-circle divine spell: the Death Protection. Otherwise, a single kiss could drain your soul. You might not even be able to buy a fourth-circle divine spell scroll for 500 gold. If you want to play around like this, you'd better become a high-level mage first."

"What if you become a barbarian, and then a butcher when you don't want to do it anymore?" DuPont looked disgusted. "You'd probably have trouble finding a wife with that job."

"Ha, what's so great about women? If I went back to the northern tribes, they'd all be begging me to play with their women, just so they could leave strong boys for their clans. But I don't care." The butcher sneered, "Only a kid like you likes to be hanging around women all day. What's more comfortable than eating good food, fishing, hunting, riding horses, and bragging with your buddies? I think you're still too young."

"Wow, bro, you're so experienced!" DuPont looked shocked. "You're not impotent, are you?"

The barbarian was speechless for a long time after hearing this. After a long while, he finally said, "If what you make doesn't taste good, I'll stuff that large intestine into your mouth."

DuPont chuckled without saying a word, added water, salt, and oil to the flour, and kneaded it for a while before feeling that something was off: "Judy, this flour seems not to be properly ground; it's so coarse?"

“That’s semi-finished product brought from the mill. It’s basically for the apprentices to bake bread. It hasn’t been sifted many times.” Judy replied softly, “You don’t want snowflake flour, do you? That’s something that needs to be sifted eight times to make Queen’s Bread. Only the mentors here are allowed to eat it.”

DuPont said in a low voice, "I'll use less; it's just the three of us eating." Judy suddenly realized, "Okay, I'll go get you five pounds."

After kneading the dough, since there was no plastic wrap in this world, DuPont found a clean, thin cloth, dampened it, and covered the bowl with it: "Okay, this dough needs to ferment for a while. I have some things to take care of. When I come back, I can make the pancakes."

After saying that, he pulled out most of the firewood from under the iron bucket, leaving only a few embers, leaving Judy and the butcher staring at each other.

"What did he mean by 'pancake'? Was it a recipe for some kind of bread?"

“You don’t know, how would I know? All I know at home is how to make roast meat and stew.” The butcher glanced at the entrails in the cold water. “But this kid is interesting. Maybe he can come up with something new. But his Common Tongue is too standard. I can’t tell where he’s from just by his accent.”

“There are always more oddballs among mages.” Judy said, opening the pot lid and taking a spoonful of soup. “By the god of the fireplace, this is really salty.”

"Did he mess up this dish?"

"No, that's not it. He added a lot of water and a lot of ingredients, so he definitely needs a lot of salt to infuse the flavors. I just don't know how it will taste in the end."

"An hour later..." The butcher patted his belly: "Give me some bread and sausage to tide me over, otherwise I'm afraid I'll lose some meat."
-
DuPont had already cleaned his hands and went to the finance office.

Just as he was demonstrating his culinary skills, most of the apprentices who stayed at the school had finished eating, and two long queues had formed in the corridor.

Although the college allows students to submit their papers by 18 PM at the latest, completing the assignment early will undoubtedly place them higher on the list and make them more noticeable.

Apprentices rarely submit their papers until the evening, as this would annoy the waiting teachers and also demonstrate their limited abilities.

What do you mean you had something come up and could only come in the evening? Why didn't you ask a friend to pay for you? Isn't it because you can't handle your interpersonal relationships well?

It's just an excuse.

Fortunately, the efficiency here was quite good, and DuPont didn't have to stand in line for long before it was his turn. He blocked the view of the person behind him and whispered, "DuPont, my friend lost my receipt."

William didn't even look up, just filled in DuPont's name and called out, "Johnson, is DuPont's name on the receipt book?"

A few seconds later, a voice replied from the counter next to them: "No."

"Don't bother coming back if you lose it again." William's voice was full of impatience as he tossed the note to him. "Get out of here, next!"

(End of this chapter)